Taken from Malcolm McLachlan Harper's "Rambles in Galloway", published in 1876, this is an excellent introduction to the Parish of Tongland.

TONGLAND

The road leading from Kirkcudbright to Tongland Bridge, two miles on, passes near some pleasant residences, the most prominent of which is Ardendee, which commands one of the finest views in the whole district, or indeed in the south of Scotland. Tongland Bridge was built from a design by Telford, at a cost of upwards of £7000. The arch is circular, and the span 110 feet. It is a strong and elegant structure, in a picturesque situation. The Railway Bridge, stowing some engineering skill, is close by, and the picturesque old bridge represented in our engraving is a quarter of a mile higher up. The channel of the Dee in the neighbourhood is rocky and rugged, and its banks precipitous and richly wooded. The best view of the river, when swollen, is obtained from this old bridge. "It appears there," writes the late Rev. D. S. Williamson, minister of Tongland," in a straight line for nearly a quarter of a mile, and, the series of rocky shelves causing it to rise in successive undulations, it resembles the convolutions of an enormous serpent, while the large streaks and patches of foam that diverge from their crests give an animation and a savage beauty to the torrent which it would be hard to match in many Scottish rivers."

Immediately below the old bridge it is thought that Montgomery laid the scene of his popular poem, The Cherry and the Slae. In it the beauties of the scenery on the river's banks are truthfully described, the following lines being descriptive of the flooded river:—

“But as I looked me alane
I saw a river rin
Out o'er a steeple rock of stane,
Sine lichted in a lin,
With tumbling and rumbling
Amang the rockis round,
Devalling and falling
Into a pit profound. "

Montgomery was a contemporary of Shakespeare, and lived at Compstone Castle, about a mile from this spot, close by the junction of the Tarff and the Dee. Near the ruins of the castle is the handsome mansion-house of Mr. Maitland of Dundrennan.

The lower part of the Dee, from the Bridge of Threave downwards, has long been celebrated as a salmon stream, and permission to fish it has always been liberally given. Messrs. Martin and Gillone are lessees of the Tongland fishings, and the interesting experiments in the propagation of salmon, which are carried out by Mr. Gillone, who has acquired some renown as a successful pisciculturist, are well worthy of being inspected.

Tongland Village, Church, Manse, and Churchyard, are pleasantly situated near the river, a short way farther up the road to Castle-Douglas. The manse, which was built in 1798, is in a sheltered situation. Some of the neighbouring heights command extensive and beautiful views. The finest is from Tongland Hill, from which the view of Kirkcudbright was taken by the late D. 0. Hill, which forms one of the illustrations of the "Land of Burns." The present church is a handsome and commodious building, with Gothic windows and a square tower. It was built in 1813. Fergus, Lord of Galloway, built at Tongland, in the 12th century, a Priory. The monks were of the order of Premontre, and were brought from Cockerland, in Lancashire. In the reign of James IV., an Italian, who had the character of being a physician and alchymist, was abbot. He was a fanciful theorist, and having laid claims to the art of flying, undertook to rise, in the presence of the king and courtiers, from the battlements of Stirling Castle and fly to France, whether he was to arrive before the Scottish ambassadors, who were just then commencing their journey. In this rash attempt he failed, having his thigh bone broken by the fall, and, as Dunbar says, he sank deep into a dunghill. That his wings were not entirely composed of the feathers of the more noble and dignified birds, but blended with those of the lowest fowls, he regarded as the cause of his failure and disgrace.

William Dunbar, author of the allegorical poem of The Thistle and the Rose, made this ridiculous exhibition the subject of his satire.

William Melville, who went by the title of Lord Tongland, was afterwards commendator of the abbey.

All that now remains of the abbey is a small low arch, which forms part of the northern wall of the old church. A stone built into the wall of one of Mr. Gillone's mills is supposed to have belonged to the priory. It bears the figure of an angel holding a shield in front of him, and under his feet are two animals something like unicorns.

The grave of John Morrison, one of Galloway's most original characters in his day, was pointed out to us in this churchyard. His remains lie, along with his kindred, near the church at the west side; but no record of his death is on the tombstone. He was born in the parish of Terregles in 1782, but when about five years old came with his parents to the farm of Fellend, near Ringford. In early life Morrison displayed a natural turn for painting, and studied for some time under Nasmyth in Edinburgh. He also, in after years, followed the profession of an engineer and land-surveyor, and in the years 1810-1812 made surveys and plans of Portpatrick Harbour, and many of the great roads in Scotland and Wales, for Telford and Rennie. For many years he perambulated the villages and towns in Galloway and elsewhere, painting portraits, and occasionally landscapes. In art he did not excel, but as an engineer and land-surveyor he was distinguished; and had he possessed that steadiness of purpose necessary to success in life, he might have risen to eminence in that walk. He was an enthusiast in literature, and was the author of various poems, which he published in a small volume, now rare. He was also somewhat of a humourist, and was famed for his pointed satirical remarks. With Sir Walter Scott, Hogg, and other eminent literary men of his time, he was well acquainted, and is immortalised in the Queen’s Wake as the bard

* * * * * from a western shore.
Where rolls the dark and sullen Orr:
Of peasant make, and doubtful mien,
Affecting airs of high disdain. "

