Dumfries
Encyclopedia
Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh
Royal burgh
A royal burgh was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished in 1975, the term is still used in many of the former burghs....

 within the Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It was one of the nine administrative 'regions' of mainland Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government etc. Act 1973...

 council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith
River Nith
The River Nith is a river in South West Scotland.-Source, flow and mouth:The Nith rises in the Carsphairn hills of East Ayrshire, more precisely between Prickeny Hill and Enoch Hill, 7 km East of Dalmellington...

 into the Solway Firth
Solway Firth
The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...

. Dumfries was the county town
County town
A county town is a county's administrative centre in the United Kingdom or Ireland. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its...

 of the former county of Dumfriesshire
Dumfriesshire
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries is a registration county of Scotland. The lieutenancy area of Dumfries has similar boundaries.Until 1975 it was a county. Its county town was Dumfries...

. Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South. People from Dumfries are known colloquially as Doonhamers.

Etymology

There are at least two theories on the etymology of the name. One is that the name Dumfries originates from the Scottish Gaelic name Dún Phris which means "Fort of the Thicket". According to another theory, the name is a corruption of two words which mean the Friars’ Hill; those who favour this idea allege the formation of a religious house near the head of what is now the Friars’ Vennel.

Early history

Located on the east side of the lowest crossing point of the River Nith, no positive information has been obtained of the era and circumstances in which the town of Dumfries was founded.

Some writers hold that Dumfries flourished as a place of distinction during the Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

 occupation of North Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

. The Selgovae
Selgovae
The Selgovae were a people of the late 2nd century who lived in what is now the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright and Dumfriesshire, on the southern coast of Scotland. They are mentioned briefly in Ptolemy's Geography, and there is no other historical record of them...

 inhabited Nithsdale
Nithsdale
Nithsdale , also known by its anglicised gaelic name Strathnith or Stranit, is the valley of the River Nith in Scotland, and the name of the region...

 at the time and may have raised some military works of a defensive nature on or near the site of Dumfries; and it is more than probable that a castle of some kind formed the nucleus of the town. This is inferred from the etymology of the name, which, according to one theory, is resolvable into two Gaelic terms signifying a castle or fort in the copse or brushwood. The district around Dumfries was for several centuries ruled over and deemed of much importance by the invading Romans. Many traces of Roman presence in Dumfriesshire are still to be found; coins, weapons, sepulchral remains, military earthworks, and roads being among the relics left by their lengthened sojourn in this part of Scotland. The apostle Paul claimed rank and privilege as a Roman citizen on account of his birth at Tarsus
Tarsus (city)
Tarsus is a historic city in south-central Turkey, 20 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey with a population of 2.75 million...

; the Caledonian
Caledonian
Caledonian is a geographical term used to refer to places, species, or items in or from Scotland, or particularly the Scottish Highlands. It derives from Caledonia, the Roman name for the area of modern Scotland...

 tribes in the south of Scotland were invested with the same rights by an edict of Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius , also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession to the throne...

. The Romanized natives received freedom (the burrows, cairns, and remains of stone temples still to be seen in the district tell of a time when Druidism was the prevailing religion) as well as civilization from their conquerors. Late in the fourth century, the Romans took farewell of the country.

According to another theory, the name is a corruption of two words which mean the Friars’ Hill; those who favour this idea allege that St. Ninian, by planting a religious house near the head of what is now the Friars’ Vennel, at the close of the fourth century, became the virtual founder of the Burgh; however Ninian, so far as is known, did not originate any monastic establishments anywhere and was simply a missionary. In the list of British towns given by the ancient historian Nennius
Nennius
Nennius was a Welsh monk of the 9th century.He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the Historia Brittonum, based on the prologue affixed to that work, This attribution is widely considered a secondary tradition....

, the name Caer Peris occurs, which some modern antiquarians suppose to have been transmuted, by a change of dialect, into Dumfries.

Twelve of King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

's battles were recorded by Nennius
Nennius
Nennius was a Welsh monk of the 9th century.He has traditionally been attributed with the authorship of the Historia Brittonum, based on the prologue affixed to that work, This attribution is widely considered a secondary tradition....

 in Historia Brittonum. The Battle of Tribruit (the 10th battle), has been suggested as having possibly been near Dumfries or near the mouth of the river Avon
River Avon, Falkirk
The River Avon is a river in Falkirk, Scotland. It originates near Cumbernauld, flows through Avonbridge, through the Avon Gorge, through Muiravonside Country Park, Falkirk, past the west of Linlithgow and enters the Firth of Forth near Grangemouth....

 near Bo'ness
Bo'ness
Bo'ness, properly Borrowstounness, is a coastal town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies on a hillside on the south bank of the Firth of Forth within the Falkirk council area, north-west of Edinburgh and east of Falkirk. At the 2001 census, Bo'ness had a resident population of 13,961...

.

After the Roman departure the area around Dumfries had various forms of visit by Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...

, Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...

, Scots
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...

 and Danes
Danes
Danish people or Danes are the nation and ethnic group that is native to Denmark, and who speak Danish.The first mention of Danes within the Danish territory is on the Jelling Rune Stone which mentions how Harald Bluetooth converted the Danes to Christianity in the 10th century...

 culminating in a decisive victory for Gregory, King of Scots at what is now Lochmaben
Lochmaben
Lochmaben is a small town in Scotland, and site of a once-important castle. It lies four miles west of Lockerbie, in Dumfries and Galloway.-Notable people:*Angus Douglas - Scottish internationalist footballer...

 over the native Britons
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...

 in 890.

Medieval period

When, in 1069, Malcolm Canmore and William the Conqueror held a conference respecting the claims of Edgar Atheling to the English Crown, they met at Abernithi – a term which in the old British tongue means a port at the mouth of the Nith. It has been argued, the town thus characterized must have been Dumfries; and therefore it must have existed as a port in the Kingdom of Strathclyde, if not in the Roman days. However, against this argument is that the town is situated eight to nine miles (14 km) distant from the sea.
Although at the time a mile upstream and on the opposite bank of the Nith from Dumfries, Lincluden Abbey
Lincluden Collegiate Church
Lincluden Collegiate Church, known earlier as Lincluden Priory or Lincluden Abbey, is a ruined religious house, situated to the north of the Royal Burgh of Dumfries, Scotland...

 was founded circa 1160. The abbey ruins are on the site of the Bailey
Ward (fortification)
In fortifications, a bailey or ward refers to a courtyard enclosed by a curtain wall. In particular, an early type of European castle was known as a Motte-and-bailey. Castles can have more than one ward. Their layout depends both on the local topography and the level of fortification technology...

 of the very early Lincluden Castle, as are those of the later Lincluden Tower. This religious house was used for various purposes, until its abandonment around 1700. Lincluden Abbey and its grounds are now within the Dumfries urban conurbation boundary.

William the Lion
William I of Scotland
William the Lion , sometimes styled William I, also known by the nickname Garbh, "the Rough", reigned as King of the Scots from 1165 to 1214...

 granted the charter to raise Dumfries to the rank of a Royal Burgh in 1186. Dumfries was very much on the frontier during its first 50 years as a burgh and it grew rapidly as a market town and port. The land west of the Nith, Galloway
Galloway
Galloway is an area in southwestern Scotland. It usually refers to the former counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire...

, only securely became part of Scotland during Alexander II's reign in 1234:

Alexander III
Alexander III of Scotland
Alexander III was King of Scots from 1249 to his death.-Life:...

 visited Dumfries in 1264 to plan an expedition against the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

, previously Scots but for 180 years subjected by the crown of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. Identified with the conquest of Man, Dumfries shared in the well being of Scotland for the next 22 years until Alexander's accidental death brought an Augustan era in the town's history to an abrupt finish.

A royal castle, which no longer exists, was built in the 13th century on the site of the present Castledykes Park. In the latter part of the century William Wallace
William Wallace
Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence....

 chased a fleeing English force southward through the Nith valley. The English fugitives met the gates of Dumfries Castle that remained firmly closed in their presence. With a body of the town's people joining Wallace and his fellow pursuers when they arrived, the fleeing English met their end at Cockpool on the Solway Coast. After resting at Caerlaverock Castle
Caerlaverock Castle
Caerlaverock Castle is a moated triangular castle, built in the 13th century, in the Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve area at the Solway Firth, south of Dumfries in the southwest of Scotland. In the Middle Ages it was owned by the Maxwell family. Today, the castle is in the care of Historic...

 a few miles away from the bloodletting, Wallace again passed through Dumfries the day after as he returned north to Sanquhar
Sanquhar
Sanquhar is a town on the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies north of Thornhill and west of Moffat. It is a Royal Burgh.Sanquhar is notable for its tiny post office , claimed to be the oldest working post office in the world...

.

It was not from Galloway but from England that most of Dumfries' problems came during its first 500 years. English armies variously sacked, plundered or occupied the town in 1300, 1448, 1536, 1542, 1547, 1570: and it suffered again during the strife of the 1640s. In the invasion of 1300, Edward I lodged for a few days in June with the Minorite Friars of the Vennel, before at the head of the then greatest invasion force to attack Scotland he laid siege to Caerlaverock Castle
Caerlaverock Castle
Caerlaverock Castle is a moated triangular castle, built in the 13th century, in the Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve area at the Solway Firth, south of Dumfries in the southwest of Scotland. In the Middle Ages it was owned by the Maxwell family. Today, the castle is in the care of Historic...

. After Caerlaverock eventually succumbed, Edward passed through Dumfries again as he crossed the Nith to take his invasion into Galloway. With the Scottish nobility having requested Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

 support of their cause, Edward on his return to Caerlaverock was presented with a missive directed to him by Pope Boniface VII. Edward held court in Dumfries at which he grudgingly agreed to an armistice. On 30 October, the truce solicited by Pope Boniface was signed by Edward at Dumfries. Letters from Edward, dated at Dumfries, were sent to his subordinates throughout Scotland, ordering them to give effect to the treaty. The peace was to last till Whitsunday in the following year.

Before becoming King of Scots, Robert the Bruce slew his rival the Red Comyn at Greyfriars Kirk in the town on 10 February 1306. His uncertainty about the fatality of his stabbing caused one of his followers, Roger de Kirkpatrick
Roger de Kirkpatrick
Sir Roger de Kirkpatrick of Closeburn was a Scottish gentleman, a 3rd cousin and associate of Robert the Bruce, and a 1st cousin of Sir William Wallace...

, to utter the famous, "I mak siccar" ("I make sure") and finish the Comyn off. Bruce was subsequently excommunicated as a result, less for the murder than for its location. Regardless, for Bruce the die was cast at the moment in Greyfriars and so began his campaign by force for the independence of Scotland. Swords were drawn by supporters of both sides, the burial ground of the Monastery becoming the theatre of battle. Bruce and his party then attacked Dumfries Castle. The English garrison surrendered and for the third time in the day Bruce and his supporters were victorious. He was crowned King of Scots barely seven weeks after. Bruce later triumphed at the Battle of Bannockburn
Battle of Bannockburn
The Battle of Bannockburn was a significant Scottish victory in the Wars of Scottish Independence...

 and led Scotland to freedom. Today's Greyfriars Church was built in 1868, overlooking the site of the murder on the opposite side of Castle Street, marked by a plaque on a shop wall.

