Parish History

Wreath's Castle and Preston Cross...

Continued from home page Preston was erected as a Burgh of Barony and Regality in 1663 and the newly established town is said to have had a jail and public buildings. The Old Statistical Account records that the village was inhabited, some years previously, by twenty-four farmers but that  there were, in 1795, only three with their cottagers, while the New Statistical Account says that there was only one inhabitant in 1844.   The cross, apparently the market cross, is all that remains. It is said to have been lost after 1794 and to have been dug up shortly before 1850, erected on a new granite base with three steps and enclosed by a dry-stone wall.  The shaft is 6 ft. 4 in. high, cut from a single block of yellow freestone.   MDG5799    WREATHS TOWER     It is not known who built Wreaths Tower, nor precisely when, and there is not enough of the original fabric left to date the tower positively. However, James, Earl of Morton and sometime Regent of Scotland in the minority of James VI, and traditionally associated with the tower, was known to have been an active builder. However, the use of the word ‘castle' only appears on charters after 1580and the first depiction of it is on Gordon's 1636 transcript of Pont's 1595 map (contra Maxwell-Irving, 2000, Wreaths is not shown on Pont's original map). Fragmentary portions of the south and east walls survive, with the well for a wheel staircase in the south-east angle, and an adjacent doorway in the south wall. The tower was oblong in plan, with the main axis aligned east-west. The doorway surround does not survive, but is was drawn in the 19th century, and had a semi-circular head. The basement was vaulted, and the height of the stairwell indicates that it was at least four storeys high. In 1621 Robert, 9th Lord Maxwell received the lands and barony of Preston ‘ with the castles and manor places'. A ‘James Maxwell of Wraithes' is recorded in 1655. After the 2nd Earl of Nithsdale founded preston town in 1663, it is thought that Wreaths was superceded as the principal residence by a newer building at Cavens. In 1667 John Corbet, the former bailie in Dumfries held sasine on the lands as ‘John Corbet of Wreaths', but in 1734 it was back with the Maxwells, and was held by Mary and Willielmina Maxwell in 1742. Around 1773 the lands of Preston, Wreaths and Cavens were bought by Richard Oswald of Auchencruive, Ayrshire, whose family held it throughout the 19th century. Other Sites MDG5243    COWCORSE / MAINSRIDDLE     CROPMARK SITE (Early Bronze Age to Roman - 2000 BC? to 400 AD?) Description A sub-rectangular enclosure which is  visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs, amongst less determinate features. It is possibly associated with a group of prehistoric cist burials uncovered in the immediate vicinity. MDG5806    TORRORIE     ENCLOSURE (Early Bronze Age to Roman - 2000 BC? to 400 AD?) Description A sub-rectangular enclosure which is  visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs adjacent to the site of a former cairn. MDG5807    TORRORIE     ENCLOSURE (Early Bronze Age to Roman - 2000 BC? to 400 AD?) Description A sub-rectangular nucleus around 35m across, is visible on aerial photographs taken in the 1970s and currently held in Dumfries Museum MDG5808    LOANINGFOOT LINEAR FEATURE (Unknown date)      TRACKWAY (Medieval to 19th Century - 1107 AD? to 1900 AD?)    Description A double ditched trackway running NNW, crossing modern field boundaries and heading towards Torrorie. About 160m east of the trackway is a sinuous linear feature. MDG5810    MAINSRIDDLE CAIRN (Early Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 2000 BC? to 701 BC?) Description This cairn was removed about 1843. A cist containing human bones was found below the surface of the ground. The bones were re-interred. A rubbing-post marked the site in the late 19th century, but has subsequently been removed and the field ploughed. MDG5819    WEST PRESTON BUILDING (Post Medieval to 18th Century - 1601 AD? to 1800 AD?) Description Ruined long building, visible on aerial photographs, but not shown on any Ordnance Survey map. This indicates that the building was out of use, reduced and therefore not recorded by 1850. The other slight possibility is that it was constructed, used and demolished within the first half of the 20th century, when there was no mapping undertaken in the area. MDG5820    COWCORSE STRUCTURE (Unknown date) Description 'In March 1963 Mr Kirkland of Cowcorse Farm reported that a large stone had been turned up in one of his fields. Detailed examination showed that there was a stone structure of granite boulders forming an E-W channel topped by smaller stones, on which rested large flat sandstones, lying north-south.   