In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles described Dumfries like this:
Dumfries, cap. of co., parl. and royal burgh, par., and river port, Dumfries-shire, on river Nith, 33 miles NW. of Carlisle by rail, 92 SE. of Glasgow, and 324 NW. of London -- par., 10,032 ac., pop. 16,841; parl. burgh and town, pop. 17,092; royal burgh, pop. 15,713; P.O., T.O., 7 Banks, 3 newspapers. Market-day, Wednesday. Dumfries is the chief place in the S. of Scotland. It is the capital of a rich rural district, and is an important manufacturing town. The staple is tweeds, but D. ...
has also hosiery and hat mfrs., clog making, basket making, timber trade, ironworks, and tanneries. The traffic is now carried on chiefly by rail, and the port has decreased in importance. (For shipping statistics, see Appendix.) D. is connected with its suburb Maxwelltown (which, with the Terregles part of the town, is in Kirkcudbright) by a stone bridge of the 13th century. In the Minorite Convent Bruce slew the Red Comyn in 1305. The town was plundered and burned by the Highlanders in 1745. The poet Burns died at Dumfries in 1796. The Dumfries Burghs, for parliamentary purposes, consist of Dumfries, Annan, Lochmaben, and Sanquhar, in co. of Dumfries, and Kirkcudbright, in co. of same name; they send 1 member to Parliament.
Dumfries through time
A Vision of Britain through Time includes a large library of local statistics for administrative units. For the best overall sense of how the area containing Dumfries has changed, please see our redistricted information for the modern district of Dumfries and Galloway. More detailed statistical data are available under Units and statistics, which includes both administrative units covering Dumfries and units named after it.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Dumfries, in Dumfries and Galloway and Dumfries Shire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/16451
Date accessed: 19th June 2013
Not where you were looking for?
Click here for more detailed advice on finding places within A Vision of Britain through Time, and maybe some references to other places called "Dumfries".