Once Edward received word of the revolution that had started in Dumfries, he again raised an army and invaded Scotland. Dumfries was again subjected to the control of Bruce's enemies. Sir Christopher Seton (Bruce's brother in law) had been captured at Loch Doon
Loch Doon
Loch Doon is a body of water, in Carrick, Scotland. The River Doon issues from its northern end, while the loch itself receives waters from Loch Enoch via Eglin Lane....

 and was hurried to Dumfries to be tried for treason in general and more specifically for being present at Comyn's killing. Still in 1306 and along with two companions, Seton was condemned and executed by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...

 and then beheading at the site of what is now St Mary's Church.

The first bridge over the Nith, Devorgilla Bridge, named after the mother of King John Balliol, founder of Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

, was built here in 1432. Rebuilt more than once and shortened from the east in the 19th century, this is still used by pedestrians and is one of Scotland's oldest standing bridges.
Not all of Dumfries' bloody reputation was externally inflicted. Nine women were burned to death for witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

 in the town in 1659, and two centuries later in 1868, Dumfries was the site of Scotland's last public hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...

. In 1659 ten women were accused of diverse acts of witchcraft by Dumfries Kirk Session although the Kirk Session minutes itself records nine witches. The Justiciary Court found them guilty of the several articles of witchcraft and on the 13 April between 2pm and 4pm in the afternoon they were taken to the Whitesands, strangled at stakes and their bodies burnt to ashes.

Eighteenth century

Opposite the fountain in Dumfries High Street, adjacent to the present Marks and Spencer, was the Commercial and later the County Hotel. Although the latter was demolished in the 1980s, the original facade of the building was retained and incorporated into new retail premises. Room No. 6 of the hotel was known as Bonnie Prince Charlie's Room and appropriately carpeted in the Royal Stuart tartan. The Young Pretender had his headquarters here during a 3-day sojourn in Dumfries towards the end of 1745. £2,000 was demanded by the Prince, together with 1,000 pairs of brogues for his kilted Jacobite
Jacobite rising
The Jacobite Risings were a series of uprisings, rebellions, and wars in Great Britain and Ireland occurring between 1688 and 1746. The uprisings were aimed at returning James VII of Scotland and II of England, and later his descendants of the House of Stuart, to the throne after he was deposed by...

 rebel army, which was camping in a field not one hundred yards distant. A rumour that the Duke of Cumberland
Duke of Cumberland
Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British Royal Family, named after the county of Cumberland.-History:...

 was approaching, made Bonnie Prince Charlie decide to leave with his army, with only £1,000 and 255 pairs of shoes having been handed over.

Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...

 moved to Dumfriesshire in 1788 and Dumfries itself in 1791, living there until his death on 21 July 1796. Today's Greyfriars Church overlooks the location of a statue of Burns, which was designed by Amelia Paton Hill, sculpted in Carrara
Carrara
Carrara is a city and comune in the province of Massa-Carrara , notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence....

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 in 1882, and was unveiled by future Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

, Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG, PC was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister. Between the death of his father, in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.Rosebery was a Liberal Imperialist who...

 on 6 April 1882. Today, it features on the 2007 series of £5 notes issued by the Bank of Scotland, alongside the Brig o' Doon
Brig o' Doon
The Brig o' Doon is a late medieval bridge used as the setting for the final verse of the Robert Burns's poem Tam o' Shanter. In this scene Tam is on horseback and is being chased by Nannie the witch...

.

The statue is just one of a series of associations with Scotland's most famous poet to be found in the town. Heading south past the Mid Steeple on the High Street, once the town tolbooth and prison, you come to a tiny vennel leading to the Globe Inn, his favourite drinking place. There is also Robert Burns' house at 24 Burns Street, South of the High Street, and his mausoleum in St Michael's Churchyard. On the west side of the River Nith is the Robert Burns Centre, housed in what was once the Dumfries Mill. In the suburb of Summerhill
Summerhill, Dumfries
Summerhill in Dumfries is a post war residential suburb on the West side of the town. It is located on the Maxwelltown side of the River Nith that runs through Dumfries...

 the majority of streets are named with Burns connotations.

After working with Patrick Miller of Dalswinton
Patrick Miller of Dalswinton
Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, just north of Dumfries was a Scottish banker and shareholder in the Carron Company engineering works and an enthusiastic experimenter in ordnance and naval architecture, including double- or triple-hulled pleasure boats propelled by cranked paddle wheels placed...

, inventor William Symington
William Symington
William Symington was a Scottish engineer and inventor, and the builder of the first practical steamboat, the Charlotte Dundas.-Early life:...

 intended to carry out a trial in order to show than an engine would work on a boat without the boat catching fire. The trial finally took place on Dalswinton Loch near Dumfries on 14 October 1788. The experiment demonstrated that a steam engine would work on a boat. Symington went on to become the builder of the first practical steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

.

20th century and beyond

The first official intimation that RAF Dumfries
RAF Dumfries
RAF Dumfries is a former military air base located as the name suggests at Dumfries, south west Scotland.-Today:The site is now the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum. The centre piece of the museum is the former control tower, now a listed building. Numerous former military and civil aircraft...

 was to be built was made in late 1938. The site chosen had accommodated light aircraft since about 1914. Work progressed quickly, and on 17 June 1940, the 18 Maintenance Unit was opened at Dumfries. The role of the base during the war also encompassed training. RAF Dumfries had a moment of danger on 25 March 1943, when a German aircraft shot up the airfield beacon, but crashed shortly afterwards. The pilot, Oberleutnant Martin Piscke was later interred in Troqueer Cemetery in Dumfries town, with full military honours. On the night of 3/4 August 1943 a Wellington bomber with engine problems diverted to but crashed 1½ miles short of the Dumfries runway.

In World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the bulk of the Norwegian Army
Norwegian Army
Norway achieved full independence in 1905, and in the first century of its short life has contributed to two major conflicts, the Cold War and the War on Terror. The Norwegian Army currently operates in the north of Norway and in Afghanistan as well as in Eastern Europe. The Army is the oldest of...

 during their years in exile in Britain consisted of a brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...

 in Dumfries. When the army High Command took over, there were 70 officers and about 760 privates
Private (rank)
A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...

 in the camp. The camp was established in June 1940 and named Norwegian Reception Camp, consisting of some 500 men and women, mainly foreign-Norwegian who had volunteered for war duty in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 during the Nazi occupation in early 1940. Through the summer the number was built up to around 1500 under the command of General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 Carl Gustav Fleischer
Carl Gustav Fleischer
Carl Gustav Fleischer KCB was a Norwegian general and the first land commander to win a major victory against the Germans in the Second World War...

. Within a few miles of Dumfries are the villages of Tinwald
Tinwald, Scotland
Tinwald is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, lying a little north of Locharbriggs outside Dumfries.Tinwald was the birthplace of William Paterson, who helped to found the Bank of England....

, Torthorwald
Torthorwald Castle
Torthorwald Castle is a large ruined rectangular tower at the center of the village of Torthorwald just outside Dumfries and Galloway in south west Scotland. The first castle on the site was an earthwork motte-and-bailey built in the 12th century...

 and Mouswald all of which were settled by viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

s.

Dumfries has experienced two Boxing Day
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a bank or public holiday that occurs on 26 December, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth nations. In Ireland, it is recognized as...

 earthquakes. These were in 1979 (measuring 4.7 ML centred near Longtown) and 2006 (centred in the Dumfries locality measuring 3.6 ML). There were no serious consequences of either. There was a further earthquake on 7 June 2010.

Notable people

Dumfries was the hometown of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...

 from 1791 until his death in 1796. The poet is now buried in St. Michael’s Churchyard in the Burns Mausoleum. Burns was born in Ayrshire and spent many years there before moving to Dumfriesshire.

A number of well-known people were educated at Dumfries Academy
Dumfries Academy
Dumfries Academy is one of four secondary schools in the town of Dumfries in South West Scotland.-History:Dumfries Academy has existed in its present form, though not in the buildings it currently occupies, since 1804...

, among them Henry Duncan, founder of the world's first commercial savings bank, Sir James Anderson
Sir James Anderson
Sir James Anderson captained the SS Great Eastern on the laying of the Transatlantic telegraph cable in 1865 and 1866.Anderson was born in Dumfries in south west Scotland and educated at the academy there....

, who captained the SS Great Eastern
SS Great Eastern
SS Great Eastern was an iron sailing steam ship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built by J. Scott Russell & Co. at Millwall on the River Thames, London. She was by far the largest ship ever built at the time of her 1858 launch, and had the capacity to carry 4,000 passengers around the...

 on the Transatlantic telegraph cable
Transatlantic telegraph cable
The transatlantic telegraph cable was the first cable used for telegraph communications laid across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. It crossed from , Foilhommerum Bay, Valentia Island, in western Ireland to Heart's Content in eastern Newfoundland. The transatlantic cable connected North America...

 laying voyages in 1865 and 1866, James Matthew Barrie, author of Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...

, missionary Jane Haining
Jane Haining
Jane Haining was a Church of Scotland missionary. She worked in Budapest, where she was arrested by the Nazis in 1944. She died in the concentration camp at Auschwitz later that year.-Early life:...

, international diplomat Alexander Knox Helm
Alexander Knox Helm
Sir Alexander Knox Helm, GBE, KCMG , British diplomat, was Ambassador to Turkey and the last Governor-General of the Sudan.-Early years:Born to W. H...

, John Laurie
John Laurie
John Paton Laurie was a British actor born in Dumfries, Scotland. Although he is now probably most recognised for his role as Private James Frazer in the sitcom Dad's Army , he appeared in hundreds of feature films, including films by Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier...

, actor (Private Fraser in Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...

), artist Robin Philipson
Robin Philipson
Sir Robin Philipson was a Lancashire-born painter who was influential within the Scottish art scene for over three decades.Philipson was born in Broughton-in-Furness and moved to Scotland with his family when he was 14...

, singer John Hanson
John Hanson (singer)
John Hanson was a Canadian-born British tenor and actor, who starred in several West End musicals during the 1950s and 1960s....

, Alex Graham
Alex Graham (cartoonist)
Alex Graham was a British cartoonist best known as the creator of the cartoon strip "Fred Basset". He was educated in Dumfries at the academy there....

, cartoonist best known for the Fred Basset
Fred Basset
Fred Basset is a comic strip about a male basset hound. The cartoon was created by Scottish cartoonist Alex Graham and published first in the Daily Mail on July 8, 1963. It has since been syndicated around the world....

 series and Jock Wishart
Jock Wishart
Jock Wishart is a maritime and polar adventurer, sportsman and explorer. Until his successful 2011 Old Pulteney Row To The Pole, he was been best known for his circumnavigation of the globe in a powered vessel, setting a new world record in the Cable & Wireless Adventurer a and for organising and...

