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Garlies Castle
The ancient walls of Garlies Castle, slowly being reclaimed by woodland. Look carefully among the trees and you may just be able to determine an old stone wall. Year by year, the landscape is reclaiming this ancient tower house, once a seat of power in these parts of Galloway. But now it is slowly disappearing into the woods, in a process of decay that has been ongoing since the 1620s, when Garlies Castle was abandoned by the Stewarts as they became the Earls of Galloway.
The barony of Garlies was conferred upon Alexander Stewart by Alexander III in 1263. He was the fourth hereditary High Steward of Scotland and the principal commander of Scotland at the Battle of Largs, on 2 October 1263, when the Scots defeated the Norwegians. His descendant Alexander Stewart the 7th of Garlies, was created the first Lord of Garlies in 1607 and the first Earl of Galloway in 1623.
The current castle remains seem likely to date from the 15th or 16th century, with later additions and seems to have been the principle seat of the Garlies Stewarts from about this time, until the creation of the Earldom, when they sought more comfortable and grandiose dwellings at Glasserton and then Garlieston.
As the rising tide of time and nature slowly sucks this once noble building under, it is left to the forest to become the home of deer and crows.
The castle is sited at the top of a steep slope. 
The jumbled, overgrown ruins of Garlies Castle. -
The Man Wrap Tree
An’ siccan pranks by the haunted thorn
They hae the po’er to play,
That mortal man was never born
Could see , an’ live till day!
A twisted hawthorn tree at Man Wrap. It is the days when the wind drops, you really notice the difference. Snow rarely falls on the fringes of the Machars peninsula, but a cold, cutting wind is an almost constant companion during winters in these lands. Contorting the bare skeletons of stunted trees, into horrific, twisted creatures.
The Legend O’ Kirkmaiden tells that on such a night, with a storm raging around the ancient Fell of Barhullion, a merry gathering took place at the nearby old House of Moure, the original home of the Maxwells of Monreith. As the evening wore on and the guests partook freely of the hospitalities, talk turned to the supernatural. Bravado flowed as freely as the drink by the warmth of the fire, as the guests told tales of bravery and indifference of all things dark and uncanny, until a young man declared he would ride to the church of Kirkmaiden and return with its bible, as proof he’d been there1.
Despite dire warnings from ‘Jock of the second sight’ to avoid the haunted hawthorn tree, the foolhardy young McCulloch, full of drink and valour, replied that he’d not only pass by the tree, but also cross the witches lair2 and rode off into the teeth of the tempestuous night.
The ruins of Kirkmaiden church, beside Monreith Bay. As the night wore on and despite Kirkmaiden only being a short ride away, McCulloch did not return. Once daylight broke, a search party set out and found his body and that of his horse laying in a bleak spot, with both of their entrails entwined around the haunted hawthorn. He had reached the church and was returning to the House of Moure with the bible.
M’Culloch’s bluidy corpse they saw,
In’ the licht o’ that awfu’ morn,
Wrapp’d roun’ in the thorny branches a’ ,
An’ the heart frae the body torn!What foul fiends’ wark the youth did dree
That nicht, there’s nane can say,
But weel kent is that hawthorn tree
Ca’d ” Man-wrap” to this day.
A twisted hawthorn tree at Man Wrap. It is difficult to ascertain when the story is set. Kirkmaiden merged with the parish of Glasserton, sometime before Andrew Symson wrote his ‘A Large Description of Galloway’ in the 1680s, in which he describes the church as ruinous. The original House of Moure came into the possession of the Maxwell family circa 1450, via the marriage of Edward Maxwell to an heiress of the de Mundeville family. It was replaced by the tower house now known as Dowies in the late 16th/early 17th century, but the name transferred to the new building3. This in turn was abandoned in favour of Myrton Castle when William Maxwell bought it from the McCullochs in 1684. It seems almost certain the story would be set well before this date.
Man Wrap is a bleak area of rough, stony ground beneath the eastern side of the Fell of Barhullion, populated by a number of twisted hawthorn trees. The name survived long enough to be included on the first Ordinance Survey map of the area in the 1840s.
Today, little has changed and it is obvious few visitors tread here. On a gloomy winter afternoon, you stumble on the uneven, frozen ground in the half light. Gnarled branches grab at your coat and scratch your face. The wind grows colder as the sun sets and the place manifests an atmosphere of seething menace. Wind felled hawthorn trees lay scattered, not just blown over, but smashed into pieces, utterly destroyed. Visitors are not welcome here, once the darkness rises.
Tree beside the lochan at Man Wrap. 
Smashed remains of a fallen hawthorn at Man Wrap. Sources
1. Maxwell Wood, J (1911) Witchcraft and Superstitious Record in the South-Western District of Scotland, J Maxwell & Son P. 256.
2. M’Lachlan Harper, M (1889) The Bards of Galloway, Thomas Fraser P. 16 A Legend O’ Kirkmaiden, David M’Kie.
3. Reid, R C. (1948b) ‘Dowies’, Trans Dumfriesshire Galloway Natur Hist Antiq Soc, 3rd, vol. 25, 1946-7. P. 36-8
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The Wren in Winter
The wran, the wran, the king of all birds,
St Stephens’s Day was caught in the furze.
Up with the kettle and down with the pan,
Give us a penny to bury the wran.1
The Wren’s Egg, with standing stones and ‘nest’ behind. It’s a freezing cold early January morning, still dark at 7.30am. Under a blanket of stars, I can hear the sharp crunch of frosty grass under my feet. The first hints of dawn begin to show on the south eastern horizon, a sliver of deep pink above which hangs the crescent moon and the bright pinprick of light that is Venus.
I’m walking towards the Wren’s Egg and Nest, taking care to walk a wide arc around the edge of the field, to avoid leaving my footprints in shot on the frosty grass. I reach the tree covered clump next to the stones, just as a blackbird strikes up its dawn chorus in the branches above. I visited just two days before for sunset, but wanted to photograph a sunrise here too.
Blairbuy is close to Monreith, west of the Fell of Barhulion, the Wren’s Egg is a curious place. A large granite boulder sat at the end of a low natural ridge, dumped some fifteen thousand years ago by retreating glaciers, while creating the beautifully undulating Machars landscape. The name ‘Blairbuy’ is derived from the Scottish Gaelic ‘Blar Buidhe’, meaning the golden or yellow field.
The Wren’s Egg and Nest with standing stones to the right. The erratic appears to have held some significance during the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age, as an unknown number of standing stones were placed close to it. Local rumour tells the boulder was at the centre of a circle, made of two concentric rings of which only two small stones remain. The others having been cleared for use as gateposts or broken up.
“On the farm of Blairboy some fifty years ago, was a double circle of large stones, with one flattopped stone in the centre. All have been long removed, except the centre stone, and one stone of each of the circles”2.
It is true there are a few likely looking stones in the drystone dykes around the field, but excavations during the 1970s found this to be unlikely3. The possibility remains that there were more than the two remaining stones in alignment with the boulder.
A distant view of the Wren’s Egg and Nest. In 2012, ploughing led to the discovery of three stone cists nearby, in the north western corner of the field. When excavated, one contained the early Bronze Age burial of a juvenile, while the other two had not been occupied4. The stones that formed the cist now lean against the field wall to the east of the stones.
The area is also well known for its cup and ring marked rocks, seemingly centred around the foot of the Fell of Barhullion, the highest hill in this area. Rising out of the undulating landscape, topped by earthwork ditches, it seems highly likely that the hill is at the centre of this prehistoric landscape.
Sunrise approaches. As I wait for the light to reach the Wren’s Egg, I notice a finger of light creeping across the field opposite, towards another pair of standing stones about 400m away, known as the Blairbuy Stones. A little loch lies close by, downhill from the stones and it would be interesting to consider if this was in some way connected to the other sites, given the sacred nature of water in prehistory.
The Blairbuy Stones at Sunrise. 
Blairbuy Loch. The pair of stones at the Wren’s Egg point south west, said by Alexander Thom to align with the mid-winter sunset over the rocky island of Big Scare in Luce Bay, but is only visible when you stand on the egg. The two short stones don’t align correctly with the boulder, which puzzles me, until I find the boulder was moved some time ago, by a farmer trying to clear the field. His attempt failed, but moved the boulder just enough to take it out of alignment5.
The curious name ‘Wren’s Egg and Nest’ may reference the folk custom of the hunting of the wren. Widespread in Ireland, Wren Day was practiced on St Stephen’s Day (26th December) and involved gangs of ‘Wren Boys’ in fancy dress hunting a wren, which would often be killed, tied to a pole decorated with oak leaves and mistletoe and paraded around the village, collecting money for its burial.
The folklore of the wren entwines both Pagan and Christian symbolism. Its Gaelic name is ‘Dreolín’ meaning ‘Druid Bird’ and is a symbol of winter and the old year. The killing of the wren may symbolise the death of the old year, the death of winter, or possibly as a surrogate for the ancient Celtic practise of the yearly sacrifice of a king. The wren is after all, known as the king of all birds. It was said to have betrayed the hiding place of St Stephen, who was stoned to death, becoming the first Christian martyr.
Other variations of Wren Day took place in England, Wales and the Isle of Man around mid-winter, with variations on Christmas Day, New Year’s Day or Twelfth Night. A version of this custom was recorded as being practised in the Galloway parish of Kirkmaiden, called ‘The Deckan’ O’ the Wren’ and usually took place on New Year’s morning, when gangs of boys would search for wrens. Upon catching one, its neck and legs would be adorned with ribbons and the bird then set free6.
Another possibility could be a satirical reference to a condition in the lease of the farm, insisted upon by the landowner William Maxwell during the 1840s7, that the stone should not be moved. Disturbing a wren’s nest was considered to be bad luck.
The Wren’s Egg and standing stones at sunrise. 
