THE GLENKENS IN THE OLDEN TIMES. 143 
near its junction with the Ken. It was an important stronghold 
in the days of Bruce. Afterwards a branch of the family of 
Gordons of Lochinvar is said to have possessed it. 
The remains of an old square tower on an island in Lochinvar 
—the original home of the Gordons when they came from Ber- 
wickshire in 1297—1is still to be seen. Ona clear day, when the 
loch is calm, a causeway may be seen below the water—one branch 
leading to the shore on the east, and another leading to the west 
shore. 
Barscobe Castle, in the parish of Balmaclellan still stands, 
and is now inhabited by a ploughman’s family. It was built in 
1648 by a M‘Lellan, a relative of the Kirkcudbright M‘Lellans 
who had an estate in Balmaclellan parish. The wife of the builder 
of the castle was a Gordon of Shirmers. 
The remains of the old tower of Shirmers, also in the parish of 
Balmaclellan, is close to the present farm steading of Shirmers, 
and near the shore of Loch Ken. It is much crumbled down and 
covered with ivy. It belonged to a branch of the Gordons of 
Kenmure, and is supposed to have been destroyed by orders of 
the Regent Moray after the battle of Langside because the Gordons 
refused to submit to him. 
And now we come to the most important castle in the district 
—the castle of Kenmure. It is said to have been built by Alan, 
Lord of Galloway, and that Dervorgilla, his daughter, occasionally 
lived there with her father. Some think that John Baliol, her son, 
was born there. A castle was originally built on a low mound 
close by the head of Loch Ken and to the south of the present 
castle, but about 1300 it was rebuilt on its present romantic and 
beautiful site. 
The Gordons of Lochinvar came from Berwickshire in 1297, 
but at that time lived in the castle at Lochinvar. They acquired 
Kenmure by charter in 1485, and were created Viscounts of Ken- 
mure and Lords of Lochinvar in 1630. Another branch of the 
Berwickshire Gordons acquired lands in the north of Scotland, 
from which sprang the Dukes of Richmond and Gordon, After the 
battle of Langside the Regent Moray summoned Sir John Gordon 
to submit to him, and sent a party of soldiers into the Glenkens to 
compel him to do so. The officer left his troop at St. John’s 
Clauchan until he went to Kenmure to get Sir John’s answer ; but 
he refused to submit—whereupon the soldiers marched to Kenmure 