The whole was 9 ft. 9 ins. long, 6 ft. 6 ins. broad and 2 ft. 9 ins. in height. The top lay about 8 ins. below present surface.  The purpose of the structures is not clear. It was not a burial. It could have been a kiln of sorts except for the fact that there is no bowl or fireplace. MDG5823    TORRORIE     LIME KILN (Modern - 1901 AD to 2050 AD) QUARRY (Modern - 1901 AD to 2050 AD) Description About a half-mile south-west of Prestonmill, the remains of a small limestone quarry and kiln bank with traces of stonework, which is probably the outline of a single small kiln.  Ainslie's map 1797 indicates a 'Marle Pit' and two kilns, although the OS six-inch map of 1850-1 has only one kiln marked.  Torrorrie limeworks were probably developed in the late 18th century to supply lime to neighbouring farmers.   MDG5835    HANGMAN HILL CAIRN (Early Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age - 2000 BC? to 701 BC?) Description A "large, circular, conical cairn", on the top of Hangman Hill, itself seemingly artificial, was removed for building purposes about 1844; and under this cairn was found a "kistvaen containing an earthen urn with ashes and some fragments of bones under it." The site was marked by a stone, which cannot now be found. It is not known if the urn was re-buried.   MDG5836    TORRORIE    HOUSE; TOWER  (Medieval to 18th Century - 1107 AD? to 1800 AD?) Description The original tower house of Cavens is said to have stood at the site now occupied by Torrorie farm. Cavers or Cavens was a castellated house, similar to Wreaths and is said to have belonged to, and been occupied by, the Regent Morton in the late 16th century. It was occupied until about 1800, after which it was robbed, until in 1893 very few traces remained.   MDG5840    MAINSRIDDLE    BURIAL; CIST  (Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age - 2500BC to 1701BC) Description A short cist was found by deep ploughing in the area centred NX 947565, in January, 1957.  The cist contained an excellently preserved crouched burial, an early type of Beaker (datting between 2500BC and 2000BC) and a bone ring with one of the nerve holes enlarged suggesting adaptation for suspension, and not as a finger ring. The cist and its contents are on display in Dumfries Museum. MDG5843    MAINSRIDDLE     ENCLOSURE (Unknown date)) Description A possible oval enclosure and overlapping sub-circular one, can be seen as cropmarks on aerial photographs. The oval ditch surrounds a rising area of land, shown on OS maps. Whether it is simply recent drainage, or marking some earlier feature is not clear. A possible second, sub-circular enclosure is visible overlapping the oval one on the south-eastern side. MDG5866    MAINSRIDDLE CREMATION (Unknown date) Description Cremation burials, yielding burnt human bones but no pottery, were turned up by the plough at NX 9514 5647 in 1958, and at NX 9492 5645 in 1965. As the field is under crop the find spots could only be pointed out on the map by the finder, Mr Kirkland of Cowcorse Farm. The bones are now at Dumfries Museum.   MDG8197    MAINSRIDDLE FINDSPOT (Mesolithic - 10000 BC to 4001 BC) Description Several mesolithic chert and flint implements in a mixture of inland and coastal techniques have been  recovered from the top of the raised beach where the Beck Burn cuts out through the old shoreline. They are now in Dumfries Museum. MDG9721   MAINSRIDDLE MOUND (Unknown date) HOUSE (19th Century to 20th Century - 1801? to 1920?) Description In advance of landscaping, an unusually-shaped mound was investigated in July 1994.  A number of standing stones, cairns with cists, cropmark enclosures and stray finds in the vicinity, suggested that the mound may have represented a focal point in the archaeological landscape, perhaps with burials inserted.  Alternatively, or as a secondary use, it may have been a motte.  A total of ten trenches were opened, covering the summit, flanks and base of the mound.  It was proved to have been geological, rather than artificial with evidence of later activity in the form of traces of 19th/20th-century structures, cut into the northern flank of the mound, the remains of a small group of cottages that once stood there. MDG21834   GOWANBRAE / MAINSRIDDLE ENCLOSURE (Early Bronze Age to Roman - 2000 BC? to 400 AD?) Description Small rectangular enclosure (?) defined by a cropmark on aerial photographs. The long axis of the enclosure lies parallel to the road.