A view across the fields from the ‘nest’. The sun finally creeps across the field and reaches the Wren’s Egg. It is one of those metallic winter mornings, as bright and sharp as newly burnished steel blade. I stand in the frosty grass and it all seems to make sense. This is a place of winter, a place of death and rebirth. The death of the old year and rebirth of the land. The alignment towards the mid-winter sunset, the nearby loch and standing stones, the significance of the wren as a symbol of winter and the old year, the nearby burial cists, all seem to add weight to this. On a cold, bright and frosty winter morning, it isn’t difficult to imagine the mid-winter rituals that may have taken place here.
Sources
1. Irish folk song.
2. P.H. M’Kerlie. History of the Lands and Their Owners in Galloway. 1870 Vol 1 p. 505.
3. L. Masters. Excavations at the Wren’s Egg, Port William, Wigtown District. DGNHAS Transactions and Journal of Proceedings 1976-77 Third Series Volume 52 p.28-43.
4. W. Bailie. Preparing for Death: Excavations at Blairbuy, Dumfries and Galloway in 2012. GUARD Archaeology Ltd 2013.
5. Historic Environment Scotland. Wrens Egg: Statement of Significance. 2022 p.12.
6. Masters 1976-77. Unfortunately, the reference doesn’t record if this is the parish of Kirkmaiden in which the Wren’s Egg is located, or the other of the same name on the Rhins peninsula.
7. J. Murray. The Stone Circles of Wigtownshire. DGNHAS Transactions and Journal of Proceedings 1981 Third Series Volume 56 p.18-30.
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Drumtroddan Rock Art
Drumtrodden Rock Art in the cold, winter gloaming.
It’s a bitterly cold afternoon in early December, the sun is lowering towards the horizon. I’m stood by a small outcrop of rock at Drumtroddan, setting up my camera on its tripod as I’m waiting for the sun to set, with nothing but a herd of sheep for company.
This corner of Drumtroddan Farm is home to several panels of prehistoric rock art. Carved into rocks by pecking with a stone tool, often on the horizontal surfaces of outcrops and land-fast boulders, large concentrations of them can be found in groups mostly around northern England and in Scotland. They commonly are composed of a central depression, sometimes surrounded by a ring or several concentric rings, sometimes with accompanying grooves. Known as cup and ring markings, limitless variations can be found on this theme, often with regional variations regarding the use of concentric rings, meandering grooves and clusters of cup marks.
The mystery is, unlike other prehistoric features, it is very hard to decipher their meaning. There are no associated organic remains to help date them and no historic references that mention them. The only clues we have are their associations with datable monuments, such as the rock art panel, levered from the bedrock and repurposed as a capstone in the Bronze Age Nether Largie North cairn, in Kilmartin. The carvings show signs of weathering, meaning they had sat in their original position for quite some time, before inclusion in the cairn. It seems they still had some meaning to the cairn builders of Kilmartin, despite already being of some considerable age.
Another clue can be their position in the landscape. Often on the slopes of hills, very rarely on the top, with wide ranging views, perhaps they mark out a special space, route or view of significant landscape features. The rock art included in the magnificent enclosure of Woofa Bank on Ilkley Moor, lies between two springheads. It is conjectured that in prehistory, they may have been painted, or designs replicated on wood and fabrics. Over 100 theories have been put forward about what rock art could mean, from the banal to the mundane, but the truth is we will probably never decipher their real meaning, being long lost in the mists of time.
Drumtroddan Standing Stones are just a short distance to the south of the rock art panels and beyond them, I can see the hill tops of the Isle of Man. I watch the last flecks of light strike the Galloway Hills to the east, as the sun slips below the clouds, a deep orange glare behind the small copse of trees to the west. Perhaps it is this view of the hills that have some relevance to the position of the carvings, or that the outcrop points south west, towards the mid-winter sunset.
The sky slowly darkens as light flees over the western horizon, soon it is dark enough for the lights to work on the rock art. In daylight, just a few rings and cup-like depressions are visible, but once a low, raking light is placed by the rock, the carvings spring to life. Concentric rings and grooves, virtually invisible by day cover the surface of the outcrops. It is one of those ‘wow!’ moments.
As the darkness grows, it gets colder, dropping below freezing. After just over half an hour of trying different compositions and lighting angles, I find the cold is affecting my fingers to the point it is difficult to operate the camera, despite double layers of gloves. Crunching back across the thin, frozen layer on top of the mud, I make my way home.
Illustrations of Drumtroddan Rock Art panels, from 1912.
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St Mary’s, Dumfries
St Mary’s Church, Dumfries. On a small hill, set back a little from the busy road at the end of English Street, stands an early 19th century gothic church. It would be easy to walk past the gateway and stone steps, unsuspecting of the dark history connected to this corner of Dumfries. For this little hill, now populated by the church and peaceful, if not slightly neglected grave yard, was once a place of execution. Only a small collection of stones, cemented together in front of the church hint at its past.
Across town, at a bus stop outside Greggs, is the place where Robert the Bruce slayed John Comyn before the altar at Greyfriars Church, on 10th February 1306. His supporters Roger de Kirkpatrick and John Lindsay went back and made ‘siccar’ (sure) that Comyn was finished. Rushing to his nephew’s aid, Robert Comyn was killed by a sword blow to the head, delivered by Bruce’s brother-in-law, Christopher Seton.
Bruce was hurriedly crowned King of Scotland at Scone on 25th March 1306, but the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Methven on 19th June 1306, where again Bruce was saved by Seton, led to his flight to safety with a small band of loyal followers.
“The king was thrice unhorsed, and once so nearly taken, that the captor, Sir Philip De Mowbray, called aloud that he had the new-made king, when Sir Christopher Seton felled Mowbray to the earth and rescued his master.” 1
Seton was captured at Loch Doon in Ayrshire, after he was betrayed to the English by Gilbert de Carrick and taken to Dumfries, where he was tried and executed on 14th August 1306. On the hill top now occupied by St Mary’s Church, he was hung, drawn and beheaded.
“The dread apparatus of death was erected on a high natural eminence, situated beyond the walls, on the north-east of the Burgh, so that the inhabitants might have an opportunity of seeing how the usurper rewarded what his judges called rebellion, and of profiting by the spectacle. The Dumfriesians of that day were unfortunately too much accustomed to such sights; but they would be dreadfully shocked, nevertheless, by these executions – one of the sufferers being none other than Sir Christopher Seton, the brother-in-law of their King, a most valiant warrior, who at the battle of Methven had rescued Bruce, by felling his captor, Sir Philip de Mowbray, to the ground. He was accused of treason in general, and more especially of having been present at the slaughter of Comyn.” 2
This seems to have been the usual place of execution at the time.
“It was the Tyburn of Dumfries ; and here also, as tainted and polluted ground, all suicides were buried. When the excavations were being made for St. Mary’s Church, a considerable quantity of human bones and about 70 or 80 skulls were dug up—the miserable remains, no doubt, of the convicts and suicides who had been buried there.” 3
In 1323, Seton’s wife Lady Christina De Brus, built a small chapel on the site of his execution, so mass might be said for his soul, endowed by her brother King Robert. On what became known as ‘Crystal Mount’ Sir Richard Maitland, in his account of the Seton family stated that the chapel was still in use as late as 1552, but it fell out of use and entered a state of dereliction, until almost all of what remained was taken to re-enforce the town defences during the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion.
When the foundations of the current St Mary’s Church were dug, in 1837, besides the fore mentioned bones, the footing of the old chapel were examined, “traces of the rough foundation of a building were lighted upon by the workmen, but from what was seen it only proves that the chapel or oratory must have been a very small one indeed.” 4
Seton’s Chapel and Dumfries in the 16th century, from an old print. A print of the chapel has survived, which James Starke described, “Mr Gibson has procured a lithograph of Dumfries from the copy of an old print. The view is tasteful and felicitous, with the chapel in the foreground ; but it here appears of larger dimensions than would have been anticipated, and there is also more of the edifice exhibited than is perhaps warranted by the perspective. The object, no doubt, was to bring into view as much of the chapel as could conveniently be done, and the print may thus be deemed more valuable than if it had been more artistically correct.” 5
The few remaining stones still to be found, thought to belong to the east window, were set up in the churchyard by Major James Adair, with the inscription:
These stones, the relics of the ancient chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, erected by King Robert Bruce, in memory of Sir Christopher or Chrystal Seatoun, are here placed by Major James Adair, 1840.
Other than this small collection of stones, nothing remains to be seen of the grisly history of this hill top. But when the cold autumn wind blows through the dying vegetation and the tumbled down tomb stones, despite being close to the town centre, it can feel like a very lonely place.
St Mary’s Church with Adair’s collection of remaining stones from the chapel in the foreground. 
St Mary’s Church, with the graveyard behind. Sources
2. History of the burgh of Dumfries (106) – William McDowall (1867)
3. From the Dumfries Courier, 31 May, 1837. Sir Christopher Seton and his Chapel at Dumfries: DGNHAS Transactions and Journal of Proceedings, Series I, 2 (1863-64), 40: James Starke.
4. Ibid.
5. Starke 1863-64.
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The Curse of McCulloch
Keep me, my good corn, and my sheep and my bullocks
From Satan, from Sin, and those thievish McCullochs.
A Manxman’s Prayer
The ruins of Mytron Castle. Myrton Castle now stands ruined and overgrown, hidden from view by trees, slowly crumbling on its mound in the grounds of Monreith House. A relic of a long-gone age, when fire and sword were often gleefully employed in settling an argument.
One of Galloway’s oldest names, the McCullochs had a fearsome reputation as a clan not adverse to conflict and feud. They held sway over Southern Galloway from the medieval period through to early modern times, said to be descended from Ulgric, who led the Gallovidians in King David I’s army at the Battle of the Standard in 1138. Like many old Galloway families, their first known documented mention in the area, is in the Ragman Roll of 1296, declaring an oath of fealty to Edward I1.
