TDGNHAS Series III, Volume 86

The Truckell Prize is awarded by the Society for the purposes of both commemorating the late A. E. Truckell and his outstanding contribution to local studies in Dumfries and Galloway, and of forging closer links with the Universities of Glasgow and of the West of Scotland on the Crichton Campus, Dumfries. The Prize is awarded annually for the best original research paper by an undergraduate or postgraduate student from the Crichton Campus on a human or natural history topic relating to the geographical area covered by the three former counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire. In 2011, the Truckell Prize was won by Jacky Card for this paper.

The biography of the Rev. William Little (c.1797-1867), incumbent of the parish of Kirkpatrick Juxta, Dumfriesshire from 1842 to 1867, has been described already (Martin, 1996) and some aspects of his activities regarding Coleoptera have been published recently (Hancock, Dobson & Williams, 2009). The present purpose is to collate and assess his contribution to the knowledge of the occurrence and distribution of Scottish Coleoptera as derived from records published by him or in his name. He found the great majority of these beetles, 227 species (c.49%), at Raehills, an estate located 10 miles north-west of Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire.

A programme of archaeological fieldwork was undertaken in advance of construction work for a short stretch of dual carriageway on the A75 between Newton Stewart and Glenluce. The route comprises areas of improved pasture on drumlins and peat bog within the interdrumlin basins. Fieldwork included peat coring within these inter-drumlin basins. A bridge and other features on the disused Portpatrick & Castle Douglas Line were recorded during a standing building survey. Other areas of the route were investigated by trial trenches and a burnt mound was discovered. Later excavation revealed that, although neither a hearth nor a trough lay within the excavated area and the site was clearly horizontally truncated, in terms of location, plan morphology, constituent deposits and suggested date, it conformed to others in South-West Scotland and more widely. Two main phases of activity were identified with deposits of burnt stone being either preceded or succeeded by a series of posts, which may represent an early medieval fence line. A single flint flake was recovered. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the burnt mound was probably formed in the later first millennium AD.

The meeting of Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society on 2 December 2011 was a very special occasion. The topic for the evening was ‘The Names of Rheged’ and the speaker, Dr. Andrew Breeze. It was the James Williams Memorial Lecture, held in memory of the Society’s much-revered and long-serving editor. During James Williams’ editorship of the Transactions, Dr. Breeze has published several significant research papers on the place-names of Dumfries and Galloway and he willingly agreed to travel from the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain, to deliver the memorial lecture. This article is taken from a transcript of the lecture which he has generously offered for publication.

The end of Gaelic in Galloway is as obscure as its beginnings. It is likely that the survival of Gaelic was intimately bound up with the survival of a distinct Galwegian identity. The persistence of this Galwegian identity was a recurring source of conflict with Scottish kings from David I to David II. Crucially, it led Galloway’s Gaelic kindreds to support the Balliols against the Bruces in a struggle for the Scottish crown which lasted from 1286 to 1356, when David II prevailed over Edward Balliol. Even then, it was not until after Archibald Douglas established his lordship of Galloway in 1372 that the power of the Galwegian kindreds was diminished through the plantation of Scots speakers in Galloway. Under the Douglases, Scots began to displace Gaelic as the language of Galloway. By the end of Douglas rule in 1455, the once powerful Galwegian identity had faded into insignificance and the region was peacefully absorbed into Scotland. This acceptance of Scottish identity suggests that Scots had also replaced Gaelic as the language of Galloway.

There is documentary evidence for the management of woods in southern Scotland in the medieval period. At Coldingham, from the 12th to the 15th centuries, the abbey managed at least some of its woods by directing cutting to certain areas, by using servants to supervise cutting and in the 15th century, and probably earlier, by enclosing some woods. Kelso Abbey placed an area of woodland in defence in the Monynut area in the 12th century and in Gala and Leader forest pressure on woodland and other resources led to disputes, the settlements of which throw light on woodland management and the possible use of pollarding. The wood banks on Bowden Moor, previously described in these Transactions, may well centre on a dispute in the 12th century over a divided wood and there is evidence from Jedburgh in the 13th century of enclosure of woods and of the use of quick-set hedges either in the 13th century or earlier. Teinds of underwood are also recorded for Teviotdale in the 12th century and point to the harvesting of coppices at that time. In the Bowmont valley in the 12th and 13th centuries Anselm de Mow and then Richard de Lincoln held several woods in their fief of Mow and their grants to Melrose and Kelso abbeys show that in certain instances they tried to manage their woods by limiting cutting to spring and summer and by stipulating a 10 to 15 year rota for cutting wood. Combined with the palynological evidence from the area this all points to a system of coppicing, but coppicing is nowhere mentioned in the sources nor do the sources explain how these arrangements affected common rights or the practices of the local population as a whole. In the South-West the place name Hardgrove points to the existence of coppicing probably as early as the 7th century and in Annandale at Stapleton enclosure of common wood took place in the 13th century. In the 15th century at Woodcockair the Crown had rented the vert of the wood which suggests management and regular cropping of the wood. Between Dalbeattie and Dumfries there is some suggestion that in the later 12th century the lords of Galloway were trying to manage their woods to meet the demands being made on them both for pannage and for fuel. There are no direct descriptions or accounts in the medieval period of the ways in which woods in Scotland were managed and so it is only by a process of deduction, such as this article attempts to carry out, that a cumulative picture begins to emerge.

