Peter Quelch is assisting with a landscape history study around Caerlaverock Castle, and is seeking local knowledge.

Following on from our recent post requesting information about a ford between Caerlaverock and New Abbey, Peter has some further questions – and gives his thanks for the interesting replies so far, regarding the ford!

     1. Does anyone know if ‘Phyllis’s corner’ is the same as Scar Point shown on the old OS maps?

     2. Does anyone know anything about the history of ‘Hag Cottage(s)?

Peter has found that some old maps show a cottage called ‘Hag Cottage(s)’ right beside the shore – between Lantonside and Bowhouse. Hag Cottage was just inside the southern boundary of Lantonside farm or estate. (Peter knows this because he has copies of very useful old estate maps by James Wells of 1776).

In response to our question if Hag cottage and Phyllis’s are the same thing, Peter tells us that, 

‘The carpark on the corner is right at the place called Scar Point on the old maps, and the attached first edition OS has a placename on that corner of Fisher’s Bush. Hag cottage is just a little further south – on your google map aerial photo there is a tiny woodland patch above the road. I will attach a proper old map which names it! (courtesy of National Library of Scotland). Actually two maps: the 6 inch map shows its exact location – the 25 inch map shows the cottage in detail, both are from the first OS survey of 1856.

So there can be no truth in saying that Phyllis must have been a hag! [we queried this point] Perhaps she was just dressing up to frighten people! But hag can also mean the Scots word for the bitter bird cherries from the bush Prunus padus, and it would be interesting to us if that is why it was named as such. Another old meaning for hag is a subcompartment of a woodland especially a coppice, whereby that hag gets cut every seven years say, then re-grows. Hags can be delineated by permanent hag markers, a bit like milestones.’

     3.  Does anyone know if there were/ are Prunus padus/ bitter bird cherries or a woodland/ coppice around Hag Cottage (see maps above/ below).

With many thanks in advance of responses, it is good to be able to help out as this kind of information can so easily be lost. Peter has expressed his gratitude at finding rich information here – in particular through our History Pages, as well as through our conversations with Stephen Powell!

If you have some local historic information that you’d like to share, so it’s not lost in the mists of time, we’d be more than happy to share it here!

You can get in touch (in response to Peter’s questions above, as well as with further info about the ford too) by commenting below, or on our Facebook Page post, or by emailing us at caerlaverockcommunity@gmail.com or through a Facebook Private Message.