Richard Bell (1833-1909)

Richard Bell FSA (Scot.), lived at Mongoose Hall, Castle O'er.  The house name arose because he kept a large number of exotic species of birds and animals at his home, of which the first to arrive were two mongooses. As well as being an observant naturalist and an intrepid menagerie keeper, he was a keen antiquarian and amateur archaeologist and the first to record excavations at Castle O'er Hill Fort and Over Rig.  He was the author of various archaeological and natural history articles in the Transactions of Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society in the 1890s, and his collection included both archaeological and social history items.   In his book "My Strange Pets" (1905) he wrote,   Winter sunrise from the Loupin Stanes I have often thought that if one of the fort-dwellers could rise from his grave; an hour's conversation with him would go far to enlighten our minds regarding these prehistoric remains, and dispel an enormous mass of theory, conjecture, and suggestion published on such subjects by many writers.