Drumlanrig Castle and the Douglases: with the early history and ancient remains of Duris-deer, Closeburn, and Morton

Front matter

U RU M LAN RIG CASTLE AM* THE DOUGLASES: WITH THK EARLY HISTORY AND ANCIENT REMAINS i if DURISDEER, CLOSEBURN, AND MORTON, BY CRAUFURD TAIT RAMAGE, LL.D., AUTHOR OF ""NOOKS AND BY-WAYS OF ITALY," " BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTS FROM LATIN AUTHORS," "BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTS FROM FRENCH AND ITALIAN AtTHORS," "BEAUTIFUL THOUGHTS FROM GERMAN AND SPANISH AtTHORS," ETC. DUMFRIES j J. ANDERSON & SON. HODDER AND STOl'GHTON, 27 PATERNOSTER ROW. LONDJJN, E.C. 1876. GLASGOW: PRINTED BY ROBERT ANDERSON, ■22 ANN STREET. ro THE REV. DAVID OGILVY-RAMSAY OF WESTHALL. Rev. Sir. Admiring the catholic spirit, the /.cal and unflagging attention, which you have shown in the performance of your duties since your appointment as Minister of Closebum, I cannot refuse myself the pleasure of inscribing to you this small volume, as a mark of esteem and respect.

It contains the Early History of the Parish over the spiritual interests of which you have been placed, and where I trust you may be long spared to labour in your holy calling Believe rue *uj remain, Rev. Sir, Your very sincere well-wisher and friend, CRAUFURD TAIT RAMAGE. P R E F -A C E This small volume consists of an account of the Parishes of Durisdeer. Closebum, and Morton, in Upper Nithsdale, which appeared in the Dumfries and Galloway Courier, with some scattered notices of Burns which I had recorded in the pages of Nota and Queries. As it is the result of considerable research, it has been thought proper to place it in a more permanent form than the pages of a weekly journal. An attempt has been made to bring together everything that could throw light on the early races that inhabited these parishes.

Tumuli, cairns, stone and bronze celts, coins, remains of ancient camps, place-names — the most enduring and probably the most important of all the means of illustrating the races that have occupied a country — have been pressed into service, though, to do justice to the subject, a knowledge is required much more encyclopædical than one man can be expected to possess. The history of a country can only be reached through its individual parts : it is only by descending to particulars, and by recollecting that the bygone ages of the world were actually filled by living men, that the true character of ancient VI