, who in 1998 set a new world record for circumnavigating the globe in a powered vessel. Roger White
Roger White (executive)
Roger White from Dumfries in Scotland is the Chief Executive Officer of soft drinks group A G Barr.Roger White went to Dumfries Academy and then Edinburgh University where he studied geography, economics and business...

, CEO of soft drinks group A G Barr is a local lad who went to Dumfries Academy. Stephen Halliday
Stephen Halliday
Stephen 'Stevie' Halliday from Dumfries in South West Scotland is the CEO of international energy & metals consultancy organisation Wood Mackenzie.Halliday was promoted to CEO on 11 October 2007 as part of a long-term succession plan agreed in 2005...

, as CEO of international energy consultancy outfit, Wood Mackenzie, is another alumni of the Dumfries Academy. Following William A. F. Browne
William A. F. Browne
Dr William A. F. Browne was one of the most significant psychiatrists of the nineteenth century. At Montrose Asylum and, later, at Crichton Royal in Dumfries , Browne introduced activities for patients including writing, art, group activity and drama, pioneered early forms of occupational...

's appointment at the Crichton hospital his son, James Crichton-Browne
James Crichton-Browne
Sir James Crichton-Browne MD FRS was a leading British psychiatrist famous for studies on the relationship of mental illness to neurological damage and for the development of public health policies in relation to mental health...

 was educated at the Academy.

William Charles Wells
William Charles Wells
William Charles Wells MD FRS FRSEd , was a Scottish-American physician and printer. He lived a life of extraordinary variety, did some notable medical research, and made the first clear statement about natural selection. He applied the idea to the origin of different skin colours in human races,...

, predecessor to Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...

 on the theory of natural selection
Natural selection
Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....

 was another schooled in Dumfries. Geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...

 Robert Harkness
Robert Harkness
Robert Harkness , was an English geologist.He was educated at the high school, Dumfries, and afterwards at the university of Edinburgh where he acquired an interest in geology from the teachings of Robert Jameson and JD Forbes...

 was schooled in Dumfries and subsequently resided in the town. Sir Frank Williams of F1 motor racing fame was educated at St Joseph's College, Dumfries
St Joseph's College, Dumfries
St. Joseph's College is situated on the Craigs Road in Dumfries, South West Scotland. It is a Roman Catholic secondary school but has a number of pupils enrolled from other denominations or faiths. The school began as a Catholic boys' boarding school run by Marist Brothers. It is situated near St....

 as was Charles Forte, Baron Forte
Charles Forte, Baron Forte
Charles Forte, Baron Forte was a British caterer and hotelier. His obituary in The Guardian obituary stated that: He created a worldwide empire of restaurants and hotels from virtually nothing-Early life:...

. St Joseph's was founded by Brother Walfrid
Brother Walfrid
Brother Walfrid is the religious name of Andrew Kerins, an Irish Marist Brother and founder of Celtic Football Club....

, the founder of Celtic F.C.
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...



Chart-topping record producer Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris is a Scottish singer-songwriter, record producer and DJ. His gold-selling debut album, I Created Disco, was released in 2007 and contained the top ten singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls"...

 is from Dumfries. Ray Wilson
Ray Wilson (musician)
Ray Wilson is a Scottish musician, best known as vocalist in the post-grunge band Stiltskin, and in Genesis between 1996 and 1998.Wilson started off in a band called Guaranteed Pure in the early 1990s...

, lead singer of Stiltskin
Stiltskin
Stiltskin is a Scottish post-grunge/rock band, who first achieved widespread popularity in the mid 1990s. Currently, Stiltskin's only original member is vocalist Ray Wilson...

 and later Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...

 was born in Dumfries as were fellow musicians Geoffrey Kelly
Geoffrey Kelly
Geoffrey Kelly is a Canadian rock musician.He plays guitars, flutes and bodhran for the folk rock band Spirit of the West, for whom he is also the lead vocalist on some songs. He and John Mann are the band's primary songwriters.Kelly is also a full time member of The Paperboys, and released a solo...

 and Ian Carr
Ian Carr
Ian Carr was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator.-Early years:Carr was born in Dumfries, Scotland, the elder brother of Mike Carr...

. While Bill Drummond
Bill Drummond
William Ernest Drummond is a Scottish artist, musician, writer and record producer. He was the co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde pop group The KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he burned a million pounds in 1994...

 of KLF is from Newton Stewart
Newton Stewart
Newton Stewart is a burgh town in the south of Scotland in the west of the region of Dumfries and Galloway and in the county of Wigtownshire....

 he is one of the Queen of the South fans included here. Emma's Imagination
Emma's Imagination
Emma Gillespie , better known by her stage name Emma's Imagination, is a Scottish singer. She first came to prominence after winning the Sky1 TV talent contest Must Be the Music. She has since been signed to Gary Barlow's music label Future Records...

 singer Emma Gillespie is from Dumfries. Opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 singer Nicky Spence
Nicky Spence
Nicky Spence is a Scottish tenor performing in opera, oratorio and concerts.-Early years:Spence was born in Dumfries in 1983. According to the biography on his web site "although struggling from a broken home, he thrived in life with a huge love of performing and working in his local chippy to...

 was born in Dumfries as was Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent
Britain's Got Talent is a British television talent show competition which started in June 2007 and originated from the Got Talent series. The show is produced by FremantleMedia's TalkbackThames and Simon Cowell's production company SYCOtv. The show is broadcast on ITV in Britain and TV3 in Ireland...

 singer Andrew Johnston
Andrew Johnston (singer)
Andrew Johnston is a British singer who rose to fame when he appeared as a boy soprano on the second series of the British television talent show Britain's Got Talent in 2008. Although he did not win the series, he received a contract to record on the SyCo Music label owned by the Britain's Got...

. Nigel Sinclair CBE
Nigel Sinclair
Nigel Sinclair CBE is a Scottish producer of Hollywood films.-Early life:He was born in Dumfries and graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1969. He practiced law until he moved to Los Angeles in 1980 and married Patricia Sinclair...

 is a Hollywood film producer. Michael Carter's acting career has seen him appear in a variety or productions ranging from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It is the third film released in the Star Wars saga, and the sixth in terms of the series' internal chronology...

to Rebus
Rebus (TV series)
Rebus is the title of the detective drama based on the Inspector Rebus novels by the Scottish author Ian Rankin set in and around Edinburgh produced by STV Productions for the ITV Network....

.

Dumfries has produced a steady stream of professional footballers and managers. The best known footballers of their eras to come from Dumfries are probably Dave Halliday
Dave Halliday
David "Dave" Halliday was a Scottish footballing prolific goalscorer and trophy winning manager. His 38 goals in 1923-24 made him top scorer in Scotland's top flight that season and 43 goals in 1928–29 gave him the same distinction in England's top flight that season. He scored 376 senior goals as...

, Ian Dickson
Ian Dickson (footballer)
Ian William Dickson was a Scottish professional footballer whose played as a forward. He played for Queen of the South, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough...

, Bobby Ancell
Bobby Ancell
Robert Francis Dudgeon Ancell was a Scottish football player and manager. He played as a left back and was capped twice by the Scottish national side.-Player:...

, Billy Houliston
Billy Houliston
William "Billy" Houliston was a Scottish footballer who played for Crichton, Queen of the South, Berwick Rangers, Third Lanark and the Scotland national team.-Early years:...

, Jimmy McIntosh
Jimmy McIntosh
James McLaughlin "Jimmy" McIntosh was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. As a player McIntosh was a fast, strong, stocky, forward.-Blackpool :...

, Willie McNaught
Willie McNaught
Willie McNaught is a Scottish former football player. McNaught holds the Raith Rovers record for the number of appearances with the club of 657 between 1941 and 1962. McNaught was club captain and at international gained five full Scotland caps and six Scottish League caps...

 and Ted McMinn
Ted McMinn
Kevin Clifton "Ted" McMinn is a Scottish former association footballer who played as a winger. His nickname is The Tin Man.-Early years:...

. Halliday, Dickson, Houliston and McMinn played for home town club, Queen of the South during their careers. Dominic Matteo
Dominic Matteo
Dominic Matteo is a former Scottish footballer and a Scottish national football team international. He has played most recently as a defender for Stoke City, but spent most of his career at Liverpool and Leeds United.-Club career:...

 was born in Dumfries but moved to England while still a young boy. Barry Nicholson
Barry Nicholson
Barry Nicholson is a Scottish professional footballer who currently plays as a midfielder for Preston North End.-Early years:...

 lost 4–3 to Queens playing for Aberdeen
Aberdeen F.C.
Aberdeen Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen...

 in the 2008 Scottish Cup
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,, commonly known as the Scottish Cup or the William Hill Scottish Cup for sponsorship purposes, is the main national cup competition in Scottish football. It is a knockout cup competition run by and named after the Scottish Football Association.The...

 semi-finals despite scoring against the team he supported as a boy. Ancell, Houliston, McNaught and Nicholson have represented Scotland and were joined in having done so in season 2010/11 by Cammy Bell
Cammy Bell
Cameron "Cammy" Bell is a Scottish internationalist professional association footballer. Bell is a goalkeeper and currently plays for Scottish Premier League club Kilmarnock.-Early years:...

 and Grant Hanley
Grant Hanley
Grant Hanley is a Scottish footballer who plays for Blackburn Rovers and the Scotland national team.-Early years:Hanley was born in Dumfries, Scotland...

. Matteo gained 6 full caps for Scotland after having represented England at under-21 level. Halliday was overlooked by Scotland in favour of Hughie Gallacher
Hughie Gallacher
Hugh Kilpatrick "Hughie" Gallacher was a Scottish football player in the 1920s and 1930s. In 624 senior games, Gallacher scored 463 times....

. Gallacher played for Queens but was not from Dumfries. It was as a manager rather than a player that Thomas Mitchell
Thomas Mitchell (football manager)
Thomas Brown Mitchell was a multiple FA Cup winning Scottish football manager.-Blackburn Rovers:Mitchell became secretary-manager of Blackburn Rovers in 1884. The club then went on to five FA Cup wins in eight seasons between 1884 and 1891. The final win in 1891 was against the Notts County side...

 made his name as a multiple F.A. Cup winner at Blackburn Rovers before joining Woolwich Arsenal as Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...

 were then named.

Dumfries is also the hometown of twice 24 Hours of Le Mans
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...

 winner, Allan McNish
Allan McNish
Allan McNish is a Scottish racing driver. He is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2008, and two-time American Le Mans Series champion.- Early life :...

, as it was to David Leslie (racing driver)
David Leslie (racing driver)
David Leslie was a racing driver. He was most associated with the British Touring Car Championship, in which he was runner-up in 1999. He was particularly noted for his development skill, helping both Honda and Nissan become BTCC race winners...