The McCullochs may have come by their lands in Wigtownshire due to their support of Lochlann (Roland) in his conflict over the Lordship of Galloway against his uncle Gilbert, late in the 12th century2. Their support of Edward I and John Balliol, son of Lady Dervorguila of Galloway, rather than Robert the Bruce, lost them their lands. They were at least partially restored however under David II, around 13633.
Little seems to be known about the early history of Myrton Castle. The motte is presumed to date from the 12th century and in the usual manner, would have been topped with a wooden building. The stone tower house dates from the 15th century, with 17th century modifications4.
The first recorded McCulloch owner of Myrton was Sir Patrick, named in English records in 13385, but it is the infamous Sir Alexander McCulloch from who the clan’s most fearsome reputation derives. A favourite of James IV, he was the King’s falconer, received visits from the King at Myrton Castle, when on his pilgrimages to Whithorn and was knighted by 1488.
Around 1497, Sir Alexander was for a short time appointed as the Sheriff of Wigtown, deputising for the ailing Quentin Agnew. Although his tenure as Sheriff was relatively short, he attacked and burned down Dunskey Castle, home of William Adair of Kithilt. Not yet content, he then moved on to Ardwell Castle, home of his kinsman Archibald McCulloch, driving off his cattle, sheep, horses and household goods6.
Sir Alexander also managed to incur the wrath of Bishop Vaux. When Mitchell McBriare was found liable for a debt of £10, he appealed to the Bishop, who forbade the Sheriff to foreclose on McBriare’s goods. Sir Alexander, resenting the Bishop’s interference accompanied his officers and instructed them to do their duty. The Bishop promptly placed a curse upon McCulloch.
“Whereupon, Bishop Vaux solemnly cursed Sir Alexander, ‘Knycht of Myrton’, he cursed the Sheriff Clerk, he cursed the sergeants and other officers whomsoever; he cursed them all ‘by candle, by book and by bell’: and then, committing the curses to writing, he caused Letters of Cursing to be served on all parties.”7
In 1507, Thomas Earl of Derby, Lord of the Isle of Man, attacked the Galloway coast, nearly destroying the town of Kirkcudbright. McCulloch unleashed furious reprisals, visiting raid after raid upon the island. It is said that Manxmen at mealtimes would finish their meat before their soup, so to at least have eaten something substantial before McCulloch’s next visit. He became so infamous, he passed into popular Manx culture as ‘Cutler’ McCulloch8.
“God keep the house and all within
From Cut McCulloch and from sin.”The final McCulloch owner of Myrton was Godfrey McCulloch, who is also the possessor of the dubious honour of being the final person to be beheaded by the ‘Maiden’ (a guillotine like structure) at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh. Mired in debt, Godfrey sold Myrton to William Maxwell in 1683, but his situation was soon to get much worse. The McCulloch’s old feud with the Gordons reached its apex when on 2nd October 1690, Godfrey went to William Gordon’s house at Bussabiel to secure the release of impounded cattle. Gordon answered the door with a gun in hand and McCulloch shot him in the thigh, causing wounds from which Gordon later died. Godfrey fled abroad to England, where he remained for six years, returning to Scotland once he believed the matter had blown over. But one Sunday in a church in Edinburgh, he was recognised by a Galloway man who cried, “Steik the door, there’s a murderer in the house9.”
Godfrey McCulloch was tried and executed in 1697, but there is another, more supernatural version of the ending of this tale. In the early days of his ownership of Myrton Castle, Godfrey ordered a drain to be cut in the mound, when a little man in a green coat appeared to protest that the mound was the home of fairies and drain was being cut through their house. The fairy promised if he stopped, he would one day receive a great reward, but if he didn’t, he would have to face the wrath of the fairies. Godfrey had the drain diverted. On the day of his execution, Godfrey was said to have been rescued by a little man, dressed in green upon a white horse and spirited away, never to be seen again10.
Myrton Castle remained in use until Monreith House was built by Sir William Maxwell, 4th Baronet, in 1791 on the site of Myrton village. The castle was converted to a doocot around 1800.
Kirkmaiden Church, burial place of the McCullochs. Kirkmaiden Church near Monreith, thought to be one of the oldest churches in Scotland, is the ancient burial place of the McCullochs and has long held a rather eerie reputation, with numerous legends attached to it. Long ago, a merry gathering was held at the old house of Moure, the original home of the Maxwells of Monreith, now known as Dowies. As the night wore on, talk turned to dark tales of bravery and one foolhardy young man accepted a wager that he should ride to Kirkmaiden and return with the church bible to prove he’d been there. Night ceded to morning and still the young man had not returned. His body was later found in a bleak place, next to that of his horse, with both of their entrails twisted around a thorn bush. It seemed he had reached the church and was on his way back when he met his fate11.
Sometime before Andrew Symson wrote his ‘Large Description of Galloway’ in 1684, the parish of Kirkmaiden merged with Glasserton. The bell and pulpit were taken across Luce Bay to the other, newly built Kirkmaiden church in the Rhins. Although it was a clear and still day, a storm blew up in which the ship floundered and sank. Now and again, much like the prophetic howl of the banshee, the bell can be heard to toll from the watery depths of the bay, signifying the death of a McCulloch is approaching12.
Sources
1. A History of the Galloway Families of McCulloch – Walter Jameson McCulloch (1964)
2. Galloway. A Land Apart – Andrew McCulloch (2000)
3. W.J. McCulloch (1964)
4. Canmore website: https://canmore.org.uk/site/62795/myrton-castle
5. W.J. McCulloch (1964)
6. W.J. McCulloch (1964)
7. W.J. McCulloch (1964)
8. W.J. McCulloch (1964)
9. Highways and Byways in Galloway and Carrick – Dick (1924)
10. A History of Dumfries and Galloway – Herbert Maxwell (1896).
11. Witchcraft and Superstitious Record in the South-Western District of Scotland – Maxwell Wood (1911)
12. Maxwell Wood (1911) -
Minnigaff Old Kirk
Western gable and tombs. At first sight, the neo-gothic edifice of Minnigaff Parish Church looks much like many others of the period. As you walk past the neat wall and railings, into the churchyard containing well-kept Victorian tomb stones, there are few clues of what lies ahead. But the deeper you probe, the more secrets this intriguing churchyard reveals.
Standing on a promontory, formed between the waters of the Cree and Penkiln Burn, this sliver of land holds at least nearly 1000 years of history. Beyond the 19th century church are the ruins of a much older building, surrounded by tombstones and burial plots. At the southern tip of the churchyard, taking advantage of the natural topography, surrounded by steep banks, stands a motte, separated from the rest of the churchyard by a deep ditch, cut across its northern edge and would once have been surmounted by a wooden keep, surrounded by a palisade. It is of a type generally associated with the Anglo-Norman period and the area now covered by the churchyard may once have formed the bailey.
Andrew Symson describes the motte in 1684;
‘The village of Minygaff being situate at the foot of Polkill, in a low ground hard by the Church , there being an artificiall moat, which , by tradition , hath been handed down to posterity , as being at first contrived for sacrifising to Jupiter and the Heathen Gods ; and when Christianity obtained, it was used as a mercat – place for the inhabitants to meet and do business…’ 1
There seems here to be the tantalising suggestion of a pre-christian use for the site, a dim and distant memory of a place of pagan practice. Perhaps a prehistoric temple of some kind may have existed here before the motte and church. It’s not something beyond the realms of possibility, considering the number of prehistoric remains in the area.
Further upstream along the Cree, is a place still known as Wallace’s Camp, where local tradition tells a battle was fought nearby. R.C. Reid in his 1924/25 field trip account2, is of the opinion Wallace utilised an existing stronghold from antiquity, but the Canmore database describes the site as being caused by the extraction of gravel or sand from the old river terrace, rather than the remains of a camp. Reid continues, drawing from Blind Harry’s epic poem, ‘The Wallace’ in support of an assault on the Minnigaff motte castle by Wallace in 1297.
“A strenth thar was on the Wattir of Cre
With in a rock, rycht stalwart wrocht off tre;
A gait befor myeht no man to it wyn,
Bot the consent off thaim that duelt within.
On the bak side a rick and wattir was…”The tale tells how Wallace and two companions, William Kerlie and Steven of Ireland, climbed the rock on which the impregnable castle stood, slew the sentry and took the castle. Blind Harry lived from 1440-92, writing some 170 years after Wallace’s death, claiming it to be based on a book by Wallace’s friend, Father John Blair. The book is unknown in modern times and it is thought his poem is more likely to be based on oral traditions. He is not considered to be a highly reliable source.
Reid surmises that the motte is the only site on the Cree which fits the description. However, Cruggleton Castle was also known as the ‘Black Rock of the Cree’. Tradition, if not history, states that Cruggleton had been held by the Kerlies for as long as could be remembered, until they were usurped by the deceitful William de Soulis in 1282, who handed the castle over to Edward I. With William Kerlie in his company, it seems far more likely Wallace would have retaken Cruggleton Castle for his friend. When Edward’s man John of Hoddleston at Wigtown Castle heard that Wallace was approaching, he fled ‘back to his own country’ leaving Wallace to take the castle and progress to Cruggleton. Although some mottes continued to be used until the 15th century, many fell out of use in favour of sturdier, stone built castles. So it may be the motte at Minnigaff had been abandoned by the time of Wallace’s campaign. Read more about Cruggleton Castle here.
The first record of the church is in 1209, when Parson Durand attested a deed. His name appears on a witness charter by John, Bishop of Galloway3. The presence of two early cross slabs also suggests at least a tenth or eleventh century origin for the church. One slab was found in 1880 within the fabric of the old church, in use as a doorstep, the other being used as a lintel in the old market house in Minnigaff at about the same time. Both were set up in a recess in the ruined church, but have now been moved inside Minnigaff Parish Church4. The crosses may suggest the church predates the motte and there is a possibly that the complex of a church and motte together, was an early lordship centre5, perhaps founded by Fergus of Galloway.