The family of Hairstanes rose to prominence as burgesses of Dumfries in the later 1500s, only to die out in the male line in the mid-1700s when four sisters inherited. In 1739 they sold the family properties, Over and Nether Kelwood and Bourlands. The family took their designation from the lands of Over Kelwood, but used the name ‘of Craigs’, that being the house on the property. In Edgar’s History of Dumfries (1915) which R C Reid edited, there is a long note, no 30, on Kelwood and its owners and at the end of the volume a pedigree of Hairstanes is included. Unfortunately, the descent as deduced by Reid is not correct in some details, although one must pay tribute to his scholarship. Only two of the four sisters, Isabella and Elizabeth, appear to have had issue. Elizabeth married William Maxwell of Preston and was the mother of two daughters; Mary, wife of William Gordon, 17th Earl of Sutherland; and Willielma wife of John Campbell, Lord Glenorchy. Lady Glenorchy died without issue, so it is probable that the surviving genes of the family rest with the Sutherlands.

The career of David Armstrong was unusual by the standards of the eighteenth-century Scottish bar but at its height it presents a picture that was in some ways a signpost for the future development of the legal profession. Financial problems, consequent to the collapse of the Ayr Bank, reveal the importance to him of his local Dumfries connections and also led him into a scandal by which his career was cut short. This article examines that scandal and draws from Armstrong’s career a number of conclusions about the nature of contemporary legal practice in Scotland that have a wider resonance for the history of the profession generally during the long eighteenth century.

Although Joseph Train (1779-1852), the celebrated antiquarian and associate of Sir Walter Scott, was an Ayrshireman, he was based for the principal part of his career in Dumfriesshire and Galloway.2 Train’s antiquarian endeavours have been noted in these Transactions on previous occasions as have the Statistical Accounts.3 This article argues that antiquarianism had a considerable impact on the Statistical Accounts and notes Train’s contribution to them in particular. It also suggests that Train’s production of a Statistical Account of the Isle of Man (1845) was the direct result of his involvement with Scott, ‘statistics’ and South-West Scotland; and that his work on Man should be seen as an expression of territorial identity within an over-arching and increasingly patriotic British state. The article begins by contrasting the background and career of Train with the principal authors of the Accounts, the ministers of the Church of Scotland, as a means of emphasising his achievements.

Today, Andrew Barrie (1798-1866) is long forgotten in his adopted town of Dumfries and fares little better in his home town of Paisley, commemorated only by his grave at Woodside Cemetery and the annual award of ‘Barrie’ Dux Medal at Paisley Grammar School. Yet during his life he was highly regarded by the citizens of both towns for his contribution to civic life and private and public financial support for a wide variety of organisations. He brought to civic life the same drive and determination that had enabled him to rise from relatively modest beginnings to become a wealthy and influential figure. On his death in 1866 the Dumfries Standard and Paisley Herald were fulsome in their praise for his work as a Sheriff Substitute and Justice of the Peace; as a Trustee and Elder of St Mary’s Church in Dumfries; for the numerous public appointments he held; and for his extensive financial support for charities. It is all the more surprising that such importance during his lifetime should be reduced to so little in posterity.

In a recent paper by the second author, the ‘Old Edinburgh Road’ was indicated as following a route between Barscobe and Balmaclellan, following the present access road from Barscobe Castle to the present A712 and thence on to Balmaclellan. Since then, an assessment by the first author calls for this section to be revised. Further research makes it clear that this should be replaced by a more direct and anciently established route between the two places.