Dumfries

Related Category: British and Irish Political Geography

(dəmfrēs´), town (1991 pop. 31,307), Dumfries and Galloway, SW Scotland, on the Nith River. The chief manufactures include hosiery, knitwear, rubber goods, and canned milk. Dumfries was sacked by the English in 1448, 1536, and 1570. Robert I is said to have killed John Comyn before the altar of Greyfriars Church at Dumfries in 1306. The poet Robert Burns lived in Dumfries (1791–96) and is buried in St. Michael's Church. Craigenputtock, home of the writer Thomas Carlyle, is nearby. The multi-institutional Crichton Univ. Campus is there.