Parish History

At the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society meeting on the 17 October 1913, Mr Hugh S. Gladstone MA, FRSE, FZS, FSA(Scot) read as his Presidential address: Addenda to the Statistical Account of Dumfriesshire and Galloway written at the end of the Eighteenth Century by Capt. Robert Riddell LLD, FSA(Scot).3 Gladstone had found in his own library six volumes of the Statistical Account of Scotland, volume I and volumes III to VII. As Volume I and volumes III to VI contained annotations by Robert Riddell, Gladstone assumed that Riddell had annotated all of the first six volumes. He regretted that all his efforts to trace volume II had failed and hoped that the publication of his paper would lead to its discovery.

Contemporary and near contemporary medieval accounts dating from the period of the Wars of Independence frequently describe the tumultuous events of the period but are singularly inaccurate in providing accounts of the number of people involved; exaggeration and distortion are the norm. There are very few sources available by which we can objectively estimate and verify this population with any accuracy. Nevertheless (with many riders and provisos) it is possible to use the few statistics we have available to calculate a range of population totals for specific geographical areas. Sources dating from the period of the Wars of Independence indicate the sharp nature and degree of dispute that occurred but the human tragedy which befell the region and its inhabitants is put into sharper focus by comparison with calculated population totals.

In this case-study of the parish of Lochmaben (Dumfriesshire), the author follows a twofold approach: first, the early medieval (c. AD 600–1000) settlement pattern within the parish boundaries is identified through the use of place-name evidence. The analysis includes eighteen place-names which are ascribed with a rough chronology based on their etymology and comparative place-name types. In cases of uncertainty, archaeological evidence is added, where possible, to aid the dating process. Seven place-names have been found to point to early medieval settlement activity, and another four are considered possible indicators of human occupation in the study period. As a second part of the study, place-name analysis is used to determine the potential age of the parish boundaries. Based on a detailed study of þveit type place-names, the parish boundaries are roughly dated to the period before AD 1000, and may go back to British or Anglian territorial or estate units. It is argued that the parish boundaries, as they are seen on nineteenth-century maps, only received their ecclesiastical function during the twelfth century, when David I of Scots and his successors implemented a structured parochial system. In the course of the casestudy, a particular focus has been placed on locating the now lost settlement of ‘Ouseby’. The suggestion is made that this settlement became deserted in the fourteenth century, and was re-settled under the name of either Greenhill or Heck, both of which survive to the present day.

In 2012–2013 Alastair and Catriona Duncan recorded nineteen audio interviews with over-sixty residents or former residents of the parish of Kirkpatrick Fleming, Dumfries and Galloway, and with four groups: older people, 30-year-olds, new residents, pupils of Primary 6. Kirkpatrick (as the village of Kirkpatrick Fleming is commonly known) lies twelve miles south-east of Lockerbie and three miles north-west of Gretna and the English border. Individual interviews between an hour and three hours long, took the form of life histories. Questions were also asked about the respondents’ sense of local and national identity and about their speech. In the 1930s the village of Kirkpatrick had many shops and there was a vibrant community life based round the Victoria Hall and the church. Some housing conditions were very poor. School discipline was harsh. During the Second World War, the population was expanded by the presence of evacuees, Honduran woodcutters, Canadian air force personnel and prisoners of war. A strong community spirit persisted into the 1950s and 1960s, but communal activities — outings, dances, sports clubs, churchgoing and Sunday School attendance — began to decline. Larger farms have increased in size and modernized mainly into large-scale milk production. An influx of new residents has stabilized the population. Older residents and thirty-year-olds have a strong sense of belonging to Kirkpatrick and of being Scottish, but are unanimously against independence. Speech is the main marker of belonging but differences in speech are fading. All generations share three sites of memory: the school, the river Kirtle and the one remaining shop.

The claim that there was a pre-reformation parish of Irving, which took its name from the local family and was later incorporated into the present parish of Kirkpatrick Fleming in Dumfriesshire, was first raised in the Statistical Account of 1794, and is still a popular understanding today. On the other hand the claim was questioned by Chalmers as early as 1807, and was declared to be ‘a myth’ by Adamson in 2010. This article lists extensive relevant evidence pertaining to the parishes of Irving and Kirkpatrick Fleming, including some taken from hitherto unpublished family papers, and goes on to discuss why the alleged parish, if it did exist, was so named, where it was located and when it was conjoined, and also why Kirkpatrick Fleming was so named. It becomes clear that all the contemporary evidence points towards there never having been a parish of Irving, and that the parish of Kirkpatrick Fleming was so named before the Irving family became significant landowners in the area. The article then considers the sources that seem to explain why and by whom the alleged parish was ‘invented’, and shows that both its likely proponents, a laird and a minister, soon abandoned their fabrication. Finally the likely origin of the Dumfriesshire surname of Irving is attributed to the medieval Ayrshire port of Irvine. While the authors of the Old Statistical Account give valuable insights into contemporary life, this cameo is an example of why we should be less trustful of their recording of local history. 
 

