TDGNHAS Series III, Volume 87

Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society celebrated its 150th year in 2012. To mark the anniversary the Society, which is the second oldest such society in Scotland, held a one-day conference at Dumfries & Galloway College, Crichton Campus, Dumfries on Saturday, 8 September 2012. There were over 110 people in attendance, both members and non-members.

Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society celebrated its 150th year in 2012. To mark the anniversary the Society held a one-day conference on Saturday, 8 September 2012. The President of the Society, Dr Francis Toolis, opened the event with a history of the early days of the Society. He recounted something of the lives of founders such as Dr Gilchrist, the second Physician Superintendent at the Crichton Royal Institution and Dr Grierson of Thornhill, whose remarkable private museum was the inspiration for the African explorer, Joseph Thomson, also a member of the Society, the man after whom the Thomson gazelle is named and the inspiration himself for Sir H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines. Sir William Jardine of Applegarth, a true polymath and the author of many books, was the Society’s first President. Among the later members was Samuel Arnott, one-time Provost of Maxwelltown, who wrote extensively for the Society’s Transactions and was recognised in his time as a world authority on snowdrops. This is the text of the President’s opening address.

It is truly an honour to be invited to speak on this auspicious occasion, which I see as an opportunity to reflect on some of the great achievements and some of the great achievers in Dumfries and Galloway around the time the Society was founded on 20 November 1862. A secondary theme is the relationship of most of these people with the unique landscape of the region and the influence of the environment upon them. In 1862 most of the population of the three south-western counties still depended upon the land for their material existence. A remarkable number became naturalists, while poets and writers celebrated Nature’s heritage in the beauty of their surroundings. In a Christian era many were concerned with the wonder of Creation rather than with any sense of ‘blood and soil’ or lebensraum, with celebrating the joy of their environs rather than environmental determinism.

The Pictish inscribed stone at Trusty’s Hill is unique in Dumfries and Galloway and has long puzzled scholars as to why this was carved here and if it is indeed genuine. As part of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, the Galloway Picts Project was undertaken in 2012 in order to recover the evidence required to understand the archaeological context of the inscribed stone and the significance of Trusty’s Hill within Early Medieval Scotland. The following paper is intended simply as an interim summary report, in advance of a monograph reporting the full analyses and results (Toolis and Bowles forthcoming).

This paper presents the results of a recent watching brief and investigations conducted at Carzield Roman Fort, Kirkton, Dumfries and Galloway. This work was directed by the author on behalf of Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN) and Scottish Water during improvements to domestic services within the fort area. The investigations on three service trenches (Trenches 1-3) revealed new evidence on the fort’s occupation and internal layout. The archaeological deposits included cobbled surfaces and ditch and gully features. The assemblage included Samian Ware, Black-burnished Ware, numerous metal objects including a javelin head and hobnails from a calceus Roman shoe. Building material included a fragment of an imbrex roof tile and a fragmented hypocaust tile from a bath house. The environmental analysis revealed evidence of wattle-and-daub structures in the rampart area of the fort as well as evidence of arable food resources. The AMS date range for the deposits dated was cal AD 2 to 257 (at 2 sigma calibration; 2 σ hereafter) with the exception being an Early Iron Age date of 847 to 767 cal BC (at 2 σ). This earlier date, although a result of re-deposition in Roman layers, is indicative of redeposition of material from earlier human activity in the vicinity of these excavations. The median value for the Roman dates is 18-214 cal AD (at 2 σ). The date range coupled with the artefactual evidence reaffirms the Roman occupation of the fort in the Antonine period with some evidence of occupation prior to and following this occupation, based on this most recent work and previous analyses.

Scandinavian incursions and settlements in both Scotland and Ireland were of significance in the development of both nations. Social, political, and economic change then ensued, leaving long lasting linguistic, cultural and genetic legacies. The name Galloway contains the Gaelic words ‘Gall’, originally a foreigner and later a Scandinavian, and Gàidheil, a Gaelic speaker. Fergus of Galloway was known as ‘righ Gall-Ghàidheil’, king of the foreign or Scandinavian Gaelic speakers. Questions arise as to the geographical origins of the Gall-Ghàidheil and when they intruded into greater Galloway. That greater Galloway was Gaelicised can be seen not only from place-name studies but also from the very large number and great variety of Gaelic surnames associated with the region. The origin of Fergus of Galloway, still an unsolved problem for historians, is considered in the light of the given names of his descendants. These names suggest that Fergus was either a Gael or a very much Gaelicised individual. The focus then moves to the medieval cenéla of greater Galloway. The names of leading individuals and kindreds, in particular those of the greinours of the Clenafren, are analysed. Two Muintir groups recorded in Carrick are also examined in some detail. The tantalising but as yet unproven possibilities of Irish Dál Fiatach origins for both the Clenafren and the McKerrells are outlined. The apparent absence of well-researched genetic data which might prove helpful in illuminating the origins of the kindreds of greater Galloway is commented on. The future availability of such data could potentially assist in further unravelling Galloway’s complex past. The meanings of contractions and Gaelic words used are given at the end of the article.

At the foot of the kirkyard at Mouswald, sloping down towards the Solway Firth, lie the mortal remains of Robert Threshie Reid, first and last Earl Loreburn. The simple stone cross marking his grave, lies broken on the ground, its condition a telling commentary on the evaporation of the historical reputation of one who served for more than six years as a leading and much respected member of Britain’s pre-First World War Liberal government. That distinguished administration, formed by premier Henry CampbellBannerman in December 1905, contained three future Prime Ministers – H.H. Asquith, David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill – as well as such luminaries as Edward Grey, Foreign Secretary at the start of the war, and Richard Burdon Haldane, perhaps the most accomplished War Minister of the twentieth century. But Reid’s appointment to the Lord Chancellorship was seen at the time as a step of considerable importance. Indeed, he was the first prospective minister to be approached by Campbell-Bannerman as the latter set about constructing his cabinet.