Lochmaben

Lochmaben (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Mhabain) is a small town and civil parish in Scotland, and site of a castle.

[2] Lochmaben has been inhabited since earliest times, owing to its strategic position on the routes from England to Scotland and Ireland, to the small lochs surrounding it and to the relatively fertile soil in the area.

Robert de Brus Lord of Skelton in the Cleveland area of Yorkshire, was a notable figure at the court of King Henry I of England, where he became intimate with Prince David of Scotland, that monarch's brother-in-law.

Following his death in 1485 it, and the castle of Lochmaben, were annexed to the Crown by Act of Parliament dated 1 October 1487.

[6] At some point in the 13th century the Bruces built a castle, probably a keep, at Lochmaben, the remains of which now lie under a golf course.

On 16 January 1508/9, at Edinburgh, Sir Robert Lauder of The Bass (d.1517/8), knight, was appointed "Captain and Keeper of the King's castle and fort of Lochmaben, with all pertinentes" and other privileges etc., for three years.

Its importance waned with the peace that was to become the norm, but it had sufficient resources to build a substantial tolbooth (which later known as Lochmaben Town Hall) in 1723.

The railway came in 1863, with Lochmaben a stop on the Dumfries to Lockerbie line, and brought easy communication both north and south.

Lochmaben is in the parliamentary constituency of Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, David Mundell of the Conservative Party is the current Member of Parliament (MP).

The Kirk loch at sunset
Lochmaben Castle ruins
Lochmaben Castle in an 1886 etching