DURISDEER - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

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

"DURISDEER, a parish in the district of Nithsdale, in the county of Dumfries, Scotland, 6 miles N. of Penpoint. The road from Dumfries to Glasgow crosses the parish, as also does the Glasgow and South-Western railway. It is situated on the river Nith, under the Lowthers, and includes Carronbridge. The land chiefly consists of hilly pasture, interspersed with stone and traces of coal. The parish is in the presbytery of Penpoint, and synod of Dumfries and Galloway. The minister's stipend is £221, in the patronage of the Duke of Buccleuch. The village contains the parish church, Free church, and two schools. Vestiges of a Roman camp are found N. of the church. The Duke of Buccleuch is the principal landowner, and possessor of Drumlanrig Castle, which was the seat of the late Duke of Queensberry, whose monument, by Roubilliac, is in the church. On the bank of the Carron is Enoch Linn's Cave."

"CARRONBRIDGE, a village in the parishes of Durisdeer and Morton, in the county of Dumfries, Scotland, 18 miles to the N. of Dumfries. It is seated on Carron Water, a feeder of the river Nith, and is a station on the Glasgow and South-Western railway."

"DRUMCRUIL, a village in the parish of Durisdeer, in the county of Dumfries, Scotland, 4 miles N. of Penpoint."

"DRUMLANRIG CASTLE, a magnificent seat of the Duke of Buccleuch, in the parish of Durisdeer, in the county of Dumfries, Scotland. It stands on the right or W. bank of the Nith, about 17 miles N.W. of Dumfries. It is built in the form of a hollow square, four stories high, with turrets at the angles, and was finished in 1689, having occupied ten years in building. William; first Duke of Queensberry, planned and completed it. It passed along with the Queensberry titles in 1777 to William, Earl of March, and upon his death, in 1810, it went by entail to the Duke of Buccleuch."

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