Kilmarnock - a Historical Survey
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KILMARNOCK - A HISTORICAL SURVEY by Dr John Strawhorn A paper on the general history of Kilmarnock. The complete paper was presented by the late Dr. Strawhorn at our first evening class on October 8th, 1974. The original manuscript (complete with references) is held by the Dick Institute. PART ONE - ORIGIN OF THE NAME Of the origins and early history of Kilmarnock, hardly anything is known. Around 1605 Timothy Pont wrote: ‘It hath a pretty church from vich ye village, Castle, and Lordschipe takes its name. It was built by the Locarts, Lord of it and dedicat to a holy man Mernock as vitnesses ye Records of Kilwinin abbay.’ In the long period of more than three centuries since these words were written, various writers have elaborated on this statement, but added in fact no further information. In the Old Statistical Account, Rev. James Mackinlay declared (1792): ‘The name Kilmarnock, or Cellmarnock, is evidently derived from St. Marnock, who is said to have been a bishop or confessor in Scotland. He died, A.D. 322, and probably was interred here.’ George Robertson wrote (1820): ‘The name is supposed to be derived from a St. Marnock, whose cell or kil, a residence or place of sepulture, is thought to have been here. Such a Saint is stated to have died A.D. 322. But Kilmarnock, as a place, is not mentioned in history till near 1000 years after.’ In the New Statistical Account, Rev. David Strang (1839) reiterated the same facts, and doubts: ‘The name Kilmarnock evidently means the cell of Marnock, who is said to have been a bishop or confessor in Scotland in the beginning of the fourth century.’ Alexander McKay in the first edition of his History of Kilmarnock (1848) elaborated the same theme: ‘The origin of Kilmarnock, like that of many other towns of importance, is involved in considerable obscurity ... It is stated by some writers that, so far back as the year 322, it was the residence of a St. Mernoc or Marnock, but it is more probable that the Saint settled here about the end of the sixth, or the beginning of the seventh century, when some of the early teachers of Christianity, who had been educated at I-colum-kill, under St. Columba, established places or religious worship in different parts of our island. Here, according to tradition, St. Marnock founded a church ... It is also said that he was interred here within the precincts of the ground he had consecrated.’ In his second edition (1858) McKay omitted the last sentence quoted, and added: ‘But there is no account, we believe, on which reliance can be placed regarding the Church of Kilmarnock prior to the twelfth century.’ James Paterson in his county history (1866) speculated further: ‘The name of the town and parish of Kilmarnock is evidently derived from the church which was dedicated to Saint Marnock, a Scottish saint of very early times, who was commemorated on the 25th of October, on which day there was 1 formerly held in Kilmarnock an annual fair, now held on the third Wednesday of October. The site of the church of St. Marnock may have been that of a Druidical temple - for it is well known that the early promoters of Christianity everywhere ... judiciously endeavoured to plant the cross in the locality, if not upon the very spot, where the fires of Baal had previously burned. The history of the church of Kilmarnock cannot, however, be traced, with any degree of certainty, before the erection of the monastery of Kilwinning, in the twelfth century, to which it became an appendage.’ In his valuable Gazetteer of Scotland, Groome (1886) advanced a new theory, deriving the place name from No-Ernin-occ, interpreted as ‘my little Ernin’. An Irish saint of this name died in 634 or 635, and it was suggested that some of his disciples may have dedicated an early church at Kilmarnock to his memory. Groome however follows Pont in believing a later church was founded about the end of the 12th century or the beginning of the 13th, attached in due course to Kilwinning Abbey. Finally, and more recently, in the Third Statistical Account (1951) William Boyd summed everything up pithily: ‘When and how Kilmarnock came into being nobody knows ... There is not a tittle of historical evidence that a St. Marnock ever had anything to do with Kilmarnock.’ All that can creditably be believed is contained in Pont’s original note: ‘It hath a pretty church from vich ye village, Castle, and Lordschipe take its name. It was built by the Locarts, Lords of it and dedicat to a holy man Mernock as vitnesses ye Records of Kilwinin abbay.’ A number of archaeological finds made within the parish suggests that the area was settled in prehistoric times. In the 12th century Cuninghame was fully incorporated in the Kingdom of Scotland and awarded by David I to Hugh de Morville, who seems to have given a member of the Locart family the lordship of this part. From the Locarts the lordship may have passed to the Soulis family, then to the Baliols, and more definitely in the 14th century to the Boyds who held it for the next four hundred years. One of the first actual members of the name Kilmarnock is in John Barbour’s late 14th century poetical life of Bruce, in which an English knight is pursued. ‘To Kilmarnock and Kilwinnyne, And to Ardrossan after syne.’ It may safely be presumed that the Locarts built a castle and church at Kilmarnock, and the latter became attached to Kilwinning Abbey. In the surviving Kilwinning records there are several mentions of Kilmarnock: c.1315 - remitting annual payments to the heirs of Baliol for the lands of ‘Kilmernoc’; 1329 - granting to Kilwinning the perpetual vicar of the churches of Beith and ‘Kylmernoc’; 1333 - confirming the previous awards involving ‘Kilmernoc’; 1552 - transferring to the Earl of Eglinton various monastic lands including some in ‘Kilmernok’. Pont, who seems to have seen the original records of Kilwinning Abbey could state that the church was ‘dedicat to a holy man Mernok.’ This does not however necessarily imply that the church was dedicated to Marnock, and then gave its name to the parish. The barony of Kilmarnock possibly, perhaps probably, took its name from the Macharnock Water. Kilwinning Abbey may have decided to dedicate the church at Kilmarnock to St. Marnock, without suggesting any association apart from a similarity of name. A moment’s reflection will remind you that naming the present St. Joseph’s R.C. Church in Kilmarnock has never involved a belief that he founded it or had any personal association with the area. * * * * * 2 PART TWO - THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY The Burgh Charter of 1592 Kilmarnock’s history really begins in 1592 with a charter from James VI in favour of Thomas, Lord Boyd, erecting Kilmarnock into a burgh of barony. Ayrshire at the end of the 16th century contained a population round 50,000, mostly living on the land as tenants of feudal lairds. The most powerful of these were the Earls of Glencairn, Eglinton, and Cassillis; the hereditary sheriff, Campbell of Loudoun; Lord Cathcart; and Lord Boyd of Kilmarnock. There were two long-established royal burghs on the coast - Ayr and Irvine - which by charter had a monopoly of foreign trade. There were also burghs of barony whose royal charters offered more restricted privileges - manufacturing local products from local materials and organising local markets for local people. 3 Two old coastal burghs of barony - Prestwick and Newton-upon-Ayr - had been joined more recently by a succession of others - Newmilns, Auchinleck, Cumnock, Mauchline, Maybole, Kilmaurs, Saltcoats, Ballantrae, in that order. In 1592 came Kilmarnock as the county’s thirteenth burgh, followed by another nine in the next hundred years. The establishment of these burghs was a sign of manufacturing and commercial expansion. They were set up by the local lairds on their own lands, for their own profit and prestige. Campbell of Loudoun had set up the first inland burgh in 1491 - a century before Kilmarnock - and in the early part of the 16th century the three earls, the abbot of Melrose, and three lesser lairds had followed his example. Then came a gap of fifty years before Kilmarnock and another series. Obviously Kilmarnock held no special prominence in the 16th century, only one of a group of minor centres, indeed lagging nearly seventy years after Kilmaurs. The charter of 1592 is a lengthy document which begins and ends by confirming the Boyds in their possession of the lands of Kilmarnock and specifying the future line of succession. Contained within is a section authorising the creation of a burgh of barony. Much of this is formal repetition of what is usual in other contemporary burgh charters; but certain local particulars are given, which justifies close examination of this extract. The charter is in favour of Thomas, Lord Boyd and of Robert, Master of Boyd. It is dated 12th January, 1591, which is 1592 by modern reckoning. The ‘Kirktoun of Kilmarnock’ was to be a burgh ‘in all time coming’. The inhabitants would have the usual privileges of buying and selling and having tradesmen. Certain inhabitants would be burgesses. They would have the right of annually electing bailies, subject to the superior’s approval. There would be a weekly market and an annual fair. The superior could feu plots for burgesses to build on. The charter indicates the creation of a typical burgh of barony: a little community where craftsmen and local traders could carry on business; where the burgesses, with capital and enterprise, could extend their activities; with markets and fairs and manufacturing supervised by elected officials; all under the aegis of the landowning superior.