dumfries-1920/04-001 |
[Note]
442 Annexe tr
A1.1
IMU (12)
[Crown]
The Royal Commission
on the Ancient & Historical
Monuments of Scotland
Craft ALW Binding
AW LUMSDEN
Edinburgh 0131-440 0726 |
dumfries-1920/04-002 |
Ancient and Historical Monuments - Dumfries.
[Photograph inserted]
CAERLAVEROCK CASTLE.
Frontispiece. |
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[Coat of Arms]
THE ROYAL COMMISSION
ON ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL
MONVMENTS & CONSTRVCTIONS
OF SCOTLAND
SEVENTH REPORT
WITH INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS AND
CONSTRUCTIONS IN THE COUNTY OF
DUMFRIES
[Symbol]
EDINBURGH
1920
Edinburgh : Published by His Majesty's Stationery Office. To be purchased through any Bookseller or directly from H.M. Stationery Office at
the following addresses:- 23 Forth Street, Edinburgh; Imperial House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2, and 28 Abingdon Street, London S.W.1;
37 Peter Street, Manchester; 1 St Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff; or from E. Ponsonby, Ltd., 116 Grafton Street, Dublin.
Price Two Pounds Net. |
dumfries-1920/04-004 |
CONTENTS.
-- PAGE.
SEVENTH REPORT -- iii
LIST OF ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS IN THE COUNTY OF DUMFRIES WHICH
THE COMMISSSIONERS DEEM MOST WORTHY OF PRESERVATION -- v
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS -- viii
LIST OF PARISHES -- xii
BIBLIOGRAPHY -- xii
INTRODUCTION TO INVENTORY OF ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS AND
CONSTRUCTIONS IN THE COUNTY OF DUMFRIES -- xvii
INVENTORY -- 1
APPENDIX : REPORT ON THE RUTHWELL CROSS -- 219
GLOSSARY -- 287
INDEX -- 292
MAP OF THE COUNTY OF DUMFRIES, INDICATING THE POSITION OF MONUMENTS, ETC.,
BY NUMBERS REFERABLE TO THE INVENTORY -- at end
[Stamped]
SUPPLIED
FOR THE
PUBLIC SERVICE
[Stamped]
THE ROYAL COMMISSION
ON ANCIENT MONUMENTS
SCOTLAND |
dumfries-1920/04-005 |
SEVENTH REPORT
OF THE
ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE ANCIENT AND
HISTORICAL MONUMENTS OF SCOTLAND.
TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY, -
We, your Majesty's Commissioners, appointed to make an Inventory of the
Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions connected with or illustrative
of the contemporary culture, civilisation and conditions of life of the people in
Scotland from the earliest times to the year 1707, and to specify those which seem most
worthy of preservation, humbly present to your Majesty this our seventh Report.
In doing so, we must refer with deepest regret to the death of our esteemed colleague,
Lord Guthrie, upon whose counsel we had become accustomed to rely and whose
historical knowledge we have found invaluable in the discharge of our duties. We
regret also that we have since lost another colleague in the death of Mr Francis
C. Buchanan.
Appended to the Report is a list of the monuments and constructions of Dumfries-
shire, which, in the opinion of your Commissioners, seem most worthy of preservation,
divided into two classes, viz. (a) those which appear to be specially in need of pro-
tection, and (b) those worthy of preservation but not in imminent risk of demolition
or decay.
Your Commissioners have found it desirable to adopt a different format for their
Reports and Inventories in order to present the material, and particularly the illustra-
tions, in a more adequate manner, and the present volume is the first in this new style.
On the eve of its issue, in the early summer of 1916, a fire in the printers' works totally
destroyed the whole material, which had to be assembled afresh for publication.
Your Commissioners have again to express their thanks to proprietors and others
for affording facilities and assistance in the prosecution of their work; particularly
to E. J. Brook, Esq., of Hoddom Castle, Dumfriesshire, and to Mr James McKillop,
formerly of the Hoddom Estates Office, Ecclefechan, also to Mr G. W. Shirley of the
Ewart Public Library, Dumfries.
In the preparation of the Inventory they have to thank George Macdonald, Esq.,
LL.D., C.B., F.B.A., for assistance in the field of Roman antiquities; George
Neilson, Esq., LL.D., for a contribution and other material; the Rev. J. King
Hewison, D.D., for the use of blocks; the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for
the use of illustrations; and Professor Halliday, Liverpool, for the illustration of
the Bruce stone, which stone is in the possession of his family.
-- iii
Wt. 6209/626-500-3/21.-N. & Co., Ltd. Gp.3. |
dumfries-1920/04-006 |
HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
The Report on the Ruthwell Cross occupies a considerable part of this volume,
and is so wide in its scope that your Commissioners think it desirable to preface it
with a few words of explanation. This famous monument is an object of quite
exceptional interest, attracting much attention not only among British but also
among Continental and American scholars. In the three years 1912 to 1914, no
fewer than three books, and at least nine articles or pamphlets, appeared on the
subject in England and the United States, and since then these numbers have been
materially increased. In all these publications arguments regarding the date and
provenance of the monument were based on the figure and ornamental sculpture and
on the inscriptions in Runic and Latin characters, as well as on the historical and
geographical probabilities for or against this or that theory of origin. Such being
the case, it has seemed to your Commissioners that, while it is the first part of
their duty to describe with as much fulness and accuracy as possible the Ruthwell
Cross in all its aspects, it is incumbent on them also to supply the available in-
formation, archaeological linguistic, and historical, without which no reasoned opinion
can be formed as to the date and provenance of this remarkable specimen of
medieval art.
With this purpose in view, the necessary references have been made to the similar
monument at Bewcastle in Cumberland, of which illustrations have been added for
comparison. The Commissioners have further availed themselves of the aid of
Mr A. Blyth Webster, formerly Lecturer in English in the University of Edinburgh,
now Professor of English Literature in the University of St Andrews, who has
furnished them with an examination of the language and literary content of the
poem inscribed on the Ruthwell Cross. In this connection they desire also to
acknowledge the services of Mr Ritchie Girvan, Lecturer on the English Language
in the University of Glasgow.
During the summer of 1915 the archaeological survey of Skye and the Outer
Hebrides was carried through, and considerable progress was made with the archi-
tectural Survey of Midlothian, of which county the prehistoric survey had already
been completed. The work of the Commission was suspended in March 1916 for the
duration of the War, but since its resumption in 1919 the survey of the monuments of
East Lothian has been finished and that of Midlothian is expected to be completed
in the current year.
Your Commissioners regret that many instances have been brought to their
notice of the serious decay of historical buildings owing to neglect. The publica-
tion of County Inventories, however, having already served to bring some such cases
to the attention of proprietors and others, it is hoped that a continuation of the
series will not be without further effect in causing more care to be bestowed upon
other buildings worthy of preservation.
During the War the staff of the Commission was employed in different services
relating thereto, both the architects receiving commissions in the Royal Engineers.
HERBERT MAXWELL, Chairman.
G. BALDWIN BROWN.
THOMAS H. BRYCE.
W. T. OLDRIEVE.
THOMAS ROSS.
ALEXR. O. CURLE.
W. MACKAY MACKENZIE, Secretary.
EDINBURGH, December 1920.
-- iv |
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LIST OF ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS
AND CONSTRUCTIONS
IN THE
COUNTY OF DUMFRIES
WHICH THE COMMISSIONERS DEEM MOST WORTHY OF PRESERVATION.
1. - MONUMENTS AND CONSTRUCTIONS SPECIALLY IN NEED OF
PROTECTION.
PARISH. -- ECCLESIASTICAL STRUCTURES.
Durisdeer -- Kirkbride Church (No. 155).
[PARISH.] -- CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC STRUCTURES.
Caerlaverock -- Caerlaverock Castle (No. 33 (2) ).
Canonbie -- Hollows Tower (No. 43).
Dunscore -- Lag Tower (No. 136).
Lochmaben -- Lochmaben Castle (No. 445 (2) ).
Moffat -- Frenchland Tower (No. 480).
Tinwald -- Amisfield Tower (No. 578).
Torthorwald -- Torthorwald Castle (No. 590).
[PARISH.] -- FORT.
Durisdeer -- Earthwork, Durisdeer (No. 162).
[PARISH.] -- STONE CIRCLES.
Eskdalemuir -- "Girdle Stanes" (No. 198).
Eskdalemuir -- "Loupin' Stanes," near Hartmanor (No. 199).
Holywood -- "Twelve Apostles," Holywood (No. 284).
Hutton and Corrie -- Whitcastles (No. 307).
Tundergarth -- Whiteholm Rig (No. 603).
Wamphray -- Kirkhill (No. 625).
[PARISH.] -- LONG CAIRNS
Canonbie -- Windy Edge (No. 47).
Glencairn -- "White Cairn," Fleuchlarg (No. 249)
Keir -- Capenoch Moor (No. 329).
Kirkpatrick-Juxta -- Stiddrig (No. 415).
-- v -- b |
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
PARISH. -- MISCELLANEOUS.
Canonbie -- Scots Dike (No. 48).
Glencairn -- Cross-shaft (portion of), Hastings Hall, Moniaive (No. 250).
Gretna -- Roman Altar (No. 266).
Kirkconnel -- Cross-Socket, Orchard (No. 333).
Penpont -- Cross, Nith Bridge (No. 531).
II. - MONUMENTS AND CONSTRUCTIONS DESERVING PROTECTION BUT
NOT IN IMMINENT RISK OF DEMOLITION OR DECAY.
PARISH. -- CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC STRUCTURES.
Cummertrees -- Repentance Tower (No. 89).
Durisdeer -- Tibbers Castle (No. 157).
Holywood -- Fourmerkland Tower (No. 280).
Kirkmahoe -- Dalswinton Old House (No. 338).
Kirkpatrick-Juxta -- Auchen Castle (No. 384).
Lochmaben -- Spedlin's Tower (No. 446).
Lochmaben -- Elshieshields Tower (No. 447).
Morton -- Morton Castle (No. 510).
Ruthwell -- Comlongon Castle (No. 537).
Sanquhar -- Sanquhar Castle (No. 551).
[PARISH.] -- FORTS.
Applegarth -- Dalmakethar Burn (No. 20).
Canonbie -- Roman Camp, Gilknockie (No. 45).
Dalton -- "Range Castle," Holmains (No. 98).
Dryfesdale -- Gallaberry, Dryfeholm (No. 115).
Dunscore -- Springfield Hill (No. 141).
Durisdeer -- Kirk Burn, Durisdeer (No. 163).
Eskdalemuir -- Roman Camp, Raeburnfoot (No. 172).
Eskdalemuir -- Castle O'er (No. 177).
Glencairn -- "Mote," The Orchard, Snade (No. 237).
Hoddom -- Fortifications, Birrenswark (No. 272).
Hutton and Corrie -- Carthur Hill (No. 291).
Kirkmahoe -- Vitrified Fort, Mullach (No. 339).
Kirkmahoe -- Stone Fort, the Belt, High Townhead (No. 342).
Kirkmichael -- "Wallace's House," Kirkland Hill, Burrance Bridge (No. 358).
Lochmaben -- Woodycastle (No. 450).
Middlebie -- Roman Camp, Birrens (No. 462).
Middlebie -- Birrens Hill, Carruthers (No. 464).
Moffat -- Ericstane (No. 486).
Sanquhar -- "Kemp's Castle," Euchan Water, Sanquhar (No. 557).
Tinwald -- Barr's Hill (No. 581).
Tundergarth -- Crawthat Cottage (No. 595).
Tynron -- Tynron Doon (No. 609).
Westerkirk -- "Bogle Walls" (No. 638).
Westerkirk -- Camp Hill, Bailiehill (No. 640).
-- vi |
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
PARISH. -- MOTES.
Closeburn -- Dinning (No. 65).
Glencairn -- Lower Mote, Ingleston (No. 238).
Glencairn -- Maxwelton (No. 241).
Hutton and Corrie -- Mote of Hutton (No. 296).
Johnstone -- Lochwood (No. 316).
Kirkpatrick-Juxta -- Coats Hill (No. 395).
Lochmaben -- Rockhall (No. 448).
Moffat -- Auldton, Moffat (No. 483).
[PARISH.] -- LAKE DWELLING.
Dunscore -- Rough Island, Loch Urr (No. 144).
[PARISH.] -- CAIRNS.
Closeburn -- Threip Moor (No. 72).
Closeburn -- Gawin Moor (No. 75).
[PARISH.] -- MISCELLANEOUS.
Canonbie -- Spiral-marked Slab, Hollows Tower (No. 43).
Sanquhar -- Cross, Mennock Pass (No. 564).
Note. - The following monuments, which are under the charge of H.M. Office of Works, are
not included in the foregoing lists:
Kirkpatrick-Fleming -- Gravestone of Adam Fleming (No. 373).
Kirkpatrick-Fleming -- Merkland Cross (No. 378).
Ruthwell -- Ruthwell Cross (No. 538).
-- vii |
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ILLUSTRATIONS.
INTRODUCTION.
FIGURE. -- NAME. -- PAGE.
1 Annan, c. 1560, showing Mote and Tower -- xxxii
2 Spiral-marked slab, Hollows Tower -- l
3 Motes, and Bruce Stone -- lviii
4 Towers -- lxi
5 Castlemilk, c. 1547 -- lxii
6 Map showing the situation of castles and fortified houses in the 16th century
(from map in the British Museum) -- lxiii
7 Crosses -- lxvii
INVENTORY.
PARISH. -- FIGURE. -- NAME. -- NO. IN INVENTORY.
Annan -- 8 -- Bonshaw Tower -- 1
Annan -- 9 -- Mote of Annan -- 3
Applegarth -- 10 -- Fort, Dalmakethar Burn -- 20
Caerlaverock -- 11 -- Caerlaverock Castles : block plan -- 33 (1)
Caerlaverock -- 12 -- Old Castle of Caerlaverock : plan -- 33 (1)
Caerlaverock -- 13 -- Old Castle of Caerlaverock : splayed base -- 33 (1)
Frontispiece. Caerlaverock Castle -- 33 (2)
14 -- Caerlaverock Castle : ground and first floor plans -- 33 (2)
15 -- Caerlaverock Castle : north front and Gatehouse -- 33 (2)
16 -- Caerlaverock Castle : east wall -- 33 (2)
17 -- Caerlaverock Castle : sections -- 33 (2)
18 -- Caerlaverock Castle : west curtain and base tower -- 33 (2)
19 -- Caerlaverock Castle : elevations -- 33 (2)
20 -- Caerlaverock Castle : second, third, and fourth floor plans -- 33 (2)
21 -- Caerlaverock Castle : interior from the south -- 33 (2)
22 -- Caerlaverock Castle : fireplaces and details -- 33 (2)
23 -- Caerlaverock Castle : elevation of east wing -- 33 (2)
24 -- Caerlaverock Castle : entrance to hall -- 33 (2)
25 -- Fort, Wardlaw -- 35
Canonbie -- 26 -- Hollows Tower -- 43
Canonbie -- 27 -- Hollows Tower : plan -- 43
Canonbie -- 28 -- Roman Camp, Gilnockie -- 45
Canonbie -- 29 -- Long Cairns, etc., Windy Edge -- 47
Closeburn -- 30 -- Closeburn Castle : plan -- 59
Closeburn -- 31 -- Mote, Dinning -- 65
-- viii |
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
PARISH. -- FIGURE. -- NAME. -- NO. IN INVENTORY.
Cummertrees -- 32 -- Repentance Tower : plan -- 89
Cummertrees -- 33 -- Hoddom Castle -- 90
Cummertrees -- 34 -- Hoddom Castle : plan -- 90
Dalton -- 35 -- Dalton Church : plan -- 96
Dalton -- 36 -- Little Dalton Church : plan -- 97
Dalton -- 37 -- Little Dalton Church : window -- 97
Dalton -- 38 -- Fort, "Range Castle" -- 98
Dornock -- 39 -- Stapleton Tower : plan -- 106
Dornock -- 40 -- Robgill Tower : plan -- 107
Dornock -- 41 -- Coped Stone, Dornock -- 109
Dornock -- 42 -- Coped Stone, Dornock -- 109
Dumfries -- 43 -- Dumfries Midsteeple -- 127
Dumfries -- 44 -- Dumfries Midsteeple : inscribed stone -- 127
Dumfries -- 45 -- Dumfries Bridge -- 131
Dumfries -- 46 -- Dumfries Bridge : plan -- 131
Dunscore -- 47 -- Lake Dwelling, Loch Urr -- 144
Dunscore -- 48 -- Lake Dwelling, Loch Urr: plan -- 144
Durisdeer -- 49 -- Drumlanrig Castle : plan -- 156
Durisdeer -- 50 -- Drumlanrig Castle : principal entrance -- 156
Durisdeer -- 51 -- Drumlanrig Castle : stairs to garden -- 156
Durisdeer -- 52 -- Drumlanrig Castle : sundials -- 156
Durisdeer -- 53 -- Tibbers Castle : plan -- 157
Durisdeer -- 54 -- Tibbers Castle : plan -- 157
Durisdeer -- 55 -- Fort, Kirk Burn -- 163
Eskdalemuir -- 56 -- Roman Camp, Raeburnfoot -- 172
Eskdalemuir -- 57 -- Fort, "Castle O'er Fort": key sketch -- 177
Eskdalemuir -- 58 -- "Castle O'er Fort" : plan -- 177
Eskdalemuir -- 59 -- "Castle O'er Fort" : Trench -- 177
Eskdalemuir -- 60 -- "Castle O'er Fort" : Ramparts -- 177
Eskdalemuir -- 61 -- "Castle O'er Fort" : Entrance -- 177
Eskdalemuir -- 62 -- Fort, The Knowe -- 178
Eskdalemuir -- 63 -- Stone Circle, "Girdle Stanes" -- 198
Eskdalemuir -- 64 -- Stone Circle, "Loupin' Stanes" -- 199
Glencairn -- 65 -- Old Crawfordton : plan -- 233
Glencairn -- 66 -- "Mote," The Orchard, Snade -- 237
Glencairn -- 66A -- Mote, Ingleston -- 238
Gretna -- 67 -- "Lochmaben Stane" -- 263
Hoddom -- 68 -- Churchyard and Church Foundations, Hoddom Bridge : plan -- 271
Hoddom -- 69 -- Roman Stone in Church Foundations, Hoddom Bridge -- 271
Hoddom -- 70 -- Birrenswark or Burnswork : plan of Fortifications -- 272
Hoddom -- 71 -- Birrenswark or Burnswork : Roman Glandes from -- 272
Hoddom -- 72 -- Birrenswark or Burnswork : South Camp -- 272
Hoddom -- 73 -- Birrenswark or Burnswork : interior of redoubt -- 272
Hoddom -- 74 -- Birrenswark or Burnswork : Bridle-Bit from -- 272
Hoddom -- 75 -- Sculptured fragments of Celtic cross from Knockhill -- 273
Hoddom -- 76 -- Pedestal of Roman Altar from Knockhill -- 273
Hoddom -- 77 -- Other sculptured fragments from Knockhill -- 273
Hoddom -- 78 -- Cross-shaft from Hoddom -- 273
-- ix |
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
PARISH. -- FIGURE. -- NAME. -- NO. IN INVENTORY.
Hoddom -- 79 -- Crosses, Hoddom Churchyard -- 274
Holywood -- 80 -- Fourmerkland Tower -- 280
Holywood -- 81 -- Fourmerkland Tower : plan -- 280
Holywood -- 82 -- Stone circle, "Twelve Apostles," Holywood -- 284
Hutton and Corrie -- 83 -- Gillesbie Tower : plan -- 287
Johnstone -- 84 -- Lochwood Tower and Mote : plans -- 315 and 316
Kirkmahoe -- 85 -- Isle Tower -- 337
Kirkmahoe -- 86 -- Isle Tower : plan -- 337
Kirkmahoe -- 87 -- Isle Tower : Heraldic panel -- 337
Kirkmahoe -- 88 -- Dalswinton Old House -- 338
Kirkpatrick-Fleming -- 89 -- "Adam Fleming" stone, Kirkconnel Churchyard -- 373
Kirkpatrick-Juxta -- 90 -- Auchencass or Auchen Castle -- 384
Kirkpatrick-Juxta -- 91 -- Structure and Incised Cross, Kinnelhead -- 385 and 386
Kirkpatrick-Juxta -- 92 -- Lochhouse Tower : plan -- 388
Kirkpatrick-Juxta -- 93 -- Mote, Coats Hill -- 395
Kirkpatrick-Juxta -- 94 -- "Camp," Garpol Water -- 396
Kirkpatrick-Juxta -- 95 -- Mote, Garpol Water -- 397
Kirkpatrick-Juxta -- 96 -- Fort, Beattock Hill (summit) -- 401
Kirkpatrick-Juxta -- 97 -- Fort, Stanshiel Rig -- 403
Kirkpatrick-Juxta -- 98 -- Enclosure, Beattock Hill -- 412
Langholm -- 99 -- Barntalloch Mote -- 431
Lochmaben -- 100 -- Lochmaben Old Castle -- 445 (1)
Lochmaben -- 101 -- Lochmaben Castle : plan showing outworks -- 445 (2)
Lochmaben -- 102 -- Lochmaben Castle : plan -- 445 (2)
Lochmaben -- 103 -- Lochmaben Castle : from a sketch by John Clerk of Eldin -- 445 (2)
Lochmaben -- 104 -- Lochmaben Castle -- 445 (2)
Lochmaben -- 105 -- Spedlin's Tower : plan -- 446
Lochmaben -- 106 -- Spedlin's Tower : prison -- 446
Lochmaben --- 107 --- Elshieshields Tower -- 447
Lochmaben -- 108 -- Elshieshields Tower : plan -- 447
Lochmaben -- 109 -- Fort, Woodycastle -- 450
Middlebie -- 110 -- Blackwood or Blacket House -- 460
Middlebie -- 111 -- Roman Camp, Birrens -- 462
Middlebie -- 112 -- Dedicatory Tablet from Birrens -- 462
Middlebie -- 113 -- Altar to Discipline of Augustus from Birrens -- 462
Middlebie -- 114 -- Altar to Mars, etc., from Birrens -- 462
Middlebie -- 115 -- Altar to Fortune from Birrens -- 462
Middlebie -- 116 -- Dedicatory slab to Brigantia from Birrens -- 462
Middlebie -- 117 -- Altar to Harimella from Birrens -- 462
Middlebie -- 118 -- Fort, Birrens Hill, Carruthers -- 464
Moffat -- 119 -- Breckonside Tower -- 475
Moffat -- 120 -- Frenchland Tower -- 480
Moffat -- 121 -- Mote, Auldton -- 483
Moffat -- 122 -- Fort, Auchencat Burn -- 485
Morton -- 123 -- Morton Castle : plan -- 510
Morton -- 124 -- Morton Castle : Gatehouse tower -- 510
Morton -- 125 -- Morton Castle : interior -- 510
Morton -- 126 -- Morton Castle: doorway at first floor level -- 510
Morton -- 127 -- Cross-shaft, Grierson Museum -- 514
Mouswald -- 128 -- Grave-slabs at Ruthwell U.F. Church -- 518
-- x |
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
PARISH. -- FIGURE. -- NAME. -- NO. IN INVENTORY.
Penpont -- 129 -- Free-standing Cross, Nith Bridge -- 531
Ruthwell --130 -- Comlongon Castle -- 537
Ruthwell --131 -- Comlongon Castle : plan -- 537
Ruthwell --132 -- Comlongon Castle : S.W. corner of Hall -- 537
Ruthwell --133 -- Comlongon Castle : "yett" -- 537
Ruthwell --134 -- Comlongon Castle : prison -- 537
Sanquhar -- 135 -- Effigy, Sanquhar Church -- 549
Sanquhar -- 136 -- Sanquhar Castle : plan -- 551
Sanquhar -- 137 -- Sanquhar Castle : entrance to inner courtyard -- 551
Sanquhar -- 138 -- Sanquhar Castle : tower -- 551
Sanquhar -- 139 -- Fort, "Kemp's Castle" -- 557
Tinwald -- 140 -- Amisfield Tower : plan, section, and elevation -- 578
Tinwald -- 141 --- Amisfield Tower : north face --- 578
Tinwald --- 142 -- Amisfield Tower : south face -- 578
Tinwald -- 143 -- Amisfield Tower : Coloured plaster frieze in Hall -- 578
Tinwald -- 143A -- Amisfield Tower : Carved oak door in National Museum of Antiquities -- 578
Tinwald -- 144 -- Fort, Barr's Hill -- 581
Torthorwald -- 145 -- Torthorwald Castle -- 590
Torthorwald -- 146 -- Torthorwald Castle : plan -- 590
Tundergarth -- 147 -- Fort, Crawthat Cottage -- 595
Tynron -- 148 -- Tynron Doon -- 609
Wamphray -- 149 -- Sculptured Stone, Wamphray Church -- 628
Westerkirk -- 150 -- Fort, "Bogle Walls" -- 638
Westerkirk -- 151 -- Cist, "King Schaw's Grave" -- 648
APPENDIX.
THE RUTHWELL CROSS (NO. 538).
FIGURE. -- PAGE.
152. -- The Ruthwell Cross as now set up in the Parish Church -- 219
153. -- The Cross as it stood before its removal to the Parish Church in 1887 -- 222
154. -- The Bewcastle Cross, showing the four sides -- 224
155. -- The Ruthwell Cross, showing the four sides -- 225
156. -- The Christ, on the north face of the Cross -- 227
157. -- The Flight into Egypt -- 228
158. -- Portions of the western and southern faces of the Cross -- 230
159. -- The Annunciation -- 231
160. -- The Upper Arm of the Cross-head -- 232
161. -- Table of Runic Futhorcs -- 236
162. -- Table of Letters -- 243
163. -- Various illustrative pieces -- 246
164. -- Cross-forms -- 247
165. -- Cross-slab at Hoddom -- 248
166. -- Figure of Christ, from Alexandria -- 252
167. -- Map of Bernicia and Strathclyde -- 257
168. -- Runes on the sides of the Cross -- 269
-- xi |
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
LIST OF PARISHES. - [Note] 43.
PAGE.
Annan -- 1
Applegarth -- 3
Caerlaverock -- 10
Canonbie -- 26
Closeburn -- 30
Cummertrees -- 37
Dalton -- 41
Dornock -- 44
Dryfesdale -- 45
Dumfries -- 48
Dunscore -- 55
Durisdeer -- 59
Eskdalemuir -- 68
Ewes -- 80
Glencairn -- 84
Gretna -- 92
Hoddom -- 93
Holywood -- 104
Hutton and Corrie -- 107
Johnstone -- 114
[Note] 22 Keir -- 119
[Note] Half Morton
Kirkconnel -- 120
Kirkmahoe -- 121
Kirkmichael -- 126
Kirkpatrick-Fleming -- 128
Kirkpatrick-Juxta -- 131
Langholm -- 146
Lochmaben -- 148
Middlebie -- 159
Moffat -- 169
Morton -- 176
Mouswald -- 180
Penpont -- 182
Ruthwell -- 185
St. Mungo -- 188
Sanquhar -- 189
Tinwald -- 195
Torthorwald -- 200
Tundergarth -- 203
Tynron -- 207
Wamphray -- 209
Westerkirk -- 213 [Note] 43
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
-- Abbreviated Reference.
Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland.
Ancient Cross-Shafts at Bewcastle and Ruthwell, by the
Right Rev. G. F. Browne, DD., D.C.L., LL.D. (Cambridge:
University Press, 1916).
Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings or Crannogs, by Robert Munro,
M.D. (Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1879).
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. -- A.S.Chronicle.
Annals of the Solway until A.D. 1307, by George Neilson, LL.D.
(Glasgow : 1900).
Annals of Ulster. (Record publications.)
Annandale Family Book of the Johnstones, Earls and Marquises of
Annandale, by Sir William Fraser (2 vols. Edinburgh : 1894).
Antiquities of Scotland, by Francis Grose, F.A.S. (London: 1789). -- Grose's Antiquities
Archæologia Scotica, or Transactions of the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland.
Armstrong MSS., in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland.
Bede. Historiæ Ecclesiasticæ gentis Anglorum. -- Eccl. Hist., or Bede.
-- xii |
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
-- Abbreviated Reference.
Birrel's Diary (See Fragments of Scottish History).
Birrens and its Antiquities by James Macdonald and J. Barbour
(Dumfries : 1897).
Book of Caerlaverock : Memoirs of the Maxwells, Earls of
Nithsdale, Lords Maxwell and Herries, by Sir William Fraser
(2 vols. Edinburgh : 1873).
Border Laws (See Leges Marchiarum).
Buccleuch and Queensberry MSS., Historical MSS. Commission,
15th Report, Appendix, Part VIII. -- Buccleuch, or Bucc. MSS.
Caledonia, by George Chalmers, F.R.S., F.S.A. (Paisley : Alexander
Gardner. New edition, 1887-1894).
Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, edited by Joseph Bain,
F.S.A. Scot. -- Bain's Calendar, or Bain.
Calendar of Letters and Papers relating to the Affairs of the Borders
of England and Scotland, edited by Joseph Bain, F.S.A. Scot. -- Calendar of Border Papers, or Border Papers.
Calendar of Papal Registers.
Calendar of State Papers relating to Scotland and Mary, Queen of
Scots, 1547-1603, edited by (1) Joseph Bain, (2) William K. Boyd. -- Cal. Scottish Papers, or Scottish Papers.
Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, by David
Macgibbon and Thomas Ross, Architects (Edinburgh: David
Douglas, 1887-1892). -- Cast. and Dom. Arch.
Celtic Scotland, by W. F. Skene (3 vols. Edinburgh : Edmonston
& Douglas, 1876).
Chronica Gentis Scotorum, John de Fordun (Edinburgh : 1871).
Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, and other early Memorials of
Scottish History, edited by William F. Skene, LL.D. (Edinburgh :
1867). -- Chron. P. & S.
Closeburn (Dumfriesshire), Reminiscent, Historic, and Traditional.
by R. M. F. Watson (Glasgow : 1901).
Date of the Ruthwell and Bewcastle Crosses, by Albert S. Cook,
Professor of the English Language and Literature in Yale
University (Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut,
1912).
De Origine, Moribus, et Rebus Gestis Scotorum, John Leslie, Rome :
1578. -- De Origine, etc., Scotorum.
Documents illustrative of the History of Scotland from the
Death of King Alexander the Third to the Accession of
Robert Bruce, edited by the Rev. Joseph Stevenson
(2 vols. : 1870). -- Stevenson's Documents.
Douglas Book, by Sir William Fraser (4 vols. Edinburgh:
1885).
Drumlanrig Castle and The Douglases, with the Early History and
Ancient Remains of Durisdeer, Closeburn, and Morton, by
Crauford Tait Ramage, LL.D. (Dumfries : J. Anderson & Son,
1876).
Early Christian Monuments of Scotland, by J. Romilly
Allen and Joseph Anderson (Edinburgh : Neill & Co.,
1903). -- Early Christ. Mon.
Early Fortifications in Scotland, by Dr David Christison (Edinburgh
and London : Blackwoods, 1898).
-- xiii |
dumfries-1920/04-016 |
HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
-- Abbreviated Reference.
Early Scottish Charters prior to 1153, collected, with Notes and an
Index, by Sir Archibald C. Lawrie (Glasgow: James MacLehose
& Sons, 1905).
Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland, by David Macgibbon
and Thomas Ross, Architects (Edinburgh: David Douglas,
1896-1897). -- Eccles. Arch.
Exchequer Rolls of Scotland.
Fædera, etc., by Thomas Rymer (London : 1704-35).
Fragments of Scottish History, by Sir John Graham Dalyell. State
of Ancient Scotland - Birrel's Diary - Expedition in Scotland
(Edinburgh : 1798). -- Birrel's Diary.
Glencairn, Dumfriesshire: The Annals of an Inland Parish, by
J. Corrie (Dumfries : 1911).
Glenriddell MSS., in the possession of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland.
Growth of a Scottish Burgh, by J. W. Shirley (Dumfries:
1915).
Hamilton Papers. Letters and Papers illustrating the Political
Relations of England and Scotland in the 16th century, edited
by Joseph Bain.
Historia Ecclesiæ Dunelmensis, by Symeon of Durham (London:
1732). -- Symeon of Durham.
Historical Families of Dumfriesshire, and the Border Wars, by
C. L. Johnstone, 1889.
Historical Manuscripts Commission Reports. -- Hist. MSS. Comm.
Historical Memoirs of the Reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a
portion of the Reign of King James the Sixth, by Lord Herries,
edited by Robert Pitcairn (Edinburgh: 1836). -- Herries' Memoirs.
History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland and
Cumberland, by Joseph Nicolson and Richard Burn, 2 vols.
(London: 1777). -- History of Westmorland, etc
History and Antiquities of Scotland from the Earliest Account
of Time, etc., by William Maitland (2 vols. London:
1757). -- Maitland.
History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland from the
beginning of the Reformation in the Reign of King James V. to
the Retreat of Queen Mary into England, Anno 1568, by the
Rev. Robert Keith, Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Scotland.
(Edinburgh: 1734). -- History of Affairs, etc., or Keith.
History of the Burgh of Dumfries, with notices of Nithsdale, Annan-
dale, and the Western Border, by W. McDowall (Edinburgh:
3rd edition, 1906).
History of the Church of Scotland, by John Spottiswoode, Arch-
bishop of St Andrews, with Biographical Sketch and Notes by
the Right Rev. M. Russell, LL.D., 3 vols. (Edinburgh:
1847-51 - Spottiswoode Society). -- Spottiswoode's History, or Spottiswoode.
History of Dumfries and Galloway, by the Right Hon.
Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart. (Edinburgh and London:
Blackwoods, 1896). -- Dumfries and Galloway.
History of the House of Douglas, by the Right Hon. Sir
Herbert Maxwell, Bart. (2 vols. London: Fremantle & Co.,
1902).
-- xiv |
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
-- Abbreviated Reference.
History of the Johnstones, with descriptions of Border Life, 1191-
1909, by C. L. Johnstone (Edinburgh: 1909).
History of the Kirk of Scotland (1514-1625), by the Rev. David
Calderwood, A.M., edited from the original MS. preserved in
the British Museum by the Rev. Thomas Thomson, 8 vols. -
Woodrow Society - (Edinburgh: 1842-49). -- History of the Kirk, or Calderwood.
History of Liddesdale, Eskdale, Ewesdale, Wauchopedale, and the
Debateable Land, by Robert Bruce Armstrong (Part I. Edin-
burgh: 1883). -- Armstrong or Armstrong's Liddesdale.
History of Moffat, with frequent notices of Moffatdale and Annan-
dale, by W. R. Turnbull (Edinburgh: 1871).
History of Sanquhar, by James Brown (Dumfries: J. Anderson &
Son, 1891).
History of Scotland from the accession of the House of Stewart
to that of Mary, with Appendices of original papers, by John
Pinkerton, 2 vols. (London: 1797).
Itinerarium Septentrionale, by Alexander Gordon (London:
1726-32). -- Gordon.
Langholm as it was, by John and Robert Hyslop (Langholm:
Robert Scott, 1912).
Leges Marchiarum, or Border Laws, by William (Nicolson) Lord
Bishop of Carli(s)le (London: 1705).
Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry
VIII.
Liber Gardrobæ, Rolls Series.
Lochmaben Five Hundred Years Ago; or Selections, Historical and
Antiquarian, from Papers collected by John Parker, by the Rev.
William Graham (Edinburgh: 1865).
Lord Wardens of the Marches of England and Scotland, by
Howard Pease, M.A., F.S.A. (London: Constable & Co., Ltd.,
1913).
Macfarlane's Geographical Collections, edited by Sir Arthur
Mitchell, K.C.B. - Scottish History Society - (Edinburgh:
T. & A. Constable, 1906-1908).
Manuscripts of J. J. Hope Johnstone, Esq., of Annandale, -
Historical Manuscripts Commission - 15th Report, Appendix,
Part IX. (London: 1897). -- Johnstone MSS.
Memorials of St Michael's Churchyard, Dumfries, by Wm. McDowall
(Edinburgh: A. & C. Black, 1876).
Military Antiquities of the Romans in North Britain, by Major-
General Roy (London: 1793). -- Roy.
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, etc., by Sir Walter Scott (Kelso
and Edinburgh: 1802-3).
Origines Parochiales Scotiæ, edited by Cosmo Innes - Bannatyne
Club - (Edinburgh: 1850-55). -- Orig. Paroch.
Peel: its Meaning and Derivation, by George Neilson (Glasgow:
1893).
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. -- Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., or Antiquaries.
Register of the Privy Council of Scotland. -- Reg. P. C.
Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum. The Register of the
Great Seal of Scotland. -- Reg. Mag. Sig.
-- xv |
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
-- Abbreviated Reference.
Registrum Episcopatus Glasguensis - Bannatyne Club - 2 vols. (1843). -- Registrum Epis. Glasg.
Repentance Tower and its Tradition, by George Neilson (Glasgow:
1895).
A Roman Frontier Post and its People: The Fort of Newstead, in
the Parish of Melrose, by James Curle, F.S.A. Scot., F.S.A.
(Glasgow: James MacLehose & Sons, 1911).
Runic Roods of Ruthwell and Bewcastle, by James King
Hewison, M.A., D.D., F.S.A. (Scot.) (Glasgow: John Smith &
Son, Ltd., 1914).
Scotichronicon, edited by W. Goodall (2 vols. Edinburgh: 1759).
Scottish Historical Review (Glasgow: MacLehose). -- Scot. Hist. Rev.
Scots Lore (Glasgow: 1895).
Series of Etchings, chiefly of Views in Scotland, by John Clerk,
of Eldin - Bannatyne Club - (Edinburgh: 1855).
Siege de Karlaverok, edited by Sir Nicolas Harris Nicolas.
State Papers. Henry VIII. - vols. iv. and v.
Statistical Account of Scotland (1797). -- Stat. Acct.
Statistical Account of Scotland, New (1845). -- New Stat. Acct.
Tour in Scotland in 1769 and 1772, by Thomas Pennant. -- Pennant.
Tours in Scotland in 1747, 1750, and 1760, by Bishop Pococke,
edited by D. W. Kemp - Scottish History Society - (Edinburgh:
T. & A. Constable, 1887). -- Pococke.
Transactions of the Dumfries and Galloway Natural History and
Antiquarian Society. -- Trans. Dumf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc.
Transactions of the Glasgow Archæological Society. -- Trans. Glasgow Arch. Soc.
Vita St Kentigerni. The Historians of Scotland, vol. v. (Edinburgh:
Edmonston & Douglas, 1874). -- Vita St Kentig.
Vita Sancti Columbæ - (Adamnan ed. by Reeves) - Bannatyne Club
(Dublin: 1857). -- Vita Columbæ
Vitruvius Britannicus (Colin Campbell: 1767).
Wamphray: Pages from the History and Traditions of a famous
parish in Upper Annandale, illus. : by J. Paterson. (Lockerbie:
2nd edition, 1907).
-- xvi |
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INTRODUCTION
TO
INVENTORY OF ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS
AND CONSTRUCTIONS IN THE COUNTY OF DUMFRIES
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
I.
HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY.
DUMFRIESSHIRE is virtually the West March ¹ of old Border days, Galloway proper
being an outlying district in history as in geography. Its northern region is part
of the Silurian upland of southern Scotland, and is deeply trenched on the west
side by the valley of the Nith, which valley also marks a division between the
more monotonous high land to the east and the massive and boldly outlined
hills of Galloway. On the east side, too, a mountainous country extends between
the basins of the Esk and the Teviot. Southwards, towards England, Dumfries-
shire inclines first to a gently undulating country and then to a great flat, which,
along the shores of the Solway, offers a "Merse" or marshy tract, a mere fringe
of waste, however, in comparison with its nominal counterpart in Berwickshire.
Superficially, indeed, these two counties have much in common. Both pass
without serious obstruction into the north of England plain on either side of the
Pennine range. Both offer an open road round an extremity of the Cheviots, which
so effectually cover the intermediate shire of Roxburgh. But the western gate, if
flatter than the eastern, is also narrower. On the other hand, the lower Esk was an
even less serious obstacle then the Tweed. It offered no difficulties of fording. In
1745 the Jacobite army in its retreat from England passed across this river in a
column one hundred men broad, when "the water was big and took most of the men
breast-high." ² At low tide on the Solway there were crossings also far down the
channel of the river, where it is subject to overflow by the water of the firth, one
below the town of Annan to Bowness in Cumberland - where a railway line is now
carried over to the southern shore - and another from Dornock to Drumburgh. The
latter was known as the "Sandywathe," ³ while the regular ford on the Esk, the nearest
to the mouth and on that account the most important of the river fords, was of old
1 Ewesdale and even Eskdale are sometimes referred to as in the Middle march. Cf. Maxwell's
Dumfries and Galloway, p. 158.
2 Lord G. Murray's Journal.
3 Chronicon de Lanercost, Bann. Club, p. 272.
-- xvii |
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
known as the "Sulwath," a name signifying the "muddy" (sol=mud), in contrast
to the "sandy," wath or ford and later transferred, in the form "Solway," to the
firth as a whole. ¹ The English chronicler Knighton tells how, in July 1335, Edward
III. made a plundering raid upon Scotland from Carlisle, crossing the vadum Sulwath
on entry and returning by the vadum Anandiæ. ² In the 14th century, in the days
of Caerlaverock's great siege, the firth was known as the "Irish Sea," and it is still
so named by Bishop Leslie in the late 16th century. ³ From the latter half of the
12th century the Esk had been the recognised boundary of Scotland. At some date
in the first quarter of the 14th century the men of Cumberland and Westmorland,
about whose services on the Border there had been dispute, ⁴ represent to Edward
III. that "the service due in war to his ancestors" on their part was "that, on his
march to Scotland, they should meet him at the Rerecross on Stanemoor and go in
his vanguard as far as `la Marche de Solewathe,`"taking the rearguard on the return. ⁵
But the lower Esk was not suffered to remain much longer as the frontier line.
So accessible was the land on its northern side as a mere prolongation of the level to
the south, and so intermingled and homogenous the population in consequence, that
the district between the Esk and the little river Sark became a "debateable land"
between the two countries, and its inhabitants even were familiarly referred to in
the 16th century as the "Baitablers." This feature had a profound influence on
the history of the West March. The fact that there was no clear definition of juris-
dictions made it an ideal resort for the more lawless spirits of the Border, who, while
the wardens jealously disputed, went their own way. "For neither I will suffer
the warden of Scotland to answer for it," Lord Dacre informs the English Privy
Council in 1550, "because I will not affirm it to be Scotland, nor will they, on the
contrary, consent that it shall be England." ⁶
The usual provision for the Debateable Land in truces between England and
Scotland was that it should not be occupied on behalf of either kingdom, "`neither
with stub, stake, nor otherwise, but with bit of mouth for pasturing of cattle`from
sunrise to sunset, according to old custom." ⁷ The Prior of Canonbie, however, was
allowed to enclose and build upon his section, about four square miles in the area. The
trading relations of the district with Carlisle formed the basis of the English claim
to Canonbie as being really part of England. But in the lengthy diplomatic corre-
spondence over the question (cf. p. xxxvi.) the Scots would always furnish a counter-
plea to each argument, and in logic no decision was possible.
The unsatisfactory condition of the district, however, forced on the question
of its delimitation, and in 1552 Commissioners from the two countries apportioned
the doubtful territory. After all, it appears the local borderers had preferences in
the matter, which preferences were taken as a guide to division. The inhabitants
of the eastern part had their inclinations set towards Scotland, those of the western
towards England; and it was settled so. Thus the Canonbie part became Scottish,
while England had the barony of Kirkandrews, once property of the Rossedals of the
1 Fordum refers to fluvium Esk, quod dicitur Scotiswath sive Sulwath (Chronica Gentis Scotorum,
lib. ii., cap. ii.). Cf. p. xxx.
2 Chronicon (R.S.), i. p. 472.
3 See also Neilson's Annals of the Solway, passim; Trans. Dumf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc., 1895-6, p. 156.
4 Bain's Calendar, ii. No. 1134.
5 Ibid., iii. No. 716: la Rerecroiz sus Estaynmor.
6 Letter in Nicolson and Burn's History of Westmorland. etc., i. p. lxxv.
7 Treaty of Berwick, Dec. 1528, Letters and Papers For. and Dom., Henry VIII., vol. iv. part ii.
No. 5030; Leges Marchiarum (1549), Nicolson, pp. 80-81.
