THe Kerr or Morrat. 153 
given in Dr Christison’s paper does not contain the name of the 
Ladyknowe as a fort or even a fort site, nor one anywhere in close 
proximity to the town. The late Mr John Brown, editor of the 
“ Moffat Times,’’ who was well versed in all our local antiquities, 
and who was also the author of “ Moffat Past and Present,’’ states 
in that work:—“ There is no vestige of any defensive work at 
Moffat, nor is it on record that there ever was any work of the kind 
there.’’ To all appearance the Ladyknowe is a natural mound or 
hillock of ground, similar to dozens of others which are scattered 
over our holmlands south of the town, and are our equivalents to 
the kames and drums of other places, the formation of which are 
well known and understood. These ancient forts were usually 
placed on high ground, if not actually on the hill-top, the low- 
lying ground at that time being all undrained, and more or less of 
a marsh, and it is in this feature of the ground that the key to our 
problem “caer ’”’ or “carr’’ will be found. Dr Christison in his 
paper mentions that “car,’’ signifying a fort, is the root of the 
Welsh caer, but he further states that it has other meanings, and 
quotes Dr Joyce’s car, a rock; and Miss Balfour’s Lincolnshire 
signification, “a swamp bordering a stream.’’ It is a curious 
coincidence that while writing this paper further confirmation of 
this Lincolnshire definition was obtained in a story, entitled 
“Skelf Mary,’’ by Oliver Onions, published in the current 
“T. P.’s Christmas Weekly.’’. The story deals with the fen 
country, and the author in his description of the district, men- 
tions “the wreaths and wisps of vapour that crept fantastically 
over carr and mere,’’ and, in another place, in a conversation 
with the farmer, this occurs: “ Ye’ll be a arable man; all’s carrs 
hereabouts,’’ showing that the land described as carr was marshy 
and unfit for agricultural purposes. 
Professor Veitch (Border History and Poetry) gives— cors, 
a bog or fen, common in Cornwall,’’ and further states that 
there is a Gaelic form-——“ car,’? meaning a curve or bend. Mr 
C. E. Moss, in his paper on the peat moors of the Pennines, etc. 
(Geographical Journal, May, 1904), gives “carr’’ as a place 
name on the Pennines for a “morass.’’ Either Miss Balfour’s 
Lincolnshire definition, “swamp bordering a stream,’’ Professor 
Veitch’s car, “a curve or bend,’’ and the “carr,’’ a morass of 
the Pennines, give a correct topographical definition of the Moffat 
Kerr. 
