Barhapple Loch, on the farm of Derskelpin, lay a little to the south of
the road from Portpatrick to Dumfries, just beyond the fourth milestone
east from Glenluce, between two round hills called Derlauchlin
and Barhapple, and about 285 feet above the level of the sea. The
water-parting is at Barhapple Hill. The loch was about 1500 feet long,
and 1000 feet broad, surrounded by deep peat bog, except on part of
the east shore where it touched Barhapple, and rested on a bottom
of deep soft peat. Although the water was only a few feet deep, its
black colour and the inaccessible nature of the shore on the west side
prevented the discovery of any trace of lake-dwellings. It was drained
in the autumn of 1878, and in November of that year Mr. Shearer, the
tenant, told me that a small round patch of logs and stones had become
visible.
On the 15th of October 1880, our President, the Earl of Stair,
assembled a party to explore the crannog. There were present with
him Admiral Sir John C. Dalrymple-Hay, Bart., M.P., and Sir Herbert
E. Maxwell, Bart., M.P., two of our Vice-Presidents; the Hon.
Hugh Dalrymple, Mr. J. Pendarves Vivian, M.P., Mr. Vans Agnew of
Barnbarroch, Mr. J. Leveson Stewart of Glen Ogil, with Mr. R. W.
Cochran-Patrick, M.P., and myself, the Secretaries of the Association.
Our digging was stopped at a depth of two and a half or three feet
by the influx of water, yet we found a good deal to interest us.
This lake-dwelling, so far as explored, consists mainly of piles and
platforms of wood, with rough stones at some points. It is about 280
feet from the west shore, but the gangway had run about 550 feet to the
east shore at the foot of Barhapple, where there is hard ground. It is
surrounded by a row of oak piles, enclosing a space 175 feet long from
north to south, and 127 feet broad, and rounded at the angles. While
the digging was going on Sir Herbert Maxwell took these measurements
for me, and Mr. Vivian walked round on the soft peat and counted the
piles in the outer row, of which 134 were visible. There is a slight
gap at the west side, and a larger one on the south side, with the
piles on each side of it more thinly set. An irregular line on the Plan
marks off a part of the enclosure on the east side, which is about 9
inches higher than the rest, and is the only part that can be walked
upon with ease in ordinary weather. After heavy rain the whole is still
inaccessible, owing to the imperfect outfall of the drainage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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