Enterkinfoot

Enterkinfoot Mill miller's house

Timothy Pont's map of circa 1583-96 shows 'Interk (?) Mill' at the same position (NS 857042) as the later mill.[5] The 1654 Joan Blaeu map also records a 'Mill of Inter'.[6] The burn is recorded as 'Interkyn' in 1745.[7] Roy's map records 'Entrikin Foot', 'Water of Entrican' and the 'Entriken Path'.[8] In 1776 Entrakinfoot is the spelling used.[9] Enterkine Foot is marked on Crawford's 1804 map.[10] By 1898 the more recent two storey mill is marked as a meal mill rather than a corn mill.[11] The mill no longer survives. The miller's house is of a red sandstone construction and the lean-to extensions at each gable end once housed a smithy and a shop respectively. An older mill stands alongside, with various outbuildings, a cobbled courtyard, small walled garden and an old pig sty. The lade ran down as a wooden trough carrying the water from a sluice near the railway viaduct, splitting into a spillway and the lade to the wheel on the other side of the road.[12]

Coshogle Farm.

Coshogle Castle once overlooked Enterkinfoot, held by the clan Douglas, it stood near Old Coshogle Farm however nothing now remains at the site although some features from it are incorporated into nearby cottages, namely a doorway with an arch and moulded jambs, and secondly a marriage stone with two coat of arms, the date 1576, initials RD and NJ for Robert Douglas and his wife Nicola Johnston.[13] Sections of the castle walls stood 6 foot high and 6 foot thick survived at least until 1825.[14]

Morton is first recorded as being held in the 12th century by Dunegal, Lord of Strathnith (Nithsdale) and then by Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray. The location of the surviving ruins stand on an elevated and highly defendable promontory surrounded on three sides by an artificial loch, originally only a marshland. The 1357 Treaty of Berwick in 1357 required the Scots to destroy Morton and thirteen other castles in Nithsdale. The Earl of March probably built much of the existing castle in the early 15th century, however, James Douglas of Dalkeith, Earl of Morton. In 1608 the castle was sold to William Douglas of Coshogle, William Douglas of Drumlanrig then buying it ten years later. The castle may have served as a hunting lodge until around 1714. Morton is still the property of the Duke of Buccleuch in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.

Morton Castle and loch

The ruins of this church and cemetery stand in a remote location above Enterkinfoot. In the 13th-century Holyrood Abbey held Kirkbride Church. In 1732 the parish was divided and annexed to the parishes of Durisdeer and Sanquhar. The remains on site today date from the early 16th century and a sacristy projects from the north wall.[15] Kirkbride is said to be only the second reformed church built in Scotland. The church bell was stolen after its abandonment was and was traced to Glasgow where it had been recognised by the sound of it when rung it was brought back and re-hung in the small belfry on the gable end.[16]

Enoch castle was the caput of the barony of that name, however, nothing remains at the site due to robbing the lay of the land shows it to have been a place of considerable strength. It was seized by the Douglas's of Morton Castle and attached to the clans land holdings.[17]

Dalgarnock Kirk where James Harkness is buried.

On 29 July 1684, the Enterkin Pass was the scene of a dramatic rescue, the 'Enterkin Raid' by twelve Covenanters of five of their colleagues and a minister who were under escort by soldiers taking them from Dumfries via Thornhill to Edinburgh. The leaders of the group were James and Thomas Harkness and the ambush was set at Glenvalentine confluence resulting in the officer commanding being shot through the head and the troops firing a single volley before surrendering their prisoners. It is reported that there were casualties on both sides. Five of the Covenanters, including Thomas Harkness, involved were caught soon after and executed at Edinburgh's Grassmarket, however James Harkness escaped to Ulster in Northern Ireland and his grave and story is still to be seen at Dalgarnock near Thornhill where his memorial read :-[23]

The Duke of Buccleuch insisted that the railway be hidden from his seat at Drumlanrig Castle and this necessitated a 1,397-yard-long tunnel built by a workforce of 600 and requiring seven million bricks.[25] The original contractor found the project too onerous. The tunnel opens at the south in the vicinity of the old Carronbridge railway station at NS880012.

Enterkinfoot Viaduct and Black Hill in 1979

The 111 ft (34 m)-high Enterkin Viaduct with its four arches runs above Enterkinfoot and a substantial retaining wall lies just to the north.[26] The 219 ft (67 m) long viaduct, built of red ashlar by John Miller, has had a Category B listing since 26 June 1986.[27]

The impressively engineered Enterkinfoot retaining wall (NS 8527 0482) is said to be a benchmark of its type, built by German engineers in around 1848 for the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway that opened in 1850 and became the Glasgow and South Western Railway. The design of this massive wall guarantees the stability of the double track railway above and in addition it prevents erosion of the embankment.[28]

The Enterkin Burn's name, with variants such as 'Inter' may originate in the Scots Gaelic 'eanach t'uircein' meaning 'sow's' or 't'arcoin' meaning 'mastiff's or blood hounds marsh'.[29] 'Coshochel' is said to be of Brythonic rather than Gaelic origin, translating as the 'red height'.[30] Hapland Farm may derive from the Scots language for the Curlew (Numenius arquata).[31]