The evidence is of turmoil in the area which was subject to an ongoing demand by the local lords for feudal service by the men in their respective armies. Towns began to emerge in the reign of William I (1185-1200) such as Dumfries in 1186 and Ayr in 1197.

These were intended as secure bases from which the sheriffs helped to pacify the region; and as defences against the lawless bands. They also became the centres from which trade developed in surplus agricultural produce being influenced by the success of the Cistercian monks who had developed sheep farming and manufacture of associated goods.

It is sometimes forgotten that feudal military service took the men from the land and it is more than coincidence that famine was common and often followed by pestilence and plague. Thus the turmoil, famine, plague, and constant demands for military service would have been cause enough for the migration of people who had been held in thrall by the local lords for so long.

It has to be conjecture that the ancient peoples of Urr migrated northwards to Ayrshire and Renfrewshire. But it is relevant that the valleys run from the north west to south east and this would have influenced migration to areas where Orrs are to be found in number in later centuries. Dalry is about 20 miles and Dalmellington about 35 miles north west of Dalbeattie; and the nearby Nithsdale route runs from Dumfries to Kilmarnock, Lanarkshire, and to the River Clyde and Glasgow.

As Prince of Cumbria David (King David 1124-1153) had caused an inquisition to be made of the lands and buildings that had belonged to the ancient church. Acting on that information David created the bishopric of Glasgow in 1121. This new diocese stretched from the river Clyde to the Solway and from the Lothians to the river Urr in Kirkcudbright shire.The consequence was a rapid growth of feudalism with land becoming the basis of power.

The feudal system itself made for a closer control by the King who gave land to many foreign Lords and Sheriffs, including Crusaders, Knights of St John, Knights Templar and other Norman knights. At the end of the chain of tenancies was the common man with winners and losers over the tenancies of the smallest acreages. In this respect a growing source of land was the church which received great support from David.

In his reign the Culdee churches of the Celts at St. Andrews and Lochleven disappeared and new monasteries arose and existing ones were strengthend.