Topography of Dumfries. 



185 



indicate the " iiuiir " to which the wretched plag^uc-strickcn 

 people were expelled. On the Lockerbie Road is the Bane 

 Loaning, and near by, beside the Black Loch, are the Dead- 

 man's Hirst and the Scabbit Isle — ominous relics of ;in e\il 

 that even the burgh's patron saint, the archangel Michael, 

 failed to overthrow. 



Closes: Back Streets. 



None the less the burgh would grow. The houses in the 

 High Street would increase in number and begin to spread 

 along the main exits. Each dwelling in the mediaeval burgh 

 ordinarily had its yard behind or beside it. As each burgess 

 grew at least a part of his own food, he had on this ground 

 his barnyard, barn, kiln, and coble or stone trough — used for 