-- xviii |
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
lower Esk. The line of division was drawn in the form of a "ditch or furrow"
(fossa vel sulco) from a bend of the Sark to another bend on the Esk, the particular
spots being marked by squared, pointed stones bearing on the face looking east the
Scottish royal arms, and on that looking west those of England. In case of accident,
the actual position of these stones was also topographically defined in the deed of
division. Henceforward the boundary between the countries is the Sark and the
"Scots Dike" or ditch. ¹
It is the rivers that are the determining geographical feature of Dumfriesshire.
It is their basins, Nithsdale, Annandale, and Eskdale, that are its historic units. The
higher land to the east also gives the chief tributaries of the Esk a definite importance,
as Ewesdale and Wauchopedale. The slope of the country is southwards, and the
hills send their spurs southwards. Between the vales of Nith and Annan lie the
Torthorwald Hills and the Lochar Moss; Annandale, in its upper division, is
separated from Eskdale by a high-lying plateau.
Of the dales Annandale was easily, from its central position and its extent,
pre-eminent in a geographical sense. Its roots spread wide. The original grant
to the family of Bruce extends the area from the border of Cumberland on the one
side to that of Nithsdale on the other, and in this sense it was generally understood:
"The Stewartrie of Annandale from Erickstone (or rather Tweeds Cross which is a
mile farther north and the boundary of Tweddale) to Alisonbank the southmost part
and outmost limits of the Kingdome will be 27 miles in length from North to South;
and from Mortoun town alias Tower of Sark on the east to the Castle of Cockpool
alias Cumlongan ² on the west will be about 14 myles in breadth." ³ For this reason
it seems sometimes to have been used as equivalent to the present county. ⁴ An early
description includes Annandale in the region of Galloway, without specifying the
other dales. ⁵ Of much importance, too, were the many patches of morass that
anciently distinguished the more level parts of the country, and still characterise
these to a conspicuous extent. Between Lochar Moss east of the Nith and "Sollom"
Moss by the Esk stretched a chain of such obstructions, of which Hightae Moss and
Nutberry Moss are considerable survivals, and which seriously limited the approaches
westwards. Lockerbie was surrounded by mosses. But boggy land was not confined
to the south. Lochwood Tower stands on the margin of what is still a considerable
morass. The Cairn valley in the parish of Glencairn must once have had extensive
bogland. But the rivers, as usual in Scotland, in contrast with England, favour
advance north and south. The manner in which one railway follows the line of the
Nith and the other that of the Annan graphically records this determinant. It is
indicated even in the shape of the parishes, which tend to have their longer axis
in these directions. The great historic families of Dumfriesshire are apportioned to
the dales, and all Dumfriesshire history - economic, administrative, and military -
moves along their furrows.
1 The frontier was defined thus: ut in ipso utrius partis discrimine trames linearis rectus transversim
ab Esk ad Sark fluvium ducatur, fossa vel sulco vestigium ipsius denotante (Rymer's Fœdera). The "Scots'
Dike" now, however, appears as a low mound, with the trace of a shallow ditch on each side, running
in a straight line through the middle of the plantation on the boundary, e.g. on each side of the road
going south from Glenzierfoot. What remains is in danger of being obliterated.
2 The castles of Cockpool (No. 542) and Comlongon (No. 537) are really different places.
3 Macfarlane's Geographical Collections (Scot. Hist. Soc.), i. pp. 365-6.
4 Cf. Calendar of Border Papers, i. pp. 393-4.
5 Description of Scotland, 1292-6, in Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 215.
-- xix |
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
The same characteristic also determined the great historical jurisdictions.
Dumfries is of the type of shires which take their name from the principal town, that
town having achieved its original importance as a military centre. The town of
Dumfries had a royal castle and a sheriff about the end of the twelfth century. Later
the sheriffdom of Dumfries becomes synonymous with Nithsdale, but in its fullest
extent included Galloway east of the river Cree. Annandale, when it became a
Crown holding, ranked as a stewartry (see p. xxvi.) having its courts at Loch-
maben. The lordship of Eskdale was erected into a regality for the Douglases.
These jurisdictions became hereditary, and compensation had to be paid to their
owners on their abolition in 1747.
II.
EARLY HISTORY.
The Romans found in Dumfriesshire a people whom they call Selgovæ, a word
which may contain the Celtic root selg, "hunting," and so mean "the huntsmen."
In Ptolemy's map the Selgovæ are given four towns or fortified sites, of which two
are east of Novii ostia or mouth of the Nith: Uxellum meaning "the height," ¹ which
has been allotted to the enclosure with ramparts and ditch on Wardlaw Hill (No. 35)
and Trimontium "triple hill," identified with the fortified summit of Birrenswark or
Burnswork ² (No. 272). But the calculations underlying the map are not likely to be
even approximately accurate, and "Trimontium" is generally placed, with all possible
plausibility, at the "triple peak" of Eildon. Birrenswark is the best-defined and
farthest-seen "height" of southern Dumfriesshire, but identification with Uxellum
or of the more inland Corda with Sanquhar is little better than guesswork.
That a Roman route went northwards through Dumfriesshire to the limes
between the Forth and Clyde is very probable, though to lay it out is another matter. ³
Various indications go to suggest that the station at Birrens was about the last place
in Scotland to be held in the clutches of the imperial eagle. There is evidence of an
early occupation, and abundant evidence of an occupation in the second half of the
2nd century. The Roman camps at Gilnockie (No. 45) and Raeburnfoot (No. 172)
suggest operations in the Esk valley, either as a short route to the Tweed valley at
Peebles, where there is another camp, or as the scene of an expedition against the tribes
who then occupied this tract of ground and have left so many impressive traces of
their presence in the hill forts of Eskdalemuir, particularly in Castle O'er (No. 177) and
Bailiehill (No. 640).
The first historic figure to be associated with Dumfriesshire was Kentigern or
St Mungo. The county was then part of the "Cambrian region," ⁴ which, in its
fullest extent, extended from the neighbourhood of the Clyde to the English Channel,
and explains the saint's personal connection also with Cumberland and North Wales.
Later this continuous strip of land, held by the resisting Britons, was broken up
by Saxon intrusion.
1 Cf. "Ochil" Hills: the phonetic change x to ch is Brittonic, not Gaelic.
2 Skene, Celtic Scotland, i. p. 72. Skene suggests that Trimontium represents a native word with the
Welsh form Tre or Tref, "town," and so Trefmyndd or "the town on the mountain."
3 On "Roman" and other early roads in Dumfriesshire see articles by Dr. James Macdonald, Proc.
Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xxviii. (1893-4). pp. 43-4, 298-320; and Hislop's Langholm As It Was, pp. 113-7.
4 "regionis Cambrensis," Vita St. Kentig., cap. xi. But this use of the name is late (cf. p. xxiii.);
Jocelyn wrote the life in the twelfth century.
-- xx |
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
Kentigern flourished in the 6th century, when one result of the troubles through
which the island had passed was a plain set-back to Christian teaching. Columba was
a younger contemporary. It was but a Christian remnant among the northern Britons,
though it included the local king, who selected Kentigern, as a young man, for their
bishop. His see he fixed in what was to be Glasgow. There arose in time a king of
a different persuasion, whose kin finally made it so hard for Kentigern that he had to
take refuge in Wales, where he remained till after the battle of Ardderyd in 573.
Ardderyd is clearly to be identified with a site on the south side of the River
Liddell, a plain "between Lidel and Carwanolow," ¹ the latter a small southern
tributary of the Esk. A victory for the Christianising party in British politics, it
raised Rederch or Rydderch "Hael" or "Roderec the Liberal" to the throne. His
Irish designation - his mother was Irish - was King of Alcluyd, "the rock by the
Clyde" or Dumbarton. ² So he and his successors are styled in the Irish annals.
Dumfriesshire preserves the name in Carruthers, "the caer (Brittonic) or fort of
Rydderch."
Rydderch secured the return of the discreet and tactful Kentigern to his kingdom,
wherein the Christian religion had well-nigh perished. What thus amounted to a
fresh missionary effort had its beginning on the haugh of Hoddom, ³ where King
Rydderch and a multitude of the people met the returning apostle, who forthwith
addressed the gathering, assuring them that their idols were the work of men's hands,
that the elements that they deified were but instruments of their Maker, and that
Woden whom they, and especially the Angles, worshipped was probably once merely
a mortal king of the Saxons. This adoption of Woden by a Celtic people indicates a
change of religion which was a tribute to Saxon success in conquest. An edifying
miracle occurred when the flat where Kentigern was placed rose into a not incon-
siderable little hill, ⁴ and as such it remained in the days of the narrator, the 12th
century, and presumably ever since. Possibly, therefore, Trailtrow Hill overlooking
Hoddom, where a graveyard still exists in a not very suitable situation because a chapel
once stood there, may mark the place of the preaching of Kentigern: old Hoddom
Church was by the river bank (No. 271). For a time, too, "Holdelm" was further
honoured by being made the bishop's see, where churches were constituted and clergy
ordained. Hoddom was thus an ecclesiastical centre of much importance during a
brief period, till circumstances secured the re-establishment of the see in Kentigern's
"own city of Glasgow." ⁵
We are told by his biographer that it was the custom of Kentigern to erect a
cross - of stone presumably in his opinion, since the two specifically mentioned
are of stone - in any place where he had made converts or had lived for some time. ⁶
Certainly the crosses and fragments of crosses in Dumfriesshire make a remarkable
group, and those formerly standing at Hoddom are, no doubt, due to the saint's
special connection with that neighbourhood, though their date is much later in time.
Kentigern's crosses, like that of King Oswald in Bernicia as late as 635, were in all
probability of wood. ⁷ And before Oswald's cross there was no outward sign of the
Christian faith in that province.
1 Scotichronicon, bk. iii. cap. xxxi.
2 "Petra Cloithe" in Adamnan's Vita Columbæ.
3 "in planitie campi, vocabulo Holdelm," Vita Kentig., cap. xxxii.
4 "monticulum altum," ibid.
5 Ibid., cap. xxxiii.
6 Ibid., cap. xli.
7 Bede, Eccl. Hist., iii. cap.2. But in the 12th-century biography he is credited with a great cross
of stone at Glasgow and another miraculously made from sea-sand (de sola arena maris) at "Lothever-
werd" (Vita Kentig., cap. xli).
-- xxi -- c |
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
Kentigern and Rydderch both died in the same year, 601, after which the
records of the northern Britons again become scrappy and rare. In 613 the battle
of Chester marks the piercing of the British line by the Northumbrian Angles, and
the northern Britons are definitely dissociated from those in Wales. The farthest
limit of the northern section was the River Derwent in northern Lancashire, which
down to the 19th century formed the boundary between the bishoprics of Carlisle and
Chester. But in the history of this province boundaries are uncertain. Rydderch
seems to have carved out a kingdom based on Alcluyd, and his control certainly
extended to the Solway, and perhaps beyond. References to the Rerecross on
Stanemoor, now on the boundary between York and Westmorland, suggest that
here once ran the line between Cumbria and Northumbria. ¹ But we do not hear
of a particular territorial name till we reach a reference to Strathclyde (Stratha-
Cluaidhe) in the Annals of Ulster under 873, and another to the people, two years
later, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Thereafter Srathclyde is generally used for
this variable kingdom.
The fortunes of the portion later known as Dumfries cannot, of course, be
separated from those of the kingdom as a whole, but certain occurrences have more
definite bearing upon that quarter. From the reign of Oswald of Northumbria
(634-642), through that of Oswy, and down to the defeat and death of Ecgfrith at
the hands of the revolting Picts in the battle of Dunnichen, 685, the Britons were
subject to the Northumbrian kingdom. As kings of Alcluyd are nevertheless also
mentioned during this time, ² it may be taken that their status was that of vassals, and
that the subjection of the people amounted to the payment of a yearly tribute, as in
the case of the Picts and Scots. ³ Civil supremacy, however, again as in the Pictish
case, would bring with it ecclesiastical control, and this epoch of Northumbrian
lordship, extending to about half a century, has been fixed upon as one of the possible
occasions on which a cross inscribed with a Northumbrian poem in runes might be
erected at Ruthwell (see Appendix).
The Northumbrian disaster at Dunnichen restored to "some part" of the
Britons their liberty. ⁴ As we find that the Anglian hold continues on the west side,
since in 696 Cunningham (Ayrshire) is reckoned Northumbrian, ⁵ while in 731 the
Anglian bishopric of Candida Casa, "White House," or Whithorn in Galloway,
being in the province of the Bernicians, ⁶ has just been constituted, ⁷ we infer that
the base for this and later advances in the west must have been the British lands
south of the Solway, that the Britons freed by Dunnichen were therefore north
of that firth, that Dumfriesshire, and particularly Nithsdale, afforded the approach
to Cunningham, to Edbert's acquisition of Kyle (Cyil) in 750, ⁸ and the attack by that
monarch and the Picts on "Alcwith" or Alcluyd in 756, when the Britons were
reduced to terms and Edbert's army perished (interiit) on the return, ⁹ that there-
fore the free Britons were those of the Clyde valley, and that Northumbrian dominion
on the west and south thus particularised them as the "Strathclyde Welsh," which
name appears on record in the following century.
1 Cf. reference to boundaries of old Scottish kingdom in Fordun, Chronica Gentis Scotorum, bk. iii.
cap. ii., de mora lapidea, "from stone-moor." Modern forms: Rey Cross, Stainmore.
2 e.g. the Annals of Ulster give in 642 "Hoan" (Ewen), King of the Britons, as the slayer of Donald
Brec, and in 657 the death of Gureit, King of Alcluyd.
3 Bede, ii. cap. 5.
4 Ibid., iv. 26.
5 Ibid., v. 12.
6 Ibid., iii. 4.
7 Ibid., v. 23.
8 Chronicon, Bede, ed. Stevenson, Eng. Hist. Soc.
9 Symeon of Durham, R.S., ii. pp. 40-41.
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
Early in the 9th century the line of Anglian bishops in Whithorn ceased, and
there is a blank but probably anarchic time in the south-west, ¹ till the striped sails
of the Northmen rose against the sunset, bringing no peace but a sharper sword.
In 870 Alcluyd fell after a siege of four months by Danes and Norse from Ireland.
Five years later Halfdan with his Danes traversed the country into Northumbria,
and is recorded to have wasted the "Strathclyde Welsh," ² or "Strathclydians," ³
or, as in a third place and for the first time, the "Cumbri." ⁴ This was an enterprise
of Danes from Ireland, and does not seem to have been more than a foray of ex-
ceptional destructiveness. Permanent settlement was the work of the Norse bear-
ing elements of Irish culture. Tinwald (Thing-völlr), "field of the meeting," a short
way north-east of Dumfries, seems to have been, as its name suggests, the centre
of local Norse control. The first serious settlement would be about the year 880,
which date would apply also to the settlements in Cumberland. For the Norse as
for the Britons the land north and south of the Solway was all one. So much is
made clear by the place-names. Certain of these are identical on both sides of the
firth, e.g. Eskdale (or Askdale=Ashdale), Dalton, Brydekirk, Ousby (Oseby), Canonbie,
etc.; others have identical elements, as in the various compounds with thwaite
("clearing" or "sloping pasture") and by ("settlement") and in Smailholm (smali,
small cattle: cf. Cumberland "Smallthwaite"), Closeburn (Kil-Osbjörn), the old
Butterthuate or Butterquhat (cf. Buttermere), Langholm etc. Many names belong,
however, not to the early settlement but to later times when the latter part of the
compound was an established local form, e.g. Lockerby (1198 Locardebi) registers
the personal name Locard introduced to Scotland in the 12th century (cf. p. xxiv.).
Fell, beck, and gill names, which also occur in Cumberland and Westmorland, occur
here as far north as Moffat. Applegarth may be compared with Appleby in
Westmorland and Calgarth (i.e. "calf-enclosure") at Windermere.
The Dumfriesshire Norse, equally with their British neighbours, might be
expected to regard unfavourably the imperial activities of the expanding West Saxon
kingdom, and Owen, King of the Cumbrians, is one of the kings allied against
Athelstan on the occasion of his great victory at Brunanburgh in 937.⁵ This
alliance was in contempt of the arrangement of thirteen years earlier, when the
Strathclyde Welsh accepted Edward, the elder brother of Athelstan, as their lord.⁶
Moreover, it was to continue a troublesome district from the English point of view.
Its mixture of British and Norse blood did not render it more amenable to outside
guidance. Athelstan's brother Edmund in 946 subjected Strathclyde to another
wasting, and finally handed over the kingdom to Malcolm I. of Scotland on condi-
tion of co-operation by land and sea. Yet in 1018 we again hear of the death of a
king of Strathclyde, the last, as it happened, for Malcolm II. of Scotland now placed
on the vacant seat his son Duncan, who was to be his own successor. So
Strathclyde merges at last into the wider realm of Scotland.
Since the beginning of the 10th century, when the royal line of Alba had already
supplied an occupant for the throne, Scottish permeation and influence had been
growing. Its final outcome was the obliteration not only of the independence of
1Cf. p. xxiv.
2 "Stræcled-Walas," A.S. Chronicle.
3 "Stratcluttenses," Asser (late 9th century), De Rebus Gestis Ælfridi.
4 Ethelwerd (late 10th century), Chronica, bk. iv., in Monumenta Historica Brit., p. 515.
5 A plea has been made for the identification of Brunanburgh with the hill of Birrenswark. See
Scot. Hist. Rev., vol. vii. (1909), pp. 37-55.
6 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Florence of Worcester makes it 921.
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
the kingdom but also of its language, with probably the infusion of a fresh Gaelic
element in the topography, where appear names such as Dunscore (sgór=a sharp rock),
Duncow (coll=hazel), Lag (=hollow), the old Dunberton (i.e. Briton) in Lochmaben
parish, Glencairn and the other "glen" compounds. Gaelic ousted Welsh, and was
still spoken in Carrick in the 16th century, before it in turn was ousted by Scots.
The period of the invasions subsequent to the time of Kentigern and his suc-
cessors is painted in very sombre colours in the Inquisition of David concerning the
lands of old possessed by the bishopric of Glasgow, the date of which is the first
quarter of the 12th century. Insurrections arose, we are told, the Church was
destroyed, lands were wasted, and good men driven into exile. Then into the desolate
country poured diverse tribes of different nations, unlike in race, language, and
customs, among whom paganism prevailed over the Christian faith. Probably in
all this there is not only compression of facts but some exaggeration in the interests
of the reforms of Prince David. ¹
III.
TERRITORIAL FAMILIES.
It was David I. who left the deepest mark on Dumfriesshire. Before coming
to the throne he held a position in southern Scotland, as "Prince of Cumbria," which
cannot be defined in relation to either power or territory. It seems, however, to
have been an actual division of the kingdom, though only his brother Alexander
was known as king. In 1124 David himself succeeded to the throne, and so reunited
the realm.
Virtually, by training and preference, David belonged to that international race
whom we know as Normans. He did two big things in the south-west. He re-
constituted the bishopric of Glasgow, which included the old Strathclyde kingdom,
and he settled the Yorkshire family of Bruce in Annandale (c. 1124.) The
Bruce domain included "Estrahanent" (Annandale) and all the land from the
boundary of Dunegal of Nithsdale to the boundary of Randolph "Meschin" (="the
younger"), who possessed Cumberland; that is, as far at least as Gretna. The
principal seat of the family at first seems to have been Annan, which was a con-
venient centre for communication with their Yorkshire lands, but Lochmaben and
probably Moffat were also residences. In the original charter Robert de Brus is,
by implication, licensed to erect a "castellum," ² but at what place is not indicated.
Round the greater light of Bruce gathered the lesser lights of Annandale, some,
like their overlord, Norman immigrants, others apparently of the earlier local stock.
Names of witnesses attached to Bruce charters of the end of the 12th and the begin-
ning of the 13th century are these, being names which were to be long familiar in
the history of the shire: Robert de Hodalmis or Hodelm (Hoddom), Humphrey
del Gardine (Jardine), William de Herez (Herries), Edward de Hodalmia (Hoddom),
Hugh de Corri, Robert de Crossbi, Roger de Kirkpatrick, Malcolm Loceard,
Sir Gilbert de Jonston, David de Torthorwald. Of these the Johnstones rose to
greatest importance, but their early family records perished in a burning of Loch-
wood by Maxwells in 1585 (see No. 315). "Dunegal of Stranith," who in the
1 Registrum Epis. Glasg., p. 5. Cf. also Scots Lore (1895), p. 36 ff., and Lawrie's Early Scottish Charters, No. 4.
2 See Neilson in Trans. Dumf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc., 1914-15, p. 58.
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INVENTORY OF MONUENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
12th century was lord of the larger part of Nithsdale, clearly represents a survival
among the great Celtic landowners then in process of being replaced by Normans.
From his eldest son the family took the surname of Randolph, and its best known
representative was the Thomas Randolph of the War of Independence, nephew of
Robert the Bruce and first Earl of Moray. A junior branch similarly adopted the
surname of Edgar, and in the early 14th century was possessed of the castle of
Sanquhar and half the barony. ¹ At the southern end of the Nith the family of
Maxwell, from the neighbourhood of Kelso in Roxburghshire, probably acquired the
barony of Caerlaverock early in the 13th century. ² Above Dumfries are Dalswinton
and Duncow, in which there were Comyns. In the immediate neighbourhood was the
barony of Tinwald, which appears to have been in possession of the family of Mande-
ville since the time a Mandeville married an illegitimate daughter of William the
Lion. In part Tinwald Mote (No. 582), original messuage of the barony, still
survives. About the middle of the 15th century the line ended in heiresses, of whom
one married Edward Maxwell. ³ Maxwell in course of time acquired the other
portions of the barony.
Eskdale in the 12th and 13th centuries was wholly Norman in lordship. In
the upper valley and part of the lower were the Avenels, conspicuous patrons of
the Abbey of Melrose. This line ended in heiresses and the Dumfriesshire lands
passed to the husband of the elder, a Graeme of Dalkeith. In the middle Esk the
barony of Westerkirk (Wathstirker, Watiskirker) was in the possession of the great
Liddesdale family of De Soulis. In Ewesdale were Lovels; in Wauchopedale, after
1285, Lindsays, who, with a break extending substantially over the 16th century,
continued there till 1707. ⁴ Lower Eskdale was largely owned by the Rossedals
(Norse hross-dalr, "horse-dale"), another family almost entirely known for its gener-
osity to Jedburgh Abbey (as the Avenels for their connection with Melrose) and its
foundation of the Priory at Canonbie for Augustinian canons as a cell of Jedburgh.
The Rossedals make a silent and unexplained exit from history.
The War of Independence, and the long struggle against England, brought about
a partial redistribution of Dumfriesshire lordships. A temporary imposition of some
English owners may be neglected. A Bohun or a Percy in Annandale was but a bird
of passage. It was the Scottish kings proper who had the final word. As a result,
the main territorial feature in the district during more than a century is the steady
expansion of the wealth and power of the Douglas family by grant and acquisition.
The first of the family to own lands in Dumfriesshire was the "good Lord
James," Bruce's friend, when in 1321 he had a grant of lands in the barony of
Westerkirk. ⁵ That followed on the elimination of De Soulis, who had been forfeited
and executed on a treason charge a year before. About twenty years later, the
Lovels, as supporters of England, disappeared from Ewesdale, and their lands too
were added to the Douglas holdings, being transferred to William, nephew of Lord
James, first Earl of Douglas. ⁶ The most important of the Douglas vassals in this
quarter was the knightly family of Glendinning from Roxburghshire in Eskdale-
muir. ⁷ In Ewesdale again were a branch of the Teviotdale Frasers, till, on their
resignation, the property in 1426 was granted to Simon Lytil or Little, ⁸ with which
family it remained for quite two centuries.
1 Reg. Mag. Sig. (new edition), i. p. 8, No. 27.
2 Orig. Paroch., i. p. 446; Book of Caerlaverock, i. p. 40.
3 Exchequer Rolls, vi. p. 168.
4 Armstrong's Liddesdale, p. 168.
5 Reg. Mag. Sig., i. pp. 522, 544.
6 Ibid., p. 565.
7 Armstrong's Liddesdale, p. 160.
8 Reg. Mag. Sig., ii. No. 48.
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
By the elevation of the Bruces to the throne Annandale became a Crown hold-
ing, and was conferred by Robert I. on his nephew Thomas Randolph, lord of
Nithsdale and Earl of Moray. ¹ The Moray line ended in a daughter who married the
Earl of March, and when Earl George was forfeited in 1409 Annandale was acquired
by the Earl of Douglas, ² from which family it reverted to the King after the tragedy
of 1440. James II. conferred the lordship upon his younger son, the Duke of Albany,
who forfeited it by rebellion; and in 1487 it was finally annexed to the Crown.
Having been granted to Randolph as a free regality - i.e. with a jurisdiction regal in
scope, as far as was possible to a vassal, - on reversion to the Crown it ranked as
a stewartry, while Lochmaben remained a royal castle under a constable. In later
days the two offices of Steward of Annandale and Constable of Lochmaben were
usually held by one person (see p. xli.), and from 1410 - first, in the sense of
regality-depute, under the Earls of Douglas and then from 1455 under the Crown -
till the 17th century the stewardship was hereditary in the Maxwells. ³
The changes in Nithsdale during the 14th century also worked towards an
expansion of the Douglas family. The forfeited Comyns went out, and a marriage
brought in the Douglases in the person of William the first Earl, who married a
daughter of the Earl of Mar, to whom had come the lordship of Nithsdale. The
ancient Mar line thus failing, the Earls of Douglas enjoyed both that title and the
lordship. ⁴ The second Earl, the James Douglas who fell at Otterburn in 1388, left
two sons, both illegitimate, of whom William the elder was provided with the barony
of Drumlanrig. ⁵ Archibald, lord of Galloway and third Earl, conferred the lord-
ship of Nithsdale upon his second son, who left one daughter as issue. She married
the Earl of Orkney, and so brought Nithsdale to the Sinclairs; but in 1455 James II.
secured a surrender of the lordship by the Earl, as well as of his hereditary office
of sheriff of Dumfries, for compensation elsewhere. The Comyn barony of Dal-
swinton fell to Walter Sewart of the Galloway family, ⁶ and Duncow to a Boyd. ⁷
Dalswinton remained with the Stewarts till the 17th century, when it passed from
the Earl of Galloway to the Earl of Queensberry. After the forfeiture of the Boyds
in the middle of the 15th century Duncow is found in possession of a Maxwell.
Another family now came into prominence in upper Nithsdale. William de
Crichton, of a Midlothian stock, had married the heiress of the Roos or Ross line who
held half the barony of Sanquhar; the other half he acquired by purchase. The
seat of these Rosses was probably at Ryehill, by which they were sometimes dis-
tinguished, ⁸ and where there is a mote-hill (No. 556). Later there are Crichtons
in Ryehill. William de Crichton's great-grandson was in 1485 created Lord Crichton
of Sanquhar. The Crichtons, too, benefited by some of the Douglas property when
that family came to grief, and continued in Sanquhar Castle and barony till the
early part of the 17th century. In 1617 William Crichton entertained James VI.
lavishly in the Castle, and in 1633 was created Earl of Dumfries. These succes-
sive honours proved too much for the estate, and in 1639 it was sold to the first
Earl of Queensberry.
The adjacent barony of Morton was in 1440 granted by James II. to James
Douglas of Dalkeith, afterwards Earl of Morton, though deriving his title from
1 Reg. Mag. Sig., i., App. i., No. 34.
2 Ibid., No. 920.
3 Johnstone MSS., p. 10 (Hist. MSS. Comm., xv., App. ix.).
4 Reg. Mag. Sig., i. p. 647.
5 Buccleuch and Queensberry MSS., p. 8 (Hist. MSS. Comm., xv., App. viii.).
6 Reg. Mag. Sig., i., App. ii., No. 323.
7 Ibid., Nos. 306, 315.
8 New Stat. Acct., iv. p. 306 n.
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
"Mortoune" in Midlothian. ¹ Another family of upper Nithsdale was that of Menzies
in the baronies of Durisdeer and Enoch. About 1322 there is a charter by Robert I.
to Alexander Menyers or Menzies of the lands of Durisdeer. ² Later, Durisdeer and
the barony of "Enache (No. 167), resigned by Alexander Menzies, are conferred on
James Steward, brother of the High Steward, ³ and Durisdeer remained with the
Stewarts till near the close of the 17th century. It was otherwise with Enoch. In
[Note in margin] 1498 Manor of
Crichtone, Lady
Ennach - [---]
[Dom --- (149-
p 277
1376 we have a grant of the barony to Robert, son of John de "Meigners," it having
been held and resigned by the said John. ⁴ Thereafter Enoch is possessed by a Menzies
till the beginning of the 18th century, when it was sold to James Duke of Queens-
berry. ⁵ In the 15th century there was a Menzies in Dalveen, ⁶ and another in Castle-
hill of Durisdeer. ⁷ Dalveen was in time also to go to the Douglases.
Of the minor families between Annan and Nith, that of Torthorwald suffers
eclipse as a result of holding to the losing side. Like its neighbours, including the
Bruces, it had attached itself to the English interest in the War of Independence;
unlike these, it had remained falsely true. Sir James de Torthorwald had fallen at
Bannockburn a "willing adherent" of Edward II., and John de Torthorwald,
apparently his eldest son, became a pensioner of Edward III. in 1331. ⁸ Thomas
de Torthorwald, however, the other son, who also had served the English interest,
fought and died for David II. at Durham (1346), and his daughter and heiress, married
to Robert de Corrie and personally enfeoffed by that king in the lands of Collin and
Roucan, adjoining Torthorwald, died without issue in 1369. ⁹ Meantime, King
Robert I. had passed on the Torthorwald barony to Sir John Soulis, ¹⁰ and, after his
forfeiture in 1320, to Humphrey de Kirkpatrick. ¹¹ And with the Kirkpatricks of
Closeburn the barony remained till some time at the close of the century, when it
appears in the possession of Carlyes.
The name of Carlyle - de Karliolo - has place among those familiar as witnesses
to early 13th-century charters of the Bruces, such designations as Corrie, Herries,
Jardine, Charteris (de Carnoto), Kirkpatrick; all later to become surnames. The
original settlement of the Carlyes was at Lockerbie (which they exchanged) and
Kinmount (Kynemund). ¹² William of Carlyle is styled "Laird of Los" ¹³ by Thomas
Randolph as lord of Annandale. ¹⁴ This William had married Margaret, sister of
Robert Bruce. In 1432 we suddenly have record of William of Carlyle of Torthor-
wald in a marriage contract with Sir Thomas of Kirkpatrick, lord of "Killosbern." ¹⁵
By what bridge the Carlyles entered upon the Torthorwald barony is not condescended
upon. Sir John Carlyle was created Lord Carlyle of Torthorwald about 1475, but the
direct male line ended in an heiress who brought the estate into the family of her
Douglas husband, Sir James Douglas of Parkhead; her eldest son was Lord Carlyle
of Torthorwald in 1609. Finally, the property passed into the hands of the Queens-
berry family in 1621-1622. ¹⁶
No name is more common in the train of the Bruce lords of Annandale than that
of Herries or de Heriz, and the title of Lord Herries, as a distinction acquired by a
1 Hist. MSS. Comm., xv., App., part viii. p. 36.
2 Reg. Mag. Sig., i. p. 517.
3 Ibid., p. 530.
4 Ibid., No. 585, p. 213.
5 Drumlanrig Castle and the Douglases, p. 93.
6 Reg. Mag. Sig., ii. No. 765.
7 Ibid., No. 3492.
8 Bain's Calendar, iii. Nos. 1020, 958.
9 Reg. Mag. Sig., i. p. 613.
10 Ibid., i. p. 517.
11 Ibid., p. 457.
12 Buccleuch MSS., p. 39.
13 Luce was an old parish now merged in Hoddom.
14 Buccleuch MSS., p. 42.
15 Ibid., p. 44.
16 Ibid., pp. 43-44.
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
branch of the Maxwells, is conspicuous in one disturbed period of later Dumfriesshire
history. The name was particularly associated with the estate of Hoddom, but the
Herries holdings in the 14th century, when they were conferred, were principally
those of Terregles and Kirkgunzeon, on the Kirkcudbright side of the Nith, though
in the grants referred to they are included in the Sheriffdom of Dumfries. ¹ Hoddom
we first hear of in 1199,when Robert de "Hodelme" is accused of having allied him-
self at the siege of Carlisle with the King of Scotland (William the Lion, 1173 or 1174)
against King Henry II., his lord for lands in England. ² In the plea over this affair
we have mention of Robert's two sons Udard and Randulph de "Hodamme." ³ But
heirs male ceased, for in 1257 we find Thomas de Lacelles, the husband of the daughter
and heiress of Christiana daughter of "Odard de Hodeholm," in possession of the
English property in Cumberland in virtue of his wife's inheritance from her mother. ⁴
In 1292 we have Robert de Brus (the Competitor) in a successful lawsuit over the same
English lands in association with his wife Christiana, heiress to her grandfather Odard
of Hoddom, ⁵ both married for the second time. Adam de "Hodolm" appears on
the Ragman's Roll in 1296, ⁶ so that the Scottish property must have gone a different
way. As we have seen above, Annandale came to the Douglases in 1409, and soon
after that date Earl Archibald, in a charter now lost, gifted to Simon of Carruthers
the lands of Hoddom among others, ⁷ and in 1452 King James II. erected all these
possessions of the Carruthers family, including Hoddom, into the barony of Carruthers. ⁸
The cessation of the Carruthers family after the middle of the 16th century brought
about a fresh allotment of the Hoddom property.
The next great reconstruction of Dumfriesshire territorial ownership followed
on the suppression and forfeiture of the main branch of the Douglases in 1455. That
family was then planted to a greater or less extent in every dale of the county. But in
a country as yet administered almost wholly on territorial lines, through the principal
families, the extent of the possessions and power of the Douglas earldom was a menace
to the Crown, and the Earls did not trouble to dissemble the fact. Indeed, this house
occupied two other earldoms, brothers of the Earl of Douglas being Earls of Moray
and Ormond. When the Earl himself was forced into England, these two opposed
the forces of the Crown and were defeated at Arkinholm (Langholm) in 1455. The
royal army itself was under the command of a Douglas, the Earl of Angus. The
loyalists duly had their share of the extensive territorial spoils of the ruined
earldom. Angus, among other things, had a gift of the lordship of Eskdale. The
Maxwells, who had held for the Earl of Douglas the hereditary office of Steward of
Annandale, received it now from the Crown, and likewise supplanted the Douglas in
Nithsdale. Of the smaller folk the Beatsons profited most. John and Nicholas
"Batysoune," two brothers, had an hereditary grant of the five-mark lands of Dalbeth
in upper Eskdale for their services at Arkinholm, while Robert "Batysoune," for the
same reason, got Whiteshield. ⁹
Apparently anti-royalist sympathies in Dumfriesshire were confined to the
Corries, who suffered accordingly. George Corrie of Corrie backed the Albany-
Douglas raid upon Lochmaben in 1484, and was stripped of all his lands and
possessions, of some, however, it would seem only for a time. The lands of Corrie
1 Reg. Mag. Sig., i. pp. 98, 615. Cf. p. xx.
2 Bain's Calendar, i. No. 280.
3 Ibid., No.449.
4 Ibid., No. 2101.
5 Ibid., ii. p. 151.
6 Ibid., No. 203.
7 Buccleuch MSS., p. 56.
8 Ibid., p. 58.
9 Exchequer Rolls, vi. p. 557; Reg. Mag. Sig. (1424-1513), Nos. 632, 633.
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
were given to Thomas Carruthers in that year. ¹ But early in the next century
we find Corrie in the hands of James Johnstone of Johnstone, who conferred
it upon his second son Adam, whence the family of Johnstones of Corrie. ² The
"Johnstone grey" ³ was spreading over Annandale. Wamphray in the north,
familiar from the ballad of "The lads of Wamphray," was acquired by pur-
chase in 1476 and given by Johnstone to a younger son. ⁴ In 1536 we find that
Newbie has been sold by George Corrie to William Johnstone of Gretna, ⁵ and
Newbie, with other lands, was six years later erected into a free barony in favour
of the same Johnstone. ⁶ Carruthers is an old place-name, and the family
was in Dumfriesshire as early at least as the 13th century, but Carruthers passed
out of their hands at some later period. In the 14th century (1315-21), a son of
John of Carruthers received the lands of Mouswald (Musfald) and Applegarth
(Appiltretwayt) from Robert Bruce. ⁷ Archibald Earl of Douglas in 1426 conferred
Holmains, Little Dalton, etc., upon a son of the laird of Mouswald. Mickle
Dalton and Dormount he had granted to his "shield-bearer" Gilbert "Greresoun"
some years before. These lands another Gilbert Grierson sold in 1552. ⁸ The
Murrays were descended from a sister of Thomas Randolph, and were destined to
a peerage (Mansfield) in the 17th century, in which the family disappeared. Their
hereditary lands were Cockpool, Comlongon, and Ruthwell, and from the Corrie
estates they seem to have acquired Redkirk. The lands of Cockpool, "Ruvale
tenement," the tower and fortalice of Comlongon, Rainpatrick, and other estates
comprised the barony of Cockpool on its erection in 1508. ⁹ Charteris (de Carnoto)
of Amisfield goes back to the close of the 12th century. In September 1298 Edward I.
granted to the Earl of Warwick the castle of "Amesfeld" and land of Drungrey
belonging to Andrew de Chartres. ¹⁰ The family had lands also in the south of
England, which were apparently restored to Andrew de Chartres on submission in
1304. ¹¹ By June 1314 Andrew was dead, and the lands in "Aldredestone in Wilts"
had been forfeited by the rebellion of Robert de Chartres, his son and heir. ¹²
In the 15th century we have the emergence of the Border clans or "surnames."
In the Act of 1587 the clans of the West March are listed as Scotts of Ewesdale,
Batesons or Beatsons (Eskdalemuir and Westerkirk), Littles (lower part of Upper
Eskdale), Thomsons (Upper Eskdale), Glendinnings (Upper Eskdale, Wauchopedale),
Irvings (Lower Annandale to Lower Eskdale), Bells (Kirtle Water), Carruthers
(cf. p. xxviii.), Grahams (cf. p. xxxv.), Johnstones (cf. p. xxiv.), Jardines (Lower
Annandale), Moffats (Black Esk), and Latimers or Lorimers (Upper Nithsdale).
These conditions prevailed generally throughout the 15th and 16th centuries,
with such modifications as befell in the natural course of things: as the failure of
the line of Carruthers of Mouswald and the acquisition of the property by Douglas
of Drumlanrig. In the 15th century, too, a branch of the latter family appears in
Dalveen. The 17th century saw many of the old baronies, such as Torthorwald,
Closeburn, Enoch, etc., acquired by the Douglases, while the barony of Langholm was
sold by the second Earl of Nithsdale to the Duke of Buccleuch. These transactions,
however, are outwith our special interests.
1 Reg. Mag. Sig., ii. No. 1590.
2 Annandale Family Book, i., xxx.
3 The family livery. See "Katherine Janfare" in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.
4 History of the Johnstones, p. 9; Annandale Family Book, i., xxiii.
5 Reg. Mag. Sig., iii. No. 1598.
6 Ibid., No. 2570.
7 Ibid., i. No. 92.
8 Hist. MSS. Comm., vi. pp. 710, 712.
9 Reg. Mag. Sig., ii. No. 3194.
10 Bain's Calendar, ii. No. 1009.
11 Ibid., No. 1481.
12 Ibid., iii. No. 366.
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IV.
RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND: THE DEBATEABLE LAND.
That the relics of the primitive folk should be traceable along the line of the
watercourses, and that, to avoid the objectionable features of the forest and bogland
on the levels, these pioneers should have occupied the higher and drier flanks, is what
might be expected. This applies to peaceful penetration, which is necessarily a
leisurely and scattered process. Hostile invasion follows a more beaten track.
Whether the Romans made their first entry into Caledonia by the west side is
not certain, though usually affirmed. Birrenswark has given us the glandes (or acorn-
shaped sling bolts of lead) which are peculiarly associated with Agricola's time.
The Antonine Itinerary starts on this side at the station of Blatobulgium or Birrens,
though this road-map is not necessarily complete. A prolongation of the road to
the western extremity of the Vallum of Forth and Clyde seems inevitable. The
camps at Gilnockie and Raeburnfoot by the White Esk raise another problem (see
p. xx.). In any case, we are moving along the rivers. Even to-day travelling
across country in Dumfriesshire is inconvenient; the very railways reflect the north
and south trend of the forces which have moulded the district.
The mediæval routes are scarcely in doubt. The main one at least ran from
Annan to Lochmaben, thence towards Tinwald way, and so by the side of the Nith
to where the road forked, as it still does, between Tibbers and Morton, one fork going
up by Durisdeer to the passes through the hills into Clydesdale, the other by Sanquhar
into Ayrshire. The upper Annandale route by Moffat was also much used as the most
direct way from the capital to the West March. It led to the head waters of the
Tweed, and so to Peebles and the way to Edinburgh. ¹ From the succession of
fortified sites along both sides we may infer that it was also a well-trodden prehistoric
route. In number the sites exceed those in the upper part of the Nith valley.
But in later military history, on any scale greater than a parochial feud, the
Annan-Lochmaben-Nithsdale road was the main strategical feature of Dumfriesshire.
Relatively to England there was also this fact, that on Dumfriesshire opened the
western door past the mountain partition of the Cheviots. The Solway Firth on
the one side and the hills on the other, with only the Esk as an ineffectual barrier,
canalised all advances by land on this side from one country to the other.
Thus, from the very outset of hostilities in the War of Independence, the cardinal
position of Dumfriesshire became apparent. King John's offensive opened, two days
before King Edward crossed the Tweed, with a stroke as far as Carlisle. The Scots
issued from Annandale and crossed the "water of Sulewath" at three places. They
did a lot of mischief, but had to relinquish the siege of Carlisle and retire to Annandale. ²
From the other side Annandale became a favourite raiding ground. Twice in the year
of Stirling Bridge (1297) it suffered a foray from Carlisle; the second occasion was a
little before Christmas, and an improvised resistance of the natives brought about
what is piously remembered as the battle of Annan, a local defeat. More than ten
hamlets were burned within the range of a few parishes. Next spring Annan itself
was spoiled and burned, church and all. ³
1 Cf. Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. xviii. part ii. No. 237, for various routes from Carlisle
to Edinburgh and Glasgow.
2 Hemingburgh, Chronicon, London, 1849, vol. ii. pp. 95-96. 3 Ibid., pp. 146-7.
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So far Annandale and Annan town had suffered for their proximity to the enemy
base at Carlisle, and Annan was the only place worth spoiling till one came to Dumfries.
But when the military occupation of the district began, a different use was made of
the town. Edward I. returned from his victory at Falkirk through Annandale,
coming over from Tibbers, and received the surrender of Lochmaben Castle. From
this stage Lochmaben is recognised as the strategic centre of Dumfriesshire, and its
accommodation is immediately extended and strengthened. Edward added a peel
or palisaded bailey and erected a tower, ¹ which enabled the place to hold out among
the very last in the War of Independence. The later stone fortress was accounted,
even in the 16th century, to be strong enough to withstand any assailants short of
"the hole armye of Scotlande." ² Possession of Lochmaben indeed was of cardinal
importance to an enemy. It could be supplied in a short land journey from Annan,
which in turn could draw upon the Cumberland ports, particularly Skimburness.
It was a nodal point or junction of roads, of that up Annandale and the more prac-
ticable route into Nithsdale. For between the lower Annan and the Nith dangerous
mosses straitened the ways, particularly the Lochar Moss, the black heart of which
still stretches northwards to beyond the town of Dumfries, and which must have
been an even more formidable obstacle in olden days than it would prove now. It then
effectively covered the approach to either Caerlaverock or the royal castle of Dumfries.
