Cummertrees is a coastal village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 and parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 of Annandale in Dumfries and Galloway

Dumfries and Galloway

Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It was one of the nine administrative 'regions' of mainland Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government etc. Act 1973...

. It lies about a mile inland, on the Pow Water, twelve miles from Dumfries

Dumfries

Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth. Dumfries was the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire. Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South...

, and three from Annan

Annan

-People:* Kofi Annan, , former Secretary-General of the United Nations * Kojo Annan, , Kofi Annan's son* Noel Annan, Baron Annan, was a member of the House of Lords and British academic...

.

History

Etymology

The meaning of Cummertrees is suggested as being 'confluence at the thorn or brambles' from the Gaelic 'Comar dreas'.

Cummertrees is rural

Rural

Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...

, primarily residential village; the parish includes Powfoot and Trailtrow and is bounded by St Mungo and Hoddam, Annan

Annan

-People:* Kofi Annan, , former Secretary-General of the United Nations * Kojo Annan, , Kofi Annan's son* Noel Annan, Baron Annan, was a member of the House of Lords and British academic...

, the Solway Firth

Solway Firth

The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...

, and Ruthwell

Ruthwell

Ruthwell is a village and parish on the Solway Firth between Dumfries and Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.Ruthwell's most famous inhabitant was the Rev. Dr. Henry Duncan. He was a minister, author, antiquarian, geologist, publisher, philanthropist, artist and businessman.In 1810, Dr...

 and Dalton

Dalton

Dalton may refer to:-In Canada:* Dalton, Algoma District, Ontario* Dalton Armoury, a Canadian Forces facility primarily used by the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada- In the United Kingdom :* Dalton, Cumbria, England* Dalton, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland...

. A Public hall was erected at Cummertrees in 1893. The river Annan is at the northern boundary. It has a wide area of level sand swept by the Solway 'bore' which can move at around ten miles an hour and can often be heard throughout the parish. The seaboard is low and sandy and features in Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

's novel Redgauntlet

Redgauntlet

Redgauntlet is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, set in Dumfries, Scotland in 1765, and described by Magnus Magnusson as "in a sense, the most autobiographical of Scott's novels." It describes the beginnings of a fictional third Jacobite Rebellion, and includes "Wandering Willie's Tale", a...

. The ground rises a little inland, to 350 feet on Repentance Hill.

The local geology is mainly Devonian

Devonian

The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...

, with old limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 workings at Kelhead and some sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 quarries.

In a field called Bruce's Acres, at Broom Farm, Robert Bruce

Robert I of Scotland

Robert I , popularly known as Robert the Bruce , was King of Scots from March 25, 1306, until his death in 1329.His paternal ancestors were of Scoto-Norman heritage , and...

 fought and lost a skirmish against the Southron (English).

Cummertrees parish includes some notable buildings, Hoddam Castle

Hoddom Castle

Hoddom Castle is a large tower house in Dumfries and Galloway, south Scotland. It is located by the River Annan, south-west of Ecclefechan and the same distance north-west of Brydekirk in the parish of Cummertrees...

, Kinmount and Murraythwaite. Historically, the main landowner has been the Marquess of Queensberry

Marquess of Queensberry

Marquess of Queensberry is a title in the peerage of Scotland. The title has been held since its creation in 1682 by a member of the Douglas family...

. The church was founded by Robert Bruce and has been much rebuilt and enlarged.

Kinmount House

Kinmount House

Kinmount House

Kinmount House is a 19th-century country house in Dumfries and Galloway, south Scotland. It is located west of Annan in the parish of Cummertrees. The house was designed by Sir Robert Smirke for the Marquess of Queensberry, and completed in 1820...

 was the seat of the Marquesses of Queensberry, described by Groome in 1903 as a beautiful edifice, built in the early part of the 19th century at a cost of £40,000, and surrounded by fine pleasure grounds.

Transport

Cummertrees railway station

Cummertrees railway station

Cummertrees railway station was a railway station in Dumfries and Galloway south of Dumfries, serving the village of Cummertrees; a rural community within the Parish of Cummertrees. The village lies some northwest of Annan and south of Lockerbie....

 was opened in 1848 by the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway

Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway

The Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway was a company in Scotland, which built and ran what is now known as the Glasgow South Western Line. The line was authorised on 13 August 1846 and was constructed between 1846 and 1850...

, which then became part of the Glasgow and South Western Railway

Glasgow and South Western Railway

The Glasgow and South Western Railway , one of the pre-grouping railway companies, served a triangular area of south-west Scotland, between Glasgow, Stranraer and Carlisle...

. It was closed by the British Railways Board

British Railways Board

The British Railways Board was a nationalised industry in the United Kingdom that existed from 1962 to 2001. From its foundation until 1997, it was responsible for most railway services in Great Britain, trading under the brand names British Railways and, from 1965, British Rail...

 in 1955. The fine station building survives as a private residence.

Notable residents

• Lady Florence Dixie
  Lady Florence Dixie
  Lady Florence Caroline Dixie , before her marriage Lady Florence Douglas, was a British traveller, war correspondent, writer and feminist.-Early life:...
  
   (1855-1905), travel writer, war correspondent
  War correspondent
  A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
  
  , and feminist
  Feminism
  Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
  
  , a daughter of the 8th Marquess of Queensberry, was born and lived much of her later life on the Kinmount estate at Glenstewart House after her husband lost his family seat through gambling. She had married Sir Alexander Beaumont Churchill Dixie, 11th Baronet
  Dixie Baronets
  The Dixie Baronets are the holders of the one Dixie baronetcy, created in the Baronetage of England at the time of the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 for Sir Wolstan Dixie , a supporter of King Charles I during the English Civil War and afterwards...
  
   (1851-1924), known as "Sir A.B.C.D."

• Lord Francis Douglas
  Lord Francis Douglas
  Lord Francis William Bouverie Douglas was a novice, British mountaineer. After sharing in the first ascent of the Matterhorn, he died in a fall on the way down from the summit.-Early life:...
  
   (1847 – 14 July 1865) was a British mountaineer born in Cummertrees. After sharing in the first ascent of the Matterhorn
  Matterhorn
  The Matterhorn , Monte Cervino or Mont Cervin , is a mountain in the Pennine Alps on the border between Switzerland and Italy. Its summit is 4,478 metres high, making it one of the highest peaks in the Alps. The four steep faces, rising above the surrounding glaciers, face the four compass points...
  
  , he died in a fall on the way down from the summit

Sources

• Groome, Francis H. (1903). Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland. London : Caxton Publishing Company.
• Johnston, J. B. (1903). Place-names of Scotland. Edinburgh : David Douglas.