Thanks to Mary Richardson for her posting: "[WIG LIST] First Scottish Iron Age 'loch village' found in Wigtownshire". Fascinating. Crannogs were discovered in Dowalton Loch back in 1863, when this loch was drained to extend the estates of Sir W. Maxwell of Monreith, Lord Stair, and R. Vans Agnew, Esq., M.P., of Barnbarroch. http://www.buittle.org.uk/part_1.htm A lake village was postulated there also, but I don't know if that has yet been agreed on by the archaeology community. A Google search on 'dowalton' gives lots of hits. Some of the earlier work is reported at http://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/6748463/notices-of-a-geoup-of-artificial-islands-in-the-loch-of-dowalton- I first got interested in the draining of this loch as it related to my family history. Prior to draining, there were 3 water outlets. One led to the Mill of Airies, a second was close to the Stonehouse farm house, and the third fed the mill dam for the Ravenstone Mill. My gg'grandfather, James McDOWALL, was the miller at the latter from about 1820 and my g'grandfather was born there in 1822. This mill was still operated by our family in 1851, but by the 1861 census, this mill had ceased operation. (Those there in 1851 had moved to the Torhouse Mill. My g'grandfather had already relocated to the Milldriggan Mill by 1851.) Once the water level dropped much below the original level, water supply to the mill wheel would have been no longer available. Draining of the loch did not commence until 1862, so I wonder why it was closed in or before 1861. The millers house was occupied in 1861, but not by millers. The house is still in use, but now goes by the name Culnoag Cottage. It was extended and refurbished in 2006. Ian L Donnachie, (“The Industrial Archaeology of Galloway”, 1971), gives a diagram of the Ravenston Mill, said to have been built in 1850 by the Earl of Stair. Could this year have been in error? The diagram shows an impressive building. This and commensurate equipment would been an expensive project. If the Earl knew in 1849 that Dowalton loch was to be lowered, would he have gone ahead with this construction? Presumably, once the loch draining was planned, maintenance, and contract renewal would have wound down. Also presumably, the Earl would have had the major equipment removed to another of his mills. Perhaps this included the mill building. I doubt that the proposed new building was ever constructed. Having examined the site, I found no evidence of the footings. The lade from the mill dam was clearly visible and the location of the wheel pit adjacent one end of a ruined building left little doubt as to which building was the latest mill building. The remnants of that building bear no resemblance to the one in the above diagram. The layout is consistent with that shown on the OS 6in scale map which was surveyed in 1848. Bruce* *