When I lay my hands on it I will give a copy of the letter from that Earl of Cassillis, given in printed versions of the ballad "The Gypsy Laddies", as a historical character involved in the story. The letter, to the Earl of Eglinton, completely destroys any claim to the 17th.C. date given for the event.

Having now salvaged my conscience by getting back to the topic I comment on the last two or three posts:---

Wemyss, claimed as a Pictish word has always been with me, must have picked it up with my mothers milk. At the North end of Ayrshire lies Wemyss bay,
here we have a good example of a raised beach of some 35ft. The vertical face of red sandstone has various caves therein.

Another tenet from the same period was that place names ending in "o" were likely to be of Pictish origin, thus we have:----
Greego, Grogo, Kelso, [A surname and Estate], Penango {a surname and lands of the same name Pen, Welsh? not uncommon in the same area], Stobo, Lesmahago, Glasgo, etc. etc. these all in the S.W. of Scotland