South Ayrshire Parish

TH E R E V . R T N B D . D U R U LL . GEO GE , South Ayrshire Parish

‘ ’ BEING A RTICLES ON TH E H IS TOR a OF TH E PARISH OF DA ILLY

BY THE LA TE

T B D . D . G E O RG E U RN U LL,

EDITED BY THE OHN TORRA N CE B D J , . .

A Y R S T E P H E N P O L LO C K

1 908

t o the {Demon!

O F TH E

R B D D RE V . E OR E TU N U LL . G G , .

WH D T P R l L 0 O I ED ON 5 H A , 1 9 8

FOR TH IRTY -NINE YEARS M IN ISTER O F THE

C O N T E N T S .

Imonvcn ou

P ru sms r omc DA YS

I N THE DAYS or TH E EA RLY S A I NTS Kw o ROB ERT TH E BRU C E TH REE HUNDRED Y EARS A GO

TH E COVEN A NTERS OF DA l LLY THE P A R IS H C HUR C H GLIMP SES O F TH E P AS T F ROM Kl RK-S ES S ION v ms

LAI RDS A N D TH EI R LA NDS THE VALLEY O F GIRVAN COAL FI ELD

A P P NDIX I DA P LA C - NA MES E . ILLY E

x F M l N IS TE RS IN II . L s r O S CE

THE RE FORMA Tl ON

I L L U S T R A T I O N S .

RE V D T B . R. URN ULL R EMA IN S or EA RLY B R ITI S H VILLA GE

’ B RUC E S CAM P

K l R KH l LL Mom

C ROS S P ED ESTA L A T MA C HRYKILL

B R UNS TO N C A ST LE K I LKE R RA N OLD CAS TLE

DA LQ UHA R RA N OLD C A STL E O LD DAILLY C HU RC H DA ILLY P A R IS H CHURC H

’

E D IT O R S P R E F A C E .

ROM i 88 m D. D. F 0 onwards the late Rev . George Tu bull , ,

of a of minister of the Parish D illy, was in the habit con tributi ng ar ticles on the history and antiquities of the Parish to a supplement which he published monthly in connection ” z n W or k . with the Church of Scotland maga i e, Life and

These wer e wri tten in a popular style for his parishioners,

by whom they wer e much appreciated . In this present volume an attempt is made to group these articles together

e i a under conv nient subjects, in the belief that the r subst nce

f r m on deser ves preserva tion in a more permanent o . C s idera ble omissions have been made but otherwise it has not been j udged expedient to alter the arti cles except in

I. i two . Chapter , which is a compilat on of separate articles If these articles had had th e b eneﬁt of revision by the hand

h of of the author imself, the value this book would have

been much enhanced . However, it is hoped that it may serve as a small tr ibute to the pati ent i n ou s tr y and Spirit of resear ch by which the author was enabled to give u s these l m vivid g i ps es of the past history of this ancient Parish .

r i t Very co d al thanks are due o the family of the Rev .

Dr . Turnbull for rendering s uch aid as made the publication t of thes e ar icles possible.

F MA N DA I LLY U . . SE,

S e tember 1 08 p , 9 .

IN TRO DUCTION .

OUR a t P rish is a very inter es ing one , not only on account

i ts r a t i s of g eat n ural beauty, but on account of t antiquities, with many of which our readers may have but a slight

i a acqua nt nce . It cannot but be a good thing that every man should r egard hi s own Parish with intelligent interest ff and a ection . Local ties , even when nothing more is

e impli d in them than attachment to a locality, are not to be despised as si lent moral i nﬂ u ences . One would like if

u a our yo ng people, on le ving home and going out into the world, would carry with them such a pride in their native

Parish as would make them feel that th ey must never i it w t . disgrace , but al ays be a credit to And such local

n r attachments may do good in other ways, by formi g o

a n d strengthening bonds of union , leading to mutual

“ sympathy and help . Clannishness among ou r fellow parishioners abroad or in our large cities , from that point

v i s s . s of iew, very prai eworthy We hope that our mode t

“ ” ff in e orts may deepen our interest our Parish , and so

contribute something in these di rections .

RIS H A S OUTH A YRS HIRE PA .

CHA P TE R I.

P RE H IS TORIC DA YS .

Tu m are to be seen i n many parts of England and Scotland mounds of earth or rounded hillocks of various

—s di mensions ometim es on heights , sometimes on lower

— r m ground bea ing a general rese blance to each other .

The hand of man may be traced upon them in earthworks ,

of which there are usually more than one line, partially or i ' S wholly surround ng them at di ﬂer ent elevations . ome of these li nes are ci rcular ; others are more of an oval

shape. They were evi dently thrown up for purposes of

defen ce . There are seldom any traces of stonework in

them, though there may have been wooden palisades to give additional strength ; and there ma y also have been

a i n r wooden habit tions the cent e, but all traces of these

ha v i e now ent rely disappeared . Thes e preh istoric forts are ca lled by anti qua rians ” - e . i s mot s The root of the word probably Anglo Saxon , 3 — and is a word mea ning du s t hen ce mote in the se nse “ ” of o a speck of dust . In the French mmand Italian “ ” “ mot/a the word develops into a clod of earth or a ” or a rtiﬁci a l detached eminence, natural , and hence in English the word ha s come to be applied to these ancient mounds . Motes constituted the fortresses of Saxon England for some centuries before the Norman conquest . But they m were not peculiarly S a x on . In fact they are ore numerous in Celfzc Galloway than in any other part of f Scotland . One o the most perfect and best preserved

ou r Di nvi n specimens is in neighbourhood . It is called ,

- - - E S E i . two and a half miles . . . of G rvan It is in a 8 commanding situation . The summit is oval , 7 feet by 5 4

-deﬁ ned feet, and is surrounded by two well ramparts with intervening trenches .

One of the greatest authorities on this subject is Dr .

Christison , the secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of ! Scotland . Some three years ago, in the course of his

ou r . I s explorations, he visited parish had much plea ure

n in acti g as his guide in an interesting antiquarian ramble.

K I RKH I LL .

r s f We ﬁ t o all visited Kirkhill, where there is a distinctly

of marked specimen the ancient circular fort, and where there is the additional attraction on a clear day of a

ﬁ r th n splendid view, embracing the and extendi g far i nto f the Argyllshire Highlands . O this , Dr . Christison says “ W m N . N . Kirkhill, two iles of Dailly, on the summi t of

1 Written i n 884 . S

8 0 s ea 0 the hi ll, 5 feet above the and 75 feet above the

- - - - a . Girvan Water, nearly a mile and half to the south east

r : 1 8 A mound , one or two feet high and from to wide,

- i z oo enclos es a nearly c rcular space about feet in diameter,

ﬂa t- within which, at the south side, there is a topped

‘ ’ mound, marked Tumulus in the Ordnance Map, about 1 3 feet high and from 40 to 5 0 feet in diameter on the ill

CA MP ON KIRKH l LL.

’ ” F mS m k c Al a n i n A r rlti r e b er mi s s i on r o i ﬂ cr P r e i r la r i y , y p .

deﬁned e top, which is pitted with small squarish d pressions . The ground is slightly trenched both outside and inside the

I in enclosing mound . have included this the doubtful

s clas , as it seems to be of an unusual type, and possibly is ” not a fort at all . Dr . Christison has suggested that the name Kmé-hill is a corruption of Ca r ; in Wales it occurs

a er in the form of C , signifying a fort. 6

HA DYA RD (on H A DYET) HILL.

H ollows h ea n a m We then drove to f r , in Kirkoswald

on a parish , where, the sm ll hill adjoining the farm , there is a triple line of circular earthworks on the side of the hill

n from which the position wa s most assailable . O the

H a d afternoon of the same day we walked to the top of yet.

’ CE S A MP H A DY A R D H ILL. B RU C ,

’ ' ” ’ ‘ m n F mS mt P e s zo c M a n i n A r s lzzr e b er i ss i o . r o i iz s r lzz r i y , y p

According to tradition , which there is no reason to dispute, King Robert the Bruce had a camp there on the western

ﬁ n d extremity of the range . But we often that in historic times advantage was naturally taken in military operations

’ f H a d et of ancient places o strength, and Bruce s camp on y ,

f Th indicate the site o an ancient British village . e

s o habitations, if we may call them , were huddled

ﬁ u r together, and were nine in number . The g e is more

OF KN KI A L H REMAINS TURF VILLAGE , OC NG L OC . ’ “ ' ’ ' ” F r omS mi tlz s P r eﬁ zs lor zc M a n i n A r r lzzr e é er mi ss i on y , y p .

complete in some than in others . But the same formation t can be traced in all, and they all appear o be of the same

of or very nearly the same dimensions . The turf is on an average about 1 8 inches high and between two or three 9

ﬁ r o a r feet wide. Each gu e has four sides, and is ab ut ya rds by about 1 0 or x x yards . One of the four sides , always th e one to the east, is convex, gently curving

i a n inwards, leav ng, where it stops, opening which seems to

n o have been the entrance. O the opp site, or western side,

i w e to there is an nner all parall l the outer wall , some three i t or four feet removed from , but not extending the full

s length , o that a passage of some three feet is left at its

A t r extremity . the other, or northe n end of this inner t wall, and turned towards the above en rance, is what appears to have been an inner apartment about seven yards square,

of i l one side it be ng part of the northern wal , so that, roughly speaking, the inner wall and this enclosure take the shape

P 2 1 of the letter . Each habitation measures yards by n of . The whole are surrounded by the remains a

i n u l o- protect g t rf wa l, including not only the s called village but a considerable space not occupied by any dwellings . The entire space thus enclosed is about two

a 1 0 acres , and me sures from north to south 4 yards , and

1 00 from east to west about . This enclosing wall is

of circular, except on the side where there are dwellings,

a which it forms the outside bound ry . ' A t thr ee diﬁeren t points in this surrounding wall are the t a races of wh t may have been watchtowers . There are no

s i stone ly ng about, and if these were the dwellings of ou r

i n primit ve a cestors , they were probably completed with

d i a ﬁr woo , which would soon d s ppear by e or removal . Dr .

Christison was greatly interested in the discovery . In the course of hi s antiquarian explorations he had never seen anything of the same description . mr n W K K A o KNO E, IL ERR N .

