EWES, a parish, in the county of Dumfries,
4 miles (N.) from Langholm; containing 328 inhabitants.
Ewes-dale, the former appellation of this place,
has been long contracted into Ewes, the name of its
chief river, so called from the Celtic Uisge, signifying
water. The parish is eight miles in length, and about
five and a half in breadth, and contains 31,000 acres.
On the north and east it is bounded by Roxburghshire,
on the south by Langholm parish, and on the west by
that of Westerkirk. It is pastoral and mountainous,
and the country on both sides of the river Ewes, which
runs through the parish for eight miles, is marked by
numerous hills, which are nearly all green, with the exception
of a few parts overspread with heath, and affording
cover and food for various kinds of game. The
rivers abound in fish. In the low lands by the Ewes
the soil is light and gravelly, and produces in favourable
seasons good crops of oats, barley, potatoes, and turnips;
on the higher grounds it approximates to a deep loam.
The number of arable acres is 1100, of natural pasture
'23,169, and in wood and plantations 200 acres. The
cattle are of the Galloway breed, and the sheep, in general
amounting to about 18,000, are the Cheviots: the
parish consumes the produce of the ground at home,
the chief profit consisting in the sale of wool, sheep, and
cattle. All the necessary improvements in husbandry
have been carried into effect, and the farm-buildings are
in the best order. The principal rocks are greywacke
and greywacke slate. The means of communication are
good; the great road from Edinburgh to Carlisle runs
for eight miles within the parish, and there are two
other public roads, one of which leads to the east, and
the other to Dumfries and Moffat. The annual value of
real property in the parish is £4951. Ecclesiastically
Ewes is within the limits of the presbytery of Langholm
and synod of Dumfries; patron, the Duke of Buccleuch.
The stipend is £221, with a good manse and
offices, and a glebe of thirty arable acres. The church,
an ancient structure, was repaired in 1831, and contains
200 sittings. There is a parochial school, in which the
usual branches are taught, with French, Latin, Greek,
and mathematics; the master has the maximum salary,
about £5 fees, and the legal accommodations. Some
almshouses were founded in 1*61 by the Rev. Mr. Malcolm,
minister of the parish, for the support of four of
the poorest families, to whom the Duke of Buccleuch
gives half an acre of ground for a garden. On the farm
of Unthank, in the parish, are remains of a chapel connected
with Melrose Abbey; the burying-ground is still
in use. There are also vestiges of two encampments,
either Saxon or Pictish.