dumfries-1920/04-223

Transcription

KIRKPATRICK-] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. [-JUXTA.

on his victorious march home, " mistook his
general for the King "; (2) Lord Crosbie here
slew an English commander who had plundered
his property and burnt his castle in his absence,
a fact of which he was first apprised in a dream;
(3) John, Master of Maxwell, after the fight
against Albany and Douglas on July 22, 1484,
while faint from wounds, was assassinated in
revenge for an act of justice as Steward of
Annandale (Riddell MSS., vol. vi. p. 28ff.;
Stat. Acct., xiii. p. 274, note; Macfarlane's
Geographical Collections, vol. i. p. 372). Of
these, 1 and 2 may be set aside; of 3, there
is no corroborative evidence. A cross-head of
similar trefoil pattern is preserved at Bury-
thorpe in East Yorkshire.
lviii. S.W. 22 July 1912.

SITES.

379. Cairn, Mossknow. - About 100 yards to
the north-west of the sawmill at Mossknow is
the foundation of a cairn.
lviii. S.E. (unnoted). 1 October 1912.

The O.S. maps also indicate sites as
under :-

380. Kirkconnell, Springkell. lviii. N.W.

381. Tower, Kirkpatrick House. lviii. S.E.

382. Redhall Castle, Redhall. lviii. S.E.
The attribution in the O.S. map to the
13th century is unwarranted. The story in
the Stat. Acct., vol. xiii. pp. 271-2, applies
to the Red Hall of the Flemings in the town
of Berwick at the siege of 1296. The writer
says that the tower was destroyed at the
beginning of the 18th century. There is no
other record of the place, but " James Johnne-
stoun in Reidhall " appears in the list of John-
stones in 1594 (Book of Caerlaverock, vol. ii. p.
498).

KIRKPATRICK-JUXTA.

ECCLESIASTICAL STRUCTURE.

383. St Cuthbert's Chapel. - On the farm of
Chapel, which lies less than 1/2 a mile west of
Moffat, are the ruins of the chapel of St
Cuthbert, traditionally supposed to have been
erected by the Knights Templar.
The building dates from the 13th century
and has apparently been oblong on plan,
measuring exteriorly 21 feet 6 inches by
44 feet 9 inches. Only the west gable, on
which abuts a modern cottage, and a fragment
of the east gable remain. The west gable
contains a pointed arched doorway, 3 feet
wide and 9 feet 6 inches high; on the edge of
the jamb and intrados a splay is worked. In
the east gable, which is 2 feet 7 1/2 inches thick,
is a pointed window, containing three lights
with acutely-pointed heads, each running up
to the arch; the jamb has two splays on its
in-going, and the in-filling is also splayed. The
tracery is incomplete; the southern half and
the sill are wanting.
xvi. N.E. 10 May 1912.

CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC STRUCTURES.

384. Auchencass or Auchen Castle. - Auch-
encass or Auchen Castle (fig. 90) is situated 1 3/4
miles south-west of Moffat, west of the railway,
on a marshy plateau, at an elevation of 500
feet above sea-level, overlooking the valley of
the River Annan to the east and a deep-
wooded ravine formed by the Garpol Burn to
the south.
In its entirety the castle, with its elaborate
system of outworks, must have presented an
imposing appearance and would be well-nigh
impregnable in days before artillery was in use.
It is built on a late 13th-century plan and com-
prises, within a great ditch and embankment,
a quadrilateral enceinte, which measures some
50 yards either way and is surrounded by a
wall 15 to 20 feet thick with cylindrical flank-
ing towers projecting from the four angles.
The approach is from the north, crossing
an outer ditch and the embankment, whence
access to the enceinte would probably be
gained by a drawbridge over the inner ditch
leading to a forework at the western end of
the north wall. The interior arrangement
of the courtyard can only be determined by
excavation. A walk 5 to 9 feet broad runs
along the interior of the curtain wall at a
height of some 5 feet from the courtyard level.
From this walk a stair in the east wall led
probably to a parapet walk round the walls.
Under the stair is a chamber in the thickness
of the wall, 9 feet 3 inches by 4 feet 1 1/2 inches,
with a recess, probably for a lantern, formed
in the east wall. In the floor is a pit draining
to a ditch.

[Page] 131

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