. Another racing driver, David Coulthard
David Coulthard
David Marshall Coulthard, MBE, , sometimes known as DC, is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland.Coulthard, who was born in Dumfries and raised nearby in Twynholm, made his Formula One debut in 1994 and won 13 Grands Prix in a career spanning 15 seasons...

 was born in Dumfries and raised in nearby Twynholm
Twynholm
Twynholm is a small village in Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfries and Galloway. It is located 3km north-north west of Kirkcudbright.Twynholm is the home town of Formula One racing driver David Coulthard. A museum to his career was established in the village and is a popular tourist attraction.The...

. Scotland rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 internationalists Duncan Hodge
Duncan Hodge
Duncan Hodge was Duncan Hodge was Duncan Hodge was (born August 18, 1974 in Dumfries, Scotland, is a Scottish former internationalist rugby union player. He gained 26 full caps for Scotland.-Playing career:Hodge was born in Dumfries and educated at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh....

, Nick De Luca
Nick De Luca
Nick De Luca is a Scottish internationalist professional rugby union player. He currently plays club rugby for Edinburgh Rugby in the RaboDirect Pro12.-Club rugby:...

 and Craig Hamilton
Craig Hamilton
Craig Peter Hamilton is a Scottish internationalist rugby union player. His position is lock and currently he plays at club level for Edinburgh Rugby.-Career:...

 were born in Dumfries as were professional golfers Andrew Coltart
Andrew Coltart
Andrew John Coltart is a Scottish professional golfer.-Junior and amateur:Coltart was born in Dumfries. As an amateur, he won the 1987 Scottish Boys Championship and the 1991 Scottish Amateur Stroke Play Championship, and participated in the 1991 Walker Cup.-Professional:Coltart turned...

 and Robert Dinwiddie
Robert Dinwiddie (golfer)
-Early years:Dinwiddie was born in Dumfries, Scotland. He went to college in the United States, where he attended Tennessee State University, and was the number one ranked English golfer....

. Curling
Curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...

 world champions David Murdoch
David Murdoch
David Murdoch is a Scottish curler from Lockerbie. Murdoch and his former team of Ewan MacDonald, Warwick Smith, Euan Byers and Peter Smith were the 2006 and 2009 World Curling Champions.-Background:...

, Euan Byers
Euan Byers
Euan Byers is a Scottish curler.Byers started playing curling in 1983. He plays in first position and is right-handed...

 and Craig Wilson
Craig Wilson (curler)
Craig Wilson is a Scottish curler from Dunblane. In 1993, Wilson won the World Junior Curling Championships for his Scotland team over Michel Ferland of Canada...

 were all born in Dumfries. Former darts
Darts
Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...

 champion Rab Smith
Rab Smith
-Career:Smith won the 1977 British Matchplay, beating Bill Lennard in the semi finals and then Eric Bristow in the final. In 1977 he also won the Golden Darts Championship and the British Pentathlon.Smith played in six successive Embassy World Darts Championship...

 is another Doonhamer.

BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 Broadcaster Kirsty Wark
Kirsty Wark
Kirsteen Anne Wark is a British journalist and television presenter best known for fronting the BBC Two's news and current affairs programme Newsnight since 1993, and its weekly arts annexe Newsnight Review which is now relaunched as "The Review Show".-Biography:Wark was born in Dumfries to Jimmy...

 was born in the town as was fellow broadcaster Stephen Jardine
Stephen Jardine
Stephen Jardine is a Scottish journalist and presenter. He has worked for Scottish Television, GMTV and Radio Tay. He now runs Scotland's first dedicated food and drink communications consultancy, Taste Communications.-Early years:...

. Neil Oliver
Neil Oliver
Neil Oliver is a Scottish broadcaster and author. He grew up in Ayr and Dumfries before attending Glasgow University to study archaeology...

 (archaeologist, historian, author and broadcaster), grew up in Ayr and Dumfries. Author and earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

 scientist Dougal Dixon
Dougal Dixon
-Biography:Dixon studied geology and palaeontology at the University of St. Andrews and is best known for his illustrated works of speculative fiction, which largely concern "zoologies of the future": his own visions of how human beings and animals might evolve in millions of years' time...

 is from Dumfries. Hunter Davies
Hunter Davies
Edward Hunter Davies is a prolific British author, journalist and broadcaster, perhaps best known for writing the only authorised biography of The Beatles.- Early life :...

 (author, journalist and broadcaster) lived in Dumfries for four years as a boy. James Hannay
James Hannay
James Hannay , was a Scottish novelist, journalist and diplomat.-Biography:Hannay was born at Dumfries, Scotland, and at age 13 joined the Royal Navy from which he was dismissed 5 years later....

 as well as being a novelist and journalist spent the last five years of his life as the British consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

 in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

. John Mayne
John Mayne
John Mayne , was a Scottish poet born in Dumfries, South West Scotland. In 1780, his poem The Siller Gun appeared in its original form in Ruddiman's Magazine, published by Walter Ruddiman in Edinburgh. It is a humorous poem descriptive of an ancient custom in Dumfries of shooting for the "Siller...

 was born in Dumfries in 1759 and contributed in the field of poetry. World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 William Hamilton
William Hamilton (soldier)
William Robert Hamilton was a Scottish poet and First World War soldier. He was born in Dumfries, Scotland. He emigrated to South Africa where a portion of his education was at the South African College, Cape Town...

 was another born in Dumfries.

Archibald Gracie
Archibald Gracie (merchant)
Archibald Gracie was a Scottish-born shipping magnate and early American businessman and merchant in New York City and Virginia whose spacious home, Gracie Mansion, now serves as the residency of the Mayor of New York City.-Early years:Gracie was the son of a weaver named William Gracie, of...

, shipping magnate and business tycoon in USA, was from Dumfries. John McFarlane
John McFarlane
John McFarlane was chief executive of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. , one of Australia's leading banks, after a decade of service, during which time he turned around the financial performance of the bank, and spearheaded an effort, called "Breakout", to transform the Bank...

, CEO of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) originates from the town, as does Bill Nelson (DFP) who was also with the ANZ (formerly AMP, Westpac and now with AXA). The architect George Corson
George Corson
thumb|right|Spenfield House, 1875-77George Corson was a Scottish architect active in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.He was born in Dumfries, where he was articled to Walter Newall before moving to Leeds in 1849 to work with his brother William Reid Corson who was working there with Edward La Trobe...

 who worked mainly in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, was born in Dumfries and articled to Walter Newall
Walter Newall
Walter Newall was a Scottish architect and civil engineer, born at Doubledyke in the parish of New Abbey, near Dumfries in south-west Scotland...

 in the town.

Politician David Mundell
David Mundell
David Gordon Mundell is a British Conservative politician and, since 2005, he has been the only Conservative Member of Parliament representing a Scottish Westminster constituency...

 was born in Dumfries as were William Dickson
William Dickson (Upper Canada)
William Dickson was a businessman, lawyer and political figure in Upper Canada.He was born in Dumfries, Scotland in 1769. In 1785, he emigrated to the Niagara peninsula, where he managed mills and a store for Robert Hamilton, his cousin...

, William Pattison Telford, Sr.
William Pattison Telford, Sr.
William Pattison Telford was a Canadian banker and politician.Born in Castleton, Roxburghshire, Scotland, Telford was educated at public schools in Dumfries, Waterloo County, Sydenham, Grey County and at the Toronto Normal School...

 and Ambrose Blacklock
Ambrose Blacklock
Ambrose Blacklock was a Scottish-born farmer, physician and political figure in Upper Canada.He was born in Dumfries and studied medicine in Scotland. In 1807, he was commissioned as a surgeon in the Royal Navy. He served on lakes Ontario and Champlain during the War of 1812. Blacklock lived in...

 all of whom made their mark politically in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Malcolm H. Wright was also born in Dumfries, father of Sophie B. Wright
Sophie B. Wright
Sophie Bell Wright was a New Orleans, Louisiana, educator.Wright was born to a formerly well-to-do family that had become impoverished as a result of the American Civil War. Wright's father, Malcolm H. Wright, was born in Dumfries in southwest Scotland. As a child, Wright was crippled in an...

 – New Orleans' educator and pioneer for women and children's rights. Suffragette and feminist campaigner Dora Marsden
Dora Marsden
Dora Marsden was an English feminist editor of avant-garde literary journals, and an author of philosophical writings.-Early life:...

 spent the last 25 years of her life being cared for in Dumfries after her psychological breakdown. Dr Ian Gibson
Ian Gibson (politician)
Ian Gibson is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Norwich North from 1997 to 2009...

 is another to leave his mark on politics.

James Edward Tait
James Edward Tait
James Edward Tait VC MC , was a Scottish/Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.-Biography:Tait was born on 27 May 1886 to James Bryden Tait and Mary Johnstone...

 was a Dumfries-born recipient of the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

. William Robertson
William Robertson (VC)
Lieutenant-Colonel William Robertson VC CBE was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.-Details:Robertson was 34 years old, and a sergeant-major in the 2nd...

 and Edward Spence
Edward Spence
Edward Spence VC was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.-Details:...

 are other Victoria Cross recipients. Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool KG PC was a British politician and the longest-serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since the Union with Ireland in 1801. He was 42 years old when he became premier in 1812 which made him younger than all of his successors to date...

, UK Prime Minister from 1812 to 1827, was quartered in Dumfries in 1796 during his military service.

John Richardson
John Richardson (naturalist)
Sir John Richardson was a Scottish naval surgeon, naturalist and arctic explorer.Richardson was born at Dumfries. He studied medicine at Edinburgh University, and became a surgeon in the navy in 1807. He traveled with John Franklin in search of the Northwest Passage on the Coppermine Expedition of...

, naturalist, explorer and naval surgeon was born in Dumfries as was John Craig, mathematician, and polymath
Polymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...

 James Crichton
James Crichton
James Crichton, known as the Admirable Crichton , was a Scottish polymath noted for his extraordinary accomplishments in languages, the arts, and sciences before his killing when aged 21.-Life:...

. Benjamin Bell
Benjamin Bell
Benjamin Bell of Hunthill FRSE FRCSE is considered by many to be the first Scottish scientific surgeon. He is commonly described as the 'father of the Edinburgh school of surgery', or the first of the Edinburgh scientific surgeons,,...

 after being born in Dumfries went on to become considered the first Scottish scientific surgeon. His great grandson was Joseph Bell
Joseph Bell
Joseph Bell, JP, DL, FRCS was a famous Scottish lecturer at the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in the 19th century. He is perhaps best known as an inspiration for the literary character Sherlock Holmes....

 who Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...

 has credited Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...

 as being loosely based on from Bell's observant manner. Doyle's father, artist Charles Altamont Doyle
Charles Altamont Doyle
Charles Altamont Doyle was a Victorian artist. He was the brother of the artist Richard Doyle, and the son of the artist John Doyle. Although the family was Irish, Doyle was born and raised in England....

, died in Dumfries. Thomas Peter Anderson Stuart
Thomas Peter Anderson Stuart
Sir Thomas Peter Anderson Stuart was a Scottish-born professor of physiology, founder of the medical school, University of Sydney.-Early life:...

 left Dumfries to go on and found the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

 Medical School
Medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...

