Closeburn (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

: ''Cill Osbairn'') is a village and

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 ...

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. The village is on the

A76 road The A76 is a major trunk road in south west Scotland. Starting at Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire, the A76 goes through or immediately by-passes Hurlford, Mauchline, Auchinleck, Cumnock, Pathhead and New Cumnock before entering Dumfries and ...

south of Thornhill. In the 2001 census, Closeburn had a population of 1,119. Closeburn is recorded as ''Killosbern'' in 1185. The first element of the name is

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

''cill'' 'cell or church'. The second element is a saint's name, but none has definitely been identified. Between 1849 and 1961 the village had a railway station. Although Closeburn railway station is now closed, the

Glasgow South Western Line The Glasgow South Western Line is a mainline railway almost entirely in Scotland (the only exception being the final section into Carlisle in North West England) that runs from Glasgow to Kilmarnock, and then either via Dumfries, or Stranraer ...

still runs through the village. The nearest stations are at

Sanquhar Sanquhar (, ) is a town on the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, north of Thornhill and west of Moffat. It is a former Royal Burgh. It is notable for its tiny post office, established in 1712 and considered the oldest working p ...

and

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

. The village is the former location of Wallace Hall, founded in 1723 and now based in Thornhill. The former schoolhouse, built in 1795 and incorporating the original buildings from the 1720s, is a Category A

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. Situated east of the village is Closeburn Castle, a Category B listed

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, to command and defend strategic points ...

that was until 1783 the family seat of the Kirkpatrick family. The

River Nith The River Nith (; Common Brittonic: ''Nowios'') is a river in south-west Scotland. The Nith rises in the Carsphairn hills of East Ayrshire, between Prickeny Hill and Enoch Hill, east of Dalmellington. For the majority of its course it flows ...

is on the western boundary of the parish of Closeburn. The eastern part of the parish contains several hills, including the Queensberry, at the southern end of the

Lowther Hills The Lowther Hills, also sometimes known as the Lowthers, are an extensive area of hill country in the Southern Uplands of Scotland, though some sub-ranges of hills in this area also go under their own local names – see "Hillwalking" below. They ...

, part of the

Southern Uplands The Southern Uplands () are the southernmost and least populous of mainland Scotland's three major geographic areas (the others being the Central Lowlands and the Highlands). The term is used both to describe the geographical region and to col ...

. Several streams flow through the area, and the gorge and waterfall at

Crichope Linn Crichope Linn or Crichop Linn, originally Creehope is a Canyon, gorge and waterfall near Gatelawbridge in Dumfries and Galloway, southern Scotland. ''Linn'' is the Scots language word for ''waterfall''. The etymology of the names 'Cree' or 'Crich' ...

, north-north-east of Closeburn was chosen by

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

in his novel ''

Old Mortality ''Old Mortality'' is one of the Waverley novels by Walter Scott. Set in south west Scotland, it forms, along with ''The Black Dwarf'', the 1st series of his '' Tales of My Landlord'' (1816). The novel deals with the period of the Covenanters ...

'' as the lair of John Balfour of Burley. The hamlet of Gatelawbridge, east of Thornhill, is on the boundary of Closeburn and Morton parishes near Crichope Linn. The nearby Brownhill Inn was a favourite haunt of the poet

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

whilst he was working at an excise man or gauger in the area and was the site of inspirational events that led to the bard writing several poems, odes, etc. John Bacon was the landlord immortalised in verse by Burns and his wife was Catherine Stewart whose parents had run the Closeburn Kirk Brig Inn. Her brother was Willie Stewart who was the factor or grieve of the Closeburn Castle estate.John Bacon - Burns Encyclopedia
/ref>

Notable residents

* John Bacon was a friend of Robert Burns, a vintner and landlord at the Brownhill Inn. * Prof John Hunter

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

LLD, joint founder of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

, born here in 1746. * James Williamson, church minister, mathematician and joint founder of the

was minister here in 1757.

References

External links

Brownhill InnVideo footage and tales of the Closeburn churches.Video footage of the 11th century Dalgarnock Kirk site and burial ground'Crichope Linn - Devil's Cauldron, Burley's Leap and the Souter's Seat.
{{authority control Civil parishes of Scotland Villages in Dumfries and Galloway Parishes in Dumfries and Galloway

Notable residents

See also

References

External links