Place:Dumfriesshire, Scotland

Watchers
NameDumfriesshire
Alt namesSiorrachd Dhùn Phrissource: Wikipedia
TypeTraditional county
Coordinates55.2°N 3.48°W
Located inScotland     ( - 1975)
See alsoDumfries and Galloway Region, Scotlandadministrative region 1975-1996
Dumfries and Galloway, ScotlandCouncil Area since 1996
Contained Places
Former parish
Bridekirk ( - 1975 )
Carruthers ( - 1609 )
Dalgarnock ( - 1697 )
Sibbaldbie ( - 1609 )
Hamlet
Boreland ( - 1975 )
Cleughbrae ( - 1975 )
Gasstown ( - 1975 )
Racks ( - 1975 )
Historical district
Annandale ( - 1975 )
Nithsdale ( - 1975 )
Inhabited place
Ae ( 1926 - 1975 )
Annan (town) ( - 1975 )
Beattock ( - 1975 )
Bridekirk ( - 1975 )
Canonbie (village) ( - 1975 )
Carronbridge ( - 1975 )
Collin ( - 1975 )
Craigielands ( - 1975 )
Dumfries (town) ( - 1975 )
Eaglesfield ( - 1975 )
Eastriggs ( 1916 - 1975 )
Ecclefechan ( - 1975 )
Gretna Green ( - 1975 )
Hightae ( - 1975 )
Langholm (village) ( - 1975 )
Locharbriggs ( - 1975 )
Lochmaben (town) ( - 1975 )
Lockerbie ( - 1975 )
Millhousebridge ( - 1975 )
Moffat (town) ( - 1975 )
Moniaive ( - 1975 )
Penpont (village) ( - 1975 )
Sanquhar (town) ( - 1975 )
Thornhill ( - 1975 )
Wanlockhead ( - 1975 )
Locality
Conheath ( - 1975 )
Davington ( - 1975 )
Heathhall ( - 1975 )
Maxwelton ( - 1975 )
Parish
Annan ( 1632 - 1975 )
Applegarth ( - 1975 )
Caerlaverock ( 1749 - 1975 )
Canonbie ( 1693 - 1975 )
Closeburn ( 1718 - 1975 )
Cummertrees ( 1733 - 1975 )
Dalton ( 1723 - 1975 )
Dornock ( 1773 - 1975 )
Dryfesdale ( 1732 - 1975 )
Dumfries ( 1605 - 1975 )
Dunscore ( 1777 - 1975 )
Durisdeer ( 1771 - 1975 )
Eskdalemuir ( 1724 - 1975 )
Ewes ( 1700 - 1975 )
Glencairn ( 1693 - 1975 )
Gretna ( - 1975 )
Half-Morton ( - 1975 )
Hoddom ( - 1975 )
Holywood ( 1687 - 1975 )
Hutton and Corrie ( 1745 - 1975 )
Johnstone ( 1734 - 1975 )
Keir ( 1721 - 1975 )
Kirkconnel ( - 1975 )
Kirkmahoe ( 1720 - 1975 )
Kirkmichael ( 1727 - 1975 )
Kirkpatrick-Fleming ( - 1975 )
Kirkpatrick-Juxta ( - 1975 )
Langholm ( 1668 - 1975 )
Lochmaben ( 1741 - 1975 )
Middlebie ( 1744 - 1975 )
Moffat ( 1709 - 1975 )
Morton ( 1692 - 1975 )
Mouswald ( - 1975 )
Penpont ( 1728 - 1975 )
Ruthwell ( 1723 - 1975 )
Sanquhar ( 1693 - 1975 )
St. Mungo ( 1700 - 1975 )
Tinwald ( 1789 - 1975 )
Torthorwald ( 1694 - 1975 )
Tundergarth ( 1791 - 1975 )
Tynron ( 1742 - 1975 )
Wamphray ( 1709 - 1975 )
Westerkirk ( 1693 - 1975 )

The code for the parishes is alphabetical. The number for the individual parish will be found on its parish page.

Dumfriesshire, or the County of Dumfries (Siorrachd Dhùn Phris in Gaelic), was a traditional county of Scotland until 1975. Its county town was Dumfries. On its western border was Kirkcudbrightshire; northwest was Ayrshire; to the north was Lanarkshire, Peeblesshire and Selkirkshire; and to the east was Roxburghshire. To the south was the coast of the Solway Firth and the border with England.

Following the 1975 reorganisation of local government in Scotland when the country was divided into regions, Dumfriesshire joined with Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire, the two counties to the west, to form a single region named the Dumfries and Galloway Region, with four districts within it.

In the early 1990s it was decided that the two-layer form of government was not appropriate and in many parts of Scotland the regional boundaries were redrawn and the sections renamed to form a series of unitary authorities. This reorganization did not occur in Dumfries and Galloway, however. In 1996 the word region was dropped from its title and the area became the Dumfries and Galloway Council Area.

Since WeRelate deals with events that are most likely to have taken place prior to 1975, we retain the use of the three counties. Old Parish Registers, censuses, and civil registration entries before 1975 refer to the three counties and their parishes. To alter these to the modern region and council area names would only cause confusion.

