72 CiuTRCH OK St. JoirN tiik Baptist, Dalry. 



in pinnacles. On the south front, or that part of the church most 

 in view, like the rest of the hewn work, these are all built in 

 polished red freestone (Locharbriggs, I believe). On the north 

 side, however, to a height of 10 feet, these projections ai-e built of 

 massive blocks of strong grained silurian grit, so extensively used 

 iu ancient times in all building's of any pretensions, civil or 

 ecclesiastical, throughout the province of Galloway. They have 

 all, without exception, been carefully hewn for other purposes than 

 they now serve. One shows a glass groove with the leaden plug 

 for a rivet or stanchion end, still in its place. Others are hewn 

 with six-inch margins, and so in various ways indicate use in a 

 previous building, which there can be no reasonable doubt was just 

 the old Church of St. John, which is thus proven to have been a 

 most substantial structure. Above this ten-foot tier of re-used 

 hewn stone the projecting corners are complated with large blocks 

 of ordinary rubble. These observations were all made at a certain 

 disadvantage, for the true colour and texture of the stones them- 

 selves are not to be seen, the entire building being elaborately 

 painted from base to topmost pinnacle a uniform dull grey. 



Thus to recount what remains of St. John's Church seems like 

 describing the contents of a stable after the steed has been stolen, 

 and it seems most deplorable that a building to all appearance so 

 strongly built, and so substantial, should, at the bidding of modern 

 exigencies, have been entirely lost to the historic treasures of the 

 country. 



Before proceeding further, I may be allowed a few remarks 

 on the coat-armorial carved in the panel on the Kenmure aisle. We 

 found that the shield was divided in pale, with three boars' heads 

 crazed on the dexter side, and a lion rampant on the sinister. The 

 first is, of course, the usual Gordon arms, differing only from the 

 earliest arms, as given by Nisbet, in the fact that these are stated 

 to be " A bend between three boars' heads, coupecl"* whereas the 

 charge on the aisle shield agrees rather with Nisbet's second 

 blazon, borne by Alexander Gordon of Penninghame, who 

 succeeded to the honours in 1663, which are simply " Thi-ee boars' 

 heads crazed," without any reference to a bend, and so exactly 

 describing the Gordon arms on the Aisle shield. A much more 



In his " Peerage" (Edin. 1716) George Crawfurd also gives the Ken- 

 mure arms as "Azure, three boans' heads, Coupe, Or." 



