Dryfesdale (popularly -Drysdale), a parish in the middle of Annandale, Dumfriesshire, containing in the S the village of Bengall, and towards the centre the town of Lockerbie, whose station on the main line of the Caledonian is 25¾ miles NW of Carlisle, and 75¼ S by W of Edinburgh. It is bounded N and NE by Applegarth, E by Hutton, SE by Tundergarth, S by St Mungo, SW by Dalton, and W by Lochmaben. Its utmost length, from NNE to SSW, is 7¼ miles; its breadth, from E to W, varies between 1 mile and 47/8 miles; and its area is 10,372 acres, of which 140¾ are water. From below Applegarth church to just below Daltonhook the Annan winds 9 miles south-by-eastward, tracing, roughly or closely, the Lochmaben and Dalton boundaries; and Dryfe Water, its affluent, flows 4 miles south-westward on the Applegarth border and through the north-western interior. Along the Hutton border Corrie Water runs 13/8 mile southward to the Water of Milk, which itself meanders 2¾ miles south-westward along all the Tundergarth boundary. In the flat S, the surface, where the Annan quits this parish, sinks to less than 140 feet above sea-level, thence rising north-north-eastward to 234 feet at Bengall Hill, 391 near Lockerbie Hill, 733 at Whitewoollen Hill, 708 at Sloda Hill, 734 at Crofthead Hill, and 774 on Newfield Moor-heights that command a very extensive view. The rocks of the hills are eruptive and Silurian; those of the plains include a very soft sandstone and a dark-coloured limestone. The soil, on most of the hills, is rich enough to be arable; on much of the low flat grounds, is light and dry; and along the streams, is deep, fertile, alluvial loam. About 350 acres are pastoral or waste, 250 are under wood, and all the rest of the land is either regularly or occasionally in tillage. Vestiges of strong old towers are at Netherplace, Old Walls, Kirkton Mains, Myrehead, and Daltonhook. Remains of eight camps, some square or Roman, others circular or Caledonian, occur in different places, chiefly on eminences; and two of them, Roman and Caledonian, confront each other on hills to the NE of Bengall village. Traces exist, too, of a Roman road, running northward from England by way of Brunswark Hill, and sending off a westward branch to Nithsdale. Mansions are Lockerbie House and Dryfeholm; and 6 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 15 of between £100 and £500,15 of from £50 to £100, and 35 of from £20 to £50. Dryfesdale is in the presbytery of Lochmaben and synod of
Dumfries; the living is worth £222. The churches are all at Lockerbie, where Dryfesdale public school, a Gothic building erected in 1875 at a cost of £4500, with accommodation for 600 children, had (1880)-an average attendance of 407, and a grant of £323,18s. Valuation (1860) £10,881, (1882) £18,833,2s. 6d. Pop. (1801) 1893, (1831) 2283, (1861) 2509, (187l) 2825, (1881) 2971.—Ord. Sur., sh. 10,1864.
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