Burnswark is a Magical and very special place. Looking like some primeval ark sailing across the landscape, there is no excuse to miss it. Whatever direction you approach from, it stands out. Its importance to our ancient ancestors is highlighted by the Roman forts and roads which lie all around, still easily seen. Leave the M74 at Ecclefechan and go north on the lane past the Kirkconnel Hall Hotel. At the T junction, turn left and continue for just over a mile, till the road becomes a track, and park at the Y junction. Take the path through the firs, and climb to the top. The view is panoramic, and the landscape epic. I have had the honour of climbing Bear Butte, the Teaching Mountain of the Cheyenne and the Sioux, and was delighted to discover the same qualities here. The Lake District even looks like the Black Hills do from Bear Butte, with the Solway taking the place of the lake (I can't recall the name) that lies before them. At Bear Butte, the east end is where mystical encounters are reported, and Burnswark's eastern outcrop is called Fairy Craig! Like Julian, I resisted climbing my sacred hill, content to look with awe, but I lost nothing by doing so. There is a Teaching Mountain on my doorstep.
A similar story to the one below (this time involving a brother kidnapped by the fairies of the Burnswark, with the sister left behind) is 'Elphin Irving - The Fairies' Cupbearer'. You can read a long version (including song) in 'Scottish Fairy and Folk Tales' by Sir George Douglas [1901] - an online version available courtesy of the magnanimous people at the Sacred Texts Archive: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/sfft/sfft81.htm
The fairies here didn't like people much. They had a reputation for abducting young people to act as their slaves. They kidnapped a girl from Corrie [a settlement to the north of the hill]. Her family thought she was lying dead in her bed - but actually this was just a 'stock', or simulation, produced by the fairies - as her brother discovered when the real girl appeared to him in a vision (or a dream?).
She told him that to rescue her he would have to go to their barn the next night and wait until midnight. Then three figures would walk past, he was to grab the third (herself) and repeat some words she gave him. But when it came down to it he was too scared, and unfortunately the girl was stuck with the fairies Forever...
From Maxwell Wood's 'Witchcraft and Superstitious Record in the Southwestern District of Scotland' (1911), noted in Bord's 'Fairy Sites' book (2004).
A Description of the Encampments on the Hill of Burnswork. From Archaeologica Scotica: transactions of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, volume 1 (1792), and complete with quaint f-shaped s's.
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Posted by Rhiannon
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