Westerkirk | As described in F.H. Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4)

Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Westerkirk

Westerkirk, a parish of Eskdale, NE Dumfriesshire, whose church, centrally situated, stands on the left bank of the Esk, 6 miles NW of the post-town, Langholm. The parish is bounded NE by Roberton in Roxburghshire, E by Ewes, SE and S by Langholm, SW by Tundergarth and Hutton, and W and NW by Eskdalemuir. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 10¹/8 miles; its utmost breadth, from E to W, is 6⁷/8 miles; and its area is 42²/5 square miles or 27,152 acres, of which 160 are water. The river Esk, formed at the western verge of the parish by the confluence (490 feet above sea-level) of the Black and White Esks, winds 9⁷/8 miles east-south-eastward, for the last 9 furlongs along the Langholm boundary. Nearly midway in this course it is joined by Meggat Water, which, rising at an altitude of 1200 feet in the northern extremity of the parish, runs 7¼ miles south-by-westward, and itself receives Stennies Water, rising at 1480 feet, and flowing 5½ miles south-south-westward. Thirteen smaller rills fall into Meggat Water, and twenty into the Esk. In the E, where the Esk leaves the parish, the surface sinks to 395 feet above the sea; and chief elevations to the S of the river are Bombie Hill (1136 feet) and Cauldkine Rig (1478); to the N, Great Hill (1434), Westerker Rig (1102), Dod Fell (1519), and Faw Side (1722), the last near the meeting point of Westerkirk, Ewes, and Roberton parishes. Thus, though hilly, this parish is nowhere mountainous; and its hills are mostly verdant and finely pastoral. Greywacke and greywacke slate are the predominant rocks; and secondary trap, generally in the form of caps, occurs on the summit of some of the hills. At Jamestown upon Glendinning farm, on the left bank of Meggat Water, 5 miles NNW of the church, an antimony mine was worked from 1793 to 1798, and yielded during that period 100 tons of regulus of antimony, worth £8400. A mass of iron, rudely resembling two 4-inch cubes placed together, was discovered on Hopsrig farm in March 1881, and gave rise to discussion as to whether it was meteoric or an ancient artificial British ` bloom.' The soil on the low grounds along the Esk is a light and fertile loam; on the rising ground is a deep strong loam; and on the tops of many of the hills degenerates into moss. Rather less than one-seventeenth of the entire area is either arable or meadow land; some 200 acres are under wood; and nearly all the rest is hill-pasture. Antiquities are vestiges of hill-top camps, supposed to have been outposts of the Roman station of Castle-O'er in Eskdalemuir; traces along the vale of the Esk of a supposed chain of communication between Castle-O'er and Netherbie; and a triangular and seemingly very ancient fortification on the farm of Enzieholm; whilst till lately there existed the remains of a stone circle on the peninsula of the Esk and Meggat Water. The road from Langholm to Ettrick and Yarrow passes up the vale of the Esk. The Duke of Buccleuch, though a large proprietor, has no seat in the parish. Craigcleuch, a very handsome mansion, 2½ miles NNW of Langholm, was erected by the late Alex. Reid, a wealthy manufacturer of that town. Burnfoot, a beautifully situated house, 3½ miles NNW of Langholm, is the seat of William Elphinstone Malcolm, Esq. (b. 1817; suc. 1838), who holds property in the parish of £700 annual value. His father, Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm (1768-1838), was born at Donglan, and his uncle, Gen. Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833), at Burnfoot. (See Langholm.) Westerhall, 5 miles W of Langholm, is beautifully situated near the Esk's left bank, backed by steep hills, and embosomed in wood. It suffered great damage by fire in Feb. 1873, but has been restored. Held by his ancestors for 400 years, the estate belongs now to Sir Frederick John William Johnstone, eighth Bart. since 1700 (b. and suc. 1841), Conservative member for Weymouth since 1874, and owner of lands in the parish valued at £3600 per annum. His great-great-uncle, Sir William Johnstone, who died in 1805, was a member of seven successive parliaments, and acquired a large property in America, besides the borough of Weymouth. Other illustrious natives were William Pulteney, Earl of Bath (1682-1764), Sir Robert Walpole's opponent; and Thomas Telford (1757-1834), the celebrated engineer. He was the posthumous son of a shepherd, and was brought up with difficulty by his poor and widowed mother. After receiving an elementary education at the parish school, he was apprenticed at an early age to a builder, and worked for some years as a stonemason. A stone to his father's memory in the churchyard is said to have been chiselled by him. He afterwards rose to great fame as an architect, and amassed an enormous fortune. There is a monument to his memory in Westminster Abbey. He bequeathed a considerable sum of money ` to the minister of Westerkirk in trust for the parish library. ' The bequest yields a handsome annual interest for the purchase of books, which now number nearly 6000 volumes. Probably no rural parish in the kingdom can boast of such a collection. In 1860 it was found necessary to provide increased accommodation for the library, and a very neat and commodious building was erected, by public subscription, at Old Bentpath. Westerkirk is in the presbytery of Langholm and the synod of Dumfries; the living is worth £400. The parish church, a handsome Gothic building, with a massive square tower and 350 sittings, was opened in Dec. 1881. The Johnstone family mausoleum, in the churchyard, presents a handsome circular colonnade of fluted Doric pillars surmounted by a beautifully carved frieze and an elegant dome. The ancient church and half of the barony of Westerkirk were given in 1321 by Robert I. to the monks of Melrose; and the church thence till the Reformation was a vicarage. A chapel subordinate to the church, and dedicated to St Martin, stood at Boykin, and was in 1391 endowed with some lands by Adam de Glendonyng or Glendinning of Hawick. Another chapel subordinate to the church stood at Watcarrick, now in Eskdalemuir. In 1703 the upper part of Westerkirk was erected into the separate parish of Eskdalemuir, whilst part of Staplegorton was annexed to Westerkirk, the other part being added to Langholm. The public school, with accommodation for 106 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 48, and a grant of $54, 19s. Valuation (1860) £5802, (1885) £8132, 0s. 5d. Pop. (1801) 638, (1831) 642, (1861) 537, (1871) 540, (1881) 478.—Ord. Sur., shs. 10, 16, 1864.

Linked entities:
Feature Description:	"a parish" (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units:	Westerkirk ScoP Dumfries Shire ScoCnty
Place:	Westerkirk

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