46 Origin of Name of Kirkpatrick-Durham. 



Therefore, the explanations offered by M'Kerlie and Chalmers 

 must be rejected. 



We fall back on the hint gi\en us bv the Rev. Andrew 

 Symson, who was minister of Kirkinner, in Wigtownshire, for 

 more than twenty years prior to the Revolution, and whose 

 "Description of Galloway " was drawn up aliout 1684. I think 

 that what Symson says is founded upon fact, and leads us to the 

 true explanation. I shall quote Symson's words exactlv. He 

 says — " This parish, to distinguish it from the other Kirkpatricks, 

 is also called Kirkpatrick-Durham. The lands in this parish, 

 belonging to M'Naight of Kilquonadie, pertained of old to the 

 name of Durham." So far Symson. His explanation of the 

 eponym, therefore, was that it was derived from the name of a 

 certain family who, at a previous date, had been proprietors of 

 Kilquhanity, and I may mention that at one time Kilquhanity was 

 the most considerable property in the parish. Symson's explana- 

 tion, I may add, is similar to that which is given in the New Statis- 

 tical Account in the case of Kirkpatrick-Fleming, which is said to 

 have been so called because of a family of influence whose name 

 was Fleming. 



Now, a statement made so directly by Symson deserves to be 

 received with a considerable measure of respect. He was a care- 

 ful inquirer : he seems to have consulted local sources of informa- 

 tion when compiling his "Description of Galloway;" and he 

 stated without reservation, as a result of his inquiries and as a 

 matter of fact, that the lands of Kilquhanity, belonging in his own 

 time to a family called M'Naight, had " pertained of old to the 

 name of Durham." 



To Symson's statement M'Kerlie has raised several objec- 

 tions. He says that he could find no trace of any family of the 

 name of Durham as proprietors of Kilquhanity : and that the name 

 Durham was unknown in the Stewartry at any early date ; and that 

 as far back as 1488 the proprietors of Kilquhanity were 

 M'Naughts or M'Naights. Partly under the heading Kirkpat- 

 rick-Durham and partly under the heading Kilquhanity, 

 M'Kerlie says: — "The surname of Durham was unknown in 

 Galloway until last century [i.e., the eighteenth century]. 

 It is not probable that one of the names gave the adjunct to this 

 parish without being traceable. . . . The first of the name of 