. John Allan Broun
John Allan Broun
John Allan Broun FRS was a Scottish magnetician and meteorologist who carried out his studies on magnetism in India. One of the fundamental discoveries he made was that the Earth loses or gains magnetic intensity not locally, but as a whole...

's contribution to science were his discoveries around magnetism
Magnetism
Magnetism is a property of materials that respond at an atomic or subatomic level to an applied magnetic field. Ferromagnetism is the strongest and most familiar type of magnetism. It is responsible for the behavior of permanent magnets, which produce their own persistent magnetic fields, as well...

 and meteorology
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...

. James Braid, surgeon and pioneer of hypnotism and hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is a therapy that is undertaken with a subject in hypnosis.The word "hypnosis" is an abbreviation of James Braid's term "neuro-hypnotism", meaning "sleep of the nervous system"....

, practised in Dumfries from 1825 to 1828 in partnership with William Maxwell. Ian Callum
Ian Callum
Ian Callum is a British car designer who currently serves as Design Director for Jaguar and is older brother to fellow car designer Moray Callum. He is married, has two sons and currently resides in Oxfordshire, England.-Early years:...

 is eminent in the world of motor engineer.

A Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....

 minister of Troqueer in Dumfries produced eleven children of whom some have made a notable mark. Peter Ewart
Peter Ewart
Peter Ewart was a British engineer who was influential in developing the technologies of turbines and theories of thermodynamics....

 was an engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

 who was influential in developing the technologies of turbine
Turbine
A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work.The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades, or the blades react to the flow, so that they move and...

s and theories of thermodynamics
Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a physical science that studies the effects on material bodies, and on radiation in regions of space, of transfer of heat and of work done on or by the bodies or radiation...

. His brother Joseph Ewart
Joseph Ewart
Joseph Ewart was a Scottish diplomatist.Ewart was the eldest son of the minister of Troquear in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, was born on 30 April l759. He was educated at Dumfries and at Edinburgh University, and then acted as travelling tutor to Macdonald of Clanronald...

 became British ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....

 to Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

. John, a doctor, became Chief Inspector of East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

 hospitals in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. William, father of William Ewart
William Ewart
William Ewart was a British politician, born in Liverpool on 1 May 1798. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, gaining the Newdigate prize for English verse. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1827, and the next year entered Parliament for the borough of Bletchingley in...

, was business partner of Sir John Gladstones (sic), father of four times Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...

. Gladstone junior was named after Ewart, his godfather.

Geography

Like the rest of Dumfries and Galloway, of Scotland's three major geographical areas Dumfries lies in the Southern Uplands
Southern Uplands
The Southern Uplands are the southernmost and least populous of mainland Scotland's three major geographic areas . The term is used both to describe the geographical region and to collectively denote the various ranges of hills within this region...

.

The river Nith runs through Dumfries toward the Solway Firth in a southwards direction splitting the town into East and West. At low tide, the sea recedes to such an extent on the shallow sloping sands of the Solway that the length of the Nith is extended by 13 km to 113.8 km (70.7 miles). This makes makes the Nith Scotland's seventh longest river. There are several bridges across the river within the town. In between the Devorgilla (also known as 'The Old Bridge') and the suspension bridge is a weir
Weir
A weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream. In most cases weirs take the form of a barrier across the river that causes water to pool behind the structure , but allows water to flow over the top...

 colloquially known as 'The Caul'. In wetter months of the year the Nith can flood the surrounding streets.

Dumfries has numerous suburbs including Summerhill
Summerhill, Dumfries
Summerhill in Dumfries is a post war residential suburb on the West side of the town. It is located on the Maxwelltown side of the River Nith that runs through Dumfries...

, Summerville, Troqueer, Georgetown, Larchfield, Calside, Lochside, Lincluden, Newbridge Drive
Newbridge Drive
Newbridge Drive is a relatively new suburb in Dumfries. It is situated on the Maxwelltown side of the River Nith and is approx 1.8 miles north-west from Dumfries town centre.-Public transport:...

, Sandside, Heathhall, Locharbriggs
Locharbriggs
Locharbriggs is a former village which has expanded greatly to become a major suburb of Dumfries. Its population in the 2001 census was 5,530 and it has further expanded since then...

, Noblehill and Marchmount. Maxwelltown
Maxwelltown
Maxwelltown was formerly a burgh of barony and police burgh in the county of Kirkcudbrightshire in south west Scotland. In 1929 Maxwelltown was merged with Dumfries....

 to the west of the river Nith, was formerly a Burgh in its own right within The Stewartry of Kirkcudbright (also known as Kirkcudbrightshire) until its incorporation into Dumfries in 1928; Summerhill, Troqueer, Lochside, Lincluden, Sandside are among other suburbs located on the Maxwelltown side of the river. Palmerston Park
Palmerston Park
Palmerston Park is a multi-purpose stadium on Terregles Street in Dumfries, south west Scotland. The site of the ground was formerly a farm called Palmers Toun. This is on the Maxwelltown side of the River Nith in Dumfries. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of...

, home to the town's senior football team Queen of the South
Queen of the South F.C.
Queen of the South Football Club is a Scottish professional football club founded in 1919 and located in Dumfries. The club currently plays in the Scottish First Division, the second tier of Scottish football. They are officially nicknamed The Doonhamers, but usually referred to as Queens or QoS...

, is on Terregles Street, also on the Maxwelltown side of the river.

Queensberry Square and High Street are the central focal points of the town and this area hosts many of the historical, social and commercial enterprises and events of Dumfries. During the 1990s, these areas enjoyed various aesthetic recognitions from organisations including Britain in Bloom
Britain in Bloom
RHS Britain in Bloom, supported by Anglian Home Improvements, is the largest horticultural campaign in the United Kingdom. It was first held in 1963, initiated by the British Tourist Board based on the example set by Fleurissement de France. It has been organised by the Royal Horticultural Society ...

.

Climate

As with the rest of the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

 and Scotland, Dumfries experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. It is one of the less snowy locations in Scotland owing to its sheltered, low lying position in the South West of the country. From 1908 until 2003, the town held the record for the highest temperature reading in Scotland, 32.8 °C (91 °F).

Governance

Scottish communities granted Royal Burgh status by the monarch guarded the honour jealously and with vigour. Riding the Marches maintains the tradition of an occasion that was, in its day, of great importance. Dumfries has been a Royal Burgh since 1186, its charter being granted by King William the Lion in a move that ensured the loyalty of its citizens to the Monarch.

Although far from the centre of power in Scotland, Dumfries had obvious strategic significance sitting as it does on the edge of Galloway and being the centre of control for the south west of Scotland.

With the River Nith on two sides and the Lochar Moss on another, Dumfries was a town with good natural defences. Consequently it was never completely walled. A careful eye still had to be kept on the clearly defined boundaries of the burgh, a task that had to be taken each year by the Provost, Baillies, Burgesses and others within the town.

Neighbouring landowners might try to encroach on the town boundaries, or the Marches as they were known, moving them back 100 yards or so to their own benefit. It had to be made clear to anyone thinking of or trying to encroach that they dare not do so.

In return for the Royal status of the town and the favour of the King, the Provost and his council, along with other worthies of the town had to be diligent in ensuring the boundaries were strictly observed. Although steeped in history, Scotland's burghs remained the foundation of the country's system of local government for centuries. Burgh status conferred on its citizens the right to elect their own town councils, run their own affairs and raise their own local taxes or rates.

In 1974 the burghs became part of larger districts and regions. Those boundaries lost the significance they were granted by Royal statute. Ancient titles like Provost and Bailie were discarded or retained only for ceremonial purposes. Robes and chains often found their way into museums as a reminder of the past.

Dumfries remains a centre of local government for a much bigger area than just the town itself. But its people, the Doonhamers still retain a pride in their town and distinctive identity. This is never more so than during the week long Guid Nychburris Festival and its highlight the Riding of the Marches which takes place on the third Saturday in June each year.

Dumfries hosts the headquarters of Dumfries and Galloway Council. The name Dumfries and Galloway is given to one of Scotland's 32 council areas
Subdivisions of Scotland
For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as "council areas" which are all governed by unitary authorities designated as "councils"...

 comprising the former (1975–96) districts of Nithsdale
Nithsdale
Nithsdale , also known by its anglicised gaelic name Strathnith or Stranit, is the valley of the River Nith in Scotland, and the name of the region...

, Annandale and Eskdale
Annandale and Eskdale
Annandale and Eskdale is a committee area in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It covers the areas of Annandale and Eskdale, the straths of the River Annan and the River Esk respectively....

, the Stewartry of Kirkcudbrightshire
Stewartry
Stewartry 1975-dateStewartry is a committee area in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.It was formerly one of four local government districts in the Dumfries and Galloway Region of Scotland....

, the Machars
Machars
The Machars is a peninsula in Galloway in the south-west of Scotland. The word is derived from the Gaelic word Machair meaning low lying or level land, known as "links" on the east coast of Scotland...

 and Wigtownshire
Wigtownshire
Wigtownshire or the County of Wigtown is a registration county in the Southern Uplands of south west Scotland. Until 1975, the county was one of the administrative counties used for local government purposes, and is now administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway...

. Dumfries also lends its name to the Lieutenancy Area
Lieutenancy areas of Scotland
The lieutenancy areas of Scotland are the areas used for the ceremonial lord-lieutenants, the monarch's representatives, in Scotland. They are different from the local government council areas, the committee areas, the sheriffdoms, the registration counties, the former regions and districts, the...

 of Dumfries, which is similar in boundaries to the former Dumfriesshire county.

Dumfries and Galloway is represented in Westminster by Russell Brown
Russell Brown
Russell Leslie Brown is a Scottish Labour Party politician. He is Member of Parliament for Dumfries and Galloway.-Early years :Russell Brown was born in Annan, Scotland, and attended the local Annan Academy...

 MP. Dumfries is contained within two separate constituencies within the Scottish parliament – Dumfriesshire and Galloway, and Upper Nithsdale. Dumfriesshire is represented by Elaine Murray
Elaine Murray
Dr Elaine Murray is a Scottish Labour politician, and Member of the Scottish Parliament for Dumfriesshire since 1999. At the 1999, 2003 and 2007 elections, Dr Murray increased her percentage share of the vote...

 MSP while Galloway and Upper Nithsdale is represented by Alex Fergusson MSP.

Dumfries is centre to Scotland’s smallest police force. It took part in one of the largest criminal investigations in modern history when neighbouring town, Lockerbie
Lockerbie
Lockerbie is a town in the Dumfries and Galloway region of south-western Scotland. It lies approximately from Glasgow, and from the English border. It had a population of 4,009 at the 2001 census...

, was devastated by the events that took place on board Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...

 on 21 December 1988.

Economy

Dumfries has a long history as a county town and as the market town of a surrounding rural hinterland. Dumfries is a relatively prosperous community but the town centre has been exposed to the centrifugal forces that have seen retail, business, educational, residential and other uses gravitate towards the town's urban fringe.

