160 LOCKERBIE IN ITS ORIGIN. 
name given to the palisade or strength of wood which was thrown 
round the castle at some distance from its walls, and is derived 
from the Latin palus, a stake. 
As time wore on and brought in its train an improvement in 
the art of building, as also in the arts of warfare, the castle itself 
would grow in strength, whilst the peel would diminish in useful- 
ness. Ultimately the peel would disappear altogether, and what 
remained would be called the peel tower or simply the peel. 
What other buildings would be erected within the peel we 
cannot exactly say. No doubt there would be others, in which 
not only the women and children, but also the live stock of the 
village and other movable possessions, could be sheltered and 
stored during times of seige. In 1542 we read that some English- 
men “sett fyer in a peyll’’ on Corrie Water in Annandale, and 
took away with them 30 oxen and cows, 8 horses, 60 sheep, 
“with mych other insight of howsholde.’’ No doubt, after 
the alarm was raised, everything that could possibly be either 
carried or driven would be stored inside the peel for safety. 
Unfortunately, however, on this occasion the strength of the peel 
had proved unavailing. 
As has been stated, the house of the superior inside the peel 
would as time went on become a place of greater strength and 
security, and gradually supersede the surrounding peel, which, as 
the arts of war progressed, would become of less use and im- 
portance. In course of time the peel would wholly disappear. 
There can be’ little doubt, therefore, that the present peel 
tower of Lockerbie is the modern representative and occupant of 
the sight of the primitive home of the Lockard, which at first was 
surrounded by a peel. 
This primitive home would be built of wood and wattles, 
cemented with mud and clay, roofed with branches and thatch, 
lighted by windows of skin, and floored, not with luxurious 
carpets, but mother earth in the form of mud and rushes. If 
the villagers and their chief had mutual interests, they had also 
their comforts in common, or, we might rather say, their dis- 
comforts in common. However, they knew no better, would 
be as well off as their neighbours, and doubtless content—at 
least, let us hope so. 
At the time with which we are dealing the wild boar and the 
