Halfmorton

"HALFMORTON, a parish in the district of Annandale, county Dumfries, Scotland, 6 miles S.W. of Langholm. Canonbie is its post town. It is 5 miles long by 2 broad. Its boundaries are Gretna, Middlebie, Canonbie, and the English border. Some of the head streams of the river Sark rise in the N.W. The Black Sark also traverses part of the parish. The parish is in the presbytery of Langholm, in the synod of Dumfries, and in the patronage of the crown and the Duke of Buccleuch. The minister has a stipend of £140. The church was built in 1744, and has subsequently been enlarged. There are also a Free and an United Presbyterian church. Solway Bank is the principal residence. The ancient parish of Morton was divided in 1653, part being annexed to Wauchope and part to Canonbie. Subsequently that section belonging to Wauchope was formed into a separate parish, and named Half-Morton, when Wauchope itself became annexed to Langholm. There are some remains of the old parish church, and of three old towers."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]