DRYFESDALE - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)]

"DRYFESDALE, (or Drysdale), a parish in the district of Annandale, in the county of Dumfries, Scotland. The name is derived from the river Dryfe (being anciently applied to the basin of that stream), and is pronounced Drysdale. The parish is bounded by Applegarth, Hutton, Tundergarth, St. Mungo, Dalton, and Lochmaben. It has an extreme length of 7½ with an extreme breadth of 5 miles. The north-eastern portion is an assemblage of verdant hills partly cultivated and partly devoted to pasture. The western and southern parts of the parish are for the most part flat and highly cultivated. Along the banks of the Dryfe and the Annan there are tracts of deep fertile loam. The highest elevation is White Woollen or White Wooen, a hill rising 732 feet above the sea, and commanding a most extensive and beautiful prospect on all sides. At Dryfe Sands, a locality near the junction of the Dryfe and the Annan, the Maxwells were routed with great slaughter by the Johnstones on the 7th December, 1593. Various remains of towers, and of British and Roman camps or forts, exist in the parish. In the end of the 1st century, Corbredus Galdus, King of the Scots, encountered the army of Julius Agricola here. There are traces of the Roman road which traversed Dryfesdale. The Caledonian railway, and the road from Glasgow to London, intersect the parish from N. to S.; also the Dryfesdale. Lochmaben and Lockerbie railway from E. to W. This parish is in the presbytery of Lochmaben and synod of Dumfries, and in the patronage of the crown. The minister has a stipend of nearly £200. The parish church is situated in Lockerby, where also there is a Free church and an United Presbyterian church. The ancient parochial church, together with a part of the churchyard, were swept away by the Dryfe in 1670."

"BEN GALL, a village in the parish of Dryfesdale, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, near two hills, on which are the remains of Roman and British forts."

"LOCKERBIE, a post town in the parish of Dryfesdale, county of Dumfries, Scotland, 10 miles N.E. of Dumfries. It is a railway station on the Caledonian line. It receives its name from an ancient fort or seat between two lakes, which are now drained. The town occupies a considerable space of ground, and the buildings have a clean and regular appearance. It contains the parish church, a Free church, and also an United Presbyterian church. It is devoid of manufactures, but the trade in articles of general and domestic consumption is good. The well-attended fairs add greatly to the prosperity of the town. A branch of the Western Bank, and also of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Bank, are established here. There are also a savings-bank and two principal inns. The market is held on Thursday, from the commencement of October till the end of April. It is extensively supplied with pork, of which there is sometimes sold in a single day from £1,000 to £2,000 worth. Fairs are held on the second Thursdays in January, February, March, April, and May, the third Thursday in June, and the second Thursday in August (all old style). The last fair, which is for lambs, is the largest lamb fair in Scotland, no fewer than from 30,000 to 50,000 lambs being usually on the ground. The remaining fairs are a cattle fair in September, the second Thursday in October for cattle and horses and the hiring of servants, second Thursday in November, and the Thursday before Christmas (all old style)."

"MILLHOUSE, a post-office village in the parish of Lockerbie, or Dryfesdale, county Dumfries, Scotland, 11 miles N.E. of Dumfries. It is situated on the line of the Caledonian railway."

"TORWOOD MOOR, a common in the parish of Dryfesdale, county Dumfries, Scotland, 3 miles S. of Lockerbie, and 9 N.E. of Dumfries. Here are the ruins of Malls Castle and other Roman posts."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]