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John Mactaggart (1791-1830)
John Mactaggart (26 June 1791 - 8 January 1830) was a Scottish writer and engineer born near Plunton Castle in the parish of Borgue. He is best known for writing '' The Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia'', a wide-ranging and idiosyncratic reference work covering local words, places, traditions, and songs collected in and around Galloway. Mactaggart studied at the University of Edinburgh for one session but didn't return. Away from Edinburgh he "learned the engineering", working on John Rennie's Plymouth Breakwater. Through this work he was recommended to the post of clerk of works on the Rideau Canal, in Canada. Mactaggart arrived in Canada in August 1826. In addition to his work on the canal project he wrote several newspaper articles and was elected to the Natural History Society of Montreal The Natural History Society of Montreal, which ran from 1827 to 1928, was the oldest scientific organisation in Canada, and one of the oldest in North America. Its first meeting took pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plunton Castle
Plunton Castle is a ruined L-plan tower house between Kirkandrews, Dumfries and Galloway, Kirkandrews and Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Built around 1575 for the Clan Lennox, Lennoxes of Plunton, it passed by marriage to the Clan Murray, Murrays of Broughton in the late 17th century. It was still inhabited in 1684, when it was described by Reverend Symson in his ''Large Description of Galloway'' as "a good strong house", but by 1838, when it was painted by George Colomb, it had been abandoned and had fallen into a ruinous condition. Well defended on all sides by Burn (landform), burns, a ditch and marshy ground, it has numerous gun loops built into its walls. There were iron grilles in the windows, and it was further protected by a high wall, but its defensive arrangements were weakened by the fact that one of its ground floor chambers does not communicate with the other rooms of the tower, and was only accessible from the outside. Archaeological evidenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |