Dumfriesshire, alternately the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries (), is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county.

In terms of historic counties it borders Kirkcudbrightshire to the west, Ayrshire to the north-west, Lanarkshire, Peeblesshire and Selkirkshire to the north, and Roxburghshire to the east. To the south is the coast of the Solway Firth, and on the other side of the border between Scotland and England the English county of Cumberland.

Dumfriesshire has three traditional subdivisions, based on the three main valleys in the county: Annandale, Eskdale and Nithsdale. These had been independent provinces in medieval times but were gradually superseded as administrative areas by the area controlled by the sheriff of Dumfries, or Dumfriesshire. A Dumfriesshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975.

Since 1975, the area of the historic county has formed part of the Dumfries and Galloway council area for local government purposes.

Geography

thumb|right|The Lowther Hills

The coastline measures . The county slopes very gradually from the mountainous districts of the Southern Uplands in the north, down to the sea; lofty hills alternating in parts with stretches of tableland or rich fertile holms. At various points within a few miles of the Solway are tracts of moss land, like Craigs Moss, Lochar Moss and Longbridge Moor in the west, and Nutberry Moss in the east, all once under water, but since largely reclaimed.

The principal mountains occur near the northern boundaries, the highest being White Coomb (), Hart Fell (), Saddle Yoke (), Swatte Fell (), Lowther Hills (), Queensbury () and Ettrick Pen ().

Loch Skeen in the north ( above the sea) and the group of lochs around Lochmaben, are the principal lakes. There are few glens so named in the shire, but the passes of Dalveen, Enterkin and Menock, leading up from Nithsdale to the Lowther and other hills, yield to few glens in Scotland in the wild grandeur of their scenery. For part of the way Enterkin Pass runs between mountains rising sheer from the burn to a height of nearly Loch Skene finds an outlet in Tail Burn, the water of which at a short distance from the lake leaps from a height of in a fine waterfall, known as the Grey Mare's Tail. A much smaller but picturesque fall of the same name, also known as Crichope Linn, occurs on the Crichope near Thornhill. Mineral waters are found at Moffat, Hartfell Spa, some farther north, Closeburn and Brow on the Solway.

Administrative history

The origins of Dumfriesshire as a county or shire are obscure. There was certainly a shire of Dumfries by 1305, with some suggestion that it had existed from the twelfth century. Annandale and Eskdale retained a degree of independence from the sheriff of Dumfries, leaving the sheriff's practical control focussed on the Nithsdale area until 1747 when the separate jurisdictions of Annandale and Eskdale were ended under the Heritable Jurisdictions (Scotland) Act 1746.

Commissioners of Supply were created in 1667 for each shire, and formed the main administrative body for the area until county councils were created in 1890 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889. The 1889 act also led to a review of boundaries of many of Scotland's counties; in the case of Dumfriesshire the two parishes of Moffat and Kirkpatrick-Juxta, which had previously both straddled Dumfriesshire and Lanarkshire, were brought entirely within Dumfriesshire. Dumfriesshire County Council was based at County Buildings on English Street in Dumfries. In May 1975 the county council was abolished and its functions were transferred to Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. Two lower-tier district councils were created from parts of Dumfriesshire, being Annandale and Eskdale covering the east of the county and Nithsdale covering the west of the county and a small part of neighbouring Kirkcudbrightshire.

For lieutenancy purposes, the last lord-lieutenant of the county of Dumfriesshire was made lord-lieutenant for the combined area of the Nithsdale and Annandale and Eskdale districts when the reforms came into effect in 1975. The districts were abolished in 1996, with their functions passing to Dumfries and Galloway Council. The Dumfries lieutenancy area continues to cover the combined area of the pre-1996 Nithsdale and Annandale and Eskdale districts.

Historical population figures

thumb|400px|right|Dumfriesshire Civil Parish map. Published 1854. https://archive.org/stream/imperialgazettee01wils#page/n542/mode/1up Boundaries outlined in red

At the time of the 1841 census the population was 72,830 inhabitants. The population in 1891 was 74,245, and in 1901, 72,371, when there were 176 persons who spoke Gaelic and English. mountain biking centres in Dumfriesshire at Dalbeattie, Mabie and Ae. The Sustrans Route 7 long-distance cycle route also runs through the Dumfriesshire. There is excellent hill walking in the Moffat Hills. The Southern Upland Way coast to coast walk passes through Dumfriesshire and the long Annandale Way travels from the Solway Firth into the Moffat hills near the Devil's Beef Tub. There is also sailing on Castle Loch at Lochmaben.

People

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Notable people from Dumfriesshire include:

  • James Burnie Beck, US Representative and US Senator from Kentucky
  • Thomas Carlyle, essayist
  • Henry Duncan, clergyman
  • Andy Goldsworthy, sculptor
  • Sir Andrew Halliday, physician, reformer, writer, and civil servant
  • William Jardine, Jardine Matheson founder
  • Kirkpatrick Macmillan, inventor of the bicycle
  • James MacMurdo, first British political agent to Cutch State in India
  • Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, engineer and inventor
  • William Paterson, banker
  • Thomas Telford, engineer
  • Joseph Thomson, geologist and explorer
  • John Laurie (Actor) portrayed, among many other roles, Private Frazer in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army.
  • Jane Haining Church of Scotland missionary in Hungary, murdered by Nazis for aiding Jews during the Holocaust

References

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Further reading

  • W. M'Dowall, History of the Burgh of Dumfries (Edinburgh, 1887);
  • Sir Herbert Maxwell, Dumfries and Galloway (Edinburgh and London, 1897);
  • J. Macdonald and J. Barbour, Birrens and its Antiquities (Dumfries, 1897);
  • Sir William Fraser, The Book of Carlaverock (Edinburgh, 1873); The Douglas Book (Edinburgh, 1885);
  • The Annandale Book (Edinburgh, 1894);
  • G. Neilson, Annandale under the Bruces (Annan, 1887);
  • C. T. Ramage, Drumlanrig Castle and the Douglases (Dumfries, 1876).
  • Dalveen Pass

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