455
British people of this district. Those colonists were soon followed by similar
emigrations of the same Scottish people, both from Ireland and Kintyre, in
latter times, who easily amalgamated with the ancient settlers ; as they spoke
an analogous tongue, and practised congenial manners. In 681, A.D., the old
British inhabitants repulsed an invasion of the Cruithne from Ireland, at
Mauchlin, according to the Ulster annals. In 750, the Northumbrian Eadbert
seems to have traversed Nithsdale, and to have seized upon Kyle, according to
the chronicle in Bede (m).
Till the eighth century, the Danish Vikingr, or sea-rovers, confined their
odious hostilities to the Baltic and its kindred shores. But, in 789, the
Vikingr were first distinctly seen on the eastern coasts of England. In 795,
those Danish rovers originally infested the shores of Ireland and of Albany.
They were not felt on the Caledonian shores till the ninth century. There
is very little foundation, then, for the intimation of the local antiquaries of
Ayrshire, who attribute every ancient remain and every doubtful circum-
stance to the roving Danes, who seldom settled within the invaded country.
The sea-rovers may have had, during the eleventh century, one or two strong
fortlets on the rocky cliffs of Wigtonshire, but there is no evidence that
they ever had any settlement within the Frith of Clyde, on the shore of
Ayr. Yet their frequent invasions of Ireland may have been the causes of
many emigrations from that island to Galloway, and to its sister country of
Ayrshire.
At length was this district invaded by a very different people from the
Danish Vikingr : Alpin, the king of the Scoto-Irish in Kintyre, who appears
to have perceived the weakness of his neighbours on the south-eastern side of
the Clyde, and whose ambition, perhaps, may have prompted him to desire to
rule over a richer people and a more extensive territory than his own. In
836, A.d., Alpin landed with his Scoto-Irish followers in the bay of Ayr;
and he immediately began, according to the odious practice of a wretched
age, to lay waste the country between the Ayr and Doon, before the people
and their chiefs could meet him in conflict. Following the course of the last
of those rivers, without opposition, he advanced towards Dalmellington. Here
was he opposed by a body of men with their chiefs, who appeared unwilling to
resign their country without a struggle. During a sharp conflict was Alpin
slain and his followers defeated, near the site of Laicht Castle, which derived
(m) Smith's Bede, 244. The language of those Northumbrians may still be traced on the map of
Ayrshire.