Glasgow Rivers and Streams Their Legend and Lore
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GLASGOW RIVERS AND STREAMS THEIR LEGEND AND LORE ’ Clyde s First Bridge . n e One mile f r om the sou . PREFACE TH E following chapters embody the results of a ’ summer s wayfaring a mong the green hills and grey moorlands which lie around Glasgow town . ' These wedges of wild nature and old r omance thrust themselves into the heart of a very workaday a nd world . They sweeten its atmosphere , remind uS of wide - Spreading Spaces where sunshine and S r hadow dwell , whe e the only sounds are the half c r wail , half wile of the peesweep , the y of the lonely whaup , and the soft music of hidden waters . Among these solemn wastes where earth and sky seem to meet in perfect harmony , we find the r and crystal cradle of the Clyde , and of the ivers She streams to which beckons , as a mother to her r r wayward children . As they hu ry to the eve lasting her shelter of ample bosom , they tumble down . r ‘ r through red scau s , and th ough shadowed glens , t valleys akin to hose of which Stevenson sang , vi PREFACE where birds are on every tree and in every corner r e r s of the ove hanging woods , pealing out th i note air is until the full of them . They pass grim r e embattled towe s and ancient mills , th y form into deep pools where the children of old- world villages are to be seen on the summer afternoons looking - r r for yellow bellied t out , still eaches over which ' tree and cloud weave dissolving patterns of light r r r and b ightness , places of tende beauty whe e it is good for a man to be alone with nature and r r himself. Such scenes abound in the oute f inges of Glasgow town . There are few cities so richly framed with the picturesque , or the call of whose highways and byways better deserves a gener ous response fr om r the rambler and the love of nature . Singularly pleasant are the paths which lead the wayfarer to the dreamy solitudes amidst which are to be found ur r r the sources of o ive s and streams . I have ” r il no dearer wish , said Bu ns , than to make p grimages thr ough Scotland to Sit on the fields of her battles : to wander on the r omantic banks of her rivers and to muse by her stately towers and r ra er vene able ruins . The city mbl may easily ’ o r for our realise the poet s f nd desi e , gates look out PREFACE vii upon haunts of ancient peace and war and upon waterways redolent of Scottish legend and r omance . I have endeavoured to suggest the historic and literary charm which clings to these storied streams . r They are cha ged with splendid pictorial possibilities , and much antiquarian lore and folk memory still linger on their banks . I sincerely hope that as e r r th se pilgrimages inte ested me , they may also p ove interesting to other wayfarers in this the land we love the most . Several of the chapters were published in the Glas owEvenin Times for g g , and permission to repro duce these I am indebted to the proprietor s of that I newspaper . have added much to the material , r ll ca efu y sifting the facts , and conscientiously verify ing the references . My debt to Scottish writers in general and Glasgow authors in particular is a large I one . trust it is fully acknowledged in the foot notes . T . F. B . C G S W A G O 1 1 . L , 9 4 CONTENTS PAG E CH AP. INTRO D UCTI O N xiii T o TH E SO URCE O F TH E WHITE CART TO TH E LO NELY LO NG LO CH TH E B IRTHPLACE O F THE B LACK CART THRO U G H PICTU RESQ U E ST RATHG RYFE B Y T H E MEETING O F T H E WATERS TO KE LVINH EAD TH E MO DEST LU G G IE ’ TO T H E G LAZE RT S SO U RCE ’ B Y CO ACHING WAY S T O EA RN S SO U RCE T H E B O NNIE ALLANDE R ’ T H E CLYDE S B I RTHPLACE ’ G LA SG O W S B URIED STREAM S I N DEX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ’ CLYDE