Image:Dumfriesshire untitled2.png

Parishes with Codes
1 Annan12 Dunscore23 Keir34 Mouswald
2 Applegarth and Sibbaldbie13 Durrisdeer24 Kirkconnel 35 Penpont
3 Brydekirk14 Eskdalemuir25 Kirkmahoe36 Ruthwell
4 Canonbie15 Ewes26 Kirkmichael37 St. Mungo
5 Caerlaverock16 Glencairn27 Kirkpatrick Fleming38 Sanquhar
6 Closeburn17 Graitney (or Gretna)28 Kirkpatrick Juxta39 Tinwald
7 Cummertrees18 Halfmorton29 Langholm40 Torthorwald
8 Dalton19 Hoddam30 Lochmaben41 Tundergarth
9 Dornock20 Holywood31 Middlebie42 Tynron
10 Dryfesdale21 Hutton (and Corrie)32 Moffat43 Wamphray
11 Dumfries22 Johnstone33 Morton44 Westerkirk


Geographic Summary

Dumfriesshire had an area of 1063 sq. miles (2753km2). The county town was Dumfries, and other notable settlements included Annan, Langholm, Lockerbie, Moffat, Moniaive, Sanquhar and Thornhill. Its principal rivers were the Nith, Annan and Esk, all flowing south through significant valleys which served as gateway routes into Scotland. (Source:The Gazetteer for Scotland}

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Dumfriesshire.

Research Tips

  • official civil (from 1855) and parish registers (from when first produced) for births, marriages and deaths for all of Scotland
  • original census images for all years available (1841-1911).
  • collections of wills and testaments and
  • property tax listings
  • an extensive collection of local maps
  • kirk session records for individual parishes (added in 2021 and not yet complete).

This site is extremely easy to use. There are charges for parish register entries, collections of wills, and census listings (the 1881 census is free to view, also on Ancestry and FindMyPast). The charges are reasonable and payable by online transfer. Viewing the kirk session records is free, but a charge will be made for a copy.

  • The National Library of Scotland have an online map collection of historic and modern day maps which can zoom in on a specific farmhouse or street in a town. Their collection also includes London and some counties of southeast England.
  • Gazetteer for Scotland contains an article for each parish from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland by F. H. Groome, (published 1882-4) and short details about each parish today including names of small settlements within a parish.
  • The FamilySearch Wiki explains a great many legal terms only found in Scotland and provides a gazetteer for genealogists for each parish across the county. It reviews the availablility of parish registers.
  • GENUKI Scotland which provides for each Scottish parish (indexed by county), amongst other data, complete quotations from A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) by Samuel Lewis, John Bartholomew's A Gazetteer of the British Isles (1877), and possibly other gazetteers from individual counties and regions. It is worth reviewing one of its county pages to see what is available online or in print from local archive providers. Each county page has a "Where in ---shire is .... ? section--very helpful in pinpointing the small places below parish level.
  • A list of Burial Grounds in Scotland is now available on the website of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies.
  • The Statistical Accounts of Scotland Online provides access to digitised and fully searchable versions of both the Old Statistical Account (1791-99) and the New Statistical Account (1834-45). These uniquely rich and detailed parish reports, usually written by local Church of Scotland ministers, detail social conditions in Scotland and are an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Scottish history.

Notes for Dumfriesshire

  • The Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society website may point to material of interest to the general researcher. Amongst their publications are indexes by parish for the 1841 census and an extensive list of monumental inscriptions.
  • The FreeCen Project has transcriptions of the whole of Dumfriesshire online for the 1841 through 1871 censuses inclusive.
  • The National Library of Scotland have a website devoted to maps from the 1600s right up to the present. Comparisons of modern-day and old maps of the same place can be made. From the home page click on "Find by place" and then follow the instructions on the next page. Once you are viewing the place you want, use the slider <----> at the top of the map to compare the layout of roads and the place names of smaller areas, perhaps even farms, with the landscape today. The website takes some getting used to. The One-inch 2nd edition, Scotland, 1898-1904 OS is a series of maps with the parishes delineated. Each of these maps cover an area of 18 x 24 miles and will zoom to comfortable reading size with a couple of mouse clicks on the map itself. Unfortunately, they are not geo-referenced, and it is necessary to go to the OS One Inch 1885-1900 series to locate places by latitude and longitude.
  • The Statistical Accounts for Scotland In the 1790s and again in the 1830s, the ministers of the all the parishes of the Church of Scotland were asked to provide a description of their parish to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The original account request included 160 questions to be answered. These accounts are available in print in 20 volumes and are also online where it is freely available to browse. The browsing portal is below the viewing area of most computer screens. Scroll down to "For non-subscribers" and click on "Browse scanned pages". This brings you to another page on which one can enter the name of the parish in which you are interested.
  • Excerpts 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 are provided by Scottish Places. Selections from Groome and other gazetteers from the 19th century are also found on GENUKI.


This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Dumfriesshire. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.