To both there were but two possible roads. One was at the southern end of the moss
from Annan by Cockpool and Bankend, but between the latter places it was carried
over the moss on a narrow artificial bank, which could be cut and rendered impractic-
able. ³ The other was by Lochmaben and Locharbriggs, ⁴ and this was clearly the safer
and more usual way. The castle of Dumfries was also accessible from the sea by the
River Nith. ⁵ Probably the mote of Castledykes on the Dumfries side and that of
Troqueer in the Stewartry on the other, mark an ancient ferry, ⁶ as did the twin
castles of York. But south and west of Caerlaverock even the sea was held at arm's
length by half-drowned and water-logged land. ⁷ Intrinsically the castle thus owed
its importance to its strong defensive position, and its consequent capacity for annoy-
ance to hostile neighbours. It was within easy striking distance of Lochmaben, and
to have Lochmaben garrison in comfort Caerlaverock must be reduced. ⁸ Also a hostile
force operating across the Nith in Galloway might be liable to its attentions. It is
as an incident in such a campaign that Caerlaverock fell easily to Edward's assault
in the summer of 1300.
At the port of Annan the oldest defensive post was the 12th-century mote-castle
of the Bruces; when a supplement to this was sought, it was found in the steeple of
the church, and here, in 1299, Edward I. was having victuals stored against a possible
attack by Robert Bruce. ⁹ In 1547 the steeple, which had but one storey above the
basement, was regularly besieged, captured, and razed to the ground by an English
force. ¹⁰ More elaborate defensive works were undertaken by Lord Herries less than
twenty years after. The year 1565 saw Annan equipped with "a fair tower, able to
1 See Art. 443, and Bain's Calendar, ii. No. 1112, p. 535.
2 Armstrong's Liddesdale, App. lxx. p. cxiii.
3 State Papers, Henry Viii., vol. v. part iv. (contd.), p. 554.
4 Armstrong, App. lxx. p. cx.
5 Bain's Calendar, iii. pp. 283-4; Armstrong, App. lxx. p. cx.
6 Cf. Shirley's Growth of a Scottish Burgh, p. 13.
7 State Papers, etc., v. part iv. (contd.), p. 554.
8 Bain's Calendar, ii. p. 535.
9 Ibid., ii. p. 284.
10 Calendar Scottish Papers, i. pp. 19-20. Cf. p. lxiv.
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receive above a hundred persons 'at ease,' and forty or fifty horses." From the town
to the sea a ditch was dug, with but three places of passage, and another ditch
landward to a moss, similarly restricted in its approaches. There were also, within
two miles of the town, another tower to accommodate twenty-four horsemen, and a
high watch-tower with beacon and bell for warning. Such works put effective fetters
upon both freebooting exploits from the west and sudden raids from across the Border
- at least so far as the western districts were concerned. ¹
The strategic elements of Dumfriesshire, then, are obvious. They attach them-
selves primarily to the line of the lower Annan, where the cardinal point was the
town of Annan. This is further made clear by the Act of 1481 for the garrisoning
on that line of Lochmaben, Castlemilk, Bell's Tower (? Kirkconnel Tower on the
Kirtle), and Annan; also by Lord Herrie's recommendation in 1579 (cf. p. xli.) to
[Map inserted]
The town of Annan
FIG. 1. - Annan, c. 1560, showing Mote and Tower. ²
"strenthin the keipar dyke that environ-
ettis the town of Annan" and "cast and
strenthin the fuirds" of the river as had
been the "ancient ordour" (cf. also Art.
89). The second but more vital line is
that of the Nithsdale fortresses - Caer-
laverock, Dumfries, Dalswinton, Tibbers,
Durisdeer, and, it may be added, Morton.
Connection with England could be main-
tained through Dumfries and the estuary
of the Nith, or more regularly, through
Lochmaben and Annan to Skimburness.
Lochmaben was thus the strategic nucleus
of the defensive system, a fact abundantly
illustrated by its history. The Niths-
dale line seems curiously interdependent:
it goes down either way as a whole. After
his assassination of Comyn in 1306, Bruce
seized Dumfries, Caerlaverock, Tibbers, and Durisdeer. The English king promptly
set about their recapture. In 1309, out of about twenty-seven castles in English
occupation, there are here Caerlaverock, Lochmaben, Dumfries, Dalswinton, Tibbers.
By the close of 1313 probably all, and certainly the last three, had fallen to Bruce.
Lochmaben was among the very last strongholds in Scotland to hold out for Edward II.
Apart from Lochmaben, the most important positions, to judge from garrison
figures, were Dumfries and Tibbers; but the numbers in the former, as a base,
fluctuate considerably from time to time. Local names crop up in the English
accounts as in service on that side: in 1299 Sir Humphrey de Jardine and Sir
William de Herez; ³ in the garrisons of 1306 Thomas de Torthorwald, Hugh de
Dalswinton, Thomas Bell in command at Tibbers and Robert Bell at Durisdeer.
The same general principles characterise the fourth phase of the War of Independ-
ence, namely, that of the resistance to Edward III., which covers the reign of David
II., and the results of which are prolonged down to the reign of the second James.
It includes , however, a definite handing over to Edward III. by that transient king-
figure, Edward Balliol, of a huge sector of Lowland Scotland, including the town,
castle, and county of Dumfries. As in the earlier stages, too, the action of the local
1 Calendar Scottish Papers, ii. p. 155.
2 See Armstrong, App. lxx. p. cxii.
3 Bain, ii. No. 1115.
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magnates dislays some instability. Eustace Maxwell of Caerlaverock had been shifty
in his loyalties while Robert Bruce was in the field. Now in 1332 he was a consenting
witness to the coronation of Edward Balliol, and, when Dumfries became English,
Maxwell as Sheriff attended to its royal revenues. But when Robert the Steward
initiated the final and successful effort to throw off the English yoke, Maxwell, after
receiving English munitions for Caerlaverock, reverted to his own country for a
twelvemonth or so, and then returned to activity on the other side. His nephew and
successor, Sir Herbert, carried on the tradition, and Caerlaverock, which he surrendered
to England in 1347, ¹ remained with that country till it was captured by Sir Roger
de Kirkpatrick in 1356.
But the times were a hard test for territorial lords in a district so near the enemy.
In March 1333 a successful English raiding party was opposed by Scots from Loch-
maben garrison on its return "near Dornock at the Sandyford." ² Thus befell the
battle of Dornock, which resulted in the capture of the "flower of the knighthood
of the whole vale of Annan." ³ Individual flowers were Sir Humphrey Jardine and
William Carlyle. Yet was there a gallant remnant which no misfortune could bend
to submission, namely, the brothers and other relatives of William de Carruthers,
who, scattered and in great straits, lurking and wandering "like wild men" (tanquam
silvestres), held out till the Steward in 1338 revived the national cause, and then
gathering like a swarm of bees (quasi examen apum congregantes), attached them-
selves to that leader. ⁴ Three years later the Earl of Moray, appointed by the
Scottish Guardian to the custody of the West March, was able to make himself
master of the open country and hold hostile movements in check. ⁵ The defeat at
Durham in 1346 and capture of David II. brought to Scotland another hard ten
years. But, in 1356, while William Douglas recovered Galloway, Roger Kirkpatrick
did a similar service as regards Nithsdale, possessing himself of Caerlaverock and
Dalswinton. John, son of the Steward, afterwards Robert III., took the field in
Annandale, and there remained till he had brought the whole district back to
Scottish Allegiance. ⁶ All this meant the recovery of the castles, and particularly
those on the Nithsdale line, which were credited with doing serious mischief to
the English. For this reason David, as a condition of his release in 1357, had to
promise their destruction, and so threw down Dalswinton, Dumfries, Morton,
and Durisdeer, with nine others in Nithsdale. ⁷ Lochmaben, however, as usual,
remained last in English hands, and did not fall till 1384 (see p.152).
In all these activities the eastern dales make no special figures. They were not,
however, indifferent. In the first year of the reign of King Edward Balliol (1332),
"Sir John de Lyndesey of Walghope knight" forfeited his lands by "rebellion," that
is, by supporting the regency. ⁸ Sir John de Orreton thus occupies Wauchopedale for
a term, having his charter confirmed by the English King as late as 1340. ⁹ And
Lindsay's example had imitators. In the spring of 1337 Edward III. was ordering
investigation by juries of Roxburgh and Dumfries shires for discovery of the persons
in "Eskedale, Ledelesdale, Ewithesdale, Walughopdale, and Bretallaughe" (i.e.
Canonbie) who assisted "the enemy," that is, the nationalist Scots. ¹⁰
1 Bain, iii. No. 1507.
2 "juxta villam de Drunnok apud Sandywathe," Chronicon de Lanercost.
3 Scotichronicon, lib. xiii. cap. 27. "The floure . . . off the West March men" is Wyntoun's
phrase. According to Bower and Wyntoun, they were captured at Lochmaben.
4 Scotichronicon, xiii. 32.
5 Ibid., xiii. 48.
6 Ibid., xiv. 15.
7 Ibid., xiv. 18.
8 Bain, iii. No. 1354.
9 Ibid., No. 1328.
10 Ibid., No. 1226.
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In truth, however, war was never to be long a stranger to Border life; if not
national war, then the scrimmage of local feud or the foray of needy or robbed neigh-
bours. Constant reminders of the possibilities of the situation were the lines of
beacon stations for warning the inner country of the approach of invaders, one fol-
lowing a succession of heights up Annandale, the other up Nithsdale. ¹ Such a warning
in the late autumn of 1448 ² may have brought out the force that stopped a Percy
raiding column from Northumberland at Gretna between the Sark and Esk, when
Douglas and his brothers the Earls of Moray and Ormond were leaders, and the English
were thrust back into the rising tide of the Solway. This failure was an endeavour
to inflict reprisals for a Douglas raid as far as Alnwick the year before. Another
example of what the border country was specially exposed to suffer is in the raiding
activity of English columns for many months after Flodden. In May 1514 Lord
Dacre completes his report of destruction thus:
"And upon the West Marchies of Scotland, I haif burnt and distroyed the town-
shipps of Annand, Dronok, Dronokwod, Tordoff, Fyshegewghe, Stokes, Estrige, Rye-
lande, Blawetwood, Foulsyke, Westhill, Berghe, Rigge, Stapilton, Wodhall, Rayn-
patrike, Woddishill, Overbrotts, Nethirbrotts, Elistrige, Caluertsholme, Beltemmount,
Hole, Kirkpatrike, Hyrdhill, Mossesyde, Stakehughe, Bromeholme, Walghopp,
Walghopdale, Baggraye, Murtholme, Langhane, Grymesley, and the Watter of Esk,
fro Stabulgorton downe to Cannonby, beyng vi myle in lienth. Where as there was,
in all tymes passed, ccccth pleughes, and above; whiche er now clerely waisted, and
noo man duelling in any of them, at this daye; saue oonly in the Towrys of Annand,
Stephill, and Walghopp." ³
These episodes were connected with national policy as a whole, but Dumfriesshire
had a standing source of trouble of its own in the Debateable Land, to which reference
has already been made (see p. xviii.). The understanding as to this piece of territory
was that there should be nothing that could be interpreted as permanent occupation
by subjects of either country. With the special exception of the priory of Canonby
and its dependencies, it was to be a Border waste. Settlements upon it might be
raided with impunity, but clearly there was here an opening for difference of judgment.
Thus, on 23rd June 1517, some leading Dumfriesshire gentry, including the brother of
Lord Maxwell the Warden, the lairds of "Hempesfielde" (Charteris of Amisfield),
Twnwald (Tinwald, Maxwell), Ross and Holmeendes (Carruthers), and John Irwen
1 Acts Parl. Scot., i. 716, A.D. 1448: "Item it is fundin statut and vsit in tyme of werfar anentis bailis
birning and keping for cuming of ane Inglis oist in Scotland, ther sal ane baill be brynt on Trailtrow hill;
and ane uther on the Panchnat (Panteth) hill; ane on the Bailze (Bailie) hill, abone the Holmendis; ane on
the Coldanis (Cowdens), abone Castelmylk; ane on Quhitwewin (Whitwollin), in Drivisdaill; ane on the
Burane Skentoun (see Art. 18), in Apilgarth perochin; ane on the Browane (Brown) hill; and ane on
the Bleise, in the tenement of Wamfray; ane on Kyndilknok (Kinnelknock), in the tenement of
Johnestoune; ane on the Gallowhill, in Moffet perochin: and syne in Nyddisdaill, ane on the Wardlaw;
ane on Rahothtoun (? Trohoughton); ane on Barlouch (Beacon Hill); ane on the Pantwa hill (same as
above); ane on the Malowhill (Art. 339); ane on Corswyntoun (Corsincon); ane on Crwfell (Crufell,
Sanquhar); ane on the fell abone the Dowlwerk (? Dowlarg); and ane on the Watchfell. And to ger
thir balis be kepit and maid the shiref of Nyddisdaill and the stewart of Ananderdaill, and the stewart
of Kirkcudbricht, in Gallowai, salbe dettouris, and quhasa kepis nocht the balis ordinance and statut
beand maid in tym of werfar sal pay for ilk defalt a merk."
Most of these sites can still be identified on the map, as given above from a paper by Dr George
Neilson in Trans. Glasgow Arch. Soc. (1889-95), p. 356. The watch tower on Panteth hill (Mouswald)
was still identifiable as late s 1845 (New Stat. Acct., iv. p. 445).
2 On the date, see Scot. Hist. Rev., vol. ix. p. 197.
3 Pinkerton's History of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 462; cf. Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., vol. i. p. 806.
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(Irving) with his clan, entered the Debateable Land at 11 a.m. and carried off seven
hundred English cattle. The retort of Lord Maxwell to an English remonstrance was
that the English had "sett stob and staik" in the ground, and so begun an effective
occupation for their own country in violation of the above conditions. The case came
up again in 1522 for consideration at a meeting of Commissioners representing both
countries, when it was denied on behalf of the English that any settlement had
been made. Moreover, even if dwellings had been erected, that did not justify the
taking of the cattle in the daytime, it being permissible only to burn the houses and
take any men or goods within. Everything outside was inviolable except during the
night hours. ¹ The case seems to have dragged on with new pleas and no definite
result save a suggested division of the masterless territory.
More serious was the migration of Grahams and Armstrongs into the Debateable
Land. A family of Grahams, banished from Scotland about 1516, settled on the
English side of the Esk (cf. p. xxxviii.). Henry VIII., for service done, gave the eldest
son "good lands," and the head of the family or "chief" was established at Netherby.
They were allied with and favoured by neighbouring great men, associated them-
selves with other Grahams on the Sark and Leven and intermarried freely with
their neighbours, the Armstrongs. Certain of them in time received lands in Scotland
from Lord Maxwell, while others had pensions from noblemen in Scotland "for
service done and to be done"; just as certain of the Armstrongs became pensioners
of Henry VIII. and got lands in Cumberland. ² The Armstrongs were a Liddesdale
clan, with the head of the family at Mangertoun, but apparently had grown too
numerous for their share of Liddesdale. Parties of them, during the 16th century,
migrated into the neighbouring river valleys of Ewes, Esk, and Wauchope, and one
company settled in the northern part of the untenanted Debateable Land, thus
becoming neighbours to the Grahams. These two clans were "well matched for a
pair of quiet ones"; for both, in view of what is said above, it was a necessity that
they should hold their position by force; and their opportunist politics and irregular
habits within a disputed territory were a main source of local and international
trouble on the West March (cf. p xxxviii.).
Now in 1518 we hear that the Armstrongs "ar in the Debateable landis and
agreit with Ingland, and kepis there markat daily in Ingland." ³ Ten years later
three Armstrongs - John, Simon, and Thomas - each called "the laird," and two
others have erected their towers in the district. Lord Dacre, the English Warden,
was accused of conniving at the Scots settlements. ⁴ This encroachment, however,
was apparently not agreeable to higher quarters, and Dacre undertook an expedi-
tion against them. The Armstrongs were warned, and Dacre suffered a humiliating
repulse, though he succeeded in burning "ane place called the Holehouse," which
was apparently the tower by the river Esk, now called the "Hollows" (No.43).
On the same day the Armstrongs made a counterstroke to Netherby and worked their
will there. When Dacre demanded compensation for the Netherby raid, Lord
Maxwell presented a contra account in the burning of the Hollows. Dacre pointed
out that the "Holl house" was an illegal residence, since it was in the Debateable
Land: ⁵ Maxwell insisted that it was within the lordship of Eskdale. A second
descent by Dacre was more successful. He completed the burning of the houses,
1 Armstrong's Liddesdale, p. 215.
2 Border Papers, ii. Appendix.
3 Act. Dom. Con. cited in Armstrong, p. 211.
4 Letters and Papers, iv. part ii. No. 4420.
5 Ibid., No. 4014.
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but had to have axes used to cut down Ill Will Armstrong's "strong peel." ¹ Once
more Canonbie was left isolated in the waste.
These proceedings were followed throughout the year by a series of forays
upon the West March of England, in the course of which the land between Esk and
Leven was cleared of its inhabitants and made to resemble the Debateable Land.
The Armstrongs certainly thought they had grievances. Their appearance in the
Debateable Land was not resented by the English Warden, and he allowed them
to make use of Carlisle market. Then, under instructions from headquarters, ² he
reversed his attitude, and the Armstrongs retaliated in kind.
Border politics indeed had special local complexities. It was in the interests
of both nations that the rieving practices, the seizure of cattle, the burning of houses
and barns, and the slaying of men - though this last normally a regrettable necessity ³
- should cease, and from time to time both Governments addressed themselves
rigorously to this cause. No small obstacle was the fact that Lord Maxwell, the
Warden on the west, had taken the Armstrongs of Eskdale under his patronage,
and had John Armstrong "the laird" as a tenant. Similarly, Lord Dacre on his
side had been accused of being too complacent to the same clan. When James V.
got rid of the Douglas control, one of his first tasks was to deal with the evil condi-
tions on his frontier, urged thereto both by the defiance of all authority and by the
complaints of Henry VIII. In 1529 James took a straight course to the seat of
trouble; he began by committing to ward the principal Border lords, including
Maxwell, Johnstone, and Drumlanrig (Douglas) from Dumfriesshire, and then
summarily hanged a company of the leading Armstrongs, who came to meet
him, on the trees at Caerlanrig between Hawick and Langholm. Among them was
John Armstrong of Gilnockie, the ballad hero of the Debateable Land. Of the
Liddesdale Armstrongs it was reported to King James the year before that they had
boasted "thay woolde not be ordoured, naither by the King of Scottes thair Soveraine
Lorde, nor by the King of Einglande, but after suche maner as thair faders have
used before thayme," likewise that they had been the destruction of fifty-two
parish churches in Scotland, besides what they had done in England. ⁴
Such sharp lessons, however, proved to be only a pruning of the mischief,
not an uprooting. The problem of the Debateable Land as a refuge for "male-
factors and trespassers" remained. ⁵ Two years after James's "Jethart justice"
on the Armstrongs, Charteris, the Laird of Amisfield, an important figure of the time
both locally and about the Court, was approaching Lord Dacre with the proposal
that the English Warden should join with Lord Maxwell in "th' distroying of th'
inhabitantes of the Debateable ground." ⁶ Further, too, there was difference on
the question whether Canonbie ⁷ was debateable or not, which was argued at length
between the two kings. ⁸ These and other border difficulties were, however, incidental
to the main forces of estrangement developing between James V. and his uncle of
England. But when war did come in the autumn of 1542, it was mainly a Border affair
of forays great and small. November saw several provocative raids in Dumfriesshire
as far as Hutton, some miles beyond Lochmaben, one way, and up to Staplegordon on
the other. ⁹ The principal military object in these operations was burning: mere
1 Letters and Papers, iv. part ii. p. 1828.
2 Armstrong, App. xxii. p. 251.
3 See Bishop Leslie, De Origine, etc., Scotorum.
4 State Papers, iv. 4, p. 555.
5 Ibid., v. 4, p. 107.
6 Ibid., iv. 4, p. 608 n.
7 Canaby, Canabe, as so pronounced.
8 State Papers, iv. 4, pp. 579 ff.
9 Hamilton Papers, i. p. lxviii.
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miscellaneous looting was not worth specifying in detail. ¹ On 23rd November Lord
Wharton, the Warden, burnt Middlebie "standing nere a strenghe" of wood, and
on his return "turved houses" and corn along the Kirtle. It was a misty morning
and he was unable to carry out his full programme. But he was aware that the very
same night a Scottish army lay in two divisions at Langholm and Morton Kirk. ²
James himself went on to Lochmaben, and next morning, from the top of Birrens-
wark, marked the progress of his army by the burning houses of the Grahams in the
Debateable Land. But a force of horse and archers under Wharton kept in touch
with the returning Scots until they came to "Artureth myln dam, where a strate
ford is which is called Sandyforde, having a grete mosse, a grete standyng water and
the rever of Heske was afore theym and the mosse upon there left hande." A fresh
onset at this place broke the Scots: twenty were slain, many drowned, and over
twelve hundred taken prisoners. Such was the miserable affair of "Sollum," or,
as it is adapted, "Solway" Moss. Lord Maxwell was among the prisoners. ³
The success at Solway Moss opened a wider door for Henry's schemes for the
reduction of Scotland to the status of a vassal kingdom. But all that belongs to
general history; here only the effects on Dumfriesshire are to be considered. These
took largely the form of Warden's raids, "which is to goo and cum in a day
ande a night." ⁴ The character of these exploits, with burning and the driving
of cattle as their chief features, is sufficiently understood. They composed a policy
of frightfulness. Annan was accounted in summer a Warden's raid, so that its ashes
were rarely allowed to cool for long. In February 1544 it was more "surely burnt"
than ever, being, as was said, the "chief town in Anendaill unto Dumfries." ⁵
Torduff, Dornock, and some other places were embers in the local conflagration.
Dumfries suffered about the same time.
But conquest was not to be made by burning towns and hamlets. To that end
it was necessary to secure the principal castles of the dstrict. At Langholm there
was now a tower, and as this stood at the junction of Esk, Ewes, and Wauchope,
it was of much strategical importance. It was betrayed to the English towards
the close of 1544. Even more effective, however, would be the possession of Caer-
laverock and Lochmaben; and Lord Maxwell and his eldest son, being captives, were
worked on to hand over these places. Lochmaben, which the Maxwells held as
constables of the castle, does not seem to have been secured, but in 1545 Maxwell
struck his bargain for Caerlaverock, and a small English garrison was thrown
into it. The garrison was at once blockaded by the Laird of Johnstone and
some Borderers; ⁶ no assistance could be given, and soon after it was again in
Scottish hands.
Whether really so or not, it was urged by Maxwell that Caerlaverock was a
stronger place than Lochmaben, and more suitable for a garrison. Such an opinion
was probably intended as a blind. Certainly Caerlaverock had great natural ad-
vantages: it took in "a great strenght of crikes and moss and but one way to
come to it." ⁷ To take it by force or relieve it was no light matter. The narrow,
direct road over Lochar Moss offered too many risks, and could be cut (see p. xxxi.).
The only alternative was to go round by Dumfries. The English administration,
1 Hamilton Papers, i. p. lxix.
2 Ibid., p. lxxx.
3 Ibid., p. lxxxv. No. 240.
4 Calendar Scottish Papers, i. No. 44.
5 Hamilton Papers, ii. p. 281.
6 State Papers, v. part iv. p. 552.
7 Ibid., pp. 543, 557.
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looking at the map, thought the place could be reached by sea. Wharton had to
explain that save in exceptional circumstances this was impossible.
But the English method at this stage was not that of the Edwards. It was
not to make Dumfriesshire a safe approach for a regular military subjection of Scot-
land, but to get astride the district and appropriate it piecemeal. Hence the anxiety
for the Maxwell holds, the acquisition of Langholm Tower, whose significance was
purely local, and in 1547 the seizure of Lochwood Tower, the seat of the Laird of
Johnstone (see No. 315).
This year, 1547, indeed saw the culmination of their local success. Dumfries-
shire, on paper, seems wholly English. The chief local lairds and the local clans
are in sworn allegiance to Edward VI. But Caerlaverock and Lochmaben were still
Scottish, though likely to suffer from lack of victuals. ¹ In July Langholm Tower
had fallen to the guns of the Scottish regent. Castlemilk, however, had been
surrendered to the English by James Stewart, its captain, and a Graham was put
in as commander (September). Lochwood, as we have seen, had an English garrison.
But there was no permanency in this transformation. In 1550 peace was made, and
two years later the constant friction over the Debateable Land was ended by its
division. At the time there were still accounted to be "bounde and sworne to serve
the Kynges majeste" in Dumfriesshire Beatsons, Thomsons, Glendinnings, and
Littles of Eskdale, Ewesdale, and Wauchopedale, "and surnames under them," to
the number of 304; Johstones of Gretna, 6; Bells of Middlebie, 104; Jardines and
Moffats, 55. ² But soon history, as it affected the two countries, was to have its
course violently deflected, and other aims and activities were to come to the surface.
V.
FORAY AND FEUD: THE WARDENSHIP. ³
By the middle of the 16th century, to the more settled and law-abiding
section of the Scottish population, the Borderers in general were simply thieves.
No literary glamour had as yet been thrown over their high-handed and irresponsible
life. In the nature of the case, too, as time went on and efforts to exercise control
over the state of things on the Border continued to take the form merely of spasmodic
outbursts of legalised violence, things could only grow worse. Lord Herries in his
Discourse and Advise on the Evil Estate present of the West Marches, presented to
James VI. in 1579, traces all the trouble to the intrusion of the Grahams on the
waste ground of the frontier (cf. p. xxxv.), their support by England, the failure of
James V. to suppress them, their consequent increase in wealth and numbers, and
their alliance and intermarriages with neighbours of similar character on the Esk,
Leven, and Sark. At the time of the death of James V. they were not more than
twenty or thirty at most; now with their "assisters" they numbered between three
and four hundred ready to take the field on horseback at an hour's warning, and
1 Calendar Scottish Papers, i. p. 20.
2 Ibid., p. 191.
3 The Warden had a deputy, and there was a Captain of Langholm with a company in the castle
there (No. 429), who was also known as the Keeper of Annandale, like the Keeper of Liddesdale -
another specially troublesome district. There was also a Sheriff at Dumfries with control over certain
royal tenants and subject to the Warden's orders; but he was rarely employed. The deputy and
the Captain of Langholm were the principal officers. (Border Papers, i. pp. 393-5.)
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leading lives of idleness and plundering. These thieves, with the assistance of
English thieves, had slain the principal Scottish barons nearest the frontier - Lord
Carlyle, and the lairds of Mouswald, Kirkmichael, Kirkconnel, and Logan (Annan-
dale), with "many uther sober landit men" - entering upon and occupying the
greater parts of their lands, and so reducing the law-abiding part of the population
on whom the Warden could call for support.
Twenty years later a report by Sir William Bowes views the situation from
another angle. And both memoranda, of course, are applicable to a long-standing
state of affairs. According to Bowes, that state, along the whole Border, was one of
"winter war" by opposite garrisons, the garrisons being the "riding surnames"
or clans who lived on other men's goods. Thus "contignuall intercoorse of winninge
and losing of goods do ebb and flowe like the sea." The losers had either to steal
in turn or fall into poverty. "Wherefore may be gathered this strange conclusion
that, where suche an opposite neighbour is founde, nothing is more pernicious to a
frontier then is, in the commander, peaceable justice, and, in the obeyer, patient
innocencie." ¹ In other words, the whole weight of advantage was upon violence
and brigandage.
Nor was the course of affairs in the country as a whole during the second half
of the century favourable to peaceable occupations. The Reformation was not
consummated without blood. The tension did not relax under Queen Mary:
intrigue, rebellion, assassination, and finally civil war maintained the atmosphere
of disorderliness. Outside the town of Dumfries the ecclesiastical element in the
Reformation was scarcely likely to make appeal; on the lay or political side landed
leadership determined allegiance. Here the most powerful personality was that of
Sir John Maxwell, who in 1566 was created the first Lord Herries, and for the present
outshone his nephew, the eighth Lord Maxwell, as yet a minor. At first Sir John
showed active favour to the Protestant party; after 1565 he is a Queen's man, and
her ablest. In thus identifying himself with the Queen's cause Sir John was bring-
ing himself into line with his neighbours, for among those who, at this crisis, had
banded themselves for the Queen's support were Lord Sanquhar, the Laird of John-
stone and James Johnstone of Corrie, the Kirkpatricks of Closeburn and Kirkmichael,
and Jardine of Applegarth. ² Hereafter Dumfriesshire, town and country, is almost
wholly on the Queen's side. In the band at Hamilton, after her escape from Loch-
leven in 1568, are the names of Lords Herries, Maxwell, and Sanquhar, the barons
Johnstone, Closeburn, and Jardine, the Abbot of Holyrood, lairds Johnstone of
Torry, Johnstone of Lochmaben, Crichton of Ryehill, and Murray of Cockpool; ³
and the part which Herries played in her flight to England after the defeat at Lang-
side is well known. The Regent Murray followed up his success by traversing
Dumfriesshire, where so many of the Queen's supporters were to be found. On 18th
June he was at Dumfries, and received the surrender of divers Maxwells, Johnstones,
Irvings, Grahams, and Bells, besides the strong-house of the Maxwells in the town.
He followed a thousand fugitives to Hoddom, where only a show of resistance was
made; and he returned by way of Lochwood and Lochhouse, of both of which he took
possession. This was known as the "Hoddom Road." ⁴ The Regent could count
on only two supporters of standing in the whole district, Douglas of Drumlanrig,
1 Border Papers, ii. No. 508.
2 Keith's History of Affairs, etc., iii. (App., bk. ii.), p. 249.
3 Calendar Scottish Papers, ii. No. 650; Keith, ii. p. 809.
4 Calderwood's History of the Kirk, ii. p. 417.
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who was made warden in place of Herries, and Jardine of Applegarth. In company
with the Earl of Morton, he therefore paid a visit in the following year, in order,
by taking hostages, to secure a check upon the Border opposition.
The critical period ensuing on the Regent Murray's assassination in 1570 brought
about the armed intervention of England, and the spring and early autumn of that
year each saw one of those unwelcome visitations. On both occasions the objectives
were the lands of the Maxwells and the Murrays, as Mary's conspicuous champions.
In the first case, Lord Scrope, having burned Ecclefechan and the hamlets about
Hoddom and Ruthwell, seems to have made for Dumfries by the Cockpool route,
where he was attacked, unsuccessfully, by the young Lord Maxwell, but later held
up at Locharwood a stage farther on. The Earl of Sussex, Lieutanant of the North,
himself conducted the August expedition, in which he reported he had "thrown
down" the castles of Annan and Hoddom, belonging to Herries, of Dumfries and
Caerlaverock, which were Lord Maxwell's, and Tinwald (Tynhill) and Cowhill (Coohill),
which were also Maxwell houses. ¹ Sussex considered that, in the circumstances,
he had acted with great restraint, having refrained from indiscriminate plunder and
burning; but a complaint from the Scottish side to Queen Elizabeth accused him of
just the contrary, as well as of the destruction of ten of the principal castles, two
of which, Annan and Hoddom, "were most strong." ²
But the cause of the exiled Queen was foregone; and, when the temporary union
of the magnates in that cause dissolved, the local issues and problems reappeared in
even fiercer guise. In the Memorial of 1579 cited above, Lord Herries sketches out
roughly the character of the West March of Scotland in comparison with that of
England. In the latter country, he says, the West March was planted with strong-
holds even to the very frontier, strongholds including stone houses of every sort.
Moreover, the soil there was fertile, the corn crops good, and the laws well obeyed; in
which last quality Herries is certainly exaggerating. As against this, "Scotland
upoun that Marche is ane pastour ground, verray barrane quhill (till) it cum far
within the realme, and unproffitabill in a maner to the greit part, bot for bestiale; as
it is knawin ane man, to be sustenit honestlie upoun his stoir in lyk maner as his
nychbour salbe sustenit with cornis, sall occupy mair ground nor ten tymes he that
levis be the cornis dois in boundis; swa that the West Marchis of England is meikle
mair populous, and may, be the fertilitie of the ground, sustene mony ma men adjacent
to the fronteiris upon that Marche nor Scotland may." ³ That Dumfries was thus so
largely a cattle country, made the industry of thieving more feasible; grain is not
mobile. It also, as Herries indicates, made particularly difficult the problem of a
growng population. In such an atmosphere lordly jealousies and clan feuds
flourished handsomely.
It has been noted above how under these conditions the freebooting companies
on the eastern side of the county had pushed their activities and forcible settlements
beyond Annan, and had thus, too, weakened the power of the Government. For the
Government here meant the Warden of the West March, an office practically mono-
polised by the Maxwells. During the regency, however, they had been in opposition,
and so from 1568 to 1573 Douglas of Drumlanrig was Warden. In 1574 the young
eighth Lord Maxwell received the office, but the Earl of Angus intervened with a
lieutenancy over all the Marches for about a year, 1577-78, when Maxwell was re-
1 Calendar Scottish Papers, iii. No. 436.
2 Ibid., No. 441.
3 Register Privy Council, iii. p. 79.
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appointed. But it was increasingly clear that things could not go on in this makeshift
way, that some special effort should be made to root out Border lawlessness. It was in
this interest that Herries tendered his proposals of 1579. Maxwell had protested
to the Privy Council that he could not retain the office of Warden except on terms
which would make him a petty sovereign in the district; "he would needs be absolute
in these parts," ¹ and with this presented a roll of five hundred names of men deemed
disobedient within his bounds. Herries proposed that the Warden should have his
official residence at Lochmaben, that local lairds should, in times of disobedience,
remain in the country with their households, that there should be a police force of
twenty-four horsemen at Annan, and a captain with another force at Langholm, that
Lochmaben and Annan should be adequately repaired, Repentance Tower properly
equipped, the fortifications of Annan strengthened, the fords on the river provided with
defences as formerly, and courts held in the Debateable Land. ²
All this Lord Maxwell took very ill. Much of it presented itself to him as an
encroachment upon his private rights. The custody of Lochmaben Castle, he pointed
out, was a separate office having appropriate fees and duties, to which office he had
a preferable claim, both because it had been long in his family and because it was the
most convenient place for performing the duties as Steward of Annandale. To impose
the keeping of a larger household as garrison at Langholm was to impose a special
burden upon himself, who had, like other freeholders of the wardenry, pledged himself
to the King for his lands and servants. Trailtrow Tower was a small matter, but,
inasmuch as it was his private property, there seemed no reason why it should be put
to a public use any more than the houses of others in the neighbourhood. A sug-
gestion by Herries as to associating representatives of the Johnstones in certain matters
of administration could scarcely be expected to meet with Maxwell's approval; but
the mere suggestion shows in what quarter trouble was brewing.
The proposals of Lord Herries certainly impressed the Council, and later wardens
seem to have been appointed under "the conditionis mentionat in the Lord Hereis
buke." ³ Meantime Lord Maxwell refused compromise, and Lord Herries himself
resumed the wardenry of the West March, which he had just described as
having "bene evir the maist trubilsum part of the realm." In line with his own
suggestion, we now find the stewardship of Annandale associated with the office, and
thus Lochmaben Castle was used to strengthen the Warden's position. Herries held
office only till the end of the summer, when Johnstone took his place. Two years
later (1581) Johnstone was removed on the ground that he showed favour and gave
protection to persons whom he ought to have punished. ⁴ Maxwell filled his place,
but only for about a year, being discharged on the same ground as his predecessor,
that of "slothfulness" in punishing offenders. The charge in each case was probably
quite true; neither Johnstone nor Maxwell was sufficiently devoted to the common
weal to disregard the interests of friends, clansmen, and supporters.
But such a charge was possible at any time. It was a Scottish rule in all
departments of administration to show favour towards one's kin and friends. Such
occasions as these, when the charge was made a reason for the Warden's removal,
were no doubt due to political factors arising out of the many changes of Government
that kept in turmoil the minority of James VI. Maxwell was certainly unfortunate
1 Spottiswoode's History of the Church of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 263.
2 Register Privy Council, iii. pp. 79-82.
3 Ibid., p. 531.
4 Ibid., p. 374.
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in his relations with some of the regents. With the Earl of Morton he quarrelled over
matters relating to that earldom, and Morton, who had made him Warden, now
unmade him. But the Douglas earl ended his career on the scaffold in 1581, and a
few months later the eighth Lord Maxwell became first (and only) Earl of Morton of
his line as well as warden. Another change of Government led to his displacement
from office, and the appointment of Johnstone in his room (1583). Maxwell's re-
sponse was to prohibit "all his adherentes, tenantes and dependers to make him
(i.e. Johnstone) answere or service as wardein." ¹ For a time this meant mainly
trouble with England, since offenders against that country could rely upon Maxwell
protection. Division between the two great groups, the lairds and clans in Nithsdale
and Eskdale (Armstrongs) who attached themselves to Maxwell and those in Annan-
dale who stood by Johnstone, was still racking the West March in the spring of 1585.
Then more active hostilities began, which are typical of what took place under similar
conditions at other times, and, as usual, involved almost every surname on the West
Border. In April Robert Maxwell, brother of the Earl, with four hundred men struck
at the Johnstone heart in Lochwood, slew some Johnstones, took others prisoners, and
burnt the house of Lochwood. ² Towards the end of the month the same Robert with
his Armstrongs burnt about eighty houses of Johnstone's tenants and friends, after
plundering them of cattle and furnishing. ³ Contemporaneously the Johnstones had
got to work. They burnt Duncow, but were driven off by Maxwells; whereupon the
Earl of Morton (Maxwell) himself did some burning and spoiling as reprisals on the
Johnstone bounds. As a separate adventure, on the same day, Robert Maxwell,
with Armstrongs, Beatsons, Littles, and Carruthers, harried Dryfesdale and burnt
part of Lockerbie, meeting with no resistance. ⁴ Early in May the Earl tried to
recover from the Irvings the "stone house" of Kirkconnel which had once been his
own, and failing, with the loss of two men, next attacked the two "stone houses" of
the Johnstones in Lockerbie, captured them, and hanged four of their defenders. ⁵
Sir John Johnstone (he had been knighted in 1584) was now on his way to Court to
seek assistance against the rebel of his wardenry. ⁶ Later in the month Maxwell, with
seventeen hundred men, horse and foot, marched rapidly from Dumfries to Moffat,
where his horsemen made a sixteen-mile circuit, in which they burnt three hundred
houses and carried off one thousand cattle, two thousand sheep, a hundred horses,
and a store of household stuff; ⁷ thus sacking the whole barony of Johnstone, where
the tenants, we note, were "baith Engless men and Scottis." ⁸ In June Lochmaben
Castle and Bonshaw Tower were being besieged by the triumphant Earl, ⁹ while in
July Johnstone fell upon the "sheyles" or shielings of some of the Maxwells and
brought away two hundred head of cattle and sixty nags, killing but one man;
Maxwell's people retorting with a lifting of eighty cattle from Johnstones. ¹⁰ Things
continued to go badly with the Johnstones. By August all the stone houses of
strength on that border, with one exception, were in Maxwell's possession, the Earl
now maintaining in pay "200 horse and 300 'shotte,' besides the whole force of
the country at his devotion," while Johnstone was the "late warden" and "straitlye
warded" by Maxwell in Caerlaverock. ¹¹ In September the "whole surname of the
Johnstons" had yielded themselves to Maxwell, and Sir John was allowed to go
free to meditate revenge: by November Maxwell was the new warden.
1 Calendar Border Papers, i. No. 153.
2 Border Papers, i. Nos. 303, 304.
3 Ibid., No. 308.
4 Ibid., No. 311.
5 Ibid., No. 312.
6 Ibid., No. 316.
7 Ibid., No. 317.
8 Hist. MSS. Comm., Rep. XV. App. ix., Johnstone MSS., p. 32.
9 Border Papers, i. No. 321.
10 Ibid., No. 327.
11 Ibid., Nos. 340, 349.
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The Earl was now at the height of his power in the west, but at the same
time entangling himself in the net of Catholic intrigue. He was a mark for political
as well as personal enemies; and these latter were not given to forgetting. In
the spring of 1586 Sir John Johnstone was in the field and threatening the towns of
Dumfries and Annan, from which he was beaten off by the weather. ¹ But he
raided the powerful and "well-beloved" Sir Alexander Jardine of Applegarth, and
subjected his houses and property to the usual outrage. ² This was followed up by
burning and spoiling of about a dozen hamlets of Maxwell tenantry, these "poor
commons" having "to paye for the sins of others." ³ By May both Maxwell and
Johnstone were under detention, but their friends were left to carry on. Thus in the
first week of that same month, Herries, Drumlanrig, Amisfield (Empsfield), Apple-
garth, and brother Robert Maxwell, with other allies, again harried the Johnstone
lands in Annandale, burning Bonshawside and the Johnstone lands along the Nith,
the Dryfe, and the upper Annan, killing two tenants only but bearing away a great
booty. ⁴ The Maxwells went even greater lengths, for in June Maxwells and Douglases
were over the Border in England in order to get at the Grahams, who favoured their
rival. ⁵ In June of the following year Johnstone ⁶ died, and Herries replaced
Maxwell in the wardenry. ⁷
But Mawell had bigger things to occupy his energies. The plotting of the
powerful Catholic group in Scotland with Spain was growing more definite. In order
to strengthen his position on the Border for eventualities, Maxwell was even earnest
to let bygones be bygones and reconcile himself with the young chief of Johnstone. ⁸
He was preparing to facilitate a Spanish invasion of England through Scotland,
and in the course of 1587 was in Spain on this business. The royal dealings with
him were tender, because the King himself was not above suspicion of trafficking
with the Catholic interest. But his bargain was finally made with England, and when
Maxwell returned in the spring of 1588 to complete preparations, King James in person
led a force into Dumfriesshire, secured the Maxwell castles, burning those of Langholm,
Castlemilk, and Morton, and capturing that Lord himself. Only Lochmaben held
out against Sir William Stewart for two days, when the garrison surrendered on promise
of their lives. But James had the commander David Maxwell and five of the leaders
hanged on the plea that he had made no promise, Sir William having "counterfoote
his hand writ." ⁹
After this outburst a pause. King James made it a worthy hobby to reconcile
family feuds, and his hand perhaps was behind the friendly approach of Maxwells
and Johnstones in 1590. ¹⁰ In 1592 Maxwell was once more Warden, though his
activities on behalf of Spain were still proceeding, and on this account he was an
object of suspicion to England, where his "unaccustomed kyndnes" to the Laird
of Johnstone in 1593 was remarked, also his having two hundred men employed daily
in fortifying Caerlaverock. ¹¹ But it was this year which was to change all. About
twelve months before, the Wamphray Johnstones had raided the lands of Crichton
and Drumlanrig, and there had been a tough struggle, with some loss in the retreat.
