242 The Loch Urr Crannog. 



fraction of a degree. In winter, including the months of Decem- 

 ber, January, and February, the temperature of the river and 

 the air differ by only two-tenths of a degree, the air being highest^ 

 36.7 deg., and the river 36.5 deg., while the estuary is 37.5 deg., 

 about one degree higher. The greatest difference is in summer — 

 June, July, and August — when the river and the estuary are both 

 in excess of the air, the former by fully 1.4 deg. and the latter by 

 2 degrees. In autumn, again — including September, October, 

 temperatures respectively of 48.2 deg. and 48.4 deg., while the 

 estuary is more than two degrees higher, viz., 50.6 deg. 



III. — The Loch Urr Crannog. By Mr John Corrie. 



Loch Urr, or Loch Orr as it is often called, is a small hill 

 lake on the boundary between Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbright- 

 shire. According to the O.S. map, it is 623.9 f^^* above sea 

 level. Its area is 137.765 acres, of which 33.741 is in Balma- 

 clellan, Kirkcudbrightshire; 33.125 in Glencairn, Dumfriesshire; 

 and 50.899 in Dunscore, Dumfriesshire. The place which Loch 

 Urr fills in history is not large. Chalmers, in his "Caledonia '"' 

 (page 217, vol. iii.), lays Symson's MS. account of Galloway" 

 (1684) under contribution as follows: — 



" Loch Urr, which has a circumference of three miles, lies 

 partly in Dumfriesshire and partly in Kirkcudbrightshire. Symson 

 says it is replenished with pike and salmon. It has two islets ; on 

 one of these there is an old castle with plantations of willows; 

 and here wild geese and other wild fowl breed. From the 

 eastern bank there is an artificial road leading into the castle isle ; 

 this causeway is now about knee-deep under water." The " Old 

 Statistical Account " says: — " Small island with remains of stone 

 walls." Fullarton's Gazetteer of Scotland (1844) introduces 

 matter of a more controversial character. At page 789, 

 vol. ii., we read: — "Loch Urr seems to be the Loch-cure of 

 Camden, from which he erroneously represents the Nith as 

 issuing, and which he states to have been the site of a town of 

 the Selgovfe, called by the Romans Corda. The islet may 

 possibly have borne on its bosom some Selgovse huts ; and it cer- 

 tainly was the site, at a later date, of an important though 

 unstoried castle. Some ruins which remain show the fortalice to 

 have had great strength of wall and a variety of apartments." 



