Dunscore ( / 'DUN-skur', less commonly / 'DUN-score') is a small village which lies 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 ...

on the B729, in Dumfriesshire, in the District Council Region of

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 ...

, southwest Scotland. 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 missionary Jane Haining, one of only ten Holocaust victims from Scotland. 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 The Cairn Valley Light Railway was a rural railway line built to connect Moniaive and other communities in the Cairn Valley with the main railway network at Dumfries. It opened in 1905 but usage was disappointing, and declined further when bus c ...

which ran to Moniaive from

Craigenputtock Craigenputtock (usually spelled by the Carlyles as Craigenputtoch) is an estate 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 incorporate ...

Estate is within the Civil Parish of Dunscore.

Etymology

The name Dunscore is of Cumbric origin, formed of the elements ''dīn'' 'fort' and ''*ïsgor'' 'fortification, rampart'.

William J. Watson William John Watson FRSE LLD (1865 – 9 March 1948) was a toponymist, one of the greatest Scottish scholars of the 20th century, and was the first scholar to place the study of Scottish place names on a firm linguistic basis. Life Watson ...

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 wa ...

was located near Fardingwell Farm, between Robert Burns'

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 a ...

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 Robert Burns. 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 in 1488 and several family members were killed at the Battle of Flodden 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