Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Terregles

Terregles, a parish of NE Kirkcudbrightshire, containing a very small portion of the parliamentary burgh of Dumfries. It is bounded NE and E by Holywood and Dumfries in Dumfriesshire, SE and S by Troqueer, SW by Lochrutton, and NW and N by Kirkpatrick-Irongray. Its utmost length, from ENE to WSW, is 4½ miles; its utmost breadth is 2½ miles; and its area is 3868½ acres, of which 26 are water. Cluden Water winds 2¼ miles east-south-eastward along or close to all the north-eastern border till it falls into the river Nith, which itself curves 9½ furlongs south-by-eastward along all the Dumfries boundary; whilst Cargen water flows 35/8 miles east-north-eastward and south-eastward, mainly along the Lochrutton and Troqueer boundary, but for a brief distance through the southern interior. All that part of the parish to the E of the church is low and flattish, rarely sinking much below 50 or much exceeding 100 feet above sea-level; but the western border is hilly, and, rising near Brae Croft to 692 feet, commands thence a beautiful view of the vale of the Nith, the town of Dumfries, the Solway Firth, and the distant Cumberland mountains. The rocks are variously eruptive, Silurian, and Devonian; and the soil, though diversified, is generally fertile. On Terreglestown farm, 2 miles W by N of Dumfries, stood a good-sized village, erected into a burgh of barony in 1510; and near it is a spot, the Gallows Hill, where criminals in bygone days were hanged. The chief antiquity, Lincluden College, is noticed separately; and a history of it by Mr Wm. M'Dowall was published in 1884. Sir John Herries had a charter of the lands of 'Travereglis' or Terregles from David II., on the resignation of the same by Thomas, Earl of Mar, in 1359; and his descendant, Sir Herbert Herries, was created Lord Herries of Terregles in or prior to 1489. In 1547 His great-granddaughter, Agnes, Lady Herries, married John Maxwell, second son of the fifth Lord Maxwell, who, in 1566, assumed the title of fourth Lord Herries, in virtue of his wife, and who is famous in history as Queen Mary's zealous adherent. According to his memoirs (Abbotsford Club, 1836), on the rout of Langside, 13 May 1568, Queen Mary 'was carried from the field by the Lords Herries, Fleming, and Livistoune. Prettie George Douglas and William the Fundlin escapt also with the Queen. She rode all night, and did not halt until she came to Sanquhir. From thence she went to Terregles, the Lord Herries' hous, where she rested some few dayes, and then, against her friends' advyce, she resolved to go to England and commit herselfe to the protection of Queen Elizabeth; in hopes, by her assistance, to be repossessed again in her kingdome. So she embarked at a creek near Dundrennen, in Galloway, and carried the Lord Herries to attend her with his counsel, and landed at Cockermouth, in Cumberland. Heer she stayed, and sent the Lord Herries to Londone, in hopes to be recaved with honor.' Three relics of this brief visit are still preserved at Terregles-the Queen's illuminated Missal (1544), remains of her bed, and the silken embroidered leading-strings of James VI. John, seventh Lord Herries, in 1667 succeeded his cousin as eleventh Lord Maxwell and third Earl of Nithsdale; but in 1716 all three titles were attainted in the person of the Jacobite fifth Earl, whose escape from the Tower in woman's attire was effected by the heroism of his countess, Lady Winifred Herbert. She had buried the family muniments in the garden at Terregles ere starting on the long ride to London, in the depth of winter-a lady naturally delicate, and then advanced in pregnancy; and, after the Earl's escape, she returned, and dug up the deeds, by one of which, executed in 1712, the estates were disponed to William, the only son. His daughter and heiress, Winifred, married William Haggerston Constable, Esq. of Everingham, in Yorkshire, and built about1789 the present spacious mansion of Terregles- an event commemorated by Robert Burns in Nithside's Welcome Hame. In 1814, her son, Marmaduke, disponed the lands and baronies of Terregles, Kirkgunzeon, etc., which formed great part of the ancient Herries estates, to his second son, Marmaduke; and he, in 1872, was succeeded by his nephew, Alfred Constable-Maxwell, Esq. (b. 1841), who holds 15,803 acres in the stewarty, valued at £14,622 per annum, and who is thirteenth in lineal descent from the first Lord Herries. The family has always adhered to the Catholic faith; and on 14 Nov. 1879, the interesting 'queir' or choir of Terregles, which was founded by the fourth Lord Herries not long before his death in 1583, and which contains the tombs of himself and his descendants, was reopened by the bishop of Galloway after a thorough four years' restoration at the cost of the present proprietor. There are 8 lesser landowners in the parish, 1 holding an annual value of more than £500, 4 each of between £100 and £500, 1 of from £50 to £100, and 2 of from £20 to £50. Terregles is in the presbytery and synod of Dumfries; the living is worth £210. The parish church is a poor building of 1799, and contains nearly 300 sittings. The public school, with accommodation for 60 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 57, and a grant of £49, 3s. Valuation (1860) £4770, (1885) £7660, 4s. 10d. Pop. (1801) 510, (1831) 606, (1861) 580, (1871) 547, (1881) 471, of whom 8 were in the parliamentary burgh of Dumfries.—Ord. Sur., sh. 9, 1863. See Dr William Fraser's Book of Caerlaverock (2 vols., Edinb. 1873).


(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions")
Administrative units: Terregles ScoP       Dumfries Shire ScoCnty       Kirkcudbrightshire ScoCnty
Place: Terregles

Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.