Additional Notes

Dowloch, Penpont: The legend of the Dowloch is given in the New Statistical Account. The entry is as follows:

"Legend of the Dowloch.—The was a small loch in the parish, from about 70 yards in breadth to about 120 in length, near the summit of the hilly ridge about a mile to the south of Drumlanrig; but which, by draining, has been somewhat shorn of its fair proportion. It was called the Dow-Dhu or black Loch, as the word signifies in Gaelic, and was reputed to posses extraordinary virtue in the healing of diseases. It seems to have been looked upon as a perpetual Bethesda, for its waters were reputed to be efficacious in the cure of every disease, but especially of cattle subjected to the spells of witchcraft. It was not necessary that the person ailing should himself visit the loch. This might often have involved considerable hazard; and if the prudent alternative had not been adopted of employing a deputy, the number of cures consequent upon their use would probably have been considerably diminished. To accomplish the end desired, however, the deputy was required to observecertain rules. He had to carry a part of the dress of the person ailing, or of the furniture of the animal bewitched, as an offering to the spirit of the loch. Whether any of the contingent virtue might not first accrue to the raiment from lustration in the loch, is not declared. But when the person had reached it, he had to draw water in a vessel, which was on no account to touch the ground,—to turn himself round with the sun,—and to throw his offering to the spirit over his left shoulder,—formalities all indicative of a Druidical origin,—and to carry the water, without having once looked back, to the sick person or animal, to be drank. All this, more- over, was to be done in absolute silence. Like the prophet's servant, the messenger was to salute no one by the way. If, after an observance of this ritual to the very letter, expectations were sometimes baulked, is it uncharitable to suppose that the temptation to violate the injunction of silence sometimes proved too strong for the virtue of the messenger? Whether the inefficacy of the water may be ascribed to any defect in the prescribed form or to another cause, it certainly is now of no longer avail even to cattle, unless, perhaps, to the fleecy flocks that pasture beside it. Yet it is not long since the virtue of Dowloch was put to the test, as individuals are now alive of undoubted veracity and intelligence, who have seen the votive offerings floating on the lake, or scattered around its banks. And to such a degree had the habit prevailed in earlier times, that Mr Murray, the minister who lived till 1736, was regularly in the habit of debarring from the sacrament those who had engaged in the heathenish practice." Penpont, County of Dumfries, NSA, Vol. IV, 1845, pp.504-505

The healing properties of the Dowloch are mentioned more prosaically in the Old Statistaial Account:

"Dowloch is a small lake on the top of a hill, and famous, in the reign of superstition, for curing all manner of diseases. Those who resorted to it for relief left some part of their dress to the guardian demon or saint. By all accounts it has some mineral qualities."Penpont, County of Dumfries, OSA, Vol. I, 1791, p. 206