Torthorwald, a village and a parish of SW Dumfriesshire. The village stands on the face of a long broad brae, 3¼ miles N of Raks station, and 4 ENE of Dumfries, under which it has a post office. The parish, containing also the villages of Racks and Collin, is bounded NW and N by Tinwald, E by Lochmaben, SE by Mouswald, SW by Caerlaverock, and W by Dumfries. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 6¼ miles; its utmost breadth is 3³/8 miles; and its area is 6843¹/3acres, of which 12 are water. Sluggish Lochar Water flows 6¼ miles south-by-eastward along all the boundary with Dumfries and Caerlaverock; and ditch-like Wath Bnrn traces all the Mouswald boundary, until, at the southern extremity of the parish, it falls into Lochar Water. All the parish to the S of Collin village, with a strip about ½ mile broad along all the upper part of the western border, is part of Lochar Moss; and at no part exceeds 57 feet above sea-level. The rest of the surface is mainly the western face or westward brae of the middle portion of the broad based range of hill commencing in the N of Tinwald, and extending southward to the S of Mouswald. This brae extends across a base of from 2 to 2½ miles, to a maximum altitude in Torthorwald of 803 feet close to the Lochmaben boundary. It is finely diversified with hillock, terrace, and waving hollow; presents, as seen from Dumfries, and from any other part of the Nith's banks, a very beautiful section of the eastern hill-screen of Lower Nithsdale; and commands, from its highest points, a very brilliant view of the southern half of Dumfriesshire, the eastern part of Galloway, the Solway Firth, and part of Cumberland and the Irish Sea. Much of the moss district has been reclaimed; and all the brae, excepting a small extent of pasture, is in tillage. The predominant rocks are Silurian, and cannot be quarried. The soil, on a bank contiguous to the E side of the moss, is sandy; on the lower and middle parts of the brae is rich and fertile; and on the higher grounds is cold and moorish. Torthorwald Tower, in the southern vicinity of Torthorwald village, is a curious ruin, with very thick walls, whose mortar is as hard as stone. It is of unknown origin, but was inhabited by the Carlyles and Kirkpatricks, as well as by a natural son of the Regent Morton, who, about 1590, was created Lord Torthorwald by James VI. Vestiges of two ancient Caledonian camps are on the brow of the brae, and show two or three concentric trenches. The Marquess of Queensberry's estate in both Torthorwald and Tinwald was purchased in 1884 by James Jardine, Esq. of Dryfeholm; and Sir Alexander Davidson Grierson of Lag, Bart., is another large proprietor; whilst a third holds an annual value of between £300 and £400. Torthorwald is in the presbytery and synod of Dumfries; the living is worth £290. The parish church was built, partly in 1730, chiefly in 1782, and was enlarged in 1791 and 1809. Restored and reseated in 1877, it contains 500 sittings. Two public schools, Collin and Torthorwald, each with accommodation for 100 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 82 and 52, and grants, of £71, 11s. and £53, 13s. Valuation (1860) £5764 15s. 9d., (1885) £7739, 7s. 8d. Pop. (1801) 703, (1841) 1346, (1861) 1254, (1871) 1098, (1881) 990.—Ord. Sur., sh. 10, 1864.

(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)