182 FIELD MEETINGS. 
for their kindly hospitality; and Mr Farish, in reply, expressed 
the pleasure which the visit had afforded them. 
Driving by way of Tinwald Parks, the party next proceeded 
to Torthorwald ; and there they were met by the Rev. J. Marjori- 
banks Campbell, who communicated to them some notes regard- 
ing the old castle and its history. It occupies a commanding 
position, overlooking the valley of the Lochar and the town of 
Dumfries. Acres of Lochar Moss, near to its western extremity, 
are at this season covered with the white tufts of the cotton grass ; 
and as seen from the height it presented the appearance of a field 
of snow dotted with gaunt Scotch firs. Only a fragment of the 
castle remains, and there is no access to its upper floors ; but it is 
pleasing to observe that further decay is being arrested and some 
judicious work of preservation has been undertaken by the pro- 
prietor, Mr D. Jardine Jardine of Applegarth. The walls have 
been of great thickness, nine and ten feet, and in some places 
apparently even more; and the inner packing has been of rough 
stone mixed with burned shell lime, forming a mass almost as hard 
asrock. Fragments of shells can still be detected in the mortar. 
Mr Campbell suggested a Saxon origin of the name, and that it 
meant the tower of Thor in the Wood. It was a square tower of 
two vaulted storeys, basement, and attic rooms, measuring some 
51 feet by 28 feet, and 45 feet high from the ground to the apex 
of the second storey. There has been a circular staircase in the 
north-east angle. The castle was last repaired as a place of 
residence in 1630. The roof is stated to have been still standing 
in 1790. Mr M‘Dowall places Torthorwald in the second class 
of the castles of the district, but its extensive earthwork fortifica- 
tions entitle it to rank even with those of the first class. The 
large raised courtyard is protected by its steep sides, and also by 
a deep ditch, still wonderfully intact; and beyond this again lay 
a tract of marsh and an earthen rampart. About 1124 John de 
Soulis received of Bruce the barony of Torthorwald. It passed 
by marriage into the hands of the Kirkpatricks, and was there- 
after in the hands of the Carlyles from 1357 to 1570. One of 
that family, Sir William de Carlyle, married Lady Margaret 
Bruce, sister of King Robert. His son received a charter of 
the lands of Calyn and Roucan. His descendant, William de 
Carlyle, was created Lord Torthorwald, and in 1443 he pre- 
sented a bell to the parish church of Dumfries, which is now 
