Dalswinton is a small village in the historical county of Dumfriesshire in

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 ...

in the south of

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 ...

. It is located about northwest of

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

. To the east of the village a

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

has been built with a capacity of 30 MW. Patrick Miller the entrepreneur built Dalswinton House and its surroundings, which today remain largely in their original form: the stable block situated below the main house and the walled garden; the village; the farms with the enclosed fields; all the cottages which were to house the farm workers and, finally, the loch. It was, perhaps, this for which he is most renowned, as it was on here that the first steamboat in Britain made its maiden voyage. The name Dalswinton contains the

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

place-name ''swīn-tūn '''pig farm', to which

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

''dál'' 'haugh or water meadow' has been added. * An exceptionally large beech tree (

Fagus sylvatica ''Fagus sylvatica'', the European beech or common beech is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae. Description ''Fagus sylvatica'' is a large tree, capable of reaching heights of up to tall and trunk diameter, though mor ...

) was situated at the front of the nearby corrugated iron constructed

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

Dalswinton Barony church, with the Giant Polypore bracket fungus (

Meripilus giganteus ''Meripilus giganteus'' is a polypore fungus in the family Meripilaceae. It causes a white rot in various types of broadleaved trees, particularly beech (''Fagus''), but also ''Abies'', '' Picea'', ''Pinus'', ''Quercus'' and ''Ulmus'' species. ...

) growing from its roots. The tree was felled in early 2014.

References

External links

Video footage of Dalswinton LochVideo footage of the first ever steam powered vessel
Villages in Dumfries and Galloway {{DumfriesGalloway-geo-stub