Carlingwark Loch and its Crannogs. 2'?>1 



■■ Kelelun,'' alias " Lochetun," and in an old cliarter of ^^'illiam 

 the Conqueror it is called " Cheletun." Xow both " Keletun '' and 

 '' Cheletun " are derived from the old British words, cell, which 

 means "wood," and ///;/, a "dwelling," i.e., a wood-dwelling. 

 ( )ne or two authorities are inclined to hold that the parish derived 

 its name from a church, i.e., cill or kill, a cell, or place for 

 worship, and tun, a dwelling. This is not only a Gaelic and 

 N'orse combination, but it will be seen that there is a material 

 difference between cell, a wood, and cill, or kill, a place for wor- 

 hip. However, e^'en if it were derived from tlie Latin word 

 cella," it may also mean a hut. This theory, no doubt, arose 

 lom Gordon's " Monasticon," where it is said that a church 

 listed on the side of the loch, or, as tradition has it, on the Isle. 

 Such a theory is untenable, because up to 1600, and e\'en after 

 that date, the Isle was under water. At the same time, however, 

 iradition may be so far right, for a church may have existed on 

 lie same site, and prior to the one Avhose ruins we see in Kelton 

 'hurchyard, because that site was at one time practically on the 

 side of the loch. In fact, in 1600, that part of Midkelton 

 meadow, behind Hahnvre Drum, was a loch distinct from Carling- 

 wark, except during floods. At anyrate the overwhelming 

 vidence points to Kelton as simply meaning in the original lan- 

 -.iiage a " wood " or " hut " dwelling, or in other words a Crannog. 



3. Many of the antiquities found in the parish place it beyond 

 iloubt that Kelton was inhabited by various tribes from the " Stone 

 Age " downwards, and it is an indisputable fact that certain of 

 these tribes lived in Crannogs. 



4. It is on record that canoes, liollowed out by the action of 

 tire, were found in the loch. These go a long way to confirm its 

 early occupation by a Celtic tribe. 



5. A bronze cauldron, which has been assigned to the late 

 Celtic period, was found within a dozen yards of the supposed site 

 of the Crannog. It was full of various articles, such as axe-heads, 

 hammers, bridle-bits, a small saw, etc., many of which have been 

 found duplicated in other lake dwellings, or in different parts of 

 Scotland. 



6. I have spoken to gentlemen who have not only seen but 

 traced a " causeway " running from the land in the direction of the 

 sites of the Crannogs, and their evidence is confirmed by a writer 

 in the " Old Statistical Account " of the parish. He says that this 



