350 Field Meetings. 



to the loss the Society had sustained by the deaths of Provost 

 Thomson, Dumfries; Mr Thomas Watson, editor of the 

 "Standard;" and Miss Annie Murphie, Cresswell House. 

 He also expressed the thanks of the party to General Tweedie 

 of Lettrick ; Mr and Miss Carlyle, Craigenputtock ; and Miss 

 Carlyle Aitken, Dumfries, for their courtesy to the company. 

 The return journey was then begun, the stretches of 

 moorland in the vicinity of the " lonesome Urr " and the 

 distant peaks of the Rhinns of Kells and the hills beside the 

 Solway having- a singularly beautiful appearance in the 

 evening" lig^ht ; and the excursionists remembered with 

 pleasure as they crossed Drumwhirn Bridg^e that it had been 

 the theme of one of Carlyle's most g^raceful poems. The 

 route lay by way of Corsock and Crocketford, and Dumfries 

 was reached between eieht and nine o'clock. 



,20th June, 1914. 



Hermitage Castle. 



The company undertaking this excursion left Dumfries 

 by motor char-a-banc shortly after nine o'clock. At Annan 

 there was an accession made to the party which numbered 

 about twenty. A halt was made at Springfield and Gretna 

 Green for the purpose of visiting the scenes of the famous 

 runaway marriages. On arriving at Canonbie there was a 

 second halt to admit of inspecting the remains of the ancient 

 Priory in Canonbie Churchyard. The Priory was a religious 

 house built by Turgot de Rossedal in the reign of Da\id I. 

 for canons regular. It was built on a peninsula between the 

 rivers Esk and Liddel, and was endowed with the lands sur- 

 rounding it, together with the neighbouring church of Kirk- 

 andrews. In the reign of Malcolm IV. it was granted by 

 the founder to the monastery of Jedburgh. The Priory 

 obtained its name of Canonbie through being the residence 

 of the canons, and connected with it as dependencies, besides 

 the church of St. Martin of Lidel, which was afterwards 

 known as that of Canonbie, were the churches of Wauchope, 

 Castletown, and Sibbaldbie. During the sixteenth century 



