In April 1881, when verifying some details, I observed a few piles at the point marked D, between the crannog and the north shore, and reached them with difficulty. The nearest is about 120 feet from the shore, and is the first in a straight line of four piles, set at distances of 6, 10, and 8 feet, with two others 6 and 7 feet to the left, nearly opposite the second and third. At E I have marked the probable position in the peat bog of an object described by me in "Notes on the Crannogs and Lake-Dwellings in Wigtownshire," in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. ix. page 337,—"Barhapple Loch, four miles east of Glenluce, close to the coach road.—James MʽCulloch, one of my deacons, told me that about the year 1842, in cutting peat about 40 yards from the west side of this loch, he came on a circle of stakes (about a dozen) from the thickness of the arm to that of the leg, and about 5 feet long; the heads at least 2 feet below the surface. The stakes were of hazel, pointed by four axe-cuts, 31⁄2 to 4 inches broad, and some of them 5 inches long. The circle was cut away at two times, and was at least 5 feet in diameter; coarse branches were twisted among the stakes like wicker-work. No trace of clay." In 1871 I reported this as indicating that some dwellings might yet be found in this loch. It seems to have been a marsh-dwelling, like some of those found near lakes in Switzerland.
The crannogs were probably used as places of refuge, although they may also have been occupied constantly. There is often a fort on the top of some neighbouring hill, to which the lake-dwellers may have gone when the lochs were frozen and the crannogs open to invasion. We have an example of this at Machermore, Glenluce. The two round hills between which Barhapple Loch lay have both been ploughed, and show no trace of fortification or dwellings. But beyond Barhapple, and half a mile eastward, on the farm of Barlea, a small knoll south of Barfad rises out of the bog like a peninsula. It is nameless on the Ordnance Survey Maps, but on an old map of Blairderry and Barlea, which must be above a hundred years old, it is called Drumearnachan. There are traces here of an old village or settlement, although it has been partially ploughed. At the lowest part of Barfad there is a ring of turf and stone 17 by 16 feet in diameter. 138 feet to the south are the remains of a wall or breast-work 126 feet long and 12 broad. Beyond it several foundations are seen in a straight line north and south. At 96 feet is the bottom of a cairn 30 feet long and 22 broad, and 40 feet to the left of it a roughly-paved circular floor, 6 feet in diameter, which has been saved from the plough by having a large boulder rolled on to it. Thirty-six feet beyond the cairn is a 9-feet circular foundation of stones; 26 feet farther on an oval lying across the line, 15 by 13 feet; 8 feet farther on, an 11-foot ring; 59 feet beyond that, a small circular patch of stones; and another, 45 feet farther on, with a low grassy cairn 10 feet in diameter, 36 feet off at the west. Sixty-two feet south-east from the last foundation in the straight row is a circular turf and stone ring, 101⁄2 feet thick, 31⁄2 high, and 48 feet in diameter over all, with the entrance-gap at the south-west. On the 6-inch Ordnance Map it is marked "site of cairn," but I have never found any one who had heard of a cairn there. Part of the enclosed space is somewhat stony, and the position of the entrance-gap is peculiar, all the others I have seen or heard of having it at the south-east. Many years ago, the late tenant, Mr. MʽIlwraith of Kilfillan, asked me to go and see this ring, because he thought it had been surrounded by two oval rows of earth-fast stones. I went and made careful measurements, with this result, that the stones may have been arranged in order, but there has been too much disturbance by the plough to make this more than a guess. For a long time I regarded such rings as small forts; but have lately begun to think they may have been places of interment. I have heard of three instances in which the plough, in levelling down such rings, turned up crocks of coarse pottery, not in the enclosed space, but in the rings themselves. The attention of observers elsewhere is called to this fact.
Plate III.
BARHAPPLE LOCH GLENLUCE 1881
Half a mile due north from the Barhapple crannog, passing Knockiecore, Barrel Hill, and Derniemore Hill on the left, and Tamrieroach Moss, Derhagie Hill, and Blairderry Hill on the right, just beyond the old military road, we reach a low rocky hill surrounded by a peat bog, which unfortunately has lost its ancient name, and is called from its broad shape the Braid Hill. It is on the farm of High Dergoals; and Mr. Dougan, the tenant, told me that many years ago he found, in cutting peat at the south side of it, at a depth of 4 feet, three or four stakes, apparently of oak, 3 or 4 inches in circumference, and pointed by a single cut. The higher ground is rocky and uneven, and scattered over it are the remains of several small cairns and rings. At the west end is a 10-foot ring, a cairn with the remains of a stone grave in the centre, and beyond it two others lying east and west, with a foundation between them, 27 by 14 feet, with the corners much rounded. Towards the middle there are two circular foundations, three others on the north slope, three on the south, and three more at the east end, all so indistinct that it is difficult to say whether they have been huts or cairns. On the slope at the east end there are two rings. It is impossible to know whether either of these sites has been occupied by the Barhapple lake-dwellers. There are no others near it, although there are several other ancient village sites in Glenluce, some of which I hope to describe in a future volume. There have been four other lochs in Old Luce parish with crannogs. The frequent occurrence of the syllables der, dir, or dar, in the names of the places near Barhapple, shows that long ago they were clothed with trees. Here is a topographic rhyme, by some unknown native bard, communicated to me by Mr. Thomas MʽCormick, farmer at Mindork, in Kirkcowan:—
"Knocketie and Knockietore,
Laniegoose and Laniegore,
Dirnefuel and Dirniefranie, wee