This was started in the 1980s with the building of the Dumfries bypass. The immediate effect of this was as intended the divertion of traffic away from transiting via the town centre. This brought with it an accompanying reduction in economic input to the town centre. The second effect of this has been more pronounced. Sites close to the bypass have attracted development to utilise the bypass as a high speed urban highway without the bottlenecks of the town centre and without the constraining limited town centre parking.

In a bid to stimulate development in Dumfries town centre, both economically and in a social context, several strategies have been proposed by the controlling authorities.

Culture

Dumfries got its nickname 'Queen of the South' from David Dunbar, a local poet, who in 1857 stood in the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...

. In one of his addresses he called Dumfries "Queen of the South" and this became synonymous with the town.

The term doonhamer comes from the way that natives of Dumfries over the years have referred to the area when working away from home. The town is often referred to as doon hame (down home). The term doonhamer followed, to describe those people that originate from Dumfries.

The Doonhamers is also the nickname of Queen of the South
Queen of the South F.C.
Queen of the South Football Club is a Scottish professional football club founded in 1919 and located in Dumfries. The club currently plays in the Scottish First Division, the second tier of Scottish football. They are officially nicknamed The Doonhamers, but usually referred to as Queens or QoS...

 who represent Dumfries and the surrounding area in the Scottish Football League.

The crest of Dumfries contains the words, "A Lore Burne". In the history of Dumfries close to the town was the marsh through which ran the Loreburn whose name became the rallying cry of the town in times of attack – A Lore Burne (meaning 'to the muddy stream').

The Loreburn Hall (sometimes known colloquially as The Drill Hall) has hosted concerts by performers such as Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...

, Big Country
Big Country
Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife in 1981. They were most popular in the early to mid-1980s, but they still release material for a cult following...

, The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers are a Scottish band composed of identical twin brothers, Charlie and Craig Reid . They are probably best known for the songs "Letter from America", "I'm On My Way" and "I'm Gonna Be ". The band tours extensively throughout Europe and other continents...

 and Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies funded by the Scottish Government...

. The hall has hosted sporting events such as wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...

. The new DG One sport, fitness and entertainment centre has now become the principal indoor event venue in Dumfries.

Located on top of a small hill, Dumfries Museum is centred around the 18th century windmill which stands above the town. Included are fossil footprints left by prehistoric reptiles, the wildlife of the Solway marshes, tools and weapons of the earliest peoples of the region and stone carvings of Scotland's first Christians. On the top floor of the museum is a camera obscura
Camera obscura
The camera obscura is an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen. It is used in drawing and for entertainment, and was one of the inventions that led to photography. The device consists of a box or room with a hole in one side...

.

Based in the control tower
Control tower
A control tower, or more specifically an Air Traffic Control Tower , is the name of the airport building from which the air traffic control unit controls the movement of aircraft on and around the airport. Control towers are also used to control the traffic for other forms of transportation such...

 near Tinwald Downs, the aviation museum has an extensive indoor display of memorabilia which strives to preserve aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...

 heritage, much of which has come via various recovery activities. During the second world war, aerial navigation was taught at Dumfries also at Wigtown
Wigtown
Wigtown is a town and former royal burgh in the Machars of Galloway in the south west of Scotland. It lies south of Newton Stewart and east of Stranraer. It has a population of about 1,000...

 and nearby Annan
Annan, Dumfries and Galloway
The royal burgh of Annan is a well-built town, red sandstone being the material mainly used. Each year in July, Annan celebrates the Royal Charter and the boundaries of the Royal Burgh are confirmed when a mounted cavalcade undertakes the Riding of the Marches. Entertainment includes a...

 was a fighter training unit. RAF Dumfries
RAF Dumfries
RAF Dumfries is a former military air base located as the name suggests at Dumfries, south west Scotland.-Today:The site is now the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum. The centre piece of the museum is the former control tower, now a listed building. Numerous former military and civil aircraft...

 doubled as an important maintenance unit and aircraft storage unit. The museum is run by the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Group and is the only private aviation museum in Scotland. The restored control tower of the former World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 airfield is now a listed building. The museum is run by volunteers and houses a large and ever expanding aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...

 collection, aero engines and a display of artefacts and personal histories relating to aviation, past and present. Both civil aviation
Civil aviation
Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military aviation, both private and commercial. Most of the countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and work together to establish common standards and recommended practices...

 and military aviation
Military aviation
Military aviation is the use of aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling warfare, including national airlift capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a theater or along a front. Air power includes the national means of conducting such...

 are represented.

The Theatre Royal, Dumfries
Theatre Royal, Dumfries
The Theatre Royal in Dumfries, Scotland is a the oldest working theatre in Scotland. The Theatre is owned by the Guild of Players who bought it in 1959, thereby saving it from demolition. The Guild's aim is to promote the tradition of live theatre in Dumfries. It is the venue for the Guild of...

 was built in 1792 and is the oldest working theatre in Scotland.

The theatre is owned by the Guild of Players who bought it in 1959, thereby saving it from demolition, and is run on a voluntary basis by the members of the Guild of Players. It is funded entirely by Guild membership subscriptions, and by box office receipts. It does not currently receive any grant aid towards running costs.

In recent years the theatre has been re-roofed and the outside refurbished. It is the venue for the Guild of Players' own productions and for performances from visiting companies. These include: Scottish Opera, TAG, the Borderline and 7:84
7:84
7:84 was a Scottish left-wing agitprop theatre group. The name comes from a statistic, published in The Economist in 1966, that 7% of the population of the UK owned 84% of the state's wealth....

.

There are two cinemas in Dumfries. The Odeon shows typically mainstream films. The Robert Burns Centre is the art house cinema in Dumfries.

A collection of over 400 Scottish paintings, Gracefield Arts Centre hosts a changing programme of exhibitions featuring regional, national and international artists and craft-makers.

The Burns Howff Club was formed in the Globe Inn, Dumfries, South West Scotland in 1889, and meets on 25 January each year to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns in 1759 with a Burns Supper
Burns supper
A Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns, author of many Scots poems. The suppers are normally held on or near the poet's birthday, 25 January, sometimes also known as Robert Burns Day or Burns Night , although they may in principle be held at any time of the...

. The Club takes its name from a reference by Robert Burns to the Globe Inn being his favourite "Howff", an old Scottish term for a meeting place. The Howff Club has an extensive library of Burns works and the works of other Scottish poets and literary figures.

There are a number of festivals which take place throughout the year, mostly based on traditional values.

Good Neighbours (Guid Nychburris in Middle Scots
Middle Scots
Middle Scots was the Anglic language of Lowland Scotland in the period from 1450 to 1700. By the end of the 13th century its phonology, orthography, accidence, syntax and vocabulary had diverged markedly from Early Scots, which was virtually indistinguishable from early Northumbrian Middle English...

) is the main festival of the year, a ceremony which is largely based on the theme of a positive community spirit.

The ceremony on Guid Nychburris Day, follows a route and sequence of events laid down in the mists of time. Formal proceedings start at 7.30am with the gathering of up to 250 horses waiting for the courier to arrive and announce that the Pursuivant is on his way, and at 8.00am leave the Midsteeple and ride out to meet the Pursuivant. They then proceed to Ride the Marches and Stob and Nog (mark the boundary with posts and flags) before returning to the Midsteeple at 12.15pm to meet the Provost and then the Charter is proclaimed to the towns people of Dumfries. This is then followed by the crowning of the Queen of the South.

Sport

Queen of the South
Queen of the South F.C.
Queen of the South Football Club is a Scottish professional football club founded in 1919 and located in Dumfries. The club currently plays in the Scottish First Division, the second tier of Scottish football. They are officially nicknamed The Doonhamers, but usually referred to as Queens or QoS...

 represent Dumfries and the surrounding area in the Scottish Football League First Division
Scottish Football League First Division
The Irn-Bru Scottish Football League First Division Championship is the highest division of the Scottish Football League and the second highest in the Scottish football league system....

. Palmerston Park
Palmerston Park
Palmerston Park is a multi-purpose stadium on Terregles Street in Dumfries, south west Scotland. The site of the ground was formerly a farm called Palmers Toun. This is on the Maxwelltown side of the River Nith in Dumfries. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of...

 on Terregles
Terregles
Terregles is a village and parish near Dumfries, in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It lies in the former county of Kirkcudbrightshire.The name Terregles is said to be a corruption of Brythonic Tir-eglwys...

 Street is the home ground of the team. This is on the Maxwelltown side of the River Nith. They reached the Scottish Cup
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,, commonly known as the Scottish Cup or the William Hill Scottish Cup for sponsorship purposes, is the main national cup competition in Scottish football. It is a knockout cup competition run by and named after the Scottish Football Association.The...

 final in May 2008, losing to Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...

 3-2.

Dumfries Saints Rugby Club
Dumfries Rugby Club
Dumfries Rugby Club is a Scottish rugby union club based in Dumfries.The club recently adopted the name of Dumfries Saints to reflect the link to Saint Michael and the town crest which has always been used by the club. The 1st XV currently plays in Scottish Premiership Division 3.-History:The first...

 is one of Scotland's oldest rugby clubs having been admitted to the Scottish Rugby Union
Scottish Rugby Union
The Scottish Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. It is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873, as the Scottish Football Union.-History:...

 in 1876–77 as "Dumfries Rangers".

Dumfries is also home to a number of golf courses:-
  • The Crichton Golf Club
  • The Dumfries and County Golf Club
  • The Dumfries and Galloway Golf Club
  • The Dumfriesshire Golf Centre and Pines Golf Club


Of those is listed only the Dumfries and Galloway Golf Club is on the Maxwelltown side of the River Nith. This course is also bisected into 2 halves of 9 holes each by the town's Castle Douglas Road. The club house and holes 1 to 7 and 17 and 18 are on the side nearest to Summerhill, Dumfries
Summerhill, Dumfries
Summerhill in Dumfries is a post war residential suburb on the West side of the town. It is located on the Maxwelltown side of the River Nith that runs through Dumfries...

. Holes 8 to 16 are on the side nearest to Janefield.
The opening stage of the 2011 Tour of Britain
2011 Tour of Britain
The 2011 Tour of Britain was the eighth running of the latest incarnation of the Tour of Britain and the 72nd British tour in total. The race started on 11 September in Peebles, Scotland and finished on 18 September in London, England, with the race also visiting Wales for one stage.The race...

 started in Peebles
Peebles
Peebles is a burgh in the committee area of Tweeddale, in the Scottish Borders, lying on the River Tweed. According to the 2001 Census, the population was 8,159.-History:...

 and finished 105.8 miles later in Dumfries. The stage was won by sprint specialist and reigning Tour de France green jersey champion, Mark Cavendish
Mark Cavendish
Mark Cavendish MBE is a Manx professional road racing cyclist who rides for UCI ProTeam until the end of this season when the team is dissolved. He will join Team Sky at the start of the 2012 season...

