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Continued entries/extra info

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Ph. [Parish] of Langholm Co. [County] of Dumfries
[continued from previous page]
from the town of Langholm. There is a Woollen Manufactory and Distillery situate in the En. [Eastern] district. Lead has been found near Westwater in the Wn. [Western] district and also at Broomholm in the Sn. [Southern] district. Coal formation begins at Langholm Bridge which extends South to Canonbie where it is extensively worked. Neither of these minerals are however wrought in this Parish. The proposed line of Railway from Hawick to Carlisle will run through the centre of this Parish. There are one Ph. [Parish] School, one Ph. [Parish] Church, one endowed School, two United Presbyterian Churches and one Free Kirk. The principal Mansions are Langholm Lodge and Broomholm, and the chief proprietor the Duke of Buccleuch. Population at the last Census 2,990. Langholm the capital of the district was erected into a Burgh of Barony in 1610, its charter renewed by the Douglas family in 1622 under the proviso that certain leaders of that house respectively erected a house within the burgh boundaries, but as if these conditions had not been complied with Another Charter is said to have been granted in 1643. The Town is intersected by the Esk; that part on the East bank - sometimes called Langholm Old Town - consists principally of one Street having a Marketplace in its centre where the Town Hall and Jail are situate, a handsome structure surmounted with Spire and Clock which was erected in 1811. In front of the Town Hall there is a monument to the memory of Admiral Sir Pultney Malcolm. The other part of Langholm is connected with foregoing by a fine stone bridge of three arches, it consists of about 150 houses built upon a regular plan of a triangular form, and which was begun by the late Duke of Buccleuch in 1778. In the Town are the Ph. [Parish] Church, Ph. [Parish] School, Endowed School, two United Presbyterian Churches, one Free Kirk, Town Hall, two branch Banks, Woollen Manufactory, four Inns, and Post Office etc. Several good shops enliven the principal Streets. A weekly market is held in it, also four Annual fairs, one of the latter being considered the most important next to Lockerbie for lambs. The population is composed of weavers and tradesmen who pay a small quit rent for house and garden to the Duke of Buccleuch the Superior, and who appoints a Baron who again appoints a depute.
"The second principal Roman Way or that which served as the principal communication into North Britain crosses" says General Roy " the Roman Wall at Stanix near Carlisle and leading by a place called Blackford seems to have passed the Esk at or near Langtown Church. In the neighbourhood of this place a road has branched off to the right, leading towards Netherby." An old road is still traceable in this Parish which is generally accredited in locale to be the track of the Roman Road between Netherbie, Castle Oer, and which traverses the routes assigned in the following quotation from the New Statistical Account of Dumfriesshire "The Roman Road of communication between Netherbie and Castle Oer or Overbie can still be traced to have entered the Parish at its South-East corner, crossed the Esk a little above Broomholm and frun thence North-West till it passed into Westerkirk. On the route of this road says the Old Statisical Account, " Some work-people found some denarii aurei viz. 4 Neros, 2 Vespasians, and 1 Domitian, all in excellent preservation." Forts usually dominated in this district. Burians occur throughout this Parish, the origin of which however seems never to have been settled. "Burians" says the New Statistical Account of Dumfriesshire " are to be seen in different places, but whether they were British Towns or Assylums for Cattle or Castra exploratoria, or for what other purpose they were formed and appropriated shall be left for Antiquaries to determine." In the Nn [Northern] vicinity of Langholm at confluence of the Esk with the Ewes stands a small fragment of Langholm Castle formerly the residence of the Nithsdale family, the head of which erected Langholm into a Burgh of Barony. About 3/4 mile S.W.W. [South West West] on a steep precipice overhanging Wauchope Water stood Wauchope Castle the fosse and other outworks of which are easily discernible. It is said to have been the first residence in Scotland of the Lindsay family 12th Centy. [Century]. About 13/4 miles N. [North] of the foregoing on the North bank of the Esk a small fragment of a wall is shewn as the remains of an ancient Stronghold called Barnsalloch Castle, which from indications on the ground appears to have been strongly fortified. Nothing is known about it. The Southern gable of the Buccleuch and Queensberry Inn in High Street Langholm is pointed out as the remains of a border Tower. Several other Towers existed within Parish, the remains of which have entirely disappeared. The Site and Remains respectively of Staplegardon and Wauchope Churches have been pointed out in the burying grounds attached thereto still in use
See Note on Preceding Page
[dated] Dumfries Sept 1857