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

64 Field Meetings.Sanquhar District.— Qth August, 1887.The Fourth Field Meeting of the Session was held in theneighbourhood of Sanquhar, %yhen a full programme was gonethrough. A party numbering fifteen left Dumfries station bythe 11.55 a.m. train, and on reaching Thornhillthey were joinedby Dr Grierson, president, and other members from that district.On arriving at Sanquhar they were met by Mr J. R. Wilson andDr Davidson, who had kindly consented to conduct the partyduring the day. Under Mr Wilson's guidance they first inspectedhis extensive collection of celts, bronzes, arrow-heads, and otherarchaeological specimens, chiefly found in the neighbourhood. Thenext item on the programme was Sanquhar oldCastle, which issituated on some rising ground on the south side of the burgh.This important stronghold is now a ruin, with only portions ofthe outer walls standing amid the heaps ofdebris, the larger andthe cut stones having been taken away for building purposes.Mr Wilson gave a brief sketch of its history, and exhibited a copyof the plan of the Castle, drawn by Mr Anderson ofEdinburgh,1876, for the Marquis of Bute. He said the Castle was at onetime occupied by the family of Edgar, and afterwards it fell intothe possession of the Crichtons of Sanquhar. It was subsequentlysold to the Douglases, who occupied it before the present DrumlanrigCastle was built. Mr Wilson further remarked thatwhen Mr Anderson examined the ruin, that gentleman was ofopinion it was originally a Scottish "keep," and had beenadded to at later periods. There was a fish pond near to, andconnected with the Castle, but there is doubt as to whether thebuilding was surrounded by a fort or not.From the Castle the party walked along a bye-path to the remainsof the Old Bridge of Sanquhar, which was one of the finest in itsday in the county, but now only some portions of the buttressesremain. It is first mentioned with the Burgh of Sanquhar in aRoyal Charter granted by James VI. in1578, but there is greatprobability that it existed at an earlier date. The battle ofLangside was fought in 1568, and Queen Mary, when fleeing intoGalloway, is supposed to have crossed the Nith by this bridge.The bridge is subsequently mentioned in the time of James II.,and in the reign of Charles II. the Burgh of Sanquhar wasgranted, by Act of Parliament, the power of restoring it and