Ewes, a parish in the NE of Eskdale, E Dumfriesshire, whose church stands, 400 feet above sea-level, on the right bank of Ewes Water, 4 miles N by E of Langholm, the post-town and station. It is bounded N by Teviothead in Roxburghshire, NE and E by Castleton, also in Roxburghshire, SE by Canonbie, S W by Langholm, and W by Westerkirk. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 9½ miles; its utmost breadth, from E to W, is 7 miles; and its area is 25,010 acres, of which 69½ are water. From Mosspaul (827 feet), one of its two sources, Ewes Water flows 9¼ miles south-by-westward, till it passes into Langholm; whilst from Hartsgarth Hill, another of the Esk's tributaries, Tarras Water, runs 6¼ miles south-south-westward, then 17/8 mile along the Canonbie border. The entire parish, then, is a double basin, rimmed on three sides by mountain watershed. Along Tarras Water its surface declines to 450, along Ewes Water to 370, feet above the sea; and elevations to the left or E of Ewes Water, northwards, are Muckle Knowe (1186 feet), *Watch Hill (1642), Arkleton Hill(1708), *Roan Fell(1862), Pike Fell(1637), and *Tudhope Hill (1961), where asterisks mark those summits that culminate on the confines of the parish; whilst to the right or W of the Ewes rise *Addergill Hill (1276), *Meg's Shank (1571), Roughbank Height (1474), *Faw Side (1722), and *Wisp Hill (1950). The rocks are mainly greywacke and greywacke slate, but include some trap. Less than 1200 acres is arable, and some 200 are under wood, nearly all the remainder being pastoral. Dorothy Wordsworth, who with her brother drove down Ewesdale on 23 Sept. 1803, gives us a vivid word-painting of the landscape:-` Mosspaul, the inn where we were to bait. The scene, with this single dwelling, was melancholy and wild, but not dreary, though there was no tree nor shrub; the small streamlet glittered, the hills were populous with sheep; but the gentle bending of the valley, and the correspondent softness in the forms of the hills, were of themselves enough to delight the eye.' The hills are unchanged, but the dwellers among them have altered greatly in the last two centuries. It is hardly a hundred years since the Lords of Justiciary rode from Jedburgh to Dumfries through Ewesdale, impassable then by any vehicle. Here once, when Henry Home (the after Lord Kames) went for the first time on the circuit as advocate-depute, Armstrong of Sorbie inquired of Lord Minto in a whisper, ` What lang, black, dour-looking chiel' that was they had got wi' them ? That,' said his lordship, ` is a man come to hang a' the Armstrongs. Then, was the dry retort, ` it's time the Elliots were ridin'.' Now the parish is traversed down all its length by the high road from Edinburgh to Carlisle. The property is divided among four. Ewes is in the presbytery of Langholm and synod of Dumfries; the living is worth £389. The parish church, originally dedicated to St Cuthbert, is a handsome Gothic edifice of 1867, containing 230 sittings; and a public school, with accommodation for 60 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 32, and a grant of £40, 6s. Valuation (1860) £5230, (1882) £6663, 3s. Pop. (1801) 358, (1831) 335, (1861) 356, (1871) 338, (1881) 337.—Ord. Sur., shs. 11, 10, 17, 1863-64.
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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.
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