During research of another subject pertaining to our family, I came across a piece in a local newspaper published nearly 150 years ago, which covers the historic summary of Dalton parish. Having read it, I thought it may be of interest to us as a hub of Carruthers activity through such places as Carrutherstown, Rammerscales, Kirkwood and of course Little Dalton Kirkyard, which is the burial ground of the Carruthers family of Holmains to name a few.
The newspaper therefore offers a lovely piece on the parish of Dalton and the links to our family, which gives us an insight into our past, written by a local journalist nearly a century and a half ago.
THE PARISH OF DALTON. Annandale Observer and Advertiser, Friday 5th July 1878
FORESTS. —The parish of Dalton is fully five miles long, about three miles in breadth at its widest point, and contains fully 6,750 acres. In former times there would be a considerable area of the parish under wood, but the hills would likely be at all times bare.
The earlier kings of Scotland seem to have been fond of hunting in Dumfriesshire, and maintained three royal forest in it—one at Logan near Gretna, one at Woodcockair, and another at Cummertrees, which probably included part of Dalton. There are now about 600 acres of woodland in Dalton.
The rental of the parish, according to the Valuation Roll of the County for 1877-8, lists £6,851 (155 2d). There are about 600 acres of uncultivated or relapsed moorland, of very indifferent quality, probably not worth more than 5s per acre. This leaves about 5,550 acres of arable land and grass parks, which, after deducting the rents of the mansions, woodlands, &e., is about £1. 2s (s = shillings, d = pence ed) per imperial acre. The Rev. Mr Thomson estimated the rental of this enclosed land at 12s per acre in 1835, and he thought it much too high.
AGRICULTURE.—On the hills at the upper end of the parish, much of the soil is of a thin barren clay, growing short unthrifty heath, and little sweet herbage. The barrier of transition rock, which crosses the bed of the Annan at Dormont, dams the river back for a considerable distance, and thereby floods in wet weather, a considerable acreage of fine farm land in this parish, and in Lochmaben and Dryfesdale. There have been many negotiations with the proprietors of Dormont to have this rock cut, but hitherto no arrangement has been come to. In the lower part of the parish the soil is generally the gravel deposits referred to, interspersed with pockets of deep moss. In the centre of the parish and on the lower hills there are tracts of clay resting upon till. There is some naturally good dry croft land about Little Dalton and along the banks of the Annan, but generally the soil is only of middling quality, and it can hardly be said that there is any first rate land in the parish. In 1835 Mr Thomson described the farming as poor and the farms in a ruinous condition, while the tenants, over-rented and with little capital, were unable to make improvements.
A great change has taken place, and now the land is well cultivated, and nearly all the wet land drained, good farm-steadings erected, and the farmers seem to be enjoying a fair measure of that prosperity which usually follows intelligent industry and economy. The arable land has hitherto been principally farmed on the five-years course of cropping. This rotation has been found too short for the successful cultivation of turnips, as the tubers have become liable to finger and toe, and farmers are now adopting the six-years course, in the hope of restoring’ the turnip crop to its former vigour.
From the gravelly nature of much of the land, it is desirable to have a large proportion of the turnip crop eaten on the land by sheep, and the Dalton tenantry have for years been very successful in wintering Cheviot wedder hoggs on their turnip crop. In no part of the country are these hoggs better turned out in spring than in this and the neighbouring parish of Ruthwell.
At the Lockerbie April show of 1869, Mr Brown of Hardgrave showed 20 Cheviot wedder hoggs, the average weight of which was 1525 Ibs., the heaviest sheep weighing 180 Ibs. live weight. There is perhaps no other instance where sheep of this breed have been fed to so great a weight at twelve months old. On the higher lands flocks of Cheviots and blackfaced ewes, breeding ewes to the Leicester tups (male sheep), are kept. There is one large dairy farm in the parish, at Denbie Mains. At the Isle of Dalton there is an old-established herd of Galloway cattle, the only one left in the parish, where a few years ago almost every farmer kept cows of that old-fashioned race, which are found to be too long in getting to maturity to suit moden farmers on low-lying lands. The cattle stock are chiefly crosses, between the Ayrshire and shorthorn breeds, and the usual management is to rear the calves on the farm and keep them till they can be sold to the butcher at two years and a-half to three years old.
