Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve

Cockpool Castle was a castle, located at Cockpool farm, Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland.Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, granted the lands of Cockpool, in the early 14th century, to his nephew William de Moravia, ancestor of the Murrays of Cockpool. The castle was abandoned in the mid 15th century after Comlongon Castle was built to replace the earlier castle of Cockpool. Only earthworks remain at Cockpool Farm, to the south west of Comlongon.

WWT Caerlaverock is wetland nature reserve in southwest Scotland, one of ten reserves in Britain operated by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust founded by Sir Peter Scott. It covers a 587 hectares (1,450 acres) site at Eastpark Farm, on the north shore of the Solway Firth to the south of Dumfries. It is a wild nature reserve with a network of screened approaches and several observation towers. There is a visitor centre and farmhouse accommodation. The site received 16,105 visitors in 2019.Caerlaverock is home to one of only two UK populations of the "living fossil" Triops cancriformis, the horseshoe shrimp. It is also home to the UK's most northerly population of the natterjack toad.Almost the entire Svalbard population of barnacle goose overwinters in the Solway Firth area, with many of the birds often at Caerlaverock for part or all of the winter; their protection by the reserve has enabled the population to recover from just 500 birds in the 1940s, to over 25,000 now. In 2016 the peak count on the reserve was 15,980 in October. Other high counts of wildfowl that year included 221 whooper swan, 2,457 Northern pintail, 3,000 Eurasian teal, 1,230 Eurasian wigeon and 150 greater scaup. These numbers attract raptors such as peregrine falcon, common buzzard and hen harrier. Vagrant birds recorded on the reserve include common crane, long-billed dowitcher, red-breasted goose, snow goose, ring-necked duck and white-tailed plover.In January 2002, a new education centre was officially opened by King Harald V of Norway.A pair of ospreys have nested on the reserve since 2005. Their nest can be observed by webcam through the reserve's web-site during the day in the nesting season (April–August). At other times the webcam shows the whooper pond or a barn owl nest.

Caerlaverock (; Scottish Gaelic: Cille Bhlàthain) is a civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The parish was historically in Dumfriesshire. The area includes: Caerlaverock Castle, a 13th-century castle, located 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) south of Dumfries, Scotland Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve, a National Nature Reserve in the Solway Firth, south-west Scotland WWT Caerlaverock, a Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust nature reserve, located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south of Dumfries, Scotland

Lochar Water is a stream located in Dumfries and Galloway. It flows for about 10 miles or 16 km, mainly in a southerly direction, roughly parallel to the River Nith to the west and the River Annan to the east. It is formed by the confluence of Park Burn and Amisfield Burn, and skirts the eastern side of the town of Dumfries, and flows through an extensive low-lying area and former raised peat land known as Lochar Moss, before flowing into the Solway Firth. Bankend Bridge, part of the B725 road, crosses Lochar Water on the east side of Bankend village. The tidal limit is about 1 km below that. It shares its name with an electoral ward of the Dumfries and Galloway council

Brow is a hamlet on the B725 lying around 3 km from Ruthwell in the Parish of that name on the Solway Firth between Dumfries and Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The Raffles Burn runs through the site, marked on maps as the Brow Burn it flows into the Solway Firth at Lochar Bay.

Comlongon Castle is a tower house dating from the later 15th century or early 16th century. It is located 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) west of the village of Clarencefield, and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south-east of Dumfries, in south west Scotland. The original tower has been extended by the addition of a baronial style mansion, completed around 1900. Originally built by the Murrays of Cockpool, it remained in the Murray family until 1984. It was subsequently restored, having been vacant for some time, and the castle and mansion are now a hotel. As of 15 April 2019, the business side of Comlongon Castle has gone into Administration, consequently all weddings due and accommodation booked for after this date were cancelled, leaving the future of the castle uncertain.

Caerlaverock Castle is a moated triangular castle first built in the 13th century. It is located on the southern coast of Scotland, eleven kilometres (seven miles) south of Dumfries, on the edge of the Caerlaverock National Nature Reserve. Caerlaverock was a stronghold of the Maxwell family from the 13th century until the 17th century, when the castle was abandoned. It was besieged by the English during the Wars of Scottish Independence, and underwent several partial demolitions and reconstructions over the 14th and 15th centuries. In the 17th century, the Maxwells were created Earls of Nithsdale, and built a new lodging within the walls, described as among "the most ambitious early classical domestic architecture in Scotland". In 1640 the castle was besieged for the last time and was subsequently abandoned. Although demolished and rebuilt several times, the castle retains the distinctive triangular plan first laid out in the 13th century. Caerlaverock Castle was built to control trade in early times.The castle, which is protected as a scheduled monument, is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland, and is a popular tourist attraction.

Clarencefield is a small village in Ruthwell Parish between Dumfries and Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It was once served by Ruthwell railway station.

Bankend is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located near Lochar Water, the civil parish Caerlaverock and the villages of Blackshaw, Glencaple and Shearington. In 1961 it had a population of 79.

Isle Tower also known as Lochar Tower and Bankend Tower is a 16th-century ruined tower house located in the north of Bankend in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It was a property of the Maxwell family.

Ruthwell railway station was a railway station in Dumfries and Galloway south of Dumfries, serving the village of Ruthwell with its famous 8th century carved cross; a rural community within the Parish of Ruthwell, lying a half-mile (1 km) north of Clarencefield and 1+1⁄4 miles (2.0 km) south southwest of Carrutherstown.

Ruthwell is a village and parish on the Solway Firth between Dumfries and Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, gave Ruthwell to his nephew, Sir William Murray, confirmed to Sir John Murray, of Cockpool, in 1509 by King James VI. He was later given the title Earl of Annandale: their landownings in Ruthwell passed by inheritance to Lord Stormont in 1658, and after 1792 to the Earls of Mansfield.Ruthwell's most famous inhabitant was the Rev. Henry Duncan. He was a minister, author, antiquarian, geologist, publisher, philanthropist, artist and businessman. In 1810 Dr Duncan opened the world's first commercial savings bank, Ruthwell Savings Bank, paying interest on its investors' modest savings. The Savings Bank Museum tells the story of early home savings in Britain. The museum is on the site of the Ruthwell Savings Bank.In 1818, Duncan restored the Ruthwell Cross, one of the finest Anglo-Saxon crosses in the United Kingdom, now in Ruthwell church, which had been broken up in the Scottish Reformation. This cross is remarkable for its sculpture and inscriptions in Latin and Old English, some in Anglo-Saxon runes, which include excerpts from The Dream of the Rood, an Old English poem. After the Disruption of 1843 in the Church of Scotland, Dr. Duncan became one of the founding ministers of the Free Church of Scotland. During his youth, Robert Murray M'Cheyne spent summer holidays at Clarence Cottage in the hamlet of Clarencefield near Ruthwell, the home of his maternal aunt. During these visits he would often call to see "Uncle" Henry Duncan at the manse. M'Cheyne's parents were born in this part of Scotland. The Brow Well is situated 3 km west of the village of Ruthwell. This well, stained reddish by the high levels of iron salts in the water, is the place where Scottish poet Robert Burns hoped to cure his final illness by drinking the iron-rich water. The village was once served by Ruthwell railway station.