Place Names. 65 



up the wliole subject of the etymology of our place names in 

 general, we must defer it for the present. 



In Twyuholm is a name which, like many others, offers the 

 ingenious word hunter a choice of interpretations. A little to the 

 east of Miefield (mis-spelt Mayfield on the maps) there rises a fine 

 rocky hill, with a bold cliffy western frontage ; its name is Dow 

 Craig Hill. "Were this pure Gaelic one would expect it to be 

 Craigdhu, just as we find it among the sterner hills in Kells, the 

 following ejjithet of •' hill " not being at all uncommon. Craig- 

 dhu would, of course, mean Black Craig-, but is the name appro- 

 priate? May the whole name not be simply broad Scots, Doo 

 Craig Hill — a haunt of the wild pigeon ? 



I cannot in this connection omit quoting the Queenshill of 

 Tougland, usually said to be so named from the fact of Queen 

 Mary having rested thereon during- that galloping ride from Lang- 

 side. This story, firmly believed in in my boyhood, has yielded to 

 reason and observation, and the route, by which the ill-fated 

 Queen of Scots really reached Dundrennan, has long seemed to 

 me to have been through Irongray and by the Castle of Corra, a 

 line of travelling very much more direct and swift. How account 

 for the name then? That may he more difficult. It is always, 

 except in novels, harder to reconstruct than to destroy. We must 

 bear m mind, however, that this part of Tongland is rather 

 peculiarly rich in old ecclesiastical names, and others of special 

 interest. Kirkconnel Hood, up, on the side of Tarff water, near 

 Barstobric's N.W. base, are the Bishop's Eig and Bishop's Moss, 

 close to them is Thorold's Knowe, and within a stone's throw is a 

 spring called the Queen's Well. If, as seems probable, this 

 church, dedicated to Saint Connel, or Connall, be really one of the 

 few very ancient churches whose record remains in the Scottish 

 Lowlands, may it not be possible that the Well and the Hill were 

 named in memory of Queen Margaret, from her frequent pilg-rim- 

 ages through the district, to that most venerable chui'ch of all, at 

 Whithorn ? This may appear to be a point upon which proof is 

 unobtainable. I offer the explanation with no assumption of 

 authority, merely as being a more reasonable one than that 

 commonly received. 



There is in Troqueer a place called Suffolk Hill. I do not 

 pretend to explain it. Perhaps, like the latter half of the parish 

 name, Kirkpatrick-Durham, it is not in I'eality the name of an 