, with his team mate lead out man, Mark Renshaw
Mark Renshaw
Mark Renshaw is an Australian racing cyclist with UCI ProTeam , who is considered one of the best lead-out men in the world.- Early career :...

 finishing second. Cavendish had been scheduled to be racing in the 2011 Vuelta a España
2011 Vuelta a España
The 2011 Vuelta a España was held from 20 August to 11 September. The race began in Benidorm with a team time trial and ended, as is traditional, in Madrid. The 2011 Vuelta was the 66th edition of the race and was the first Vuelta in 33 years that visited the Basque Country...

. However Cavendish was one a number of riders to withdraw having suffered in the searing Spanish heat. This allowed Cavendish to be a late addition to the Tour of Britain line up in his preparation for what was to be a successful bid two weeks later in the 2011 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race
2011 UCI Road World Championships – Men's road race
The Men's Individual Road Race of the 2011 UCI Road World Championships cycling event took place on 25 September 2011 in Copenhagen, Denmark.In a sprint to the finish line, Great Britain's Mark Cavendish became world champion after making his move down the right-hand side of the course, and just...

. Cavendish in a smiling post race tv interview in Dumfries described the wet and windy race conditions through the Southern Scottish stage as 'horrible'.

DG One complex includes a national event sized competition swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 pool.

The David Keswick Athletic Centre is the principle facility in Dumfries for athletics.

Dumfries is home to Nithsdale Amateur Rowing Club. The rowers share their clubhouse with Dumfries Sub-Aqua Club.

The town is also home to Solway Sharks
Solway Sharks
The Solway Sharks are the only senior ice hockey club in South West Scotland or Cumbria and play out of Dumfries Ice Bowl, King Street, Dumfries, ScotlandThis season we will be playing in the English National League North Division 2 and in the Northern Cup...

 ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 team. The team are current Northern Premier League winners. The team's home rink is Dumfries Ice Bowl. Dumfries Ice bowl is also recognized as Scotland's only centre of ice hockey excellence, and trials for the Scottish Jr national team are carried out at this venu.

Dumfries Ice Bowl is also home to two synchronised skating teams, Solway Stars and Solway Eclipse. In addition, Dumfries Ice Bowl is also home to several curling teams, competitions and leagues. Junior curling teams from Dumfries, consisting of curlers under the age of 21, regularly compete in the Dutch Junior Open based in Zoetemeer, Holland. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 a Dumfries based team have been the winners of the competition's Hogline Trophy.

Dumfries hosts three outdoor bowls
Bowls
Bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...

 clubs:-
  • Dumfries Bowling Club
  • Marchmount Bowling Club
  • Maxwelltown Bowling Club


Dumfries hosts cycling organisations and cycling holidays.

Education

Dumfries has several primary schools, approximately one per key district, and four main secondary schools. All of these institutions are governed by Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It was one of the nine administrative 'regions' of mainland Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government etc. Act 1973...

 council. The secondary schools are:
  • Dumfries Academy
    Dumfries Academy
    Dumfries Academy is one of four secondary schools in the town of Dumfries in South West Scotland.-History:Dumfries Academy has existed in its present form, though not in the buildings it currently occupies, since 1804...

  • Dumfries High School
    Dumfries High School
    Dumfries High School is a comprehensive school with a school roll of around 1000 pupils and students. It is situated in a residential area of Dumfries, adjacent to the David Keswick Athletic Centre, which provides excellent facilities both for the school and the local community...

  • Maxwelltown High School
    Maxwelltown High School
    Maxwelltown High School is one of four secondary schools in the town of Dumfries in South West Scotland.-Maxwelltown High School Today:Maxwelltown High is a seven year comprehensive school situated in the town of Dumfries adjoining open country containing a mix of pupils from private and council...

  • St Joseph's College


Dumfries Academy was a grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...

 until adopting a comprehensive format in 1983.

In 1999 Scotland's first multi-institutional university campus was established in Dumfries, in the 85 acres (343,983.1 m²) Crichton estate. In order of campus presence it is host to the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) (formerly known as University of Paisley & Bell College), Dumfries & Galloway College, and the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...

. Still in its infancy, the campus offers a range of degree courses in initial teacher education, business, computing, environmental studies, tourism, heritage, social work, health, social studies, nursing, liberal arts and humanities. Despite the short-lived threat of closure to the University of Glasgow part of the campus in 2006, a campaign by students, academics and local supporters ensured that the University of Glasgow remained open in Dumfries. The University of Glasgow, since maintaining its provision in Dumfries, has launched a new undergraduate programme in primary teaching.

Healthcare

Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary
Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary
Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary is the main hospital in Dumfries. The hospital serves both the town of Dumfries and the entire catchment area of South West Scotland, with a population of at least 147,000...

 is the principal secondary care referral centre for Dumfries and Galloway region. It now includes a maternity wing which replaced the old Cresswell Maternity Hospital.

The Crichton Royal Hospital
Crichton Campus
The Crichton is an institutional campus in Dumfries, south-west Scotland. It incorporates part of Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, a business park, and Crichton University Campus, which serves as a remote campus for the University of Glasgow, University of the West of Scotland , Dumfries and...

 is part of the Royal Infirmary complex and provides a regional psychiatric, psychological and specialist addicitions service within Dumfries and Galloway. In 1838 William A. F. Browne
William A. F. Browne
Dr William A. F. Browne was one of the most significant psychiatrists of the nineteenth century. At Montrose Asylum and, later, at Crichton Royal in Dumfries , Browne introduced activities for patients including writing, art, group activity and drama, pioneered early forms of occupational...

 accepted the position of Physician Superintendent at the newly created Crichton. It is at the Crichton where Ursula Fleming
Ursula Fleming
Ursula Fleming was an English psychotherapist, and author; she was considered an expert in her field of work....

 gained much of her education and experience.

Transport

Dumfries is linked to the Northbound A74(M) motorway at Beattock
Beattock
The village of Beattock is located in the southern lowlands of Scotland, and lies within the administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway. It is surrounded by the parish of Kirkpatrick Juxta. It was an important stabling point for horses in the olden days with a coach house at one end of the village...

 via the A701 road
A701 road
-Route:The A701 leaves Dumfries and travels north to meet the A74 at Beattock. It thens joins the A74 for a short spell before branching off to the north-east towards Moffat and ultimately Edinburgh....

. The A75 road
A75 road
The A75 is a major road in Scotland, heading west along the south coast of Scotland from its junction with the A74 motorway at Gretna. It continues past Eastriggs, Annan, Dumfries, Castle Douglas, Gatehouse of Fleet, Newton Stewart and Glenluce before ending at Stranraer.The majority of the road...

 eastbound links Dumfries to the southbound A74(M), leading to the M6 motorway
M6 motorway
The M6 motorway runs from junction 19 of the M1 at the Catthorpe Interchange, near Rugby via Birmingham then heads north, passing Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester, Preston, Carlisle and terminating at the Gretna junction . Here, just short of the Scottish border it becomes the A74 which continues to...

 and Carlisle. The A75 road west links Dumfries with the ferry port of Stranraer
Stranraer
Stranraer is a town in the southwest of Scotland. It lies in the west of Dumfries and Galloway and in the county of Wigtownshire.Stranraer lies on the shores of Loch Ryan on the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland...

. The A76 road
A76 road
The A76 is a major trunk road in south west Scotland.Starting at Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire, the A76 goes through or immediately by-passes Hurlford, Mauchline, Cumnock, Pathhead and New Cumnock before entering Dumfries and Galloway and continuing through Sanquhar, Mennock, Enterkinfoot,...

 connects to Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock is a large burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland, with a population of 44,734. It is the second largest town in Ayrshire. The River Irvine runs through its eastern section, and the Kilmarnock Water passes through it, giving rise to the name 'Bank Street'...

 in Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...

.

Dumfries railway station
Dumfries railway station
Dumfries railway station serves the town of Dumfries in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located on the Glasgow South Western Line and is managed by First ScotRail who provide all passenger train services...

 lies on the Glasgow South Western Line
Glasgow South Western Line
The Glasgow South Western Line is a mainline railway in Scotland that runs from Glasgow to Kilmarnock, and then either via Dumfries, or Stranraer via Ayr, with a branch to East Kilbride.- History :...

. It was awarded Best Station Awards by British Rail in 1986 and 1987. The train service is now operated by private company First Scotrail
First ScotRail
ScotRail Railways Ltd. is the FirstGroup-owned train operating company running domestic passenger trains within Scotland, northern England and the cross-border Caledonian Sleeper service to London using the brand ScotRail which is the property of the Scottish Government...

 which provides services to Glasgow and Carlisle, and less frequent services connect Dumfries with Stranraer
Stranraer
Stranraer is a town in the southwest of Scotland. It lies in the west of Dumfries and Galloway and in the county of Wigtownshire.Stranraer lies on the shores of Loch Ryan on the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland...

 via Kilmarnock. The nearest station to Dumfries on the West Coast Mainline is 14 miles (22.5 km) east along the A709 road at Lockerbie
Lockerbie
Lockerbie is a town in the Dumfries and Galloway region of south-western Scotland. It lies approximately from Glasgow, and from the English border. It had a population of 4,009 at the 2001 census...

, and the nearest West Coast Mainline station linking directly to Dumfries by rail is Carlisle.

Maxwelltown station in the Summerhill district of the town was closed along with the direct line to Stranraer via Castle Douglas as part of the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...

 in 1965. Part of the disused railway track in Dumfries was later converted to a cycle path.

Parks

The most significant of the parks in Dumfries are all within walking distance of the town centre:-
  • Dock Park – located on the East bank of the Nith just to the South of St Michael's Bridge
  • Castledykes Park – as the name suggests on the site of a former castle
  • Mill Green (also known as deer park, although the deer formerly accommodated there have since been relocated) – on the West bank of the Nith opposite Whitesands

Broadcasting

Dumfries is home to one of the 11 BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 studios in Scotland.

West Sound FM
West Sound FM
West Sound FM is a local radio station for Dumfries and Galloway, owned & operated by Bauer Radio and forming part of Bauer's Place Network of stations...

, part of the Big City Network
Big City Network
Bauer Place & Bauer Passion are the names given to two radio networks owned and operated by Bauer Radio. Place incorporates 36 local radio stations in Northern & southern England and Scotland while Passion incorporates six national or semi-national music genre stations.The main rival networks are...

, broadcasts from Dumfries.

Christianity-based community radio station Alive radio
Alive radio
Alive Radio was started to help musicians from all Genres get their music heard and played around the world so that they could get themselves signed to a record label...

 broadcasts only within Dumfries.

Local journalism

The two local newspapers that specifically cover Dumfries and the surrounding are:-
  • Dumfries and Galloway Standard (established 1843) publishing on Wednesdays and Fridays
  • Dumfries Courier publishing on Fridays

Architectural geology

There are many buildings in Dumfries made from sandstone of the local Locharbriggs quarry.

The quarry is situated off the A701 on the north of Dumfries at Locharbriggs close to the nearby aggregates quarry. This dimension stone quarry is a large quarry. Quarry working at Lochabriggs dates from the 18th century, and the quarry has been worked continuously since 1890.

There are good reserves of stone that can be extracted at several locations. On average the stone is available at depths of 1m on bed although some larger blocks are obtainable. The average length of a block is 1.5m but 2.6m blocks can be obtained.

