Transactions Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History Antiquarian Society
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Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society LXXXIV 2010 Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society FOUNDED 20th NOVEMBER, 1862 THIRD SERIES VOLUME LXXXIV Editors: ELAINE KENNEDY FRANCIS TOOLIS ISSN 0141-1292 2010 DUMFRIES Published by the Council of the Society Office-Bearers 2009-2010 and Fellows of the Society President Morag Williams MA Vice Presidents Dr A Terry, Mr J L Williams, Mrs J Brann and Mr R Copeland Fellows of the Society Mr J Banks BSc, Mr A D Anderson BSc, Mr J Chinnock, Mr J H D Gair MA, Dr J B Wilson MD, Mr K H Dobie, Mrs E Toolis and Dr D F Devereux Mr L J Masters and Mr R H McEwen — appointed under Rule 10 Hon. Secretary John L Williams, Merkland, Kirkmahoe, Dumfries DG1 1SY Hon. Membership Secretary Miss H Barrington, 30 Noblehill Avenue, Dumfries DG1 3HR Hon. Treasurer Mr L Murray, 24 Corberry Park, Dumfries DG2 7NG Hon. Librarian Mr R Coleman, 2 Loreburn Park, Dumfries DG1 1LS Hon. Editors Mr James Williams (until November 2009) Elaine Kennedy, Nether Carruchan, Troqueer, Dumfries DG2 8LY (from January 2010) Dr F Toolis, 25 Dalbeattie Road, Dumfries DG2 7PF Dr J Foster (Webmaster), 21 Maxwell Street, Dumfries DG2 7AP Hon. Syllabus Convener Mrs E Toolis, 25 Dalbeattie Road, Dumfries DG2 7PF Hon. Curators Joanne Turner and Siobhan Ratchford Hon. Outings Organisers Mr J Copland and Mr A Gair Ordinary Members Mrs P G Williams, Mr D Rose, Mrs C Iglehart, Mr A Pallister, Mrs A Weighill, Mrs S Honey CONTENTS Rosa Gigantea - George Watt, including ‘On the Trail of Two Knights’ by Girija Viraraghavan by Morag Williams ............................................................ 1 Galloway Crannogs: An Interim Report on Work at Dorman’s Island and Cults Loch by the Scottish Wetland Archaeology Programme by Graeme Cavers and Anne Crone ........................................................................ 11 Homesteads In West Galloway: Excavation at Airyolland, Mochrum, Wigtownshire by Graeme Cavers and George Geddes (with contributions from Rob Engl, Andrew Heald, David Masson, Scott Timpany and Jackaline Robertson) .......................................................................................... 19 The Isle of Whithorn: Towards a Reassessment by Mike McCarthy, Ian Armit, Chris Gaffney and Bobby Friel .......................................................................... 43 Personal Allegiance in South West Scotland: 1286 – 1356 by Stuart McCulloch .. 57 The Gordons of Earlstoun by Andrew McCulloch .................................................. 73 The ‘Old Edinburgh Road’ in Dumfriesshire and Galloway by A. D. Anderson .... 101 Were the Wigtown Martyrs Drowned? A Reappraisal by A.E. MacRobert .......... 121 Observations on an Eighteenth Century Gradient Diagram by James D. McLay .. 129 Transactions and Proceedings 1868-75: The Society’s ‘Missing Years’ by James Williams.............................................................................................. 139 Addenda Antiquaria Two Letters from Joseph Train Relating to His Early Literary Career and Collaboration with (Sir) Walter Scott by David F. Devereux ............................ 161 Reviews Whithorn’s Renown in the Early Medieval Period: Whithorn, ‘Futerna’ and ‘Magnum Monasterium’, by Fiona Edmonds and St. Ninian and the Earliest Christianity in Scotland: Papers from the Conference held by the Friends of the Whithorn Trust in Whithorn on September 15th 2007, ed. Jane Murray Andrew Breeze ................................................................................................... 164 Notice of Publications .............................................................................................. 166 Obituary James Williams (1944 – 2009) ........................................................................... 167 Proceedings .............................................................................................................. 169 Rules of the Society ................................................................................................. 