The rotation of cropping is generally oats, turnips, and a limited quantity of potatoes, oats or barley, ryegrass generally mown for hay, and two years pasture.
LAND OWNERS.—The proprietors with a rental of £5OO and upwards are— William F. Carruthers, Esq. of Dormont; John Hetherington Carruthers, Esq. of Denbie; Joseph Steel, Esq. of Kirkwood ; heirs of John D. Murray, Esq. of Murraythwaite; Mrs Buchanan of Hetland ; and Robert Munn, Whitecroft.
There are two farms the rent of which is alone £6OO a-year, one between £4OO and £5OO, two between £3OO and £4OO, four between £2OO and £3OO, thirteen between £lOO and £2OO, and a number of small possessions and feus.
MANSIONS.—Five of the larger proprietors have mansion houses in the parish. At the north end is Rammerscales (being an ancient Carruthers holding), the principal part of that estate lying in the adjacent parish of Lochmaben. This large and handsome house was built in the latter part of last century by Dr Mounsey, a scion of a race long resident in Annandale, who, with the perfervidum ingenium Scotorum, had risen to be principal physician at the Court of Russia. Dr Mounsey left no son, and the estate was sold to Mr Bell, who, having got involved in some commercial speculation, left Rammerscales for a time, bidding it farewell in the following rhyme, long current in the district :— Fell ye my woods, Sell ye my timmer, Pay ye my debts, Aud fare ye weel, Rammer. On Mr Bell’s death the estate went to a collateral heir, and is now possessed by Capt. Bell Macdonald.
Dormont (Carruthers ed) is a handsome modern house, standing on the banks of the Annan, and surrounded by a large and well wooded deer park. A little further down the river is Kirkwood (Seat of Holmains in the past ed), one of the most prettily situated houses in Annandale. In the centre of the parish is Denbie (Carruthers owned in the past ed), apparently of an earlier date than the ‘others, and near it is an old dovecot of the shape common enough in Fife and East Lothian, but, so far as we know, the only one of the kind in the county. Mrs Buchanan and Mr Munn have both residences on their estates.
ANTIQUITIES. — There are few remains of antiquity in the parish. There is the site of an old British fort near the village of Dalton, and on the top of the hill near Almagill there are very distinct remains of a strong fortification of the same period. This fort is fully three hundred yards in circumference, and is surrounded with a deep ditch and ramparts which have been faced with stone. It had been divided across the middle with a strong stone wall, a division often found in these old forts.
A little to the east of this fort, at the head the long valley of Little Dalton, is the site of the old peel or tower of the family of Carruthers of Holmendis or Holmains, so long identified with the history of Dalton. Near Kirkwood are the upper stone and broken remains of the supporting stone shaft of one of the rocking stones which have so long puzzled antiquarians to account for their origin and purpose.
TWO FAMILIES CARRUTHERS (MOUSWALD / HOLMAINS). — The family with which the history of Dalton is chiefly connected is that of Carruthers of Holmendis. The name was derived from their lands at Carruthers, a parish now united to Middlebie.
In 1306 Robert de Brus granted a charter of lands in Mousewald to Thomas, son of John de Carruthers, and to the same Thomas another charter of some lands in Annandale, which he had got with his wife, Joanna, daughter of Robert de Applingden.
David II granted to William de Carruthers a charter of his lands in Middlebie in 1351, and in 1361 a charter of lands in Mouswald to John de Carrutheris, supposed to be a son of William.