’ Crossi ng the Newton Stewart Ro a d beyond the Deil s ” Elbow, we now made tracks through the hills for Dobbing stone to see another interesting bit of antiquity marked on — “ ” vi z. the Ordnance Survey Map , the Moat Knowe,

—we a m n h ve so etimes heard it called the Cannon K owe , situated at the point where the Kilker ran Burn and Dela mford Burn meet and a short distance above where

Dobb i n s tone i the g Burn joins the united, but at the t me i t m we saw , very shrunken strea , which now ﬂows under

r a neath the mouldering walls of old Kilke ran C stle . It was sometimes necessa ry to have places of strength for defence on

” h . t e low ground as well as on the hills Hence these moats,

r ti ﬁ i circular mounds , either wholly a c a l or raised upon natural knolls . They were surrounded by a palisade, and

or of t were encircled by a terrace terraces, which lat er

Dobbi n s ton e feature there are distinct traces in the g Moat .

I observed , what had escaped my notice before, at the foot of the mound and exactly at the point where the two streams meet, distinct traces of a building .

’ Dr . Christison s description is as follows The moat is

ou t oval, and stands conspicuously by reason of its isolation , although closely overlooked from higher ground to the east and south . It appears to be partly natural, and stands

2 from 1 5 to 5 feet in height, with steep sides except

0 0 towards the east . The top measures about 9 by 3 feet .

r The base is surrounded by a strip of marshy g ound, with remains of a rampart on the north and south sides

- On the south this rampart protects the trench like marsh

u from the high ground outside . O the north there is a l !

r r descent to a te race, which p obably covered the whole

i n l s north face orig a ly, but the we tern half has apparently bee n carried away by the burn . A t the foot of the west end there are some signs of fortiﬁ ca ti on or enclosure of the sma ll piece of the ground between the north and the ” juncti on of the burn s . Followi ng the dark hints which these silent records read

u s to , we see our progenitors in this valley , clad in skins, il w w d and unkempt, andering through the woods with which the valley was covered , armed with slings or bows and

u arrows , or r dely cultivating a scanty crop in clearances in d the woo , yet never roaming far from their strongholds ;

ti s r some me su prised and slain , their fort stormed , their

“ wi ves and families sharing their doom or carried Oh to be th i i slaves to e v ctors, who in the r turn perhaps meet a similar fate . h T ese green memorials, of which we have given such a

u s i m hasty sketch, gives a vivid picture of the t es wild and

’ rude, yet not without their uses in building up our nation s manhood— times when there prevailed

Th oo old u e th e s m e a n e g d r l , i pl pl , ha h e h ou a e wh o h a e th e o e T t t y s ld t k v p w r, ” h o A nd they sh ou ld keep w ca n . E R C H AP T I I .

IN THE DAYS OF THE EA RLY SAINTS .

S T. UERA NUS OR KIE A N Q R .

6th TILL the century after Christ, Scotland lay in heathen darkness and idolatry . But at that period light began to dawn . Columba, along with a devoted band of

on missionaries, sailed from Ireland and landed the

Icolmkill Island of Iona, called also after Columba, , but H at that time named y. There he founded a monastery, which soon became a centre of light in the midst of the A D 6 gloom . This was in the year . . 5 3 . “ ” Columba, we are told, had several masters, who instructed him in the faith in early life . One of them

or u er a nu s h a s was Kieran Q , who a special claim upon our

of Da lma kerr a n interest . The ancient name our parish , , and still more clearly the name Kilkerran , indicate the presence and labours of the Saint among our savage

c nﬁ r progenitors . And this opinion is o med by the fact

of that there are undoubted traces him, as we shall see,

n a n t r e i of o the C y peninsula, which is w thin sight our

a Parish , and nothing would be more natur l than for a man with the missionary spirit burning within him to hear and 1 2 r 3 obey th e cry of Macedonia wa i ted acros s the channel fr om ou r — “ ” shores Come over and help os . We ought, r f the e ore, to know as much as we can ascertain about one

l a far whom we might almos t ca l, though his p rish was ” r ﬁ wide , the rs t minister of the Parish of Da illy . H e seems to have been a great man in his day. Both thr oughout his nati ve I reland and Scotland his name

- w was well kno n and revered . Columba himself held him

a to r in high esteem, an d is s id have w itten a poem in

i r in Lat n p ais g him . A few li nes have survived, of which the followi ng may be taken as a tr anslation :

W e ra e hee O h for th e ma n p is T , C rist , , r ea a n A o e ne S o g t p stl divi , Th ou h a st se nt us ou r d a rk world to bless ” A la mp i n thi s Isla nd to sh ine.

H ’ Yet his origin was humble . e was called Cza r a n

M a ca n fr a or , Kieran the son of the carpenter, and to this circumstance in common with the earthly life of his

vi a Master he is said to have added another, , he died at

a . a s the same ge, 33 But short was his life, he seems to H . e have used it well travelled far and near, like his t bre hren of the period , spreading the Gospel, and was not a s of m to tu rn his hand at times to other kinds work . We get a glimpse of hi min the Island of Aran threshing ” ﬁ nd f corn for the community . We traces o hi min other

s part of the country, but his name is most closely associated

i n a nt r e. H e s a t r with C y called The Apostle of C y e .

ﬁn d n a We there as well as here the name Kilkerra , a n me whi ch used to be given to th e Parish of Campbeltown ; 1 4 and the ruins of a church dedicated to him are to be seen in the centre of the principal burying-ground of the town and parish . There is a cave in the neighbourhood of the

town which bears his name, and where he is said to have

lived. 8 H A . D. 1 e died in the year 5 4 , 5 years before Columba

landed at Iona . The following is a prayer believed to be

by him . The original , in Irish Gaelic, is preserved in a very ancient manuscript missal discovered in Dru mmond “ of cen tu r z— lea r ned Castle in the end last y Alas, that a cler k (ecclesiastic or clergyman) should perish ! 0 Thou

n Son (of God) have mercy o one devoted to Thy service .

Heal and quicken my benumbed soul . Long have Thy

visits been denied to my cell . Yet I should have quickly

failed if Thou hadst not supported me . I will therefore, render Thee the tribute of my highest praise before the

multitude of the people, and place whatever pangs I may ” own endure to the score of my sin and folly . H e is said to have composed a lay or short poem in which he prayed that God would give him long life for m this end that he ight devote it to His service, a prayer the spirit of which showed a closer resemblance to his

Divine Master than is implied in the above coincidences . And although from his early death it appear ed as if the

prayer was not answered, yet we cannot doubt it wa s really answered in the sense of the Psalm H e asked life of

Thee, and Thou gavest it him, even length of days, for ” ever and ever .

a “ Perh ps we may take the liberty of reviving this lay .

1 6

W he e h ou h th e a e th e sa a e u e a nd m r t r g gl d v g , r d gri , Roa ms da rkling to th e gra ve ; — Al a s th ey know n ot God th cy know not Hi m W h o pou red His bl ood to sa ve 1

’ H e e i n h ea f r o e I u m r , t is l y g v , ll b ild y cell , 0 h m Lo to h ee C rist, y rd , T , A nd o a nd a for ou h ou o e so w rk pr y s ls T l v st well , Th a e d e rer th u s to me.

I fa n ou e m Ma e for Th a i w ld liv , y st r, y pr ise, B u t d ea th s a rou n d me ﬂy O a e me e u — a n me en h f a sp r , J s s gr t l gt o d ys Th na me to o f l—AME N y gl ri y .

T H MA A RI S . C US MA AR ( C . )

r u ra n u In addition to S t . Kieran o Q e s there are traces

u f n o r o . O in parish another saint the farm of Whitehill, where the ground begins to slope down to a small glen

’ Da lr a i chi e i n 1 6 8 called Glen ( Pont s map, published 4 , and a few hundred yards above Wh imi e ” - Ma ch r kill or - Farm house, is a spot named y , Machar a ” M or of or a ca ri u s . kill, the church cell Machar It used to l ” be sometimes called the o d graveyard . The spot was enclosed and planted with trees a number of years ago by the proprietor, the Right Hon . Sir James Fergusson , Bart , of Kilkerran . There are many people who remember having

r seen what appears to have been the ruins of the chapel , o

of a portion the chapel , of the saint , in the shape of the remains of four walls of very rude masonry , enclosing a

1 Space of about 3 feet by nine feet . The stones have i now entirely disappeared, but a most interesting relic is st ll standing in the form of a rude rectangu lar block of hard i freestone, four feet high , and slightly taper ng from three feet six inches by three feet two i nches at the bottom to 1 7 two f e h re s two f s t e t t e inche by eet nine inche at the op. There are two poin ts about it which make it of exceptional — M . i . In t The s ze this respec , indeed, it may s afely be d s - is sai that this cro s pedestal unique in Scotland .

few very such pedestals, indeed, which

P FOR a os s MA H RIKILL. EDESTAL c , C

of monolithic . The great bulk them , especially those of

bu i lt b e later date, are pedestals, having , it may , a large ﬂat stone on the top perforated to admit of the foot of the cross i t . passing through This stone is sometimes nicely carved , as in one or two instances in Islay ; or it may carry an

ra ns a . inscription , as at O y Generally it is quite plain , a mere top slab to keep the looser materials below from 1 8 m . b e a s being disintegrated Someti es there may , indeed ,

Or a n s a - m in the great cross at y, a socket stone i bedded in m the lower part of this masonry, but independent onolithic E pedestals are the exception , and not the rule. ven where they exist, their dimensions are comparatively small, the f t ’ o S . largest, that Martin s Cross, Iona, hewn out of red

y n granite, being not o er half the height of this o e at

- - Machar a kill . It is only in Ireland where pedestals in any

z way approaching this one in si e are to be found . There

— u s a the monoliths not plain as with , but richly c rved with all kinds of quaint and curious devices such as occur on

men our sculptured stones, groups of and animals ,

of n illustrations old times, and stra ge fancies form familiar objects amid the rank growth and mouldering ld E m o . to bstones of her churchyards ven these, however,

z must yield both in si e, and probably also antiquity, to this

Scottish example . Gigantic as are the crosses of Tuam and Monasterboice, their pedestals do not equal it in dimensions, its nearest approximate being at Moone Abbey,

’ illustrated by Henry O Neill in his admirable work on the ” Crosses of Ancient Ireland .

of z - In mere point si e, then , this pedestal at Machar a kill is unequalled in Scotland, and rarely matched in

Ireland . The direct inference is, that the cross it was t designed to carry must also have been of noble propor ions , standing upon the bare hillside, visible from afar over a wide range of country . The curious thing is , that while there cannot be the shadow of a doubt as to the purpose this pedestal served, not only have all vestiges of the cross

of i itself disappeared , but all memory and tradition t. Its I 9

1033 and th at of others on the same site may very possibly be due to the waves of destruction which swept over th e country

. S o again and again during the Edwardian wars much , then , for dimensions, and the inferences to be drawn from them . — on l . It S ec d y . The style of the pedestal is true that we i have not the very sl ghtest decoration , the smallest trace

’ of the sculptor s art to guide u s on this point but this

a ll own ped estal is eloquent for that in its special way .

