Vol 5 - Dumfriesshire & Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian ...

FIELD MEETINGS, 1887.Rue Tower, Dunscore Old Churchyard, Isle,AND Friars' Carse.— 1th May, 1887.The first Field Meeting of the session was held on the abovedate, when a party numbering thirty assembled at the Fountainat noon, and jjroceeded thence in waggonettes to Rue or FourmerklandTower, passing on their way the Holywood DruidicalCircle. Arriving at the tower, they were disappointed in notobtaining admission, as the tenant, forgetting the ai-rangements,had gone from home and taken the key with him.The tower,which is yet used as a dwelling-house, is not very large, and is asquare structure, with small turrets on the front and rear. Itwas erected by the Maxwell family in the close of the sixteenthcentury, and over the principal doorway isthe family crest, withthe initials R. M. and I. G. at each side, and the date 1590underneath. Some time was occupied by the members insketching the building or botanising in the adjoining fields andwood, permission having been granted by the proprietor, MrMaxwell of the Grove.The next item on the programme was Dunscore Old Churchyard,and on arriving there the pai-ty were joined by thePresident (Dr Grierson), Mr Fergusson of Isle, and Mr WellwoodMaxwell of Kirkennan. The chief object of interest herewas the tomb of Grierson of Lag, but, as what was once amonument in stone to his memory had suffered from the weather,and from the hands of those who lield this notorious opponentof the Covenanters in little esteem, the tombstone was not easilydiscovered. At last Dr Grierson pointed out a large slab, lialfcoveredwith moss and debris, lying under a sycamore tree, withthe traces of an inscription thereon, but now utterly illegible.Near this is the grave of his son, James Grierson, a flat stone, onwhich his name is engraved, marking the spot. A short timewas spent in deciphering inscriptions on other stones. One of theoldest and in good preservation was in the vault of the Islefamily. With a little trouble the inscription " Here lys intombitain honest and uirtus man, Alexander Fergusson of lyl, 1608,"and in the centre of the stone a lion rampant, could be distinctlytraced.