Origin of Name of Kirkpatrick-Durham. 45 



Closeburn, the site of which (I understand*) can still be traced; 

 and there were others. 



Our inquiry, however, will concern the latter part of the 

 name — that is to say, the word Durham. Why was Durham 

 added to Kirkpatrick as an eponym to distinguish it from other 

 parishes called Kirkpatrick? Was there any ecclesiastical con- 

 nection between this place and the Cathedral City on the Wear? 

 Many a time I have been asked such questions. The questions 

 have not always been easy to answer, though one could have 

 little hesitation in saying that there is no traceable connection 

 with the City or Cathedral in the North of England. 



Many explanations of the eponym Durham have been given. 

 Two of them I shall mention, but only to set them aside. 

 M'Kerlie, whose " Lands and their Owners in Galloway " is gene- 

 rally interesting as to its information, but most whimsical as to 

 its attempts at explanations of the derivation of words, tells us 

 that Durham is derived from two Gaelic words which, he says, 

 mean deep w'ater. The two words which he gives, viz., dur 

 domhain, do not pronounce very like Durham. Dur-do'an does 

 not sound like Dur-ham. The one could never be mistaken for 

 the other. But, in any case, the Water of Urr at any point where 

 it forms the boundary of this parish is not deep, and there is no 

 reason to suppose, considering its rapid fall, that it ever was so. 

 It is a rather swift-flowing hill stream, turbid in a time of special 

 flood, but most of the year quite shallow ; and many a summer 

 day so dry that you can cross it on foot anywhere. M'lverlie's 

 explanation does not seem at all probable. 



Chalmers, whose opinion on most subjects of antiquity is 

 valuable, derives Durham from the Gaelic word Dur — water and 

 the Saxon word Ham — village, and he takes this hybrid word to 

 mean "the village on the water." But, not to insist that two 

 words put together like water-village w'ould hardly mean " the 

 village on the water," the Village of Kirkpatrick-Durham is not 

 on the water. It is nearly three miles distant. So far as is 

 known, there never was a village of any consequence on this water 

 where it borders the parish. Besides, a hybrid etymology is not 

 to be accepted if any other probable one can be discovered. 



■ See "Closeburn," by R. M. F. Watson, p. 37. 



