Eskdalemuir is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

and small village in

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 ...

, Scotland, with a population of 265.General Register Office for Scotland : ''Census 2001 : Usual Resident Population : Eskdalemuir Civil Parish''
Retrieved 2009-11-21 It is around north-west of Langholm and north-east of

Lockerbie Lockerbie (, ) is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, located in south-western Scotland. The 2001 Census recorded its population as 4,009. The town had an estimated population of in . The town came to international attention in December 1988 when ...

. The area comprises high wet moorlands, chiefly used for sheep grazing and forestry plantation ( Eskdalemuir Forest). The main settlement is near the White Esk river. Eskdalemuir is probably best known for the Eskdalemuir Observatory and for the Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist monastery.

Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist monastery

In the community is the Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist monastery, which incorporates a former hunting lodge called Johnstone House. Listed as a

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beaut ...

by VisitScotland. Samye Ling Temple

Archaeology

Eskdalemuir is rich in archaeological remains, including two neolithic stone circles, the Loupin Stanes and the Girdle Stanes, and bank barrow, Castle O'er, a possible ritual centre for the Selgovae, Raeburnfoot, a Roman fort and later dark age fortifications and settlements.

Climate

Due to the establishment of the Eskdalemuir Observatory here in 1908, Eskdalemuir has one of the longest climatological records in the UK, with data stretching back over 100 years. The data shows Eskdalemuir to be a very wet, often cloudy place. Eskdalemuir holds the UK weather record for the highest rainfall in a 30-minute period: , recorded on 26 June 1953. It also holds the record for the dullest summer month; 43.9 hours were recorded in August 1912, and subsequently just 41 hours were measured in August 2008. However, these values are not directly comparable due to a change in recording technique – the earlier having been made using a Campbell–Stokes recorder and the later using an electronic recorder. Other recent low sunshine records for the site include 30 hours during October 2011, 46 hours during September 2008, and 69 hours during July 2010. Its dullest month was December 2015 with only 9.2 hours recorded. Eskdalemuir experienced its wettest year on record in 2011. In spite of it being located inland, the dull and wet nature of the climate due to the elevation leads to chilly summers that are colder than more northerly locations such as

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. The inland nature of the climate is more manifest during winter months with frosts being common, and the average lows between December and February are below the freezing point. The highest recorded temperature was in July 2022 and the lowest is in January 2010.

References

External links

Basic statistics about Eskdalemuir
{{Authority control Villages in Dumfries and Galloway Parishes in Dumfries and Galloway