Dunscore ( , less commonly ) is a small village which lies northwest of

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

on the B729, in

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the hi ...

, in the District Council Region of

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

, southwest

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The village consists of about 150 people and has a church, a community run pub, and a hosted post office three times a week. The village hosts a gala event every August. It is the birthplace of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

Jane Haining Jane Mathison Haining (6 June 1897 – 17 July 1944) was a Scottish missionary for the Church of Scotland in Budapest, Hungary, who was recognized in 1997 by Yad Vashem in Israel as Righteous Among the Nations for having risked her life to ...

, one of only ten

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

victims from Scotland. Dunscore has been an activ
Fairtrade Community
since 2009. The Dunscore railway station opened in 1905, and closed to passengers in 1943 and to goods in 1949. The station was on the Cairn Valley Railway which ran to

Moniaive Moniaive ( 'monny-IVE'; , ''"The Holy Moor"'') is a village in the Parish of Glencairn, in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. It stands on the Cairn and Dalwhat Waters, north-west of the town of Dumfries. Moniaive has been named best o ...

from

Craigenputtock Craigenputtock (usually spelled by the Carlyles as Craigenputtoch) is a farmhouse in Scotland where Thomas Carlyle lived from 1828 to 1834. He wrote several of his early works there, including ''Sartor Resartus''. The estate's name incorporat ...

Estate is within the Civil Parish of Dunscore.

Etymology

The name Dunscore is of

Cumbric Cumbric is an extinct Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North", in Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands. It was closely related to Old Welsh and the ot ...

origin, formed of the elements ''dīn'' 'fort' and ''*ïsgor'' 'fortification, rampart'.

William J. Watson William John Watson (17 February 1865 – 9 March 1948) was a Scottish toponymist and was the first scholar to place the study of Scottish place names on a firm linguistic basis. Life Watson was a native Gaelic-speaker, born in Milntown of N ...

proposes the meaning "fort of the bulwark or rampart".

The Church

There is a parish church of Dunscore. The long abandoned

Dunscore Old Kirk Dunscore Old Kirk (NGR NX 92661 83241) was a pre-reformation kirk (church) situated on rising ground off a minor road to Merkland, Parish of Dunscore, Dumfriesshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland; about 3 km from Auldgirth. The church was ...

was located near Fardingwell Farm, between

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

Ellisland Farm Ellisland Farm lies about 6.5 mi/10.4 km northwest of Dumfries near the village of Auldgirth, located in the Parish of Dunscore, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The complex is a museum in the farm Robert Burns built, lived in and ...

and Robert Ferguson's "Isle Tower". In Thompson's 1832 map, Ellisland was spelt "Elliesland" and was next to Isle Tower. The ' Laird of Lag's Tomb' is located at the surviving "Dunscore Old Kirk" burial ground, as is the grave of Captain

Robert Riddell Captain Robert Riddell (1755–1794), Laird of Friar's Carse, near Dumfries. A friend of Robert Burns, who made him a collection of his poems which later became famous, and wrote a poem 'Sonnet On The Death Of Robert Riddell' in memory of him ...

of Glenriddell, a close associate of

. The church was rebuilt into a heritage centre in 2017, and features information on the Dunscore-born Jane Haining.

Lag Tower

Lag (or Lagg) Tower is a ruinous fortification lying on high ground north-east of Dunscore, north of the Laggan Burn. The structure dates from the 15th or 16th century and was originally four storeys high with a walled courtyard at its base. From the 14th Century, the site was the home of the Grierson family, which was responsible for building the tower. Roger Grierson of Lagg was killed at the

Battle of Sauchieburn The Battle of Sauchieburn was fought on 11 June 1488, at the side of Sauchie Burn, a stream about south of Stirling, Scotland. The battle was fought between the followers of King James III of Scotland and a large group of rebellious Scottish ...

in 1488 and several family members were killed at the

Battle of Flodden The Battle of Flodden, Flodden Field, or occasionally Branxton or Brainston Moor was fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland and resulted in an English victory ...

in 1513. In 1685 Robert Grierson of Lagg was a persecutor of the Covenanters.The Castles of Scotland by Andrew Coventry ISBN 1-899874-00-3

References

Villages in Dumfries and Galloway Dumfriesshire Parishes in Dumfries and Galloway {{DumfriesGalloway-geo-stub