When we remember that not only the pedestal, but still more the cross it was designed to bear aloft must have been

a a very import nt work in its time, we may well believe that i the best skill of the period would be employed upon t. Had it been hewn then i n any of the strictly architectural

r a th 1 th ages , say from or 3 century downwards, we would have expected it to have shown a certain amount of

technical or masonic skill . The stages wo uld have been

more or less regularly divided , and their lines of demarcation

dra wn sharp an d true . Now the fact is, that with a f h . o ewm distinct unity of purpose and idea, viz , that g out

lva ri - a ca ed or triple staged monolith , there is combined quite enough of irregularity in the execution to show that its sculptor was unacqua inted with wha t we would call the

use of squa re and level , and that he had his eye and inward

a pu rpose only to g u ide him . This f ct gives a cert ain

antique or primitive air to the relic, due no doubt to the

n fact of its very early origi . It comes before u s as the work of one wh o wished to grasp and express the symbolic

u m m idea , witho t having at co mand those means of echanica l perfection we would expect so important a work to exhibit

if erected during the period mentioned . 2 0

2 — m Fig . . Although much smaller in its di ensions, this also is a very interesting and early pedestal for a cross. It

of is a rough block freestone, with little or no hewing abou t it save what was necessary to excavate the rectangular socket

u s e. which proves undoubtedly its former Besides this, there is on what we may call the face or fron t of the stone a smooth or polished space, on which ha s bee n ca r ved a cross giving u s a clue to the possible age of the stone

P F oR C OSS MA CH R IKILL . EDESTAL R ,

of . itself, and therefore the large upright cross it sustained This small cross is formed by means of a broad line or

off m groove marking the outline, the centre of the ar s being distinguished by a little pit or dot. The stone is broken away at the top, but the foot of the cross shows an

a i mportant ch racteristic, the line bounding the rest of it (as

n n m will be seen from the drawi g) bei g entirely o itted . Now this is in general limited to or most prevalent in very

a early work . It m rks a transition stage, so to speak, in the mode of forming the symbol of the cross . There are two ways in which either this or any other ﬁgur e may be 2 !

n b or i express ed o stone , y incised lines by cutt ng it ou t in t i reli ef. The way h s little cross is fashioned partakes of

The a n d both . bro d li e running round it is certainly incise ,

h s is but t is is not the cros . It the interior space the carver

h as f ou t had in view as such , and le t the line at the foot to show th e cross as it were not inscribed on the stone but

r ﬁr ml u . standing e ect, and y planted in the gro nd This is an extremely favourite mode of so representing the symbol

in the earliest work we know of in Scotland . It occurs frequently on the tombstones in an old and long deserted

Da lri a i a olis - d c buri l ground on the shores of Loch Ca port , d Knap ale, and also carved in the living rock in the Cave

chapel at Cove in the same locality . This feature thus a grees with the early date we have assigned to the larger

r pedestal, st engthening the evidence as to the still earlier

r cha acter of the site .

Mr . o a r C oper, then f mer at Whitehill, states that there

was yet a third stone socketed in a similar manner, but that

now it has unaccountably disappeared . This multiplicity

r a n of c osses on so small a site is cert inly curious, but by o

a a s means unexampled . It my possibly mark the spot a

l r i of place of pi g image, such group ng crosses , in what were

considered sacred spots, being frequent both in Irelan d

u and the Western Highlands, the pec liarity here being the

l in s i niﬁca nce smal ness, or as we may say the g of the site,

of the absence all traces of interment, and the veil of

complete oblivion time has gathered over i t. But who was this sa int who h as given his name to the

? H e spot comes down to u s under a variety of names .

s — Ma ch r i u s Here are ome of them z Machar, a , Mauriti u s, 2 2

Mocu mna . There is a good deal in the history of him that

a u f f is f b lous , as there is in the lives o many others o these — ancient sai n ts such a s the singi n g of angels around his

a cradle in inf ncy, his recalling a younger brother to life by

n a n n n lying beside his dead body, his heali g lepers, d tur i g a wild boar into stone . Yet in the two last particulars the fabulous record sheds a lurid light on some of th e physica l

S o fa r as aspects of our country in those early days . we

th e b r i eﬂ can gather solid facts of his life , they were y

— C H e wa s i n these His father was an Irish hieftain .

u S t. a a str cted by Columb in the Christian Faith , and t ken

h i m h i m n with to Iona, whence Columba sent alo g with ” P i cta vi a twelve companions into , where he was com ma n ded to stay near a river bearing the form of a pastoral hi m crook . There are traces of as far north as Aberdeen

S t. shire, the church and parish of Machar, in Aberdeen

H e m city, being called after him . is said to have built any

n churches, and to have been very successful in extinguishi g

n m . the worship of false gods, and in turni g any to the faith

S t. Then Columba took him to Rome, where he was appointed Bishop of Tours in France, and there we lose f hi m o . A sight him metrical life of by Barbour, who also

- i n wrote a well known metrical life of Bruce, is said to be

m e the University Library, Ca bridg .

The name, which has always been associated with the — — spot we ﬁ n d it in the old map above referred to coupled with the signs of a rude and very early age which the stone

u s m itself presents, leaves little roo to doubt that this old gray stone and the chapel with which it was connected date S t m as far back a s this S t. Machar who came with . Colu ba

TE R C H AP I I I .

R E KING ROBERT THE B UC .

TH E BOUN DS OF TH E P ANCIENT ARISH .

R OU parish was originally much larger tha n it is at present . It incl u ded the greater part of what is now the Parish of i i Barr, and there is reason to believe that the distr ct wh ch

n ow i is the Parish of Girvan also formed part of t. The

ou r situation of ancient church, about a mile from the

- of western and south western extremity the parish , and six h miles from its eastern boundary, and the fact t at parish churches were generally central for the population , indicate pretty clearly that ou r parish originally extended much

- i . further in a westerly and south westerly direct on Again , in the books of the Glasgow Commissary Court an entr y is “ 1 6 Gi rva n ma i ns i n found, of date 39, stating that is the ” parochin of Daillie . Girvan was a separate parish i centuries before that date, but possibly the wr ter was

or either not aware of the change, for some reason preferred m A t to give the na e of the original parish . all events, we have a conﬁ r ma ti on her e of what on other gr ounds is

to extremely probable . Girvan seems have been deta ched

1 from Dailly towards the end of the 3th century . The 2 4 2 5

in a i of in 1 2 ﬁrs t dic t on we have Girvan as a parish is 96, “ ” a when John, the Vic r of Garvan, swore fealty to Edward

’

a i . I. of England (Ch lmers Caledon a) Ailsa Craig should l na tural y have been included in the new parish , but, ” ba bl a s of Knock er ra n pro y it formed part the Barony of g , it was a llowed to remain i n the Parish of Da illy . " Ki r k a mi th I n regard to Barr, d d e, the only chapel in e

u i ncon d is trict havi ng become ruino s, and also being veni ently situ ated for the majority of the people worshipping

l i n of 1 6 2 there , a church was bui t the village Barr in 5 , a date cut in a stone in the eastern wall . That church was taken down when a new place of worship was erected .

iz 1 6 l n v . In the year fo lowi g, , 5 3 , according to Barr Session

i f a Records , Barr was disjo ned rom Dailly and Girv n and

co nstituted a parish .

u — e But to ret rn, Seven hundred y ars ago the entire

r u . H e di s trict was led , under the king, by one Duncan

a i 1 1 86 was cre ted F rst Earl of Carrick in . The Church of

Dalma kera n in all r , was p obability built and endowed by m A t hi . all events, it was handed over by him , with all its

- revenues , to the far famed Monastery of Paisley, and the ﬁ n 1 2 . gran t was co rmed by Alexander I I . in 36 Duncan

r h afte wards, when he must ave been advanced in life, gave

’ e a C i a still strong r evidence of his ttachment to the hurch , t

1 2 not of his piety , by founding , in 44, the Monastery of m ss ra u el. Da l a kera n Cro g The Church of , as was natural,

e r was transf r ed from Paisley to the new monastery . This tr ansference was effected by no less a personage than King i Robert the Bruce, F fth Earl of Carrick, whose name is c t d onnected wi h the istrict by other historical associati ons, 2 6 and the grant was con ﬁ rmed to the C r os s ra gu el monks by I h Robert I I . in a c arter wherein the Chu rch is called

” Da lmu lker a ne Ecclesia Sancti Michaelis de , from which

it appears that it was dedicated to S t. Michael. Besides

r os s r a u el n other revenues, the monks of C g e joyed the tithes

ﬁ ve i z v . of parishes , , Kirkoswald, Dailly, Girvan , Ballantrae ,

. a and Straiton In return of the rental of the Abbey,

m wa s a given in shortly after the Refor ation , it st ted “ that the Church of Da yli e yielded 2 6 0 marks a year 8 s . 1 0 d . n u 1 0 § sterli g, amounting to abo t £ 4 of the

present value of money) . The connection between Da lma ker a n or Dailly and C r os s r a gu el continued till the Reformation year by year the tenants on the Church lands

sending across to the lordly abbot their tithes of corn , wool , m cattle, or sal on, he in his turn sending a chaplain to serve

the cure under his supervision . The abbot and his monks

f a were Benedictines o the Order of Cluny or Cluni censians, of h — a t whic there were four houses in Scotland Iona, l r os s r a u e . Paisley, Fail , and C g The founder of the Order

or lu ni was Odo, Abbot of Cluny, C g , in France, hence the

A t ﬁ r name . s t they were distinguished for their strictness

ﬂ ou ri s h ed and spirituality, but at the period when they in

our neighbourhood they seem to have degenerated . They are said to have become addicted to ostentation and dis

play in their places of worship . Hence they were

n reproached by their rivals , the Cistercians, with havi g

s u er ﬂ u churches immensely high , immoderately long, p ”

sl u . ou y broad, sumptuo sly furnished, and curiously painted And such was the pride of the Order that at one time its “ head laid claim to the title of Abbot of Abbots, a 2 7 clai m which was disallowed by a Council held at Rome in 1 1 1 7 .

