dumfries-1920/04-021

Transcription

INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.

lower Esk. The line of division was drawn in the form of a "ditch or furrow"
(fossa vel sulco) from a bend of the Sark to another bend on the Esk, the particular
spots being marked by squared, pointed stones bearing on the face looking east the
Scottish royal arms, and on that looking west those of England. In case of accident,
the actual position of these stones was also topographically defined in the deed of
division. Henceforward the boundary between the countries is the Sark and the
"Scots Dike" or ditch. ¹
It is the rivers that are the determining geographical feature of Dumfriesshire.
It is their basins, Nithsdale, Annandale, and Eskdale, that are its historic units. The
higher land to the east also gives the chief tributaries of the Esk a definite importance,
as Ewesdale and Wauchopedale. The slope of the country is southwards, and the
hills send their spurs southwards. Between the vales of Nith and Annan lie the
Torthorwald Hills and the Lochar Moss; Annandale, in its upper division, is
separated from Eskdale by a high-lying plateau.
Of the dales Annandale was easily, from its central position and its extent,
pre-eminent in a geographical sense. Its roots spread wide. The original grant
to the family of Bruce extends the area from the border of Cumberland on the one
side to that of Nithsdale on the other, and in this sense it was generally understood:
"The Stewartrie of Annandale from Erickstone (or rather Tweeds Cross which is a
mile farther north and the boundary of Tweddale) to Alisonbank the southmost part
and outmost limits of the Kingdome will be 27 miles in length from North to South;
and from Mortoun town alias Tower of Sark on the east to the Castle of Cockpool
alias Cumlongan ² on the west will be about 14 myles in breadth." ³ For this reason
it seems sometimes to have been used as equivalent to the present county. ⁴ An early
description includes Annandale in the region of Galloway, without specifying the
other dales. ⁵ Of much importance, too, were the many patches of morass that
anciently distinguished the more level parts of the country, and still characterise
these to a conspicuous extent. Between Lochar Moss east of the Nith and "Sollom"
Moss by the Esk stretched a chain of such obstructions, of which Hightae Moss and
Nutberry Moss are considerable survivals, and which seriously limited the approaches
westwards. Lockerbie was surrounded by mosses. But boggy land was not confined
to the south. Lochwood Tower stands on the margin of what is still a considerable
morass. The Cairn valley in the parish of Glencairn must once have had extensive
bogland. But the rivers, as usual in Scotland, in contrast with England, favour
advance north and south. The manner in which one railway follows the line of the
Nith and the other that of the Annan graphically records this determinant. It is
indicated even in the shape of the parishes, which tend to have their longer axis
in these directions. The great historic families of Dumfriesshire are apportioned to
the dales, and all Dumfriesshire history - economic, administrative, and military -
moves along their furrows.

1 The frontier was defined thus: ut in ipso utrius partis discrimine trames linearis rectus transversim
ab Esk ad Sark fluvium ducatur, fossa vel sulco vestigium ipsius denotante (Rymer's Fœdera). The "Scots'
Dike" now, however, appears as a low mound, with the trace of a shallow ditch on each side, running
in a straight line through the middle of the plantation on the boundary, e.g. on each side of the road
going south from Glenzierfoot. What remains is in danger of being obliterated.
2 The castles of Cockpool (No. 542) and Comlongon (No. 537) are really different places.
3 Macfarlane's Geographical Collections (Scot. Hist. Soc.), i. pp. 365-6.
4 Cf. Calendar of Border Papers, i. pp. 393-4.
5 Description of Scotland, 1292-6, in Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 215.

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