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Kirkconnel Tower
Kirkconnel Tower was a 16th-century tower house, about east of Ecclefechan, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, south of Kirtle Water, south of Kirkconnel Church.Coventry, Martin (1997) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Goblinshead. p. It is different from Kirkconnel House, south of Dumfries. History This is thought to have been the home of Helen of Kirconnel, the subject of the ballad published by Walter Scott, in ''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border''. It may have been a mansion of the Irving family. Structure There is no trace of the castle nor evidence of its structure. See also *Castles in Great Britain and Ireland *List of castles in Scotland This is a list of castles in Scotland. A castle is a type of fortified structure built primarily during the Middle Ages. Scholars debate the scope of the word "castle", but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or ... References Castles in Dumfries and Galloway {{Scotland-castle-stub ...
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Tower House
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces. At the same time, they were also used as an aristocrat's residence, around which a castle town was often constructed. Europe After their initial appearance in Ireland, Scotland, the Stins, Frisian lands, Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country and England during the High Middle Ages, tower houses were also built in other parts of western Europe, especially in parts of France and Italy. In Italian medieval communes, urban ''palazzi'' with a very tall tower were increasingly built by the local highly competitive Patrician (post-Roman Europe), patrician families as power centres during times of internal strife. Most north Italian cities had a number of these by the end of the Middles Ages, but few no ...
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Ecclefechan
Ecclefechan (Scottish Gaelic: ''Eaglais Fheichein'') is a small village located in Dumfries and Galloway in the south of Scotland. The village is famous for being the birthplace of Thomas Carlyle. Ecclefechan lies in the valley of the Mein Water, a tributary of the River Annan, south of Lockerbie, north of Annan and northwest of the English border. The A74(M) motorway runs immediately north of the village and Junction 19 is just northwest of the village. The High Street of the village has a burn which runs through a culvert below it. This culvert was constructed in 1875 by Dr George Arnott at his own expense. Etymology The name ''Ecclefechan'' was recorded as ''Egilfeichane'' in 1507, and is of Brittonic origin. The first element is ''eglẹ:s'', meaning "a church" (c.f. Welsh ''eglwys''). The second element is the equivalent of Welsh fe''chan'', meaning "little". Comparable Welsh toponyms include Eglwysfach and Llanfechan. A lesser likelihood is that the name commemorate ...
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Dumfries And Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, and Wigtownshire, the latter two of which are collectively known as Galloway. The administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Dumfries. The second largest town is Stranraer, on the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel coast, some to the west of Dumfries. Following the 1975 reorganisation of local government in Scotland, the three counties were joined to form a single regions and districts of Scotland, region of Dumfries and Galloway, with four districts within it. The districts were abolished in 1996, since when Dumfries and Galloway has been a unitary local authority. For lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy purposes, the area is divided into three lieutenancy a ...
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Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the northeast and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. It also contains more than 790 islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. Most of the population, including the capital Edinburgh, is concentrated in the Central Belt—the plain between the Scottish Highlands and the Southern Uplands—in the Scottish Lowlands. Scotland is divided into 32 administrative subdivisions or local authorities, known as council areas. Glasgow City is the largest council area in terms of population, with Highland being the largest in terms of area. Limited self-governing power, covering matters such as education, social services and roads and transportation, is devolved from the Scott ...
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Kirtle Water
The Kirtle Water is a river in Dumfries and Galloway in southern Scotland. It rises on the southern slopes of Haggy Hill where its headwaters are impounded to form Winterhope Reservoir. Below the dam it flows in a generally southerly direction passing Waterbeck and Eaglesfield to the village of Kirtlebridge along which stretch it is closely followed both by the A74(M) motorway and the mainline railway between Carlisle and Glasgow. From Kirtlebridge it turns southeastwards to flow by Kirkpatrick-Fleming and on, to the west of Gretna, to empty into the estuary of the Border Esk at the eastern limit of the Solway Firth The Solway Firth ( gd, Tràchd Romhra) is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in ....Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 scale Landranger map sheet 85 Carlisle and Solway Firth References External links ...
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Kirkconnel
Kirkconnel ( Gaelic: ''Cille Chonaill'') is a small parish in Dumfries and Galloway, southwestern Scotland. It is located on the A76 near the head of Nithsdale. Principally it has been a sporting community. The name comes from The Church of Saint Conal. In 1850 the village had only a single street. Next to Kirkconnel is a separate village called Kelloholm. It is also associated with the ballad ''Helen of Kirkconnel''. History The early church and settlement were situated at the foot of Kirkland Hill on the drove road from Ayrshire to Lanarkshire, which followed the steep incline beside the Glenaylmer Burn. Whether Saint Conal was an Irish monk or the son of a local shepherd befriended and educated by Glasgow's Saint Mungo, Christianity came early to this part of Nithsdale. A Celtic cross, erected in 1880 by the Duke of Buccleuch at the instigation of the minister, the Rev. John Donaldson, marks the reputed burial place of Saint Conal. From the neighborhood of the cross, on a c ...