According to the 2001 Census, the Parish of Kirkbean, which comprises four small villages, has just 643 residents in total. It is bounded on the northeast, east, south and southwest by the Solway Firth, comprising about ten miles of sea coast and, on its northern extremity, by Criffell which rises to 1,800 feet and dominates the view northward, whilst looking out across the Solway Firth, it is possible to clearly see the northwest coast of England and the Isle of Man. Kirkbean is one of the most beautiful villages in southern Scotland situated, as it is, in a simple rural valley. The church or kirkyard at Kirkbean has had pre-1855 monumental inscriptions transcribed and indexed and these will be added to this website shortly to assist those carrying out their family history research. Nearby Carsethorn village, which was founded by Danish Vikings as a fishing and coastal trading port, became quite an important local port serving Dumfries from the 16th century. The sandy shore here made it safe to beach ships at mid-tide on a falling tide, allowing them to be loaded and unloaded from carts at low tide, then float them off on the next rising tide. At a time when roads inland were no more than rutted tracks, most freight and much passenger traffic was by sea, something which would only change with the road improvers like Telford and MacAdam in the early 1800s.  Carsethorn is first mentioned as a port in 1562, when a ship was loading for Rochelle and Bordeaux. The 'Carse', as it is fondly referred to, acted as an outport for Dumfries, with the larger ships anchoring in Carse Bay before unloading their cargo. There was a great deal of trade through the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s, chiefly coastal to ports either side of the Solway, to Ireland and to the Isle of Man. There may also have been smuggling here too. Until recently, the Blackett family of Arbigland preserved records of one family member who was both an Exciseman ('Gauger') and a smuggler! The amusing fact is that he informed on his fellow smugglers, who returned the compliment, forcing him to resign. However, a more lucrative trade was to replace this - Scotland's greatest export has not been its whisky, but its hard-working and ambitious people seeking a better life in the New World.  During the late 1700s and early 1800s, emigration to the American and Australian Colonies reached high levels and newspaper advertisements show emigrant ships sailing regularly from Carsethorn.  In 1775, the ''Lovely Nelly'', captained by William Sheridan, took 82 emigrants to Lot 59 on Prince Edward Island. The reason for the families going was given as 'to get more bread' - in Scotland, they were almost destitute. A rather grimmer export trade also emerged with the transportation of convicts to Australia. They were marched down from Dumfries and housed in the barracks (later a warehouse) at the river's edge. The whitewashed building remains to the south of the bus-stop in Carsethorn to this day. It is said that, in 1850, 10,000 people emigrated to North America, 7,000 to Australia and 4,000 to New Zealand through the 'Carse', leaving from the jetty which was constructed in 1840 by the Nith Navigation Commission and used by the Liverpool Steam Packet Company. The remains of that jetty still stand beside the deep-water channel at the north end of Carsethorn; apparently, it was a triangular structure of which the longest face allowed the steamers a good pierhead to come alongside. The coastal trade reached its peak in the late 1840s with almost 25,000 tons entering the river and steamboats such as the ''Countess of Nithsdale'' maintained long established links with Liverpool.  During the 1870s and 1880s, the local Captain, John Robson, traded in the ''Defiance'' to Archangel for timber, but this was in the face of a general decline. The coming of the railway in 1850, along with the ongoing costs of the many improvements needed to the navigable channel, started a slow decline in the seaborne trade and, by the early 1900s, very little trade was left. Today, the local beaches and the bird-rich merse where millions of seabirds live or over-winter are part of the rich natural heritage of the parish. Visitors to the National Nature Reserve on the far side of the Nith come round by the coachload to watch birds on the Carsethorn foreshore, before continuing to the nature reserves at Southwick and Mersehead. And whilst the pier is no more, the beach is frequently visited by pleasure boats and yachts, some of which anchor in the mouth of the burn north of the old pier. Since 2006, there has also been the revival of the cockling industry, with cockles being harvested at low tides by professional collectors.

Carsethorn was once a busy port where goods were shipped in and people shipped out to a new life The names of those who left for Prince Edward Island are carved into this wooden boat A map of Kirkbean Parish dated 1797 Kirkbean Churchyard, a rich source of family history information Many convicts were sent from 'The Carse' to Australia The John Paul Jones Museum Kirkbean Church.