View to the east along the aisle. 
Winter in the kirkyard. ‘We next approached the two gable walls, ivy-covered, of the old parish church. It is more than half-a-century since worship was conducted in it, and it now contains several graves in the interior. But there are preserved within the walls a very fine Maltese cross, granite, erected on an ornamental pedestal, and of unknown date. It has been surmised that it was in honour of the four Evangelists, and certainly a human figure is sculptured on one of its sides. A cross of ruder form and older date was excavated out of the walls of this old church, and is now to be seen beside the other. A sculptured slab over the grave of an ecclesiastic, inserted in the church wall, has been removed.’6
There are clues in the surviving stonework, which tell us the old church has been renovated and remodelled a number of times. A medieval church would have stood here and the twin-light lancet windows in the east gable are probably the only surviving features of that building.
It seems likely that the medieval church was of the Premonstratensian order, as Tongland Abbey, founded as a Premonstratensian Abbey, later annexed Minngaff Church7. Very little is known of the church during this period, which seems to have undergone major reconstruction sometime after the reformation. The majority of the current church probably dates from the seventeenth century, with the east door certainly dating from the post-reformation period, as passing the altar during entering and leaving the building, was reserved solely for the priest8. A stone bearing the date 1706 sits in the east gable, which almost certainly attests to the date of a later remodelling.
‘There are in this churchyard some very old tombstones, said to be the oldest in Galloway. We noted one, dated 1416 – A. Murray – memento mori. It also contains a considerable number of monuments of elegance and taste, and the dust of a number of Galloway’s great and good repose in its precincts.’9
The Heron Monument. On the western edge of the cemetery stands the Heron Monument, consisting of a pediment supported by two Corinthian columns, enclosed behind balustrade walls and a heavy iron gate. It is by far the most ornate tomb in the burial ground. Built in 1761 for Patrick Heron of Kirroughtree, who’s family had gained the estate through marriage in the 15th century. His father was also called Patrick and was described as a ‘ring leader’ for the Covenanters at the Battle of Bothwell Brig in 1679. He was the MP for Kirkcudbright from 1727-41 and was instrumental in diffusing tensions during the uprising of the Galloway Levellers in 1724.
Buried with him is his son, confusingly also christened Patrick and married to Elizabeth Cochrane, a cousin of James Boswell. He too was elected as the Whig MP for Kirkcudbright in 1793, eliciting support from none other than Robert Burns, who visited Kirroughtree House and devoted a number of ballads to his election10.
But mark ye! there’s trusty Kerroughtree,
Whose honor was ever his law…Another notable inhabitant is Sir William Stewart, about whose father, John Stewart, 7th Earl of Galloway, Burns was less complimentary. After a distinguished military career, including serving on the HMS Elephant with Nelson, throughout the battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and in the Peninsula War under Wellington, he retired to Cumloden near Minnigaff, where he died on 7th January 1827. He was also the MP for Wigtownshire on a couple of occasions. His casket style tomb lies close to the outer wall on the south eastern side of the old kirk.
View to the west along the aisle. 
The old kirk and tombs from the north. Inside the church, above a recess is a heavily decorated memorial stone to Uchtred M’Dowall. The lion rampant crowned is the arms of the M’Dowalls. The three boars’ heads stand for Gordon. At the close of the 16th century two Patrick M’Kie’s of Larg married heiresses of those families. The heraldic stone is therefore 17th century and probably refers to Sir Patrick M’Kie of Larg, who ruined the family fortunes in the Covenanting period11.
There is another stone of the M’Kie family, depicting two raven, skewered by a single arrow. This refers back to a very well-known legend, dating from the Wars of Scottish Independence. During the early years of his campaign, Robert the Bruce was hiding out in the hills of Galloway from Edward’s troops. One night he came to the house of a widow at Craigencallie, who offered him food and shelter. She had three sons, all of who demonstrated their skills with a bow, the eldest son called M’Kie shot two ravens with a single arrow. All three sons joined his army, helping with the defeat of the English at the Battle of Raploch Moss in 1307. After Bannockburn, Robert awarded the widow with the lands between Palnure and Penkiln, which she divided between her sons, originating the families of M’Kie of Larg, Murdoch of Cumloden and M’Lurg of Kirroughtree12.
Emboldened by his success at Raploch Moss, Robert was eager to drive out any further scattered bands of English troops, who may lay in wait. Lord James Douglas had passed a village where 200 were stationed without posting a sentry, the Scots immediately rushed to the village and cut them to pieces. Although the name of the village isn’t given, it is the opinion of James G. Kinna that Minnigaff was the scene for the slaughter. He continues, a number of troops may have taken refuge in the church, as was the custom at the time, only for it to be set alight with them inside, “at a depth of two feet under the floor of the old Church there is a deep layer of bones covered with burnt and charred slates of a very rude description.” 13
Over 600 years of worship in the old church came to an end in 1836, when it was replaced by the current Parish Church. The old yew tree by the gate, thought to be about 900 years old, still grows on. The history this tree must have witnessed is thought provoking in the extreme. From its early days as a possible residence of the Lords of Galloway, through the centuries of catholic worship, the turbulence of the reformation and the covenanting days, through the Wars of Independence and the War of the Three Kingdoms.
Maybe it was the church that arrived here first, to Christianise a formerly pagan place of worship and the motte and lordship centre followed. If so, that would mean this had been a significant place for possibly thousands of years. And with the possibility that some of Scotland’s most heroic national figures may have passed under its shade, this tree has witnessed so much history and maybe, many secrets yet to be uncovered.
Tombs overgrown with the patina of age. References
1. A Large Description Of Galloway – Andrew Symson 1684 (pub. 1823).
2. DGNHAS Transactions and Journal of Proceedings 1924-25 Third Series Volume 12 – R.C. Reid.
3. History of the Parish of Minnigaff – James G. Kinna (1904).
4. Canmore: canmore.org.uk/site/319607/minnigaff-old-parish-church-burial-ground-cross-slabs
5. Historic Environment Scotland: portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/SM11054
6. DGNHAS Transactions and Journal of Proceedings 1891-92, Second Series Volume 8 – Author not given.
7. Kinna (1904)
8. Ibid.
9. Rambles in Galloway – Malcolm M’Lachlan Harper (1876).
10. Thank you to Andrew Wilson for bringing this to my attention.
11. R.C.Reid (1924-25).
12. Ibid.
13. Kinna (1904) -
Cruggleton Castle: The Black Rock of the Cree
The distinctive stone arch of Cruggleton Castle. It is difficult to believe now, but the jumble of stones surmounted by an arch we know today, has seen many of Scotland’s important historical characters pass before it. Viking invaders, Fergus and his dynasty of the Lords of Galloway, Robert the Bruce and of course, that legendary Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace, are all said to have played a part in the history of this once impregnable fortress. It has witnessed some of Scotland’s major historical events and is the subject of a number of stories, some true, some maybe not so.
Climbing up the coastal path from Rigg Bay, the unmistakable shape of the arch, the only remaining intact feature of Cruggleton Castle, soon comes into view. All around are views across Wigtown Bay, to Kirkcudbrightshire and beyond. The strategic value this place once held is easy to see.
The history
The first structure to occupy this spot was a promontory fort with a timber roundhouse, built around the 1st century AD, the surrounding ditch is still visible. The next period of occupation was during the 8th century, when a timber hall was constructed, surrounded by a wooden palisade, an arrangement which seems to have survived into the mid-12th century, probably being rebuilt wholly or partially as the need arose. This means the fort of Cruggleton would have been in use during the time of the Gallghàidhel supremacy and during the rise of the Lords of Galloway.
Galloway was absorbed into the kingdom of Northumbria early in the 8th century, King Ceolwulf creating the Bishopric of Whithorn in 729AD. Alpin, King of the Scots of Dalriada invaded Galloway in 740AD, but was beaten back by a native chief called Innrechtach and killed at Glenn App, named after him 1. Northumbria declined over the next half century in a series of internecine squabbles and assassinations between rival claimants to the throne, leaving it vulnerable to the coming of the Vikings.
The first references to the Gallghàidhel (the foreigner Gaels), Hiberno-Norse settlers appeared during the 9th century, who seem to have formed an alliance of some sort with the local population, meaning the area escaped the pillaging unleashed in other places. The monastery at Whithorn survived un-plundered and the Irish chronicler MacFirbis wrote they had renounced their baptism and taken the pagan customs of the Norsemen2.
Olaf the White is named as a chief in Galloway. In 844 he seized the throne of Dublin and in 872, captured Alt Clut, the capital of Strathclyde at Dumbarton. Sigard the Stout was the Lord of Galloway in 1008 and Suibhne mac Cinaeda ri Gallgaidhel was the first named King of Galloway3. All we know of him is he died in 1034, being succeeded by his son Diarmid, who died in battle in 1072.
Malcolm Canmore avenged his father Duncan’s death by slaying Macbeth in 1057, becoming king of the Scots. He prudently married Ingibiorg the Pictish widow of Earl Thorfinn, bringing the Norse districts of Scotland, including Galloway under his control.
Galloway briefly fell back under Norwegian control during the campaigns of Magnus III around the Irish Sea (he is said to have built Castle Feather at Burrowhead). In 1098 he took control of the Western Isles and the Isle of Man, but was killed in Ulster in 1103.
The background and emergence in the early 1100s of the celebrated ‘Fergus de Galweia’ are rather obscure. One tradition states he was a boyhood friend of David I, being brought up in the court of Henry I of England, where he also met his future wife, Elizabeth Fitzroy, the illegitimate daughter of Henry I4. He was also said to be a close relative of Somerled, Lord of the Isles and of Man and was less likely to be of Anglo-Norman descent than Norse-Celtic.
