Volume 5

334
In the beginning of the reign of James V. the abbey of Tongland was
settled on the bishops of Galloway, who as abbots of Tongland enjoyed
a great part of the tithes and revenues of the church of Minnigaff, and the
cure was served by a vicar, who received an appropriate share (o). After the
Reformation the church of Minnigaff, with the other property of Tongland
abbey, was vested in the king by the Act of General Annexation in 1587.
In the following year the churches of that monastery were granted for life
to Mr. William Melville, the commendator of Tongland (p). At Melville's
death in 1613, the church of Minnigaff was transferred to the bishop of
Galloway by a grant of the king in 1605, which settled the whole property of
Tongland abbey on the bishops of that see. On the abolition of prelacy by the
Revolution in 1689, the patronage reverted to the crown. The church and
village of Minnigaff stand in the south-west corner of the parish, on the banks
of Polkill-burn, near its influx into the Cree. This parish extends from south
to north sixteen miles, and is from nine to ten miles broad. Hence the
parishioners in the northern parts of the parish are half a days' journey from
the church (q). This inconvenience was felt when Symson wrote in 1684, and
he mentions the steps that had then been taken to obtain another church at
the house of the hill (r). [The Parish Church (1836) has 433 communicants :
stipend �351.]
The before-mentioned parishes lying in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright
formed a considerable part of the bishopric of Galloway. The following
parishes lying within the same stewartry were comprehended in the bishopric
of Glasgow and the deanery of Nith. They are now included in the presbytery
of Dumfries.
The Celtic name of the parish of TROQUEER was written in several documents
of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Treguere, Trevquer, Trequire,
and Trekweir (s). The word is derived from the British Tre-gueyr signi-
(o) In Bagimont's Roll during the reign of James V., the vicarage of " Monygove " was taxed
�5, being a tenth of the estimated value. At the epoch of the Reformation this vicarage was held by
George Arnot, who let the revenues to the laird of Larg for �50 Scots yearly. MS. Rental Book,
fo. 81. At the same epoch, the revenues of the parsonage and vicarage of Minnigaff, which belonged
to the bishop of Galloway, were let by him to Gordon of Lochinver, for �100 Scots yearly ; but this
rent was then reduced to �80, as the pasch fines, cors presents, and umest claiths, were no longer
paid. Ib., fo. 67, 86.                                        (p) Acta Parl., iv. 307-8.
(q) There is a description of the parish of Minnigaff in Macfarlane's Col. MS., i. 517, 530.
(r) MS. Acc. of Galloway.
(s) When Archibald Douglas, the lord of Galloway, founded a hospital at the monastery of Holy-
wood in 1372, he granted some lands at Treguere and at Crossmichael in Galloway, for its support.
Regist. Mag. Sig. Rot, ii., ch. 56.