98 KiRKMAHOE Church Bells, &c. 



instead of carrying out in full the instruction to send these up to 

 London in part payment of the new bell, that one of them should 

 be retained for use to call the congregation together, in the 

 interval of completing the new church, for one of them was so 

 retained, and to it the later minutes no doubt refer. 



At the time of which we are speaking, a house in which to 

 meet for worship was not considered so essential as it is now 

 thought to be, and the parishioners being mostly descendants of 

 the hill-men, field preaching yet maintained a degree of popularity 

 in the parish. When therefore the old church was removed to 

 make room for the new one the weekly services were continued 

 out of doors. The churchyard was the chosen spot, and here on 

 k neighbouring tree the old bell, in a way seemingly more 

 essential than the church, was suspended to sound for the 

 gathering in the usual way. I am indebted for information 

 regarding this circumstance to Mr Dinwoodie, the heritors' clerk. 

 Writing me in 1893, he stated that he had met an old gentleman, 

 then in his 88th year, who had himself attended the open-air 

 service, and remembered the bell hanging on the tree being rung 

 at preachings and funerals. 



Another local instance of suspending the church bell on a tree 

 in similar circumstances was mentioned to me by Mr Barbour of 

 Glendarroch. He recollected, he said, when Dairy Church was 

 in course of rebuilding, the services were held in the churchyard, 

 and the bell was hung on a tree for the purpose of summoning 

 the congregation to worship. 



The heritors' minutes show that a bellfounder at this time 



exercised his calling in Dumfries. Considering the price obtained 



for the bell sold to him, amounting to £6 3s, it may be estimated 



that the two old bells were approximately of the same dimensions 



as those of Holywood. The minutes give no clue to the 



characteristics of the bells, or whether they were inscribed. 



Utility, which is excellent, but not everything, is the only 



guiding principle present in them, and so the pair of old bells 



belonging to the Church of St. Quintin, of Kirkmahoe, were 



disposed of and lost. 



Lochmaben Bells. 



Lochmaben possesses the most important bells of the mediteval 

 class extant in the district. They are larger and probably more 

 ancient than any of the others, besides being the only twin bells. 

 The old Gothic Church dedicated to Mary Magdalene, of which 