Cruggleton Castle and its commanding views over Wigtown Bay. There is even uncertainty about the time when he took up the Lordship. Some historians conject he was appointed as a governor of the region by David I, following the Scottish defeat at the Battle of the Standard in 1138, in which Galloway chiefs Ulgric and Duvenald were killed5. Others speculate his rule began in the early 1120s and as he is credited with re-establishing the Bishopric of Whithorn and the founding of Whithorn Priory in 1128, he must have held some power by the earlier date. He also established a dynasty that saw his descendants hold the Lordship of Galloway into the mid thirteenth century.
Cruggleton, still a wooden construction, was by this time certainly at least one of the strongholds of the Lords of Galloway, although it is possible that his original seat of power was the fortified island of Loch Fergus, near Kirkcudbright6.
Another clue to Fergus’s background, is that he allied himself to the Norse Lords of the Isles. Upon the death of David I in 1153, they attempted to rise against his successor Malcolm IV, but were beaten back at the supposed battle at Glenquicken7. This version sees an army of Irish-Scots beating back the Norsemen, but another version of the battle exists in which the English defeat the Scots and kill the Bishop of Whithorn, who is buried at Cairnholy8.
During 1160 Malcolm IV launched three military campaigns into Galloway and by the end of the year, Fergus submitted to the overlordship of the King of the Scots and retired, taking holy orders and dying at Holyrood just a few months later in 1161.
Fergus was succeeded by his two rival sons, Uchtred who ruled the eastern part of Galloway (now the Stewartry) and Gilbert who ruled the western section (now Wigtownshire) and it is likely that Cruggleton was his base.
Both brothers joined King William the Lion’s invasion of England in 1174, in an attempt to regain Cumbria. William was captured at the siege of Alnwick Castle, which they took advantage of by returning to Galloway and expelling the bailiffs set over them by the Scottish king, destroying all of their defences and killing all of the English and French they could seize9. It seems that Gilbert mostly worked alone in this and was opposed by Uchtred. Possibly motivated by the grievance he had been denied his full inheritance, Gilbert accused his brother of treachery and sent his son Malcolm to kill him. His stronghold was besieged and in one version of the story it seems Uchtred escaped, as he was captured in a cave near Portpatrick10. He was brutally tortured by being blinded, castrated and having his tongue cut out, before he was slain. Many assume that Uchtred’s stronghold was at Loch Fergus, but there is a strong case for Burned Island on Loch Ken too11.
Gilbert sent a plea to King Henry II, offering a payment of 2000 marks and yearly tribute of 500 cows and 500 swine if the king would, “remove Galloway from the servitude of the king of Scotland12.” After an investigation uncovering Gilbert’s fratricide, his request was refused, he was fined 1000 marks and was forced to hand his son and heir Donnchad (Duncan) over to Henry as a hostage, to ensure his good behaviour.
Gilbert’s resistance to Anglo-Norman culture is lampooned in the following passage from Guilliaume le Clerc’s peom ‘Roman de Fergus’, which includes a description of Cruggleton Castle.
On the road out of Galloway, in a castle down a valley, lived a peasant… very close to the Irish Sea. He had his dwelling splendidly situated on a great rock, encircled by clay and wattle walls. The hill was topped by a tower that was not made of granite or limestone: its wall was built high of earth, with ramparts and battlements. The peasant was very well off to have such a handsome home by the sea. If he looked out he could see for thirty leagues all around. Nobody inside could feel threatened by any maker of siege equipment or from any assault, the rock being high and massive. The peasant governed and held in his possession the whole of the county which had been his for a very long time, and nobody could take it from him. 13
Tensions between Gilbert and King William the Lion lasted for the remainder of his life. William courted the loyalty of Uchtred’s son Lochlann (Roland) and when Gilbert died in 1185, still at war with William and his own son still a hostage, William installed Roland as his successor. Duncan was made Mormaer (Earl) of Carrick, on condition of good relations with his cousin and based at Turnberry Castle, establishing the dynasty that would eventually sire Robert the Bruce.
Roland’s eldest son Alan succeeded the title in 1200 and it was probably during his time that the next phase of building at Cruggleton took place. The rocky outcrop was raised and levelled, using clay and shale to flatten the area and a timber tower erected. The timber hall was kept and extended.
Alan’s death in 1234 sparked a succession crisis. His only legitimate son Thomas was dead, as was his brother, also named Thomas. Alan had an illegitimate son, confusingly called Thomas too, who he seems to have favoured to inherit the Lordship, Celtic customs didn’t limit succession to solely legitimate heirs. The Scottish King Alexander II had other ideas, the last thing he wanted was a united Galloway, possibly reigniting interest in the region among the Lords of the Isles.
Alexander divided the region among Alan’s three legitimate daughters, the eastern section of Galloway was handed to Dervogilla (Derbhorgail), married to John Balliol, Lord of Barnard Castle. His eldest daughter Helena (Elena) and her husband Roger de Quincy, Earl of Winchester, inherited Cruggleton Castle, along with western Galloway. Christina, married to William de Forz, Earl of Albermarle also inherited lands.
Alexander was prepared to go to great ends to avoid a united Galloway and to extinguish Gaelic influence in the region. All the better that Alan’s daughters were all married to noblemen of fine Anglo-Norman stock. Matthew Paris describes described the Gallovidian forces with a typical distaste by which the Anglo-Normans viewed Celtic culture.
They made an unheard of covenant, inventing a kind of soucery, in accord with certain abominable customs of their ancient forefathers. For all those barbarians and their leaders… shed blood from the pre-cordial vein into a large vessel… and they stirred and mixed the blood after it was drawn; and afterwards they offered it to one another in turn and drank it as a sign that they were henceforward bound in an indissoluble, and as it were consanguinal covenant, united in good fortune and ill, even to sacrifice their lives.
The stone arch of Cruggleton Castle is a surviving section of a barrel vaulted cellar of an old tower house. The area erupted into rebellion against feudal Norman rule. Thomas enjoying considerable local support and drawing troops from his lands in Ireland, pressed for his inheritance. A body called the ‘Community of Galloway’ composed of local nobility and the clergy, appealed to Alexander to take Galloway into his direct rule, rather than divide it14, but the husbands of the heiresses were powerful men, especially Roger de Quincy who was a prominent figure in Alexander’s service. Instead the Scottish king refused their appeals and moved to crush Thomas’s uprising. Alexander came close to defeat as he became entangled in some of Galloway’s wilder regions, until Farquhar MacTaggart, the Earl of Ross came to his aid by sea.
Thomas fled to Ireland and Alexander left Walter Comyn, Earl of Mentieth to pacify the country, which was achieved by brutality and looting. He returned the following year, but was captured and imprisoned by Alexander II at Barnard Castle, where he remained conveniently out of the way until he was eventually released in 1296, 61 years later, by Edward I in order to undermine the claim of John Balliol to the Scottish throne.
Further rebellions flared in 1246 and 1247, during which de Quincy found himself ‘trapped in his castle’. Unfortunately, which castle isn’t mentioned, but as de Quincy is believed to have made Cruggleton his main residence15, it could well be from here he was forced to escape and seek the help of Alexander to quell the uprising.
De Quincy died in 1264 and his estates were inherited by his three daughters, it was his middle daughter, Elizabeth who inherited his lands in Galloway. Elizabeth was married to Alexander Comyn, 2nd Earl of Buchan16, who was succeed upon his death in 1289 by his son John (of the Black Comyns and not to be confused with John of the Red Comyns in Badenoch, who was later killed by Robert the Bruce). It was very probably the Comyns who carried out the next phase of development at Cruggleton, building the first stone castle on the site. John Comyn received a licence from Edward circa 1290 to dig lead at the Calf of Man to cover eight towers. A series of towers were connected by a curtain wall and a gatehouse with portcullis and drawbridge over a pit in front of the entrance.
This is where the history of the castle becomes a little confusing. According to another story, Cruggleton had been owned by the Carrolls/MacCairills from Ireland, later changing their name to Kerlie, since ancient times and its possession by the Lords of Galloway was a mistaken presumption. In his book ’History of the Lands and Their Owners In Galloway, Volume II (1877)’, PH M’Kerlie states that the castle was built by the Norse Sea Kings and the ownership passed from Earl Malcolm to the MacCairills during the 12th century. The castle was captured from William Kerlie by the evil William de Soulis by deceit in 1282, acting as a secret agent of Edward I. After visiting under pretence of friendship and finding it weakly defended, he installed enough of his followers to take it easily and it was temporarily presented to John Comyn. In 1296, Cruggleton Castle along with castles at Ayr, Wigtown and Bottel were committed to the keeping of Henry de Percy17.
King Alexander III died unexpectedly in 1286, setting into motion a succession crisis known as the ‘Great Cause’ that would eventually lead to the Wars of Scottish independence. Much has been written elsewhere on this subject, by those far more knowledgeable than I, so I will keep to matters relevant to Cruggleton Castle.
The view south along the coastline of the Machars. The small landing bay can be seen at the bottom right of the image. The campaigns of William Wallace began with the killing of William de Heselrig, the English High Sheriff of Lanark, in May 1297. After a number of failed attempts to retake Cruggleton, William Kerlie was an early adherent to Wallace’s cause, staying with him right through to his betrayal and capture near Glasgow in 1305 and was killed in his sleep while Wallace was captured.
It seems that at some time between the surrender of the nobles at Irvine in July 1297 and Wallace’s invasion of Northern England in November, he made an excursion into Galloway to return Cruggleton Castle to the Kerlies. Depending on how you view Blind Harry’s account (writing in the mid-15th century, his poem ‘The Wallace’ is viewed as less than accurate), he first of all took the motte and bailey castle at Minnigaff. When Edward’s man John of Hoddleston at Wigtown Castle heard that Wallace was approaching, to fled ‘back to his own country’ leaving Wallace to take the castle and progress to Cruggleton.