The Earl of March, Lord of Annandale, granted Holmendis, in Little Dalton to Roger de Carruthers in 1365, and his grandson John had these and other lands, including Crevie, Crossdykes, Peirsby Hall, &ec., at the head of the Water of Milk, part of the lands of Ecclefechan, a ‘“saltcote” with land at Kirkstyle in Ruthwell, and Bengalhill in Dryfesdale, confirmed to him by Archibald Douglas, Lord of Annandale, in 1427. The Earl of Douglas had previously granted the lands of Meikle Dalton to Gilbert Grearsoun, then his shield-bearer, and Rammerscales, Greclands, and Harthat to Michael de Ramsay. It does not appear how Meikle Dabton was acquired from the Griersons, but the other lands were acquired in 1562. In 1411 Archibald, Earl of Douglas, and then Lord of Annandale, gave to Simon de Carruthers, who had succeeded Grearson as his shield-bearer, lands in Mouswald, Middleby, and Dornock, with the patronage of the churches of these parishes, the lands of Hetlandhill, Hoddam, Tundergarth, Westwood, Rockcliff, and Logan. This Logan is near Moffat, and is now nearly all possessed by Lord Rollo.
A large tower had previously been built at Mouswald as the chief residence of this branch of the family of Carruthers, and they also built a small peel on the Moffat property, near the foot of the Cornal Linn. We have, therefore, early in the fifteenth century, two branches of the family of Carruthers at Mouswald and Holmendis, and which was the elder it is impossible to say positively, but the probability is that it was the Mouswald family. (Current evidence suggests that it was Thomas 1st of Mouswald’s younger brother John, who was the progenitor of the Holmains line, making Mouswald the superior until its extinction in 1548 ed.).
Kirkconnel Barony (including Springkell – House) was possessed by a John de Carruthers, but, as he was a bastard, it reverted at his death, in 1427, to the Earl of Douglas as the over lord. In 1452 James II granted a charter to John de Carruthers of Mouswald, son of the shieldbearer, erecting the estates named above, with the addition of a small property in Cummertrees, into a barony called the Barony of Mouswald or of Carruthers, with all the judicial rights and other advantages pertaining thereto.
John de Carruthers was succeeded by his son Sir Simon de Carruthers, who was warden of the West Marches for a short time, and was killed in 1484 at the battle of Kirtle. Sir Simon had married a daughter of Douglas of Drnmlanrig, and was succeeded by his son Simon, who married a daughter of Lord Carlyle, and had two sons—Simon, who succeeded to the principal portion of the estates, and Archibald, afterwards owner of Loganwoodend and other lands in Upper Annandale, and from him the family of Carruthers, still in Wampbray, are descended. Simon was served heir to his father in 1535, and married “Agnes Murray, daughter to Murray of Cockpule, ancestor of the Mansfield family, and they had two daughters — Janet and Marion. Simon died in 1548, and left a deed bequeathing all his lands to his cousin, John Carruthers of Woodfoot, as the male representative of his family. Sir James Douglas of Drumlanrig was an official at the Court of Queen Mary, and got, in the year of their father’s death, a gift of the wardship, and the giving in marriage of the two girls. In their name he succeeded in reducing their father’s settlement, and wrested the estates from their cousin. Sir James fixed on two of his own vassals for husbands for the girls, and Janet was married to Thomas Rorrison of Barndennoch, having been previously induced to sign a deed surrendering her half of the large property to Sir James, on the pretence that he had been at an expense of £2OOO Scots (£166 13s 4d sterling.ed) In defending her rights against Woodfoot, at further charges for her support, and because he had got her a husband, Sir James, in return for this great gift, gave them the five pound land of Dunragane, 1000 merks (£55 11s 1d stg.) of tocher, and engaged to support them for two years. The other sister, Marion, more mindful of her birth and rights, refused to marry John M‘Math, the husband chosen for her, and executed a deed conveying her half of the property to her maternal uncle, Sir Charles Murray. For her obduracy she was confined in the old tower of Cornal, on Moffat Water, and was killed in an attempt to escape from it.
Her estate was declared forfeited to the Crown, but was at once granted to William Douglas of Hawick, afterwards 1st Earl of Drumlanrig, so at last that family succeeded in annexing the fair inheritance of these orphan girls, and there ceased to be a Carruthers of Mouswald.
John Carruthers was succeeded by his son John, who married, in 1604, Agnes, daughter of George Douglas of Parkhead. Mr Carruthers’ eldest daughter, Christina, married Mr John Erskine of Alva, and her eldest daughter, Isabella, married the Hon. James Murray of Klibank, whose eldest son Alexander Erskine Murray, Esqr., Sheriff-Substitute of Glasgow, is the heir of line of this ancient and honourable family, and possesses the remains of their old charters.