KING ROBERT THE B RUC E.

Some of our readers ma y not be aware that among its other claims to honour our parish possesses that of having been at one ti me the residence of Royalty .

Our story begins i n or about the year 1 2 68. The scene

Tu m rr is be y. Travelling thither along the shore from

Girvan one observes that the ancient raised sea beach , the

h s foot of which the road a hitherto been following, has now receded some distance inland, leaving a broad tract

a of level land, a gre t portion of which is now sacred to

a early potatoes . Six hundred years go this tract presented a very different appearance , being richly wooded and

f n af ordi g facilities for the chase, a favourite amusement of the lords and ladies of the day . Towering yonder over

r the t ees , with the rude thatched cottages of dependents nestling around or scattered over the glade, is the lordly

Tu mb err Castle of y, on the brink of a rocky precipice

n n overha gi g the sea, with its walls and turrets the grandeur a n d strength of which the present crumbling ruins, scarcely

. On visible from the land side, but faintly indicate the site of the Castle now stands a lighthouse erected within

a recent years . Str nge and suggestive meeting of the old

— a ﬁ h ti n i n world and the new the old, h rd, rugged , g g, kill g

a age , and the new, with its gentle , helpful , s ving ministries .

la And the tter, built upon and rising out of the former, for

i an d the national l fe character, such as they are, were then “ a n being ba tter ed into shape d use . And if Scotland of s has anything the character of a lighthou e, shedding its kindly, guiding light over the dark waters of the world , we know of one man who fought in and around these

mouldering walls, who did much to lay the foundation . A t the time our story begins the owner of the Ca stle and its domains is a fair lady, the ward of the king, Alex — i z . v . ander, , Marjory, Countess of Carrick She ha d been

married, but while still young had been left a widow. Her

K ilcon ca th Kilcon ch ar o f husband was Adam de , or , Earl f o . Carrick . It was the time the Crusades Many of the Scottish nobles assumed the cross and set out with their

following for Palestine . Among the rest was the Earl of

n . Carrick, but, like so many others, he never lived to retur

Two years after she had been left a widow, the Countess was engaged in a hunting excursion in the neighbou rhood

f m of o the Castle, surrounded by a gay and gallant co pany i ladies and esquires in attendance, when a caval er of noble

h H e and distinguished appearance cantered across her pat .

was a Scottish knight of high birth, Robert de Bruce, son

f or . o Robert de Bruce, Lord Annandale and Cleveland H i e too had been a Crusader, and had ga ned renown in

Palestine, but being a quiet, unambitious man, had returned

to the peaceful enjoyment of his wealth and honours . The

Countess saluted the knight, and courteously invited him

to take part in the sport . Bruce, who was shrewd enough to see the danger of giving offence to the king by paying

too much attention to his ward, declined, when the lady,

giving a signal to her a ttendants to close around him ,

“ oﬁ seized his bridle, and led him by gentle violence to

’ ﬁ fte n i her Castle. Here, after e days residence, the romant c 29

h a dventu r e ended in a ma rri a ge . The relations of neit er h d s pa rty a d been consulte , and, what was worse, the con ent of the ki ng had not bee n asked . Alexander was furious ,

’ a nd seized on the Countes s Castle and estate . Powerful

n frie ds , however , pled for the young couple, and he let them off wi th the payment of a heavy ﬁ ne. And so Bruce

ﬁr s t in right of his wife became Lord of Carrick , and the born of this roman tic ma rriage was the great Robert Bruce, the hero of Scottish independence.

n i The disputes regardi g the Scottish Crown , wh ch began not long after this , at last ended in Bruce the younger

i n being crowned by his few adherents at Scone, the year

0 1 3 6 . The event was soon after followed by the disastrous

’ battle of Methven , when Bruce s little army was surprised a n d cut to pieces before they could make any effective

Ra thli n resistance. The king hims elf found refuge in , on

r m the north coast of Ireland. F o thence, in the spring

1 0 . of 3 7 , he made another attempt to regain his Crown

Crossing over to Arran with three hundred followers , the

n mi ki g, sled by a false signal, landed on the Carrick coast, where he at once found it necessary to retire f or a short H m way into the interior. e entrenched his small ar y,

s ome three hundred strong, on the highest point of the

H a d et a n y Hills , in our parish , comm ndi g an excellent

Tu mb err view of y Castle and the surrounding country . The remains of the entrenchment are still traceable on the

summit , which is popularly known as the Trench Hill .

t Knock r r n h Near the en rance to ge a , and in a eld on

the Opposite side of the road to Barr, there stands an

upright stone which the Messrs . Mackie erected and 3 0

“ i i A ltich a el n nscr bed with the name p . Accordi g to

a tradition , a ch pel of that name stood on the Spot, and the general outlines of it can still be traced , though this is the only stone of the building that remains . Bruce, who was a very devout man , is said to have worshipped

h H a in this c apel while he was encamped on dyet. The spot is about a mile -and -a -half from the Trench Hill and a short d istance behind K nockgerr a n house is a spot

- where, across a small burn , there are a few stepping stones, “ ’ ” th e still designated The King s Ford , and being in direct line between the Trench Hill and A lti ch a pel there seems no reas on to doubt that it was so ca lled becau se f it was used by Bruce on his way to and rom his devotions . We are told by Barbour in his metrical history of Bruce

' that he was in the h a bit of retiring daily for 1572 a to a small copsewood, between which and the camp a ridge intervened . Though no mention is made of a chapel , or of the object for which he Sought privacy, it was probably for devotion , and the description applies to the site of

n ow A lti ch a pel. There is certainly no copsewood there , but we know that the hill country was in former tim es much more wooded than at present . But whether it was here or elsewhere in the neighbour

on a n hood that he retired for privacy , one of these occ sio s there occurred one of those narrow escapes and va lia nt m feats of arms of which there are so any in his history . H e was waylaid by a man belonging to Carrick and his H E two sons . e had been bribed by the nglish , who,

h i s afraid to assail Bruce in fastness, sought his overthrow “ l h ” by s yc t. Bruce was attended only by a page, and

3 2

There is no record or tradition of any other residence in

m f n ancient ti es o the family except the pres ent rui ed Castle, which continued to be their residence till about 2 00 years i ago, so that in all probability the lands thus g fted were in that neighbourhood .

2 We h nd a th e . again a ch rter from King Robert Bruce

1 2 1 0 of r dated 3 4 , years after the Battle Bannockbu n, and

1 86 l another from Robert I I . , dated 3 , granting ands to the

a th ca rts r C of Ca leton . Whether these lands were at

Ki ll ch a n a o or Carleton in Colmonell does not appe r, but there seems to have been a residence at Killocha n as

1 far back as 4 7 7 , although one can scarcely recognise the name under the strange garb which it wears . Hugh

Kilzotta n e h Cathcart of , in t at year, is a witness to a charter in favour of Sir Alan de Cathcart .

Da lma kera n 3. As stated above, the Church of (Dailly) was transferred along with its revenues from Paisley Abbey to the new Abbey of Cr os s ra gu el by King Robert the

Bruce.

H BL E OF Y T E U STONES OLD DAILL . Within the square enclosure attached to the north wall of Old Dailly Church , and which is probably the ancient

m Tr och ra u e and long disused to b of the Boyds of g , lie f two blue stones . For ages they have been used as tests o

difﬁcu lt strength , the y of the lift being increased by the

m . s oothness and roundness of the stones They appear,

however, to have a history and associations which give them stronger claims on our interest . It may not be generally known that one of these stones is referred to as 33

“ a cha rter stone in the notes to Sir Walter Scott ’s ” Lord of the Isles. Sir Walter was indebted for his

- mi Mr . t in for at on to Joseph Train , of Newton Stewar , author of some verses i llus trative of Galloway and Ayrshire

h is i traditi ons, who, at request, travelled in Ayrsh re to collect ma teri als for th e notes to the poem . The note refer red to gives an account of certain bene factions by Ki ng Robert the Bruce in gratitude for havi ng h been cu red of a disease, w ich was supposed to be leprosy,

H e by drinking the waters of a medicinal spring near Ayr .

’ u i n b lt houses rou d the well , which was called King s Case, m for eight lepers, and assigned to the certain yearly

n 2 8 donations, includi g eight bolls of oatmeal and ,

’ to Scotch money, each person , besides straw for the lepers beds and to thatch their houses annually . The note then — “ ’ goes on to say z The Lepers Ch a r ter S tone was a basaltic

’ o f block, exactly the shape a sheep s kidney, and weighing

of r an Ayrshire boll meal . The su face of this stone being a s smooth as glass, there was not any other way of lifting it

n than by tur ing the hollow to the ground , there extending

th e the arms along each side of stone, and clasping the

a h nds in the cavity . Young lads were always considered as deserving to be ranked among men when they could lift the i ’ blue stone of K ng s Case . It always lay beside the well l ! E til a few years ago, when some nglish dragoons encamped

i t n at that place wantonly broke , si ce which the fragments ha ve been kept by the Freemen of Prestwick in a place of s ecu rity . There is one of these Charter Stones at the

i l D ll in v l age of Old ai y, Carrick, which h a s become more

Th e Lo of th e I a u h i n rd sles w s p blis ed 1815 . C 34 celebrated by the following event which happen ed only a very few years a go - The vill a ge of New Da illy being now

of larger than the old place the same name, the inhabitan ts insisted that the Charter Stone should be removed from

e of the old town to the new, but the peopl Old Dailly were m unwilling to part with their ancient right . De ands and

’ on ﬂ t remonstrances were made each side without e ec , till at last man , woman , and child of both villages marched out ,

on e and by desperate engagement put an end to a war, the commencement of which no person then living remem

of bered . Justice and victory , in this instance, being the

old of a same party, the villagers of the town D illy now

’ of enjoy the pleasure keeping the blue stane unmolested .

