Crossmichael, a village and a parish of central Kirkcudbrightshire. The village, pleasantly-seated on the left bank of the lake-like Dee, with a station upon the Glasgow and South-Western, 3¾ miles NW of Castle Douglas, has an inn and a post office; but its cross, St Michael's, round which was held a Michaelmas fair, has long since disappeared.
Containing also Clarebrand hamlet and a north-western outskirt of Castle-Douglas, the parish is bounded NE by Kirkpatrick-Durham and Urr, SE by Buittle, S by Kelton, SW by Balmaghie, and NW by Parton. Its utmost length, from NW to SE, is 55/8 miles; its breadth, from NE to SW, varies between 2¾ and 4½ miles; and its area is 10, 148½ acres, of which 220¼ are water. The Dee winds 4½ miles south-south-eastward along all the boundary with Balmaghie, Urr Water 4½ along that with Kirkpatrick-Durham and Urr; and in the interior are Lochs Culgruft (2 x 1 furl.), Erncrogo (3 x 1½), Roan (3½ x 21/3), and Smaddy (1 x ¾), with three or four tinier lakelets. The surface, which sinks along the Dee to less than 200, and along Urr Water to less than 100, feet above sea-level, has a general north-north-westerly rise, being studded by a number of low eminences, and culminating at 711 feet on the western shore of Loch Roan. The rocks are chiefly Silurian; and the soils of the arable lands, along the streams and among the hills, which in places are cultivated up to the top, are extremely various, including fine alluvium and rich loam, with some tilly clay, but chiefly presenting a sandy character. Near Glenlochar Bridge stood an abbey, whose history is utterly lost; and of six moats, the largest and best-defined is that of Crofts, which rises in several stages to a round grassy plat, 280 feet in diameter, and commands a beautiful prospect. Weapons and urns, supposed to be Roman, have been found; and a cairn at Blackerne yielded in 1756 a silver ring and an amber bead, now in the Edinburgh Antiquarian Museum. Mansions are Greenlaw, Glenlochar Lodge, Danevale Park, Mollance, and Ernespie; and 10 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 17 of between £100 and £500, 2 of from £50 to £100, and 7 of from £20 to £50. Crossmichael is in the presbytery of Kirkcudbright and synod of Galloway; the living is worth £339. The parish church, at the hamlet, was built in 1751, and contains 650 sittings; in the graveyard is a tombstone to 'William Graham, shot dead by a party of Claverhouse's troop, for his adherence to Scotland's Reformation Covenants, 1682.' There is also a U.P. church, near Castle-Douglas; and two public schools, Crossmichael and Clarebrand, with respective accommodation for 200 and 100 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 89 and 79, and grants of £96, 1s. 6d. and £88, 7s. 6d. Valuation (1860) £10, 725, (1882) £15,024, 4s. 10d. Pop. (1801) 1084, (1831) 1325, (1861) 1536, (1871) 1492, (1881) 1343.—Ord. Sur., sh. 5, 1857.
Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and
optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical
errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from
the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be
different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original
text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity.
This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer
