194 - Fretp MEETINGS. 
THE APPARENT ORIGIN OF A PLAcE-NAME. By Mr James 
Barzour, F.S.A.Scot. 
(Read at Thornhill Museum.) 
Spade-work has accomplised much in revealing details of 
ancient monuments and adding to our knowledge of their history. 
It is not so common by the use of the same implement to recover 
long lost evidence of a place-name, but the following note 
furnishes a seeming instance of the kind. 
Such names are frequently derived from some peculiarity 
attaching to the place itself, and if in course of time the dis- 
tinguishing characteristic comes to be obliterated, the name, by 
the rule of guess work, a more popular method of investigation 
than spade work, is said to owe its derivation to some ancient, 
unknown, or never-existing tongue, should it have a somewhat 
mysterious sound ; otherwise it is considered fanciful, the whim 
of an old laird. 
In the parish of Kirkmichael, Dumfriesshire, there is, on the 
left bank of the Water of A!, a farm bearing the very ordinary 
and modern looking name of “ Hazeliebrae.’’ There are no 
hazels at or near the place to account for the name, neverthe- 
less it appears in the Old Valuation Roll, and how long it has 
been in use no one can tell. An interesting discovery has now, 
however, been made having the semblance of a solution of the 
question. On proceeding to excavate a pump well water was 
reached at a depth of 8 feet, and a sample being submitted for 
examination to the county analyst, Mr Davidson, it was found to 
contain an unaccountable amount of vegetable matter. This, it 
was thought, came from the surface, and in order to get free of 
it the well was carried deeper, but almost immediately the 
source of contamination was discovered at the bottom of the 
excavation, consisting of a stratum about 6 inches in thickness of 
vegetable remains, showing brushwood and leafage, in which 
were recovered a number of hazel nuts. The stratum was much 
compacted as if by the application of pressure over a lengthened 
period. The overlying strata from the ground surface consisted 
of a stratum 7 feet deep of reddish yellow loam inclining to 
clay, dry, and sufficiently soft to admit of being removed by 
the spade alone; a bed about 12 inches deep of stones 4 or 
5 inches across mixed with gravel, from which the water sub- 