a r e n n Ideal privileges ofte attached to some of these sto es .

ma n a In Girvan , if a can set his back ag inst one of the

to above description , he is supposed not liable be arrested

n for debt nor can cattle, it is imagi ed, be poinded as long as they are fastened to the same stone . That stones were often used as symbols to denote the right of possessing

u land, before the use of written doc ments became general in Scotland, is, I think , exceedingly probable . The

of a a Charter Stone Inverness is still kept with gre t c re, set i n - o f a frame, and hooped with iron , at the Market place

a that town . It is called by the inh bitants of that district

m a a Clach na Cou ddi n . While the fa ous m rble ch ir

was allowed to remain at Scone, it was considered as the m f ” Charter Stone of the Kingdo o Scotland . The reference here is to the ancient stone in the Royal Palace

n at Scone o which the Kings of Scotland were crowned ,

” i n 1 1 Th e Lord of th e I s l es w a s pu blish ed 8 5 . 35

i f and wh ch wa s trans erred to Westminster Abbey, and now forms part of the Coronation Chair of the Sovereigns of the i Un ted Ki ngdom . Whether there was anything about one

or or other, both , of these two stones of the nature of a Cha r ter or S a nctu a ry Stone cannot be known {or certain but the fact that they were objects of so much contention shows that a more than ordinary value wa s attached to — f them the tradition, no doubt, o something in the remote past . They are sai d to have been originally placed within the f church near the altar, where they would af ord protection m to cri inals who took refuge beside them . Such

a m s nctuaries or asylums for cri inals are very ancient , their origin probably being the old Jewish cities of refuge,

a or the horns of the altar, at which there was s fety for all

u ﬁ n d a m but the wilf l murderer . We th t Greek and Ro an

a a m u temples , especially the lt rs , were someti es sed for the

a a s me purpose . In the early ges of the Christian Church some of the Christian E mperors ga ve this privilege to m certain churches , and bishops and monks i proved upon

m u the idea, extending the li its of asyl m to churchyards

’ and bishops houses as well as to churches . In Scotland many churches enjoyed the right of sa nctuary either from m m popular prestige or fro royal authority , and so e from their superior san ctity were considered to be safer tha n

u r others . O old church a ppears to have been one of

those which possessed that privilege . TE I C H AP R V.

H UNDRED Y EA RS A TH REE GO.

THERE is an old manuscript preserved in the Library of the “ of a E Faculty Advoc tes , dinburgh , entitled a History of i ” K n n ed es . the e I t is without date, but was evi dently

1 written near the beginning of the 7th century . The author m is unknown , but whoever he was he see s to have been intimately connected with the leadin g actors in th e scenes

n n which he describes, and was evide tly a stro g supporter of

a i n the B a rgany f ction the feuds of the period. The manuscript was published with n otes and illustrations by

n W . 1 8 0 . a . S n u s Robert Pitcair , , in 3 I t is v luable as givi g a pict u re of the state of society in Carrick about the time

n a m E n n of the a ccession of our Ki g J es to the glish thro e .

u s It is a very lurid pict re that it presents to u . The

a a history is very painful re ding . The chief fe ture is th e

a Ken nedi es feud between the two great br nches of the , the

s illi s a of a a n d Ea rls of C a s and the E rls Barg ny, it is a

n m dismal record of lawless ess and cri e, of plots and

of ﬁ h ti n s . con spiracies , g g and murders Without going into the question which seems to have

of been the origin , though not the only cause this long

s u fﬁ ce standing feud, the question of primogeniture, it to 36 37 s a y tha t the balance of evidence seems to be in favour of

Bargany bein g the elder branch .

I O F BA GA NY THE OR GIN R .

The following is the old historian ’s account of the origin

f . r of the Bargany amily I f not st ictly accurate, we have h i no ot er reliable h story to put in its place, and at all events it expresses the current belief of the ti me when the history was written .

As far back as the battle of Largs, in which Haco and

a the D nes were defeated , and which was fought in the year

1 2 6 3, a Laird of Dun ure ruled in Carrick from his rocky fastn ess by the sea which he had taken from the Danes . A hu ndred year s later a Laird Ma kta i s e appears U pon the

c of s ene. The Laird of Dunure that day , Sir John

Kennedy, was anxious, according to the custom of the times, to get a sponsor or godfath er for his newly born

Ma kta i s e son , and asked , who consented, and, having no fami ly of his own , adopted the young Kennedy and

h h is i f made i m he r. O that son came the house of Bar gany “ ” s on ﬁ r s t to Friar Hew, a second , was the bring the ” ou of to n h se Bargany their preferme t, and here we beg in to get on to solid historical ground . H e was

n mc o e a desti ed for the of a Friar, but a military c reer was m to i i ore his l k ng than chanting matins and vespers .

i Bla i r u h a n Along with a k ndred spirit, the Laird of q , he

s i cro sed over to France, where he won the favour of K ng

s . b e ﬁ h t i n 1 r Charle VII , whom assisted to g the English 43 , 38 and whom he accompanied on a crusading expedition to

. Oh the Holy Land his return he heard that his brother, th e Laird of Bargany, was dead , whereupon he took leave

of m of the King France, who rewarded him ha ndso ely for

eu r -de- li s his service, and gave him permission to wear the ﬂ on f o . n his coat arms Succeedi g his brother, he was able, b v e m m ans of the treasure he brought fro France, greatly

a i t to extend the est te of Bargany, adding to , among other

of A r ds ti n ch a r u o f acquisitions, the lands , at the mo th the

S ti n ch a r n n , where he built a castle, the prese t rui . If we may judge fromthe nickname given to a grandson of Friar “ ” H ew i v z . m a , , Come with the penny, he see s to h ve followed the example of his grandfather in enriching the estate . Let u s take from the old chron icle a few outstanding events, those more especially the scene of which was partly

o n in our w district.

B A CK KENNEDY L BESSIE .

of B r ou n ne The ruins s to Castle, with which we are so f familiar, give but a faint idea o its extent and grandeur

0 0 A t of 3 years ago . the time our story the Castle was occupied and the surrounding land possessed by a lady, the

’ aunt of Bargany by the father s side, and the aunt of the

of a s s illi s th e E tutor C ( then a rl being in his minority), Sir ’ Thomas Kennedy of Cu lzea n by the mother s side . She was known by the name of Black Bessie Kennedy . She

was so called probably from her complexion, but if black

A t t s h e sh e may have been comely. all even s had

n quarrel, more than anythi g else, was the cause of the

r deadly feud between the two houses , which for many yea s kept Carrick in a turmoil . In the above correspondence there is a side light cast upon the amusements of the times .

a n d It appears that Bargany played at golf, that some time before this he had got his nose smashed by a golf ball on

” di s ﬁ u ra ti on as s illi the hills of Ayr, a g which C s does not hesitate to cast up to him in reply to a still coarser personality . Golf, so fashionable at present, is a very ancient Scottish game . There are traces of it at a much

1 earlier da te . As far back as 45 7 , there is a Scottish

i t n statute prohibiting , o the ground that it discouraged archery .

M DE F DR M HR E THE UR R O UM OC E N .

Our readers will scarcely recognise the well- known name

of D r oma u /z ne under the uncouth spelling the day, q i . The name of the Lairds of Dru mmochr een wa s

l n r M a ca ex a de . The family is now extinct . After the Reformation the greedy Scottish lairds made a grab not only at the Church lands, but at the Church teinds or

— i n l tithes the money, that is, left by pious persons the o d m m ti es, and ade by them payable by their lands for religious purposes within the parish or parishes in which

a they were interested . The lairds would have m de a clean sweep of the entire revenue of the Church but for one man ,

m ﬁ rmn . es s John Knox Thanks to his deter ination and , a — — “ proportion small compared with the whole of the m ” i t patri ony of the Kirk, as he called , was saved, and has 4 1

the r o er t o tire eo le o been ha nded down to u s . It is p p y f p p f

’ r zou ur os es S cotla nd f o r eblg s p p in their several parishes , and

is not to be lightly thrown away by them . The teinds of this pari sh had belonged to the Abbey of

ross ra u el of Cr os s ra u el C g , that is, the Abbot g drew the

n teinds, and in excha ge supplied Christian ordinances to

the par ishioners in their Parish Church at Old Dailly .

f s silli s After the brea k up at the Reformation the Earl o Ca ,

among other acquisitions , had quietly entered into pos sessi on of the teinds payable by the lands of Drum

h n moc ree . The Earl had given a ta ck of the teinds to the ' i ot on e of K n n i s La rd Girvan Main s, who was the e ed e , for “ ” service . That is to say, Girvan Mains was to hold

to himself in rea diness follow the Earl when required, i bringing with him so many horse and men . But the La rd of Girvan Main s had a little ﬁghti ng to do on his own

- account, and wanted service himself, and s o he sub let his

s Ma ca lex a nder f teind to Laird , on condition o receiving hi m service from . This arrangement, however, did not “ ” mmc n H Dr u o hr e . e suit e , who was ane proud man i i wanted to hold the te nds d rect from the Earl, and to transfer hi s service to him from his neighbour at Girvan H . e to th e wh o Mains made this proposal Earl , at once i agreed to t. Thereupon Girvan Mains went to his

a s s illis residence, which was probably at C House, in a

towering passion , to complain of his letting the teinds to ” hi s a in ma n owre his heid, adding that for ony gains he l ” sa l reap by that deed the same sall be but small . Y e dare ” ” ﬁ n d e nocht fault with him , said the Earl , for if y do, he

“ ” ’ s i ni ﬁca ntl we “ added g y, know were ye dwell . A n he 4 2

” a byde by that deed , s id the angry laird , he sall repent of ” m h im l ki t Y e the sa e , do for wha y . dare nought steir h im for your craig . Gang your gait. Girvan Mains left

a h a m the C stle wit two ttendants , and waited for Dru

moch r een a n a t , who had lso bee at the Castle, the Moor ” of C r a i d ow h a a o g be ind knowe, ne r the p int where their

a m m . n Dr u moch reen m u ro ds ho e separated Whe ca e p,

a n a n a h i s without y suspicion of danger, Girv M ins and two “ men u n u a h i m s dde ly r shed upon him , str k with swords

h i m u on the head, and slew . Altho gh his brother and

ma n h i m another were with , they do not seem to have

n a n d struck a blow in his defence . Probably it was ight, m the darkness, and, at the same ti e, the suddenness of the

ma a u A of attack y cco nt for i t . loose cairn stones was afterwards erected by the friends of the murdered man on

the spot where the bloody deed was done . It has been

u n da . kept p , and there it sta ds to this y It is on the

old r a i dow north side of the road leading past the hill of C g ,

of and near the foot the hill .

