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Dalmellington
DALMELLINGTON, or Damelingtoun (1), 'a parish
at the
southern angle of the district of Kyle, Ayrshire. It is
bounded on the north by Ochiltree; on the east by
New-Cumnock; on the south-east by Kirkcudbrightshire; on
the south-west by Loch Doon and Doon water, which divide
it from Straiton; and on the west by Dalrymple. It has
nearly a triangular figure, the longest side being from
northwest to south-east along the Doon; and it measures,
in extreme length, 10 miles, in average breadth about 3.
Along the Doon, over a distance of 3 miles, a plain or
very gentle slope stretches inward, of nearly the figure
of a crescent, narrowed to a point at both extremities,
and measuring about a mile at its central or greatest
width. Behind this plain the whole parish rises upward in
continuous eminences or mountain ridges. The ridge nearest
the Doon closes that river closely in at the north-western
angle of the parish, extends away eastward, limiting the
lowlands, and abruptly terminates to the north-east of the
village, in a splendid colonnade of basalt, 300 feet in
height, and 600 in length. Two other ridges run
south-eastward and southward, and are connected at the
north end by a ridge coming down upon them westward from
the parish of New-Cumnock. Though the hills are in
general easy of ascent, and in only three places are, for
a short way, precipitous, yet they form gorges and
mountain-passes of fascinating interest, and, in one or
two instances, of peculiar grandeur. Along the road
from the village of Dalmellington to Carsphairn in
Kirkcudbrightshire, two ridges approach for upwards of a
mile, so nearly to an embrace as to leave at their bases
barely sufficient space for the public road and the bed of
a mountain-rill. At the extremity of the range, also,
where the river Doon issues from its picturesque
mountain-cradled lake, [see DOON, LOCH,] rocky,
perpendicular elevations, whose summits rise 300 feet
above the level of the river, are, for about a mile, so
brief a space asunder, as to seem cloven by some powerful
agency from above, or torn apart by some convulsive heave
beneath their base. The narrow, stupendously walled pass
between is called the glen of Ness, and opens, at its
north-western extremity, into the lowlands, or
crescent-figured plain, of the parish. The river Doon
escapes from the loch by two narrow channels in the naked
rock, dashes impetuously along the glen of Ness, and
afterwards moves slowly forward among meadowy banks,
receiving, in its progress, the waters of several rills,
or occasionally swollen and inundating torrents, from
the inland heights. The springs of the parish are
pure and limpid, and flow, for the most part, from beds of
sand and gravel. Nearly a mile from the south-eastern
boundary, and surrounded by heathy moorland, is a small
lake of about 25 or 30 acres in area, the waters of which
are dark, and very deep, and abound in black trout. The
soil, on the plain along the Doon, is a strong, rich,
clayey loam; around the village, is dry and gravelly;
and behind the Doon, or lower range of hills, is moss or
moorland. About ¾ of a mile below the village is a
morass of about 150 acres, resting on a spongy bed, and
imbosoming some oaks of considerable size. Coal — the
most southerly of the Ayrshire field, but prime in quality
— is worked from deep seams, and affords a supply to
places in Galloway even 30 miles distant. Sandstone
abounds; and lime and ironstone are not infrequent in
occurrence. The parish is traversed by two great lines
of road parallel to the Doon, one of them the coach-road
from Ayr to Dumfries; and by a line of road
north-eastward, leading from the village of Dalmellington
to that of New-Cumnock; and it is abundantly accommodated
with bridges for these and for by-roads, there being 6
across the Doon, and 9 or 10 across the smaller streams.
A very old house in the village, bearing the inscription
1,003, is called Castle-house, owing, as is supposed, to
its having been built of materials taken from an ancient
castle in the vicinity, called Dame Helen's castle.
Between the village and the site of that castle is a
beautiful moat, surrounded with a deep, dry fosse. On a
precipitous cliff in a deep glen, protected on three sides
by the perpendicular rock, and on the fourth by a fosse,
stood formerly a fastness, which, from some storied
connection with Alpine, king of Scotland, gives to its
site the name of Lacht Alpine. In the uplands were, at
one time, three very large cairns, one of them upwards of
100 yards in circumference, and all covering vast masses
of human bones. A Roman road, coming up from
Dumfries-shire and Kirkcudbrightshire, and measuring 10 or
11 feet broad, formerly traversed the parish from
south-east to north-west, and passed from it into
Dalrymple. Dalmellington figured largely in the
affecting scenes of the persecution under the Stuarts, and
abounds in traditions respecting the sufferings of the
Covenanters. Wodrow represents it as having been watched and
oppressed with such large bodies of troops, that, at one
period, they must have been more numerous than the
inhabitants; and, while giving detailed accounts of
the heavy and multiform local grievances which they
inflicted, he says, "Had materials come to my hand as
distinctly from the rest of the country as from this
parish, what a black view we might have had!" — The village
of Dalmellington is snugly situated, on the road from Ayr
to Dumfries, in a recess of the plain of the parish,
sheltered by the hills, and about ¾ of a mile
northeastward of the Doon, or of a stripe of waters ¼ of a
mile broad, and called Bogton loch, into which the Doon,
during about a mile of its progress, expands. It is a
neat, thriving place, — and has two woollen mills, a carpet
manufactory, and a considerable number of private looms.
Here are a subscription library, a reading-room, a
savings bank, 7 inns, 3 schools, and the parish-church.
Belonging to the village are 2 commons, which afford
pasturage to from 50 to 60 cows. Annual fairs are held
on Fastern's E'en, Halloween, and the first Friday after
Whitsunday, all old style. The village is a
burgh-of-barony. Population of the parish, in 1801,
787; in 1831, 1,056. Houses 189. Assessed property,
in 1815, £2,566. - Dalmellington parish, formerly a
vicarage of chapel-royal of Stirling, is in the presbytery
of Ayr, and synod of Glasgow and Ayr. Patron, the
Crown. Stipend £158 6s. 8d.; glebe £20. - The
parish-church was built in 1766; sittings 400.
Parish-schoolmaster's salary £34 4s. 4½d., with £10 fees.
There are two schools non-parochial.
{1 The writer in the Old Statistical Account
says: "The
true orthography of Damelingtoun is said to be 'Dame
Helen's Town,' after a lady of rank and fortune, of the
name of Helen, who built a castle near this place."
Chalmers, in his Caledonia, however, derives the name from
two Gaelic words, dal, a valley; muilan, a mill, and the
common Saxon termination, toun, or ton, — and thus makes it
mean 'the Town of the Valley of the mill.'}
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