Andrew Breeze

The Celtic place-names of south-west Scotland are a subject repaying investigation. This paper discusses five such names: Ptolemy's Abravannus, meaning 'very feeble one' and referring to Pilanton Burn, near Stranraer. A possible link between the Ravena Co

This paper, in a series of toponyms in south-west Scotland, discusses Ptolemy's Vindogara, Elvan Water near Wanlockhead, Tarelgin near Ayr and Troquhain near New Galloway, which have Brittonic names explicable as 'white ridge', 'salt stream', 'willow home

Glentenmont, Rattra, Tarras and Tinny Hill are all in Dumfries and galloway, with Cumbric names that respectively seem to mean 'fire-river mountain', 'great homestead', 'strong river' and 'hill of (a man called) Tanet'. They are this evidence for the anci

The names of Minnygap near Moffat and Minnigaff by Newton Stewart have puzzled scholars. Yet they can be taken as Cumbric forms meaning 'bush by a hollow' and 'smith's bush'. They parallel obsolete 'Munmaban' near Peebles and 'Monynut' near Haddington, th

Cummertrees near Annan and Beltrees near Paisley have names of debated origin. Yet both seem linked to swift streams called Tres, with namesakes in Cornwall, Hampshire, and elsewhere in Scotland. The obscure name of Trevercarcou (Earlstoun, near New Gallo

An Etymological and philological discussion of Historia Brittonum and Arthur's Battle of Tribuit.

Pennygant is a fell in Roxburghshire/Borders, by the border of Dumfries and Galloway. Its name has been of obscure meaning, but seems to mean ‘hill of the English, summit of the foreigners’ in Cumbric. It would apparently date from the occupation of the D

The name of the river Sark has been obscure, but evidence from Welsh and Breton suggests it is a Cumbric form meaning 'lover'.

For nearly four hundred years, historians have been perplexed by the location of ‘Rosnat’, a British monastery and house of studies mentioned in the lives of various Irish saints. It was long taken as Whithorn in Galloway, and this is still argued, as we shall see. However, what follows discusses the problem and then (on the basis of new evidence) suggests that the place was Old Kea in Cornwall, on a tidal creek between Truro and Falmouth. If so, it allows us to identify (somewhat unexpectedly) a home of Celtic learning and spirituality that for centuries enjoyed international fame, was the intellectual centre of Cornish or south-western Christianity in the sixth century, and has implications for our understanding of religion in early Scotland, as elsewhere in Britain and Ireland. The present paper may here seem ungracious in trying to show that a home of early learning was not at Whithorn. But, being published in Dumfries and Galloway, it perhaps suggests that, if there was not much learning there in the sixth century, there is a great deal in the twenty-first. 

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.

Archaeology is making the ‘Picts of Galloway’ famous: in contrast are historians and philologists, who denounce them as mythical, fictitious, non-existent, and (in short) being for Galloway what Monsters are for Loch Ness. However, since the supposed Picts of Galloway refuse to vanish from journalism and popular culture, what follows gives accounts of them over the years. Readers can then put the evidence of archaeology besides that of history and linguistics, and decide for themselves.