It took all that time to bring the Crown and the Warden to see the desirability
of visiting this offence upon the responsible chief, who was caution for the behaviour
of his clan. To encourage Maxwell, the injured lairds, Drumlanrig, Sanquhar,
1 Border Papers, i. No.418.
2 Ibid., No. 419.
3 Ibid., No. 420.
4 Ibid., No. 425.
5 Ibid., No. 432.
6 Annandale Family Book, i. ci.
7 Reg. P.C., iv. p. 188.
8 Border Papers, i. No. 462.
9 Calderwood, iv. p. 679.
10 See Johnstone MSS., No. 68.
11 Border Papers, i. No. 845.
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and Lag, made a personal band with him of mutual support, and Maxwell with
two thousand men proceeded towards Lockerbie. Johnstone, however, was aware
of what was coming, and had added to his immediate supporters his easterly friends,
the Scotts of Ewesdale, the Grahams and Elliots of Esk. Johnstone, having an
inferior force, played a common Border ruse. A few horsemen pricked forward
and drew a considerable body of Maxwell's men in pursuit. These were received and
driven back by a larger Johnstone body, in their retirement throwing their friends
into confusion. Immediately Johnstone flung his whole weight on his disordered
foes and scattered them in flight with little loss. Such was the battle of Dryfesands,
7th December 1593, the last of the clan battles on the Border. Maxwell, "a tall man
and heavy in armour," was killed. ¹
This, of course, was an outrageous defiance of public authority, and no Government
could do less than put the offending Johnstone under ban for rebellion; no Scottish
Government in the circumstances could do any more. Again, therefore, the old feud
blazed out more strongly then ever. There is no need to dwell upon its incidents;
a sample of such has been afforded above, and there was little chance of variety. The
only notable point is that in these plundering raids the number slain was remarkably
small, a fact which bears out Leslie's comment upon such Border affairs; aggressors
were out for plunder rather than blood (see p. xxxvi.). Necessarily all the dales were
implicated in this civil warfare. Maxwell was supreme in Nithsdale and Eskdale,
thus carrying with him the upper Nithsdale lairds, notably Drumlanrig, while his
"friends" the Carlyles and Bells and the town of Annan carried his interests into the
lower Annan, and in Eskdale the Armstrongs were clients from of old. The John-
stones covered Annandale from Lockerbie northwards, and their principal allies were
the Irvings along the Sark, while they could draw upon the Moffats and Scotts of
upper Eskdale, above the Armstrongs, and the Grahams in the lower portion of the
Debateable Land. Meantime the Privy Council postponed decisive action in the
Johnstone case, and accordingly in October 1595 that clan added another item
to its calendar,when the Warden, Lord Herries, going "to seke some of the John-
stones at Lockerbie," was driven off with loss. ² Obviously a Maxwell Warden could
not hold his own on the West March, so the whole problem was characteristically
solved by the appointment of Johnstone as warden in 1596. For such a course there
was already a Maxwell precedent (see p. xliii.), but the step was little likely to mollify
the Maxwells. And Johnstone, though not yet thirty years of age, had not less than
twenty murders to his credit, both Scots and English. ³
None was so active on the Maxwell side as Drumlanrig, between whom and
Johnstone a settlement was struck in 1597, only to be speedily broken, each accusing
the other of perjury. A feature of the complaints here illustrates that procedure of
forcible settlement referred to above (p. xxxix.). Carlyles and Bells entered upon some
1 Spottiswoode's History, ii. p. 446.
"Adieu! Drumlanrig, false wert aye,
And Closeburn in a band!
The Laird of Lag, frae my father that fled,
When the Johnston struck aff his hand."
("Lord Maxwell's Good-night," in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.)
As to the allegation that Maxwell's right hand was struck off when raised for quarter, the historian
says: "I can affirm nothing." In the Border Papers, i. (No. 918), Scrope explains that the fray was
due to Maxwell's attempting to cast down Mungo Johnstone's house in Lockerbie.
2 Calderwood, v. p. 385.
3 Border Papers, ii. No. 485.
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
of Johnstone's lands and tilled and sowed them; Bells had "beaten the servants of
the goodman of Bonshaw, taken their ploughs and forcibly tilled their land. " John-
stone admits retaliatory proceedings, in which some of his "puir folkis hes coft pairt
of thair awin geir bak agane." ¹ In a list of Johnstone outrages on Lord Sanquhar's
tenants in 1599 is the complaint of Janet M'Millan that they had burnt her house
of "twa hous (i.e. rooms) hicht with a laich hall," etc. ² Already, however, despite
the King's weakness for him, ³ the Privy Council had in 1598 denounced Sir James
Johnstone of Dunskillie (as he is now generally entitled) for detestable slaughters and
bloodshed, his slaying of Maxwells and "honest men of the Sanquhar," and his per-
sistence in a "maist wyld and bludie cours," for all which he was put under sentence
of outlawry, none to hold any communication with him. ⁴ But by August 1600 the
wild and bloody Johnstone was Warden again. ⁵
Such being the conditions of life on the West March in the second half of the 16th
century, one grasps the significance of its great equipment of all degrees of defensive
dwellings from the castle proper to the mere stone house. Every man who could afford
it found it incumbent to have some sort of dwelling not easily forced or inflammable
from outside. ⁶ So are explained, too, the various reconstructions and rebuilding still
in many cases dated upon such of the structures as survive.
The next century saw the beginning of the great change which followed on the
accession of King James to the throne of England. That a new spirit and a fuller
power affected the Government was shown in the last act of the Johnstone-Maxwell
feud. In 1607, at a prearranged meeting of the two heads at "Achnanhill," ⁷ which was
to prepare a reconciliation, Johnstone was assassinated. but Lord Maxwell could not
now outface the consequences. To avoid arrest he had to say "good-night" to Scotland:
"Adieu! Dumfries, my proper place,
But and Caerlaverock fair!"
In 1613 he ventured back to Scotland, was arrested, and suffered the death penalty
at Edinburgh. Estates and honours were forfeited, but five years later restoration
was initiated in favour of the heir, a younger brother, who, further, in virtue of the
loss of the earldom of Morton, was in 1620 created Earl of Nithsdale.
The Union of the kingdoms in 1603 obliterated the Borders in a political and
administrative sense. They were now "the verie hart of the cuntry." ⁸ Still, much
in the way of special measures had to be taken, and it was a long time ere the peculiar
features of Border life were completely eliminated. Some years before the Union
the Government had come to the conclusion that one origin of Border malpractices
was neglect of religion, ⁹ and initiated a movement towards the rebuilding of churches,
which seem generally to have been in a ruinous condition. Then it was found that
in certain quarters "the povertie of the inhabitantis" was so great that neither
could kirks be repaired nor ministers supported unless adjacent parishes were united.
Thus came about the uniting in 1609 of groups of parishes, served by a new church
in a central position: Little Dalton, serving Meikle and Little Dalton and Mouswald;
Cummertrees and Trailtrow having a common church at Cummertrees: Redkirk
and Gretna at Gretna; Kirkpatrick and Kirkconnell at Kirkconnell; Middlebie,
"Tundersachs," and Carruthers at the first named; St. Mungo and Tundergarth at
1 Johnstone MSS., p. 37.
2 Reg. P.C., vi. p. 115.
3 Border Papers, ii. No. 546.
4 Acta Parl., iv. p. 166; Birrel's Diary, p. 46.
5 Border Papers, ii. No. 1231.
6 See map on p. lxiii.; and cf. note on p. lxii.
7 Spottiswoode, ii. p. 191.
8 Reg. P.C., vi. p. 560.
9 Johnstone MSS., No. 87, p. 40.
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Tundergarth; Sibblebie and Applegarth at Applegarth; Hoddom, Ecclefechan, and
Luce at Hoddom "near the towne thairof"; Corrie and Hutton at Hutton - that
parish still bears the double name. ¹ The town of Annan was so "miserablie impover-
ischeit" that it could not build a kirk of any kind as yet, and therefore was granted
for that purpose "the hous callit the castell of Annand, the hall and the towre thairof
to serve for ane kirk." ² Too often the procedure on the Marches had been the reverse
of this: a house of prayer turned into a castle. And not only had churches been
neglected, but, in common with a tendency of the time, the more considerable lairds
had given up the practice of living at their country-seats, and this too was accounted
an encouragement of disorder; wherefore in 1600 they had been instructed to repair
and dwell in their residences in order to police the districts more effectually, Herries
either at Hoddom or Lockerbie, Charterhouse of Amisfield in the house of Bent,
Grierson of Lag either in Rockhall (Rochell) or Mouswald, Jardine of Applegarth in
"the hous of Speldingis," etc. ³
More direct measures followed the Union. The office of Warden disappeared,
and a Commission of Scots and English Border gentlemen took in hand to compose
the unsettled district. They had two companies of horsemen at their service as a
police, and one of these was stationed at Hollows, the old Debateable Land and
the Grahams there still retaining their character as the heart of the mischief.
The Grahams were broken up by deportations. Complementary to the new
churches was the novelty of specific gaols. By 1608 it was reported to the King,
with reference to the services of the Earl of Dunbar, that he had purged the Borders,
as Hercules did "Augeas his escuries, by the cutting off by the sword of justice
and your majesty's authority and laws, the Laird of Tynwell, Maxwell, sindry
Douglases, Johnstones, Jardines, Armstrongs, Betisons and such other." ⁴ But
this jubilation proved premature, and the Commission, modified from time to time,
continued till 1625. The methods of "justice" were very similar in kind to those
of the lawlessness against which they operated, being fire-raising, destruction of
houses, eviction, and summary execution, with the use of the feud feeling and a
partiality to friends; and the agents of the Commission found it necessary to secure
the protection of frequent indemnities.
One main factor in the change was the dissolution of the clan groups, which
came as a consequence of the changed conditions. The gap which had opened
between chief and clan fully showed itself in the Covenanting troubles, where the
people in general, sooner or later, adhered to the cause of revolt; the lairds were
royalist. Among the latter the Earl of Nithsdale was leader, and in 1640 Caer-
laverock underwent its last siege and dismantling. From persecuting days, or rather
later in time, the "tombs of the martyrs" in Nithsdale and Eskdale remain as
memorials of a new enthusiasm; among the most prominent of the Council's agents
were such familiar March names as Sir James Johnstone of Westerhall, Lieut.-Col.
Douglas, brother of Drumlanrig, and Sir Robert Grierson of Lag. Meantime the
Drumlanrig family was growing throughout this century in extent of lands and in
dignity. Its outward symbol of territorial and political success was the great pile
of Drumlanrig Castle, 1689, whose builder was the second Duke of Queensberry,
the adroit statesman of the Union of 1707. Its purely domestic character signified
that the days of fortified residences had for ever gone by.
1 Acta Parl., iv. p. 441.
2 Ibid., p. 441.
3 Reg. P.C., vi. pp. 154-5.
4 Cited, Hill Burton's History, vol. vi. p. 19.
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
I. ARCHÆOLOGICAL .
Cairns. - The earliest monuments in this country, as has been frequently
pointed out in the Introductions to previous Inventories, are the long cairns. These
structures, containing one or more massive cists or chambers, were erected by the
early inhabitants for the disposal of their illustrious dead, for it cannot be
supposed that such were the burial-places for all and sundry. In treating of the
archæology of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, it was pointed out that the people
who reared these impressive monuments had evidently, to judge by their distribution,
approached the parts of the county to which such evidence of their presence is con-
fined, from two directions: either from the Solway, passing up the valley of the
Cree, or from the north, crossing what is now the Ayrshire border in the neighbour-
hood of Carsphairn. The southern region is remote from Dumfriesshire, and the
builders of the long cairns do not seem to have spread, by the evidence of the
monuments, farther west than the lower reaches of the Cree. The northern district,
however, in which these long cairns occur, lies much nearer to Dumfriesshire, and
from it the earliest inhabitants appear to have penetrated into that county by way
of Stroanfreggan, thence westward by Moniaive and Thornhill to the moorland region
between Queensberry Hill and Annandale. Taking a breadth of a few miles to
either side of this line, one will include probably all the cairns, whether long or
round, in the county which appear to belong to the Neolithic period. ¹ Of long
cairns there are at most four: the "White Cairn" (No. 249) at Fleuchlarg in
Glencairn Parish, a cairn on Capenoch Moor (No. 329) in Keir Parish, the wholly
reduced remains near Clonfeckle in Kirkmahoe (No. 351), and a cairn of smaller
dimensions than any of the others on the moor near Stiddrig (No. 415) in the
parish of Kirkpatrick-Juxta. As none of these cairns has been excavated, it is
not possible to say what the form of the chamber may be. In this same region
are several other cairns which, though not of the long type but circular, are yet
of sufficient magnitude to render it probable that they too contain either chambers
or megalithic cists of the transitional period between the Stone and Bronze Ages,
such as the cairn at Stroanfreggan contained. ²
When we turn to consider the cairns which indicate a purely Bronze Age origin
we find that they have a wider distribution throughout the county, though they
cannot be reckoned numerous in any district. They are sparsely distributed along
the south from Mouswald to Robgill and Mossknow; they are more scarce in the
central region, and only practically in the tract of country in which are found the
few long cairns are these cairns of the Bronze Age comparatively numerous.
Towards the east side of the county, in the Eskdale and Ewesdale district,
which being largely pastoral has probably suffered less by the dilapidation of its
early monuments than the more highly cultivated districts, one is struck by the
absence of such remains. There is a cist marking the site of a cairn on Bankhead
Hill (No. 648) in the parish of Westerkirk in Eskdale, and the remains of a cairn
still exist in a plantation at Sorbie Bridge (No. 222) in Ewes; but beyond these, in
1 The later inclusion in the Inventory of what proved on investigation to be long cairns in the parish
of Canonbie (No. 47) does not substantially modify these generalisations. It increases the total to six.
2 Inventory of Monuments in Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, No. 160.
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
the whole region north of Langholm no other significant remains are found. This
points to the fact that, in the earlier prehistoric times, these two dales were but
sparsely populated.
Little recorded exploration has been made on the cairns in the county. Some
years ago a cairn was excavated near Auchencairn (No. 75) in Closeburn Parish,
and remains of a drinking-cup urn of rather exceptional size, measuring when restored
10 inches in height, were found along with a flint implement of the type formerly
designated a "fabricator," but now recognised as an object used with a piece of
pyrites for the purpose of producing fire. The urn and the flint are now preserved in
the National Museum of Antiquities. Another cairn was excavated at Mossknow
(No. 371), in the parish of Kirkpatrick-Fleming, in 1908, and a cist was exposed
the joints of which were plastered with clay and the bottom covered with river gravel,
and which contained an unburnt burial but no grave goods.
Stone Circles. - The one incontestable fact connected with stone circles is that
in numerous instances they have been used as places of interment in the Bronze
Age, as is proved by the finding of burials of this period within them. We may
thus consider briefly the stone circles of Dumfriesshire in sequence to the cairns.
The number remaining recognisable in the county is six. Of these not one is to
be found in the regions where the Bronze Age cairns abound, and only those in
Eskdale, to be afterwards mentioned, have the now recognisable site of a cairn
anywhere near them, and that the remains of an isolated example; if their
principal purpose was other than sepulchral, it is strange that in this county at all
events the remains of stone circles should be most noticeable in regions where
evidence of inhabitation in the Bronze Age is least discernible. The most remark-
able cirle in the county, both from the massive size of the monoliths which compose
it, and the dimensions of the space which they enclose, is that known as the "Twelve
Apostles" at Holywood (No. 284). This is situated in an agricultural district, and
possibly in the process of clearing the ground and enclosing, existing cairns in the
neighbourhood may have been swept away; but the absence of cairns cannot be so
easily accounted for in the case of the five remaining circles situated either on moor-
land, as the circles at Kirkhill (No. 625) in Wamphray Parish, on Whiteholm Rig
(No. 603) in Tundergarth, and Whitcastles (No. 307) in Hutton and Corrie, or on
meadowland in a purely pastoral region, as the "Girdle Stanes" (No. 198) and
"Loupin Stanes" in Eskdalemuir (No. 199). Another feature in regard to the four
last-named circles which is worth consideration is the occurrence of two of them
along the line of approach from lower Annandale to the upper waters of Eskdale,
followed at the present day by a main turnpike road; while the other pair are situated
close together and not far up Eskdale beyond the point where a branch from this
road penetrates into the valley. The significance of this statement as indicating
the line of approach of these Bronze Age people into Eskdale is increased by the
fact that the remains of the only cairn observed in Eskdale, "King Schaw's Grave"
(No. 648), lie adjacent to where this road strikes the dale, on the opposite side of the
Esk on Bankhead Hill. Though the fact of the lack of association in localities of
cairns and stone circles in these cases is deemed worth drawing attention to, it should
be stated that in the extreme south-east of the county, adjacent to the upper end of
the Solway, there is a site of a stone circle (No.5), some miles to the east of Annan,
while the "Lochmaben Stane" (boulders) (No. 263), near where the Kirtle Water
joins the Esk, are probably the remains of another. The latter would be within 4
miles of the remains of a group of cairns at Mossknow.
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
Small Cairns and Hut Circles. - The recent discovery of the remains of Bronze
Age vessels, seemingly of domestic type, in the centre of two hut circles in Ayr-
shire, ¹ is irrefutable evidence that such sites were occupied during that period.
But it does not follow that such inhabitation was confined to that period, and there
can be little doubt that, if none of our hut circles has a Stone Age origin, some of
them certainly are the foundations of dwellings of the Iron Age. The association
of small cairns, beyond placing the remains in pre-Christian times, does not actually
help us, for Iron Age sepulture occasionally took place in cairns; but as more relics
of the Bronze Age have been recovered from such erections, there is at least a
presumption that the hut circles with associated small cairns belong to the latter
epoch. There have been located in the county some thirty-one groups either of
small cairns, such as are usually found in association with hut circles, by themselves,
or of small cairns with the accompanying hut circles; and the fact that there is
not a single one of these groups in Eskdale or Ewesdale supports the inference which
the distribution of the larger cairns leads up to, that in early prehistoric times the
eastern districts of the county were very sparsely peopled. The groups lie in ten
parishes: Closeburn, Dunscore, Glencairn, Keir, Kirkmahoe, Kirkpatrick-Juxta,
Kirkmichael, Middlebie, Sanquhar, and Tynron. Eight of these parishes are in
Nithsdale. Kirkpatrick-Juxta and Kirkmichael are in Annandale, but the groups
in the former parish lie all on the west side of the Annan, and are on the moorland
reaching back to Queensberry Hill, a region, as shown above, in which early
cairns also occur in considerable numbers, while the two groups in Kirkmichael
Parish lie on the high ground between the two dales, and are only a few miles distant
from a group near Glenmaid in the Nithsdale parish of Kirkmahoe.
There is another point to observe about these groups for which a satisfactory
explanation has yet to be discovered, and that is the remarkable uniformity of
elevation at which they are found. In the Inventory the approximate height
above sea-level is given of twenty-nine out of the thirty-one groups, and an analysis of
these statements yields the following results. No less than twenty-three of the groups
lie at an altitude of between 800 and 900 feet, four between 700 and 800 feet, and only
two below the 700-feet elevation. Many groups formerly existing at lower levels
have doubtless been eliminated by the action of the plough, but, if the extension of
agriculture in comparatively recent times afforded an explanation, we should expect
to find those constructions which still remain situated at the edge of the moorland,
which is by no means the case. This may be noticed particularly with regard to the
small cairns at Knockespen in Kirkmichael Parish, from the position of which, high up
on a long ridge, there stretches below a wide reach of moorland which has never been
broken in to the plough. The best-preserved examples of hut circles are those on
Whitestanes Moor, Kirkmahoe Parish. They seem for the most part to be oval, and
present features which did not occur in the hut circles of Galloway or of the northern
counties, in that they have been dug out to such an extent that the present floor-
level in the interior is sunk in one case as much as 1 1/2 to 2 feet below the natural surface
on the outside. Similar pit dwellings were met with in Lauderdale, but not in
association with small cairns. ²
Rock Sculptures. - The limitation eastwards of rock sculptures in the
Stewartry was remarked on in the Inventory of that county, and it is not surprising
therefore, as all the evidence points to the populating of Galloway and western
1 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., xlviii. p. 376.
2 Berwickshire Inventory, p. 122, No. 231.
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
Dumfriesshire having been done from the west, to find not a single example of cup-
and-ring markings in this county. One stone only was met with on which occur
markings probably belonging to this class, and that was a detached slab (fig. 2) form-
ing the sill of the doorway into the vaulted basement of Hollows Tower (No. 43) in
Canonbie Parish. In place of cup and rings, spirals are traced on it, and it bears a
considerable resemblance to a stone from the Island of Eday, Orkney, found in what
appears to have been a chambered cairn and now in the National Museum of Anti-
quities, Edinburgh. ¹ The provenance of the stone at Hollows Tower is unknown.
Defensive Constructions. - The remains in this county which fall to be considered
under this heading number 220. These may be separated into two distinct classes,
viz. those whose main purpose has been, by choice of situation and construction
of defences, the prevention or repulsion of attack, and consequently are "forts";
[Diagram inserted]
Fig. 2. - Spiral-marked Slab, Hollows Tower.
and others which, though
possessing certain features
of defence, combine with
these elements of conceal-
ment such as would in
troublous times be applic-
able in pastoral districts to
shelters for sheep and cattle.
These latter not being actu-
ally forts have been desig-
nated merely "enclosures."
To the first class belong 143
constructions; to the
second, 77. Taking a sur-
vey from the west across
the county, and commenc-
ing with Nithsdale, we find
in that region forts only,
numbering 25; in Annan-
dale we find 94 forts, but
also 37 enclosures; while in Eskdale and Ewesdale we meet with only 24 forts, but as
many as 40 enclosures. In one or two cases all over classification may be doubtful.
The lack of definite knowledge regarding the period of erection of the forts in
this country, owing to the limited amount of excavation which has thus far been
done on them, renders the synthesis of these structures in any manner which may
be illuminating a matter of no little difficulty. The usual method of consider-
ing them mainly according to the physical qualities of the sites they occupy, does
not afford much help, for we have no reason to suppose that the people who occupied
a promontory, if in their immediate neighbourhood, would not as readily have drawn
their lines of defence in a geometrical figure around the crest of some swelling ridge
had it been nearer at hand and equally suitable. There are, fortunately, a few out-
standing facts which act as guide-posts along the ill-defined track which we have
to follow in our endeavour to pick out and set in some order the relations of these
constructions to the prehistoric periods. The Roman fort or camp is, with rare
exceptions, in form a rectangular oblong with the corners rounded; the camp of
1 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., iv. p. 186.
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
mediæval times, which also intrudes itself to intensify the confusion, is probably
likewise straight-sided. the prehistoric fort is, on the other hand, as an invariable
rule, curvilinear, either oval or circular or of some irregularly round figure such as the
eccentricities of the site demanded. The curvilinear forts, further, may be constructed
of stone, with or without entrenchment, or they may be pure earthworks with ram-
parts and ditch, or a combination of stone and earthwork; and lastly, their ditches
may be entirely excavated in soil, or their construction may have necessitated the
cutting of rock. As the rectangular oblong fort, by its shape and certain considera-
tions of situation, may, with some degree of certainty be recognised as Roman, if
the mediæval element be disregarded, so the curvilinear fort, the trench of which
is cut through rock, may be presumed to belong to the Iron Age. We are thus
left with stoneworks and simple earthworks to assign to their proper periods.
This is probably not possible by the aid of superficial observation, as the builder
of an Iron Age fort might be so fortunate as to find no rock to interfere with his
entrenchment, or the erection of a stone fortress might be his simplest and most
effective contrivance on a particular site which he deemed it necessary to occupy.
To lift the veil and indicate the features which may be peculiar to any given period,
spade-work is necessary, and until that is forthcoming the chronology of our numerous
forts must in large measure remain in doubt. Environment, comparison with
excavated examples, and occasional discoveries of associated relics are all factors
which may be called in to help, and the cautious use of these may enable us to
determine the period to which certain of the Dumfriesshire forts belong.
First, as being least open to doubt, let us take the Roman forts into considera-
tion. Of these there are four which by plan as well as by the positive evidence
afforded by excavation are assuredly of this origin: Birrens (No. 462), two at Birrens-
wark (No. 272), and Raeburnfoot (No. 172). Another, Gilnockie (No. 45), by the
details of its plan and by analogy with ascertained examples elsewhere, there can be
little doubt merits a similar attribution. But, after accounting for these five, we
have still a number of rectilinear forts in the county concerning which only the ap-
plication of the spade will suffice to determine whether they are mediæval or Roman.
Certain of their characteristics may be pointed out. One only of them, the fort at
Kirkmahoe Manse (No. 340), is large, and it is in a very fragmentary condition. The
site, a plateau flanked on one side by low marshy ground and on the other by a steep
bank overlooking haugh-land that stretches to the Nith, is such as a Roman general
might well have selected. But when we say that the site alone presents no inherent
impossibility to such an attribution, it is as much as we are justified in asserting.
Proceeding up Nithsdale for some miles to Durisdeer, in the glen of the Kirkburn,
at the entrance to the Well-path, a pass which leads through wild hill country into
Clydesdale, we find another small oblong rectangular earthwork of uncertain origin
(No. 163). The trench which surrounds it is boldly cut, and for some distance its
course has been hewn through rock, which does not suggest that we have here a mere
temporary encampment. The entrance is in the middle of one end, and some 24
feet in front of it there has been dug an outer ditch or traverse, a feature quite
consonant with Roman methods. Here again the spade alone can decide, but, as
in the case of the fort at Kirkmahoe, there is no inherent impossibility of a
Roman origin.
Passing into Annandale, we find in the parish of Middlebie, at no great distance
from Birrens, two constructions which deserve some notice.One at Purdomstown
(No.466), adjoining, and partly covered by, the Annan Waterworks, is a quasi-
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
rectangular oblong contained in a loop of the Middlebie Burn, the high banks of
which afford a considerable measure of defence. No entrance remains visible. The
rampart is very low and not very broad, and beyond the rectilinear shape and something
in the situation, there is nothing about the construction suggestive of a Roman origin.
The second fort in this character referred to is more remarkable. It is situated
near Carruthers on Birrens Hill (No. 464). In form it is oblong and approximately
rectangular with rounded angles. The rampart rises boldly from the interior plat,
and the covering trench, where it remains uninterfered with by later works, has
its scarps smooth and sharply cut. The entrance is through the centre of one end.
In front the ground has been much interfered with by quarrying. Here again the
features do not suggest a prehistoric origin, but whether this fort is Roman or
mediæval, excavation alone can decide. The probability is, however, from its exposed
situation, that it belongs to the latter class. Proceeding up Annandale, at Gotterbie
Moor (No. 451) in Lochmaben Parish, we find another small oblong quasi-rectangular
fort. The entrance in this case is not in the centre but towards one side of the
south-east end, and, 20 feet in front of it extending divergently past it, is a deep
irregularly excavated hollow, more like a quarry-hole than a trench. The situa-
tion of this construction in a depression of the ground, the slightness of its rampart,
and the water-holding character of its ditch, all militate against the theory of a
Roman origin. Some miles farther north, in the parish of Kirkpatrick-Juxta, is
another small oblong rectangular fort, which merits more attention. This fort,
near the farm of Milton, is situated on a ridge known as Tassie's Height (No. 411),
and is seemingly adjacent to the site of a fort noted by Roy. It has been sur-
rounded by a single rampart of earth of very considerable bulk, though now greatly
spread by cultivation, and with a trench to the outside. The entrance has been
through the centre of one end and has faced the site of an old road which leads up
Annandale, and to which a tentative Roman attribution has in the past been assigned.
The situation of this fort, commanding an extensive prospect from a moderate
elevation, is such as the Roman engineers greatly affected; moreover, the placing
of the axis at right angles to that of the trend of the ridge, as if to face on to a road
passing along it, is an arrangement quite unlike that adopted in native forts. Here
again the spade alone can solve the problem.
Turning to a consideration of the curvilinear forts, and commencing with Niths-
dale, we cannot in this region recognise any arrangement of defences which we can
point to as typical of the district or of any particular period. The principal forts
have for the most part multiple defences of ditches and ramparts, and as a rule are
earthworks. The most impressive fortress in the dale, and also in the county, is Tynron
Doon (No. 609) in Tynron Parish, occupying the summit of an imposing peak. Its bold
ramparts of earth and splintered rock, and the abundant evidence of rock-cutting in
its lowest trench, indicate for it a late origin, presumably in the Iron Age. A similar
characteristic marks the fine fort on Barr's Hill (No. 581) in that part of Tinwald
Parish which may be reckoned for our purpose in Nithsdale. An earthwork which
shows no resemblance to any other fort in the county is that crowning the Castle Hill
(No. 236) above the Dalwhat Glen, some 3 1/2 miles westward of Moniaive. With its
defending terraces, however, it distinctly recalls the fort overlooking the Laggan
Loch in the parish of Glasserton, Wigtownshire. ¹ Another which displays unusual
features is that on Morton Mains Hill (No. 511), Morton Parish. This fort has all the
1 Wigtownshire Inventory, No. 5.
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
appearance of an unfinished work. It is a pure earthwork and consists of various
unconnected segments of ditch and rampart around a hill top. Stoneworks are
not common among the forts of Nithsdale, but there are two, both in the parish of
Kirkmahoe, which call for comment. The one at the Belt, High Townhead (No. 342),
on a promontory overlooking the valley, is remarkable for the extent of its defences.
It is comparatively small, measuring in the interior 163 feet by 109 feet, and its situation
as a strong one. On its more assailable front it has seemingly been protected by three
outer walls, and the entrance has been carried through these walls by a passage
some 95 feet in length. There is an absence of trenchwork in its defences which may
indicate an early period for its origin; and the groups of small cairns and hut circles
on Glenmaid Moor (No. 343), Whitestanes Moor (No. 344), and Shaws Moor (No. 345),
at no great distance to the north, are evidence of the early occupation of the neigh-
bourhood. The other stone fort, the Mullach (No. 339), occupies the summit of a pro-
minent hill about 1 1/2 miles to the north-west. It is the only vitrified fort observed
in the county. The two walls which enclose the enceinte are at a considerable dis-
tance apart, and here also there is no entrenchment. The vitrifaction appears in
both walls, and it is noteworthy, as bearing on the question of the production of that
condition, that there is no trace of anything of the kind on the rocky summit which
forms the centre of the fort, where it might have been expected, had signal fires been
the accidental cause of vitrifaction in forts. It lies at a distance of 10 miles from
the sea, which is somewhat unusual in the case of a fort of this class. In the valley
of the Cairn, a tributary of the Nith, there lies, some seven miles below Moniaive at
Snade, an earthwork of unusual character, which is probably late, but which does not
fall into any other class of earthwork in the county. This is a circular plat known as
"The Orchard," measuring some 116 feet by 103 feet, lying on low ground near the
river defended by ditches and ramparts, the former of which are capable of being
artificially flooded from the Cairn. The ditches are broad and deep, the ramparts
massive, and the situation with its wet ditches seems to indicate a possible mediæval
origin. Though this construction is much more imposing, it recalls the so-called
Trowdale "Mote" in the parish of Crossmichael in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, ¹
situated in low-lying swampy ground and surrounded by two concentric ditches
which appear to have held water.
Of the ninety-four ² forts of Annandale, we have already dealt with those of
rectilinear plan, which number only seven. The remainder, following the principles
which have been adopted in this survey, we may divide in the first case into stoneworks
and earthworks. The former, it will be observed on reference to the Inventory, are
almost entirely confined to the parish of Kirkpatrick-Juxta, in the stretch of country
bounded by the River Annan for a few miles southward from Beattock on the east,
and by Queensberry Hill on the west. And as in Nithsdale we found the only two
stone-built forts adjacent to the region of the small cairns and hut circles, so here also
this class of fort is situated in that portion of the county where large cairns are
least scarce, and where in places the small cairns abound. The earthworks are not
confined to any particular locality, nor do they exhibit any peculiarities of structure
or of plan which distinguish them specially from forts found elsewhere. Considered
according to the factors noted in reference to the Nithsdale forts, a considerable
number show rock-cutting in their trenches, such, for example, as the forts of Range
Castle (No. 98), Dalton Parish, Carthur Hill (No. 291), Hutton and Corrie Parish,
1 Kirkcud. Inv., No. 140.
2 A segment of another is reported at Greenhill plantation, Cummertrees.
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
and Haggy Hill (No. 596) in Tundergarth Parish. Moreover, on the ramparts of
those which show in their trenches what is presumed to be the application of an
iron tool, there may also be observed along the crests of some of them the foundations
of a stone parapet. Such is the case on the forts of Craighousesteads Hill (No.600) and
Haggy Hill (No. 596) in Tundergarth. Certain of the earthworks with bold ramparts
and trenches, such as Woody Castle (No. 450) overlooking Lochmaben, or the im-
pressive remains of the triply-ramparted fort at Gallaberry, Dryfeholm (No. 115) in
Dryfesdale, show no peculiarities of construction that enable the observer to hazard
an opinion as to the period to which they are referable; the same may be said of the
segmental earthworks at the edge of the banks of the Mollin Burn (No. 320), Johnstone
Parish, and Auchencat Burn (No. 485), Moffat Parish. In the Stewartry of Kirkcud-
bright a circular fort at Drumcoltran yielded from the bottom of its surrounding trench
some years ago a hoard of Bronze Age rapier-blades, and, as far as the characteristics
of that fort may be regarded as typical, it affords a definite index for the identifica-
tion of other forts of that period. Two forts in Annandale certainly present a
superficial resemblance to it: these are the fort on Castlehill, Pilmuir Common
(No. 113, in Dryfesdale, and that at Millbank (No. 14) in Applegarth Parish. Both
are approximately circular, are surrounded by single ditches with earthen mounds on
scarp and counterscarp, and are pure earthworks, features all possessed by the Drum-
coltran fort. A peculiarity noticeable in a number of the forts, and almost universal
in the enclosures, is the opening of the entrance into a excavated hollow on the
interior, so as to be commanded by higher ground all round. This may be seen in
the fort in Corncockle Plantation (No. 449), Lochmaben Parish, and in the fort on
Newland Hill (No. 599) in Tundergarth Parish, which has previously been quoted
as an example with a stone parapet above the rampart. A fort which seems to be
unique in this district is that near Crawthat Cottage (No. 595) near the road from
Lockerbie to Langholm, and also in Tundergarth Parish, its peculiarity being its
division by a cross trench into two separately defensible areas.
The Eskdale and Ewesdale region contains only some twenty-four forts, and of
these twenty are situated above the junction of the Esk and Ewes. For the most
part they lie in the Esk valley, clustering to the north of a point where the Black
Esk coming from the west mingles with the White Esk from the north, both streams
thereafter flowing on in an easterly direction. The most remarkable of the group is
the fine fort of Castle O'er (No. 177). It occupies the crest of a long ridge, also a
considerable area of ground below the eminence,and its defences, which are formid-
able, combine wall, trenches, and ramparts. Hut circles are evident in the interior,
and there is abundant evidence of rock-cutting. In various aspects it recalls the
fort on the summit of Bonchester Hill in Roxburghshire, ¹ which shows a similar
employment in its defensive system of walls, trenches, and ramparts. A further
remarkable arrangement intensifies the analogy, that is the enclosing of an area
of ground at the base of the eminence crowned by the fort. A slight excavation
on the Bonchester Hill fort produced an iron shouldered pin which, along with
the type of querns found, all of the saddle variety, suggested an early Iron Age
date for the construction. It seems likely, therefore, without straining the analogy,
that the Castle O'er fort originated in the same period.
There are three features generally noticeable in these forts which link them to
others noted in Annandale, and these are: rock-cutting in the formation of the trenches,
1 See Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., xliv., 1909-10, p. 225.
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
remains of a stone parapet surmounting the ramparts, and the lowering of the level
of the interior by excavation, usually at the entrance. As affording some sort of
analogy to the fort at Crawthat Cottage in Tundergarth Parish, attention may be
directed to the fort at Over Cassock, Eskdalemuir, which is unlike the generality
of the forts in the dale, being formed on a promontory and separated into two divisions
by a cross rampart and trench; but in this case the upper enceinte into which the
main entrance opens appears to be the more important enclosure, and not, as in the
Crawthat Cottage fort, an outer bailey. A fort on the Loch Hill (No. 211) in Ewes
Parish, though now much worn away, appears to be distinct from the general type in
the neighbourhood. A remarkable construction (No. 175), which, though an earth-
work, can hardly be deemed either a fort or an enclosure, is situated on the right
bank of the Esk some 3/4 mile above the mansion-house of Castle O'er. It is a plat at
the top of a steep bank rising from the river but at the bottom of a semicircular
hollow in the hillside, that towers above it, and from which it is overlooked at all
points. It has around it certain lines that are of a defensive character, but its
purpose is inexplicable. A Roman fort at Raeburnfoot in Eskdale has already been
noted, and its presence there may find a likely explanation in the group of forts
referred to as indicating a considerable population, which the Romans may have
found it necessary thus to overawe.
Of stone-walled forts in the region of upper Eskdale or of Ewesdale there is not
one. A single specimen, however, crowns the Craig Hill in Westerkirk Parish (No. 637),
some 3 miles above Langholm.
It now remains to consider those defensive constructions which we have
classified under the name of "Enclosures." In form they are as a general rule
circular, or oval, protected by a single rampart with a ditch in front of it, and
having the entrance giving into an excavated hollow in the interior. But one
remarkable feature distinguishes the whole class, that is the hollowing or lowering by
excavation of almost the whole interior surface, so that in some cases the floor actually
lies at a depth of from 4 to 5 feet below the surface of the surrounding ground. Their
close resemblance to certain of the forts, especially to those earthworks which carry
the remains of a stone parapet on their respective ramparts, and on the sides of whose
trenches rock-cutting is visible, renders it a matter of no small difficulty to distinguish
between the two kinds of constructions and also indicates that they are of late date.
Not a single example is recorded in Nithsdale, thirty-seven appear in Annandale, being
in the proportion of somewhat more than one-third to the number of forts, whereas
in the Eskdale and Ewesdale districts they number forty, exceeding the forts by nearly
two to one. The situations which many of these enclosures occupy are not in them-
selves highly defensible, but, set back from the edge of some high bank which margins
the river valley, they are such as would easily escape the notice of marauders on
the roadway through the haugh-land below, while the depression of the interior would
further tend to the concealment of stock herded within.
A small enclosure showing an excavated interior is one of the group of construc-
tions which lie on the flanks of Birrenswark Hill. This particular entrenchment is
situated at the west end, and was examined by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
when they made a partial exploration of the Roman camps there in 1898. Within it
were found a broken quern and a piece of bracelet of opaque glass, ¹ the latter an
object whose probable date is in the 1st or 2nd century of our era. Though some of
1 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xxxiii. p. 235.
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these enclosures undoubtedly are, from the uniformity of plan, contemporaneous
with certain of the forts, yet others, there can be little doubt, belong to mediæval
times, and conceivably some are even later. The name "Birren" applied to them as
a class seems to have as its root meaning that of "shelter," A.S. beorgan, found also
in "burgh."Its range of application is thus wide, including both stone and earthen
constructions, since the "shelter" thought of was apparently with reference to cattle
and sheep.
In not a few foundations of small rectangular huts, seemingly contemporan-
eous, are apparent, and in one at Mosspeeble, Ewes Parish (No. 215), there still stands
the shepherd's cottage. It is remarkable that in these eastern dales of the county
a "birren" is almost invariably to be found in the neighbourhood of any place with a
name which appears in history in the rieving and raiding days, and the proximity of
these places to the English border rendered some "corral," in which the cattle could
be concealed, an indispensable adjunct.
In the foregoing review of the defensive constructions of the county, an attempt
has been made to indicate lines of inquiry, through minute observation of detail and
comparison, by which it may be possible to reach some sort of conclusion as to the
periods to which the numerous classes of forts belong; but while such methods may
be interesting, and instructive to some extent, the only sure source of information
is scientifically conducted exploration with the spade and the consequent recovery
of relics. Years of study have now familiarised archæologists with the art if the
potter or of the craftsman in metalwork of the various periods of our prehistory,
and the potsherd or the fibula which may be obtained from an excavation is
evidence of folk or chronology almost as incontestable as the written word of
the historian.
The "Deil's Dike" or "Dyke." - In the north-western district of the county
are to be found detached examples of the low stony mound and shallow ditch, no
doubt much reduced from their original condition, known as the "Deil's" ¹ or "Picts"
(Sanquhar) or "Celtic" Dike, and in the north-east, in the parish of Eskdalemuir,
are portions of a similar feature, which is there called the "Diel's Jingle" (No. 176).
The longest section, running from near the Nith to the boundary of Ayrshire, is in
the parish of Sanquhar (No. 566), and stretches, though not continuously, for about
ten miles. Other portions, each extending for rather less than a third of this
distance, are in the parishes of Durisdeer (No. 163) and Closeburn (No. 80). In
every case the "Dike" is sinous rather than straight, generally following a contour
line: the 600-feet level south of Sanquhar, where the land as a whole lies high,
and up to the 700 to 950 feet line on still higher ground. The portions along the
east and west sides of the Carron Water in the parish of Durisdeer are significant.
Starting at the Enterkin Water on the 500 contour, 50 feet above the stream, the
"Dike" runs due east as far as the line of an old drove road. About a quarter of a
mile due north on the road it again appears and passes northwards, first on the 900
and then on the 800-feet level, to end in an eastwards curl at Nether Dalveen. It is
next found on the eastern hillslope on the opposite side of the Carron, running south
at an elevation of 750 to 800 feet, till above Durisdeer it turns with the salient of the hill
and follows the 700-feet contour north-eastwards parallel with the Kirk Burn. An
1 Cf. also Report and Inventory of Wigtown, passim, and of Kirkcudbright, p. xxii., and Art. No.
368. The line of broad mounds west of Hightae and Heck in Lochmaben parish, which is marked on
the O.S. 6-inch maps as "Murthat or Deil's Dike," is really a natural formation of stratified sand and
gravel (kames) utterly different in size and character from the Dike proper.
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
isolated portion occurs on the opposite slope of the burn behind Durisdeer, and a much
longer section to the south of the Hapland Burn follows the above levels south-west-
wards. What is noticeable along this whole stretch is that it almost entirely still
marks the boundary between the cultivated land and the moorland. Nor does the
nature of the structure anywhere suggest that it ever had any other purpose than that
of a boundary or march or head-dike, ¹ though, on the assumption that it was con-
tinuous, a strategically defensive purpose has also been claimed for it. The bank
is everywhere low and the trench slight, seemingly only what was left when the earth
was heaped up to form the bank. In one case at least what was probably a core
of unusually large stones has been exposed (No. 80). The service of a typical
mediæval march of this sort no doubt varied; south of Sanquhar it strikes across
the moor still roughly in line with the river; but a march to all appearance it
was. As a defence it could be penetrated anywhere, unless well defended; the
population could never be sufficient to defend its whole length, and any local
defence could be turned. "Celtic" is obviously a comparatively modern term;
and the "Deil" is a favourite engineer all over the country, as also are the Picts in
their semi-mythological stage.
Another name to which reference may be made is "Kemp's Castle" (No. 557)
for a hill fort. In various parts of southern and north-eastern Scotland, from
Wigtown to Forfar, the name appears either in this form or as Kemp's Graves, Kemp's
Cairn, etc. A gloss accompanying a 13th-century charter of lands in the Registrum
Moraviense, App. No. 4, gives for one name the meaning "of the Grett or Kempis
men callit Fenis." "Kemp," indeed, occurs sporadically in the literature of both
England and Scotland from a very early period in the sense of a "great warrior" or
"champion," latterly with a suggestion of something monstrous either in size or acti-
vities. Thus, as above, the Gaelic Feinne or Fingalians were "Kemps." The applica-
tion to imposing prehistoric structures of unknown origin is obvious. "Bogle Walls"
(No. 638) is simply a more eerie version of the same idea.
Crannogs. - Crannogs, which are islands in whole or part formed artificially for
residence, are not, as a rule, conspicuous structures. Of the four so far located in
Dumfriesshire ² the crannog at the Black Loch Sanquhar is noted in Art. No. 568,
and described in the Transactions Dumfries and Galloway Soc., 1864-5, pp. 4-5. At
the time of its exposure, it was found to rest, apparently directly, upon the subsoil,
having only a ring of boulders to strengthen the base. The upright piles were of
oak "dressed and sharpened by a metal tool" and "some of them morticed at the
head" for the transverse beams, which were "chiefly of birch wood." On this
wooden platform was a layer of broken stone from 12 to 18 inches deep, on which had
accumulated the vegetable mould covered with vegetation, the surface being 6 to
8 feet above the bottom of the loch. A narrow, curving causeway connected the
island with the shore, and in the mud was found a canoe, which was formed from
a single oak tree 16 feet in length and tapered from 3 feet at its widest to 1 foot 10
inches at the prow. No other relic was discovered. Here may also be mentioned
the relics of a stockade found about 1877 on the farm of Kelloside, Kirkconnel.
The stakes, about three feet in length and six inches in diameter, enclosed an area
1 In the parish of Kells, Kirkcudbright, it is known as "the Auld Head Dyke of Scotland" (Chalmers,
Caledonia, v. p. 237).
2 Munro's Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings, p. 245. Of the others included in the list that at Loch
Urr is the subject of Art. No. 144, while the references in the list to Lochwood, Closeburn, and Morton
apply to the position of the castellated structures at these places described in the Inventory.
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of about half an acre and "in appearance and morticing" - the "mortice holes about
one foot from the bottom of each stake" - "were exactly similar to those in the
stockade" of the Sanquhar lake dwelling. ¹ There was no vestige of the wood on
the hard ground.