Finding the castle too strong to take by conventional methods, with great courage Wallace and his staunchest companions Kerlie and Steven swam out to the base of the rock and scaled the cliffs. They seized the sentry and threw him to his death, opened the gates, lowered the drawbridge and upon a blast of his horn, Wallace summoned the men he had hidden nearby, who stormed forth and retook the castle for his friend18.
William de Soulis meanwhile was ‘received into the peace of King Edward I of England’ in 1304, while Robert the Bruce was crowned as King of Scotland in 1306. Bruce is said to have put Cruggleton beyond use in 1308, but it seems to have been quickly reoccupied and repaired as Bruce captured it again from Henry de Percy in 1313. De Soulis was made a knight by Edward II in 1312, but rapidly changed sides in favour of the Scots following the victory at Bannockburn in 1314. By 1318 he was the Butler of Scotland and appeared on the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320 and seems to have been once again in possession of Cruggleton at this time.
Carta prioris Candide case de pecia terre de Cregiltoun. Candide case, of Crougiltoun, quhilke perteinit to lord Soullis”
Register of the Great Seal of Scotland”. Vol.I. AD1306-1424However, soon after he was uncovered as part of a conspiracy against Bruce along with the Lord of Brechin and incarcerated in Dumbarton Castle, where he died under mysterious circumstances in 1321.
Robert the Bruce then granted Cruggleton to the monks at Whithorn Priory, but during the reign of David II (1329-1371) it was granted to Gilbert Kennedy, then back to the Priors and Cannons of Whithorn again in 1424. In 1369, Archibald ‘The Grim’ Douglas was appointed Lord of Galloway by David II. He built his castle at Threave and founded a dynasty that would last for the next four generations.
In 1473 the castle was granted to William Douglas of Leswalt, prior of Candecasa Cathedral (Whithorn). It was probably around this time the final phase of building was undertaken. The remains of the old castle were cleared and a tower house built, surrounded by a curtain wall. It is this building from which the stone arch survives today, a remnant of what was once a vaulted basement.
A drawing of Cruggleton Castle, made in c1563 and known as the ‘English Spy’ drawing. In 1563 the spies of Queen Elizabeth I of England visited south-west Scotland to examine the defences at Cruggleton, Wigtown, Cardoness and Kirkcudbright. They noted that Cruggleton “is now kept but with 2 men only but when the Prior of Whithorn lies there, then under 20 men without artillery.” Following the reformation, Commendators were appointed to take over church property and the Commentdator for Whithorn between 1569 and 1589 was Lord Robert Stewart, the illegitimate son of James V, who was besieged in the castle on 23rd April 1569 by Lord Fleming. The Earl of Moray wrote to Sir Patrick Vaus, a judge, asking him to intervene and he settled the dispute in favour of his wife, Margaret Fleming Stewart.
In 1598, their son Sir John Vaus sold the property to Peter McDowall of Machermore, who sold it in 1606 to James Kennedy, who took up residence in the castle. A late glimpse of the castle as a functioning building is given in 1613, when following a dispute, Alexander Mortoun is seized and imprisoned at Cruggleton by James Kennedy19. In 1642 the castle and its lands were secured by the Agnews of Lochnaw, who pulled most of it down to build steadings20. It remained with the Agnews until it was described by Symson in 1684 as ‘wholly ruinous’21.
A winter view of Cruggleton Church from the roadside, looking much like a scene from an MR James story. Cruggleton Church
Fergus seems to have been the likely founder of nearby Cruggleton Church, built towards the middle of the twelfth century with a strong architectural influence from Whithorn and remarkably well built for a parish church of this time and in this area. It is one of the few remaining examples of Norman influenced Romanesque architecture in Galloway. Cruggleton once formed its own parish and the church may mark the site of the old village, but as yet, no remains have so far been found.
By the time Symson wrote ‘A Large Description of Galloway’ circa 1684, the parish of Cruggleton had been merged with Sorbie and the church had also fallen out of use. It too is described as a ruin and so it remained for a further 200 years until great storm blew down the last gable in 188422. It was decided to restore the building before it was lost completely. The Marquess of Bute undertook the restoration with the architect William Galloway, who also restored Kirkmadrine Church. A small enclosure on the south side of the church was marked out during the restoration, this is known as the McKerlie vault. It is odd that no grave markers seem to be present in the burial ground, with just two inside the church, which date from after the merger with Sorbie Parish. Perhaps they were removed during the 1890 restoration, but as none appear in E. Marianne H. McKerlie’s illustration of the church ruins before it was restored, it seems maybe they may never have been present. The church fell out of use before the widespread popularity of gravestones in the 18th and 19th centuries, which may explain their absence.
The interior of the atmospheric Cruggleton Church. 
Cruggleton Church prior to restoration by E. Marianne H. McKerlie. Heroic tales of Cruggleton
The tale of how Wallace and Kerlie took the castle by stealth during the Wars of Scottish Independence, related above, is not the only heroic tale associated with Cruggleton Castle. Another tale, the legend of the Old Boatman of Cruggleton23 is set in the years following the death of David I in 1153, when the Norsemen tried to recover their supremacy in Galloway.
This is a story of an attempt to recapture the castle by supernatural means. Knowledge of the intended attempt had been received by the MacCairills through a retainer, once a prisoner in Norway and familiar with the language. He had discovered the plot during his diplomatic errands between the Chief of the MacCairills and King Haco of Norway.
The dreaded Reafen, an enchanted standard woven out of a lions mane, with a raven on its field and supplied with blood at midnight to preserve its terrible powers, was entrusted to an old Norse Boatman, who arrived at night at the foot of the cliffs below the castle. He began his ascent of the path up to the castle. The success of his mission depended on him gaining entrance within the walls to unfurl the Reafen, when the castle would revert to his nation, and, amid the astonishment, and doubtless the terror of its holders, the prepared ambush would rush in and complete the conquest by massacre.
Forewarned, the MacCairils, strong in Christian faith, were prepared. They watched the Boatman climbing towards the castle. When a challenge was shouted out, the Boatman replied he was the bearer of a message for the Chief of the MacCairills from King Haco. Permitted to enter he was seized, the standard wrenched from him and dragged to the gallows awaiting him.
The prisoner declared his allegiance to Norway and the subjugation of the castle by the presence of the standard within. Then, with an invocation to the Scandinavian deities, he ended with the prophecy that on every anniversary, to the end of time, he would return with the standard to unfurl it over the castle walls. Wrestling a hand free, he took a dagger and plunged it into his own chest before his captors could hang him. The ambush failed and the Norsemen left, never to return.
The terrifying standard remained in the castle until it was decided that it should be burned in the courtyard. A peal of thunder shook the castle and a female form of ‘gigantic proportions’ snatched it from the pyre, and soaring aloft, was lost in the bosom of the clouds. The Boatman is said to have lived up to his promise and continued to his annual visit, the last recorded being in the eighteenth century.
Joseph Train, that well known provider of raw materials to Walter Scott, details another story about Cruggleton Castle in an 1817 letter to his benefactor. The McCulloch laird lives at Kirkclaugh Mote, a formidable stronghold, perched on cliffs on the eastern side of Wigtown Bay, with his only daughter Alicia. A stranger arrives at their door one day, asking for food and shelter. He is Dougal Graeme of the borders and a member of the reiver clan led by Sir David Armstrong. He quickly ingratiates himself with the laird, performing useful tasks and strengthening the castle defences, but all the while, he is using this as cover to introduce more of his clan to the castle.
Graeme seizes the castle, murders McCulloch and forcibly marries his daughter, who bears his daughter Effie, before dying of a broken heart. He begins a reign of terror on his neighbourhood, plundering and murdering, raising his daughter as an accomplice in his atrocities.
Across Wigtown bay lived Sir Roland Kerlie, at Cruggleton with his son Alan. Graeme had long envied their position and allied himself with the Featherstones of Cumberland, who were engaged in a feud with the Kerlies, to hatch a plot for their downfall. The Kerlie ship with Alan on board, one day ran into trouble while out at sea and sailed for cover to a bay at the Isle of Man. There the ship was besieged by the Featherstones. Recognising her chance, the Graeme ships, under the command of Effie, swept down upon the Kerlie vessel and made the crew captive, but she falls violently in love with the youthful Alan. She escorts him back to Cruggleton, where she stays with him for a week, at the end of which she proposes to him, but is refused. Effie returns to Kirklaugh, where the tale of the Reafen is related to her and she attempts a surprise attack on Cruggleton in the guise of the Boatman carrying his supernatural banner. But the Kerlies are prepared and slaughter hundreds of their attackers, including Effie and Dougal Graeme. They then cross the water and lay waste to Kirkclaugh.
There is no documentary evidence to support the Kerlie’s claim to have ever owned Cruggleton Castle. Although the tale seems to be set in the medieval period, the first McCulloch to take up residence at Kirklaugh was in 1614 and the Graemes were banished to Ireland by James I/IV in 160724. The characters of Roland and Alan Kerlie are seemingly based on the 12th and 13th century Lords of Galloway25. So what we seem to have here is the kernel of an old tale, trimmed with 17th century additions, possibly influenced by William De Soulis’ 13th century deceit and Blind Harry’s account of William Wallace’s storming of the castle.
The details of the story are remarkably similar to those of ‘The Standard of Denmark’, a long and torturous tale, related by James Denniston in his 1825 book, ‘Legends of Galloway’, only changing a few details, such as placing Dougal’s original deceit to Cruggleton rather than Kirkclaugh. It seems that either both authors had access to a common source, or somehow Denniston plagiarised Train. He also related a version of the tale of the Boatman, this time with a Viking fleet hauling up their boats for repair nearby (probably Rigg Bay).
An interesting note in Dennison’s version of the tale is that the bodies of those slain in the battle were buried at Cruggleton Church. Could this be a vague memory dating from a time when the castle was besieged during the medieval period? Perhaps this could account for the contents of the area beside the church known as the McKerlie Vault? A possible explanation for the lack of tombstones, being the grounds are one big war grave? Probably not, but it is a tantalising thought none-the-less for such an enigmatic place, which has played an important role in the long history of Scotland, both real and imagined.
