28 Transactions. 



names — whatever their hniguage — they are descriptive of natural 

 features. Dunscore itself is dim sgor — the hill loith the steep 

 rock. Lag means a hollow, and Laggan, a little hollow. Kilroy 

 is the red corner, the name being the only relic of some forgotten 

 tragedy. Stroquhan is a stony place — a name which would 

 quite correctly describe the whole parisli. Craigenputtock, as 

 we have all learned from Carlyle, is the rock of the wild hawk. 

 Cat's Craig, a name which occurs twice in the parish, does not 

 require to be explained. Drum means a ridge, and here the 

 name is the very picture of tlie place. Svjyrie is the neck of the 

 hill, where the summit dips and rises again, forming a pass. 

 These are all of very early date. Belonging to a later time we 

 have those well-known marks of ecclesiastical possession — 

 Merkland, Shillingland, and Poundland, telling of the days 

 when the monastery of Holy wood owned all the laud in the 

 valley of the Cairn, and even as far as Glaisters, beyond the 

 boundaries of the parish to the west. Friars' Carse recalls to 

 mind the Monks of Melrose, who possessed the rich holms of the 

 Nith for centuries ; and Monkland, a name recently revived, 

 belongs originally to their' day. Ellisland, it is ingeniously 

 suggested by a well-known aichieologist, who is a member of this 

 Society, is from Isle. It is the Laird oj Isle his land, Isle's 

 Land, Ailisland, Ellisland. 



But a great number of our Dunscore names are quite unlike 

 these comely and dignified survivors of the past. Tliey are as 

 hideous as the modern appellatives of the Far West. In the 

 Sibbald Manuscript in the Advocates' Library (W. 5. 17.) we are 

 told that " the Cunningham es, Earles of Glencarne, being 

 superiour to the whole parish, excepting a Barony or two, did 

 divide his property amongst his jackmen for the greater part of 

 it, into several tenements, bearing the name of tlie first 

 occupants, which denominations ; though the lands be now 

 ppssessed by those of other names, yet they do still retain as at 

 first, as Blackstown, Inglistown, Crawfordtown, Stewartown, 

 Gilmorestown, Gordonstown, Garriokstown, and some others 

 inore." The evil example of Glencairn was followed in Dunscore 

 and other places. We know not what graphic names of an 

 earlier age these hideous compounds supplanted, but we could 

 have forgiven the Earl of Glencairn in question if he had only 

 had the grace to leave well alone. It is little comfort to know 