Duchess Bridge near Langholm is one of Scotland’s earliest surviving cast-iron bridges. It spans the River Esk within the policies of the one-time Buccleuch mansion of Langholm Lodge in Dumfries and Galloway, and it was cast and erected in 1813. This note reproduces some contemporary documentation concerning the bridge and something of the narrative that caused it to be.

This essay sets out to trace the development of Sanquhar from the earliest times to the close of the nineteenth century, with a glance at its more recent expansion, a section on its outlying dependency of Crawick and a look at the roads which may have been the main reason for the town’s existence. Conclusions are drawn from maps, observation on the ground, the historical record — mainly the comprehensive 1891 work of local historian James Brown — and information from local residents.

The Truckell Prize is awarded by the Society for the purposes of both commemorating the late A. E. Truckell and his outstanding contribution to local studies in Dumfries and Galloway, and of forging closer links with the Universities of Glasgow and of the West of Scotland on the Crichton Campus, Dumfries. The Prize is awarded annually for the best original research paper by an undergraduate or postgraduate student from the Crichton Campus on a human or natural history topic relating to the geographical area covered by the three former counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire. In 2011, the Truckell Prize was won by Jacky Card for this paper.

The pediment over the centre of Moffat Town Hall has a date of 1827, presumably when it was built, but without indication of a builder or architect. In 1996 the Transactions marked the centenary of Birrens excavations by James Barbour, architect, civil engineer and archaeologist in Dumfries. His architectural works include Moffat Baths, which, according to his plans, he altered in 1881 by adding a new entrance hall at the north side, a stage to the south and a Billiard Room at the rear. The bathrooms were also changed and an attendant’s flat included. There are two drawings by Barbour: one showing the proposed new Entrance Hall with a new passage to the Billiard Room at the northeast corner (RCAHMS – 072333). The second drawing omits the passage and shows a new entrance Lobby and W.C. to a larger Billiard Room. This drawing is more detailed and with the signatures of John Henry, P.Drummond & Son, J. Johnstone and Robert Proudfoot, apparently was executed after 1881 (RCAHMS -D7235-Moffat Baths No. 1). The Barbour drawings differentiate alterations and additions in a darker shade but it is not easy to be certain of the full extent of works and to deduce the shape of the Baths originally built (RCAHMS-D7234-Moffat Baths No 3).

Recent perusal of the Kirk Session Minutes of the Parish of Lochrutton has revealed an interesting record of one of the more unusual functions of that body – the building of a bridge across the Lochfoot Burn in 1740-41. This venture has been compared with a contemporaneous bridgebuilding exercise by the Kirk Session of Tynholm .

This presentation described the content and interim results of a field project being undertaken by the Peeblesshire Archaeological Society, of which the speaker is currently Chairman. Since its formation in 1994, the society has undertaken an active prog

Obituary of Frank Stewart a Life Member of the Society - he contributed a numner of articles to the Transactions on the history of the New Abbey area.

A review article

A review article

This paper is based on the script of a lecture entitled ‘E A Hornel Citizen of Kirkcudbright’ presented by the author as a contribution to a study day arranged by the National Trust for Scotland, which took place in Kirkcudbright, on May 13 2006.