The enclosure known as ‘The Kerlie Vault’ on the south side of the church. References
1. A History of Dumfries and Galloway – Herbert Maxwell (1896).
2. Ibid.
3. Annals of Ulster.
4. Galloway: Land and Lordship – Richard D. Oram (1991).
5. Galloway in Ancient and Modern Times – P.H. McKerlie (1891).
6. The Lordship of Galloway – Richard D. Oram (2001).
7. McKerlie (1891).
8. The New Statistical Account of Scotland Vol IV (1845).
9. Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers: AD 500 to 1286 – A.O. Anderson (1908).
10. Maxwell (1896).
11. Wild Men and Holy Places – Daphne Brooke (1994).
12. Anderson (1908).
13. Brooke (1994).
14. Ibid.
15. This was disputed by P.H. McKerlie in ‘Lands and their Owners in Galloway’, who claims the castle remained in the possession of Kerle, a native chief.
16. The history of Galloway, from the earliest period to the present time – William Mackenzie (1841).
17. McKerlie (1891).
18. Makenzie (1841).
19. DGNHAS Transactions and Journal of Proceedings 1929-30 Third Series Volume 16 – R.C. Reid.
20. Ibid.
21. A Large Description Of Galloway – Andrew Symson (1823).
22. Pilgrim Spots in Galloway – E. Marianne H. McKerlie (1916).
23. E. Marianne H. McKerlie (1916).
24. DGNHAS Transactions and Journal of Proceedings 1931-32 Third Series Volume 18 – R.C. Reid.
25. Ibid. -
The sour ground of Sorbie
Night approaches at Sorbie Old Kirk. It is easy to pass through the small village of Sorbie and hardly notice it. A cluster of squat little houses huddle around a junction on the road between Wigtown and Whithorn. But the tide of history has washed over this place many times, leaving some fascinating stories in its wake.
It is generally agreed that the area which is now Sorbie was occupied by a Viking settlement around the 9th or 10th century and the name originated from old Norse saur byr, meaning ‘muddy farm’ or sor by, meaning ‘sour ground’, reflecting the marshy nature of the land here.
Early land owners may have been the Sorbie family, who according to family folklore were expelled from the area never to return upon pain of death, by King James IV in the late 16th century. Many settled in Stonehouse, others in Kirkcudbright and Dumfries1.
The 12th century brought with it the feudal system, spreading with the Norman advance, along with an influx of Anglo-Norman families. In 1185, Ivan de Vipond (Veteripont) granted the revenues from his church of St Fillan, Greater Sorbie (now Millisle) to Dryburgh Abbey2. St Michael’s of Lesser Sorbie (somewhere near Culnoag) was also dedicated to Dryburgh Abbey by Robert de Vipont (Veteripont) circa 1220. Both chapels fell into ruin when it was decided around 1250 that they could only support a single man and the place of worship was moved to Sorbie village, where the Old Kirk now stands3 amalgamating Greater and Lesser Sorbie into a single parish. It is likely that the motte and bailey stronghold at Sorbie was built around this time too.
Sorbie Old Kirk from the east. 
Interior of Sorbie Old Kirk. During the medieval period, Cruggleton was an important powerbase. The castle was besieged by William Wallace in 1297 and again captured by Robert the Bruce during the wars of independence, after which it began to decline until the parish church could no longer muster a congregation and it was merged into Sorbie Parish, along with Kirkmadrine in the middle of the 17th century.
The current Old Kirk of Sorbie was built around 1750, replacing an older structure and was repaired in 1760 and 1826. It was said to be damp and comfortless and was eventually replaced by the new parish church in 1877, built just yards from the old chapel of St Fillan at Millisle.
By far, the most familiar name associated with the area is that of Hannay and it’s many variations. The origin of the name has been obscured by time, some pointing towards Norse settlers, others conject the name arrived with the Anglo-Normans. A third possibility is that of a Pictish Gaelic origin.
- A’hannah, signifying ‘of the moorland’;
- A’hanne or A’hainne, meaning ‘of the circle’, i.e., fort; or
- A’hannaid, ‘of the church’.4
Similarly lost, is the exact date when the Hannays first arrived at Sorbie. Patrick A’Hannay is said to have been the first recorded at Sorbie, but there is little evidence for this. The first documentary evidence of Hannays in the area comes from the ‘Ragman Roll’ of 1296, when Edward I called for the feudal lords and chieftains of Scotland to attend Berwick on 28th August and swear allegiance to John Baliol as king. The roll records Gilbert de Hannethe and Gilbert de Annethe of Wigtown. It is unclear if these are the same person or separate individuals, but it is very probable that the Gilbert de Sowerby who witnessed a charter in 1268 is also one of these people5.
When Baliol withdrew his allegiance to Edward I, attacking his army at Berwick in 1297 and laying siege to Carlisle Castle in 1298, the Hannays do not appear in the list of those who aided him. It seems they remained loyal to the king, as they didn’t take part in William Wallace’s uprising in 1297, or offer any aid to Robert the Bruce’s struggle for kingship6.
Despite suffering for their support of Edward I, such was the power of the Hannays in Wigtownshire, the area became known as ‘Machar Hannay’. There is a mention of Andrew Hannay of Sorbie in 1416, among the Royal Archers of Scotland, headed to France by Archibald, Earl of Wigton to fight against the English.
Tradition states John Hannah took possession of Sorbie around 1424. William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas and ruler of Galloway quarrelled with James II in 1452. He was summoned to Stirling Castle, where he was murdered by the king and his estates sequestered. The Douglasses raised an army in resistance and the Hannays assisted in their defeat at the Battle of Arkinholm in 1455.
Odo Hannay is the first known owner of Sorbie and (possibly) his son Ethe is quoted as the Laird of Sorbie in 1459/60. Alexander Hannay built Sorbie Tower in around 1580, after the murder of his father Patrick.
“Looking eastward across the lake, on the extreme verge like a lonely sentinel standing black against the sky on a treeless mound surrounded by a fosse fed by a burn which issued from the Loch Longcaster, they descried the gaunt castle of Sorbie. When they reached it they found a square baronial tower of the 15th Century, a stronghold of the Hannays, a family who dealt heavy blows in times of war from Flodden Field to the Gates of Rhodes and for some such service bore on their helmet the rare heraldic of a Crescent and a Fitched Cross”.
The Book of Galloway – J Douglas (1745).
The Old Place of Sorbie. The Hannay’s tenure at Sorbie wasn’t destined to last much longer. Like many lairds of the age, their involvement in feuds and petty squabbles ruined the family, forcing them to sell off parcels of land to fund legal challenges or private armies.
Feuds with the Stewarts of Garlies, the Dunbars and the Kennedys including incidents of murder, stolen crops and fired barns7 illustrate the Hannays may not have been the best of neighbours8. But it was the Hannay’s feud with the Murrays of Broughton that finally brought about their downfall. An attack by the Hannays in 1602 on George Murray is described below.
“John Hannay apparent of Sorbie, Robert in Boghous, Andrew and Archibald Hannay (others were named) and it being Sunday appointed for devine service came armed with hagbuts and pistolets for the slaughter of said Murray of Broughton. When Murray was approaching the parish Church of Whithorn the Hannays chased Murray back to his house where they besieged his house and attacked him and his company with pistolets and hagbuts for their slaughter.” 9
Murray survived to bring charges against his assailants. John Hannay succeeded Alexander, his father in 161210, becoming the final Hannay owner of Sorbie Tower. He sold it to Sir Patrick Agnew of Lochnaw in 1626 and was reportedly killed in a quarrel in 1640. It was probably around this time the Hannay’s emigrated to the Ulster plantations.
The Stewarts of Garlies acquired the tower in 1677 and Sorbie rose to prominence again in the mid-18th century when the Earls of Galloway moved in temporarily, following a fire at their family home at Glasserton in 1734. They built their new seat, Galloway House in 1740 and John Stewart, the seventh Earl of Galloway was responsible for establishing the planned village of Garlieston from 1764 onwards. It was he who also attracted the ire of Robert Burns, which is detailed here.
Besides the machinations of clan rivalry, Sorbie has reputedly experienced incidents of a supernatural nature too. In his 1911 book ‘Witchcraft and Superstitious Record in the South-Western District of Scotland’, J Maxwell Wood tells the tale of a fairy visitation to the village.
A child, whose parents lived in Sorbie village, behaved in such a fretful, passionate, and vixenish way that the parents were at last forced to the unwelcome conclusion that it was not their child at all, but a changeling. Much distressed they sought the advice of a wise woman living at Kirkinner, who plainly enough substantiated the suspicion. Beseeching her help, the sybil pointed out the great risk they all ran with interference with things uncanny, but on their consenting to place themselves entirely in her hands and implicitly obey her in every detail, she promised to make the attempt to restore their child on the following Aul’ Hallowe’en Nicht.
” When Aul’ Hallowe’en came, everything was ready and set in order, and just a few minutes before nine, in came Lucky M’Robert, and without saying a word steekit the door ahint her.
She then set two stools beside the fire, which, as usual at that time and for long after, was made on a slightly raised place in the middle of the floor, paved with water-stones. She motioned Peggy and Jamie to sit down on them, and lighting the candle, with the ether-stane on it, put it on the kerl, or long candlestick, and set it between them, and then took the rowan-wood and biggit it on the fire.
The wean looked terrified, and ran under the bed, but she pulled it out and tied his legs and arms together with some red clouts she had in her pouch, and threw’t into the riddle, and lifting it up went towards the fire, the wean twining and kicking and swearing most viciously.
Mally had previously breeked her petticoats, and as soon as a thick reek rose from the burning rowan-tree, she held the wean amang the thickest o’t, and riddled it in the riddle till ye wud hae thocht it wud hae been chokit.