On the south-west side of the Castle Loch, Lochmaben, is a small artificial
island, now several feet under water, from which oak mortised beams have been
recovered. ² In 1863 there was exposed in a peat bank in Corncockle, in the parish
of Applegarth, a stratum of parallel oak logs with from 6 to 7 feet of peat above
and below. The platform of logs was covered with birch twigs on which was a layer
of bracken, the latter two together giving a thickness of 10 inches. At one spot
was a circular paving of flattish whinstones 6 to 7 feet in diameter, on which were
many fragments of burnt wood. Beside it were seven large oak bowls 10 to 12 inches
in diameter and an oak mallet. There were no piles, but the ends of the logs, of which
the largest was 14 inches in diameter, had obviously been cut, and two had square
mortise holes. The portion of the platform uncovered was from 20 to 30 feet wide,
while the ends of the logs could be followed on the face of the bank for 150 feet. ³
Near Friar's Carse, in the parish of Dunscore, a small loch, on being partially
drained, revealed the presence of an artificial island already noted by Grose. ⁴
The island was slightly oval and was surrounded by piles, while the plat was com-
posed of oak beams, the ends of which overlapped or were mortised. Within the
piles the space measured some 80 by 70 feet. Near the centre was a circular paving
of small stones, and there were also some remains of clay flooring. In the same
quarter was a heap of debris 2 to 3 feet thick, which contained ashes, charcoal, some
bones, and fragments of pottery. Two of these fragments were "handles of jars
with a yellowish glaze, inclining in some parts to a green and in others to a reddish-
brown colour" - obviously mediæval. About sixty yards from the island a canoe
was found, 22 feet long and 2 feet 10 inches broad, with a flat stern-piece fitted into
a groove. From the west side of the loch came a paddle 3 feet 10 inches long and
a hammer-head of whinstone 10 inches by 5, which was perforated for a handle. ⁵
A canoe "cut out of one solid piece of wood" was found also, about the beginning
of the 18th century, in a moss not far from Morton Castle. ⁶
II. CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC STRUCTURES.
The defensive constructions described above are those of communities large
or small. The private castle as the residence of a lord and his retainers, for whose
defence it was primarily intended, was introduced into this country by the Normans,
and the earliest form of such a castle was of the mote-and-bailey type. The mote was
a hillock of earth with steep sides surrounded by a deep trench; the bailey was an
attached enclosure at a lower level likewise entrenched (fig 3). On both the superficial
defences were of wood. On the hillock stood a wooden castle or bretasche within
a palisade. An earthen rampart, which was also crowned by a palisade, rose above
the scarp of the bailey, while the counterscarp generally bore some form of thorn
entanglement or hedge (heriçon). From this general type there were several deviations,
some of which are illustrated in Dumfriesshire.
1 Trans. Dumf. and Gall., 1897-8, pp. 32-3.
2 Munro as cited, p. 32; Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vi. p. 60; Archæol. Scot., iii. p. 77, n.
3 Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vi. pp. 163-5.
4 Antiquities of Scotland, i. p. 146.
5 Munro as cited, pp. 152-8; Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., xvi. pp. 73-8.
6 New Stat. Acct., iv. p. 96.
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Ancient and Historical Monuments - Dumfries.
[Photos Inserted]
FIG 3. - MOTES, AND BRUCE STONE FROM ANNAN.
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
In many cases the mound alone survives, and there is no trace of a court or bailey,
which may indeed have disappeared in certain instances through agricultural opera-
tions; in others we are not justified in believing it ever existed. At Lochmaben
(No. 445 (1)) there is only the great mound with its encircling ditch and evidence of
other ditches on one side. The dimensions of this mound are unusually large for a mote,
but may be compared with those of Troqueer in Kirkcudbright, and of similar mounds
in England. What was the mote-hill at Tibbers (No. 157), too, was also of exceptional
size. While at Coats Hill (No. 395) cultivation may well have encroached upon the
further defences of the mound, there is more doubt with regard to the Mote of Hutton
(No. 296), where cultivation seems unlikely and where there is no sign of a bailey.
Good standard examples of the complete mote and bailey are Auldton Mote at Moffat
(No. 483), the Mote of Rockhall (No. 448), and the Mote of Ingleston (No. 238), while
Dinning Mote (No. 65), too, is normal in plan, save that there is no ditch intervening
between the mote and bailey. In each of these cases, and indeed in almost every case
in the county, defences have been carved out of natural ridges, though no doubt work
was done in heightening the mound and sloping the scarps. Hutton Mote appears
to be entirely artificial, though placed upon a naturally lofty site, where the upcast
earth has been used to gave additional height to the mound. Thus, in most cases -
Dinning, Rockhall, Maxwelton (No. 241) are good examples - the slope of the hillside
augments the defences of both bailey and mound.
A notable feature in some of the motes is the presence of terracing on the scarp,
of which examples also occur in the neighbouring county of Kirkcudbright. Here may
be noted the two terraces on the mound at Lochwood (No. 316); at Garpol Water
(No. 397) the terrace round the mound is a prolongation of the bailey court, but the
ditch also is continued below. In both examples there are traces of drystone parapet
walls on the terrace, and at Garpol even round the bailey court.
Though the standard plan of mote is that of the round hillock, and the bailey
is fitted to it with a curvilinear outline, the shape of both is generally determined by
the nature of the high ground which has been utilised. Thus at Annan (No. 3) the
mote is pear-shaped, and the bailey very long in comparison with its breadth, while
at Dinning (No.65) the bailey is rectangular. As might be expected, no signs of the
wooden defences are now discernible on the surface, and no proper excavation of these
sites has been made, but this type of wooden defence persisted in Scotland generally
till a comparatively late period. Similar in principle were the characteristic "peels"
or palisaded enclosures erected during the War of Independence by Edward I., of
which Lochmaben Peel (see No. 445) was an example; while the fact that Edward
Bruce in 1313 could capture thirteen castles in Galloway in one year suggests
that these were still the small castella of the mote-and-bailey type, of which so many
traces survive. The peel, indeed, as the simplest and cheapest form of defensive
structure, persisted right through Border history (cf. p. lxii.).
The position of these Dumfriesshire motes was apparently dependent upon
different considerations. That at Castledykes, Dumfries (No. 128), was of course a
royal construction; with Troqueer Mote on the opposite side of the river it probably
covered a ferry crossing, as in the parallel case at York. Others, such as Annan, were
manorial residences or the head places of baronies. Annan, Lochmaben, and Moffat
motes were the work of the Bruces, the dominant family in Annandale. Of the more
outlying examples nothing very definite can be said. Many are in the neighbourhood
of fords; Garpol Mote (No. 397) is a conspicuous example of this position. Hutton
Mote is on a retired but lofty site with a wide view of the surrounding country; it was
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
the head of a barony. In size. too, these structures vary greatly, and in most cases
the number of occupants must have been small, as the motes represent, at least in
the main, the incoming of Norman settlers and their planting a fixed footing in the
country. Necessarily their quarters, however strong, cannot have been of great
dimensions. Some examples may well be due to local lords in imitation of the master-
ful incomers. Chronologically the type at least must be assigned to the 12th
century as the time of its introduction. Noteworthy in their relation to these places
is the occurrence of such names as "Boreland" and "Ingleston" (i.e. English-town)
in the vicinity. The former stands for the "bordland," that is the land provisioning
the "board" or "table" of the lord, while the latter represents a settlement of
retainers or followers. ¹
Of the earlier type of Norman stone castle, the tower and courtyard which re-
peated in stone the features of the mote-and-bailey wooden castle, no contemporary
example exists or is likely ever to have existed in Dumfriesshire, though this type of
residence never died out, and examples of a late date are plentiful in Scotland and in
England. The form of stone castle which immediately succeeded the timber type
in Scotland is that of the wall of enceinte with flanking towers exampled at Tibbers
(No. 157), where it crowns the original mote, Auchencass (No.384), and the first
Caelaverock (No. 33 (1)). We have perhaps evidence of the planting of such castles of
a new type towards the end of the 13th century in references to Clifford's "house"
at Tibbers "just begun" in 1298, ² and the new place of "Seneware" (Sanquhar)
in 1296. ³ If not the main work, these are at least buildings within it. The examples
cited follow the contemporary form of the English late 13th-century castle. The earlier
Caerlaverock, however, though apparently belonging to the same class, must have
been older than the others, if it was the place besieged and captured by Edward I.
in 1300. These late 13th-century structures are not upon lofty sites, with the
exception of Tibbers, where the original mound was strong enough to bear the
heavier structure, but depend for strength of situation upon surrounding marshy
land. Within this structure of wall and towers, and apart from the residential
facilities afforded by the towers, all buildings of a domestic or service character
would probably, in the first instance at least, be substantially of wood, for which,
however, in general, at a later stage, buildings of stone less massive in character than
the defensive walls and towers were substituted.
It will be observed that in none of these 13th-century examples is there any
dominating tower or donjon as the main defence and final refuge of the garrison.
This feature had for the time gone out of military fashion in France and England, owing
partly to the development of siege craft, partly to the desire of occupants to have
more space and more comfortable quarters in which to stand a siege. By the rounded
towers at corners of the enclosure a flanking fire was secured for the curtain walls,
while a marshy site or broad wet ditch on the level, or a spit of land in a lake, inter-
posed an effective obstacle to the mining operations of a besieging force. Caerlaverock
(No. 33 (2)), Auchencass (No. 384), Morton (No. 510), and Lochmaben (No.445 (2))
are all in their degree examples of this class. Special attention is given to the gateway
as the vulnerable place in the structure. Its outer opening is flanked with round
towers and is continued in a vaulted passage. At Auchencass, however, there is the
simpler feature of an entrance past the corner tower turning upon itself at right
angles, a donjon type. At Caerlaverock additions and elaborations from time to
1 But cf. reference to "Engless men" on p. xlii.
2 Bain's Calendar, ii. No. 1005.
3 Ibid., ii. p. 206.
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[Photos inserted]
FIG. 4. - TOWERS
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
time made the original entrance more formidable. Morton is probably the latest of
these enceinte castles; its defences are concentrated on the one way of approach,
where, too, the lower part of the curtain wall shows a pronounced batter, which
forced into fuller exposure assailants attempting to undermine the foundations. Here,
as also at Lochmaben, three sides of the building are flanked by the water of the loch.
In the case of Lochmaben the entrance between half-round towers and over the canal-
like ditch - the last of three ditches - comes immediately upon the mass of the main
building, behind which extend successive rectangular wards.
Several circumstances, however, brought the square tower back to favour in
England, and it was at this stage that the tower residence properly took root in Scot-
land. On the borders of both countries it figures in isolation as an independent
structure (fig.4). Where it is incorporated in more extensive wards, as at Lochwood
(No. 315) and Sanquhar (No. 551), it will be found that these added wards are of much
later date, are mainly domestic in character - so far as the distinction can be made -
and bear witness to the growing fortunes of the families concerned. These two are
probably 15th-century towers. Certain examples, such as Closeburn (No. 59), Tor-
thorwald (No. 590), and Spedlin's (No. 446) are of earlier type, and accordingly more
massive. Comlongon (No. 537) alone supplies examples of chambers in the mass of
its 11-feet-thick walls. The latest examples of free-standing towers, which are also
the most numerous, display an increasing fondness for ornament. Repentance Tower
(No. 89) was purely a watch-tower.
The fact is that in these towers we do not see a fortress in the strict sense of the term,
in which everything is subordinated to military purposes, but the residence of a local
magnate or laird which was also fortified. "The houses of the Grames that were,"
writes a traveller of 1629, "are but one little stone tower garretted and slated or
thatched, some of the form of a little tower not garretted; such be all the leards'
houses in Scotland." ¹ They were not expected to withstand a regular siege, but
with a small garrison offered quite effective protection against a raid. In their
external features the towers thus display a progressive insistence upon residential
conveniences, of which Caerlaverock, in a different class, affords an impressive illustra-
tion in the extension and adornment of the domestic buildings within the curtain
walls. In the case of the towers such additions and reconstructions from century to
century make it difficult to give them a strict chronological sequence.
As a type, however, this form of residence may be described as a square-angled
tower varying in dimensions and rising to a height of 40 to 50 feet at the wall head.
The walls are generally about 5 feet thick, but, while some are rather less, the lower
parts of Lochwood Tower are 9 feet thick, of Hoddom 9 1/2 feet and nowhere less than
8 feet, of Closeburn 10 feet, and of Stapleton 12 feet, thinning above to less than 6 feet.
The lower stages were, of course, the more vulnerable, but fire seems to have been the
enemy most feared. Still, in the 16th century, the "viii foote" walls of Lochmaben
were accounted of "small thyknes" - probably with respect to artillery. ² The walls
of Castlemilk Tower were 11 feet thick, and of Cockpool 14. ³ We might expect a tower
to be surrounded by a boundary wall, within which, or in the line of which, minor
enclosures would be found. A late 18th-century illustration of Hoddom Tower (No. 90)
shows it standing with such a close. When the enclosing wall was of stone it was
known as a barmkin or barnekin (cf. p. lxv.); in certain cases it might be a palisade
1 Hist. MSS. Comm. xiii., App., part vii.
2 Armstrong's Liddesdale, App. lxx. p. cxiii.
3 Ibid.
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
of timber known as a peel. ¹ In days when the palisade no longer existed, the
word survived, and the peel tower continued to be known as the peel, a descriptive
name loosely extended to all such towers whether originally they possessed a peel
proper or not.
Internally the tower contained at least two floors above the basement, and in
most cases more than two. The first floor was the hall or main living-room of
the tower. The only feature common to every important example, with one
exception, is that the basement should be vaulted in stone. But Elshieshields
(No. 447), which is among the latest, has its basement roofed with oak-beams. This
basement was always a storeroom, and it might be a stable. The upper part of
the vault was usually floored at the springing of the arch to gave further accommoda-
tion. In the logic of the building there should be no direct access from the basement
[Diagram inserted]
FIG.5. - Castlemilk from the "Plat of Milk Castle," c. 1547
(Hatfield). From tracing in Armstrong MSS.
to the upper floors, save perhaps by a
hatch, but this cannot be predicated of the
Dumfriesshire examples. Nor are there
many cases of the corresponding feature
that the main entrance of the tower should
be on the first floor. This is true of
Lochwood, Sanquhar and Closeburn, was
probably true of Spedlin's, and possibly of
many others in their earlier forms. The an-
nexed illustration shows this characteristic
in the case of the old tower of Castlemilk
(fig. 5), with the usual mode of approach
- a wooden ladder. The upper rooms were
floored with wood, and numbered two or
more, probably according to the age of the
tower. Thus Torthorwald has two vaulted
storeys, which was also originally the con-
dition of Closeburn and Spedlin's. The later
demand for greater comfort increased the accommodation in the provision of upper
rooms and by adding to the height of the building, as also by the projection of turrets
at the angles, till in the late structure of Amisfield we find the upper part of the square
block opening out in such excrescences like a flower. We find, further, the circular
stair or vice, which had generally been tucked into a corner of the building, as at
Closeburn, Lochhouse (No. 388), Robgill (No. 107), Lag (No. 136), etc., and even in
the much later towers of Hollows (No. 43), Stapleton (No. 106), etc., and so, as in
the latter examples, had frequently encroached upon the internal space, removed,
as at Amisfield, to a corner turret rising from the first-floor level, or, as in
Elshieshields and Blacket House (No. 460), wholly confined to a separate wing. At
1 Peel or pele is for Old French pel, from the Latin accusative palum, a stake. In 1544 we have a note
of the burning, among other things, of "peel houses, corn and steads in Hodholme ... and all the peels
in Myddleby and Middleby Woods" (Letters and Papers, Henry VIII., Foreign and Domestic, vol. xix.
part ii. p. 373). An Act of 1535 ordered every man dwelling in the inland or border having land to the
annual value of £100 to build in a convenient place a "barmekyn" of stone and lime 60 feet square,
with walls an ell thick and 6 ells (Scots ell = 34 1/2 English inches) high, as a refuge to himself and his
tenants in troublous times, with a tower in the same for himself, if thought expedient. Those having
a smaller rental were to construct peels or great strengths, as they pleased, for saving themselves,
tenants, and goods.
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
Barjarg (No. 327) the tower containing the stair and basement entrance had been at
the re-entering angle formed by the junction of the tower with its original wing. In
Frenchland Tower (No. 480), where there was a good deal of reconstruction, we have
the common arrangement of a stair to the first floor provided in the new wing, the
upper part of which, however, was laid out in rooms, while the old wheel-staircase still
served all above the first-floor level.
One sign of a late period of construction is the presence of ornament based on
military features; Hollows thus displaying its late 16th-century character in the
ornamental corbelling and cable ornament of its parapet, which projects so slightly
[Map inserted]
FIG. 6. - Map showing the situation of Castles and Fortified Houses "in the Debateable Land," 1590.
From map in British Museum (Bib. Reg., 18 D iii.).
as to be of little military effectiveness. In Isle Tower (No. 337), too, as in Elshie-
shields, we see the total disappearance of the defensive wall-head, the sides passing
immediately into the gabled crow-stepped roof. At Spedlin's, however, where the
same construction appears, the upper floors have been imposed on an older as
much more massive portion. Ornamental detail is most conspicuous in the case
of Amisfield, where Renaissance pilasters on the dormer outface Gothic dog-tooth
ornament on other windows and string courses of both early and late design. In
the articles on Amisfield and Elshieshields reasons are given for the belief that both
places are due to the same designer.
A feature of these defensible Border houses was the iron "yett" or gate , of which
a few examples survive (see fig. 133 and Index), and which was placed just within
the wooden door (cf. p. lxv.). That these iron gates were both formidable and
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
numerous is indicated by the decree of the Privy Council in 1606 ordering their
destruction in all "houssis and strenthis" in the Borders save those of "answerable
baronis." The reason given was that their presence made it difficult, in case of
trouble, "to wyn and recover the saidis houssis and to apprehend the lymmairis being
thairintill." The "yettis" were accordingly to be removed and "turnit in plew
(plough) irnis or sic other necessar werk." ¹ This measure was part of the general
policy for the establishment of peaceful conditions on the Borders, but the "yetts"
are known as defensive features that were common throughout the country. ² In every
case their manner of construction is similar and apparently peculiar to Scotland:
the bars penetrate mutually and alternatively in alternate compartments.
As suggested by the map (fig.6), most of these ancient structures have been
swept away, mainly, it would appear, within the last hundred years or so. For
example, at the close of the eighteenth century there were still the remains of five
towers in Mouswald parish, ³ where now is but the fragment of one. Even fifty years
later, in the parish of Kirkpatrick-Fleming, there were seven similar towers within
four miles of the one at Woodhouse, ⁴ the solitary and ruinous survivor. A few in
greater or less degree still serve as dwelling-places. Bonshaw (No. 1), Stapleton,
Lochhouse, and Isle have lost little of their original character and are inhabited.
Robgill, Breckonside (No. 475), and Sundaywell (No. 137) have been incorporated
in modern structures; but the chief example in this connection is Hoddom Tower
(No. 90), the central feature of the present mansion. Fourmerkland Tower (No. 280)
was occupied till comparatively lately; two storeys of Bogrie Tower (No. 138) make
a shepherd's house.
On the Borders, indeed, any stone building might have on occasion to serve as a
fortress. The map (fig. 6) of strong places on the West March in the 16th century
thus includes all types from the castles proper of Lochmaben and Caerlaverock
to the humblest of residential towers. Thus, too, Annan Church steeple could attain
the rank of a fortress, and suffer siege (see p. xxxi.); a process reversed in the case
of the later castle proper, which was adapted as a church (see p. xlvi). What probably
was the ordinary type of town house of the poorer sort is described by the traveller
of 1629 already cited. At Langholm he lodged "in a poor thatched house the wall
of it being one course of stones, another of sods of earth, it had a door of wicker rods."
The story of the successful attack upon the steeple at Annan by an English
column in September 1547 illustrates the method of such operations upon the Borders.
"And we having in ordenaunce but a facon, a faconett, and foure quarter facons,
for that ther is no baterie peice at Carlisle, divised that night (i.e. Sunday, September
4) howe we shulde maik warr agaynst the house on the morowe. At viijth of the
clok in the mornying, we laid those sex peices to beit the battailling, and appoyntid
certane archers and hagbutters to maik warre also untill a paveis (i.e. large shield)
of tymbre might be drawn to the sidde of the steplee, under whiche sexe pyoners might
work to have undermyened the sam; and in putting these to effectes, they in the
house maid sharpe warre, and slewe foure of our men and hurt divers others. And
with grett stones from the steple toppe, brooke the paveis after it was sett, and being
in that extrymytie, lakking ordenaunce for that purpose, we caused certane pyoners
cutt the walle of the east end of the quere, overthuart abone the earthe, and caused
the hooll ende to falle, wherwith the rooff and tymbre falling inward, slewe vij Scotes-
1 Reg. P.C. vii. p. 271.
2 Cf. Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., xvii. pp. 98 ff.
3 Stat. Acct., vii. p. 298.
4 New Stat. Acct., iv. p. 279.
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
men. And after that we caused the pieces to be laid to shoot at the doore of the steplee
which was a house hight (i.e. one "room" or "house" above the ground floor),
and that house hight rampered with earthe, and caused them further to myen."
And then the captain about 4 p.m. took down his "pensall (flag) of defyaunce" and
he and his men "cried for marcie." So they surrendered without conditions, and
the captain, "a tall gentleman," with his fifty-seven men came out and delivered the
"kies." On Tuesday morning we "cutt and raiced down the churche wallis and
steplee, and brent the towne, not leving any thing therin unbrent; which was the
best town in Anderdaill." ¹
The capture of Lochwood (No. 315) in the same year was a more humiliating
affair, but the account contains several references of structural interest:- "We came
there about an hour before day; and the greater part of us lay close without the
barnekin: But about a dozen of the men got over the barnekin wall, and stole close
into the house within the barnekin, and took the wenches and kept them secure in the
house till daylight. And at sun-rising, two men and a woman being in the tower,
one of the men rising in his shirt, and going to the tower head, and seeing nothing stir
about, he called on the wench that lay in the tower, and bade her rise and open the
tower door and call up them that lay beneath. She so doing and opening the iron
door, and a wood door without it, our men with the barnekin brake a little too soon
to the door; for the wench perceiving them, leaped back into the tower, and had
gotten almost the wood door to, but one got hold of it that she could not get it close
to; so the skirmish rose, and we over the barnekin and broke open the wood door, and
she being troubled with the wood door left the iron door open, and so we entred and
wan the Loghwood; where we found truly the house well purveyed for beef salted, malt,
big (i.e. barley), havermeal (i.e. oatmeal, cf. German hafer, oats), butter and cheese." ²
Of the furniture of these residences only the structural constituents remain
in ornate chimney pieces, such as the early one at Comlongon and the Renaissance
examples at Spedlin's, Amisfield, and Caerlaverock; the stone-silled recess - buffet
or cupboard - at Amisfield, and the late Gothic stone cupboard or buffet, which
was shelved, at Comlongon; as well as various smaller aumbries and lamp-recesses
throughout. The cutting off of one end of the hall at Comlongon to form a kitchen
is a feature paralleled in Elphinstone Castle, East Lothian, and the towers of Law and
Fairlie on the Firth of Clyde. At Spedlin's are indications of the position of a screen
and gallery in the hall, and in the second floor at Amisfield are the last crumbling
traces of the brightly coloured design which formed a frieze below the patterned
corbels, while the room below still bears some of its plaster cornice. It happens,
however, that an inventory of the contents of Caerlaverock Castle was made after
its surrender in 1640, the main features of which may be briefly described.
The bulk of the furnishing is in beds, many of them "canaby" or canopy beds,
trunks and chests, some having locks, cupboards - apparently of various types,
as one was "lead our with gould lace," - chairs and stools. Besides those in other
rooms there were three beds in the "hich wardrop" and three in the new "wardrope,"
four in "Sanders" chamber, a canopy bed in a drawing ("draing") room, and a
falling bed as well as a "burd" or table in the "daning (dining) rume before my
lady's camber." In fact there were taken ³ from the castle five beds richly equipped
1 Scottish Papers, i. No. 42.
2 Cited in the History of Westmorland and Cumberland, Nicolson and Burn, vol. i. p. liv.
3 "Intromettit with" by Lieut.-Col. Home on the plea that the conditions of surrender had been
broken.
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
with curtains edged with heavy silk fringes and lace, each having its proper bed-
clothes "with chairs and stools ansuerabillie," and each bed with its furniture and
"bedsteid of timber" valued at £110 sterling; ¹ ten lesser beds with furnishings
each at £15 "owerheid"; and twenty other beds for servants with equipment at
£7 each. There were also taken two dozen chairs and stools covered with red velvet
fringed with crimson silk and studded with gilt nails, the whole estimated at £60;
and five dozen of Turkey, i.e. tapestry work, each chair worth fifteen shillings and
each stool nine shillings. Added to these was a large spoil of napery of all kinds,
tablecloths, napkins, towels, sheets - part of damask, part "cowrse," - and eight
suits of apparel in a trunk, some of velvet, some of satin and some of cloth.
The furniture of "ane drawing rowme" was in cloth of silver and included
"ane cutche bed" (i.e. a bed without canopy or tester), a great chair with a cushion
and footstool, six other chairs with backs and six stools, all garnished with silk and
silver fringe. In the New Hall were a "leid" and "a maskin fatt," both being large
vats or vessels for brewing; in the Long Hall six cases of windows, 22 pikes and
13 lances; and in my Lord's Hall two "burds" or tables and six tapestry stools.
Special articles were a painted board "in the round chamber without my Lords
chamber," "my lord and my lady's pictures" in another room with various articles
of convenience, a table cloth valued at £20, two red window curtains, a pair of
virginals, ² a long cushion of black and white stuff, some chairs and stools covered with
brown cloth embroidered in yellow (passementet "yealow") or red cloth with black
embroidery, five suits of hangings (i.e. for the walls of rooms) of eight pieces each,
and each suit worth £60, forty carpets (table-covers or bed-covers) ³ large and small,
averaged at forty shillings each, 22 curtain rods, and a library of books which had
cost £200.
It is evident from the general character of the furnishing - the number of chairs,
cupboards, and of beds per room, and the abundance and richness of coverings and
drapery of all sorts, which were taking the place of the earlier elaborate carving -
that it was of comparatively recent origin, probably contemporaneous with the
building of the new wing before 1620. The richer stuffs, such as damasks, velvets,
etc., must have come from either Italy or England, more probably the former.
III. ECCLESIASTICAL REMAINS.
Dumfries, as part of the old Strathclyde kingdom, was included in the diocese
of Glasgow on its re-constitution by King David, while still Prince of Cumbria, in the
first quarter of the 12th century. The earlier connection with St Kentigern has been
noticed above (p. xxi.). A later ecclesiastical link with Yorkshire was established
by the grants to the Augustinian Priory of Gyseburn (Guisbrough) of Annandale
churches by the Bruces, who had been founders of the priory (c. 1124). Thus, in
the late 12th century, and down to the final breach caused by the War of Independ-
ence, we find Gyseburn in possession of the churches of Annan, Lochmaben, Kirk-
patrick with Logan Chapel, Cummertrees, Rainpatrick, and Gretna. Of regular
foundations there were three within the county: Canonbie in Eskdale as a cell of
1 All values are in sterling money.
2 A keyed musical instrument of the pianoforte type. There was only one instrument, "pair"
being descriptive, not numeral.
3 Some may have been used as "foot-carpets," but the exclusive use of the word in this sense is not
established before the middle of the next century.
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Ancient and Historical Monuments - Dumfries.
[Photographs inserted]
FIG. 7. - CROSSES.
To face p. lxvii. |
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INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.
Canons Regular of Jedburgh, the Abbey of Holywood (de sacro nemore; Saint Boyse)
or Dercongal ("oak of Congal") for Premonstratensians in Nithsdale, and the house
of Franciscan Friars in the town of Dumfries. Of these only a site or vague relics
remain. What still survived of Holywood was used in 1779 as a quarry for the new
parish church. ¹ The two bells of the abbey also have found refuge in the church.
The same general condition applies to the hospitals at Sanquhar (No. 572), How-
Spital (Annan), and Spital (Dumfries), the latter two preserving the name, ² and to
the chapelry at Trailtrow.
But churches on the West March had a hard time like everything else. It has
been shown how Annan Church became a fortress, and how the new fortress became a
church (p. xlvi.). Also how the vocation of the Armstrongs and their like was inimical
even to sacred buildings, so that by the beginning of the 17th century many mediæval
fabrics were in a ruinous condition (pp. xxxvi., xlv.). The thrifty combination of
parishes in the course of the same century, with the provision of one new church in
place of two or three older ones, further contributed to the disappearance of the original
structures. There was thus a fresh building period early in the 17th century, and there
is evidence of another about a hundred years later. Garvald Church (No. 355) was a
reconstruction of 1617, and is now a ruin. Durisdeer Church (No. 152) is a large
composite Renaissance building of the late 17th century, and still in use. The older
church of Mickle Dalton (No. 96) is of a few years later, but has been abandoned for
the modern edifice.
The earliest fragments of mediæval building are St Cuthbert's Chapel at Moffat
(No. 383), some part, perhaps, of the late church at Glencairn (No. 229), and an arched
recess within Canonbie Churchyard (No. 42), all probably of the 13th century. To
these must now be added, as the result of excavation in the course of the summer
of 1915, the foundations and part of the walls of Old Hoddom Church beside the Annan
(No. 271). The Roman streets and buildings at Birrens provided its stones. The
chancel is rectangular, inside and out; the chancel arch is comparatively narrow;
and the dimensions of the building correspond very closely to those of St Helen's,
Cockburnspath. ³ One or two minute portions of painted glass were found, of the type
known from Coldingham Priory, ⁴ which are of a date at the close of the 13th or the
beginning of the 14th century. Certain of the cross-slabs found beside the church
also appear to be of the 13th-century date.
Crosses. - The sculptured crosses are few in number, and some are represented
only by fragments. All are overshadowed by the magnificent monument of the
Ruthwell Cross, which is unique as furnishing also the text of a fragment of an early
poem now lost in this linguistic form. The whole subject of the Ruthwell Cross,
however, occupies a special place in the Appendix. The only other complete examples
are the much-worn one at Thornhill beside the Nith (No. 531), and the late mediæval
cross at Merkland (No. 378). With the exception of this last, and that at Thornhill,
in which the decoration is wholly zoӧmorphic, all the examples, whether whole or
fragmentary, are of the Northumbrian or Anglian type, many displaying the char-
acteristic decoration of scroll foliage involving birds and other creatures. Among
the very numerous cross-slabs of north-eastern Scotland three only display this motive
- the Hilton and Tarbet cross-slabs at Invergordon, and the one at Mugdrum, Fife -
1 Buccleuch MSS., p. 69.
2 Chalmers, Caledonia, v. p. 154; Spittalriddinghill is north-west of Annan.
3 Berwickshire Inventory, No. 46.
4 Ibid., p. 40, No. 74.
-- lxvii |
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HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION.
all of later date; while it is not found in Scotland outside these limits. In the skill
of the relief work, too, these southern crosses are distinguished from similar cases
beyond the Forth. The fragments from Knockhill (No. 273), now described in detail
for the first time, have suffered most severely. They apparently represent a small
group of crosses, and also have their own special features. On the Ruthwell Cross
the subjects re scriptural or saintly narrative, or are symbolic in a straightforward
way noticeable also at Knockhill, where, however, the other surviving subjects appear
to be allegorical or representative. On the principal specimen in the Grierson Museum,
Thornhill (No. 514), the figures are of a symbolism that hitherto has withstood
explanation.
Bells. - Of the bells in the county the oldest is that still in use in the Parish
Church of Lochmaben (No. 452), which may be of the early 14th century. Its
companion is much later. A 15th-century bell survives in the Maxwelltown Museum,
Dumfries (No. 134). The bells of the vanished Abbey of Holywood (No. 285) are,
one certainly and probably both, of the early 16th century. The 17th century has left
a few examples: one at Closeburn Church (No. 58), another on a tree at Ewes (No. 227),
and one in Moffat (No. 496). The bell at Closeburn is a Potterrow (Edinburgh)
casting, and the handsome 18th-century bell at Mickle Dalton (No. 96) is also from
Edinburgh.
-- lxviii |
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INVENTORY
OF THE ANCIENT AND HISTORICAL MONUMENTS AND
CONSTRUCTIONS IN THE COUNTY OF DUMFRIES.
ANNAN.
CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC STRUCTURES.
1. Bonshaw Tower. - Bonshaw Tower (fig.
4 of Introduction), dating from the 16th
century, lies less than 1/2 a mile south-
south-east of Kirtlebridge Station, on the
[Plan inserted]
Fig. 8. - Bonshaw Tower (No. 1).
western bank of the Kirtle Water, which
washes the eastern base of the declivity
on the summit of which the tower is set.
To the south is a ravine traversed by a
burn; to the north and west there are no
defences visible, a walled courtyard, which
extended eastwards from the tower to the
cliff and through which the tower was reached,
being deemed sufficient. The entrance to the
tower is in the east wall; over it is carved
in raised characters the motto
SOLI · DEO · HONOR · ET · GLORIA.
The door opens on a passage admitting to
the basement and the wheel-stair in the
north-eastern angle. From the stone roof of
the vestibule hangs a pendant, on which is
carved IHS in monogram, as at Robgill Tower
(No. 107). The building measures exteriorly
some 36 feet 6 inches by 27 feet 1 inch; the
walls terminate at a height of 39 feet 9 inches
from the ground in a parapet and walk carried
on corbels of simple design; a splayed base-
ment-course returns along the walls at a
height of 2 feet 6 inches from the ground.
The basement, measuring 15 feet 9 inches
by 25 feet, has a vaulted ceiling fitted with a
hatch, and is provided with a gunloop in each
wall at the level of the basement-course and a
small window in the south wall high up in the
vault. A stone bin, possibly for storage of
provisions, is built against the east wall. A
prison, measuring 8 feet 2 inches by 4 feet
4 inches, is formed in the south-west angle.
This apartment has no window, but a flue for
ventilation is provided in the vaulted ceiling.
The upper floors are three in number. The
hall occupies the first floor; it measures 27
feet 2 inches by 17 feet 8 inches and is lit by
a window 2 feet 6 inches wide, with modern
mullions, in each wall. Those in the east and
west walls have an aumbry set in the jamb,
and against the jambs of the south window
are stone seats. Projecting some 2 feet from
-- 1-- 1 |
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ANNAN.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [ANNAN.
the south gable is a fine stone fireplace measur-
ing 9 feet over the moulded jambs and some
7 feet high. An aumbry 3 feet 6 inches wide,
with an ogival-arched head, is set in the east
wall.
The second floor resembles the hall in
general arrangement, with the addition of a
garde-robe in the north-western angle. the
third floor consists of a garret within the roof,
but the roof itself is modern and less steeply
pitched than the original. The parapet,
which appears to have been recently restored,
has a machicolation over each gunloop. The
building is cnnected with the mansion by
a covered passage, and is in excellent
repair.
Bonshaw estate appears to have been ac-
quired by the Irvings from the Corries after
the suppression of the Douglases (see Introd.,
p. xxviii.). the tower became one of the
principal places of the clan in the latter part
of the 16th century. It was burned by
Wharton, the English Warden of the West
March, in the raid of Sept. 1544. ¹ In June
1585, being then in possession of Edward
"Yrwen," and reported "one of the strongest
howses of that border," it was besieged by
Lord Maxwell. ² In July, Maxwell had again
placed his forces round Bonshaw, ³ which
seems to have been successfully defended.
Early in the next year the Johnstones fell
upon Captain Richard Maxwell and his royal
police force and carried him off, wounded,
to confinement in "the Bonshaw," Edward
Irving being their accomplice. ⁴
1 Hamilton Papers, ii. p. 456; 2 Calendar of
Border Papers, i. No. 321; 3 ibid., No. 327;
4 Register Privy Council, iv. pp. 56-7.
lviii. -- S.W. -- 25 July 1912. *
2. St. Bryde's Tower, Brydekirk Mains. - Of
this tower, which lay 1/2 a mile north of Bryde-
kirk village, only a fragment of the north wall
survives, surrounded by the out-buildings
of Brydekirk Mains farm. The wall is 15
feet long, 3 feet broad, and terminates at a
height of 25 feet from the ground in a frag-
mentary corbel course.
* The reference throughout is to the Ordnance
Survey maps, 6-inch scale, for Dumfriesshire. The
date is that on which the structure was visited.
"Habye Carlile of Brydekirk" is among
the landlorda ordered in 1590 to find surety
under the Act of 1587. (Reg. Privy Council,
iv. p. 790).
lvii. -- S. E. -- 28 may 1912.
DEFENSIVE CONSTRUCTION.
3. Mote of Annan. - This mote (fig. 9) is in
the garden of a villa known as "Moat House"
on the west side of the town of Annan. A low
meadow, from which it rises with a steep
scar, intervenes for a distance of 100 yards
or thereby between it and the River Annan.
[Diagram inserted]
FIG. 9. - Mote of Annan (No. 3).
The mote proper forms the northern extremity
of the construction, rising to an elevation of
some 50 feet and measuring 22 feet across
its level summit by 50 feet lengthwise. A
broad trench separates it from the base-court,
which extends southward for a distance of
270 feet in an irregular oblong, expanding
from a breadth of 50 feet at its northern end
to 110 feet at the south and rising to an eleva-
tion of 60 feet above the meadow on the west
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ANNAN.] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. [APPLEGARTH.
and 35 feet above the higher levels on the
east and south. The mote has been sur-
rounded on the sides away from the river
by a trench, as also probably was the base-
court, but the lines of the whole construction
have been seriously interfered with in the
formation of the villa garden. (See Introd.,
pp. xxxi.-ii.)
lxii. -- N.E. -- 4 October 1912.
MISCELLANEOUS.
4. Inscribed Stone, Annan. - An inscribed
stone, said to have come from the ruins of a
castle or building at or beside The Moat, was
seen and copied by the travellers Pococke and
Pennant. In 1760 Pococke described it as
"a stone taken from the old building." In
the Caledonia Chalmers wrote of it as "built
into the wall of a gentleman's garden." In
the New Statistical Account it is stated to
have been "built into the wall of a small
vintage-house in a garden in the town." Sub-
sequently acquired by an antiquarian resident
in the town, it was taken away by him on his
removal to the south of England. The in-
scription is in well-formed lettering of Lom-
bardic capitals, but the Arabic numerals
forming the date "1300" are obviously not
original and are not cut with either the depth
or breadth of the lettering. The stone is
decayed and damaged in parts. The inscrip-
tion is as follows:-
ROBERT · DE · BRVS ·
COUNTE · DE · CA
[RRIK] · ET · SENƺ [N] U
R] · DU · VAL · D [E · AN] N
AND · 1300
At the end of the third line the ƺ alone offers
difficulty. Pennant, with some justification,
read the word as SENTEUR, against which,
apart from the sense, there is only to be said
that the fourth letter has a straight hori-
zontal top, while every T in the inscription
has a curving top. In all likelihood the word
is, as has always been supposed, a corrupt
rendering of SEIGNEUR, perhaps in some such
form as SENGNUR * or SENYOUR. The date
* "Seingneur" is found, e.g., in Berne MS. See
facsimile in Acts Parl. Scot., vol. i.
1300 was a shrewd enough computation: such
an inscription could not correctly date in any
case earlier then 1292 or later than 1306.
See Pococke's Tours in Scotland (Scottish
History Society, 1887), p. 35, where the
bishop's transcription is reproduced in fac-
simile; Pennant'sTour in Scotland, ii. p.
96; Chalmer's Caledonia, iii. p.139; Neilson
in Trans. Dumf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc., 1915-
16, p. 69 ff.
5. Stone Circle and St. Marjory's Cross (re-
mains of), Woodhead. - On the boundary of the
parishes of Dornock and Annan, between two
plantations and about 1/4 mile west by south
of Woodhead cottage, the O.S. map marks
"Stone Circle and St. Marjory's Cross (re-
mains of)." These now consist of two granitic
boulders about 11 feet 6 inches apart, the
largest of which is some 3 feet in height above
ground.
lxiii. -- N.W. -- 6 October 1912.
SITES.
6. St Bryde's Kirk and Well, Brydekirk
Mains. lvii. S.E.
7. Newbie Castle, Newbie Mains. lxii. S.E.
8. "Cairn of Creca," Creca. lviii. S.W.
APPLEGARTH.
DEFENSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS.
9. Fort, Whitecastle Knowe. - This fort occu-
pies the summit of an oval hillock, known
as the Whitecastle Knowe, which crowns the
western slope of the watershed between the
Dryfe and the Annan, 1/2 mile to the west of
the farm of Newbigging. The hillock stands
at an altitude of 734 feet above sea-level,
and, except for two adjacent heights which
obstruct the view to the south-east and
north-north-west, commands an extensive
panorama. On the north and west it rises
abruptly for some 30 to 40 feet, while on
the south, and still more on the east, the
gradient from the surrounding level is easy.
The enciente is oval in form, with its longest
axis north and south, along which it measures
some 455 feet by 260 feet. It has been
surrounded by a rampart of compacted
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APPLEGARTH] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [APPLEGARTH.
clay immixed with stones, rising now at no
point more than 2 feet above the level of the
interior. This has been supplemented by a
trench arounfd the south extremity and along
the eastern flank, which has a width from
crest to crest of about 25 feet and lies some
8 feet down from the crest of the mound.
From north to south along the western side
the rampart follows the line of the summit,
but on the east and more assailable sides
it is carried along the flank some 8 to 10
feet below the highest level of the interior,
with a slight parallel depression in rear of it.
Into this lower level the entrance opens on the
east, with a width of some 10 feet, crossing
the trench and passing through the rampart,
whence a track is observable leading up to
the higher level.
This construction differs essentially from
any in the Langholm district, in that the
interior at all points is at a higher level
than the land outside, and that, except
perhaps in rear of the rampart, where there
may have been slight excavation, it shows
no hollowing out.
xxxiv. -- S.W. -- 23 July 1912.
10. Fort, Broomhill Bank Hill. - Situated on
the west side of the south end of the summit
of Broomhill Bank Hill, at an elevation of
more than 700 feet over sea-level, is a fort
commanding an extensive view of Annandale.
The ground rises very steeply to the level of
the fort from the east, but elsewhere from
below and towards the actual summit on the
north-east it mounts by easy gradients. The
enceinte, which is approximately circular,
measuring some 230 feet in diameter, is
surrounded, except above the east declivity,
by two concentric ramparts of earth and stone,
the inner 18 feet wide at base and the outer
22 feet, which are separated by a trench some
18 feet wide and 4 feet in depth. Some
70 feet beyond the outer rampart lies a third
of low elevation, 16 feet broad at base, which
runs concentrically from the north-east,
and, as it passes from south to south-west,
gradually converges with the intermediate
rampart, meeting it 106 feet from its termina-
tion on the south-west. At the termination
of the ramparts on the south-west, a hollow,
evidently the entrance, is observable passing
into the enceinte at its lowest part: beyond
it the outline of what has been a slighter
rampart is discernible for a few feet trending
along the east face.The interior surface
appears to be at its natural level and un-
excavated, as also is the space within the
outer and middle rampart, except towards
the point of contact, where it is hollowed to a
trench.
11. Fort, Broomhill Bank Hill. - Some 260
yards to the north-east of the last is another
fort on the summit of the hill, at an eleva-
tion of some 871 feet over sea-level, not
visible from its neighbour and commanding
a great prospect in all directions. The in-
clination from the direction of the last fort is
slight, but on the west and north the hill falls
sharply away. The enceinte is oval in form,
lying with its main axis north and south,
measures in diameter 190 feet by 170 feet, and
is surrounded by a slight parapet mound and a
trench partially cut through rock, at most soe
6 feet deep and 8 feet wide, with a mound
on the counterscarp varying in height as the
level beyond rises or falls. There are two
entrances, one on the east side of indefinite
width overlooking the steep slope to the base
of the hill, and the other on the west side, some
10 feet wide, from the direction of the other
fort. The interior, which has not been hol-
lowed, rises at the centre 5 to 6 feet above
the level of the entrances.
xxxiv. -- S.W. -- 23 July 1912.