Morrison, as characterised by friends who knew him well, was a vain as well as a proud man, and always endeavoured to leave the impression in company that he was “something more than common humanity." As illustrative of his "dogmatic assertions and high pretensions," the following anecdote is told of him in Paterson's Memoirs of Joseph Train: When, in May 1816, Train visited Sir Walter Scott in Edinburgh, Morrison was invited to meet him. The bard of Altrive was also to have been one of the party, but he could not be found. "A pair of ptarmigans at table," says Mr. Paterson, "which Sir Walter said he had received that day as a present from the north, was a treat to everyone present except he from the ‘sullen Orr,' who affirmed that these birds were as plentiful as pigeons in Galloway. So great was the vanity of Morrison that even Sir Walter was not allowed to pass uncontradicted. Wilkie's picture of Sir Walter and his family, which was at this time newly from the studio of the artist, was that evening introduced. All present pronounced it to be a faithful picture except he from Galloway, who most unhesitatingly declared that it was neither like Sir Walter nor any of his family; whereupon Miss Scott remarked, with much archness, 'Oh, I forgot, Mr. Morrison, you are a painter yourself, and I have often heard it remarked that there is no friendship in trade, but I never saw it verified before.' "

Nicholson the poet and Morrison were kindred spirits, and numerous stories — some of them entertaining — are told of the two cronies when they met. Morrison died at Glentarff Cottage, Tongland, on 7th June 1853, aged 71 years.

On the kirk bell of Tongland there is the date 1633, with the letters L/T embossed on its side. This bell, which, so far as we can learn, was presented to the parish by the then Lord Kenmure, and not by the brother of the Rev. Samuel Rutherford, as some would believe, is now placed in the tower of the present church.

About a mile from the church, Queen Mary, in her flight from the battle of "Langside," crossed the Dee by a wooden bridge, hastily thrown over it for her accommodation. The river is very narrow at this spot, which is still pointed out and known as "Mary's Brig." There is a well also at a short distance called by her name, from whence tradition says that she drank. It is said that while the Queen's gallant little escort were engaged in breaking down the bridge so as to retard the progress of her foes, Mary, completely exhausted with fatigue and long fasting, alighted, and entering the cottage of a poor widow on the farm of Culdoach, asked for food and temporary shelter. Ignorant of the rank of her visitor, but with the genuine hospitality of a Scottish peasant, the good creature set before the sorrowful way-worn stranger such coarse provisions as her meagre cupboard afforded — doubtless the oatmeal and sour milk of which Mary wrote to her uncle Cardinal de Lorraine. Forgetful that she was no longer a Queen, or flattering herself with the hope that brighter days were yet in store for her, Mary at parting asked the widow what she could do for her to testify her gratitude. The widow’s desires were limited to the ownership of the cottage and adjoining croft, for which she then paid rent, and this modest wish was finally gratified, probably through the kindness of Lord Herries, the principal heritor of that neighbourhood. This little property remained for upwards of two centuries in the possession of the widow's descendants.

Farther up the parish, at the head of the beautiful valley of the Tarff, is an eminence where Queen Mary also rested in her flight. It previously bore the name of Barstobrick, but was called, in memory of the circumstance, Queenshill. In a sheltered spot at the foot of this hill is the residence of Mr. Montgomerie Neilson, proprietor of Queenshill and Barcaple.

In this parish, and seen by the traveller on the left of the road leading to Laurieston is the Martyr's Monument on Kirkconnel Moor. It marks the site where five Covenanters were put to death by command of Sir Robert Grierson of Lag, in the end of February 1685. Their names were John Bell of Whiteside, David Halliday, portioner of Mayfield, Robert Lennox of Irelandton, Andrew McRobert, and James Clement, and the circumstances of their death are as follows:— While being pursued by Lag and his dragoons they had taken refuge at the farmhouse of Mayfield, and having overheard the approach of their ruthless pursuers, who were rather uproarious when nearing the house, they thus got time to escape. They fled under cover of night to Kirkconnel Moor, where they were overtaken the following day while under the shelter of a rock, and instantly shot. Bell, who was the stepson of Viscount Kenmure, on hearing of the doom that awaited him and his companions, implored Lag to grant them a short time for prayer. Tradition affirms that this was refused, and that Lag, accompanying his denial with an oath, said "What! Have you not had time enough for preparation since Bothwell?” Bell of Whiteside was buried in Anwoth Churchyard. The bodies of three others were also all carried off and interred in their own burying-places, viz. — Halliday in Balmaghie, McRobert in Twynholm, Lennox in Girthon, but Clement, who it is supposed was a fugitive from a distance, was interred where the monument stands. The present structure, a plain granite one, was erected in 1831 by money subscribed at a preaching, on which occasion the Rev. John Osborne, of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Castle-Douglas, officiated — the number of those present, it is said, amounted to ten thousand.

A short distance from this is Kirkconnel Linn, well worthy of a visit. At Kirkconnel Farmhouse are the remains of an ancient chapel, which was dedicated to St. Connel.

About two miles from Tongland is Argrennan House, the residence of Mr. John Maitland, M.P. for the Stewartry. It is very pleasantly situated, with a surrounding of woods, on the banks of the Dee, and the vicinity is not lacking in historical interest. "In a field," says Kerr's History of Scotland, " on this property, called Druim Cheate, in English ‘the place of meeting,’ an encounter took place between Edward Bruce and the English, when the latter were defeated." Fragments of many warlike instruments have at different times been found in the neighbourhood — and a large stone, standing in a field on the left side of the road leading to Bridge of Dee, is said to mark the spot where the battle commenced.

At a short distance from this stone, near the farm-steading of Barncrosh, there once stood the ancient church of St. Michael of Balnacross. Robert I., according to Chalmers, granted this church to the monks of Tongland.