Carlinwark, a loch in the N of Kelton parish, Kirkcudbrightshire, in the southern vicinity of Castle-Douglas. It gave its name to Castle-Douglas, from the founding of that town till 1792; it originally covered an area of about 180 acres, but was partially drained in 1765 for the purpose of procuring marl, so as to be reduced to an area of about 100 acres. It now measures ¾ mile from NNE to SSW, its width varying between 1¾ and 3 furlongs. It is studded with six islets (one of them, Ash Island, evidently a crannoge or lake-dwelling), and has picturesque shores; and it sends off its superfluence by an artificial straight cut, called Carlinwark Lane, 1¼ mile north-westward to the river Dee. Bronze utensils, canoes, etc., have been discovered in the loch, on whose W side are Carlinwark House, a modern mansion, and the site of the ancient 'Three Thorns of Carlinwark,' a famous trysting-place in bygone days. See pp. 11-20 of Harper's Rambles in Galloway (1876).
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