Morton, a parish of Upper Nithsdale, NW Dumfriesshire, containing the post-town of Thornhill, 1 mile SW of Thornhill station on the Glasgow and South-Western railway, this being 14 ¼ miles NNW of Dumfries and 28 ¼ SW of Cumnock. Containing also Carronbridge village, the parish is bounded N by Durisdeer, NE by Crawford in Lanarkshire, E and S by Closeburn, and W by Penpont and Durisdeer. Its utmost length, from NNE to SSW, is 6 7/8 miles; its width varies between 7 furlongs and 2 ½ miles; and its area is 8126 4/5 acres, of which 90 are water. The Nith curves 2 5/8 miles southward along or close to all the Penpont border, and is joined by Carron Water, coming in from Durisdeer, and running 3 ¼ miles south-south-westward along the boundary with that parish, and also - just within Closeburn - by Cample Water, which, rising on Wedder Law, runs 8 miles south-south-westward, mainly along the Closeburn border. Morton Loch (3 ½ x ½ furl.) is the only sheet of water of any size. The surface declines along the Nith to less than 200 feet above sea-level, and rises thence to 1075 feet at Deer Camp, 1452 at Bellybought Hill, and 2185 at Wedder Law on the Lanarkshire border. Along the Nith, and a short way up the Cample, are beautiful belts of very rich holm or haugh, liable to inundation, but well protected by embankments. Screening the holm-lands, a considerable ridge of rising ground swells up from the margin, somewhat bold near the middle, but gentle in gradient at either extremity. The summit of this ridge is occupied by the town of Thornhill, and commands a picturesque prospect of a considerable extent of the valley and hillscreens of the Nith. North-eastward of the town rise two other hillybanks, parallel and of different height, running across the parish like huge natural galleries. Beyond the more northerly, the surface descends at a gentle gradient, and forms a valley; and then it shoots up in bold pastoral heights, which occupy about one-third of the whole area, form part of the Southern Highlands of Scotland, and climb up to the water-shedding line between the two great basins of the Lowlands. The rocks of the lower grounds are Devonian, those of the uplands are Silurian; and Gateleybridge quarry yields excellent freestone. The soil of the first or most southerly low ridge of the parish is a light but fertile loam on a gravelly bottom; that of the ridges immediately N of Thornhill is heavy and retentive, and lies on a clayey bottom; that of the interior valley is partly alluvia and all excellent; and that of the mountainous district gives frequent way to the naked rock, and is elsewhere so thin and poor as to bear but a mottled sward of heath and coarse grass. A considerable tract, lying principally between Thornhill and the upper valley, is still unreclaimed, but would repay improvement. Nearly three-tenths of the entire area are in cultivation; 1167 acres are under wood; and the rest is either pastoral or waste. Towards the centre of the parish, 2 ¾ miles NNE of Thornhill, on the brink of the glen of a little tributary of Cample Water, stands Morton Castle, one of the least dilapidated ruins of its class in Nithsdale. What remains, although but a fractional part of the original structure, measures 100 by 30 feet. The S front is nearly entire, rises to the height of 40 feet, has at each corner a circular tower 12 feet in diameter, and is from 8 to 10 feet thick in the wall. The glen on the N side, with its water dammed up to form Morton Loch, and deep intrenchments on the other sides, must have rendered the place very strong. Of several conflicting accounts which are given of the proprietorship of this castle, perhaps the most plausible is that of the Macfarlane MSS. in the Advocates' Library, as quoted by Grose. According to this, the castle, of unknown origin, was held, in the minority of David Bruce, by Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray; and, afterwards passin into the possession of that branch of the Douglases who became Earls of Morton, gave them their title, and was allowed by them, in their solicitude about other strengths, to go to ruin. Yet the castle has smart competition for the honour thus assigned it, especially with the lands of Mortoune, in the ancient parish of East Calder, Edinburghshire. (See Dalmahoy.) A little way N of the castle, on the other side of the glen, are remains of Deer Camp, a strong fortification with intrenchments, which seems to have been a Roman fort or castellum; and 300 yards S of the castle, on a rising ground, is the vestige of a small station or camp called Watchman Knowe. In various parts, principally in the vicinity of the castle, there formerly existed, or were found, memorials of the ancient Britons and of the feudal times. Close to Gateleybridge quarry. 2 miles ENE of Thornhill, is the Upper Nithsdale Combination Poorhouse, built in 185455 at a cost of £5218, and having accommodation for 126 inmates. The Duke of Buccleuch is almost sole proprietor. Morton is in the presbytery of Penpont and the synod of Dumfries; the living is worth £420. The places of worship are noticed under Thorniiill. Four schools - Morton public, Morton infants' public, Carronbridge, and Gateley Bridge - with respective accommodation for 203, 159, 101, and 62 children, had (1883) an average attendance of 121, 92, 110, and 31, and grants of £89, 19s., £72, 13s., £96, 2s., and £21, 3s. Valuation (1860) £5542, (1884) £8782, 13s. Pop. (1801) 1255, (1831) 2140, (1861) 2253, (1871) 2099, (1881) 2118.—Ord. Sur., shs. 9, 15, 1863-64. See Dr C. T. Ramage's Drumlanrig Castle and Morton (Dumf. 1876)
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