28 Transactions. 
names—whatever their language—they are descriptive of natural 
features. Dwnscore itself is dian sgor—the hill with the steep 
rock. Lag means a hollow, and Laggan, a little hollow. Kilroy 
is the red corner, the name being the only relic of some forgotten 
tragedy. Stroguhan is a stony place—a name which would 
quite correctly describe the whole parish. Craigenputtock, as 
we have all learned from Carlyle, is the rock of the wild hawk. 
Cat’s Craig, a name which occurs twice in the parish, does not 
require to be explained. rwm means a ridge, and here the 
name is the very picture of the place. Srvyrte is the neck of the 
hill, where the summit dips and rises again, forming a pass. 
These are all of very early date. Belonging to a later time we 
have those well-known marks of ecclesiastical possession— 
Merkland, Shillingland, and Poundland, telling of the days 
when the monastery of Holywood owned all the land in the 
valley of the Cairn, and even as far as Glaisters, beyond the 
boundaries of the parish to the west. Jriars’ Carse recalls to 
mind the Monks of Melrose, who possessed the rich holms of the 
Nith for centuries; and Monkland, a name recently revived, 
belongs originally to their day.  Hillisland, it is ingeniously 
suggested by a well-known archzologist, who is a member of this 
Society, is from Isle. It is the Laird of Isle his land, Isle’s 
Land, Ailisland, Ellisland. 
But a great number of our Dunscore names ave quite unlike 
these comely and dignified survivors of the past. They are as 
hideous as the modern appellatives of the Far West. In the 
Sibbald Manuscript in the Advocates’ Library (W. 5. 17.) we are 
told that ‘the Cunninghames, Earles of Glencarne, being 
superiour to the whole parish, excepting a Barony or two, did 
divide his property amongst his jackmen for the greater part of 
it, into several tenements, bearing the name of the first 
occupants, which denominations; though the lands be now 
possessed by those of other names, yet they do still retain as at 
first, as Blackstown, Inglistown, Crawfordtown, Stewartown, 
Gilmorestown, Gordonstown, Garriokstown, and some others 
more.” The evil example of Glencairn was followed in Dunscore 
and other places. We know not what graphic names of an 
earlier age these hideous compounds supplanted, but we could 
have forgiven the Harl of Glencairn in question if he had only 
had the grace to leave well alone. It is little comfort to know 