Review of Ian Devlin's booklet 'We Will Remember Them - Kirkcudbright's Sons 1914-18' produced by the Stewartry Museum.
One of the most spectacular War memorials in Galloway is the memorial in Kirkcudbright. It stands in front of MacLellan’s Castle and

A seclection of notes on Torthorwald Kirk Session, 1696-1882; the Baronie of Cluden papers, 1712-31 and Dumfries Burgh Treasurer's Accounts for 1708-10. The notes and observations were made during the course of the transciption of these records held on mi

Undeniably, old (parish and other) churches of any given area, particularly a rural region like Galloway, figure prominently in the historic and aesthetic landscape. Yet as ‘active’ components in their communities, for decades they have been facing an ong

Description of recent research on the lives of Helen and Isobell Walker from the parish of Kirkpatrick Irongray: Helen Walker was Sir Walter Scott's prototype for Jeannie Deans in his novel 'The Heart of Midlothian.' The research makes extensive use of o

In 1946 a Miss Helen Selby brought into the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland a collection of artefacts gathered largely from local sources by her father, William McDowall Selby, and grandfather, Robert Bird Selby, who served successively as medi

Summary of a lecture delivered to the Society on 16th January 2004 by Derek Hextall of the Kirkconnel Parish Heritage Society. The society was set up in 1997. The society has developed several projects to mark the vast heritage of the parish. Cairn School

Review of a publication by Dr J B Wilson. This latest volume is based upon a re-examination of the Minutes of Lochmaben Town Council which run from 1612 to 1974. It refers to a recent publication by the Scottish Record Society of a transcription of the ea

Review of a volume detailing two late eighteenth century visitation rolls of the town of Kirkcudbright. Background to the town is provided against collated lists of the inhabitants and their genealogy.

This volume is literally an alphabetic index of almost every aspect of the life, times and especially the people of Kirkcudbright. Although mainly covering the town of Kirkcudbright it also ranges over the countryside between Ross Island and Tongland.

Extracts and commentary from the Journal of David Gibson a baptist lay missionary who worked all over the south-west of Scotland - centred at Auchencairn. The author has used the volume to provide details of the background to the life and times of Gibson.

In the absence of either any upstanding remains or absolute documentary evidence for the presence of the former Mossknow Towerhouse the Ann Hill Committee commissioned a geophysical survey of two potential locations by GSB Prospection of Bradford. Survey

In an earlier volume of these Transactions, a case has been made for the burgh ditch of Annan not having been dug until the (later) 16th century (Toolis and Cavanagh, 2002, 151-55). The discussion appears in the report on some archaeological evaluation wo

A transcript of this volume was published in 2001 by the Scottish Record Society. It covers 221 pages and records 404 meetings. The minutes were written by the clerk of the time, or his deputy, sometimes in a fair, sometimes in an almost indecipherable ha

The distinquished tradition of Scots linguistic scholarship began long before the twentieth century and the advent of modern dialectology and lexicography. By far the greatest reference work on the Scots tongue to appear before this period, namely John Ja

This paper was prepared by Mr Truckell following his transcription of a microfilm copy of the Minutes of the Incorporation of Fleshers at Dumfries. It provides detailed extracts of the business of the incorporation with much information on the families an

A programme of building recording survey was undertaken in connection with alterations to 53 George Street, Whithorn, a Listed Building. The building lies at the junction of Bruce Street and George Street and forms the north side of the pend that leads up

This paper includes extrensive extracts from the Kirk Session Minutes of the parish of Mouswald for the period 1640-1659. The original volume is in Edinburgh University Library and the transcript has been prepared from a microfilm which has been lodged, a

Review of a thesis for the degree of Licentiate in Archaeology at the Catholic University of leuven which was the result of practical work in the area under the guidance of A E Truckell. Copy available at the Dumfries Archive Centre

Review of the second edition of John B Wilson's 'The Royal Burgh of Lochmaben' which includes additional material.

Summarises the transcription of the customs, excise and bullion books for Portpatrick in the period 1671 to 1699.

Describes a volume within the Tolbooth at Lochmaben, covering the period 1826 to 1880, which contains records of the charters granted to those who had purchased portions of the Commonty of Lochmaben after the Sequestration of the Burgh in 1824. It provide

In 1998 AOC Archaeology Group conducted an archaeological evaluation on behalf of Safeway Stores plc in advance of the supermarket redevelopment of the livestock market on Butts Street in Annan. Of 18 trenches opened, 12 trenches revealed features cut int

Discusses the placename and archaeological evidence for precursors of the mediaeval premonstratenian foundation - particularly in the early mediaeval period.

A revised assessment of the status of the Dumfries Sillar Gun which was gifted to the Dumfries Incorporated Trades in 1617 by James VI. The Trades held a royal injunction to assemble in military array and shoot for the trophy once a year and to encourage

The important excavations at Whithorn, carried out during the 1880s and 1890s under the patronage of the Third Marquess of Bute, were unpublished at the time of the death, in 1897, of the architect in charge, William Galloway. The only published record of