In the same year (1871), the Rev. George Wilson, Glenluce, contributed a paper to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (Proceedings, vol. ix. p. 368), on the Crannogs and Lake-Dwellings in Wigtownshire, from which it would appear that all the lakes in this locality were once literally studded with these island habitations. He enumerates no less than ten lakes, each of which contained one or more crannogs. The abundant remains of stakes, mortised beams, and the occasional discovery of a "paved ford" connecting the islands with the shore, sufficiently indicate their structural formation; but beyond this, and the important fact of their existence in such numbers in the district, they present nothing of a novel or special character calling for a more detailed notice here. (See tabular statement, p. 245.)
Fig. 28.—Stone Ring (1⁄1).
The relics from the Wigtownshire crannogs, besides those already noticed from Dowalton, are not many. They are two granite querns found near a stone causeway leading to the crannog, a stone ring, 3⁄4 inch internal diameter (Fig. 28), and a spindle-whorl of clay slate, 2 inches in diameter, from a crannog in Barlockhart Loch.—(Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. vol. iii., new series, p. 267, and vol. xi. p. 583.)
Fig. 29.—Stone Implement (1⁄2).
Regarding stone implements, with circular central hollows wrought on each face, one of which (Fig. 29) was found on a crannog in Machermore Loch, Mr. Wilson writes thus:[21]—"These are of two types, elongated and oval, approaching a circular form, and I wish to direct attention to them, because, as yet, only eight have been reported in Scotland, seven of them being from Wigtownshire."
On a later occasion, June 15th, 1881, Mr. Wilson, writing on the same subject, says:—"In the volume of the Proceedings for 1879-80, at pages 127-129, I have described seven of these stones, and have stated that only one specimen has been reported from any other part of Scotland. I now direct attention to eleven more from Glenluce and Stony Kirk added to the Museum, making eighteen from Wigtownshire."[22] (See notice of another, found on the crannog in Lochspouts, at page 173.)