Kelton, a parish of Kirkcudbrightshire, comprising the ancient parishes of Kelton, Gelston, and Kirkcormack, and containing the post-town and station of Castle-Douglas, with the villages of Kelton Hill and Gelston. It is bounded N by Crossmichael, E by Buittle, SE by Rerwick, SW by Kirkcudbright, and W by Tongueland and Balmaghie. Its utmost length, from NNE to SSW, is 77/8 miles; its breadth varies between 71/3 furlongs and 5½ miles; and its area is 11,424¾ acres, of which 202¾ are water. Carlinwark Loch (6 x 3 furl.; 145 feet)lies immediately S of Castle-Douglas, and sends off Carlinwark Lane 1¼ mile north-westward along the Crossmichael border to the Dee, which itself flows 63/8 miles south-south-westward along all the western boundary, and is fed from the interior by Mill, Black, Auchlane, and other burns. Along it, in the extreme S, the surface declines to less than 200 feet above sea-level, thence rising to 500 feet at the Fell, 400 at Over Arkland, 1125 at Screel Hill, 675 at Dungyle Camp, and 300 at Kelton Hill, of which Screel Hill commands extensive and brilliant views. Silurian rocks are predominant; soft argillaceous strata lie interposed with strata of hard compact greywacke; porphyry occasionally occurs in veins or dykes; granite is found in the N; and ironstone of superior quality is plentiful, but has never been worked on account of the dearth of coal. The soil, generally thin, in some places is a fine loam, and in others, especially on the small conical hills, is a deep watery till. Mosses of considerable extent are in various places, and exhibit remains of an ancient forest. About one-fourth of the entire area is under cultivation; plantations cover some 630 acres, and the rest of the land is either pastoral or waste. The chief antiquities are remains of a Caledonian stone circle on Torrs Farm; the Caledonian hill fort of Dungyle; another ancient stone fort, 68 paces in diameter, at a short distance from that on Dungyle; a Roman tripod found on Mid Kelton farm; a sarcophagus, 7 feet long, found in a tumulus near Gelston; a number of curious small antiquities found in a morass on Torrs Farm and in Carlinwark Loch; the Gallows Slote, on which the victims of feudal tyranny were tortured or executed, adjacent to the W side of Carlinwark Loch; a moat in the western vicinity of Gelston Castle; and vestiges or ruins of the ancient churches of Kelton, Gelston, and Kirkcormack. The famous piece of ordnance called Mons Meg, now in Edinburgh Castle, is believed to have been made in 1455 at Buchan's Croft, near the Three Thorns of Carlinwark. Mansions, noticed separately, are Carlinwark House, Dildawn, Gelston Castle, and Threave House; and 8 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 11 of between £100 and £500, 23 of from £50 to £100, and 60 of from £20 to £50. In the presbytery of Kirkcudbright and synod of Galloway, the parish since 1873 has been divided between Castle-Douglas quoad sacra parish and Kelton proper, the latter a living worth £338. Its church, 1¾ mile S of Castle-Douglas, was built in 1806, and, as restored in 1879-80 at a cost of nearly £1800, contains 450 sittings. Other places of worship are described under Castle-Douglas; and, besides the three schools there, Gelston and Rhonehouse public schools, each with accommodation for 103 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 46 and 59, and grants of £53, 19s- and £44. Valuation (1860) £13,642, (1883) £20,613, 10s. 6d. Pop. (1801) 1905, (1831) 2877, (1861) 3436, (1871) 3222, (1881) 3458, of whom 966 were in Kelton ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., sh. 5, 1857.
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