104 Field Meetings. 



is a stone with the date 1621 built into a new house, occupying 

 the site of " the Gairland Great House," in which the unfortunate 

 Lord Kilmarnock was confined when he was taken prisoner by 

 the Sanquhar Volunteers in 1715. A call was made at Mr 

 Wilson's residence, the Royal Bank House, where there is an 

 extensive collection of local antiquities. The locality also has its 

 historical association, for in this quarter stood the ancient 

 town house of Lord Crichton of Sanquhar, in which Queen Mary 

 spent the night following the battle of Langside, as she was 

 hurrying to the Border under the escort of Lord Herries and 

 other nobles. 



Mr Wilson had obtained special permission from the Marquis 

 of Bute, through his factor, Mr Charles G. Shaw, of Ayr, for 

 the party to visit Sanquhar Castle, which is in course of being to 

 a large extent restored by his lordship. Mr Samuel Gibson, 

 contractor for the work, was also in attendance, and the stair- 

 cases were open, so that visitors had an opportunity of climbing 

 to the top of Wallace's Tower, as the square one is named, 

 enjoying the magnificent prospect which it commands up and 

 down the valley of the Nith and away to the Lowthers about 

 Wanlockhead and Leadhills. One of the features of the castle 

 disclosed in course of the excavations is a built draw-well with a 

 depth of 42 feet. 



A visit to Eliock House, to which tlie party had been invited 

 by the Rev. H. G. J. Veitch and Mrs Veitch, was one of the 

 chief pleasures of the day. The fine old mansion-house stands 

 amid a wealth of stately timber on tlie right bank of the Nith, a 

 conspicuous object to the traveller by the Glasgow and South- 

 western railway some two miles and a half below Sanquhar- 

 The visitors first directed their attention to the woods, to which 

 they were accompanied by Mr Laidlaw, the land steward. A 

 row of seventeen great silver firs claimed special notice. They 

 are believed to be about two centuries old. There were origi- 

 nally twenty of them. The largest in 1872 was reported to be 

 156 inches in girth. A measurement taken on Saturday three 

 feet from the surface gave a girth of 183 inches, shewing an 

 increase of 27 inches in 26 years, if the tree is the same ; but of 

 that there is a doubt, as one of the largest, if not the monarch of 

 the grove, fell a victim to one of the great gales in the eighties. 

 An immense larch, one of a group brought as saplings by Lord 

 Eliock from Blair Athol, grows near to the house. Measure- 



