Gilnockie, a station on the Langholm branch of the North British railway, in Canonbie parish, Dumfriesshire, 2¾ miles N by W of Riddings Junction, and 4 SSE of Langholm. The Border peel-tower of Gilnockie stood on a small promontory, washed on three sides by the river Esk, so steep and rocky as to be scarcely accessible except on the land side, and defended there by a deep ditch. It gave designation to Johnie Armstrong, the Border freebooter of ballad fame, and puts in a claim against Hollows Tower, a little higher up the river, to have been his principal residence. Seemingly it became ruinous soon after Armstrong's execution by James V. at Caerlanrig (1529); and, eventually obliterated to make room for a bridge over the river, it is now not represented by even the slightest vestige. (See Durie.) Distinct remains of a Roman station are on a rising-ground a little N of the station.—Ord. Sur, sh. 11, 1863.
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