DUMFRIES

DUMFRIES, a county in the south of Scotland, comprehending the shire of Nithsdale, the stewardship of Annandale, and the lordship of Eskdale, extends in length from north-west to south-east about 60 miles, and is about 30 miles in breadth where broadest. It is bounded on the south-west by Galloway and part of Kyle; on the north-east by the counties of Roxburgh, Selkirk, and Peebles; on the north-west by Clydesdale; and on the south-east by Solway Frith and the marches between Scotland and England. A great part of the country is mountainous and overspread with heath, well stocked with game of all kinds: but the valleys, through which the Esk, the Annan, the Nith, and other smaller rivers run, are extremely pleasant; and some of them well cultivated and very fertile, and produce oats, barley, and wheat in abundance, both for maintaining the inhabitants and for exportation; while the mountainous parts afford pasture for innumerable flocks of sheep and herds of black cattle, many thousands of which are annually exported to England. In the valleys are several natural woods, and some extensive plantations of different kinds of timber. In the division called Nithdale, are the rich lead mines of Wanlockhead, the coal mines of Sanquhar and Cairnburn, the inexhaustible lime quarries of Closeburn and Barjag, and freestone in almost every parish. Annandale has the rich lime quarries of Kellhead and Comlogan, with plenty of freestone near the towns of Annan and Lochmaben: and in the lower part of Eskdale are limestone and coal in abundance.

The following is a view of the population of this Dumfries county, with the number of souls in each parish, taken at two different periods, and extracted from the Statistical History of Scotland.