180 Notes on the Parish of Kirkgunzeon. 



munion table and for the seat of the patron, who was the Earl of 

 Nithsdale. The pulpit and place for baptism were on the south 

 wall of the kirk next to the arch, and on the north wall at the 

 arch was a place for ringing the bell. The bell bore the inscrip- 

 tion: " Kirkwinnong, 1674." At the manse there are still stand- 

 ing a pair of whale's jaws, which were given to Rev. Mr Heron 

 by Captain Crosbie of Kipp. They measure about 13 feet in 

 height above the ground and 11 feet in width. 



The Kirk-Session Records state that in October, 1716, James 

 Anderson in Isles was cited to the Session, there being a flagrant 

 report that he had been guilty of a breach of the Sabbath by 

 carrying a sheep on his back from Armannoch to his own house. 

 At the meeting of Session he confessed " that on a Sabbath night 

 in harvest he had carried to his own house a lamb of his own 

 which had wandered to Armannoch muir and which he found 

 among their sheep." For this he was gravely rebuked and ex- 

 horted to take more heed to his conversation in time to come. 



In 1721 the Session appointed that whoever are married out 

 of the Church in time coming shall pay one shilling, which is to be 

 laid out on some pious use. 



In 1730 " Nathaniel Ferguson appeared and confessed that he 

 had cast knots on a string during the time of a wedding in church. 

 He was required to produce them, and loose them and destroy 

 them before the Session, which he did. Whereupon he was 

 sharply rebuked for such a wicked practice." Putting knots on a 

 string Avas supposed to be a charm of ill omen for the couple who 

 were being married. References to the superstition are to be 

 found in Norse sagas, for example, in Njal's saga — " Story of 

 Gunnhild and Hrut." The superstition, however, was not con- 

 fined to northern countries, as there is an allusion to it in the 

 decrees of an ancient church council in Spain (Statuta Eccles. 

 Valentina Concil. Hispan). 



The Rev. John Crocket, who was settled at Kirkgunzeon in 

 1809, told the writer, who was his assistant and successor, that 

 Avhen a boy at Newabbey village he had met Billy Marshall, the 

 well-known gipsy of the eighteenth century, who told Mr Crocket 

 that he was helping with harvest at the Haugh-of-Urr when he 

 saw Kinu William III.'s soldiers pass through Galloway to the 

 Irish camnaign. That was in 1690, two hundred and twenty-two 

 years ago. 



