dumfries-1920/04-106

Transcription

CANONBIE.] -- INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. -- [CANONBIE.

decorated with a series of projecting and sunk
enrichments, and the lowest member takes
the form of a simple double roll. A circular
turret, resting on corbelled projections, is
constructed at each angle.
A feature of this tower is a watch or beacon
stand corbelled out at the apex of the south
gable: cf. the analogous structure at Elshie-
shields (p. 155).
A house was built at Hollows (Hole-house,
Hollace, Hollas, Hollis, are some other forms)
in or soon after 1518 by one of the migrating
Armstrongs (see Introd., p. xxxv.), and burnt
by Dacre in 1528. The present building, how-
ever, in its upper portion at least, seems to
be of later date. it requires only a roof to
assure its preservation.
SPIRAL-MARKED SLAB. - The sill of the
doorway into the vaulted chamber in the
basement of Hollows Tower is a slab of
sandstone (illustrated in the Introduction,
fig. 2), measuring 3 feet in length by 1 foot
7 inches in breadth at the centre, which
is incised on its surface with spiral and
other markings. At the upper and slightly
narrower end of the stone, and towards the
outside, is a spiral figure, consisting of two
complete turns and half of a third, the line
thereafter passing divergently across the stone
to the other side, being surmounted near the
middle of its course by a single key-like
symbol or ornament. Between the free end
and the spiral is a single incised line which may
have been connected with it. Immediately
below the spiral there is visible a semi-
circular incised line, and at the lower end of
the stone, partially hidden by the architrave
of the door, is another and smaller spiral with
certain indefinite markings springing from it
at one side. The stone is much worn, and the
figures are now probably incomplete. The
marks on the lower corner, opposite to that
on which the spiral appears, are natural
inequalities of the surface.
liii. S.E. ("Gilnockie Tower"). -- 18 July
1912.

44. Auchenrivock Castle. - This fragment
stands at a considerable elevation on the
south side of the main road to Canonbie and
some 3 miles from Langholm. It is built
of irregular boulders and now forms part
of the garden wall to the north of the

adjoining farm-buildings. It measures 33
feet 3 inches from north to south over walls
averaging 4 feet in thickness and 7 feet
in height. The north and south walls are
respectively 13 feet 6 inches and 10 feet
in length. shot-holes, one in the north wall
and another in the west wall, with splayed
outer and inner jambs and with circular
openings some 4 1/2 inches in diameter, are the
only features now remaining. the inner
surface of the western wall is very indefinite,
but it seems probable that the basement was
vaulted.
This place, near the Irvine Burn where it falls
into the Esk, was of old known as Stakeheugh, ¹
and was the original seat of the Irving family.
In October 1513 Sir Christopher Dacre burned
"the Stakehugh, the manor place of Irewyn,
and the hamlets down Irewyn Burn." ²

1 Langholm as It Was, p. 353; 2 Letters
and Papers, For. and Dom. Henry VIII., i.
No. 4529.
liii. N.E. -- 4 July 1912.

DEFENSIVE CONSTRUCTION.

45. Roman Camp, Gilnockie. - Immediately
in rear of the frm cottages at New Wood-
head, and about 1/2 mile due north of Gilnockie
railway station, is a large rectangular oblong
enclosure with rounded angles, lying partly
on grass land and partly within a wood, which
presents characteristics of Roman castrameta-
tion (fig. 28). The site is a plateau rising gently
on all sides to an elevation of some 390 feet
above sea-level, not in itself very prominent
or greatly exposed, but commanding an ex-
tensive prospect over a wide area of country
in all directions. The fort lies with its main
axis north-east and south-west, and has
measured within its defences some 1450 feet by
750 feet, or about 25 acres. It has apparently
been surrounded by a single ditch and ram-
part, the former having now from crest to
crest a width of some 18 feet and the latter a
breadth at base varying from 20 to 30 feet.
Along the north-east end the vallum across
the grass field, though much ploughed down,
is easily traceable. On the south-east
flank from the east angle for a distance of
220 feet it is no longer to be seen; but there
after across an adjacent meadow through a
young plantation and an old wood it can be

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