A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Dowalton Loch, a former lake on the mutual border of Sorbie, Kirkinner, and Glasserton parishes, SE Wigtownshire, 6 miles SSW of Wigtown. With a length of 13/8 mile from WSW to ENE, a varying breadth of 1 and 5¼ furlongs, and a depth of from 6 to 20 feet, it covered 212 acres, but was entirely drained in 1862-63 by its three proprietors Sir W. Maxwell of Monreith, Vans Agnew, and Lord Stair, its bottom now forming excellent meadow-land. Of its eight little islets two near the north-western or Kirkinner shore were then discovered to be artificial crannoges or pile-built lake-dwellings. These yielded bones of the ox, pig, and deer, bronze vessels (one of them of Roman workmanship-), iron axe and hammer theads, glass and amber beads, and part of a leather shoe, with finely-stamped pattern, twenty-six of which relics are now in the Edinburgh Antiquarian Museum; and in the neighbouring waters of the loch five canoes were found, from 21 to 26 feet long. On the shore of a western inlet stood Longcastle, the ancient keep of the M 'Doualls, from whom the loch got its name; its site is now marked by fragments of crumbling wall.—Ord. Sur., sh. 4,1857. See Dr John Stuart's 'Notices of a Group of Artificial Islands in the Loch of Dowalton ' in vol. vi. of Procs. Soc. Ants. Scotl., and pp. 45-47 of Wm. M`Ilraith's Wigtownshire (2d ed., Dumf., 1877).
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
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| Feature Description: | "a former lake" (ADL Feature Type: "lakes") |
| Administrative units: | Wigtownshire ScoCnty |
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