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Black Murray's Cave

Manxman's Lake, Black Moray Plantation, KIrkcudbrightshire.

About a mile from Kirkcudbright, and in the Black Morrow Wood, at a short distance from the road, is a well, known as the " Black Morrow Well," which is supposed to derive its name from the following incident, of which there is a tradition, told in the History of Galloway, respecting the capture of a gipsy chief named Murray : - His giant strength and ferocity made him the terror of the Stewartry, but as his chief residence was in the wood near Kirkcudbright, called to this day the ' Black Morrow ' (at that time forming part of the Barony of Bombie), the lower and more wealthy part of the district suffered most by his depredations. Young MacLellan, son of the former laird of Bombie, anxious to recover his father's lands, but not daring to attack Black Murray personally, filled a well, beside his cave in the wood, with spirits, of which the outlaw drank so freely that he soon fell asleep, which MacLellan perceiving, sprang from his hiding-place, and at one blow severed the head of Black Murray from his body."

Alternative Names: Black Morrow's Cave

Notes: The reference is to a cave in the woods near the well but this may be a general reference to a hideaway not an actual cave and near is a relative term which historically just meant somewhere in the same parish.