H F I C T E BATTLE O A LSA RAIG .

We now pass for a little from the history of the Kenn edi es to take notice of a bit of Scottish history belonging to the

of times which we are writing, and of which the above

outlying portion of our parish was the scene . In the en d of the 1 6th century there lived and laboured

in Paisley a minister who was a bold, sturdy specimen of

M H e r . the church militant, . Andrew Knox could wield

the carnal sword as deftly as he could th e spiritual sword, 43 a n d the enemy against whom he waged constant warfa re wa s th e Pope of Rome . There was a great deal of panic

i n abroad Scotland at this time, and that not all groundless,

r about Popish plots . The Ki k was eager to hunt them out and crush them , and there was no man who had a keener scent for such game than the minister of Paisley . Five

ha d years before the time to which we refer, he done good service in unearthing one of these plots . A discovery was

’ z m made, through Queen Eli abeth s a bassador at the

r Scottish Cou t, that George Kerr, a Scottish Catholic

l a gent eman , was secretly passing into Sp in with important H r n . e lette s . A drew was on his track at once managed to get together a body of armed men , traced him to

a C u mb r a es z Gl sgow, thence to the , where he was sei ed thr ough the night immediately after he had got on board the ship that was to carry him to th e continent . Docu ments were found in his possession seriously compromising — s E 1101 . the Popi h Earls Huntly, Angus, , and others Among the rest there were blank papers signed by some “ of them . Hence the plot is known in history as The

” s Spani h Blanks . Kerr was put to the torture and con

a of fessed the conspiracy, the m in branch which was to secu re a footi ng for the invasion of Scotland by a Spanish force .

’ 1 of Ba r a n s H La d la nd In 5 97 , the year g y death , arday of y ,

r in Renfrewshi e, a Catholic baron , with a force of retainers,

e f rtiﬁ s ized and o ed Ai lsa Craig and held it for the Spaniards ,

who had promised to make a descent on that quarter .

Agai n the redoubtable Paisley minister was on the alert.

i his G rding on sword, he set sail for the rock , with a few 44

t equally daring associates , at acked the traitor, and reduced him to such straits that to avoid being taken alive, and probably to avoid compromising other lives by documents

on a s . his person , he rushed into the sea and w drowned History does not record that the gallant services of Knox were acknowledged or rewarded either by the King or the

Kirk . TE V C H AP R .

N F THE COVENA T ERS O DAILLY .

n o r CA MREGA N J OHN mmso .

ABOUT midway between Old Dailly Church and the pres ent

r - a a mr e a n fa m ste ding of C g , on the south side of the road , a n d on a knoll now given up to the plough , there used to stand long ago a small fa rm - house called Midton of

a mre a n m a mr e a n . C g , or si ply C g More recently, and we b elieve within living memory , there was a school on the

- spot, and , later still, the dwelling house of a retired school

s r a ma te n med Gilchrist, who was a great bird fancier, and had a large collection of feathered songsters . Within the

- of farm house was born , lived, and died one the most r ou r emarkable men parish has ever produced, John

H e 1 6 6 d 1 2 Stevenson . was born in 5 , and ied in 7 9 , aged

7 3 . Nearly everything we know about him is from a pamphlet which he wrote in his old age, but which does n ot a appe r to have been published till after he died , as the ti tle m enti ons the date of his dea th . It is in the form of an ad dr ess to his children and grandchildren . There is

“ ”

r e o . a p efac in c mmendation , written by the Rev William

’ s i Cupple , m nister of Kirkoswald . D u ring Stevenson s early 4 5 46

2 th life , up till his s year, Scotland was in the throes of the

n covena nti ng struggle . The oble stand which our fore

ma ma fathers de, ny of them at the cost of their lives, for

u s i the ca se of civil and religious liberty was a soc ated with ,

a ma o m of and was in great e sure the utco e , a great national

n f u ca n awakeni g o spirit al life . No one read the history of these times without seeing that the usually u nemotional Scottish heart wa s stirred with extraordina ry religiou s

a m fervour . The s yings and writings of those ti es show a

- i n high toned spirituality of feeling, such as we these days

f u a mr e a n know nothing o . The yo ng C g farmer was early

u m a brought nder strong religious i pressions, and , after

a u a t a somewh t protracted str ggle, l st gained a strong foot

a n d a ll m hold, through life see s to have lived on a high ,

m a m o . though so ewh t so bre, level of religi us experience H e th rew h imself with eagern ess in the cau se of the A a f m . t Coven nt, and shared in the suf erings of the ti es

of 2 the age 3 he was at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge,

H i n where he had a narrow escape . e was often hiding,

a in h ystacks, in Old Dailly Churchyard , on the hills above ’ f m h his father s ar , and elsew ere, and with gratitude to God

ma he records ny wonderful deliverances .

’ a t on e u Though time q ite common , John Stevenson s Soul stren gthen i n g and comforti n g c ordial is now

h ma n rarely to be met wit . But while as a Dailly John

a m u s u h h Stevenson has a speci l clai upon , the pict re w ic he gives of his life and spiritual experience has a f a r wider

u s a m than a merely local interest . It gives a s ple, so to speak, of the inner life of the Covenanters, and brings ou th e t strikingly wherein their great strength lay . If

48 steadfast in His covenant till death ; after which my — soul was ﬁlled with joy and p eace in believi ng i t wa s

v h a joy unspeakable and glorious, ha ing now got 0pe through grace that though H e was angr y yet now His anger was turned away and H e was now become my ” salvation . When the storm of persecution of the Covenanters had

e s t blown over, John St venson et led down quietly to his

i of farm work, and spent the rema nder his days in peace

of and security in the midst his family, and surrounded

— P en u h a le old by scenes the hillsides, q pp glen, the church yard that were constant and vivid remembra nces not only

ff of of the trials and su erings, but the merciful deliverances

of b yegon e years . Having overcome his scruples in

regard to joining in communion with the restored church , he was on e of the most devout and earnest worshippers

in the old church, and was no doubt a great support to

M r the minister, . Patrick Crawford, to whom he appears

u to have been deeply attached . O the occasion of the discontinuance of the church at Old Dailly as a place o f — worship and the erection of a church at New Dailly not

— r the present on e but its predecessor M . Crawford a n d his Kirk Session resolved to make an addition to the elder ’

ship . Naturally John Stevenson s n ame occurred to

everybody, and along with three others he was made — choice of by the Session the congregation do not appear to have been formally consulted in the election— and their

edicts having been duly served, they were ordained to the

1 6 eldership in May, 95 , when John Stevenson was 39 “ s Ca r letou n years of age . The other were The Laird of , 4 9

l i Dru mla mfor d Dela mford Wi l am Lockhart in ( ), and John ‘ ” H M a vi n a i . e G , D lly died , according to his tombstone,

1 th 1 2 . on 7 March , 7 9 No notice of his death is taken

in the Ses sion records . Old Dailly Churchyard, where “ a m ny a night he lay with pleasure, making a grave his

” pillow , is the Spot where he now sleeps, waiting the A resurrec tion morning . t the head of the grave there are two upright stones alongside of each other of different ages. There is also over the grave, and greatly overgrown i with grass, a th rd stone, rough , unhewn , and unlettered,

n which probably was the original tombstone . O the older of th e two above mentioned is the following inscripti on

H ERE LYES TH E coa ps a OF J OH N

TIVN N W S S O , HO mm) MARCH 1 7

1 2 7 9, AGED 7 3.

In hi s early religious experience there was a great deal

th e i “ ” of what old Puritan d vines would call law work . But as a result of his long and sore “ exercises ” of soul “ a n d he digged deep, the foundation was laid all the

ﬁrma n more d sure. The most outstanding feature in his religi ous character “ ” s . H e r was his prayerfulne s was t uly a man of prayer . “ Fancy hi mconti nuing in prayer for hi s sick wife for the ” most part for forty- eight hours at a stretch ! It was

m n no unco mon thi g for him to spend whole days in prayer.

Imagine hi m with his broad blue bonnet and home - spun

un c - S day oat, with his well thumbed Bible in his pocket D 5 0 o r under his arm , tramping over the hill on the early — morning of a week day to Kirkoswald Church not the

old present, but the church in the graveyard , now a ruin where he would spend a whole day , sometimes tw o or

a a n d three d ys, in prayer meditation , sleeping at the manse , a n d going into the church in the morn ing a bou t sunrising m m and not co ing out till sunsetting, in the longest su mer day !” “ It was my ordinary to set apart one day in the m month for fasting and hu iliation , prayer and meditation , and I found great quiet for it in the church at ” Kirkoswald . How could Stevenson ﬁ n d time for such frequent and prolonged seasons of prayer ? It must be borne in mind that there was not the hurry - scurry in those days that there m is now . There was not the sa e dreadful competition .

’ Life was simpler . People s wants were fewer . While there was need for toil in the class to which John Stevenson

belonged, there was less need for that toil being all

n — i engrossi g . And if covetousness the eager crav ng for — more than people r eally need found a place, as it has

e always don , in human hearts, we may be sure it found no

a a mr a n m place in such a he rt as that of the C eg far er. ” There are no signs in his nature of the choking thorns .

a wor ki n m A man, even g man , ight thus in those days be

to f of able, without harm the worldly wel are himself or

m or fa ily, to take a day more from his work for any object

i n on which his heart was set . And if John Stevenson was m danger of neglecting his far work or his fam ily, he had many texts in his mind fromthe Book he knew and loved

s o well which would be sure to keep hi mright . S I

I N j o rms a u n a or E LD NGS TO .

As John Stevenson survi ved for many years the pe rils of

m a the ti es, he was not a M rtyr in the ordinary sense , but there wer e others belonging to ou r parish who can be ” class ed among the noble army, having sealed their f test imony with thei r blood . The name o one of these stands at the h ead of this paper .

