Answers to BT 1302

1) Name: Dalswinton Mains by Dalswinton Loch

2) Location: Dalswinton Estate. It is reached by travelling from the A701 at Heathhall on the road that runs via Kirkton to Dalswinton and Auldgirth to the A76. The principal estate buildings, which are situated on the left before Dalswinton Village, have a grand drive, at the entrance to which there are two lodges and handsome gates, and further on there is a back drive for general traffic.

3) Dalswinton Estate has many claims to fame: associations with the Romans and later in time a castle owned by the *Red Comyn. Patrick Millar, a successful banker with the Bank of Scotland, bought the estate unseen in 1785 and proceeded to transform it by building the present Dalswinton House on the site of the former castle. It was completed in 1793. Dalswinton Mains served as a stable and coachhouse and also dates from the 1790s. John Gifford in The Buildings of Dumfries and Galloway states that it is "of polished ashlar.  Over the...pedimented centrepiece, a tower, its bottom stage a square pedestal. Above, a taller octagonal clock stage. This is now topped by a truncated pyramid roof finished with iron cresting, clearly Victorian, perhaps replacing a dome."

**The loch, also created by Patrick Miller was the scene of the launch of the first steamboat in Scotland in 1788.

Currently, the Stable Block is used for a number of things: there are 3 residential houses within it, a holiday flat and an interior design business showroom.The back of the building is undeveloped but there are plans for it so that the whole building is in use

* Robert The Bruce killed John Comyn III (The Red Comyn) his main rival for the throne of Scotland, in GREYFRIARS CHURCH, DUMFRIES. Greyfriars Church was situated across the road (what is now the bus stop) and the present Greyfriars Church was the site of The Maxwell mansion house.





**Symington's steamboat experiment, Dalswinton Loch, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, 1788 (19th century). Artist: Parent

Credit: Liszt Collection / Heritage Images

Additional information

Symington's steamboat experiment, Dalswinton Loch, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, 1788 (19th century). William Symington (1764-1831) was a Scottish engineer and inventor who designed an improved steam engine and used it to power the first steamboat built in Britain. In 1789 he successfully trialled a larger boat on the Forth and Clyde Canal.

With Thanks to Morag Williams and Sarah Landale.