THE BLACK MORROWThere is yet another form in which this name of Moor or Mor has reached us, and it is found in Galloway, a province in which the Picts remained until almost recent times, being known as Picts, and speaking their language, so lately as the reign of Queen Mary…In this district the word is "Morrow." or “Moray”And there is a tradition of the presence of one of this race living in some part of Galloway, at an uncertain period, which has been preserved by McTaggart, in his Gallovidian Encyclopedia…This straggling specimen, was probably one of the last of unmixed blood, and if the others of his race were possessed of similar characteristics, it is easy to see why they were remorselessly hunted down…The Black Douglases, or those of Liddesdale, retained the headship of their clan until the year 1455…Even after the complete overthrow of the Black Douglas league, in the latter half of the fifteenth century, there must have survived straggling bands of Douglases who were still "Moors" in complexion, like him of the Bombie tradition…The Bombie tradition refers to a historical account associated with the Black Douglases of Scotland, particularly Sir Archibald the Grim, 3rd Earl of Douglas, and his descendants…The term Bombie is linked to the lands of Buittle (or Bombie) in Galloway, a region historically controlled by the Black Douglas lineage…The Bombie tradition also pertains to the MacLellan family of Galloway, Scotland, particularly their association with the lands of Bombie…A notable legend within this tradition involves Sir William MacLellan of Bombie, who is famed for killing a notorious outlaw known as “Black Morrow” or “Black Murray”This outlaw was described as a “Blackimore”As a reward for his deed, Sir William was granted the barony of Bombie, and the MacLellan clan adopted a crest depicting a Moor’s head on the point of a sword, symbolizing this event…The "Moor" who was killed by Maclellan in Galloway was probably a precursor of the "Black Morrow" of peasant tradition, who was perhaps one of the last of that very clan…Maclellan family tradition states that they were given as a reward for the death of a Moorish or Gipsy chief, who had been terrorising the Galloway district, and for whose person, dead or alive, the king offered, as a reward, the barony of Bombie…He is locally remembered as the "Black Morrow," which of course is Black Moor, Moray, or Murray... Tradition has him a 'Blackimore,’ says the yeoman-chronicler, "and says he haunted the forests south of Kirkcudbright; there he stopped during the day, sallying out on the neighbouring country at night, and committing horrible outrages...In Gaelic, "Black Morrow" becomes "Mor Dubh." A counterpart to the Black Morrow of Galloway is to be seen in a traditional "Black Knight," who is said to have lived near Ashton under Lyne, "holding the people in vassalage, and using them with great severity." This legendary “blackamoor" must ante-date the Galloway ruffian, for the latter evidently belongs to a period when he and his race were almost wholly subdued, and only able to commit their outrages under cover of night, whereas the former was distinctly “the lord of the manor”But of the traditional memory of the “blackamoor," still visibly impressed upon the minds of our peasantry, very little has been said…The Black Morrow, who, from his forest den, ravaged the neighbouring country, and the Black Knight of Lancashire, who "held the people in vassalage," and "used them with great severity," were two distinct specimens…But they can be matched with many others…