According to John Bartholomew's 1887 Gazetteer of the British Isles, the parish in west Dumfriesshire covered 30,083 acres (12,174 ha).
The parish included the village of Moniaive, and lay 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Thornhill station.
The small amount of flat land in the council area is vulnerable to flooding.
[3] First owned by the Dennistouns, it was passed by marriage to Clan Cunningham whose chiefs became the Earls of Glencairn in 1488.
The Gothic-style church was built in 1836 to a design by architect William MacCandlish of Dalry.