176 EDITORIAL INFORMATION Contributions are invited on the Natural History, Geology, Antiquities and Archaeology including Industrial Archaeology, of South West Scotland or the Solway Basin, and preference is always given to original work on local subjects. Intending contributors should, in the first instance, apply to the Editors for ‘Notes for Contributors’, giving the nature and approximate size of their paper. Much more information on these Transactions and on the activities of the Society can be found at www.dgnhas.org.uk. Each contributor has seen a proof of his or her paper and neither the Editors nor the Society hold themselves responsible for the accuracy of scientific, historical or personal information in it. The Hon. Secretary, Mr John Williams, Merkland, Kirkmahoe, Dumfries DG1 1SY, Tel: 01387 710274, deals with all matters other than membership which are dealt with by the Hon. Membership Secretary, Miss H Barrington, 30A Noblehill Avenue, Dumfries DG1 3HR, Tel: 01387 256666. Exchanges should be sent to the Editor, Elaine Kennedy, Nether Carruchan, Troqueer, Dumfries DG2 8LY. Exchange volumes are deposited in the library of Dumfries Museum at which location they may be consulted by members. As public opening hours vary, it is recommended that prior contact be made with museum staff (Tel: 01387 253374) before visiting. Enquiries regarding back numbers of the Transactions - see back cover - should be made to the Hon. Librarian, Mr R. Coleman, 2 Loreburn Park, Dumfries DG1 1LS. As many of the back numbers are out of stock, members can greatly assist the finances of the Society by arranging for any volumes which are not required, whether of their own or those of deceased members, to be handed in. It follows that volumes marked as out of print may nevertheless be available from time to time. All payments, other than subscriptions, should be made to the Hon. Treasurer, Mr L Murray, 24 Corberry Park, Dumfries DG2 7NG. Payment of subscriptions should be made to Miss H Barrington (see above), on behalf of the Hon. Treasurer. The latter will be pleased to arrange for subscriptions and/or donations to be treated as Gift Aid under the Finance Acts, which can materially increase the income of the Society without, generally, any additional cost to the member. Important Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax concessions are also conferred on individuals by these Acts, in as much as bequests or transfers of shares or cash to the Society by way of Gift Aid are exempt from these taxes. Limited grants may be available for excavations or other research. Applications should be made prior to 28th February in each year to the Hon. Secretary. Researchers are also reminded of the Mouswald Trust founded by our late President Dr R.C. Reid, which provides grants for work on certain periods. Enquiries and applications for grants to that Trust should be made to Primrose and Gordon, Solicitors, 92 Irish Street, Dumfries DG1 2PF. The Society may also be able to assist with applications for funding from other sources. The Council is indebted to Historic Scotland for a substantial grant towards publication costs of the report on work at Dorman’s Island and Cults Loch by the Scottish Wetland Archaeology Programme. Dumfries and Galloway Council are thanked for their annual contribution to the Society. The illustration on the front cover is of the Wamphray cross-slab from the article ‘The Early Church in Dumfriesshire’ by W.G. Collingwood, in Series III Volume XII, (1926) of these Transactions. It is discussed afresh by Prof. Richard Bailey in Whithorn Lecture No. 4 (1996). 1 ROSA GIGANTEA - GEORGE WATT INCLUDING ‘ON THE TRAIL OF TWO KNIGHTS’ BY GIRIJA VIRARAGHAVAN1 Morag Williams2 The Eskdale and Liddesdale Advertiser of 14th October 2009 published an article by retired Langholm General Practitioner, Tom Kennedy, which began: ‘A NEW rose with Langholm connections has been cultivated in India and it is hoped that it may one day be planted in the Rosevale Street garden in the future.’ (More of this garden in Langholm later.) He might have added that across Dumfries and Galloway and in Grampian there are other sites which would welcome the opportunity to plant this tender and beautiful rose because of associations with Sir George Watt and involvement in attempts at its propagation in Scotland. The following article appeared in The Indian Rose Annual, XXVI, 2010, the magazine of the Indian Rose Federation, founded in 1979. It appears by kind permission of Girija and Viru Viraraghavan, recognised as celebrated ‘Rosarians of the World’. Figure 1. Rosa Gigantea - George Watt 1 The Indian Rose Annual, XXVI, 2010 2 President of the Society; Merkland, Kirkmahoe, Dumfries DG1 1SY 2 ROSA GIGANTEA - GEORGE WATT On The Trail of Two Knights by Girija Viraraghavan In the late 1980s we got a copy of Ellen Willmot’s ‘Genus Rosa’ which was published in 1914. She deals with rose species of the world, and going through it, we realized that, apart from the swamp wild rose species, Rosa clinophylla, about which we had heard before, and had been able to procure, from the wild, there was another species, Rosa gigantea, which is native to a particular area in India’s north east region. Reading the description of this species by a Sir George Watt from whose unpublished diaries, Miss Willmot had taken an extract, we became excited. Sir George Watt found this wild rose, which, he wrote, looked like huge yellow magnolias hanging