Volume 6

456
its peculiar name from the stone of Alpin in the parish of Dalmellington (n),
and within the extensive boundaries of Galloway. The whole circumstances
which are connected with this transaction are interesting to the people of Ayr-
shire. They show that the country then formed a part of Galloway ; that the
inhabitants spoke the Gaelic tongue; that, from the gallant spirit with which
the people and their chiefs opposed Alpin, the king of Kintyre, who fell in the
conflict, a revolution was produced.
Kenneth M'Alpin, the son of the demised king, succeeded him in
836, A.D., and in 843 became also the king of the Picts. The fortune,
the valour, the policy of Kenneth, enabled him, without much bloodshed, to
become the sovereign of the Scots and Picts, united into one state. This event
produced the suppression of the various tribes in every part of North Britain,
and formed the whole into one people, in 843, A.D. Whatever may have been
the effects from the resentment of Kenneth for the death of his father, the
people of this great district, henceforth, formed an important portion of an
united people, and an integral part of a considerable kingdom.
Throughout the Scottish period, extending from 843 A.D., to 1097, the in-
habitants of Ayr were governed as a Celtic people upon Celtic principles, which
were not very favourable to peace or very promotive of prosperity. In addition
to the domestic feuds of an irascible people, they were too frequently dis-
quieted during that period by the appearance of the Danish rovers in the Frith
of Clyde, which was not crowded, for ages, with commercial shipping. A feeble
system and a weak government, did not, by any means, ensure the comfort of
the people.
During the change which ensued upon the accession of Edgar in 1097,
when the Scoto-Saxon period began, different maxims of law, and new modes
of government were introduced. The people of this district were benefitted
by the alteration of a system which was radically bad. The introduction of
the municipal law produced the change of the Celtic maxims and rude
customs, for the Anglo-Norman principles and more salutary laws. The
jurisprudence of Scotland was not only changed, but an active colonization
began, which filled every district with a new people from England, with
(n) The Chronicle of Dunblane mentions : Alpin fil Heorheh 3 an. regnavit rex ; et occisus est ie
Galwithia. Wyntoun concurs with this notice by saying that Alpin was slain in Galloway. The
foundation charter of the own of Ayr. by William in 1197, when describing the limits of its exclusive
trade, calls for Lacht-Alpine, the stone or grave of Alpin. There is a tradition in the country that a
battle had been here fought in former times. Near the town of Dalmellington there are a number of
cairns or tumuli, which indicate that a battle had been fought on this site. [See Caledonia, i. 302-3,
particularly the note (u).]