DRUMLANRIG, a village, in the parish of Duris-DEER,
county of Dumfries, 3| miles (N. N. W.) from
Thornhill. This place is distinguished for its magnificent
palace of Drumlanrig, the seat of the Duke of
Buccleuch, and formerly that of the Dukes of Queensberry.
It is a large square pile, standing on a rising
ground, and looking down with its almost innumerable
windows on the plain beneath, the river Nith flowing at
a short distance from the building: the walls are covered
with a profusion of hearts and stars, and the arms of
Douglas, and crowned by twelve fine turrets. The
palace was built in the seventeenth century, by the first
Duke of Queensberry, from the designs of Inigo Jones,
and its erection occupied ten years: around it are oldfashioned
gardens, which are kept in good order; and
in its vicinity, a line of yew-trees, overspread by creeping
plants, presents a peculiarly venerable appearance.
Formerly, there was preserved in one of the parks a
iierd of the original wild cattle of Scotland, animals of
a milk-white, except their noses, ears, and the orbits of
their eyes, these being of a dark brown colour. In the
churchyard of Durisdeer is a curious monument to
" James Lukup, master of the works of Drumlanrig,"
bearing the date 1685.