Dumfriesshire, a Scottish Border county, bounded SE. by Cumberland, and S. for 21 miles by the Solway Firth. Its greatest length, from east to west, is 47 miles; its breadth varies between 13 and 32 miles; and its area is 1103 sq. m. From Clydesdale and Tweeddale it is shut off by a sinuous rim of high green rounded mountains—Lowther Hill (2377 feet), Queensberry (2285), Hartfell (2651), White Coomb (2695), and Ettrick Pen (2269). Thence, though broken by Cairukinna (1813 feet), Birrenswark (920), and some lesser eminences, the surface has a general southward slope to the dead level of Lochar Moss, a peat bog, 10 by 3 miles, now largely reclaimed. Three beautiful rivers, the Nith, Annan, and Esk, all run to the Solway; and all but the first belong wholly to Dumfriesshire. At Moffat are mineral springs.
Besides seven lakes round Lochmaben, there is 'dark Loch Skene' ( by mile; 1680 feet above sea-level), which has its outlet by a waterfall, the Grey Mare's Tail. The Enterkin Pass has been rendered famous by Defoe and Dr John Brown. The strata are Silurian, Old Red Sandstone, Carboniferous, and Permian, with intrusive igneous rock; reptilian footprints have been found in the sandstones of Corncokle Moor, in Annandale. The minerals include coal (at Sanquhar and Canonbie), limestone, antimony, and (at Wanlockhead) lead, silver, gold. The climate is mild, with a mean temperature of F. Only 32 per cent. of the entire area is arable, the uplands being pastoral or waste. Sheep, cattle, and pigs are largely reared; and there are valuable salmon-fisheries. The county is traversed by two chief lines of railway, the Glasgow and South-Western (1850) and the Caledonian (1849). It returns one member to parliament. Towns and villages are Dumfries, Annan, Lochmaben, Sanquhar, Moffat, Lockerbie, Langholm, Ecclefechan, Thornhill, and Gretna Green. Drumlanrig Castle (1689), a seat of the Duke of Buccleuch, is the chief mansion. Among antiquities are Roman stations at Birrens (excavated in 1895) and Birrenswark, Ruthwell (q.v.) Cross, Lincluden convent (12th c.), and the castles of Lochmaben and Caerlaverock. Among its families are the Maxwells, Johnstones, Jardines, Kirkpatrick, and Douglasses; among its worthies, Bruce, Allan Cunningham, Thomas Carlyle, and (by residence) Robert Burns. Pop. (1801) 54,597; (1881) 76,140; (1891) 74,221. See Sir H. Maxwell's History of Dumfriesshire (1896).