12. Fort, Blindhillbush Hill. - This fort is
situated on the summit of Blindhillbush Hill,
at an elevation of 618 feet over sea-level, in an
impenetrable fir plantation. It is shown on
the O.S. map as oval, with its longest axis
north and south, measuring 215 feet by 160
feet. It is surrounded by a rampart of earth
and stone rising at most barely 3 feet above
the interior, and, in general, having a scarp to
the outside some 6 feet in height. At the
south-west a bank passes outward from the
scarp, with a slight divergence in a south-
easterly direction, but is soon lost in the
cultivated land beyond the wood.
xxxiv. -- S.W. -- 23 July 1912.
13. Mote, Applegarth. - The Mote of Apple-
garth rises on the termination of a steep bank,
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APPLEGARTH.] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. [APPLEGARTH.
which was no doubt in former days washed at its
base on the west by the Annan, though that
river now flows through meadow land more than
100 yards away. It is situated to the south
of the parish church and within the grounds
of the manse, the kitchen garden of which lies
on its summit. From the base of the bank on
the west the mound rises to a height of 29 feet
with a steep scarp, the elevation diminishing
as it passes round by the south to the east
side to 14 feet, while to the north the height
of the summit above a lawn formed on the
top of the bank is only some 6 feet. In the
latter direction the levels have probably been
interfered with, and there is now no trace of
the trench which, no doubt, existed here, nor
is it possible to say whether a base-court
existed on this higher level. Along the east
side and round to south, some 6 feet below
the summit and 8 feet above the base, is a
6-foot terrace gradually descending to the
base level on the north face. This terrace
on the east and south appears to be an
original feature, but beneath it the mound is
faced with a modern retaining wall, and it is
possible that the profile has been altered in
comparatively recent times. The summit of
the mote is circular, measuring in diameter
105 feet from north to south by 116 feet from
east to west.
xlii. -- S.E. -- 2 August 1912.
14. Fort, Millbank. - This fort, which ap-
pears to be a pure earthwork, is situated on
a gentle undulation about 1/4 mile west-south-
west of Millbank Farm, some 2 miles to the
north of Lockerbie, and is enclosed and
planted with trees. In plan it is circular, with
a diameter of some 208 feet, surrounded by
a single trench, 35 feet in width and with a
depth, where best preserved, of 8 feet below
the crests of the scarp and counterscarp.
Crowning the scarp is a parapet mound some
18 feet in thickness at base and 3 to 4 feet in
height on the interior, while a similar mound
surmounts the counterscarp. Near the centre
of the north side there is an entrance by a
gangway 5 feet wide, crossing the trench at an
elevation of 4 feet above the bottom level and
carried through the parapet mound by a gap of
equal width; there appears to have been a
second entrance from the west, passing inwards
at the level of the ground outside into a hollow
at the lowest point of the interior. The inner
circle of the enceinte has been preserved com-
plete, but, except towards the north, the
trench has passed into land now under cultiva-
tion and has suffered in consequence. The
site, though at an elevation of only 250 feet,
commands a fine prospect up Annandale.
xliii. -- S.W. -- 6 August 1912.
15. Fort, Cumstone Burn. - Some 200 yards
west by north of Cumstone farmhouse, on the
top of the steep right bank of the Cumstone
Burn and some 25 feet above the level of the
stream, is an oval enclosure with its longest
axis north by west and south by east and
measuring interiorly 179 feet by 157 feet. It
is surrounded by a rampart of earth and stone
some 22 feet broad at base, rising from 3 to
5 feet above the level of the interior, with a
concentric trench to the outside carried to the
face of the bank of the burn at either end,
22 feet wide and 5 feet below the crest of the
ramparts. The situation is at the base of the
Bow Hill, and has no great outlook.
xliii. -- N.E. -- 6 August 1912.
16. Fort, Fir Tree Hill. - This fort is situated
on a plateau on the western slope of Fir Tree
Hill, at an elevation of 740 feet or thereby
above sea-level. It is an oblong enclosure
lying with its longest axis north-north-west and
south-south-east, measuring interiorly 154 feet
by 97 feet, surrounded by a rampart of earth
and stone rising some 4 feet above the interior
level, with a trench beyond, 26 feet broad and
3 to 4 feet deep below the crest of the scarp, and
with a mound on the counterscarp which, on
the north-east or higher side, rises 7 feet above
the bottom of the trench. The entrance, 5 feet
in width, has been from the east, where it
passes through the inner mound. It presents
a peculiar arrangement. The mound which
crowns the counterscarp as it comes round
from the north is returned across the trench
straight towards the opening through the inner
rampart, and stops a few feet distant from
it, leaving a passage into the trench to the
north as well as to the interior. The space left
between the return of the mound, where it
leaves its regular curve, and the end of the outer
-- 5 |
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APPLEGARTH.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [APPLEGARTH.
mound at its continuance is only some 2 feet.
Above the fort, some 50 feet back from the
entrance, a broad earthen bank 16 feet wide at
base and 3 feet high passes along the hillside
and turns away in a south-westerly direction.
it is unusually massive for a feal dyke, but it
is impossible to say whether it is contem-
poraneous with the fort, though it is with
enclosures, obviously folds, farther to the
north.
xliii. -- N.E. -- 9 August 1912.
17. Fort, Roseburrain. - This enclosure is
situated on a plateau somewhat less than 1/4
mile to the south-west of the Fir Tree Hill
Fort (No. 16). The ground in front of it on
the east is level and marshy, while on the
south also it is flat. To the north it falls away
in a steep gradient for some 60 feet, and to the
west, declining gradually for about 40 yards, it
drops thereafter sharply to the bed of a burn.
The enclosure appears to have been oblong
with rounded ends, but the defences to the
north and north-west have entirely disap-
peared, if any permanent rampart ever existed
there, while along the west side they are now
very slight. Along the south and east there
exists a massive mound of earth and stone,
with a scarp to the exterior at a very regular
height of from 6 to 8 feet and rising from
2 to 4 feet in height on the interior. Where
the ground rises towards the enclosure from
the outside it is cut through to form a trench.
The entrance, which has been wide, is on the
east side, somewhat to the north of the centre.
At the base of the glacis, leading up to it on
the exterior, is an oblong hut foundation,
apparently of turf, measuring interiorly 22 feet
by 11 feet; and in the interior to the right
of the entrance is another similar foundation
measuring 25 feet by 16 feet. No part of
the interior appears to have been hollowed by
excavation.
xliii. -- N.W. -- 9 August 1912.
18. Fort, "Burrain Skelton," Cleuchheads
Hill. - This fort is placed some 600 feet above
sea-level on the top of Cleuchheads Hill and
on the west side of the Dryfe valley. It is
overgrown with a dense plantation of young
fir trees, which makes a survey impossible.
The O.S. map shows it on plan to be a long
oval with its main axis north and south,
measuring some 380 feet by 215 feet. It is
scarped apparently all round to a height of
from 6 to 8 feet; as far as observable it does
not appear to be hollowed by excavation in
the interior. This was a beacon hill (see p.
xxxiv.).
xliii. -- N.W. -- 12 August 1912.
19. Fort, near Dalmakethar. - This fort is
situated at an elevation of 369 feet above sea-
level, about 1/2 mile west-north-west of Dalma-
kethar farm, on the crest of a long grassy
round-backed ridge, which lies parallel with
the Annan on the east side of the dale and
commands an extensive prospect both up and
down. On the west the ground declines
steeply for some 30 feet, sinking thereafter by
an easier gradient to the river; to the north
and south the ridge extends, running level for
1/2 mile in the latter direction and dipping to a
lower level in the former; while on the east
the surface slopes downwards by an easy
gradient. The fort is oval in form, lying
with its longest axis north and south, and
measures over all some 225 by 175 feet. It
has been surrounded by a massive rampart,
now greatly reduced and probably much
spread, measuring some 40 to 45 feet in width
on the south and east. At the north end the
mound covers an area 53 feet in breadth, on
the top of which is a slight depression; but
whether this is a raised platform within the
outer rampart, or a double rampart levelled
down, it is not possible to tell without ex-
cavation. It is unlikely, however, that the
defences would be duplicated towards the
lower side of the fort and not on the higher.
The entrance has been on the east side, con-
siderably to the north of the centre. The
extension of the mound at the north end has
reduced the interior to somewhat of a shield
form, measuring 132 feet from north to south
by 93 feet from east to west.
An old road with, locally, a Roman attribu-
tion, is said to pass near the entrance of this
fort and has a place on the O.S. map. The fort
itself does not show any features suggestive
of Roman castrametation.
xxxiii. -- N.E. -- 14 August 1912.
20. Fort, Dalmakethar Burn. - About 1/4 mile
east by north of Dalmakethar farm is another
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APPLEGARTH.] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. [APPLEGARTH.
fort (fig. 10) at an elevation of nearly 400 feet
above sea-level and at the edge of a steep bank
overhanging the Dalmakethar Burn, which flows
by on the north some 50 feet below. East of the
fort the ground rise by an easy gradient to the
skyline some 300 or 400 yards distant; to the
south it falls away, trending westward; while
on the west it has a rather steep declivity for
some 50 feet to a hollow in the cultivated
land below. The interior area of the fort is
oval, with its longest axis north-north-east
and south-south west, measures 126 feet by 98
[Diagram inserted]
FIG.10. - Fort, Dalmakethar Burn (No 20).
feet, and is entirely surrounded by a rampart of
earth and stone. From the edge of the ravine
of the burn on the north-east a double trench
passes along the east side and the south end,
with an intervening rampart broadest and
deepest on the south, which diverges from the
central enceinte as it passes westward on to the
face of the steep slope. Thence it is said to
have been continued obliquely to the edge of
the ravine. The inner trench on the east has
a breadth of 30 feet, and a depth of 4 feet and
5 feet respectively below the crests of scarp
and counterscarp; while on the south it
measures 45 feet in breadth, 9 feet in depth
below the scarp, and 6 feet below the counter-
scarp. The outer trench is 23 feet wide on the
east and of slight depth, while on the south
it has a breadth of 34 feet and depth of 6 feet.
The entrances have been from the north-
north-east and south-south-east and are 4 to
5 feet wide. The former has been approached
over a narrow space flanked by the rampart
and the edge of the ravine; the latter directly
through the defences. At both entrances the
inner rampart broadens as it approaches the
opening from either side. There appears to
be a spring in the outer trench at its south-
west termination.
xxxiv. -- N.W. -- 14 August 1912.
21. Fort, Dalmakethar. - This fort crosses
the neck of a low promontory which projects
on the 400-feet contour line on the west
of Longerhallis Hill, about 1/2 mile south-
south-east of Dalmakethar. On the north it
overlooks the deep ravine of a burn, and on
the south and west it is protected by steep
natural slopes. It is now covered by a
young plantation, and the only defences
traceable are an outer trench 28 feet wide and
5 feet and 3 feet deep below the crests of scarp
and counterscarp respectively, running from
the edge of the ravine across the neck, with
a convex outline to the east; a rampart some
5 feet in height; a slighter mound 40 feet in
rear of it; and, separated by a shallow trench
17 feet in width, another low mound. The two
inner mounds are very slight and noticeable
only towards the edge of the ravine.
xxxiv. -- S.W. -- 14 August 1912.
ENCLOSURES.
22. Enclosure, Howthat Burn. - This en-
closure lies on the lowest slope of the brae, just
where it merges into the level ground on the
east side of the glen of the Howthat Burn,
about 1/3 mile east-north-east of Newbigging.
It is elliptical in shape, measuring in diameter
interiorly 140 feet by 110 feet, and is surrounded
by a mound of earth and stone. There are
two entrances 26 feet apart, each about 9 feet
wide, which open on the lowest level from the
direction of the burn. The interior has been
hollowed out to a depth of from 3 to 4 feet
on the upper side below the level of the sur-
rounding ground. At the north end of the
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APPLEGARTH.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [APPLEGARTH.
upper side there is a small hut-like recess in
the bank, and to the west of it there are low
indefinite mounds suggestive of small en-
closures. The rampart has been broad on
the lower slopes, but is much spread, and
above the scarp on the upper side is hardly
traceable.
xxxiv. -- S.W. -- 23 July 1912.
23. Enclosure, Ryecastle. - Situated on the
crest of a low ridge some 374 feet above sea-
level and 1/3 mile east of Ryecastle is an oval
enclosure. It lies on the south side of an old
road running north-east from Perchhall, and is
partially within and partially without a large
wood. With its longest axis north-west and
south-east, it measures some 225 feet by 170
feet interiorly, and has been surrounded by a
stony bank some 20 feet broad at base, on
the sides and crest of which large blocks of
stone are in places exposed. The interior has
been slightly hollowed by excavation. On the
north-east, across an intervening area, is a
bank some 15 feet in height overlooking a burn,
and from the north face of the enclosure an
outer bank covered by a trench 20 feet wide
and 3 to 4 feet deep runs to it. Where it
impinges on the bank there is a circular de-
pression measuring 15 feet in diameter, sunk
some 3 feet below the natural level and sur-
rounded by a broad mound, on the face of
which are remains of walling. From this
hollow a channel, increasing from 3 to 5 feet in
width, leads eastward straight down the bank to
the edge of the burn, taking a course too steep
for a pathway. On the other hand, there
is no water channel into the hollow. The
periphery is complete at a height of from 3 to
5 feet above the present floor level; the steep
gradient of the channel seems to preclude the
idea of the construction having been a lime-
kiln. It bears a resemblance to the hollow
outside the enclosure on the Pyatshaws Rig
(No. 304).
xliii. -- N.W. ("Fort"). -- 8 August 1912.
24. Enclosure, Hangingshaw. - On the west
slope of a low round-topped ridge some 1/2 mile
to the east of Hangingshaw is a circular
enclosure in an old pasture field, measuring
about 100 feet in diameter. It is surrounded
by a bank, much spread out by ploughing,
some 24 feet broad at base and not above
2 feet in elevation. The entrance is from
the west.
xxxiii. -- S.E. ("Fort"). -- 8 August 1912.
25. Enclosure, Dinwoodie. - An oval en-
closure is situated on the east side of the
valley, at an elevation of some 370 feet
above sea-level and about 1/4 mile east-north-
east of Dinwoodie railway station. It lies
with its longest axis north and south, measures
from crest to crest 134 feet by 97 feet, and has
been surrounded by a stony bank, which is
scarcely perceptible on the upper or east side
but has an elevation of about 2 feet on the
west. The interior has been hollowed by
excavation, and lies some 2 feet below the
surrounding ground. The entrance, 6 feet
wide, has been from the west, and opens on
the lowest part of the interior. The site com-
mands a considerable prospect over Annan-
dale. It rests on a deep linn to the south.
xxxiii. -- S.E. ("Fort"). -- 14 August 1912.
26. Enclosure, Mid Hill. - In the hollow
which lies between the Mid Hill and Fir Tree
Hill are a number of bughts and other ancient
enclosures. One of the latter is a circular bowl-
shaped enclosure hollowed out to a depth of
about 4 feet and surrounded by a slight bank.
A number of old turf walls run around the
base of Fir Tree Hill, connected in some cases
with enclosures.
xliii. -- N.W. and N.E. (unnoted). -- 9 August
1912.
MISCELLANEOUS.
27. Construction, Balgray Cleuchheads. -
Along the east and south sides of a wooded
ravine, 200 yards to the west of Balgray
Cleuchheads, runs a bank of earth and stone,
making a return northward at its eastern
extremity. The construction is noted as a
"fort" on the O.S. map, but the remains are
fragmentary and the designation doubtful.
xliii. -- N.W. ("Fort"). -- 6 August 1912.
28. Heraldic Stone, Dinwoodie Mains. - Built
into the front of the porch of Dinwoodie
Mains farmhouse is a panel containing in
the centre a shield surrounded by strap-work
enrichment and bearing in chief two mullets
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[Plan inserted]
FIG. 11. - Caerlaverock Castles (No. 33 (I) ).
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APPLEGARTH.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [CAERLAVEROCK.
with a human head inverted and suspended by
a "woodie" or rope of withies passed through
the mouth. Above are the initias R.M.
(Robert Maxwell), ¹ and, beneath, the date
1631. The stone, according to local infor-
mation, came from Dinwoodie Castle, which
formerly stood near the spot.
[Plan inserted]
FIG. 12. - Old Caerlaverock (No. 33 (I) ).
1 Johnstone MSS., p. 42.
xxxiii. -- S.E. -- 14 August 1912.
SITES.
The O.S. maps indicate sites as under:-
29. Sibbaldie Church, Sibbaldie. xliii.
N.W.
30. Monastery, Applegarth Town. xlii. S.E.
31. Market Cross, Applegarth Town. xlii.
S.E.
32. Fort, Kirkholm Hill. xxxiii. S.E.
CAERLAVEROCK.
CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC
STRUCTURES.
33 (I). Old Caerlaverock Castle. - The ruins
of the old stronghold of the Maxwells at Caer-
laverock and the remains of another castle,
apparently its predecessor, are situated on the
marshy flats of the Solway, at the mouth of
the River Nith, some 9 miles south-south-east
of the town of Dumfries (fig.II). The older
site lies within the Castle wood, 200 yards
south-south-east of the other and 500 yards
north of high-water mark, and is formed in a
bed of clay, while the later building stands on
an outcrop of rock.
The buildings and walls on the older site
are demolished, and such foundations as
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CAERLAVEROCK.] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. [CAERLAVEROCK.
remain lie below ground. Many of the stones
would be re-used in the later fabric, and even
within living memory the site served as a
convenient quarry for the neighbourhood.
According to Grose (1789) "the site and founda-
tions" were in his time "still very conspicu-
ous." The foundations were again exposed
a few years before 1868 (Trans. Dumf. and
Gall. Antiq. Soc., 1868-9, p. 12), but no proper
record of the work then done can be traced.
M'Dowall, however, reports (History of Dum-
fries, 1873, p. 74 and note) that they showed
the building to have had "a quadrilateral
form," and therefore contests the suggestion
that this was the site of the castle besieged in
1300, which was triangular (cf. p. 23). He
adds that the walls exposed were of "unsub-
stantial build," and possibly those of "an
outwork, erected to defend the dam of the
fortress," and so prevent the draining of the
moat. But even in an outwork - which, more-
over, covers an area nearly as great as that of
the castle - "unsubstantial" walls would be
unsuitable, whatever may be the precise mean-
ing here of so indefinite a description. The
enceinte is now so overgrown with trees and
littered with fallen stone and the débris of the
excavation, that little save the general arrange-
ment of the castle can be traced.
On plan (fig. 12) the enceinte is roughly a
parallelogram set with the angles to the
cardinal points of the compass, and measuring
86 feet from north-east to south-west and 97
feet from north-west to south-east. The scarp
was apparently crowned by a curtain wall,
slight traces of which are visible on the south-
west side.
At the north angle is a mass of masonry,
which slight excavation revealed as the lower
stage of a rectangular tower, 17 feet 6 inches
[Diagram inserted]
FIG. 13. - Splayed
Base (No. 33 (I) ).
broad, projecting 11 feet
6 inches from the face of
the curtain walls which it
flanked. The masonry is
of fine ashlar work, averag-
ing 12 inches long on face,
and is built in courses 8
inches high, which are care-
fully bedded in clay. A
splayed member (possibly the uppermost of
a heavy basement course) was found return-
ing along the face and east side of the tower
(fig. 13). The conformation of the débris at
the remaining angles of the enceinte indicates
towers at these points. Within the eastern
angle of the curtain, but clear of the walls,
are the remains of a rectangular structure
with walls some 3 feet 6 inches thick.
An eye-witness of the excavations reported
from recollection that the buildings were found
to be supported on oak piles driven into the
clay solum. and that broken pottery was
unearthed and replaced at a point marked X
on Plan.
OUTWORKS. - The moat has silted up some
2 feet; under the silt the clay bottom is
found to be some 10 feet below the level of
the enceinte. The width at base varies from
6 feet on the north to 50 feet on the south.
A burn on the east drains the moat and, when
dammed, would fill it. The outer rampart,
on the summit of which to the north and east
is a modern roadway, follows the contour of
the enceinte and rises to its level. The outer
scarp terminates in a ditch some 15 feet in
width.
An enclosure an acre and a quarter in extent
lies immediately to the north-east and is
defined by a continuation of the outer ditch
and the burn.
The masonry exposed in the north tower
and the whole arrangement of the castle in-
dicate its erection in the early 13th century.
33 (2). Caerlaverock Castle. - The enceinte
of the later stronghold, hereafter called by its
usual appellation Caerlaverock Castle, is tri-
angular on plan (fig. 14), with the apex set to
the north. The sides and base are enclosed
by curtain walls which terminate at the basal
angles in a drum tower and at the apex in a
gatehouse flanked by drum towers. Between
these towers is the entrance. This northern
façade gives an impression of great strength
and is one of the finest examples of early 15th-
century military architecture in Scotland
(fig. 15).
The entrance - the outer portion of which is
a mid 15th-century addition, as will be ex-
plained later - is arched and sheltered within
an arch-headed recess so formed that the
drawbridge when raised would become an
extra barrier to the portal. Withi this
recess, and above the entrance, is a badly
weathered oblong panel of 17th-century date
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[Plans inserted]
FIG. 14. - Caerlaverock Castle (No. 33 (2) ).
-- 12 |
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Ancient and Historical Monuments - Dumfries.
[Photograph inserted]
FIG. 15. - Caerlaverock Castle: North Front and Gatehouse (No. 33 (2) ).
To face p.12. |
dumfries-1920/04-087 |
Ancient and Historical Monuments - Dumfries.
[Photograph Inserted]
FIG. 16. - Caerlaverock Castle: East Wall (No. 33 (2) ).
To face p. 13. |
dumfries-1920/04-088 |
CAERLAVEROCK.] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. [CAERLAVEROCK.
enclosed by a heavy border. The panel has
an escutcheon at each angle, and these are
connected by a floral enrichment of oak
leaves wreathed. The escutcheons contain
armorial bearings as under:-
DEXTER CHIEF:- The shield ensigned with
a crown bears a lion rampant within a royal
tressure for Scotland.
SINISTER CHIEF:- A double-headed eagle
displayed beneath an imperial crown - a
charge first used by John, 8th Lord Maxwell,
Earl of Morton.
DEXTER BASE:- A saltire for Maxwell,
impaling a bend between six cross-crosslets
fitchy for Mar.
SINISTER BASE:- A fess chequy surmounted
of a bend engrailed, for Stewart of Dal-
swinton.
On the panel is a stag, couchant before a
holly bush and supporting between its forelegs
a shield charged with a saltire, for Maxwell.
At the top of the panel are the initials R.M.
- Robert Maxwell, first Earl of Nithsdale
(1620) - and at the foot, on an escroll within
the border, the motto,
I BID YE FAIR.
Above the panel is an aperture, slanting
upwards as it penetrates the wall, through
which passed the chain or rope which raised
the drawbridge. It has been much worn by
the friction.
Over the entrance is a forework of two
storeys, beneath which a chamber has been
added from which to work the drawbridge
and a pair of portcullises. The outer wall
of this chamber and the piers supporting it
are angled as they near the towers. The piers
have two splayed offsets, the lower returning
along the face and angles, the upper on the
face alone. The beam hole on either side of
the entrance immediately over this latter
offset, and the raggle on the east jamb of the
recess, were formed at a later period.
The approach could be enfiladed from tiers
of gunloops in the massy flanking towers
which rise vertically from a batter at base to
a ponderous corbel course - 52 feet above the
level of the moat - surmounting the gatehouse
and bearing the fragments of a machicolated
parapet walk. From it was entered a cap
house, now ruinous, with turrets corbelled
out over the four angles, which command an
extensive prospect.
The chimney-flues of the tower apartments
are conducted into high stalks set on the inner
portion of the wall within the parapet walk
(fig. 16).
The corbelling is carried along the east wall
at the same level as on the north to a point
4 feet 6 inches south of the gatehouse. The
wall is evidently thus prolonged to protect and
cover the south-east angle of the main building.
On the first and second floors of the easter
flanking tower are windows of considerable
size with a south-east aspect. In the other
directions there are gunloops. The east wall
of the gatehouse is pierced on each of the four
floors by a window close to the junction of this
building with the tower.
South of the gatehouse a range of 17th-
century buildings (fig. 17), embodying the
curtain and possibly an older building in the
same position, runs southward to the extremity
of the site where the east wall terminated in a
drum tower, now demolished.
These 17th-century buildings, of which the
northern portion exists in entirety, contain
three storeys beneath the wall-head, and ter-
minate at this level in a cornice of pseudo-
corbelling 9 feet below the corbelling of the
gatehouse (frontispiece).
The greater part of the south curtain wall
has been demolished to within 3 feet of the
ground. One portion, however, east of the
centre, still stands to a height of 25 feet.
There has been a postern in this wall at its
junction with the west tower.
The west tower of the base is contempor-
aneous with those of the gatehouse. It is
entire to the wall head, and is surmounted at
a height of 40 feet above the moat by a corbel
course similar to that of the gatehouse. Be-
neath this there are four storeys, illumined by
small windows; those on the first floor, set
to the north and east aligning the curtains,
have drains in their sills, consisting of open
chases splayed at the bottom, to cast sewage
into the moat. On the second floor a window
is corbelled out over the angle formed by
the junction of the tower and west curtain
(fig. 18).
The west curtain shows indications of
alterations. The lower part of the wall to a
height of 21 feet is excellent ashlar work, at
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CAERLAVEROCK.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [CAERLAVEROCK.
[Diagrams Inserted]
FIG 17. - Caerlaverock Castle (No. 33 (2) ).
-- 14 |
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Ancient and Historical Monuments - Dumfries.
[Photograph Inserted]
FIG. 18. - Caerlaverock Castle: West Curtain and Base Tower (No.33 (2) ).
To face p. 15. |
dumfries-1920/04-091 |
CAERLAVEROCK.] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. [CAERLAVEROCK.
least contemporaneous with the towers, and
bears indications of openings filled in at some
later period. The upper part, five feet higher,
is inferior work of rubble, similar to that
employed in the east wall of the late 15th-
century range of buildings built against and
incorporating this curtain. The curtain was
originally finished with a parapet walk borne
on corbels, as the third floor of the west basal
tower can only be entered from a doorway
set on the line of the curtain with a sill 30
feet above the moat. There is a projecting
flue, borne on corbels 6 feet north of the west
tower, which conducted sewage to the moat
from a garderobe on the parapet.
The south-west angle of the gatehouse is pro-
tected, as on the south-east, by an extension
of the lateral wall southward, surmounted by
corbelling similar to that on the north and
east. A drain from the garderobes situated
on the upper floors of the gatehouse is corbelled
out over the angle at the junction of the west
flanking tower and the main building.
The west flanking tower is slightly greater
in diameter than that on the east. The
batter at base is almost imperceptible and
1 foot 7 inches lower.
INTERIOR. - The ward is entered by a stone-
roofed pend or trance which passes under the
gatehouse, giving access en route, through a
doorway on either side, to guardrooms com-
municating with the basement of the flanking
towers (fig. 19). The pend was originally
defended at the outer end by a portcullis and
door, and terminated in an archway in the
south wall of the gatehouse. When the out-
most portcullis room was inserted (cf. p. 13),
c. 1450, additional defences, consisting of - in
order from the north - an iron gate, a port-
cullis, an inner door, and a second portcullis,
were provided in front of the original entrance.
At a later period, c. 1500, the archway at
the inner end of the trance was contracted and
a rear room or gallery with portcullis erected
over it at the level of the parapet. In this way
the gatehouse could be isolated - there being
no internal communication between the base-
ment and upper floors - in the event of a besieg-
ing party gaining the ward through the postern
or a breach in the curtain.
The guardrooms are irregularly shaped and
are lit by slits in the south wall of the gate-
house. The east chamber has an additional
and larger window in the east wall. Both are
provided with fireplaces in the lateral walls.
These chambers on the basement floor have
stone vaulted ceilings; in the tower rooms the
vaults have fallen in, but were apparently
shaped like a bee-hive and groined, where
necessary, at the doors and windows.
The first, and the three upper floors (fig. 20)
of the main body of the gatehouse contained
originally one large apartment on each floor,
but were divided in the 16th century by
a partition wall in which additional fireplaces
were inserted. On the first floor an archway in
the north wall, now built up, gave access to a
recess over the earlier entrance, within which
the mechanism for working the original port-
cullis was placed. In the north wall of this
recess is a narrow loophole or chase some
4 inches wide and 9 feet long, widening to a
spade-like shape at the sharply-splayed base,
through which quicklime or other offensive
material could be poured on intruders, should
they attack the portcullis.
In the south-west angle of the gatehouse a
small wheel-stair - originally the only access -
communicates with the upper floors and the
parapet walk. There is a shelved recess in
the west wall for the purpose of containing
two wooden lockers or cupboards, and a
smaller one in the north wall. The windows
and doors of the south wall of the gatehouse
have been altered or inserted, as the details of
their jambs show, when the gallery and its
piers were built.
it is not clear how access from the basement
to the first floor was obtained before the later
wheel-stairs outwith the gatehouse were built.
In all probability there was a moveable wooden
stair or ladder to the west against the south
wall.In this wall, near the angle formed by
it and the west wall, is a semicircular relieving
arch, subsequently filled in, which suggests
that such a stair may have led to an entrance
within this arch. In each of the towers, at
this level, is a chamber with windows anterior
in date to the forebuilding, as the openings
commanding the entrance are obscured by the
later work. The east chamber has a fireplace
and garderobe on the east side and the west
chamber a garderobe in the thickness of the
wall at the south-west angle.
The second floor and the storeys above in
the main building of the gatehouse had
-- 15 |
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[Diagram Inserted]
FIG. 19. - Caerlaverock Castle (No. 33 (2) ).
-- 16 |
dumfries-1920/04-093 |
CAERLAVEROCK.] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. [CAERLAVEROCK.
[Plan Inserted]
FIG. 20. - Caerlaverock Castle (No. 33 (2) ).
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CAERLAVEROCK.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [CAERLAVEROCK.
floors of wood carried on beams borne on
corbels projecting from the north and south
walls.
On the second floor the general arrange-
ments are similar. An access is provided
through the original north wall to a chamber
beneath the forework, from which the later
portcullises and the drawbridge were worked.
The grooves for the windlasses and beams by
means of which these were hoisted still survive
on the reveals of the small window illuminat-
ing the chamber and in the lateral walls. The
chambers on this floor in the towers have domed
ceilings of stone - the western furnished with
ribs of early 15th-century type, meeting at a
central boss shaped as a shield.
On the third floor there are no rooms in the
towers. Access to the forework is obtained
by an angled passage contrived within the
west wall and proceeding over the haunch of
the vault of the west tower.
The fourth floor, at the level of the parapet
walk, appears to have been renewed when the
rear gallery was built. This structure, within
which the mechanism of the south portcullis
is placed, is entered from the west apartment
in the main building. These apartments com-
municated with rooms which were situated in
the roofs of the towers.
Above the forework is a cap-house two
storeys high, entered from the parapet walk,
which returns along the north façade and the
southward extensions of the lateral walls. It
was also carried across the south wall of the
gatehouse until the later west staircase and the
rear bartizan intervened.
The west drum tower of the base is known as
"Murdoch's" Tower, as therein Murdoch,
Duke of Albany, is said to have been incar-
cerated before his execution at Stirling in
1425. Although of smaller dimensions, it is
evidently contemporaneous with the gate-
house towers. There is only one apartment
in each of the four storeys. The basement
would be used as a lodge for the porters of
the postern, and was entered through the
southmost chamber of a coeval range of
buildings against the west curtain. This
apartment and the two storeys above alone
were retained when the present block on the
west was built. The first and second floors
of the towers were entered from the floor
above this apartment and the third floor
from the parapet walk along the curtain.
These floors were of wood, and have long been
demolished.
The block of building against the west
curtain (fig. 21) was erected towards the end of
the 15th century, replacing an older range in
the same position. The only traces left of
these older buildings are sundry openings in the
curtain now built up and the beam-holes and
corbels for the floor joists of the southmost
apartments. The present range contains two
storeys beneath the wall-head; there are traces
of a garret within the roof, reached from the
first floor by a wheel-stair, now demolished,
at the south-east angle. On the ground floor
there were three apartments, each with its
entrance from the ward, and on the upper
floor two. The windows, with the exception
of one on the first floor, which has been
inserted in the west curtain, look out eastward
to the ward. These have, like the doorways,
moulded jambs and lintels. The first-floor
windows are of considerable size, and were
divided by mullions and transoms. The
wall-head is surmounted by a narrow cornice,
and from this level there rise massive chimney-
stacks terminating in moulded copes; on the
north skew-put is a shield charged with a
[crossed out "bend sinister", replaced with handwritten] saltire.
The fireplaces are of a type common in this
period (fig. 22) ; the jambs consist of three
filleted rolls with hollow interspaces terminat-
ing in moulded bases and capitals following the
contour of the jambs under a high lintel sur-
mounted by a narrow cornice. In one example
the jamb is enriched with a continuous floral
ornament.
There being no internal communication
between the ground and first floors, the latter
was apparently entered from the ward by a
wooden stair at the north end leading to a
fine doorway with moulded jambs and lintel,
now obscured by the later 16th-century stair-
case built between this wing and the gate-
house. This staircase is wide and well lit. It
gave communication from the ground to the
parapet walk and to each of the floors of the
keep through doorways which, like the win-
dows, have jambs and lintels ornamented
with a quirked bead-and-hollow moulding of
the period. The little court formed by this
staircase, the gatehouse, and the curtain, was
at this time provided with galleries, sheltered
-- 18 |
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Ancient and Historical Monuments - Dumfries.
[Photograph Inserted]
FIG. 21. - Caerlaverock Castle: Interior from the South (No.33 (2) ).
To face p. 18. |
dumfries-1920/04-096 |
[Plan Inserted]
FIG. 22. - Fireplaces and details, Caerlaverock (No. 33 (2) ).
-- 19 |
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CAERLAVEROCK.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [CAERLAVEROCK.
by a pent-house roof, which were entered from
doorways in the staircase.
The gallery which adjoins this stair is con-
temporaneous. it projects over the pend,
and is borne on a segmental arch set on lofty
piers. On the ingoing of the west pier a date,
apparently 1595, is roughly incised some 4 feet
6 inches above the ground. The soffit of the
arch is moulded and is pierced by the slot in
which ran the portcullis, which was worked
from the gallery. The mouldings of this arch
and of the windows inserted in the south wall
of the gatehouse, within the recess formed by
the piers, are of a common early 16th-century
type.
Against the east and south curtains were
probably subsidiary buildings, which were
converted in the early 17th century into the
principal residential apartments in accordance
with the enhanced requirements of that age
(fig. 23).
The courtyard façades of these two wings
must in their entirety have formed an ex-
quisite little Renaissance composition, so
admirable is the proportion and grouping
of the surviving architectural detail. Un-
fortunately only a small portion - that abut-
ting against the gatehouse - stands complete to
the wall-head. The remainder is less than one
storey high. The setting out is symmetrical;
the small windows at the northern end of the
east wing being repeated on the south. Be-
neath the wall-head, which is surmounted by
a moulded cornice, were three storeys, and an
attic was contained within the steeply-pitched
roof. The chimney-flues are taken into high
square stacks set diagonally on their seating.
The windows are extremely ornate; those on
the ground floor have moulded and fluted
architraves. On the upper floors the jambs
have slight rusticated engaged shafts, which
rest on little corbel bases and terminate in
Ionic capitals beneath cornices and pediments,
segmental and triangular, containing heraldic
achievements and representations of subjects
from classical mythology.
The hall occupied the eastern portion of the
south wing, and is reached from the courtyard
by an arched entrance projecting slightly from
the face of the wall. The doorway (fig. 24)
has splayed jambs, daintily moulded, termina-
ting in stops at the step and in foliaceous
carving under heavy imposts from which the
arch springs. The mouldings of the arch are
slight, but are enriched with the egg-and-
dart, bead-and-spinnel, and other motifs. A
recessed circular panel occupies each spandrel.
The rude pilasters on each side of the door-
way are modern; the bases and east capital
have apparently been taken from some
other portion of the building. The keystone
of the arch is incomplete. The original
keystone would be shaped as a console, bear-
ing the projection of the architrave, frieze,
and cornice, which occurs here and over the
pilasters.
There are two windows east of the entrance.
The nearer is incomplete and has fluted archi-
traves. The farther, a blind window, is more
elaborate and has fluted jambs and a moulded
architrave and cornice, between which is
sculptured, on the frieze, a cherub's head with
widely distended wings.
The hall has been a noble apartment 17 feet
high, as a moulded cornice on the east wall
shows. The jambs of the doorways and
windows were ornamented with bead-and-
hollow mouldings. A partition on the west
separated the hall from a withdrawing-room.
A doorway in the south-east angle opens on
a wheel-stair, through which the east basal
tower was entered. The fireplace is situated
in the north wall, in front of the blind window.
The protecting jambs, shaped like trusses or
consoles , are almost buried beneath the
ground.
East of the fireplace a lofty archway gives
access to the main staircase, which is con-
tained within the east wing, communicating
with the first-floor apartments of that and the
south wing. A doorway beside the entrance
to the staircase leads under the upper flight
of steps to the kitchen offices in the basement
of the east wing.These consist of a well-
room and bakery, a kitchen and a servery, all
with barrrel-vaulted ceilings. The two former
chambers had separate entrances from the
courtyard. A service wheel-stair is contained
within the angle of the gatehouse and the east
pier supporting the gallery, and communi-
cates with the upper floors of the east wing
and, by doors inserted in the south wall, with
the gatehouse.
The first floor is entered from a doorway off
the main staircase leading through the well of
a wheel-stair which ascends to the floors above.
-- 20 |
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[Plan Inserted]
FIG. 23. - Caerlaverock Castle (No. 33 (2) ).
-- 21 |
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CAERLAVEROCK.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [CAERLAVEROCK.
It contains two large apartments, lit by
windows to the courtyard and others in-
serted in the east curtain. The fireplaces of
these chambers have projecting jambs, which
are shaped like consoles. The fronts are
moulded and in one fireplace ornamented
towards the base with a fleur-de-lys. A wide
lintel spans the jambs, and over it is a slight
moulded cornice.
The upper floor is similarly arranged.
DIMENSIONS. - The enceinte measures 130
feet from north to south; the basal curtain
is 137 feet long and the lateral curtains are
111 feet - all measured between the towers.
These curtain walls vary in thickness from
4 feet 9 inches at the sides to 7 feet at the
base. The gatehouse measures 60 feet along
the south wall and 38 feet from north to
south. The flanking towers have an ex-
ternal diameter of some 25 feet, with walls
averaging 4 feet 9 inches thick. The external
diameter of Murdoch's Tower at the south-
west angle is 20 feet, and the wall is 5 feet
in thickness.
The west wing projects 19 feet from the
west curtain and is 64 feet long. The wall
is 3 feet thick and the partitions rather less.
The west staircase has an internal diameter of
10 feet.
The east wing projects 20 feet from the east
curtain , and the wall is 3 feet 6 inches thick.
The hall was 66 feet long and 25 feet 6 inches
broad.
CHRONOLOGY. - The gatehouse, flanking
towers, basal towers, and curtain walls are
contemporary, and were erected in the early
15th century; the room under the forework
is later, probably mid-15th century. The
west wheel-stair, the rear gallery, the mid-
partition, the floor above the parapet walk,
and the windows in the south wall of the gate-
house all date from the early 16th century.
The buildings on the west side of the enclosure
date from the end of the 15th century, and
those on the east and south sides from the
early 17th century.
CONDITION. - Although of late years a con-
siderable amount of gradual repairing has
been undertaken, the present condition of
the buildings is most unsatisfactory.
The easter flanking tower is seiously rent,
and calls for immediate repair. The wall-heads
of the buildings, and in particular of the
gatehouse, are covered with vegetation, under
which the masonry must be in an extremely
bad state. The circular staircases are bereft
of the majority of their steps, and in the
absence of these ties must ere long collapse.
The west wing is slowly disintegrating; the
safe-lintels are falling in.
The 17th-century buildings are fairly sound,
and, if the cornices were denuded of vegetation,
re-pointed, and weather-proofed, little else
would be required. A serious fissure in the
south gable, which latterly threatened the
stability of the structure, is now tied in, and
the vault under the gable supported by a
pier at the south end of the kitchen.
OUTWORKS. - The enceinte is surrounded
by a moat 42 feet wide at the north and 80
feet at the south, which is girt by a rampart
30 to 40 feet thick at base and 10 feet 6 inches
at highest above the moat, which is 10 feet
deep. On the south the rampart broadens
and encloses a terrace 30 feet wide. The
moat is drained by a sluice at the south-west
angle.
The swampy nature of the ground to the
east, west and south obviates the need of
outer defences in these quarters. To the
north, however, the ground rises and is firm.
On this front there is an outer ditch and
scarp, terminating at either end in the swamp
and traversed by the pathway to the castle,
which leads through a base-court, 3 acres in
area, to a wide semicircular arched gateway
of the 16th century, 10 feet 4 inches wide
and 11 feet 9 inches high, with chamfered
jambs.
HISTORICAL NOTE. - The record of Caer-
laverock Castle is complicated by the fact
that no distinction is made or suggested
between the present ruins and the buildings
which must have stood on the strongly en-
trenched site some hundred yards to the
south. Yet, if the latter site is not that of
an earlier castle of the same name, of what
castle is it the site?
The earliest reference of importance to
Caerlaverock seems to be of October 1299, when
it is reported to King Edward I., from Loch-
maben, that "There is a castle near them,
called Carlaverock, which has done and does
great damages every day to the King's castle
(Lochmaben) and people." They had, how-
ever, scored a success, and the head of the
-- 2 |
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Ancient and Historical Monuments - Dumfries.
[Photograph Inserted]
FIG. 24. - Caerlaverock Castle: Entrance to Hall (No. 33 (2) ).
To face p. 22. |
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CAERLAVEROCK.] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. [CAERLAVEROCK.
Constable of Carlaverock "was now set on the
great tower at Lochmaben." This experience
just precedes what constitutes the best known
and most remarkable episode of the castle's
existence - the siege of July 10-11, 1300,
directed by Edward I. in person. This
episode was made the subject of a contem-
porary poem, Le Siege de Karlaverok, in which
details are given of the blazoning of arms
of each of the 87 English "companions"
or leading knights. This number of knights-
banneret implies something under 2000 lances;
the poem gives 3000; but even the smaller
number is probably over the mark. The
army was, of course, a field army for a cam-
paign and the siege merely an incident in the
operations. Edward arrived before the place
on the 10th July, to find that the garrison
were in mind to offer a stout resistance. He
had to summon his siege-engines, some by ship,
some from Lochmaben Castle, and with their
battering the castle was reduced. The garri-
son numbered only sixty survivors, but they
had inflicted severe losses in men and horses
upon their assailants, with apparently small
loss to themselves. Walter Benechafe, the
constable, and "eleven other Scots, his
fellows," were sent to prison at Newcastle.
Edward was back at Dumfries on the 16th.
The chief interest is in the description of
the castle and its position. In shape the
building was like a shield (Com uns escus
estoit de taille); that is, triangular, like the
"heater" shield of the time, for, it is ex-
plained, "it had only three sides round
about, and in each angle a tower; but one
of these (towers) was double, so high, so long,
and so large that underneath was the gate
with a drawbridge well-made and strong, and
other defences in sufficiency. it had good
walls and good ditches, quite full to the
brink of water." On the situation of the
castle, there is this: It was beautiful, "for on
one side, towards the west, could be seen the
Irish sea (the Solway), and to the north a fair
country surrounded by an arm of the sea, so
that on two sides no creature living could
approach it without putting himself in danger
of the sea. Nor is it easy to the south, for the
many ways are made difficult by wood, by
marsh, and by trenches filled by the sea
where it is wont to meet the river (trenchies
La ou la mere les a cerchies Ou seult la riviere
encontrer); and, therefore, it was necessary
for the army to come towards the east, where
the hill slopes."
This description of the site is fairly general,
and, as the castles are but a few hundred
yards apart, is thus applicable to either.
Similarly the description of the castle itself
quite suits the present building, but that may
have been constructed on the lines of the
older one, the site of which is lozenge-shaped.
The tests are not decisive: the first requisite
is excavation of the site to determine the
ground plan of the structure; the work on it
alluded to above (p. 11) appears to have been
of a random nature.