Locharbriggs is from the New Red Sandstone of the Permian age. It is a medium-grained stone ranging in colour from dull red to pink. It is the sandstone used in the Queen Alexandra Bridge in Sunderland, the Manchester International Convention Centre and the base of the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...

.

Surrounding places of interest

As the largest settlement in Southern Scotland, Dumfries is recognised as a centre for visiting surrounding points of interest. The following are all within easy reach:-
  • John Paul Jones
    John Paul Jones
    John Paul Jones was a Scottish sailor and the United States' first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War. Although he made enemies among America's political elites, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to...

     Birthplace Museum – The traditional Scottish cottage in which John Paul Jones was born in 1747.
  • Solway Coast
  • Sweetheart Abbey
    Sweetheart Abbey
    Sweetheart Abbey , south of Dumfries, near to the Nith in south-west Scotland, was a Cistercian monastery, founded in 1275 by Dervorguilla of Galloway, daughter of Alan, Lord of Galloway, in memory of her husband John de Balliol...

     in the village of New Abbey
    New Abbey
    New Abbey is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. It is around south-west of Dumfries. The summit of the prominent hill Criffel is to the south....

  • New Abbey Corn Mill Museum
  • Criffel
    Criffel
    Criffel is a hill in southern Galloway, Scotland. It is 570 metres high but appears higher because of its great isolation and high relative height — it is the eighth most prominent hill in Southern Scotland...

     – a hill
    Hill
    A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills often have a distinct summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills...

     on the Solway Coast popular with hill walkers for its magnificent views of the Southern Scottish coastline and across the Solway Firth
    Solway Firth
    The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...

     to the Lake District
    Lake District
    The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...

     of Cumbria
    Cumbria
    Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

  • Threave Castle
    Threave Castle
    Threave Castle is situated on an island in the River Dee, 2.5 km west of Castle Douglas, in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland...

     in Castle Douglas
    Castle Douglas
    Castle Douglas , a town in the south of Scotland in Dumfries and Galloway, lies in the eastern part of Galloway known as the Stewartry, between the towns of Dalbeattie and Gatehouse of Fleet.-History:...

    , home to the Douglas
    Clan Douglas
    Clan Douglas is an ancient Scottish kindred from the Scottish Lowlands taking its name from Douglas, South Lanarkshire, and thence spreading through the Scottish Borderland, Angus, Lothian and beyond. The clan does not currently have a chief, therefore it is considered an armigerous clan.The...

     Clan of James Douglas
    James Douglas, Lord of Douglas
    Sir James Douglas , , was a Scottish soldier and knight who fought in the Scottish Wars of Independence.-Early life:...

     who fought with Robert the Bruce
    Robert I of Scotland
    Robert I , popularly known as Robert the Bruce , was King of Scots from March 25, 1306, until his death in 1329.His paternal ancestors were of Scoto-Norman heritage , and...

  • Moniaive
    Moniaive
    Moniaive is a village in the south of Scotland in Dumfries and Galloway, near Thornhill, on the A702 road and B729 road. Population 520 . The name is from Gaelic monadh-abh and means "Hill of Streams". It is situated at the northern end of the very scenic and tranquil Cairn Valley...

     conservation village
  • Moffat and the views nearby of The Devil's Beef Tub
    Devil's Beef Tub
    The Devil's Beef Tub is a deep, dramatic hollow in the hills north of the Scottish town of Moffat. The 500-foot deep hollow is formed by four hills, Great Hill , Peat Knowe, Annanhead Hill, and Ericstane Hill. It is one of the two main sources of the River Annan; the other is from the...

    , The Grey Mare's Tail
    Grey Mare's Tail
    Grey Mare's Tail is a hanging valley waterfall near to Moffat in southern Scotland. The fall is produced by the Tail Burn flowing from Loch Skeen cascading into the Moffat Water in the lower valley below....

     waterfall and the A708 from Moffat past the Grey Mare's Tail to St Mary's Loch
    St Mary's Loch
    St Mary's Loch is the largest natural loch in the Scottish Borders, and is situated on the A708 road between Selkirk and Moffat, about south of Edinburgh. It is long and wide, and was created by glacial action during the last ice age...

    .
  • Mabie Forest
  • Ae village and forest
    Forest of Ae
    The Forest of Ae is located between Nithsdale and Annandale in Dumfries and Galloway in south-west Scotland.The forest was first planted in the 1920s, primarily with Sitka spruce. It has the designation of a 'Priority Forest' for Red Squirrel conservation...

  • Lochmaben
    Lochmaben
    Lochmaben is a small town in Scotland, and site of a once-important castle. It lies four miles west of Lockerbie, in Dumfries and Galloway.-Notable people:*Angus Douglas - Scottish internationalist footballer...

     with its lochs popular with boaters and also its history with Robert the Bruce
  • Wanlockhead
    Wanlockhead
    Wanlockhead is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland nestling in the Lowther Hills one mile south of Leadhills at the head of the Mennock Pass, which forms part of the Southern Uplands...

     – Britain's highest village registered at 1531 feet (466.6 m) above sea level and the Lead Mining Museum
  • Caerlaverock Castle
    Caerlaverock Castle
    Caerlaverock Castle is a moated triangular castle, built in the 13th century, in the Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve area at the Solway Firth, south of Dumfries in the southwest of Scotland. In the Middle Ages it was owned by the Maxwell family. Today, the castle is in the care of Historic...

  • Drumlanrig Castle
    Drumlanrig Castle
    Drumlanrig Castle sits on the Queensberry Estate in Scotland's Dumfries and Galloway.The Castle is the Dumfriesshire family home to the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry...

  • Kagyu Samyé Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre
    Kagyu Samyé Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre
    Kagyu Samyé Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre is a Tibetan Buddhist complex associated with the Karma Kagyu school located at Eskdalemuir, near Langholm, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.- History :...

     was the first Tibetan Buddhist
    Tibetan Buddhism
    Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...

     Centre to have been established in the West. It is a centre within the Karma Kagyu
    Karma Kagyu
    Karma Kagyu , or Kamtsang Kagyu, is probably the largest and certainly the most widely practiced lineage within the Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The lineage has long-standing monasteries in Tibet, China, Russia, Mongolia, India, Nepal, and Bhutan, and current...

     tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. It is in the village of Eskdalemuir
    Eskdalemuir
    -External links:*...

     in the Scottish Southern Uplands
  • Ecclefechan
    Ecclefechan
    Ecclefechan is a small village in the south of Scotland in Dumfries and Galloway.Ecclefechan lay in the early middle ages within the British kingdom of Rheged, and the name is derived from the Brythonic for "small church"...

     – Thomas Carlyle
    Thomas Carlyle
    Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator.Coming from a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was...

    's birthplace "The Arched House" is a tourist attraction and has been maintained by the National Trust for Scotland
    National Trust for Scotland
    The National Trust for Scotland for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, commonly known as the National Trust for Scotland describes itself as the conservation charity that protects and promotes Scotland's natural and cultural heritage for present and future generations to...

     since 1936. Ecclefechan lies at the foot of the large Roman
    Ancient Rome
    Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

     Fort, Burnswark, which dominates the horizon with its flat top.
  • At Twynholm
    Twynholm
    Twynholm is a small village in Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfries and Galloway. It is located 3km north-north west of Kirkcudbright.Twynholm is the home town of Formula One racing driver David Coulthard. A museum to his career was established in the village and is a popular tourist attraction.The...

     is the David Coulthard
    David Coulthard
    David Marshall Coulthard, MBE, , sometimes known as DC, is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland.Coulthard, who was born in Dumfries and raised nearby in Twynholm, made his Formula One debut in 1994 and won 13 Grands Prix in a career spanning 15 seasons...

     Museum.
  • Gretna Green
    Gretna Green
    Gretna Green is a village in the south of Scotland famous for runaway weddings. It is in Dumfries and Galloway, near the mouth of the River Esk and was historically the first village in Scotland, following the old coaching route from London to Edinburgh. Gretna Green has a railway station serving...

     and the Old Blacksmith's Shop famous for runaway marriages.
  • Tharpaland – International Buddhist Retreat Centre under the auspices of the New Kadampa Tradition
    New Kadampa Tradition
    The New Kadampa Tradition ~ International Kadampa Buddhist Union is a global Buddhist organisation founded by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso in England in 1991. In 2003 the words "International Kadampa Buddhist Union" were added to the original name "New Kadampa Tradition"...

     Kelsang Gyatso
    Kelsang Gyatso
    Kelsang Gyatso is a Buddhist monk, "meditation master, scholar, and author" of 22 books based on the teachings of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism...

     completed a three-year retreat at Tharpaland.

Other places subsequently named Dumfries

  • Dumfries, Virginia
    Dumfries, Virginia
    Dumfries is a town in Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 4,937 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Dumfries is located at ....

     in the US was formally established on land at the head of the harbour of Quantico Creek
    Quantico Creek
    Quantico Creek is a tidal tributary of the Potomac River in eastern Prince William County, Virginia. Quantico Creek rises southeast of Independent Hill, flows through Prince William Forest Park and Dumfries and empties into the Potomac at Possum Point....

    , provided by John Graham. He named the town after his birthplace, Dumfries in Scotland.
  • Dumfries, New Brunswick
    Dumfries, New Brunswick
    Dumfries is an unincorporated community in York County, New Brunswick, Canada.-References:...

     in Canada
    Canada
    Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

  • South Dumfries Township, Ontario, Canada
  • North Dumfries, Ontario
    North Dumfries, Ontario
    The Township of North Dumfries is a rural township in Ontario, Canada, part of the Region of Waterloo. Its 2006 Census population was 9,063.The township includes the communities of Ayr, Branchton, Clyde, Reidsville and Roseville.-History:...

    , Canada
  • Dumfries, Grenada
    Grenada
    Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...

  • Dumfries, Minnesota
    Minnesota
    Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

    , USA
  • Dumfries, Iowa
    Iowa
    Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

    , USA

Twin towns

  • Annapolis, Maryland
    Annapolis, Maryland
    Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...

    , United States
  • Gifhorn
    Gifhorn
    Gifhorn is a town and capital of the district Gifhorn in the east of Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of about 42,000 and is mainly influenced by the small distance to the industrial and commercially important cities nearby, Brunswick and Wolfsburg...

    , Germany
    Germany
    Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

  • Passau
    Passau
    Passau is a town in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the Dreiflüssestadt or "City of Three Rivers," because the Danube is joined at Passau by the Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north....

    , Germany
  • Cantù
    Cantù
    Cantù is a city and comune in the Province of Como, located at the center of the Brianza zone in Lombardy. It is the second largest city in Brianza.-History:...

    , Italy

See also

  • Abecediary
    Abecediary
    An Abecediary or Abecedary is the full alphabet carved in stone or written in book form, historically found in churches, monasteries and other ecclesiastical buildings.- Purpose :...

     An example from St Mary Grey Friars church.
  • List of places in Dumfries and Galloway

People from Dumfries

External links

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