Black Loch, a small lake in Penpont parish, Dumfriesshire, near the summit of a hill-ridge, about 1 mile S of Drumlanrig. It once was about 120 yards long and 70 yards wide, but has been much reduced in size by draining; and, in pre-Reformation days, it possessed a high repute for healing virtue, insomuch as to be esteemed a sort of perpetual Bethesda.

(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)