Another contemporary chronicler, describ-
ing this campaign, speaks of its only result
as the capture of a "poor little castle" (povere
chastelet, Langtoft).
Caerlaverock was one of the castles seized by
Robert Bruce after the murder of Comyn in
February 1306, but soon recovered by the
English. At the close of May in that year
there was a garrison in the castle of eight
men-at-arms and twenty foot archers. In
1312 the castle is still in English possession,
with Sir Eustace Maxwell as keeper. Caer-
laverock was the principal seat of that family.
Sir Eustace turned to the national side, with
the result that the castle had again to suffer
a short siege, which, however, was unsuccess-
ful. In the end the castle suffered the fate
which Bruce had determined upon for such
fortresses; it was levelled to the ground (pro
fractione et pro prostratione castri de Carlaverok
ad terram), and its owner, Eustace Maxwell,
received compensation in reduction of the
annual of £22 sterling, due to the Crown for
these lands, to £12. ¹ This is the first destruc-
tion, but how far these destructions went is
problematical.
Caerlaverock was probably reconstructed,
with other important castles in Scotland,
during the English occupation under Edward
III. The Maxwell of the time, Sir Herbert, a
nephew of Sir Eustace, made his submission
to that King, and surrendered the castle to
English keeping in 1347; but early in 1356
it was besieged and captured for the Scots by
Sir Roger de Kirkpatrick, who levelled it to
the ground (ad solum prostravit). ² This is
the second destruction.
Apparently in the early part of the 15th
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CAERLAVEROCK.] -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. -- [CAERLAVEROCK.
century a new Caerlaverock was being raised.
A little after the middle of the century,
Robert, second Lord Maxwell, is credited with
having "completed the bartizan * of Car-
laverock." ³ Thus, in the conflicts of the
16th century the castle is again a place of
interest. In the autumn of 1545 negotiations
were being carried on with lord Maxwell for
its transference to English hands, which ulti-
mately occurred. For the purposes of Henry
VIII. the castle was regarded as having the
advantage of being accessible by sea. The
Scots again recovered it, but Maxwell's support
of Queen Mary brought an English force in
1570 under the Earl of Sussex to harry the
district, and Caerlaverock is included in the
list of castles which that Earl reported he
"threw down." ⁴ But in 1593 we find that
the Catholic Maxwell has "many men work-
ing at his house, five miles from Dumfries." ⁵
So repairs were in hand again.
The final reconstruction dates from the
time of Robert, first Earl of Nithsdale, in
the first quarter of the next century, when
the Renaissance wing to the east and the
southern work were added. In 1640 the
place was beset by the Covenanters, and, after
the longest siege on its record - three months
and a week - fell for the last time and was
dismantled.
Le Siège de Karlaverok (Harris); Calendar
of Documents relating to Scotland, vols. ii., iii.;
The Book of Caerlaverock, vol. i.; Grose's Anti-
quities, vol. i.; ¹ Reg. Mag. Sig., i. (1912), p. 456;
² Scotichronicon, Lib. XIV. cap. [X Inserted in pencil] V.; ³ Book of
Caerlaverock, i. p. 56; ⁴ Cal. Scot. Papers, ii. p.
327; ⁵ Calendar of Border Papers, i. p. 470
lxi. S.W. -- October 1914
34. Bankend or Isle Castle. - This ruined
castle occupies a spit of marshland on the west
bank of the Lochar Water, by which it is
almost surrounded on three sides, while indica-
tions of a ditch remain on the south-western
side. The site is near the south-eastern ex-
tremity of the Lochar Moss, distant some 5 1/2
miles by road from Dumfries and about 2 miles
to the north of Caerlaverock Castle. The
building is of the type known as the T plan
* Apparently the battlementing, "bartizan" or
"bertisene" being, by metathesis, for "bratticing";
but sometimes, in the 17th century, applied to a
high castle wall.
consisting of an oblong, measuring some 2 1/2
feet by 15 1/2 feet, within walls fully 3 feet in
thickness, and a staircase wing in the centre of
the north-west wall with a projection of 9 feet
6 inches and a width of about 11 feet. The
doorway is on the ground level at the eastern
re-entering angle, and has a deep bar-hole
formed in the north-western jamb, also a lamp-
recess adjoining it at the stair-foot. The
ground floor appears to have been vaulted and
defended on three sides by circular loopholes
widely splayed to the exterior and square
within, while on the north-east side facing
the Lochar Water is a window measuring
about 18 inches in width. The castle is now
a complete ruin; almost the whole of the
south-east and south -west wall has fallen,
but the remaining fragments of the staircase
wing and of the north-west wall indicate that
it was originally four storeys in height. The
entrance doorway appears to have been
defended by a bretasche supported by moulded
corbels placed near the level of the wall-
head. On the north-eastern wall of the
staircase wing is a panel containing the arms
and initials of Edward Maxwell and Helen
Douglas, his wife, with the date 1622 carved
in relief.
"The Bank Ende" was selected in the
Military Report of some date between 1563
and 1566 as one of the places which would
strengthen an English occupation of the
district. ¹ "It will havand Annande forti-
fyed -- may (make) that way to Drum-
freis for Englande to be free, and bring all
Nythisdale in subjection. It is a straite
passage, and may be well kept being ones
fortifyed." So important was its position
considered that Caerlaverock was to be
relegated to the position of "a garrisone
assistant."
1 Armstrong's Liddesdale, App. lxx. p. cix.
lxi. N.W. -- August 1913.
DEFENSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS.
35. Fort, Ward Law. - The Wardlaw Hill,
which rises to a height of 313 feet over sea-
level, overlooks the Castle of Caerlaverock,
from which it is distant about 1 mile, and
commands also a prospect over a great extent
of surrounding country. It is surmounted by
-- 24 |
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CAERLAVEROCK.] -- INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. -- [CAERLAVEROCK.
an oval fort (fig. 25) surrounded by a rampart of
stone and earth, with a terrace or trench now
filled in, before it, some 18 feet broad, having
a mound on the outer edge or counterscarp.
The enceinte has its longest axis north and
south, measures some 210 feet by 180 feet,
and rises in elevation towards the north.
The rampart along the north arc at the edge
of the interior is scarcely perceptible, but
around the lower part of the periphery it
[Plan Inserted]
FIG. 25. - Fort, Ward Law Hill (No. 35).
[Written in pencil] see Antiquity 1939 plate IV 4
a height of 3 feet 6 inches or thereby on
the inner side, and a ramp some 8 feet in height
to the terrace, which lies at a general level of
6 feet above the ground outside. There is
an entrance from the west some 5 feet in
width. On the north arc, in front of the
highest point of the fort, and where the parapet
is not observable, a slight mound is carried
along the terrace some 15 feet out and 4 to 5
feet back from the edge, is brought forward to
the edge as it passes eastward, and eventually
merges in the inner mound beyond the pro-
minence to the north on the east side.
lxi. N.W. -- 24 July 1912.
36. Fort, Craig Wood, Highmains Hill. - On
Highmains Hill, and within the Craig Wood,
to the south of Craig and some 3/4 mile to west
by south of Bankend, are the remains of a
curvilinear fort. The hill rises abruptly from
the north, and slopes away from its highest
level on the south-east by an easy gradient
to the north-west. From a point adjacent
to the steep face on the north a bold rampart,
some 20 feet wide at base, curves segmentally
across the summit where the ground commences
to decline towards the west, thence disappear-
ing in the slope. To the outside the rampart
has a height of from 4 to 5 feet, and is
covered by a slight trench. On the inner side
it merges gradually into the natural slope of
the ground.
lxi. N.W. -- 24 July 1912.
37. Kelwood "Mote," Bailie Knowe. - Situ-
ated immediately to the south of the glen
of Kelwoodburn, and some 200 yards east of
Kelwoodburn cottage, are the remains of a
small circular fort. It lies on cultivated
land, and appears to have been surrounded
by a single rampart and trench. The interior,
which is on falling ground, is somewhat
basin-shaped, dipping towards the centre from
the surrounding rampart. The contour of
the rampart is now rather indefinite, but the
diameter of the enclosure appears to have
been some 150 feet.
lvi. S.W. -- 25 April 1913.
SITES.
38. Earthwork, Ward Law. - About 300
yards north by west of Wardlaw Fort (No. 35)
is the site of an earthwork. It has been
almost entirely obliterated by the plough, and
only at the north end does any trace of it
remain, and that a short ill-defined stretch
of straight rampart with a slight depression
in front of it to indicate a trench. Were it not
for a dip in the field dyke this fragment might
escape observance.
lxi. N.W. -- 25 April 1913.
39. "Earthwork," Blackshaw. - The O.S.
map marks an earthwork on the south side of a
farm road and about 1/4 mile east of Blackshaw.
-- 25 |
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CAERLAVEROCK.] -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. -- [CANONBIE.
No trace of this is to be found. The field in
which it is situated lies behind the farm of
Newfield.
lxi. S.W. -- 24 July 1912.
The O.S. maps also indicate sites as under:-
40. St Columba's Chapel and Well, about
1/2 mile south of Glencaple. -- lx. N.E.
41. Kilblain," South Kilblain. -- lxi. N.W.
CANONBIE.
ECCLESIASTICAL STRUCTURE.
42. Tomb, Churchyard, Canonbie. - A frag-
ment of 13th-century ecclesiastical work is
preserved within the churchyard of Canonbie
Parish. It lies to the south of the modern
church and within recent years has been
utilised in the construction of a tomb en-
closure - that of the Rev. James Donaldson,
late minister of Canonbie.
It consists of a recess, 4 feet 8 inches wide
and 4 feet 4 inches high, with a segmental
arch of roll-and-hollow mouldings enriched
with a dog-tooth ornament. These mould-
ings are carried down the jambs to a stop
at a sill; above is a hood-moulding terminat-
ing at either side in label-stops - one knotted
and zoömorphic, the other floriated. The
back appears to be modern. From its posi-
tion in a portion of the south wall of the old
parish church it has been suggested that this
fragment was the sedilia, although the design
is unusual for such a construction.
Several graveslabs of no great interest,
dating from the end of the 16th century, are
built into the north wall of the churchyard
near the entrance.
liii. S.E. -- Visited 27 March 1915.
CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC STRUCTURES.
43. Hollows Tower. - This tower (fig. 26) is
situated on the right bank of the River Esk,
midway between Langholm and Canonbie. It
has been completely defended by the river bank
to the north and partly by the sloping marsh-
land to the west. On the eastern side, where
the ground is level and unprotected by nature,
the tower was probably enclosed originally by
the walls of an outer courtyard.
On plan (fig. 27) the building is oblong and
measures some 23 feet 2 inches by 15 feet
3 inches within walls averaging 6 feet in
thickness, and the total height from the step
at the entrance to the top of the corbel-course
measures nearly 40 feet. The doorway is at
the south end of the west wall and gives
access to the wheel-stair, which has com-
municated directly with the upper floors and
with the parapet walk. Originally it was
equipped with a strong outer door and an
iron yett, neither of which now remains.
The wheel-staircase projects on the interior
floor space. the ground floor is vaulted and
[Plan Inserted]
FIG. 27. - Hollows Tower (No. 43).
lighted by narrow shot-holes, the north wall
having two such openings, one above the
other.
On the first-floor level is the hall, measuring
about 24 feet 2 inches by 16 feet 3 inches
and having a window with stone seats in the
east and west walls. A wide fireplace with
moulded jambs is formed in the north wall,
with an aumbry on each side, and there is a
narrow opening to the south. The two upper
floors and the attics have each also consisted
of a single apartment. The stone corbels for
carrying the floors remain. There are no
fireplaces above the level of the second floor.
The corbel-table, which has supported the
stone parapet, is of the ornate type charac-
teristic of the 16th century. The upper
member consists of a bold cable-moulding,
returned at intervals where gargoyles have
occurred. Below this is a continuous band,
-- 26 |
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Ancient and Historical Monuments - Dumfries.
[Photograph Inserted]
FIG. 26. - Hollows Tower (No. 43).
To face p. 26. |
dumfries-1920/04-106 |
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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CANONBIE.] -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. -- [CANONBIE.
followed with ease, till it makes a return in a
north-westerly direction close to the railway
from Riddings Junction to Langholm. With
the railway line it gradually converges, and is
eventually lost beneath it. On the north-
west flank it has been greatly interfered with
in the formation of a road, ditch, and hedge,
which more or less occupy its position, leaving
[Plan Inserted]
FIG. 28. - Roman Camp, Gilnockie (No. 45).
it only partially and intermittently recog-
nisable. On the south-east side, at 520 feet
from the east angle, is a well-defined entrance
some 72 feet in width, which is covered at a
distance of 36 feet in front by a traverse, a
mound 56 feet in length and 22 feet in breadth
at base of centre, tapering slighly to each end
and 3 feet 7 inches in elevation, with a ditch
ai its base on the outer face. At 126 feet to
the north-east of this entrance is a gap in
the vallum 10 feet wide, which, if not original,
does not seem to be modern. At 400 feet
further to the southward, and 478 feet from
the south angle, is another entrance 40 feet
wide, which is likewise covered 30 feet in
front by a traverse 50 feet long and 33 feet
broad at the centre, tapering slightly to
either end and 3 feet 6 inches in elevation.
Any entrance which may have formerly
existed through the south-west end does not
seem now to be recognisable, the rampart
being destroyed at a number of places and
the ditch much filled in. Near the centre
of the north-east end, immediately in rear
of the cottages, a slight break is apparent
in the rampart; and some 25 feet in front lies
a circular area, measuring in diameter some
33 feet by 27 feet, on which the vegetation is
markedly poorer than elsewhere in its vicinity
- a condition which may possibly be due to the
former existence of a traverse on the spot,
the clay from which has deteriorated the soil.
The greatest existing height of the rampart
above the ditch is about 5 feet. There are no
indications of any foundations in the enceinte;
and, though the woodland area has been
trenched in all directions for drainage, there
is no record or tradition of any traces of
buildings having been observed or of relics
recovered.
liii. N.E. ("Earthwork"). -- 16 July 1012.
ENCLOSURE.
46. Enclosure, Macrieholm Knowe. - Cut
through by the old road which, traversing the
moorland, leads from Old Irviine to solway-
bank, is a circular enclosure measuring some
120 feet in diameter, surrounded by a trench
20 feet wide and 3 feet deep, without any
conspicuous mound on scarp or counterscarp,
though on the north-west there is a slight
swelling on the outside, and along the north
half the level of the crest of the counterscarp
is higher then that of the scarp and interior.
The site is the west end of a hillock dropping
some 20 feet on the north face to boggy ground.
There are numerous excavated hollows be-
tween the construction and the edge of the
bank on the north, probably made however
for the purpose of obtaining soil or gravel for
the road.
liii. N.W. -- 17 July 1912.
47. Long Cairns, Small Cairns, and Standing-
Stones, Windy Edge. - This group of monu-
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CANONBIE.] -- INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. -- [CANONBIE.
ments is situated just within the fence that
forms the boundary between Dumfriesshire
and Roxburghshire, about 2 miles east-south-
east of Peterburn farm and the same distance
north-east of Bruntshielbog. At 999 feet above
sea-level the position commands a wide pros-
pect extending from Criffel at the mouth of
the Nith on the west to Carter Fell in the
Cheviots on the east.
LONG CAIRNS. - The main constituent of
the group is a regular but much disturbed line
of heaped stones of fair size, which stretches,
over all, for 248 feet from east to west and does
not anywhere exceed 5 feet in height. First,
from the west, comes a long cairn measuring
115 feet with a breadth varying from 25 to
[Plan Inserted]
FIG. 29. - Long Cairns, etc., Windy Edge (No. 47).
30 feet, which is rounded at the west end and
at the east passes into a circular foundation
about 4 feet 6 inches wide where sufficiently
preserved. A passage inwards is indicated
at the western extremity by slabs set on end,
between which it measures 2 feet 8 inches.
A surveyors' cairn has been raised above this
and blocks further examination. On the north
side, however, are the inner halves of two
round built chambers, and the same portion of
another is obvious, opposite one of these,
about half-way along the south side. the
latter measures 6 feet 6 inches across the mouth
and 5 feet 8 inches from front to back, while
the built interior is 4 feet high; it would
appear to have been roofed beehive fashion,
as there is no sign of large roofing slabs.
These chambers were not entered from the
inner passage, but apparently directly from
the outside of the structure, and may thus
be of secondary origin. Some at least must
have projected beyond the outer edge of the
cairn. (Cf. "Cairn na Gath," Balmurrie
Fell, No. 281, in Inventory of Monuments,
Wigtown). The circular expansion shows no
stones larger than the average of those in the
cairn proper, but much of the material has
been removed. The circle is 45 to 47 feet in
diameter, and the interior is marshy.
About 5 feet of clear space intervenes
between this structure and that to the east,
which seems to consist of two circular heaps,
some 30 feet in diameter, connected by a belt
of building, on the north of which one chamber
is clearly distinguished, while on the south
there is a deep bend inwards. This may
indicate the position of another chamber
enlarged by destruction. An entrance from
the east end is suggested by the position of
certain upright flat stones.
SMALL ROUND CAIRNS. - Rather less than
50 feet south of either extremity is the site
of a round cairn, marked by a smooth grassy
sward, a slight rise above the level, and some
scattered stones. That on the east measures
about 20 feet in diameter, and that on the west
about 13 feet.
STANDING-STONES. - Some 90 feet to the
east of the long cairns is a large flat stone
lying over at an angle of about 30 degrees
and 4 feet 2 inches out of the ground on its
southern face, which is 3 feet 6 inches wide at
most, with a few smaller stones scattered on
a slight grassy rise 30 feet in diameter.
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Another similar lumpish stone lies 130 feet
to the south-south-east of the first in a water-
holding hole which is partly filled in with
smaller stones. It lies over to the north at
an angle of 45 degrees, and its longer face is
7 feet 9 inches above ground, while it measures
4 feet 2 inches across and averages about
half this in thickness. The writer of the
Statistical Account, 1795 (vol. xvi. p. 85),
speaks of one stone near the south end of the
large cairns "standing perpendicular -- 7
feet above the moss," and states that he
found "five other stones, nearly of an equal
size with the former, all inclining to, or lying on
the ground, forming a circle, the diameter of
which is 45 yards." This is just about the
distance between the two stones already
described. The writer treats the group as
being in Roxburghshire.
The stones in all cases are of hard sandstone,
and, as the moor is entirely boggy with tussock
grass and has no scattered stones upon it,
these must have been brought from some
distance. For the same reason the cairns
have been subjected to much spoliation
probably on behalf of a dry-stone dyke less
than a mile away.
xlvi. -- S.W. and S.E. -- 4 June 1920.
MISCELLANEOUS.
48. Scots Dike. - See p. xix.
lix. -- N.W. and N.E. -- 5 June 1920.
SITES.
49. Cairn, "The Haunches." - On the S.W.
corner of "The Haunches" (1002 feet) a
rush-grown rise of green sward appears to
mark the site of a cairn, the remaining stones
of which have been gathered into a surveyors'
cairn, with the exception of a few still left
here and there round the base. It is roughly
23 feet in diameter.
xlvi. -- S.W. and N.E. (unnoted). -- 4 June 1920.
50. Mound and Ditch, Gilnockie Bridge. -
At the east end of Gilnockie Bridge is a high
mound running from the road in a northerly
direction. Midway there is an entrance, and
a fosse runs parallel to the whole front. The
inner scarp of the mound has been faced with
stones. The enclosure so cut off is a pro-
montory with precipitous sides to the river
and narrowing just in the line of mound and
ditch. the prolongation of these to the south
bank has been destroyed in making the road at
a lower level, but the construction clearly
suggests a promontory fort of familiar type.
The O.S. map indicates "Gilnockie Castle
(site)" E. of No. 50.
liii. -- S.E. ("Moat"). -- 27 March 1915.
The O.S. maps also indicate sites as under;-
51. Priory (Canonbie), Hallgreen. - Of the
Augustinian Priory of Canonbie ("Canons'
hamlet"), founded in the 12th century and
subsequently a cell of Jedburgh, no part now
remains. The site is 1/2 mile south-south-east
of the parish church. -- liii. -- S.E.
51a. Chapel, near Pingle Bridge. -- liii. -- S.W.
52. Morton Church, Tower of Sark. -- lix. -- N.W.
53. Tower, Tower of Sark. -- lix. -- N.W.
54. Mumbie Tower. -- liii. -- N.E.
55. Kinmont Tower. -- lix. -- N.E.
56. Harelaw Tower, Harelawgate. -- liv. -- N.W.
57. Tower, Outer Woodhead. -- liv. -- N.W.
CLOSEBURN.
ECCLESIASTICAL STRUCTURE.
58. Old Church. - The old church, according
to the Statistical Account, was rebuilt in 1740
with a north transept: of this building little
more than the east gable remains, its place
having been taken by a new church built on
the south side of the old churchyard in the
19th century. The remaining east gable of
the old church is 30 feet wide and the wall is
3 feet thick. It contains a doorway 4 feet
wide, and has a semicircular arched head,
with moulded archivolt, keystone, and imposts.
In the upper part of the wall is a circular
window, as at Morton and Dalton, and on the
top is a belfry. The remains of the north and
south walls are 2 feet 6 inches thick.
BELL. - The bell still remains in the belfry,
and is inscribed:-
+ TREGINTA + DE + AGVST + APVD · POTERRAW
+ ANNO + DOMINI + 1606
On waist a crown, with hammer below, and
letter G on one side, H on the other.
Diameter 15 1/2 inches.
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The inscription is in two lines, as shown:
there are single rims above, below, and between
these lines. The lower line has smaller
lettering. The lettering is very rude and
irregular, the n's and the s are reversed, and
all the letters, figures, and ornaments appear
to have been made by marking the mould
with a sharp instrument instead of by the use
of stamps. The initials are those of George
Hog, who cast several bells during the earlier
part of the 17th century, including one at
Keith Marischal, Haddingtonshire. The
hammer and crown are the insignia of the
Incorporation of Hammermen of Edinburgh,
and "APUD POTERRAW" in the inscription
evidently refers to the street of that name.
BRASS ALMS DISH. - In the manse is pre-
served a brass alms dish 13 inches in diameter,
bearing in the centre, in repoussée work, a
representation of the Annunciation. it is
German work, of probably the 15th century.
FONT FROM DALGARNOCK. - In the porch,
beneath the tower of the modern church, is
the basin of the font of the old church of
Dalgarnock. It is a plain octagonal basin,
with a drain in the bottom, 2 feet 3 inches in
diameter over all. 1 foot 9 inches in diameter
across the actual basin, 1 foot 3 inches in
depth outside and 8 inches inside. The name
"Dalgarno" has been cut on the edge in
modern lettering.
CROSS-SHAFT, ETC. - Beside the font lies a
fragment of a cross-shaft, with two vertical
panels of interlaced work formed from a
four-cord plait,
A fine beak-head, evidently from the cornice
of a church of the later Norman period, is also
preserved here.
xxxi. -- S.E. -- 24 May and 12 June 1912.
CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC STRUCTURES.
59. Closeburn Castle. - This tower (fig. 4
of Introduction), dating from the end of the
14th century, stands in what is now one of
the fertile and wooded parks of Nithsdale,
some 12 miles by road north-north-west of
Dumfries. The site has been originally a
peninsula at the south-east end of what once
was Closeburn loch, and the approach to the
castle from the east or landward side has
been defended by a wide moat cut across
the neck of the peninsula, which would in
this way be converted into an island, as it
is shown in Grose's Antiquities of Scotland
even as late as 1789. On plan (fig. 30) the
tower is of the simple rectangular type,
measuring, on the ground floor, some 27 feet
6 inches by 15 feet 6 inches within walls
nearly 10 feet in thickness. The total height
from the ground to the level of the parapet
measures some 50 feet. The building com-
prises four storeys and an attic, the two lower
[Plan Inserted]
FIG. 30. - Closeburn Castle (No. 59).
storeys, including the basement, and the attic
being vaulted. A doorway in the west wall
gives access to the basement, which is now
subdivided into three dark cellars. No
windows appear to have been formed in its
massive walls, probably with a view to greater
security, nor has there been any internal com-
munication with the upper floors.
The main entrance is situated at the north
end of the west wall at the first-floor level,
some 10 feet from the ground; access to the
tower would be gained originally by a move-
able ladder, which has been replaced in later
times by the present forestair of stone. The
doorway measures 4 feet 6 inches in width,
has splayed outer jambs and a semicircular
arch-head, and is still secured by an excep-
tionally well-preserved iron "yett." There
is also a bar-hole in the south jamb, some
6 feet in depth. Originally the first floor
would serve as the hall, measuring about
30 by 18 feet within walls averaging 8 feet
in thickness; but it has been subsequently
divided by a central partition some 3 feet in
thickness, which contains two fireplaces. The
windows have been enlarged to suit modern
requirements. A wheel-stair in the north wall
adjoining the entrance gives access to the
upper floors and to the parapet walk. the
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CLOSEBURN.] -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. -- [CLOSEBURN.
upper floors have been altered and adapted
for convenience of occupation, and an attic
has been formed within the uppermost vault.
The crenellated parapets of the main building
and of the cap-house are evidently of recent
date. The castle is still inhabited, and is in
excellent repair.
A charter by Alexander II., of the period
1231-1232, confirms a grant of the lands of
Closeburn to Ivo de Kilpatrick. It is copied
into the Glenriddell MSS. ¹ In 1296 William
de Kilpatryk of the valley of Annan is a
prisoner at Windsor; ² and in 1299 Ivo, son
of Stephen de "Killeosborne," died a hostage
at Carlisle. ³
¹ Cf. C. Kirkpatrick Sharpe's Correspondence,
vol. i. p. 552; Grose's Antiquities of Scotland,
i.p. 150; ² Calendar of Documents relating
to Scotland, iv. p. 358; ³ ibid., ii. No. 1179.
xxxi. S.E. -- 6 June 1912.
60. Low Auldgirth. - Adjacent to the farm of
Low Auldgirth are the ruins of a small keep,
consisting of portions of two contiguous walls
some 3 feet 6 inches in thickness. The base-
ment has been vaulted with a simple barrrel-
vault.
xl. N.E. (unnoted). -- 1 May 1913.
DEFENSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS.
61. Fort, Townfoot. - On the western slope
of the moorland, about 1/2 mile to the south-
east of Townfoot farm, is a fort. It is
elliptical in form, lying north-north-wesy and
south-south-east, and shows a broad stony
rampart rising to a height of some 5 feet
above an encircling trench, now scarcely
apparent except at the ends. The rampart
has been considerably despoiled for stones
along the west side, and there are several
gaps in it. The principal entrance, however,
has evidently been at the north end of the
west side, opening on a slight hollow in the
interior. A stony bank faces the gap and
passes southward, flanking if for some 40 feet,
thereafter passing across the interior towards
the rampart on the east side. On the south
side of the entrance a low stony mound runs
outward as a traverse for a distance of some
30 ffet across the front of it. The length of
the interior is some 230 feet and the breadth
at the centre 175 feet: the rempart at base
0has a breadth of 20 feet where prominent at
the south-east angle, and the trench a width
of 25 feet from cres to crest. The width of
the entrance at ground level is about 7 feet.
The interior is very uneven and stony, showing
in one or two places evident remains of divi-
sional banks or walls, and rushes growing in
several spots suggest the presence of water.
The elevation of the site above sea-level is
800 feet. a section of the "Deil's Dyke"
runs parallel with the west face o the fort,
some 60 feet distant (see No. 80).
xxii. S.E. -- 7 June 1912.
62. Fort, Trigony Wood. - At the end of a
ridge which rises steeply from the northward,
overlooking Trigony House, are the remains of
an oval earthwork. It is situated within a
thick fir wood, so that its outline is now
difficult to follow, while measurements are
almost unobtainable. According to the O.S.
map, the dimensions are approximately 240
by 200 feet. the defence consists of a single
trench, where best preserved some 13 feet in
breadth and now nowhere of greater depth
than 2 feet, with a slight mound above the
scarp, and probably the same above the
counterscarp. along the east side the trench
is barely traceable, and on the north-west
there appears to be a gap of some 60 feet,
where it has disappeared entirely.
xxxi. N.E. -- 12 June 1912.
63. Fort, Crichope Linn. - In the field on the
north and near the head of Crochope Linn, are
the remains of a fort. With its base resting
on the precipitous bank of the Linn about
80 feet in height, it extends to the north-east
with two straight sides some 136 feet apart,
formed of a trench and inner rampart, now
imperfect on the north-west side, which are
connected by a segmental curve towards the
north-east. The lan appears to be an irre-
gular ellipse, with its major axis from north-
east to south-west. along this axis it measures
to the stony dyke which cuts across it at the
side of the Linn 212 feet, and where widest it
extends some 40 feet farther to the edge of the
bank. The surrounding trench has had a
width of about 28 feet from crest to crest,
and, on either side of the entrance, where it is
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CLOSEBURN.] -- INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. -- [CLOSEBURN.
now best preserved, it has a depth of 10 feet
below the top of the scarp and 7 feet below
that of the counter-scarp. The rampart at
greatest height rises to about 3 feet above the
interior level and is very stony. On the west
there is a considerable gap in the defences at
a point where the ground on the interior rises
sharply to a height of 7 feet, and the trench,
less deep at this point, may have been filled
in and obliterated by cultivation. The en-
trance, 12 feet wide, has been from the east,
passing across the trench on unexcavated
ground and through the rampart. Immedi-
ately on the right of it, in the interior, on
slightly elevated ground, is a circular area
enclosed by a bank and measuring 41 feet
in diameter. It is entered from the west dia-
metrically opposite to the entrance to the fort.
xxxi. N.E. (unnoted). -- 20 June 1912.
64. Fort, Benthead. - About 1/4 mile north-
north-east of Benthead, on the south-east bank
of the Linn and some 60 yards down from the
fine waterfall known as the "Grey Mare's Tail,"
is a small circular entrenchment. The ground
falls from the southward towards the edge
of the Linn, and directly overlooks the con-
struction, which forms a small plateau above
the precipitous bank 60 to 70 feet in
height. The mound is encircled by a horse-
shoe trench, some 20 feet wide, the ends of
which rest on the bank, and it has nowhere
a height of more than 5 feet above it, while
on the upper side it does not exceed 3 feet 6
inches. The summit area measures 40 feet in
diameter, and is not very level. On the south-
west face is a depression some 12 feet across
which gradually falls to a depth of 4 feet be-
low the summit level. This appears to be
secondary, and the soil from it has seemingly
been used to level a platform at the edge of the
bank of the Linn and partly to close the end of
the trench in that direction. This construction
is very similar to that on the Wanlock Water
up the Crawick Pass, in Sanquhar parish
(No. 553).
xxii. S.E. (unnoted). -- 20 June 1912.
65. Mote, Dinning. - This mote (fig. 31) lies
some 200 yards north of the farm of Dinning,
and with its base-court or bailey is fashioned
on a long natural hillock lying north-west and
south-east, which rises out of a stretch of haugh-
land reaching to the Nith, about 1/4 mile to the
westward. The east slope of the valley com-
mences to rise sharply some 50 yards distant
from the base of the hillock. From the south-
east end the knoll rises gradually to its north-
west extremity, on which the mote itself has
been erected. With the base-court lying at the
south-east end, the whole construction occu-
pies about half the length of the hillock.
In form the mote is a simple truncated cone,
[Plan Inserted]
FIG. 31. - Mote, Dinning (No.65).
composed, as far as it is possible to tell, of
earth, and rising to a height of some 14 feet
above the level of the base-court, while a steep
gradient with a vertical height of 45 feet
reaches to the base of the hillock on front and
sides. On the terminal slope, some 20 feet
up from the base, is a slight terrace which is
possibly artificial. The plat of the mote has
been circular with a diameter of some 20 feet,
and shows a shallow bowl-shaped hollow, the
wall of which has been slightly broken down
on the north-west. The base-court is oblong
on plan, measuring 66 feet in length by 57
feet in breadth, and is enclosed by an earthen
rampart, somewhat slight on the sides but
massive to the front, which impinges directly
on the sides of the mote hill, uninterrupted by
any intervening trench. The entrance to the
court has been through the centre of the south-
east front.
A trench 34 feet in width, 12 feet in depth
below the crest of the scarp, and some 4 feet
below that of the counterscarp, has been dug
across the hillock from side to side in front
of the rampart. There is no gangway across
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CLOSEBURN.] -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. -- [CLOSEBURN.
the trench, which has probably been covered
by a bridge or drawbridge.
xxxi S.E. ("Earthwork"). -- 7 May 1913.
HUT-CIRCLES.
66. Hut-Circle, Townhead. - About 1/2 mile
due east of Townhead farm buildings, and some
40 yards down from the road to Fellend, is a
well-defined hut-circle. It is a small circular
enclosure, surrounded by a turf bank measur-
ing interiorly 7 feet 6 inches by 6 feet 6 inches,
with its longer axis towards the entrance,
which, with a width of about 2 feet 6 inches,
faces south by west. The bank has a thick-
ness of about 3 feet 6 inches and, at most, an
elevation of 1 foot. The structure has been
placed within a larger circle, the stony founda-
tion of which is just traceable, measuring in
diameter some 26 feet, close to the back but
against the wall - presuming the front of this
outer circle to have been in the same direction
as that of the interior construction. Though
no small cairns are actually adjacent, there
are a number sparsely scattered to the west
and south.
xxii. S.E. (unnoted). -- 20 June 1912.
67. Hut-Circle, Townhead. - On a natural
terrace on the hillside to the east-north-
east of Townhead farm, and some 400 yards
distant, is a small hut-circle excavated by
a former tenant of the farm. It measures in-
teriorly 8 feet by 6 feet, the longer axis being
towards the entrance, which has been from the
south-south-east. The floor was sunk about
1 foot below the adjacent natural level, and a
low stony bank surrounded the edge. A small
hearth was found in the centre of the hut,
formed of thin stones set obliquely in the soil, as
well as wood ashes, but no relics were recovered.
The hut-circle is within a large oval waled
enclosure in an extreme state of ruin, which,
however, may be of later date. In one of the
fields at a lower elevation to the south of the
farm, it is said that numerous hut sites -
recognisable by the charred deposits - were
disturbed in a deep ploughing some years ago.
Numbers of flint flakes have been found in the
vicinity.
xxii S.E. (unnoted). -- 20 June 1912.
CAIRNS.
68. Small Cairns, Nether Dod. - At the
south-east end of Nether Dod, on the lower end
of the haunch of the hill overlooking the Capel
Water, is a small group of cairns measuring
some 12 feet in diameter and very low in
elevation. They are at an altitude of some
850 feet above sea-level.
xxxii N.E. -- 7 June 1912.
69. Small Cairn, fellend. - On the upper side
of the road fromTownhead to Mitchellslacks,
about 350 yards to the east by south of
Fellend, is a small cairn with a diameter of
24 feet and an elevation of 2 feet. It has not
been excavated. It lies at an altitude of
nearly 1000 feet over sea-level.
xxiii. S.W. -- 7 June 1912.
70. Small Cairns, Knockbrack. - On the west
side and around the summit of Knockbrack, a
green grassy hillock, which rises up from the
moorland about 1/2 mile to the south-east of
Townfoot Loch, is a large number of small
cairns, which measure from 10 to 20 feet in
diameter, are overgrown with grass and low in
height. They are situated at an elevation
above sea-level of about 900 feet. One near the
summit, measuring some 20 feet in diameter,
was opened some ten years ago by the
tenant in Townhead, who found two flint
chips, a round thin disc of stone about the
size of a penny with a small depression in
the centre on one side, and some charred
wood.
xxiii. S.W. -- 7 June 1912.
71. Cairn, Capel Glen. - About 3/4 mile to the
north-east of the farm of Locherben, on a
plateau which interposes between the slope
of the high land to the westward and the
precipitous right bank of the Capel Burn
which flows by 100 feet below, lies a cairn,
measuring some 5 feet in diameter and low in
elevation, formed of large stones, considerably
overgrown. It does not appear to have been
excavated.
A number of large slabs, lying flat on the
surface or set upright and just protruding
between the cairn and the top of the bank of
-- 34 |
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CLOSEBURN.] -- INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. -- [CLOSEBURN.
the burn, are suggestive of a ruined cist. The
altitude is about 900 feet.
xxiii. S.W. -- 7 June 1912.
72. Cairn, Threip Moor. - This cairn is situ-
ated on the crest of the watershed between the
Poldivan Burn and the Capel Water, about
1/4 mile west of the confluence of the streams
and nearly 1/2 mile east-north-east of where the
road running southward from Mitchellslacks
crosses the former. It has not been excavated,
and measures some 50 feet in diameter and
6 feet in elevation.
xxxii. N.W. -- 7 June 1912.
73. Cairn, Nether Dod. - On the southern
end of the long grassy hill which lies to the
east of Mitchellslacks and bears the name of
Nether Dod, at an elevation of some 950
feet over sea-level, are two cairns within
150 yards of each other. The one measures
39 feet in diameter and 4 feet in elevation,
while the other measures 30 feet in diameter
and 4 1/2 feet in elevation.
xxxii. N.E. -- 8 June 1912.
74. Cairn, (remains of), Auchencairn. - In a
grass park about 1/4 mile to the north of Auchen-
cairn farm house are the remains of a very
large circular cairn. Only a small segment
remains, and the site of the remainder has been
covered with gathered stones from the field.
The interment has probably long since been
disturbed. The field is known as the "Witches
Wa's."
xxxii. S.W. (unnoted). -- 12 June 1912.
75. Cairns, Gawin Moor. - Situated on Gawin
Moor, rather more than a mile to the north-
east of Auchencairn, is a group of eight or
nine small cairns. The largest, which has
measured some 18 feet in diameter, has been
excavated.
Some 300 yards to the southward, on a
slight ridge overlooking a stretch of boggy
moorland to the west, is a much larger cairn,
measuring in diameter 62 feet and in elevation
8 feet. At one or two places excavations have
been made in it, but no cist or chamber has
been reached.
To the north and north-west of it lie several
small cairns measuring in diameter from 12
feet to 14 feet.
Some 200 yards to the southward, and near
the edge of the boggy land, lie the remains
of another circular cairn which has been ex-
cavated, and the remains of a short cist lie
exposed in the bottom of it. The cairn has
measured some 44 feet in diameter. The ex-
cavation, which was conducted in 1894, re-
vealed three cists: one, measuring 3 feet
6 inches in length by 1 foot 9 inches in
width, contained burnt earth and ashes; the
second, of which no dimensions are recorded,
contained similar remains; the third, which
is said to have measured only 2 feet by
1 1/2 feet, yielded fragments of a beaker urn
and a flint implement. No osseous remains
were found (Dumfries Standard, 5th July
1894).
Sixty yards or thereby to the north are the
remains of another and much smaller cairn,
also excavated.
The "Mid Cairn" is a large circular cairn,
on the crest of the moorland, 1 mile due east
of Auchencairn and 80 yards or thereby to the
east of the Drove Road. It measures some
54 feet in diameter and about 9 feet in eleva-
tion. Though it has been dug into to a small
extent it still remains unexcavated.
On the moorland, to the east of the
Drove Road, and about 3/4 mile north-east
from Auchencairn, is a cairn which has been
excavated. It has measured about 20 feet in
diameter.
xxxii. S.W.-- 12 June 1912.
76. Cairn, Gufhill Rig, Knockenshang. - Some
200 yards south-south-east of the summit of
the hill which overlooks the road from Annan-
dale into Nithsdale by Loch Ettrick, 1/2
mile west of the farm of Knockenshang, and
just under an altitude of 900 feet over sea-
level, there is a large oval cairn overgrown
with grass except at the north end, where the
stones are exposed. It measures 93 feet from
north to south by 84 feet from east to west,
and rises to a height of 5 feet. Though a
slight excavation has been made in it at the
north end, the interment does not appear to
have been disturbed.
xxxii. N.W. -- 2 May 1913.
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CLOSEBURN.] -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. -- [CLOSEBURN.
77. Gravestones, Closeburn. - At the east
side of the churchyard is a slab heavily
carved along one side, with a pillar-like figure
enriched with festoons and terminating in a
human head. Incised is an inscription: HERE
LYETH THE CORP OF JOHN KIRKPATRIC IN
BARNMILL WHO DIED JAN. 1696. AGED 76. At
the foot of the slab, in relief, within a car-
touche, is a shield bearing a saltire and chief,
the latter charged with three cushions, all
surmounted by a helmet and mantling. These
are Kirkpatrick arms.
xxxi. S.E. -- 12 June 1912.
78. Gravestones, etc., Dalgarnock Church-
yard. - Within the churchyard at Dalgarnock
are one or two late 17th-century gravestones
of no particular interest, and two dating
from the first half of the 18th century, which
show figures in contemporary costume carved
in relief - one commemorating a schoolmaster
from Glencairn and the other a "Chirurgeon"
from Thornhill. On the left of the entrance
stands the socket-stone of a cross, measuring
2 feet 2 1/2 inches by 1 foot 9 inches by 1 foot
4 inches, with a rectangular sinking in the
centre.
xxxi. N.E. -- 12 June 1912.
79. Mound, Knockhill. - At the west end of
the wall which comes down by the south side of
the Knockhill, forming the boundary between
Townhead and Townfoot, is a grass-covered
mound, evidently artificial, lying with its
longest axis east-south-east and west-north
west, and measuring in diameter 24 feet by
15 feet. Without excavation its character
cannot be determined.
xxii. S.E. -- 20 June 1912.
80. "Deil's Dyke." - Running parallel with
the west face of the fort (No. 61), some 60
feet distant, but at an elevation about 20 feet
lower, is a section of the "Deil's Dyke." It is
here an earthen mound some 12 feet wide at
base, with a certain amount of stone protrud-
ing at places through the top, rising to a height
of from 2 to 3 feet, and with a slight and
narrow trench some 7 feet wide on the upper
side. It runs in an irrregular line along the
face of a steepish slope some 20 feet down from
the crest.
The Dyke passes along the lower slope
of the hillside, just above the enclosed
land, some 200 yards to the north of Townhead
farm. In appearance it is an earthen bank,
with a trench on the upper side, running
irregularly across the brae face, measuring
some 8 feet broad at base, narrowing upwards,
and some 2 feet in height, while the trench
has a breadth of about 7 feet and is now
shallow. Where the bank has been broken by
sheep it is shown to be formed with a core
of boulders laid horizontally. The stony
structure of the rampart becomes much more
pronounced as it turns down the slope
above Burn farm. Here, indeed, it has the
appearance of being wholly formed of slabs,
generally about 2 to 3 feet long by 18 inches
wide, while in the usual earthy structure
the stones are mostly such as may be carried
in the hand.
xxii. S.E. -- 7 and 20 June 1912.
A section of the Dyke is also to be seen
crossing the field between Benthead and
Crichope Linn. It is an earthen bank, 3 feet
6 inches in height and 12 feet wide at base,
with a trench on the east some 14 feet wide,
from which the soil has been upcast.
xxxi. N.E. (unnoted). -- 20 June 1912.
81. Standing-Stone, Kirkbog. - On the crest
of a broad-backed ridge, 1/4 mile east of the farm
of Kirkbog, stands a single upright whinstone
bouder in the middle of a cultivated field.
It measures 4 feet 3 inches in height, and about
half of its thickness has been broken off at
no distant date. There is nothing in the
character of the stone, nor in its situation, to
contradict the statement in the History of
Closeburn, that originally there was a stone
circle here.
xxxi. N.E. (unnoted). -- 7 May 1913.
SITES.
82. "Cairn," Benthead. - About 1/4 mile
north-north-east of the Grey Mare's Tail
waterfall, near Benthead, on a slight eminence
towards the crest of a ridge, is the site of a
dilapidated construction, probably a large
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CLOSEBURN.] -- INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. --[CUMMERTREES.
circular cairn, from which the larger stones
have been removed.
xxiii. S.W. (unnoted). -- 20 June 1912.
83. Cairn, Auchencairn Height. - The cairn
on the top of Auchencairn Hill is a mere site;
the interment has probably been removed
long ago.
xxxii. S.W. -- 12 June 1912.
84. Tumulus, M'Mount, Knockenshang. -
The "tumulus" noted on the O.S. map on
the summit of the hill across the valley to the
west-south-west from the Gufhill Rig is now
a low, stony mound, with a diameter of some
8 feet, and with a few large stones lying on
the surface.
xxxii. N.W. -- 2 May 1913.