Let os ﬁrs t take a glance at the times . It was the year

8 of i 1 6 5 . The night persecut on was now at its darkest .

Wh at with the Privy Council in Edinburgh , with its

' ﬁ ol Gr a s s ma rket bloody sca d in the , with its boots and thumbscrew, and Graham of Claverhouse and his dragoons galloping up and down in the west country shooting and ﬁ ld captu ring them , and with no hope now of taking the e i against the r Oppressors , the Covenanters were in an evil plight and might well say, We are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

1 6 8 I n the month of May, 4 , a Royal Proclamation had been issued with a roll of nearly persons, who are “ descr ibed as fugitives from law, and denouncing pains and penalties against them as “ rebellious and unnatural

” ’ W od r subjects . This proscription roll is given in ow s

1 of History . There are on it 3 names persons belonging

ou r vi z Ma cla r ch a n to parish , , son to Andrew

M a cla rch a n ofﬁcer B a r en , in g y (his Christian name is

m i H a not ent oned . e is prob bly the same person as th e

‘ M r a w Thos . Lo g n who as buried in the same grave as John

in il Semple Old Da ly Churchyard, and who was shot,

r i to in a i w D acco d ng the scription, uncert n by hom 5 avid 5 2

G Kennedy, son to John Kennedy , in urrow (Curragh) of

B a r en m Eldi n s ton g y ; John Se ple, in e ; John Stevenson,

C a mb r e a n a younger, in g 5 Thom s German there 5 Thomas

Ma ccu bi n Ma ca lex a n d r , in Blair ; John e , younger of

Dr u mmoch r i n m a , forfeited 5 Gilbert Ger an , we ver, in

Dr u mmoch r i n m Dru mmoch r i n ; Hugh Purdin , iller, in ;

Dr u milla n Ma cIlra i th John Bryce, in ; John , in Farden 5

Ma cLea n Dobi s ton Ma ckski mmi n John , in ; Thomas g, in

A u ch i ch n e t. f Dr . Cunningham in his History of the Church o Scot land says of this period that “ i t was the most melancholy

f n period in the history o the Church . The fur ace into which the children of the Coven a nt were to be cast wa s

m wa s f i heated seven ti es . No one safe rom the v olence

of of a brutalised soldiery . Their form process was very m l si ple and very brief. A few questions genera ly decided their verdict . Do you think the slaughter of the Arch bishop (Sharp) was murder ? Was the rising at Bothwell rebellion ? Will you take the Test Oath ? Will you take the Abjuration Oath ? Will you pray for the King ? The peasantry were generally too conscientious to tell a lie,

u t often too scrup lous to take an oath , and some imes too simple to understa nd the meaning of th e questions which were put 5 and the answers which they gave determined whether they were to live or die . Sentence being pro

d ﬁ le i n ou n ce , a of soldiers with loaded carbines carr ed it m into instant execution . The victi was asked to draw his

a bonnet over his eyes, and the next moment he fell de d or dying to the ground . Thus many were shot by the wayside ” ﬁ l s . in the e d , at their own door 5 3

r 5 10 H a d et Two hund ed years ago, on the lower pes of y , there stood on the bank of a burn that whimples through l a ittle glen overhung with oaks and alders, and at a distance of about two hundred yards to the south of where — Maxwelton farm house now stands a humble bigging

l i n ﬁ eld a E s t n Eld n to . c lled di ng o , or g The in which it ” o Eldi n s ton stood used to g by the name of g Park , but “ ” it is also called the Dam Park. There are now no

ﬁeld traces of the house, but when the was ploughed many

r yea s ago , cinders and other indications of a human A t dwelling were turned up on the spot . the time we

of speak , the house and the small farm attached were

H e wa s tenanted by John Semple. married, and had a family of young chi ldren . John had cast in his lot with h the Covenanters . When the Sabbat day came round his steps were directed, not to the Parish Church at Old

Dailly to worship under the Rev. Thomas Skinner, the E piscopal minister, but to the neighbouring hill, where, on “ S a u chh i ll what is called the , there was a regular con

” venti cle , probably of wood and turf. And when any of the outed ministers were to preach in the dining- room of

’ Ki llocha n ra i dow Castle, or on C g Hill , John s broad bonnet was to be seen among the crowd that gathered from far H . e and near and his wife were a kindly, hospitable “ of couple, though their means were humble . Many the ” s f ti n cha r uf erers from the water of S , or from the more w distant ilds of Galloway, knew the track over the brow of

H a d et E ldi n s ton y or round the Camphill which led to g , where they were sure of a warm welcome and a friendly

ra c ck by the ingle about the common cause . John was S 4

f H e otherwise a quiet and inof ensive man . does not appea r to h a ve gone with John Stevenson to Bothwell

Bridge . H e seems never to have been accused of having

. s borne arms Still, from his hospitality to the per ecuted a n d r his frequenting conventicles, he became a ma ked m “ m man , and his na e had appeared in the Procla ation

of i i 8 u t ves 1 6 . and List F g , published in May, 4 Knowing that Cornet Douglas and his soldiers were hunting for

Covenanters in the district, and hearing of their bloody doings elsewhere, John must have known that his life hung

of by a slender thread . But it was as much the thought his wife and bairns a s of himself that made him lie awake

or a n a at night, start, f ncyi g that he he rd in the croon of the

r burn o the rustle of the trees the steps of the red coats .

of a er u s s on The then laird Kilkerran , Alex nder F g , who

M oor s ton at that time appears to have had his residence at ,

' and who was married to a daughter of the Bishop ot

o th e . Galloway, was unfav urable to cause of the Covenant

1 68 One day, it was in the month of April , 5 , he betook

m Bla i r u h a n a m hi self to q Castle, and l id infor ation against m John Se ple before Lieutenant Dundas, then in command

of the garrison stationed there .

of m A party of soldiers, under the orders Co et Douglas,

n was dispatched about sunset, Alexander Fergusson bei g

H ﬁ r t their guide . e s conducted them to his own house at

M oor s ton , where he entertained them hospitably to supper.

Starting about the middle of the night, when they thought

i n their victim was sure to be at home, the course of half

Eldi n s ton m an hour they were at g , and i mediately sur l rounded the house . Semple, with an ear habitual y

5 6

covers their grave . And at the head of the grave , in the

1 8 2 i year 5 , there was erected by public subscript on a m “ ’ ” memorial obelisk, someti es called The Martyrs Stone,

of old n containing a copy the inscriptio , which is as follows Here lies the corpse of John Semple, who was shot by Kilkerran at comman d of Cornet Ja mes

‘ M lor a n Douglas ; also, here lies Thomas C g , who was shot (uncertain by whom), for their adherence to the

Word of God and the covenanted work of Reformation , The inscription does not q u ite agree with

’ W r ow s m od account, which states that Se ple was shot by

of a number pieces discharged simultaneously, and it seems a very unlikely thing that the Laird of Kilkerran should have been under the orders of a Cornet or

Lieutenant like a common soldier . The probability is that there is a little exaggeration in the inscription . The

i n friends of the Martyrs, their natural indignation at s u ch

a m m a n crimes, were e ger to pillory so ebody for the , d perhaps put upon the stones they erected over their graves the names of persons as their murderers who had only m been act and part, and this they did the ore readily if these persons had otherwise incurred odium from their hostility to the cause .

GE R E O G MARTIN .

Two hundred years ago what we now call Old Dailly

of A t was the centre of the population the parish . New

Milca vi s h Dailly, then called , there was a corn mill with

r a house for the miller and one o two other houses . But 5 7

Old Dailly, which was then simply called Dailly, was the

main centre of the population . When the Parish Church

1 6 0 11m! was removed in 9 to New Dailly, gradually became

t o l the cen re of the p pu ation , as it is the centre of the

parish locally, and Old Dailly began to fall into decay .

But, at the time we refer to, it was a place of some

u on P en u h a le importance, sit ated the q pp burn at the point where the public road crossed the burn by a bridge, the remains of which may still be seen . There, em bosomed among trees, stood the Parish Church , even then

two hoary with antiquity, with its belfry towers , the eastern surmounted by a cross and surrounded by its old church yard . And further down the burn , on the opposite side of the road , was the modest and unpretentious manse . We may pictur e to ourselves the village as standing on both — — sides of the road the old road and composed of rows

r or cluste s of thatch houses, with an inn , a smithy, a

’ ’ wright s shop, the school and schoolmaster s house, and

the usual village population .

m r file One of the most i po tant, if not most important,

m of man in the village at the ti e we are speaking , and a

man held in honour not only for his position , but for his

Christian character, was George Martin , the schoolmaster .

ofﬁces In addition to teaching , he held other two , those “ ” . ft of reidar and notar A er the Reformation , when there

was difﬁcu lt a y in supplying parishes with regular ministers, “ " “ m readers , corresponding very much to our lay ission ” aries, were appointed ; and it is remarkable, as showing

the importance of our parish in those days , that , while

u neighbo ring parishes were only supplied with readers , 5 8

d i Dailly had both a minister and a rea er . Whether th s arrangement continued without interru ption down to the

h ot times we refer to we do know, but it appears that at m this time there was a reader as well as a inister, and m th . George Martin held the o ee . The inister was the Rev

u . Thomas Skinner, whose p lpit Bible is still in existence h im We know very little about , but he seems to have been “ one of those Episcopal curates who were called dumb ” o dogs that could not bark, rather than g to hear whom many of our forefathers were ready to lay down their lives on the hillside or on the scaffold . It seems likely, there

- fore, that the well known learning and piety of the school

n master, who was a true son of the Cove ant, were taken i advantage of by the Covenanting par shioners, and that,

at the risk of his life, he conducted service for their b en eﬁt in the wooden conventicle on the neighbouring

of Sauch Hill, unless when John Welsh, or some other

the outed ministers, was at hand . i In addition to his other duties, Mart n found time to “ ” or . H e discharge the duties of a nota r, notary was a “ ” kind of country lawyer, and though his practice could

not be very great, the mere fact of its being worth while for a man to practice as a notary in Old Dailly shows that

the village was at this time, and probably had long been, a place of importance with a larger population than

or gathered in most country villages . Whether not we i t i t ” can call , as some have called , a borough , it might

perhaps deserve the name of a town . Nearly everything we know of George Martin is deri ved

from the brief account of his trial in the Justiciary records, S 9

“ a nd his dying tes timony contained in The Cloud of — Witnes ses a work which contains the dying testimonies

of of many of the martyrs the Covenant, and which was

ﬁr s t in 1 1 published 7 4, though the materials were in

r n b . p eparation for ma y years efore that We get, however,

s f a glimp e, but it is only a glimpse, o him in the pages of

W r w od o some years previous to his apprehension , as — — follows z The then proprietor of Bargan y Lord Barga ny

— of H e wa s was favourable to the cause the Covenant . “ ” one of those Westla nd gentr y who stoutly refused to

on sign the bond, e object of which was to root out

H e on i conventicles . was very friendly terms with Mart n ,

S a u chhi ll and if he did not worship at the , he is known to have sent encouraging letters by the hands of a servant

r to the cong egation worshipping there, as appears from the indictment on th e occasion of his trial It also appears fromthe same source that he had oral or written com mu nica ti on s of a ver y compromising nature with George w Martin , which someho had leaked out, we may believe,

' u — h thro gh no fault of Martin to the c eet that they, the

r Covenante s , would never succeed so long as the Duke

u — — of La derdale the President of the Council was alive, and that a hundred men could do more by assaulting him

Leth i n ton e in his house at g than all they could do b side.

