A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Tynron, a hamlet and a parish of Upper Nithsdale, W Dumfriesshire. The hamlet stands, 360 feet above sea-level, 2¼ miles NE of Moniaive and 5 WSW of Thornhill, under which it has a post office.
The parish is bounded N and NE by Penpont, SE by Keir, S and SW by Glencairn, and NW by Dalry in Kirkcudbrightshire. Its utmost length, from WNW to ESE, is 97/8 miles; its breadth varies between 9 furlongs and 4 miles; and its land area is 24½ square miles or 15,683 acres. Shinnel Water, rising in the north-western extremity at an altitude of 1500 feet, runs 10¾ miles east-south-eastward through all the length of the parish, then 2 miles north-north-eastward along the Keir border, till it falls near Scar Bridge into Scar Water, which itself flows 37/8 miles south-eastward along the boundary with Penpont. In the extreme E, at the confluence of Shinnel and Scar Waters, the surface declines to 225 feet above the sea; and chief elevations to the N of Shinnel Water, as one goes up the valley, are Tynron Doon (945 feet), Auchengibbert Hill (1221), Bennan (1105), Lamb Craigs (1367), *Hard Knowe (1502), and *Ox Hill (1655); to the S, Maqueston Hill (1063), Thistlemark Hill (1079), *Glenskelly Hill (1493), *Ball Hill (1778), Lamgarroch (1878), and *Colt Hill (1961), where asterisks mark those summits that culminate on the confines of the parish. The surface mainly consists of the glen or strath of the Shinnel, and of two ranges of hills which form its screens. The hills for the most part are green, and constitute capital sheep-pasture. Very much land which, in other circumstances, would have remained pastoral and unenclosed, has, in consequence of the vicinity of lime at Barjarg and Closeburn, been reclaimed and subjected to the plough. Very few acres are flat or strictly low ground, and less than one-twentieth of the entire area is in tillage. The soil is rather thin and sandy; and the crops are neither early nor luxuriant. Upwards of 400 acres are under wood, chiefly natural. Greywacke is the prevailing rock; clay slate occurs in one small bed at Corfardine, and was at one time worked; and flinty slate occurs in a small bed at Shinnelhead. The most interesting object in the parish is the Dun or Doon of Tynron. This is a beautiful steep and conical hill, which, rising up on the peninsula of Scar and Shinnel Waters, terminates the northern hill range of the parish, and commands an extensive and delightful prospect. Its summit, a small piece of table-land, bears marks of having been the site of a fortified castle, and, during last century, supplied from the ruins many building stones which must have been procured at 4 or 5 miles' distance, and laboriously carried up the difficult acclivity. Ditches round the top are still partially traceable; and dense woods anciently covered its sides, and stretched away from its base. Robert Bruce was conducted to the fortalice on the hill by Kirkpatrick of Closeburn, and probably made it his retreat for some time after killing the Red Comyn at Dumfries (1306). James Hogg, the 'Ettrick Shepherd,' was for a short time tenant of the Duke of Buccleuch's farm of Corfardine -a very unfortunate tenancy. A Roman road leads from the Doon along the face of the range to near the head of the parish, and is, in many places, quite bare of grass. The road from Moniaive to Thornhill crosses the SE end of the parish; and two roads go up the Scar and the Shinnel. The principal landowner is the Duke of Buccleuch. Tynron is in the presbytery of Penpont and the synod of Dumfries; the living is worth £425, having been augmented in 1881. The parish church is a neat edifice, built in 1837, and containing 314 sittings. The ancient church was a vicarage of the monks of Holywood. A public and an endowed school, with respective accommodation for 36 and 63 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 18 and 42, and grants of £29, 7s. and £48, 17s. Valuation (1860) £4498, (1885) £5999, 11s. Pop. (1801) 563, (1831) 493, (1861) 446, (1871) 381, (1881) 416.—Ord. Sur., shs. 9, 15, 1863-64.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
|---|---|
| Feature Description: | "a hamlet and a parish" (ADL Feature Type: "populated places") |
| Administrative units: | Tynron ScoP Dumfries Shire ScoCnty |
| Place: | Tynron |
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