S FIRS T BRIDGE WATERFO O T O N THE WHITE CART O N THE G RYPE EAGLES HAM MAINS BELO W PO LNO O N TH E CART ABO VE RAAH EAD G B STO RAAH E AD A LE NE, TH E LO NELY LO NG LO CH O LD O O F R SS A D T WER AI , B RRHEA CALDWELL TO WER CALDWELL VILLAGE ’ LEVE RN S SO URCE WHERE B LACK CART RI S ES ’ G ABRIEL SEMPEL S STO NE O LD FO NT T C R AST S M IN HE HAPEL UIN , C LE E PLE C ST T IRCULAR AIRWAY , HE PEEL LO CHWINN O CH A LO CHWINNO CH RELIC WHERE CALDER MEETS THE LO CH T H E G REAT DAM : SO URCE O F THE G RYPE T H E MEETING O F CART AND G RYPE A SYLVAN AI SLE WALKINS HAW H O U S E A RENFREWS HIRE B YWAY DUC H ALL CASTLE ’ K S H O S G DAM EEPER U E , RYPE T H E C O O F T O NVAL HARI T S . C INCHINNAN TO LL ’ RUIN ACHIEVED BY CART S FLO O D xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS A TT SS I H A BU RE , NC INN N BRIG TH E CART ABOVE INCHINNAN WALKINSHAW BRIG CO O F M T ST T K S T RNER ARKE REE , IL Y H TH E WEE M T ST K S T AU ILL , IL Y H KE LVINH EAD VILLAGE TAMRAWER WHERE LUGGIE AND KELVIN MEET B ADE NH EATH TO WER T o RB REx PALACERIG G WO RKS O N THE Mo oRs SO URCE O F THE LUGGIE CAMPS IE KIRK ’ TH E SHEPHERD S CO T O N THE CAMPSIE FELLs SO URCE O F THE G LAZE RT TH E KINCAID MAUSO LEUM T H E O LD RE D LI O N : A CO ACHING INN MEARNS CAS TLE TH E KIRKTO N O F MEARNS T H E STAR AND G ARTER INN ’ NO RTH MO O RHO US E : PO LLO K S B IRTHPLACE TALL TREES THEY WERE AND O LD AND HAD B EEN A CENTURY ’ E ARN S SO URCE TH E ALLANDE R ABO VE MILGUY CLO B ER H OUS E TH E O LD H ALFWAY O N THE DRYMEN RO AD TH E WH ANG IE FRO M TH E LILY LO CH LAMINGTO N B RIG TH E CLYDE AT ELVANFO O T SKETCH MAP O F THE SO URCES O F CLYDE MO LENDINAR BURN INT R DU T I N O C O . WATER LORE . A n n e m dm e c ru ni g str a they na ross . IN the literature of anthropology and folklore we Of find an extensive , if rather scattered, mass curiously interesting material connected with the divinities Of the waters and with the belief in sym Of pathetic magic . Study the superstitions and customs which mankind in all ages and in all coun tries has associated with the fountains Of the woods and the rivers of the plains , is startling in its revela a A tion of the homogeneity of the hum n race . S we dip into the subject the more fascinating , and b certainly the more suggestive , ecomes the atmo r it sphe e which gathers around . We are carried r back to the ve y sources of human history , and standing there we discover that the framework of our own age and its institutions and beliefs has its roots in savagery and paganism . Superstition may xiv INTRODUCTION be a dangerous guide in practice , and admittedly the evils which it has wrought are incalculable . m aleficent But while it has been to our fellows , can it not also claim to have been occasionally benefi cent ? Has it not Often conferred a benefit on society by furnishing the ignorant , the weak , and the foolish with a motive for good conduct : and once the harbour lights are passed and the ship is in port it surely matters little whether the pilot ’ steered by a Will 0 the wisp or by the stars Folklore brings us face to face with the crude Of beliefs primitive man , beliefs which have been us handed down to _ through countless generations , and which even this restlessly progressive age has t failed to entirely banish . We canno blink the fact that the generation of those who believed firmly in the power of the evil eye of the witch , and who feared to disturb the revels of the fairies on their A rings and mounds is only just passing away . llow me to give an example Of the extraordinary persist ence of a belief in the Virtues Of the hallowed wells . A friend and I were visiting 1 the crypt of Glasgow S . Cathedral , and when standing by the hrine of St Mungo we observed a poorly- clad woman with a 1 1 In autumn 1 9 2 .