Duncow School

About Duncow School

Take the road past the primary school. which dates from 1878 and serves the whole parish. The short road of houses on the left opposite the gates to the Duncow Estate are all that remain of Duncow Village, which was largely cleared in the 1860s to create the Estate. Follow the road over a little bridge and continue along this rising, winding road with the Duncow Estate on your right. Further on you will see the ruin of a late 17th century windmill on your left. Until the beginning of the 20th century the now wooded triangle of land at the junction on the right is where cattle and sheep could be rested before being taken down the drove road to Amisfield station and then on to Lockerbie market.

The windmill stump on the left is some 30ft high and is built of sandstone rubble. There are two doors, one of which has been blocked up. At the road junction, the field to your right is known as The Gallas Moor (the 1855 map shows it as Gallows Moor) and is thought to be the site of the gallows used for public hangings.

Take the junction on the left and if there are no animals in the field or silage crop being grown, go through the first gate on the left if you want to visit the windmill. The building was used in Victorian times for drying sheepskins. In this field and in the field to the right of the road are Neolithic standing stones which line up with the Cursus monument at Gallaberry. Many of these stones are used by farmers as rubbing stones for their cattle.

Return to the road. In the field opposite is another standing stone. In the woods is the site of an old plantation called Perie’s Chest or Peerie's Kist. This name denotes a fairy ring, and it is likely that stones here were part of an ancient stone circle.