CASTLE DOUGLAS

Why the name Castle Douglas? There is no castle within this market town in South-West Scotland. If tradition were followed, the burgh should be known as Carlingwark or Causewayend or even the Buchan. So why the name? The reason lies in a Dick Whittington type of story, the true tale of a poor pedlar who became a merchant prince.

In 1765 a local landowner began the excavation of marl, a limey clay, from the bed of the loch and this fertiliser had a brief industrial success. William Douglas, a Galloway man who made a fortune abroad, bought the estate. He developed the hamlet of Carlingwark into a town stretching up the hill from the loch and named it Castle Douglas, doubtless thinking of the nearby Threave Castle, a former stronghold of the Douglas family, and including his own name. It became a burgh in 1792. On occasion, as part of holiday festivities, a ceremony about the granting of the burgh charter is re-enacted.
The market is an important part of Castle Douglas for the town is the heart of a country area, with its commerce and industry largely geared to agricultural life.

Extracts courtesy of "Round About Castle Douglas" by Jean C Gibson.