21 Philip the Mowbray. More probably Sir John de Mowbray serving in Ayr for Valence, with others, in June to August, 1307 (Bain, ii., Nos. 1938, 1961).
28 Makyrnokis way. Godscroft gives the name in the form Machanacks; but David Macpherson, supporting the spelling in the text, says it is “a narrow pass on the bank of Makyrnok wattyr,” which he located near Kilmarnock (Geog. Illust., s.v.).
34 Edry-furd. The meaning of this name appears to be given in the line below, “betwix marras twa,” in which case Edry is for Gaelic Eadar, “between,” as in other ancient names—e.g., Eddirdail for the Black Isle, being Eadar-da-dhail, “between two dales.” “Furd,” of course, is English, and we may conjecture that the place was first known as “the ford,” with a Gaelic name beginning with Eadar, and signifying “between the marshes”; then that the unwieldy title was telescoped, the latter part of the Gaelic compound dropping out, and reduced to the hybrid “Eadar-ford,” finally to the form given.
95 Kilwynnyn. Kilwinning is west of Kilmarnock, near Ardrossan. At Ardrossan they turned north by the coast road and passed Largs on to Inverkip, where are still the remains of the castle. In 1301 Edward I., after capturing Bothwell Castle, went on to besiege that of Inverkip, and in July, 1306, after Methven, Thomas Randolph was imprisoned there (Bain, ii., Nos. 1224, 1807).
123 Gawlistoun. Galston is a little east of Kilmarnock. Beyond it rises Loudon Hill.
133 the tend day of May. May 10. The memoranda cited in note to Bk. VII. 622, relating to the pursuit of Bruce in Galloway, extend to May 3. The battle of Loudon Hill was fought before May 15. See note on 362.
164 The hye-gat. “The high-road” to Ayr, as we learn also from the Wallace, Bk. iii. That hero, with his men, there lay in wait for “Persey’s caryage,” which was being convoyed up Avondale (78) to Ayr (63). The waggons of supplies “took Loudon Hill” (116), on which Wallace had prepared a position (100). Loudon Hill itself is a bold, outstanding eminence commanding the valley of the Avon. The road must have crossed the lower slope (line 165).
172 thre dykis. On each side of the road, but a bowshot (150 to 200 yards) away (169), was a moss, impassable for horsemen. Further to narrow the hard ground (170), Bruce dug inwards from “the mosses” three ditches up to the road (173), each a bowshot behind the other (175). In the ditches he left gaps (“stoppis”) for the road (179), wide enough for 500 men to ride abreast (? 650 to 700 yards). Thus he could not be outflanked (185) or attacked in the rear (186), and he had sufficient men to deal with a frontal attack (187, 188). If he could not check the English at the first ditch, he could retreat to the next, and so to the third, if necessary (189-194). Bruce’s tactics was thus to make a position defensible by a small number on foot, and open only to an attack in front. Maxwell’s suggestion that the ditches were to shelter the Scots from the archers has no warrant in the text (Robert the Bruce, p. 164). In the Wallace:
“A maner dyk, off stanys thai had maid,
Narrowyt the way quhar throuch thair thikar raid”
(iii. 133-4).
The incident in the Wallace is certainly derived from The Bruce, but Barbour’s “dykis” = ditches, as in the modern English sense, has become a stone dike in the Wallace, where “dyk” has been taken in its modern Scots sense = a wall.