Kairv Beliefs in Galloway. 231 



said till the excavations are completed. The walls are un- 

 doubtedly Xorman, and several stones were found which, in 

 the opinion of the chief archaeologist to the Ancient Monu- 

 ments Commission, showed the tooling- of the twelfth cen- 

 tury, and this agrees with the reigns of David I., Malcolm 

 IV., and William the Lion. The portcullis groove and the 

 surrounding work, however, belong to a much later period, 

 and may, without doubt, be ascribed to the period of Edward 

 I. It doubtless belongs to an addition like that made between 

 the gateway towers at Caerlaverock. 



Regarding the English wardens of the castle, there is 

 not space in a paper like this to give any notice of them, 

 more especially as they are spoken of at length in the paper 

 on the " King's Castle of Dumfries," by the late Mr Barbour. 



4th April, 1912. 



Chairman — Mr W. A. Mackinisell. 



Fairy Beliefs in Galloway. 



By Mrs Nona Lebour, Corbridge-on-Tyne. 



In writing of some fairy beliefs in Galloway I should 

 like to call attention to the great similarity of such beliefs 

 wherever the Goidelic race mingled with the Aborigines and 

 adopted many of their superstitions and customs in other 

 parts of Scotland, England, Wales, and the Isle of Man. 

 Except in the more isolated parts of the country, our old 

 favourite nursery tales and popular traditions are fast dying 

 out and gradually being forgotten, and there are many people 

 who think that what is still left is of no interest or value, and 

 not worth the trouble of studying. But folk-lore has now 

 become a science, and throws light of the most reliable kind 

 upon the earliest history of our remote ancestors. After 

 twenty-five years of ever-increasing study, it has now reached 

 a pitch of entrancing interest, and in the hands of such a 

 number of experts as we now have, every day brings fresh 

 material by means of which we can weave together a portion 



