Scandinavian-Britain

DUMFRIESSHIRE AND GALLOWAY 2214. DUMFRIESSHIRE AND GALLOWAY.A sister colony can be traced on the north shore ofthe Solway, occupying the district between the Eskand the Dee, with centre at Tinwald (Thingvellir)near Dumfries, but extending into Kirkcudbrightshireon the one hand, into Peeblesshire on the other, andreaching inland as far as the main watershed betweeneast and west ; Liddesdale, Liddel's-dale, was theHlift-dalr of the settlers, but the outlying parts of thisarea no doubt owe their names in -beck, -gill, -rig, -fell,-by and -thwaite to secondary settlement later thanthe tenth century. It has been thought that theoriginal colony was planted in 876 by Halfdan, whichis possible ;but as the whole was afterwards withinthe kingdom of the Strathclyde Cymru, and open tothe same influences as Cumberland, no sharp distinctioncan be drawn between the two districts; Danishorigins must have been overlaid by subsequent Norseimmigration. We find Cumberland names repeatedin Brydekirk, Lowther-hill and -ton, Newbigging,Croglin, Dalton, Rockcliffe, Eskdale, Eaglesfield,Whinfell, Aiket, Canonbie, etc. and similar forms in;'CrifTell, Arkland (compare Arklid), Kelton, Stanhope,Rutnwell (Rau>-vellir), Lockerbie, Smallholm (smalt,small cattle, sheep and goats, compare Smallthwaite),Tundergarth, Middlebie, Middleton, Burnswark(borrans-virki, from the Gaelic loan-word boireand],Closeburn (Kil-Osbjorn\ Langholm, Broomholm, etc.