DUNSCORE, a parish, in the county of Dumfries,
9 miles (N. W.) from Dumfries; containing, with the
village of Cottack, 1517 inhabitants. This place is not
remarkable for any events of historical importance, but
it was formerly the seat of some families of considerable
antiquity, the chief of whom were the Griersons of Lag,
of Chapel, and of Dalgoner, the Kirks or Kirkhoes of
Bogrie and Sundaywell, and the Kirkpatricks of Elliesland
and Friars' Carse. The Griersons possessed the
Tower of Lag, now a ruin, for many generations, Gilbert
M'Gregor or Grierson having migrated from the Highlands
about the year 1408, and obtained the lands from
John McWrath: in the conveyance deed Gilbert is described
as armour-bearer to Archibald, Earl of Douglas.
A descendant of this family joined the Maxwells of
Nithsdale against the Johnstones of Annandale, and
fought at the famous battle of Dryfe- Sands in 1593.
There is still a lineal representative of the family remaining
in the parish. Considerable estates at Dunscore
were given to the monks of Melrose by Affrica,
daughter of Edgar, son of Dunevald and grandson of
Dunegal of Stranith, a term implying " the strath or
valley of Nith ": Edgar had possessed the lands under
'William the Lion, and been succeeded in them by Jiis
daughter, who assigned so large a portion to the monks.
The benefice of Dunscore, however, belonged to the
monastery of Holywood, and the cure was served by a
vicar. In the parish are some lands called the Friars'
Carse, formerly a monkish residence dependent on the
establishment of Melrose; a small loch on the property,
containing an artificial island, is said to have been the
ancient fishpond, and the island the place where the
monks hid their valuables when the English invaded
Stranith.
The PARISH is twelve miles long, and varies in breadth
from half a mile to three miles and a half, containing
12,500 acres. It is bounded on the north by the parishes
of Glencairn and Keir; on the south by the
parish of Holywood and the stewartry of Kirkcudbright;
on the east by the river Nith, which separates it from
the parish of Kirkmahoe; and on the west by the loch
and water of Urr, dividing it from the stewartry. In
the neighbourhood of the Nith the surface is flat, but in
other parts it is greatly diversified with hills and valleys;
the upper district is mountainous and rocky, and Bogrie,
the most elevated hill, rises more than 1200 feet above
the level of the Solway Firth. The Nith runs for two
miles along the boundary; and the Cairn, a much more
rapid stream, over which is a bridge eighty feet in span,
divides the parish into two parts, and after receiving the
Clouden, falls into the Nith a little below Irongray. In
the lower district the soil is in general a light gravelly
or sandy earth; the holm land on the banks of the Nith
and the Cairn is alluvial, and much richer and deeper:
in the upper parts the soil is mostly a kind of loam, on
a tilly subsoil, and very stony. There are considerable
tracts of peat-moss. Full three-fourths of the land are
under cultivation; 500 acres are meadow, 250 plantation,
chiefly consisting of larch and fir, and sixty natural
wood, consisting of birch and oak. All kinds of grain
are raised, as well as green crops; agriculture has been
gradually advancing for some time past, and improvements
have been effected in every department. On the
estates of AUanton, Dalgoner, Friars' Carse, and Stroquhan
are good and substantial mansion-houses. The
inhabitants are chiefly employed in husbandry, but weaving
is also carried on, to an inconsiderable extent. The
Glasgow and Dumfries turnpike-road passes through the
parish, from which a branch strikes off at the lodge of
Friars' Carse, leading westward through Balmaclellan to
New Galloway; there is also a road intersecting the parish
from Dumfries to Ayr. The annual value of real
property in Dunscore is £8900.
For ECCLESIASTICAL purposcs the parish is within the
bounds of the presbytery and synod of Dumfries; patron,
the Crown. The stipend of the minister is the minimum,
with an addition of £12. 12. voluntarily given by the
heritors since 1793: there is a good manse, with a glebe
of fifty-one acres. The church, standing in the village
of Cottack, in the centre of the parish, is a well-built
structure, surmounted with an elegant square tower at
the west end; it was erected in 1823, and contains 850
persons. The members of the Free Church have a place
of worship, and there is a meeting-house belonging to the
United Presbyterian Synod. Three parochial schools are
supported, in which the classics, with all the usual
branches of education, are taught: about £51 per annum
are portioned equally among the masters, who also receive
the interest of £300 bequeathed about a century ago, by
Mr. Grierson of Edinburgh. The master of the central
school has, in addition, the interest of £50 bequeathed in
1807 by Mrs. Janet Dobie, and of £50 left in 1829 by
Robert M'Kinnel, Esq., of McMurdoston, who also at
the same time left £200 for the school in the lower district.
Among the relics of antiquity are those on Springfield
hill, a considerable eminence; consisting of traces
of a military station, supposed to be Roman, of an oblong
form, and covering two acres of ground: there appears
to have been an entrance on the east side. Burns
the poet resided for several years in the parish, at the
farm of EUiesland.