Kirkpatrick-Juxta

"KIRKPATRICK-JUXTA, a parish in the district of Annandale, county Dumfries, Scotland, 3¼ miles S. of Moffat. The parish is intersected by the main trunk of the Caledonian railway, which has a station at Beattock. It is 7½ miles long, and its greatest breadth 6¾. The river Annan traces its N.E. boundary, and several streamlets intersect the district. The westward portion is occupied by a range of mountains, one of which, the Queensberry, rises to the height of 2,140 feet above sea-level. About one-third of the land is under tillage, but the larger portion is unenclosed pasture. There are several springs and chalybeate wells in the parish. Bluestone and greywacke are quarried. The parish is in the presbytery of Lochmaben and synod of Dumfries. The minister's stipend is £195. The parish church is a commodious structure built in 1799. There are five schools, two of which are parochial. The parish derives its name, meaning "the lands nigh to the kirk of St. Patrick," from a chapel dedicated to the famous missionary. Here is the castle of Augheancass, the ruins of which cover a large extent of ground. It was erected where it stood. Formerly a woollen mill furnished by Randolph, Earl of Murray, and afterwards became possessed by Douglas of Morton. The tower of Lochhouse, on the banks of the Annan, is the property of the Johnstones of Corehead. In the district are traces of a Roman road and camp, also of many cairns and circular forts."

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