The wean cursed and yelled, and spat at her, and called her a’ that was bad, but she took nae notice ; then it begged and fleech’t with the father and mother to save’t, for it was chokin’, and went on pitiful, and then it begood and cursed them, and abused them terribly.
Then there came knockings to the door, and cries and noisings all over the house ; but she riddled away, and nobody ever heeded them, till at last the wean gave a great scraich, and rase out of the riddle, and gaed whirling up amang the reek like a corkscrew, and out at the lumhead, out of sight.
Everything was then quiet for a minute or two, and at last a gentle knocking came .to the door, and Mally asked who was there, and a voice cried –
‘ Let me in, I’m wee Tammie.’
The final occupant of Sorbie Tower was Brigadier-General John Stewart, MP for Wigtownshire in the first British Parliament following the Act of Union in 1707. He died on 1748 and is buried in the Stewart mausoleum at the Old Kirk, along with the seventh Earl and others.
The tower entered into years of decay following his death and the earliest photos of the tower show it as an ivy covered shell, an entirely suitable haunt for the fearsome ghost of the Grey Lady, who has been seen emerging from the woods on to the driveway, watching people approach. She is described as being tall and elegant, but as you draw closer, she becomes grim and grey. Legend says walking three times widdershins around the tower causes the Grey Lady to appear, so if you ever visit, be careful to pay heed to the direction in which you are walking.
The Stewart mausoleum, which is the final resting place of Brigadier-General John Stewart and the Earls of Galloway. Notes and references
1. Sorbie.net.
2. The History of Sorbie Parish Church – Donna Brewster (1994).
3. Ibid.
4. The Hannays of Sorbie – Stewart Francis (1961).
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Gilbert Mackilwraith and Martyn Kennedy were killed in 1526. George, Patrick, Gilbert and John Hannay were acquitted on grounds of self-defence. On October 26, 1526, Patrick allegedly destroyed a mill in Whithorn, for which Ninian Hannay, prior of Whithorn, issued him a summons. Patrick never showed up at court.
8. Galloway Castles and Tower Houses: the Old Place of Sorbie – I. F. MacLeod, M.A., F.S.A. Scot (1969).
9. A Hannah Family of West Virginia – Wayne and Maureen Hannah (2000).
10. A Visitation of the Seats and Arms of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland – John Bernard Burke (1854). -
The Bride of Baldoon
Baldoon Castle, where the ghost of Janet Dalrymple is said to still walk on the anniversary of her death. No one can say for certain what happened on the night of 12th August 1669. But the following tragic tale of family ambition, provided Walter Scott with the inspiration for one of the 19th century’s great romantic stories and is still remembered in this quiet corner of south western Scotland to this day.
In the 17th century, the Dalrymples were a family on the rise. James Dalrymple, born in 1619, was a judge during Cromwell’s Commonwealth, later created a baronet by Charles II. Said to be somewhat ruthless, he found his equal in his wife, Margaret Ross of Balneil, who he married in 1643. This formidable couple produced nine children, their eldest son John becoming the first Earl of Stair and being responsible for ordering the Massacre of Glencoe. But it is with their eldest daughter Janet we are concerned here.
Aristocratic marriages during this period were often a method to link great families and were important in the acquisition of lands and titles. For an ambitious family such as the Dalrymples, their eldest daughter was as much an asset as a child. Janet, remembered as a beautiful, gentle if rather fragile young woman, would have been under the considerable influence of her forceful mother.
Janet had met Lord Archibald Rutherford during her family’s yearly winter residence in Edinburgh1. The young pair fell in love and pledged to marry, splitting a gold coin, each wearing half as a sign of their promise2and meeting secretly at every opportunity.
Although Rutherford had a title and a modest inheritance, this would never be enough to satisfy to ambitions of Janet’s parents, hungry for power and influence. The Dunbars of Baldoon were wealthy and well established. The lands of Baldoon, forfeited by the Douglas family in 1533-34, were gifted by King James V to sitting tenant Archibald Dunbar. Their eligible son David Dunbar Jr. was chosen as a more suitable match for Janet. Margaret began her work to end Janet’s relationship with Rutherford and convince her marriage to Dunbar would be the correct step to take.
It wasn’t long before news of this reached Archibald, who wrote to Janet, reminding her of her oath. Margaret replied, informing the distracted lover that her daughter was fully sensible of the grave fault of which she had been guilty in entering into an engagement without the sanction of her parents. That she now retracted her vows, and was about to give her hand to David Dunbar Jr. of Baldoon3. Archibald refused to believe the word of Margaret, insisting instead on arranging a meeting with Janet, to hear the refusal from her own lips.
On the day of the meeting, Lord Rutherford found a Janet very different to the girl he had fallen in love with. She remained ashen, mute and motionless, terror-ridden and broken-hearted. He implored Janet to reveal her true feelings, but at every turn, Margaret Ross held the upper-hand. She quoted scripture, declaring Janet to be free of her vow because her father disallowed4 it and forced the poor girl to return the half gold coin to Rutherford. At this he finally lost his composure, he scalded Lady Stair, cast the trinket to the ground and turned to Janet, uttering the curse, “For you, madam, you will be a world’s wonder.”
As plans for the wedding progressed throughout the summer of 1669, Janet slipped further into despair. She seemed to become increasingly detached, eating little as a cold compliance settled over her. She had no choice and was under the complete control of her parents, who no doubt noticed little of this, as they concentrated on the marriage preparations and contract, which was signed on 29th May 1669, bestowing lands upon the couple, by Sir David Dunbar5. This became known as ‘The Fatal Deed’.
The wedding day arrived on 12th August 1669. She rode with her younger brother to Glenluce Church, who noticed her hands being, “cold and damp as marble,” despite the summer heat. Following the service, the party returned to the newly built family home at Carscreugh Castle, just two miles from the church, where the festivities commenced for the next fortnight.
It is here where the details become confused. The common version is the following incident took place on the wedding night, while another says it was after the bridal party had travelled to Baldoon Castle on 24th August6, were a masque7 had been prepared. What is certain is that at some point the wedding celebrations were halted by the most shocking of incidents.
“On the marriage night, soon after the young couple were left alone, violent and continued screams were heard to proceed from the bridal chamber, and on the door (which was found locked) being forced open, the bridegroom was found extended on the floor, stabbed and weltering in his blood, while the bride sat in the corner of a large fireplace, in a state of the most deplorable frenzy…”
Sir Robert Dalrymple Horne Elphinstone, 5th September 18238.Dunbar had received a wound to his leg and Janet was heard to utter the final words she would ever speak, “Now tak up your bonnie bridegroom.” She had finally snapped under the intolerable strain of being separated from the object of her desire and forced into marriage with one she did not love, in order to further her parent’s ambitions. Over the following days she wilted away, refusing to speak or eat and died at Baldoon Castle on 12th September 1669.
There are a number of versions to explain the incident. The first being Janet attacked her husband, maybe to repel his affections. The second being Rutherford had slipped into the bridal chamber during the confusion of the celebrations and attacked Dunbar, then escaped through the open window. The third version being, the Devil had attacked Dunbar and tormented Janet to the point of insanity. No Scottish tale of tragedy would be complete without the involvement of the infernal one after all.
Only those present in the room could say with any certainty what happened that night and each one of them took that to their grave, poor Janet arriving there first. There is little certainty of her burial place too. It is thought her remains were placed either in the burial aisle at Kirkliston, near Edinburgh by her family, or at Glenluce by her husband. The events on that summer evening in 1669 would probably have remained a sad local legend, had Sir Walter Scott (Scott’s mother was a Rutherford) not used them as the basis for his 1819 novel ‘The Bride of Lammermoor’. Although the story was moved to the Scottish Borders and mixed with some dramatic license, it brought the story to a much wider audience. As did Gaetano Donizetti’s 1835 opera ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’, based on Scott’s novel.
David Dunbar Jr. married again, to Eleanor Montgomerie, the daughter of the 7th Earl of Eglinton, producing a son and a daughter. He died on 27th March 1682 following a riding accident between Leith and Holyrood, falling from his horse. He never spoke of the events of that night.
Lord Archibald Rutherford gained a commission from the Household Guards and spent some time abroad. Never married, he died on 11th March 1685.
James Darlymple’s career trajectory continued, although Margaret was accused of attending conventicles and fearing persecution for being too tenderly inclined towards the Covenanters, he, his wife and their younger children fled to Leiden in Holland in 1682. They returned in 1688 following the Glorious Revolution which swept William of Orange to the throne, bringing James and Margaret with him in his train. He was raised to Viscount of Stair in 1690 and died in Edinburgh on 29th November 1695.
Margaret died on 8th January 1692 and was interred in the burial aisle of Kirkliston Church. At her request her coffin was placed upright on the decree that while it remained that way, the Dalrymples would prosper. She departed this world with a fearsome reputation, some accused her of witchcraft and being in league with the Devil, referring to her as ‘The Witch of Endor’. Her ghost is said to still haunt the remains of their family home at Carscreugh Castle.
Baldoon Castle itself was badly damaged in a storm around 18399 and soon degenerated into the ruin the sad spectre of Janet Dalrymple is said to still walk on the anniversary of her death. With her head hung low in sorrow and still in her blood splattered nightgown, she paid a heavy price for her family’s high ambitions.
Notes and sources
1. The Real Bride of Lammermoor (Lucia Lammermoor) – Rosemary Bythell (2008).
2. Stories of the Border Marches – John Lang (1916).
3. Ibid.
4. Chambers’s Journal: Fourth Series. Story of the Dalrymples – 6 November 1875.
5. Bythell (2008).
6. Chambers (1875).
7. A form of amateur dramatic entertainment, popular among the nobility in the 17th century, which consisted of dancing and acting performed by masked players.
8. Bythell (2008).
9. Ibid.
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