Sites are also indicated on the O.S. maps as
under:-
85. Dalgarnock Church and St Ninian's Well,
about 700 yards north-west of Kirklands
cottage. -- xxxi. N.E.
86. Chapel, Nether Mains. - xxxi. S.E.
87. St Patrick's Chapel, Kirkpatrick. - xxxi.
S.E.
88. Royach Cairn. - xxxii. S.W.
CUMMERTREES.
CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC STRUCTURES.
89. Repentance Tower. - This tower (fig 4
of Introduction) stands on rock within an
old graveyard on the summit of a small hill
(350 feet), which is about half a mile to the
south of Hoddom Castle, and commands an
extensive view on all sides.
It dates from about the middle of the 16th
century, but has evidently been repaired in
later times. The walls are built of a local
pinkish sandstone set in courses with dressed
margins and jambs. On plan (fig. 32) the tower
is oblong, measuring externally 24 by 21 feet.
It is three-storeyed and terminates at a height
of 30 feet above ground level in a parapet walk,
within which rises a roof covered with over-
lapping flagstones and surmounted at the apex
by a central chimney.
The entrance is at the east end of the north
wall, at the level of the first floor, 3 feet above
the ground. On the door lintel is the word
REPENTENCE, executed in raised Gothic
lettering and flanked on the dexter by a
carving of a bird and on the sinister by a
scroll.
The ground floor has evidently been entered
through the first floor but is at present in-
accessible; from outside can be seen two
[Plan Inserted]
FIG. 32. - Repentance Tower (No. 89).
built-up gunloops on each wall. The windows
are small, with rounded jambs, save where
these have been reconstructed with rect-
angular rybats. At first-floor level a large
window checked for outer shutters has been
inserted in the south wall, probably in the
18th century, and in its turn is now built
up.
The lower member of the continuous corbel
course is original, the upper member and the
projecting gargoyles are later, if not modern.
The parapet has been reconstructed in the
early 18th century and has ashlar quoins
with channelled joints. The chimney is
similarly jointed, as is the doorway opening
from a staircase to the parapet walk, and
the south-west angle of the tower has been
repaired at ground level with channelled
quoins. the entrance is reached from the
exterior by five modern steps and has been
closed by two doors.
The interior of the first floor is lighted by
several narrow windows or loopholes and by
the later window in the south wal. within
the south-east angle is a recess, its stone sill
raised about 2 feet above the floor level. The
-- 37 |
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CUMMERTREES.] -- HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. -- [CUMMERTREES.
upper floor has been reached by a ladder.
This room, measuring 14 feet by 10 feet 8
inches, is now fitted up as a dovecot. It is
lighted by a narrow loophole in each wall,
and a fireplace is formed in the north-west
angle; the upper part is enclosed with a
semicircular stone vault below the flagged
roof. From the level of the second floor a
stone stair, starting on a corbelled projec-
tion intruding on the room below and resting
partly on the east wall, leads to the low
doorway which gives access to the parapet
walk.
The origin of the superscription REPENTENCE
has been connected with a certain chain of
episodes in the career of John, Master of Max-
well, afterwards Lord Herries, about the
middle of the 16th century. ¹ The same
person seems to have built Hoddom Castle.
One of his proposals in 1579 to the king for the
proper rule of the Borders definitely fixes the
character of the building: "The wache toure
upoun Trailtrow, callit Repentance, mon be
mendit of the litill diffaceing the Englische
army maid of it (? 1570); and, according to
the formar devise, the greit bell and the fyir
pan put on it; and ane trew man haiff ane
husband land adjacent for the keping of the
continuall wache thairupoun." ² At this time
tower and lands were the property of Lord
Maxwell, who had purchased the feu from
Lord Herries. ³ The "devise" in question was
no doubt that engrossed in the Border Laws,
which enjoined "ever in Weir and in Peace,
the Watch to be keeped on the House-head;
and in the Weir the Beaken in the Fire-pan
to be keeped, and never faill burning, so long
as the Englishmen remain in Scotland; and
with ane Bell to be on the Head of the Fire-
pan, which shall ring whenever the Fray is, or
that the Watchman seeing the Thieves dis-
obedient come over the Water of Annand, or
thereabout, and knowes them to be Enemies;
And whosoever bydes fra the Fray, or turns
again so long as the Beaken burns, or the
Bell rings, shall be holden as Partakers
to the Enemies, and used as Traitors to
the Head-Burgh of the Shyre, upon ane
Court-day." ⁴
1 Transactions, Glasgow Archæol. Society,
1896; Repentance Tower and its Tradition, by
George Neilson, p. 340 ff.; -- 2 Register of Privy
Council, iii. p. 81; -- 3 ibid., p. 84; -- 4 Leges Mar-
chiarum, p. 198.
lvii. S.W. -- 14 August 1914.
90. Hoddom or Hoddam Castle. - This castle
(fig. 33) stands on the eastern edge of a plateau
on the right bank of the River Annan, 6 miles
south of Lockerbie. The buildings are en-
closed on west and south by a courtyard wall,
much modernised but showing traces of 17th-
century detail.Outside the south wall is a
deep artificial ditch.
The castle is built of reddish ashlar and
towers above the modern additions which
encompass it on all sides save the north and
east. It is built on an L plan (fig. 34), the
shorter wing lying to the west. Externally it
measures 51 feet from north to south and the
same from east to west; the longer wing is
36 feet broad, the shorter 29 feet. The former
contains four storeys beneath the wall head,
where it terminates 52 feet above the ground
in a parapet walk, within which rises a slated
roof containing a garret; the other wing is
carried up to a height of 72 feet, where it
terminates in a flat roof within a parapet; it
contains the main staircase. The parapet of
the larger wing is borne on a continuous
moulded corbel course of a late decorative
type, with moulded interspaces and corbels,
which breaks upward and returns around the
staircase wing at a higher level; rounds are
set at the angles of the lower parapet, and
turrets of slight projection rise at the western
angles of the higher corbel course to above the
flat roof covering the staircase wing, where they
terminate in conical roofs. Around this flat
roof runs a parapet, largely modern but pro-
vided with embrasures and with rounds at the
eastern angles, as on the main tower. The
entrance to the castle is in the short arm of the
re-entering angle by a doorway with an arched
head of segmental form; on the jambs and
head is wrought a bold quirked edge-roll
moulding with a fillet; the label takes the form
of a monstrous cable with knotted stops, now
mutilated. The lower storey is unlit save by
two gun-loops in the east wall; the other floors
are lit by windows of moderate size, some of
which have been heightened; the edge-roll
moulding is repeated on the jambs and
lintels.
-- 38 |
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Ancient and Historical Monuments - Dumfries.
[Photograph inserted]
FIG. 33. - Hoddom Castle (No. 90).
To face p. 38. |
dumfries-1920/04-119 |
CUMMERTREES.] -- INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. -- [CUMMERTREES.
Just within the entrance a doorway on the
right admits to a small lobby, formed in the
thickness of the intermediate wall, which gives
[Plans Inserted]
FIG. 34. - Hoddom Castle (No. 90).
access to the northern of two intercommunica-
ting chambers contained within the main wing.
These are ceiled with a semicircular barrel-
vault, and a mural closet is formed within
the east gable. The mid-partition between
these chambers is carried up through all the
storeys to the roof, forming two apartments on
each floor. The main staircase is spacious and
of easy ascent; from it is entered at first-floor
level a lobby formed within the intermediate
wall, which contains on the south a mural
-- 39 |
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HUTTON AND CORRIE.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [JOHNSTONE.
relief as follows :- In the centre, occupying
almost the entire depth by 1 foot in breadth,
is a shield bearing arms: A lion rampant
within a bordure flory counter-flory, the Royal
Arms of Scotland: on the dexter side a holly
leaf, and beyond it a saltire: on the sinister
side, at the extreme end, in Gothic form, the
letters A.B., separated by a scroll or reversed
S. The top of the shield, hidden by the iron
gutter at the edge of the cottage roof, is partly
damaged on the sinister side.
This stone is said to have been found in 1783,
underground, in the remains of an ancient
building at Westside, on the Black Esk, in the
parish of Eskdalemuir, and in that year it was
transferred to Berryscaur and used as a lintel.
The saltire and holly leaf are respectively the
arms and badge of the Lords Maxwell; the
letters A.B. are probably the initials of a
member of the Beatty family, one of whom,
in 1532, was King's sergeant and officer in
Eskdale. On the map of 1590 the tower of
Ally Battie is marked at a place correspond-
ing with Westside, and the O.S. map marks
a spot as "Sergeant Know," within 2 miles
of it.
xxxiv. S.W. 12 August 1912.
309. Gravestone, Corrie Churchyard. - At
the north-east angle of Corrie Churchyard,
outside a railed enclosure, which forms the
burial-place of the Grahams of Dunnabie, is an
upright slab commemorating PETER GRAHAM
IN BARNSDEL WHO DEPERTED THIS LIFE OCT.
21ST 1753 AGED 12 YEARS. On the front
is a figure of a man dressed in a long skirted
coat with deep cuffs, holding in his right hand
a crown and in his left a sceptre. On his
left a skeleton stands on a skull grasping a
spear in his left hand. Above the man's
head is an hour-glass, and at the apex of the
stone an angel with outspread wings.
xxxiv. S.E. 26 July 1912.
310. Cross-slab, Corrie Old Churchyard. -
On a mound in the centre of the churchyard,
evidently covering the ruins of the old
church, lies a squared block of sandstone,
measuring 6 feet 5 1/2 inches in length, 9 inches
in thickness, 1 foot 11 inches in breadth at
the head, diminishing to 1 foot 6 inches at
the foot, whereon is carved a foliated cross
in the form of a cross-potent with a lozenge-
shaped boss in the centre, having a long
shaft set on a calvary mound. A broad-
bladed symmetrically pointed sword is incised
on one side of the shaft, the handle of which
is entirely worn away. The cross is carved
in relief, but is much weathered. The edge
of the stone has a border of projecting dog-
toothed bosses, 6 inches apart, rising from
a 4-inch chamfer, the interspaces on the
chamfer decorated with a leaf-and-bead
ornament.
xliii. S.E. 6 August 1912.
SITES.
The O.S. maps indicate sites as under :-
311. Corrie Church, Corriehills. xliii. S.E.
312. Chapel, near Carterton. xxxiv. S.E.
313. "Mosskesso," about 500 yards north-east of Closs. xxxiv. N.E. (Cf. No. 287.)
314. "Covernanters' Graves," Caldwell Burn. xxxiv. N.W.
JOHNSTONE.
CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC STRUCTURE.
315. Lochwood Tower. - This tower occupies
a naturally strong site some 6 miles south of
Moffat, which is defended to the north by
broken and wooded ground and by the Loch-
wood Moss - once an almost impenetrable
morass - in other directions. The tower is
placed at the southern end of the site, with
a range of outbuildings extending 160 feet
northwards, where it abuts on the southern
defence of a circular mote-hill - Lochwood
Mount (No. 316). The buildings are in a
ruinous state, the main building being com-
paratively complete to the level of the first
floor, while the south-eastern angle stands
some 20 feet higher; the outbuildings are
mere shells.
On plan (fig. 84) the tower is L-shaped, and
was entered at the first-floor level. There
appears to have been no external opening to
the basement, an unusual feature. The larger
wing, with its main axis running east and
west, measures 43 feet 5 inches by 34 feet
exteriorly, with walls 6 to 9 feet thick.
Internally, the basement, entered from a
[Page] 114 |
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[Plans inserted - Block and Ground]
Fig. 84. - Lochwood Tower and Mote (Nos. 315 and 316).
[Page] 115 |
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JOHNSTONE.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [JOHNSTONE.
wheel-stair contained within the short wing,
is divided into two vaulted compartments,
each furnished with a ceiling hatch and lit
by long narrow windows with jambs widely
splayed to the interior. Beneath the easter[n]
cellar is a prison 21 feet 4 inches long
and 5 feet 7 inches wide; access to this is
gained by a straight stair entered from the
short passage between the wheel-stair in the
smaller wing and the eastern cellar. The
door in the passage appears to have folded
vertically in leaves, for a recess and groove
1 inch deep, in which such a door might
slide, are worked on the lintel. There is no
window, but a ventilation outlet is provided
in the east wall. A bulkhead is formed in the
cellar above to obtain the necessary headroom
in the dungeon. From the general arrange-
ment of the plan the tower appears to have
been built in the 15th century.
The outbuildings to the north, which were
apparently erected at a later period, formed
the eastern boundary of a courtyard, while
traces of a smaller courtyard to the west
are evident.
Lochwood was the principal seat of the
Johnstones. As described by its English
captors in 1547, "It was a fair large tower,
able to lodge all our company safely, with a
barnekin, hall, kitchen, and stables, all within
the barnekin, and was but kept with two or
three fellows and as many wenches." [Footnote] 1 In
April 1585 Robert Maxwell with his friends
and some Armstrongs attacked and burnt
Lochwood, " the Lardes (i.e. Johnstone's)
owne howse," and its provision of victuals. [Footnote] 2
Cf. further Introd., p. lxv.
1 Cited in History of Westmorland and Cum-
berland, Nicolson and Burn, vol. i., p. liv. ;
2 Border Papers, i. No. 303.
xxiv. S.E. 10 May 1912.
DEFENSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS.
316. Mote, Lochwood. - This mote, com-
monly called " The Mount," is situated in a
wood of aged oak trees, just to the north of the
ruins of Lochwood Castle, and looks out to the
eastward over the plain of Upper Annandale.
It is formed from a natural hillock crowning
a slope rising from the east and mounting
from a hollow on the west. From the latter
direction it has a vertical elevation of some
22 feet; but from its base on the east, along
which runs the roadway, it rises to a height
of 44 feet or thereby.
Two terraces encircle it: the upper one on
the west side, at some 10 feet below the
summit level, dipping on the longer western
slope to 20 feet, and the lower one varying
from 8 to 10 feet further down. On the east
side and round by the north, both terraces
show a parapet, and on the south the lower
takes a trench-like aspect with a bold rampart
cutting it off from the ground beyond, on
which the later castle has stood. On the
north the hillock does not slope directly to
its base from the parapet of the lower terrace,
but presents a narrow bench crowned at its
edge with a rampart, from which there is
a scarp some 5 to 6 feet in height to the
lowest level. To the eastward this bench
gradually merges with the narrow terrace
above it, and to westward it slopes away
to a lower level, leaving the rampart extend-
ing onwards in that direction, and containing
within it an area too low lying to have formed
a base-court. Towards the south-east the
upper terrace forms a salient angle; and
directly below it there is a gap, which has
probably been an entrance through the outer
mound, some 7 feet in width, towards which,
between two parallel mounds, what may have
been a roadway may be seen approaching
directly to it on the opposite side of the
present road. Westward from this supposed
approach, and facing the south, there is a
space, some 12 to 14 feet in breadth, reach-
ing downward from the edge of the summit,
interrupting the upper terrace and scarped
at a flatter angle than the rest of the
mound, up the west side of which there is a
distinct suggestion of a track, which makes a
sharp turn to the eastward at the highest
level before entering on to the summit at its
south-east point. On the east side of this
space, stretching from the summit to the
trench-like hollow of the lower terrace, there
is visible a stony artificial ridge. The
summit is oval, measuring superficially some
24 feet by 16 feet, and has been hollowed
to a depth of some 18 inches, with a wall
formed in part of natural rock left around
the edge.
xxiv. S.E. (unnoted). 14 September 1912.
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JOHNSTONE.] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. [JOHNSTONE.
317. Mound behind Lochwood Tower. - To
the south of the ruins of Lochwood Tower lies
a green level meadow, probably the garden,
and near its centre there rises an artificial-
looking earthen mound surmounted by four
ancient gean trees, some 9 feet in height with
a diameter at base of 36 to 40 feet, fallen away
somewhat towards the east, and measuring
across its level circular summit some 10 feet.
Around its base is a shallow trench with a width
of 12 feet. This mound in character and situa-
tion bears a resemblance to that which rises
from the centre of the garden at Logan in Gallo-
way, similarly within sight of the old castle.
xxiv. S.E. (unnoted). 14 September 1912.
318. Fort, Mote Cottage. - On the east bank
of Kinnell Water, about 1/4 mile east by
south of the farm of Ross Mains, rises a grassy
hillock marked as a mote on the O.S. map.
It is a natural gravel mound, lying with its
longest axis north and south, with an eleva-
tion rising from 18 feet at the north end to
26 feet at the south, steeply sloped on the
north and west and falling by an easier
gradient to its base on the south and east.
The ground around is low-lying meadow land;
and, while the Kinnell Water at the present
day flows by some 150 yards to the westward,
an old channel marked by pools of stagnant
water lies at its base.
The summit has been surrounded by a
bank of earth and stone enclosing an area
measuring some 100 feet by 40 feet. It
slopes from west to east as well as from north
to south, and at no point has been levelled,
as would be the case in a mote-hill. At the
lowest point on the east side, towards the north
end, there is an entrance 8 feet wide approached
up the slope from the base; and on the right
of it, against the bank, there appears to be an
oblong foundation, probably of turf, at the
east end of which, at a level some 5 feet lower,
is a circular hollow dug out of the face of the
bank, measuring 11 feet in diameter. On the
highest point of the hillock, in the line of the
enclosing bank, is a small oblong depression
measuring superficially 7 feet 6 inches by
5 feet 6 inches and sunk some 2 feet below
the surface; while on the east edge, also on
the line of the mound, is another hollow, which
may mark the site of a hut.
xlii. N.E. (" Mote "). 8 August 1912.
319. Fort (remains), Kirkhill Cottage. - This
cottage, in an angle between two roads about
1 mile to the north of Johnstone Church,
apparently occupies the site of a fort, of which
a small portion of a rampart remains on the
north.
xxxiii. N.E. 14 August 1912.
320. Fort, Tanner's Linn, Mollin. - This is
a small semi-oval fort about 1/2 mile south-
east of the farm of Mollin, the oval bisected
obliquely, and in its periphery, exclusive of the
chord, presenting four distinct facets of vary-
ing dimensions. It rests on the edge of the
precipitous left bank of the Linn, which flows
through a wooded ravine some 50 feet below.
The main axis of the oval, if complete,
would have been north and south, and the
basal line of the fort lies from north-east to
south-west, measuring 93 feet in the latter
direction from crest to crest with a bisectional
diameter of 60 feet.
The defences consist of an inner rampart
of earth and stone, a deep regularly formed
concentric trench, and an outer rampart.
The inner mound has an elevation of some
5 feet above the portion of the interior directly
behind it, and has a scarp at the highest
point of 7 to 8 feet in height above the floor
of the trench, but along the north-east arc of
only some 3 feet 6 inches: the trench from
crest to crest measures 30 feet, except on the
north-east face, where it measures 25 feet,
and has a depth below the counterscarp of
7 feet where deepest, near the centre of the
curve on the north, and diminishes in depth
towards the edge of the ravine at either end.
At either extremity the outer rampart has a
height of from 5 to 6 feet on the exterior,
where the ground level declines to the edge
of the ravine. There is much stone at places
in the interior, especially at the north-east
end, but no distinct foundation is traceable.
The entrance has probably been from the
north-east, past the end of the rampart, and
flanked by the precipitous side of the linn -
an arrangement frequently observed in this
class of fort. From the west there is a slight
filling of the trench, to form a gangway to
the interior; and thence southward to the edge
of the ravine the inner rampart has an eleva-
tion some 2 to 3 feet lower than to north-
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ward. It is doubtful, however, if this is
original, as there is no break in the continuity
of the outer mound as it passes it.
xxxiii. N.W. 21 August 1912.
321. Fort, Mollin. - This fort is situated on
the crest of a ridge, at an elevation of 600
feet over sea-level and about 1/2 mile north by
east of the farm of Mollin. It appears to
have been an oval enclosure, with its longest
axis north and south, measuring interiorly
156 feet by 140 feet, divided by a cross
rampart or wall in such a way as to cut off
a semi-lunar segment, amounting to about
one-third of the interior area at the north end.
The whole enclosure has been surrounded by
a stony rampart, now of low elevation and
completely eradicated for a distance of some
80 or 90 feet on the south-east.
xxxiii. N.W. 21 August 1912.
ENCLOSURES.
322. Enclosure, Crunzierton Wood, Raehills.
- Situated on a shelf on the steeply sloping
ground within the Crunzierton Wood in the
policies of Raehills, a short distance from
the gamekeeper's cottage, is a circular en-
closure, measuring 102 feet in diameter,
surrounded by a wall or stony mound, now
of low elevation and some 13 feet in thick-
ness. The interior has been hollowed by ex-
cavation on the upper side to a depth of from
3 to 4 feet and is completely overlooked by
the rising ground to the west of it. There
is a wet spot, which is probably a spring, at
the west end, and there is an indication of
a cross-wall cutting off a segment towards
the north, as in the last-mentioned enclosure.
It lies at an elevation of 600 feet over sea-
level and some 30 to 40 feet above the road
which passes along the base of the slope. In
its position it bears a strong resemblance to
the hollowed enclosures in Eskdale.
xxxiii. N.W. (" Fort "). 21 August 1912.
323. Enclosure, Duff Kinnel Bank, Raehills.
- Situated on a level plateau on the western
slope of the valley of the Kinnel Water,
about 1/2 mile north-north-west of Raehills
House, is a fort at an elevation of 600 feet [Note] 500
over sea-level and some 30 feet above the
roadway. It is a circular construction, measur-
ing interiorly some 114 feet in diameter, and
has been surrounded by a massive wall or
rampart of stones, now structureless, measur-
ing at most 19 feet across and 5 feet in height.
Towards the edge of the slope to the roadway
the mound of stone is much more massive
than on the opposite side of the enceinte,
which is overlooked by the slope rising steeply
above it; nor is there any indication that the
defence has originally been so great on this
side. The entrance from the south-east is
clearly defined and measures 7 feet in
width.
xxxiii. N.W. (" Fort "). 2
324. Enclosure, Duff Kinnel Bank, Raehills.
- Higher up, just on the brow of the hill and
some 200 yards distant from the last, is an
oval construction, lying with its longest axis
north and south and measuring 130 feet by
111 feet, also surrounded by a ruined wall or
stony rampart, of much slighter dimensions,
however, than that of the last enclosure,
measuring some 9 feet over all. About one-
third of the interior area at the south end has
been cut off by a cross-wall, and there are
indications of hollowing by excavation. The
wall of a later construction, probably enclosing
a wood now blown down, is partially super-
imposed.
xxxiii. N.W. 1 21 August 1912.
325. Enclosure, Edgemoor. - This enclosure
is situated by the edge of the steep east bank
of the Kinnel Water, about 1/2 mile to the south-
west of the farm of Edgemoor. It has been
oval in form, lying with its longest axis east
by north and west by south, measuring 150
feet by 130 feet or thereby. Its north-west
arc has been destroyed in the formation of
a road, and the rest of its defence has been
greatly pillaged for stones. It has been
surrounded by a massive stone wall, of which
only a small section, some 40 feet in length,
remains on the north-west, adjacent to the
hedge bounding the road. The large blocks
which have formed the lower course on the
outer face still remain in situ, indicating a
breadth for the wall of some 10 feet. The
interior is lower by 2 or 3 feet than the sur-
rounding ground and is wet and overgrown
with rushes.
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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.
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The south-eastern tower is much later than
the others. The wall is only 3 feet thick, and
is built of crude masonry.
East of the castle the embankment widens
[Plan inserted]
FIG. 90. - Auchencass or Auchen Castle (No. 384).
to a plateau, surrounded by marshy ground
to the north, east, and south. At its southern
end is placed, underground, a vaulted passage,
running north and south, apparently ter-
minating to the north in a ruinous poly-
hedronal apartment, now filled with débris.
Whether any means of communication existed
between this apartment and the courtyard is
problematical. The entrance to the passage
is secreted at its southern end; adjacent to
it is a chamber, doubtless used as a guard
chamber if the passage served the purpose of a
sally port. The passage is well built, and is
5 to 7 feet high from the present floor-level.
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In December 1306 Roger de Kirkpatrick,
" Chevaler," is Seigneur of " Haughencas,"
at which time he loans money to Sir Humphrey
de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex and
Seigneur of Annandale. [Footnote] 1 The place after-
wards belonged to Randolph, Earl of Moray,
and later on to the Douglases of Morton. [Footnote] 2
1 Bain's Calendar, iv. No. 1823;
2 New Stat. Acct., iv. p. 127.
xvi. S.W. 12 May 1912.
385. Structure, Kinnelhead. - On the north-
eastern shoulder of Peat Hill, towards the base
and adjacent to Kinnelhead farm, 4 miles west-
south-west of Moffat, is a ruinous structure of
indeterminate date. The hillside is covered
with outcrops of rock, some of which are of
considerable size. A cleft in one of these has
been artificially extended and incorporated
[Plan inserted]
FIG. 91. - Structure, Kinnelhead, and Incised Cross
(Nos. 385 and 386).
in a building. This cleft runs approximately
north and south; across the northern end
a gable wall has been erected, and traces of a
similar wall at the southern end can be seen.
A vaulted roof has been thrown across from
the rock face on the east to that on the west.
There has been at least one other storey
above the vault. The building measures
50 feet from north to south and 23 feet 2
inches from east to west (over-all measure-
ments); the walls are 4 feet thick. It is much
longer than the usual domestic or domestic-
and-defensive building, and this, along with
the fact that an ecclesiastical symbol is carved
on the rock, would seem to suggest an ecclesi-
astical purpose. This, however, can only be
ascertained by excavation.
Some 34 feet to the west is an outbuilding
running parallel to the main structure. It is
built in drystone masonry; some of the stones
in the walls weigh over a ton. To the north
and east are traces of other buildings.
386. Incised Cross, Kinnelhead. - On the rock
to the west of the building is incised a Cross
Calvary. It measures 3 1/4 inches across the
arms, and is 10 1/2 inches high. The workman-
ship is crude.
xxiv. N.W. ("Kinnelhead Tower"). 9 May 1912.
387. Tower (remains), Boreland. - On the
estate of Raehills, about 1 3/4 mile north of St
Ann's Bridge, is the ruin of a tower. Only a
portion of the vaulted ground floor now stands.
From north to south the tower has measured
30 feet 9 inches and from east to west 21 feet
6 inches. The walls are 3 feet 6 inches thick.
The ruin is used for storage of agricultural
implements. It is in a bad state of repair.
xxiv. S.W. 16 May 1912.
388. Lochhouse Tower. - Lochhouse Tower
(fig. 4 of Introduction), a Border tower
of the 16th century, lies 1 1/4 miles south of
Moffat, on the east side of the Beattock
road, on a slight knoll which
appears to have been sur-
rounded by water.
[Plan inserted
FIG. 92. - Lochhouse Tower (No. 388).
The building is oblong on
plan (fig. 92) with rounded
corners, and measures from
north to south 37 feet and
27 feet 6 inches from east
to west. There are three
floors, with a garret in what
was a steeply pitched roof:
the basement is vaulted. A
parapet walk carried on
corbels ran round the build-
ing. Two external offsets run right round
the tower : one below the sills of the loop-
holes on the ground floor, the other below
the sills of the second-floor windows. The
entrance is in the east wall. The doorway
has a bead-and-hollow moulded architrave
carried round the jambs and lintel. To
the left of the doorway in the thickness of
the wall is a small chamber, while to the
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right is the now disused newel stair. The
windows on the ground floor are looped for
musketry. The ground floor to the south of
the partition is used as a byre, with an
entrance slapped through the south wall.
The building has been recently re-pointed
and is in a fairly satisfactory state of pre-
servation.
Lochhouse was a residence of the John-
stones of Corehead (New Stat. Acct., iv. pp.
127, 133). " James Jonstoune of Lochehous "
is noticed in 1609 (Buccleuch MSS., p. 31).
It was the property of James Johnstone of
Corehead in the middle of the 17th century
(Reg. Mag. Sig., s.d.).
xvi. S.E. 15 May 1912.
DEFENSIVE CONSTRUCTIONS.
389. Fort, Holehouse Linn. - This fort rests
on the edge of a precipitous bank which, with
a height of from 60 to 80 feet, forms the
south side of the woody dell down which there
flows the Bushel Beck Burn, forming the
boundary between the parishes of Kirk-
patrick-Juxta and Moffat. Its elevation is
some 650 feet above sea-level. The region
in which it is situated is one of billowy ridges
and hillocks, dropping gradually to the valley
of the Annan, the fort itself occupying a
small level plateau, separated on the west and
south-west from rapidly mounting heights by
a natural hollow and protected on the east
by a steepish declivity.
The enceinte is an irregular semi-circle, sur-
rounded, except along the edge of the ravine,
by a massive grass-grown but stony mound.
The elevation of this mound is increased on
the inside by the excavation of the ground in
rear of it, giving it a height of some 4 feet,
while on the exterior it appears to have been
raised some 4 to 5 feet, attaining to a height
of some 6 or 7 feet above the bottom of
the natural hollow. On the west, towards the
edge of the glen where the foreground has been
higher the rampart has been covered by a
trench with an artificial mound forming the
counterscarp. The interior has a chord of
164 feet and a bisectional diameter of 135 feet.
About two-thirds around the periphery from
the west end, and facing the south-east, there
is a well-defined entrance some 6 to 7
feet wide, carried up from the trench-like
hollow in front and passing by a covered way
into the interior, flanked on the west by a
slight inward return of the rampart on that
side. It opens on to the lowest part of the
interior, a somewhat circular area about
40 feet in diameter with higher ground
around it. Against the edge of the bank, at
the back of the enceinte, are the remains of a
rude circular enclosure, measuring interiorly
some 16 feet by 15 feet and surrounded by a
wall some 2 feet in thickness, which has been
formed of rather small stones and is probably
secondary. Just beyond the rampart, towards
the south-west, there appears to be a spring.
ix. S.W. 13 September 1912.
390. Fort, Campknowe, Gardenholm. - On
the east side of the road from Moffat to Edin-
burgh, and 150 yards or thereby to the north
of the glen that runs down to the farm of
Gardenholm, are the remains of a fort sub-
oval in form, with its longest axis east and west
and measuring interiorly 154 feet by 147 feet.
It occupies a spur known as Camp Knowe,
projecting from the west wall of the Annan
valley, and lies at an altitude of 700 feet over
sea-level and 300 feet above the bottom of
the dale. The road has obliterated whatever
defences may have formerly existed towards
the higher ground on the west, and around
the rest of the periphery a low stony mound
is only just recognisable.
The interior has not been levelled, but rises
towards the east, overlooking the valley to a
height of 5 or 6 feet above the floor-level to
the west, where there has been considerable
hollowing by excavation. On the north-west
a hollow in rear of the rampart suggests the
site of a hut, and there are one or two similarly
suggestive hollows on the sides of the higher
ground. The entrance appears to have been
from the north.
xvi. N.W. 13 September 1912.
391. Fort, Gardenholm. - On the right bank
of the Annan, about 1/3 mile below Gardenholm,
are the remains of a small fort. Its site is a
slight promontory formed on the river bank
by the bed of a stream flowing into the Annan
on the north and by a trench-like hollow
opening across the face of the bank on the
south. The elevation above the river is some
12 to 15 feet and above the burn a few
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feet less. The fort, sub-oval [i]n form, measur-
ing in diameter 80 feet by 76 feet, has been
surrounded by a single stony rampart, now
at no point more than 18 inches in height and
some 6 to 7 feet in breadth. Sheepfolds now
occupy the interior, and a roadway appears
to have been cut through it.
xvi. N.E. 24 September 1912.
392. Fort, Gardenholm Plantation. - This
fort is situated close to the road, on the south
side of the Gardenholm Plantation, about 2
miles north-north-west of Moffat. It lies within
a blown-down plantation, so that a survey of
it was quite impossible. The 25-inch O.S.
map shows it to be a circular enclosure, with
a diameter of 160 feet, surrounded by a single
rampart.
xvi. N.E. 13 September 1912.
393. Fort, Camp Knowe, Chapel Hill. - This
fort is situated on a rocky eminence, at an
elevation of 800 feet above sea-level, on the
crest of the Chapel Hill, the watershed
between the Annan and the Evan Water,
which rises steeply on the west from the
bed of the latter and slopes away by more
easy gradients in all other directions. The
hillock rises by a gradual slope from the
northward to an elevation of some 20 feet,
but at its southern extremity offers a steep
rocky slope. The summit, which is very
uneven and shows no signs of having been
levelled, lies with its longest axis north-east
and south-west and measures 163 feet by
111 feet. Except on the north arc, where
the defences have been obliterated, there
runs round the hillock, maintaining a fairly
regular level in its course, a trench some 21
feet in width at the level of the counterscarp,
with a mound to the outside, having, as the
ground falls away, a scarp from 7 to 11 feet
in height.
A hollow leads to the summit from the
north-east, and opposite it the trench ter-
minates. At 45 feet south of its termination
there is an opening through the outer mound
into the trench, and the entrance to the
interior has been either directly up the hollow,
below which there appear indications of
flanking walls, or else by the opening along the
trench and thence into the hollow. On the
face of the hillock, overlooking the section
of the trench between the opening and the
hollow, there lies a mass of stones. There
appears to have been a parapet mound
around the summit. It was noted in 1890
that a break in the rampart towards the Evan
showed carefully-built masonry of small
stones without mortar (Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot.,
1890-91, p. 226).
This fort appears to be very similar in
character to Range Castle Hill fort (No. 290),
[Margin] 98!
which had a similar trench along the base of
the eminence.
xvi. N.W. 18 September 1912.
394. Fort, Coats Hill. - On the south-west
flank of Coats Hill, 600 feet in elevation
above the sea-level and 74 feet below the
summit of the hill, is an oval construction,
lying with its longest axis north and south. It
measures 121 feet by 91 feet and is surrounded
by a broad and very stony rampart, possibly a
wall, some 10 to 12 feet in thickness at base,
with a height of from 2 to 3 feet, except on
the north, where the interior of the enclosure
has been hollowed by excavation, giving the
bank a height of some 5 feet on the interior
and 2 feet to the outside. The entrance,
with an approximate width of 7 feet, has been
from the west and shows on its south side
several large boulders in situ and displaced.
xvi. S.E. 18 September 1912.
395. Mote, Coats Hill. - On the south-west
slope of Coats Hill, At an elevation of about
[Plan inserted]
FIG. 93. - Mote, Coats Hill (No. 395).
600 feet above sea-level, overlooking the valley
of the Evan, which flows by at the base of the
hill on the south-east, is a mote-hill (fig. 93)
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commanding a distant prospect over Upper
Annandale. It appears to be to some extent an
artificial mound of earth and small stones, as far
as its composition is ascertainable from surface
breaks; but as the ground around rises towards
it, it has doubtless a natural eminence as
its core. In form it is oblong, lying with its
main axis east by north and west by south,
and rises to a height of 16 feet at either end,
[Plan inserted]
FIG. 94. - "Camp," Garpol Water (No. 396).
measuring over its level summit some 40 feet
by 35 feet, with a projection to the west
at a slightly lower level for some 24 feet.
Extending past both ends at base, but not
carried along the sides farther than, on the
east side, the length of the projecting spur,
is a trench, some 30 feet in width, very shallow
at the west end and some 6 feet in depth at
the east. On the flanks, where there is no
trench, there are indications of dry stone work,
which continue round on the crest of the outer
bank of the trench. There is a slight parapet
on the edge of the summit at the east end.
xvi. S.E. 27 September 1912.
396. "Camp," Garpol Water. - On the low
haugh-land by the left bank of the Garpol
Water, close by the footbridge on the road
from Egypt to Holmshaw, and about 1 1/2 miles
directly north-west of Beattock, are the remains
of a rectangular enclosure (fig. 94), to which
a Roman origin has been attributed. Except
for its rectangular oblong form, there seem
no grounds for such an assumption: the site
is overlooked in all directions, commands no
prospect, and has an elevation above the
summer level of the Garpol Water varying
from 8 feet at the north-west to about 4 feet
at the lower end.
The enceinte is oblong, with the angles very
slightly rounded, lying with its main axis
north-west and south-east, and has, when
complete, measured some 277 feet by 172 feet,
the south angle having apparently been
entirely washed away by the stream. It has
been surrounded by a stony rampart, some
3 feet high on the interior, with a trench in
front, not now continuously recognisable in
[Page] 136 |
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KIRKPATRICK-] INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE. [-JUXTA.
the wet ground about the north angle but
very distinct in the neighbourhood of the east
corner, where it measures 27 feet in breadth
and 5 feet and 3 feet in depth below scarp and
counterscarp respectively. Along the north-
west it has a breadth of 21 feet and a depth, as
above, of 3 feet and 4 feet respectively. There
is a gap some 9 feet broad in the north-west
face, about 18 feet in from the angle by the
burn, but the large stones cropping out on
the roadway suggest that it is not an original
entrance. Just within the rampart on the east
side are the remains of a stony mound or
cairn, some 20 feet in diameter, which appears
to have been excavated.*
xvi. S.W. 18 September 1912.
397. Mote, Garpol Water. - Some 80 feet
back from the right bank of the Garpol Water,
in the moorland and by the side of the
[Plan inserted]
FIG. 95. - Mote, Garpol Water (No. 397).
road which leads over the hills from Egypt
to Holmshaw, is a prominent flat-topped
hillock, which has been fashioned by art
into a mote and bailey (fig. 3 of Introduc-
tion, and fig. 95). It is oval, lying with its
main axis north-west and south-east, and its
level summit of the same form measures
107 feet by 36 feet in diameter. The level
of the surrounding ground falls towards the
Garpol Water on the north, so that the greatest
elevation of the mote is on that side, its altitude
being 30 feet on the north side and 15 feet on
the south.
Around the base, except where destroyed
by the roadway on the south-east, is a well-
defined trench, having a breadth varying from
22 to 30 feet and a depth at the level of
the counterscarp of from 4 feet to 6 feet 6
inches, except for a short distance at the north-
west where it has a depth of 11 feet before
dropping over the brow to the lower level on
the north. Some 7 feet above the bottom of
the trench, on the south side, is a narrow
terrace about 5 feet in breadth, furnished with
a stony parapet. This terrace continues of
narrow breadth all along the south-west side;
but, after passing round both ends, it broadens
out into a small base-court, shaped like the
human ear, which forms a projecting shoulder
towards the north-east. The length of this
base-court is 117 feet and its breadth at
centre 36 feet. At its south-east end its
floor lies at a level some 2 to 3 feet below
the north-west portion and is further pro-
tected at its edge by a parapet mound. Above
the base-court and the terrace the summit
eminence rises to a height of 17 feet and
8 feet respectively. Like a true mote-hill
it shows no pathway leading to the summit;
but across the trench, at the north-west end,
where there is a sudden change in levels,
there appears to have been a gangway leading
by a steep path into the base-court. Where
the trench passes along the north-east face,
over the low ground by the burn, an outer
mound, some 3 feet in height, forms the
counterscarp, through which, near the centre,
where the ground is lowest in level and wet,
there is a gap some 30 feet wide.
xvi. S.W. 18 September 1912.
398. Fort, Beattock Hill. - [Note] 3 Occupying the
summit of a bluff which projects from the
eastern slope of Beattock Hill, at an elevation
of some 550 feet above sea-level, is a pear-
shaped enclosure, lying with its longest axis
south-west to north-east and having its
narrower extremity towards the rising slope
of the hill on the south-west. It measures
interiorly 133 feet by 70 feet across the centre,
* In a communication to the Proceedings of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1886, vol. xx.
pp. 331-5, the writer refers to this mound as a
circular building, partially destroyed, with com-
paratively thin walls. Its character is not now
apparent on superficial examination.
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MOFFAT.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [MOFFAT.
ing by excavation, especially at the upper or
south-east end, where the floor lies some 6 feet
below the natural ground-level outside. At
the extreme point within the rampart, near
the highest part of the defences, there is an
oblong enclosure measuring 44 feet by 22 feet,
the inner wall of which appears to be a bank of
unexcavated soil and rock now surmounted by
a modern stone dyke, and which is pierced at
no visible point by an entrance to the larger
enclosure. The main entrance has been from
the east-north-east into the lowest area of the
interior. Crossing the interior diagonally to-
wards the entrance, and cutting the area into
two divisions, is a broad bank, which seems to
have been formed of natural ground left by
excavation on either side.
xvii. N.W. (" Fort "). 16 September 1912.
490. Enclosure, Hunterheck. - This enclosure
occupies the summit of a plateau in an angle
formed by a bend of the Frenchland Burn, as
it changes its course from a westerly to a
southerly direction to the north of Hunter-
heck cottages, and appears to have been irregu-
larly circular in form, measuring 183 feet by
164 feet in diameter. With its north arc rest-
ing on the glen of the burn it has been sur-
rounded, except at the north-east, as after-
mentioned, by a broad stony mound rising
at most some 3 or 4 feet on either face. On
the north-east this mound, instead of being
carried forward to the edge of the glen to
complete the circle, is turned away sharply to
the eastward for a distance of some 66 feet,
terminating at 23 feet back from a steep bank
lying parallel and falling in the direction of the
burn.
The interior has been to some extent
hollowed by excavation, the floor level on the
south being some 3 feet below that of the
ground immediately outside. It has been
crossed by a broad bank from east-south-east
to west-north-west, cutting off about 3/8 against
the south arc, at the west end of which a
circular hollow appears to have been formed,
measuring some 60 feet by 52 feet in diameter.
Another cross-wall runs in a north-easterly
direction from a point somewhat to the east
of the centre of the main divisional bank
and forms a triangular enclosure, against the
east arc of which, however, the north angle is
unclosed. The entrance, 6 feet wide, has
been from the south-west, flanked on the left
by an inward return of the rampart for a
distance of some 12 feet: from it to the French-
land Burn on the west a roadway is traceable,
where its course has been cut through oppos-
ing rock and down the bank of the burn.
Beyond the enclosure, on the point of the
plateau to the north-west, is an area which
appears to have been hollowed; and some 250
yards to the eastward, at the base of the rising
ground, towards the upper end of the field
and close by the bank of the burn, are a number
of indeterminate foundations.
xvi. N.E. (" Fort "). 16 September 1912.
491. Enclosure, Auldton. - On a bench on
the hillside, about 1/4 mile due east of Auldton
and 100 feet above it, are the remains of a cir-
cular enclosure, which has been surrounded
by a stony rampart or wall and measures,
with its longest axis north and south, 96 feet
by 78 feet in diameter. The position is
completely commanded by the hill rising
abruptly behind it. The inner face of the
bank on the east has been formed by excava-
ting the interior to a depth of 5 feet.
xvi. N.E. (" Fort "). 20 September 1912.
492. Enclosure, Corehead. - On the brow of a
ridge which forms the end of the watershed
between two burns coming down from Cock-
law Knowe and Spout Craig respectively, at
an elevation of 900 feet over sea-level and
about 1/2 mile to the south-east of Corehead, is
a circular enclosure, measuring interiorly 152
feet by 138 feet, formed with a single rampart,
composed of small stones, now reduced to a
low level towards the exterior, but, owing to
the hollowing of the interior, having an eleva-
tion on the inside towards the higher level of
from 3 feet to 4 feet. Against the south-east
arc on the interior lie some low heaps of
stones, irregularly circular, suggestive of hut
foundations; and on the north-north-west
there is an elevated circular platform with a
diameter of some 40 feet, to the south of which
appears to have been the entrance coming
from the west.
ix. N.E. (" Fort "). 17 September 1912.
493. Enclosure, Meikleholmside. - On a
plateau on the western slope of the Annan
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SHEET 31 (PARTS OF 32, 34).
ROYAL COMMISSION ON
ANCIENT & HISTORICAL MONUMENTS
(SCOTLAND).
MAP
SHOWING THE POSITION OF THE PRINCIPAL
MONUMENTS IN THE COUNTY OF
DUMFRIES.
Note 1. - The numbers refer to the articles of the Inventory.
Note 2. - Enclos. = Enclosures, defensive, but scarcely Forts.
Ordnance Survey. 1921. |
dumfries-1920/04-418 |
[Inv]
Jahrbruck, Tower at, near Ingleston (Bow butts) |
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