Parish of Glencairn

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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1791-99: Glencairn
1834-45: Glencairn

Glencairn, a parish on the W border of Nithsdale, Dumfriesshire, containing the village of Moniaive, 7 ¼ miles WSW of Thornhill, under which it has a post office, with money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments. It is bounded N by Tynron, E by Keir, SE and S by Dunscore, and SW and W by Balmaclellan and Dalry in Kirkcudbrightshire. Its utmost length is 14 ½ miles from NW to SE, viz., from Coranbae Hill on the Kirkcudbrightshire border to Dalgoner Mill on Cairn Water; at Moniaive it has an utmost width of 5 1/8 miles, and tapers thence north-westward and south-eastward ; and its area is 30, 239 acres, of which 155 ¾ are water. From 1680 feet on Coranbae Hill, Dalwhat Water runs 10 miles east-south-eastward; Craigdarroch Water, from 1500 feet on Cornharrow Hill, runs 6 miles east-by-southward; and Castlefern Water, from 1200 feet on Troston Hill, runs 7 miles south-eastward and north-eastward along the Kirkcudbrightshire border and through the interior, till, ½ mile S of Moniaive, it joins Craigdarroch Water. Their confluent stream, ½ mile lower down, falls into Dalwhat Water, and, thenceforth called Cairn Water, winds 6 ¾ miles south-eastward through the south-eastern interior, then 2 1/8 miles southward along the Dunscore border. Loch Urr (5 x 4 furl.) lies, 680 feet above sea-level, at the meeting-point of Glencairn, Dunscore, and Balmaclellan. In the SE, where Cairn Water quits the parish, the surface declines to 250 feet above sea-level, and rises thence to 886 feet at Slatehouse Hill, 1171 at Beuchan Moor, 1416 at Bogrie Hill, 942 at Peelton Hill, 1102 at Terreran Hill, 1045 at Craigdarroch Hill, 1367 at Big Morton Hill, 1747 at Cornharrow Hill, 1900 at Benbrack, and 1961 at Colt Hill, whose summit, however, falls just within Tynron. Old Red sandstone is the prevailing rock, and a sort of slate was formerly worked near Moniaive. Some 7000 acres are regularly or occasionally in tillage, about 800 are under wood, and the rest of the parish is pastoral or waste. An oblong artificial mound, the Moat, rises 5 furlongs WSW of the church; and 1 ½ mile SW of Moniaive is Kirkcudbright, the site of a chapel dedicated to St Cuthbert. The Rev. James Renwick (1662-88), last of the Scottish martyrs, was born near Moniaive; and a monument to him, 25 feet high, was erected on a rising ground in 1828. Another native was Robert Gordon, D. D. (1786-1853), a Disruption worthy. In the latter half of the 15th century Sir William Cunningham of Kilmaurs wedded Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Robert Dennieston of that ilk, and thereby acquired Glencairn and lands in Renfrew, Dumbarton, and Edinburgh shires. His grandson, Alexander, was in 1445 created Lord Kilmaurs, and in 1488 Earl of Glencairn, a title which became dormant at the death of the fifteenth Earl in 1796, and now is claimed by Sir William James Montgomery-Cunninghame of Corsehill and by Captain William Cunninghame. Alexander, the fifth or 'good' Earl, who died in 1574, was among the first of the Scots nobility that favoured the Reformation; and James, the fourteenth Earl (1750-91), is remembered as a patron of the poet Burns. Auchencheyne, 3 miles SW of Moniaive, is the seat of James Walter Ferrier Connell, Esq. (b. 1853; suc. 1876), who holds 3140 acres in the shire, valued at £1250 per annum. Other mansions, noticed separately, are Craigdarroch, Crawfordton, and Maxwellton; and 8 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 20 of between £100 and £500, 5 of from £50 to £100, and 8 of from £20 to £50. Glencairn is in the presbytery of Penpont and synod of Dumfries; the living is worth £330. The parish church, 2 miles E by S of Moniaive, was built in 1836, and contains 1050 sittings. At Moniaive are Free and U.P. churches; and three public schools - Ayr Street, Chapel Street, and Crossford - with respective accommodation for 93, 122, and 89 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 59, 94, and 37, and grants of £43, 5s., £62, 11s., and £13, 17s. 2d. Valuation (1843) £13,315, (1883) £19, 371, 18s. 6d. Pop. (1801) 1403, (1831) 2068, (1861) 1867, (1871) 1749, (1881) 1737.—Ord. Sur., sh. 9, 1863. See the Rev. J. Monteith's Account of the Parish of Glencairn (1876).

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

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

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