Ruthwell

Ruthwell
Scottish Gaelic: Ruadhail
Scots: Rivalcode: sco is deprecated
240px Ruthwell Church
Ruthwell  Ruthwell shown within Dumfries and Galloway
OS grid reference	NY099674
Council area	Dumfries and Galloway
Lieutenancy area	Dumfries
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	DUMFRIES
Postcode district	DG1
Dialling code	01387
Police	Scottish
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
Scottish Parliament	Dumfriesshire
List of places UK Scotland

Ruthwell is a village and parish on the Solway Firth between Dumfries and Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

Ruthwell's most famous inhabitant was the Rev. Dr. 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, paying interest on its investors' modest savings. The Savings Bank Museum tells the story of early home savings in Britain.

In 1818, Dr. 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.

File:Brow Well Ruthwell Parish - geograph.org.uk - 527110.jpg

Brow Well

Brow Well situated 3 km west of the village of Ruthwell is stained reddish by the high levels of iron salts in the water. This red well is now most noted as the place where Robert Burns hoped to cure his final illness by drinking the iron-rich water.

The village was once served by Ruthwell railway station.

File:Ruthwell Savings Bank Museum.jpg

Ruthwell Savings Bank Museum

External links

• Map of Ruthwell
• The Savings Bank Museum
• Ruthwell Rovers F.C.