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Helen Of Kirconnel
"Helen of Kirkconnel" is a famous Scottish ballad. History It was published by Walter Scott in Volume 2 of ''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border''. An early version was also published by John Mayne. It is also known as "Kirkconnel Lea" and "Fair Helen". Here is one explanation of the story behind the ballad: It was published by Scott as "Fair Helen of Kirconnell". Nowadays most versions of the ballad use the current spelling of the town Kirkconnel. A popular tune to which the ballad was sung became the basis for a hymn tune, "Martyrdom", adapted by Hugh Wilson of Duntocher around 1800. A later version of Wilson's tune by Robert A. Smith is used in numerous modern hymnals. Text This is the exact version published by Scott. References External linksAnother explanation of the story behind the ballad A link giving an alternative version * {{ws, Fair Helen of Kirconnel is a poetic response by Felicia Hemans Felicia Dorothea Hemans (25 September 1793 – 16 May 1835) ...
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Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Europe, and later in Australia, North Africa, North America and South America. Ballads are often 13 lines with an ABABBCBC form, consisting of couplets (two lines) of rhymed verse, each of 14 syllables. Another common form is ABAB or ABCB repeated, in alternating eight and six syllable lines. Many ballads were written and sold as single sheet broadsides. The form was often used by poets and composers from the 18th century onwards to produce lyrical ballads. In the later 19th century, the term took on the meaning of a slow form of popular love song and is often used for any love song, particularly the sentimental ballad of pop or roc ...
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Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (novel), Rob Roy'', ''Waverley (novel), Waverley'', ''Old Mortality'', ''The Heart of Mid-Lothian'' and ''The Bride of Lammermoor'', and the narrative poems ''The Lady of the Lake (poem), The Lady of the Lake'' and ''Marmion (poem), Marmion''. He had a major impact on European and American literature. As an advocate, judge and legal administrator by profession, he combined writing and editing with daily work as Clerk of Session and Sheriff court, Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire. He was prominent in Edinburgh's Tory (political faction), Tory establishment, active in the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, Highland Society, long a president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1820–1832), and a vice president of the Society o ...
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Minstrelsy Of The Scottish Border
''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'' is an anthology of Border ballads, together with some from north-east Scotland and a few modern literary ballads, edited by Walter Scott. It was first published in 1802, but was expanded in several later editions, reaching its final state in 1830, two years before Scott's death. It includes many of the most famous Scottish ballads, such as '' Sir Patrick Spens'', '' The Young Tamlane'', ''The Twa Corbies'', '' The Douglas Tragedy'', '' Clerk Saunders'', '' Kempion'', ''The Wife of Usher's Well'', '' The Cruel Sister'', '' The Dæmon Lover'', and ''Thomas the Rhymer''. Scott enlisted the help of several collaborators, notably John Leyden, and found his ballads both by field research of his own and by consulting the manuscript collections of others. Controversially, in the editing of his texts he preferred literary quality over scholarly rigour, but ''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'' nevertheless attracted high praise from the first. I ...
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Clan Irvine
Clan Irvine is a Scottish clan.Way, George and Squire, Romily. ''Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia''. (Foreword by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Elgin KT, Convenor, The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs). Published in 1994. Pages 174 – 175. History Origins of the clan Sometime between 1124 and 1125 Gilchrist, son of Erwini, witnessed a charter of the Lords of Galloway. The first lands by the name of Irvine were in Dumfriesshire. According to family tradition the origin of the clan chief's family is connected with the early Celtic monarchs of Scotland. Duncan Irvine settled at Bonshaw. Duncan was the brother of Crinan, who claimed descent from the High Kings of Ireland, through the Abbots of Dunkeld. Crinan married a daughter of Malcolm II of Scotland and their son was Duncan I of Scotland. William de Irwin was a neighbor of the Clan Bruce. The Irvines supported their powerful neighbors, the Bruces, and William de Irwin became the armor bearer and secretary to king Rob ...
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Castles In Great Britain And Ireland
Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 1050s, the Normans began to build motte and bailey and ringwork castles in large numbers to control their newly occupied territories in England and the Welsh Marches. During the 12th century the Normans began to build more castles in stone – with characteristic square keep – that played both military and political roles. Royal castles were used to control key towns and the economically important forests, while baronial castles were used by the Norman lords to control their widespread estates. David I invited Anglo-Norman lords into Scotland in the early 12th century to help him colonise and control areas of his kingdom such as Galloway; the new lords brought castle technologies with them and wooden castles began to be established over ...
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