FIELD MEETINGS, 1887. 
Rue Tower, Dunscorr Otp CHuRCHYARD, ISLE, 
AND Friars’ Carse.—Tth May, 1887. 
The first Field Meeting of the session was held on the above 
date, when a party numbering thirty assembled at the Fountain 
at noon, and proceeded thence in waggonettes to Rue or Four- 
merkland Tower, passing on their way the Holywood Druidical 
Circle. Arriving at the tower, they were disappointed in not 
obtaining admission, as the tenant, forgetting the arrangements, 
had gone from home and taken the key with him. The tower, 
which is yet used as a dwelling-house, is not very large, and is a 
square structure, with small turrets on the front and rear. It 
was erected by the Maxwell family in the close of the sixteenth 
century, and over the principal doorway is the family crest, with 
the initials R. M. and I. G. at each side, and the date 1590 
underneath. Some time was occupied by the members in 
sketching the building or botanising in the adjoining fields and 
wood, permission having been granted by the proprietor, Mr 
Maxwell of the Grove. 
The next item on the programme was Dunscore Old Church- 
yard, and on arriving there the party were joined by the 
President (Dr Grierson), Mr Fergusson of Isle, and Mr Well- 
wood Maxwell of Kirkennan. The chief object of interest here 
was the tomb of Grierson of Lag, but, as what was once a 
monument in stone to his memory had suffered from the weather, 
and from the hands of those who held this notorious opponent 
of the Covenanters in little esteem, the tombstone was not easily 
discovered. At last Dr Grierson pointed out a large slab, half- 
covered with moss and debris, lying under a sycamore tree, with 
the traces of an inscription thereon, but now utterly illegible. 
Near this is the grave of his son, James Grierson, a flat stone, on 
which his name is engraved, marking the spot. A short time 
was spent in deciphering inscriptions on other stones. One of the 
oldest and in good preservation was in the vault of the Isle 
family. With a little trouble the inscription “ Here lys intombit 
ain honest and uirtus man, Alexander Fergusson of Iyl, 1608,” 
and in the centre of the stone a lion rampant, could be distinctly 
traced. 
