The Kirkcudbrightshire Coast. 135 



1st December, 1911. 



The President in the Chair. 



Lantern Lecture : The Kirkcudbrightshire Coast. By the 

 Rev. C. H. Dick, B.D., Moffat. 



The lecture gave an account of the Kirkcudbright.shire 

 section of a journey along the whole of the Galloway coast-line. 

 The more striking points of view on the road between Maxwell- 

 town and Newabbey were noted, the history of Sweetheart Abbey 

 was reviewed, and various details of the building discussed. 



The great window at the west end has been spoiled by the 

 introduction of a mass of masonry below the rose window, no 

 doubt on account of a fear that the edifice was not sufficiently 

 strong. Even from the floor level one can see that the original 

 tracery runs down into this mass. The walls of the church are 

 composed of unhewn granite blocks covered over with dressed 

 freestone brought from beyond the Nith. According to tradi- 

 tion, Devorguilla, the foundress, was not the only lady associated 

 with the building, for a carved stone in the wall of a house in 

 the village, shewing the side of a boat surmounted by three 

 heads, is said to commemorate three maiden ladies who kept a 

 ferry and displayed both their piety and their muscularity by 

 transporting all the freestone required for the abbey. Crom- 

 well's lieutenants are said to have bombarded the place from the 

 neighbouring Barhill, causing a breach in the containing wall. 

 When a grave was being dug on the edge of the churchyard some 

 years ago a cannon ball was found. Before the abbey was built, 

 the parish took its name from Loch Kindar, a sheet of water at 

 the foot of Criffel. This loch has two little islands, the one a 

 crannog consisting of stones resting on oaken piles, and the other 

 the site of the ancient church of the parish. 



A little farther on, the shining waters of the Solway come 

 into sight. Respectable historians have connected Solway with 

 Selgovae, the name given by the Romans to the British tribe 

 inhabiting Dumfriesshire. Dr George Neilson has the great 

 credit of tracing it to " Sulwath, the muddy ford," the name of 

 a ford on the Sark. The name came into use gradually for the 



