Maxwelltown (Gd: Ceann Drochaid) is a suburb of Dumfries, in south west Scotland. Maxwelltown was formerly a burgh of barony and police burgh in the county of Kirkcudbrightshire. It lies to the west of the River Nith, opposite Dumfries. The river was formerly the boundary of Kirkcudbrightshire and Dumfriesshire. It was a hamlet known as Bridgend up till 1810, in which year it was erected into a burgh of barony under its present name. Maxwelltown had a railway station on the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway from Dumfries to Castle Douglas, although this line closed in 1965. Buildings of interest include the former Dumfries Mill, now the Robert Burns Centre Museum and in the evenings becoming the local Film Theatre, Dumfries Museum and observatory up on the hill, the Sinclair Memorial, the former Dominican Convent of St Benedict, the Sheriff Court (often mistaken for a Fairy Tale Castle), Dumfries Prison, the former Maxwelltown Court House and Queen of the South football ground.
External links
- Map sources for Maxwelltown
- The Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre
- Its entry in the Gazetteer for Scotland
- Maxwelltown Information Centre
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
