Mochrum () is a coastal civil and Church of Scotland parish situated to the east of Luce Bay on the Machars peninsula and southwest of Wigtown and in the historical county of Wigtownshire in

Galloway Galloway ( ; ; ) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the counties of Scotland, historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council areas of Scotland, council area of Dumfries and Gallow ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It covers and is approximately in length and in breadth. The parish contains the eponymous village of Mochrum, as well as Port William and the clachan of Elrig.

Etymology

Mochrum is recorded as ''Mochrumm'' in Blaeu as a hill-name. It is a

Cumbric Cumbric is an extinct Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the ''Hen Ogledd'' or "Old North", in Northern England and the southern Scottish Lowlands. It was closely related to Old Welsh and the ot ...

name formed of the elements ''moch'' 'pigs, swine' and ''drum'' 'ridge'. It is possible, but unlikely, that the name is

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

rather than Cumbric, formed of the

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

elements ''muc-druim''.

Kirk of Mochrum

Mochrum

kirk Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning 'church'. The term ''the Kirk'' is often used informally to refer specifically to the Church of Scotland, the Scottish national church that developed from the 16th-century Reformation ...

was built on the site of a previous church building dating back to the 12th century. The former building was largely destroyed by fire in the 1770s, and the current building used most of the former building's rectangular walls in its construction in 1794, and was substantially altered again ca. 1840. The churchyard contains ten war graves, of which four male and one female are unknown.

History

Sir John Dunbar of Mochrum was killed at the

Battle of Flodden The Battle of Flodden, Flodden Field, or occasionally Branxton or Brainston Moor was fought on 9 September 1513 during the War of the League of Cambrai between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland and resulted in an English victory ...

in 1513. He was survived by his wife Janet Stewart, and his third son Gavin Dunbar (1490-1547), became Archbishop of Glasgow in 1524. A fortified mediaeval manor house is located at Castle Island, also called Drumwalt. Myretoun McCulloch was owned by the McCullochs, and in 1574 they had the 5- merkland of Balsalloch in the "Barony of Myretoun". Myretoun Castle is on the Monreith Estate, on the border of Mochrum and Glasserton parishes. It was owned by Sir William Maxwell, and then the Maxwells built Monreith House. Myrtoun Castle was built on an earlier motte, but was there also a castle and motte on the island.

Archaeology

Mochrum is the site of numerous prehistoric forts, earthworks, standing stones, and crannógs About from

Monreith Monreith ( ; ) is a small seaside village in the Machars, in the historical county of Wigtownshire, Scotland. A ruined church near Monreith is called "Kirkmaiden-in-Fernis" and was dedicated to St Medan. The chancel was rebuilt as a mausoleum for ...

is Barsalloch Point, where evidence of human encampments as early as 6000 BC may make it the oldest dated settlement in Galloway. Barsalloch

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

fort at Mochrum, as well as both early and medieval crosses. There is another Iron Age hill fort at Doon of May hill fort. The foundations are all that is left of Chapel Finian, a 10th-11th-century chapel standing on an old raised beach at Corwall Port. It most likely takes its name from Saint Finnian who was educated at nearby

Whithorn Whithorn (; ), is a royal burgh in the historic county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about south of Wigtown. The town was the location of the first recorded Christian church in Scotland, "White/Shining House", built by ...

and died ca. 579 AD. The site was probably a landing place for Irish pilgrims to Saint Ninian's shrine. It is shown on

Timothy Pont Reverend Timothy Pont () was a Scottish minister, cartographer and topographer. He was the first to produce a detailed map of Scotland. Pont's maps are among the earliest surviving to show a European country in minute detail, from an actual surve ...

's map in Blaeu's Atlas, as "Chappel finan". Druchtag Motehill is a steep-sided mound and site of a 12th-century

motte-and-bailey castle A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy ...

, lying about north west of Mote Brae. The Old Place of Mochrum was built in 1368. A

crannog A crannog (; ; ) is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually constructed in lakes, bogs and estuary, estuarine waters of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Unlike the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, which were built ...

is in Elrig Loch. A standing stone, the Carlin Stone, can be found on The Derry, near to the head of Elrig Loch. The ruins of a mediaeval chapel can be found at Barhobble, which is near to the House of Elrig.

Gallery

File:Cave Dwelling, Rocks of the Garheugh - geograph.org.uk - 423474.jpg, Garheugh Cave File:Castle Island, Castle Loch - geograph.org.uk - 427786.jpg, Castle Island, Castle Loch File:The Castle Loch Burn - geograph.org.uk - 812519.jpg, Castle Loch Burn flows from Castle Loch into Mochrum Loch File:Bronze Age cairn on Mochrum Fell - geograph.org.uk - 719838.jpg, Bronze Age cairn on Mochrum Fell File:Burial cist on Mochrum Fell - geograph.org.uk - 719860.jpg, Burial cist on Mochrum Fell File:Old Place of Mochrum.jpg, Old Place of Mochrum, Drumwalt File:Mote of Crailloch, Mochrum.jpg, Mote of Crailloch and site of chapel on the right File:Mote of Crailloch (1).jpg, View from the base of Mote of Crailloch File:Mochrum_Fell.jpg, view of Mochrum Fell File:Doon of May Iron Age Hill Fort.jpg, Iron Age Hill Fort, Doon of May File:Mote of Druchtag - geograph.org.uk - 1752121.jpg, Mote of Druchtag File:Barsalloch Point - geograph.org.uk - 214287.jpg, Steps to Barsalloch Fort Iron-Age Settlement File:Elrig Loch Crannog.jpg, Elrig Loch

on the right

References