Tower House

Today's the day ........................ for a village history

Moniaive is a pretty village in a beautiful but remote location in the Cairn Valley on the Dalwhat Water, 7 miles west of Thornhill and 15 miles northwest of Dumfries.  It was established by the Earl of Dumfries in the late 1630s to serve mainly as a focus for the sparsely populated rural area surrounding it.

However, by the mid-1800s, Moniaive's attractive setting had led to its development as an upland resort - and by 1905, it was popular enough to support the building of the Cairn Valley Light Railway bringing visitors from Dumfries.  Unfortunately, this coincided with the start of the dominance of the internal combustion engine, and competition from coaches and cars led to the ending of passenger services on the railway in the 1940s, and the total closure of the line in 1953.

This is one of the many interesting buildings in the village.  Known as Tower House , it was built in 1865 as the schoolmaster's house. The clock in the tower is one of the few remaining clocks to be wound by hand ..........................