74 Ancient Burial at Locharbriggs. 



and for each 1000 of population there is deposited ia this bank 

 £11,500. 



III. — The Ancient Burial recently discovered at Locharbriggs. By 

 Mr James Barbouk. 



The red sandstone of Dumfriesshire is widely and favourably 

 known, and the reputation is shared by the neighbouring quarries 

 at Locharbiiggs. These are worked in a piece of rising ground 

 opposite the village, designated on the Ordnance Map " The Quarry 

 Hill." The summit, which is round in form and slightly peaked, 

 is the highest point in the vicinity, and commands a very exten- 

 sive and beautiful prospect, embracing the whole vale of the Nith 

 and the Lochar, encircled with hills, except on the south, where 

 are seen the town of Dumfries, and in the distance the waters of 

 the Solway. All Lochar Moss, twelve miles in length, lies within 

 view, and the head of the moss, round which armies were wont 

 to approach and leave the town of Dumfries and the district of 

 Galloway, there being no safe passage across it, is dominated by 

 the hill. On 12th February last, when engaged tirling this 

 ground, for the extension of the quarry, a workman came upon a 

 structure which it is supposed was an ancient grave. Unfortu- 

 nately it was broken up and destroyed before any examination had 

 been made of it. According to information given me, it consisted 

 of a cist composed of six undressed freestone slabs, viz., two sides, 

 two ends, a bottom, and a cover The stone forming the bottom was 

 about three inches thick, and the others were about four inches. 

 The cist, which lay east and west, and at a depth of 18 inches 

 below the surface of the ground, measured outside four feet two 

 inches in length, and two feet six inches in width, and the depth 

 inside was 18 inches. Inside the cist a little sand lay on the bot- 

 tom, and it contained also some bones, fragments of a vessel, 

 probably an urn, and a piece of whinstone which was partly 

 artificially shaped. These articles, with a description of the cist, 

 were forwarded to Edinburgh, and probably Dr Anderson's views 

 on the matter will in time be forthcoming. My purpose is, in 

 view of the site being broken up, to notice the surroundings. 

 The land has been under cultivation, and no cairn or mound 

 remains to mark the burial ; but it is significant that the cist should 

 occupy the peak of a hill such as I have described. Known for- 



