*** Welcome to piglix ***

Lockerbie

Lockerbie
Lockerbie, Scotland, 25 December 2009.jpg
East Lockerbie in December 2009
Lockerbie is located in Dumfries and Galloway
Lockerbie
Lockerbie
Lockerbie shown within Dumfries and Galloway
Population 4,009 (Census 2001)
OS grid reference NY135815
Council area
Lieutenancy area
Country Scotland
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town LOCKERBIE
Postcode district DG11
Dialling code 01576
Police Scottish
Fire Scottish
Ambulance Scottish
EU Parliament Scotland
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
List of places
UK
Scotland
Coordinates: 55°07′12″N 3°21′25″W / 55.120°N 3.357°W / 55.120; -3.357

Lockerbie (Scottish Gaelic: Locarbaidh) is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, southwestern Scotland. It lies approximately 75 miles (121 km) from Glasgow, and 20 miles (32 km) from the English border. It had a population of 4,009 at the 2001 census. The town came to international attention on 21 December 1988 when the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103 crashed there following a terrorist bomb attack aboard the flight.

Lockerbie apparently has existed since at least the days of Viking influence in this part of Scotland in the period around AD 900. The name (originally "Loc-hard's by") means Lockard's Town in Old Norse. The presence of the remains of a Roman camp a mile to the west of the town suggests its origins may be even earlier. Lockerbie first entered recorded history in the 1190s in a charter of Robert de Brus, 2nd Lord of Annandale, granting the lands of Lockerbie to Adam de Carlyle. It appears as Lokardebi in 1306.

About two miles to the west of Lockerbie on 7 December 1593, Clan Johnstone fought Clan Maxwell at the Battle of Dryfe Sands. The Johnstones nearly exterminated the Maxwells involved in the battle, leading to the expression "Lockerbie Lick."

Lockerbie's main period of growth started in 1730 when the landowners, the Johnstone family, made plots of land available along the line of the High Street, producing in effect a semi-planned settlement. By 1750 Lockerbie had become a significant town, and from the 1780s it was a staging post on the carriage route from Glasgow to London.

Perhaps the most important period of growth was during the 19th century. Thomas Telford's Carlisle-to-Glasgow road was built through Lockerbie from 1816. The Caledonian Railway opened the line from Carlisle to through Lockerbie in 1847 and later all the way to Glasgow. From 1863 until 1966 Lockerbie was also a railway junction, serving a branch line to Dumfries. Known as the Dumfries, Lochmaben and Lockerbie Railway, it was closed to passengers in 1952 and to freight in 1966. The town is served by Lockerbie railway station.


...
Wikipedia

...