The DORMONT Family.—William, the third son of John, who succeeded to Holmends in 1523, got a charter from his father of the lands of Corshopeland. His son Christopher got the lands of Hardgrave from Sir James Johnstone of Dunskellie in 1592, He had previously in 1585, in the Holmends troop of cavalry, accompanied Lord Maxwell to Stirling, and is mentioned in the Act of Parliament enumerating the gentlemen pardoned. However, after the gift of Hardgrave, he seems to have become a partisan of the Johnstone family, and assisted them against Lord Maxwell at the battle of Dryfe Sands in 1595. He also helped the Johnstones in the burning of Lochmaben kirk, and his name appears on the list of those pardoned. His son Francis was returned heir to his father in 1619.
Francis’ son John married Katharine Harris, and from their third son Robert, the late Dr Carruthers of Inverness is said to be descended. Francis’ eldest son John married twice, and his only son married Miss Bell, heiress of Winterhopehead. John Carruthers died in 1722, and was succeeded in Dormont and Winterhopehead by his son Francis, who married, in 1731, Margaret, daughter of Sir Alexander Maxwell of Monreith, but they had no family, and he left the estates to his brother William, who married Henrietta, daughter of William Aikman, Esquire of Carney.
Their eldest son, William Aikman Carruthers, Esquire, was twice married. There was no issue from the first marriage, and he married secondly Mary Anne Arthington, heiress of Arthington Hall, Yorkshire. He was succeeded by the late William Thomas Carruthers, Esquire of Dormont and Arthingten, who married Susan, daughter of Maclachlan of Maclachlan, and they had one son, the present William Francis Carruthers, Esquire of Dormont, who is also now possessor of Holmends and other lands anciently belonging to his family.
The DENBIE Family. — William Carruthers, second son of James, laird of Holmendis, and Miss Lockhart of Lee, seems to have got Denbie from his eldest brother in 1680. He married Miss Irving, heiress of DBraes, and was succeeded by his son John, who had four successors in the direct line, all called John. The last of these, the late Col. John Carruthers, had three daughters, and one of them married the late Mr Richard Hetherington, and their eldest son, Dr John Hetherington Carruthers, R.N., now possesses the estate.
The BRAES Family. —William, the second son of William Carruthers, first of Denbie, and Miss Irving of Braes, succeeded his mother in that estate. He was succeeded by his son, Captain F. Carruthers, whose son Francis sold the property to the late William Curl, Esquire. A branch of family was settled at Wormonbie or Warmanbie, but it became extinct some years ago.
Dalton Parish remains a centrepiece to Carruthers history with Mouswald to the west, Middlebie and Hoddom to the east, Cummertrees to the south and Lochmaben to the north. The information offered, is therefore part of the jigsaw that is our own family’s heritage and in my humble opinion and because of that, worth the read.
What is interesting though is that even 150 years ago, the fate of the Mouswald orphan Marion was described, not as suicide, not as an accidental fall, but clearly of being killed for her lands, which ended up in what seems to be the unscrupulous, hands of Douglas of Drumlanrig. It is said that Queen Mary (of Scots) granted the lands to Douglas, however she was only a ‘bairn’ aged 5 years old at the time, having come to the throne on the death of her father James V as an infant. Her regent, James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran was in fact the actual decision maker in favour of Drumlanrig, not the child Queen Mary.
However, those were harsh times, which it is obvious led to harsh decisions and actions to build power by powerful men. What is blatantly apparent however, based simply on the huge amount of historic evidence available, is that Carruthers have their origins set deep within the Annandale countryside.
As a venerable Border Reiver family, our place in Scottish and Dumfriesshire history is well marked. Ours is a name that is still recognised within the local areas in and around Dalton and its environs and in fact throughout Dumfriesshire. This newspaper article, as perceived nearly 150 years ago, paints a picture in prose that offers an inkling of what life would have been like for our ancestors and the lands they lived on. Not just the Chiefly line, but more importantly for some, the common folk as well.
Promptus et fidelis Non Sto Solus