1 6 of In 7 9 , the year the battle of Bothwell Bridge , t Mar in was apprehended . We know that after the battle Claverhouse and his dragoons were in this district making

prisoners of those who had been , or who were, suspected i of be ng at Bothwell Bridge, and who refused to accept of

th e a n indemnity , thumbscrews d lighted matches between 60 the ﬁ nger s being used by them as instruments of torture to

a e elicit evidence . Although it does not appe r that G orge

a a th e M rtin was at the b ttle, still his connection with

a a ma n a n d conventicle rendered him m rked , he was

. of apprehended Along with a batch other prisoners, he

E a was sent to dinburgh , and he was ctually kept in prison — — we do not know where for four yea rs and four months without a trial . During this long period he was occasion

n ﬁ r e. ally in irons night and day, and during wi ter without

The marvel is that he survived to be at last tried .

on The record of his trial , as it stands the Justiciary

1 1 th 1 68 . a books, is dated February, 3 Being interrog ted

u a nd l i f he owns the King to be lawf l King, wi l pray for h i m him , declares he will not say he disowns , but owns all

H e lawful authority according to the Word of God . will not answer whether Bothwell Bridge be rebellion, but says if it was a rebellion against God, it was rebellion ; if not,

H e . it was not rebellion . will not subscribe Being

’ interrogated if the late King s death was murder, declares they that did it had more skill than he 5 refuses to call it murder, and says he does not think it pertinent to give a

” declaration anent i t.

n of O the sole ground these answers, and without the i examination of a single witness, George Mart n was sentenced to be hanged . On the 2 2 n d of February he was led forth to the scaff old

r ss ma rket of a in the G a . The picture him on the last d y of his life which his dying address gives u s is that of a ma n

a m u for Gr a s s ma r ket a n c l and peacef l , whom the d its ’ — s ca ﬁ old have no terrors grieved only about the sins of the 6 1

" H . e d world and the Church refuse his life, being an ” i old engra ned Whig, says the chronicler, Fountainhall , wi th a sneer (the name Whig being the contemptuous epithet given to the Covenanters in those days by their

n . e emies) But there was something else . something i deeper and nobler than Wh ggism , engrained into the soul l of the Dail y s choolmaster .

D J OHN LOR BARGANY.

We have already mentioned the name of John Lord i Bargany in our account of George Mart n , the schoolmaster . Although not so closely identi ﬁed with the Covenanting

o struggle as th se whose names we have recorded, his conn ec tion with it was such that our sketches under the above headin g would not be complete without some reference to him . It was he who bui lt the present mansion house of

a - B rgany, with the exception of the drawing room wing,

i . wh ch is a later addition The old house, in wh ich he

l M r ived the greater part of his life, is thus described by .

A ber cru mmi e a William , Episcop l minister of Maybole, ” who wr ote a Description of Carrick 2 00 years ago “ to B ru ns town e in of Next , the midst a forest rather

a than wood, stands , in a low ground ne r the brink of the

Ba r en river, the old castle of g y, on the south syde of Girvan ; which is ane argument of the sometime gr ea tn es s e

of that family, being a budge great lofty tower in the center of a qu adrangular cour t that had on each of three corners

” t n l - i r ( our y e we l bu lt towe s of freestone, story high . 6 2

H e ﬁ r s t u s 1 6 8 m comes before in 7 , as one of the noble en and gentlemen in Ayrshire who stoutly refu sed to sign the “ Bond ” by which those signing became responsible for

“ ” their tenants keeping clear of the rebels, and became bound under pains and penalties to have themselves no intercourse with them , to have no connection with

n d o conve ticles, and , generally, to all in their power to

a ou t m st mp the movement . A ong others in Ayrshire who

a of a s si lli s refused were the E rls C and Loudoun , the Lords

Montgomery, Cochran , and Cathcart . They were de “ ’ ” n ou n ced as King s rebels, and from that day Lord B a rgany could not but feel that the sword was hangi ng

over his head . Later on his courage and constancy to the Oppressed f cause were put to a further test . A host o men ,

r u m of whom were Highlanders , ude caterans acc sto ed

n to plunder and murder, were sent i to the Western

e ma counties to crush the Pr sbyterians . We y note in passing that the Gaelic spoken by these men was qu ite

understood, perhaps too well understood, by the people of

v h u Ayrshire and Galloway, an e idence t at the Celtic lang age

on e which at time prevailed in the West, and which still

s survives in names of place , had not at that time become

m n extinct . A com ittee of the Privy Council accompa ied

m of the host, to point out to the the victims oppression . The atrocities committed by the soldiers are almost

a incredible . A gener l feeling of indignation was aroused even among m a ny who were not in full sympathy with the h w Covenant, and w en Bargany was ordered to meet ith others who were appointed by the Council Commissioners

It appears, however, that the witnesses could not be

a induced to come forward, notwithst nding the bribe held ou t to them of a sh a re of the fair lands of Bargan y in the event of the charge being found proven and the esta te con

ﬁ s c In a ted . consequence the trial had to be postponed m “ day after day . As the day ca e the witnesses could not m bring the selves to swear against the innocent man , and i t ” plainly refused to do .

a Bargany now appe led to the king, and His Majesty h ’ was induced to stop the process against im. The king s letter bears that he had received a petition from the Lord

’ Bargany representing his father s (the ﬁ r s t Lord Barga ny)

ff of loyalty and su erings, asserting his innocence the crimes he is indicted for and attesting God thereupon , and His Majesty requires him to be liberate under s u fﬁ ci en t caution to appear in order to tri al if hereafter s u fﬁ ci ent proof of hi s ” r d guilt be found . Accordingly by an order dated 3 June,

1 6 80 , the Council command the Governor of the Castle of hi m Edinburgh to set at liberty .

After he was set at liberty, he obtained proofs of the

a h im 1 68 1 conspir cy against , and he was quite prepared in

h i s to produce evidence before Parliament, but, as the

investigation was going to implicate persons of high rank,

the Duke of York interposed to stop further proceedings .

n m But he had another task o hand during the sa e year . When he exchanged the prison cells of Blackness and

Edinburgh for the free air of his own beautiful Bargany, he completed the building of the n ew house which had

probably been begu n before his imprisonment . The ’ — “ following is A b er cr u mmi e s descri ption of i t The new 65

i house lat ely bu lt, after the modern fashion , stands upon a

r hi gher gr ou nd southwa d of the Old Castle, which fu rnished

o u i ﬁ n i s hi n of ma terials b th for fo nd ng and g the new house .

It is a mighty commodious house, and if any make a grea ter show and appearance, yet it has the advantage of

r i va n ce them for oont and accom modation . It is ﬂanked w to the south ith gardens very pretty , and has orchards i t ” lyi ng westward of . Bargan y appears now to have thoroughly made his peace with the Government, for not only was he released from ” his bond of compearance, but three years afterwards, or 68 i ’ in 1 4 , he was appointed one of the K ng s Commissioners in Ayrshire, acting under instructions to proceed against the Covenanters. But if he turned against his former

u friends, he helped afterwards to sec re for the nation the

r s u ﬁer i n s 1 68 fruit of thei struggles and g , for in 9 he threw l himse f heartily into the cause of the Revolution , and raised in i ts service a force of 4 00 foot . That is the last

H e 2 h m . t 1 6 gli pse we get of him died on 5 May, 93 .

The title of Lord Bargany has long been extinct . The

s on 2 8th 1 6 la t Lord Bargany died young March , 7 3 , and

r i n r . H was bu ied Holy ood Abbey, Edinburgh e appears

a e to h ve b en a man of great accomplishments . A poet of

da l of the y, Hami ton Bangor, speaks of him as

K n Ba r a n fa h fu to h i s o i d g y, it l w rd ,

h omH ea en ma e ood a nd oc a h ou h a o W v d g s i l t g l rd ,

Th e c t e a n u a m i i s viewed of ma ny l g ged en. 6 6

H I OF DRU MMO H RE E N T E LA RD C .

on About a mile above the village, the north bank of the river, and near the present march between Kilkerran and

Da l u h a r r a n of q , there stood at the time we are writing , the

f Dr u mmoch r een oth i n fair mansion o . N g now remains but

of - i a plain bit ivy clad wall with a small window in t. The ground beside it has been kept sacred from the plough , and m to the north are a nu ber of ancient trees, beeches, Scotch

ﬁ r s of m and planes , some the indicating the approach ,

m a which see s to have been from th t side . We are fortuna te in having a description of the house and its immedi a te — surroundi n gs as they appeared 2 00 years a go a t or abou t m — h t e . M r the ti e of the persecution from the pen of Rev .

A b er cr u mmi e h , the Maybole curate, from w om we have

. H e th e n formerly quoted waxes quite eloquent over sce e . “ m ” H e n . Th e describes it as a ost lovely thi g house, h m t ough not showy, was most convenient and com odious , ” h ﬁ t to lodge the owners and his neighbou rs . T ere were

. a n extensive outhouses There were gardens, orchards, d

ﬁ s h m m ponds with all sorts of , a waulk ill , a corn ill , and

a n d m ff th e n artisans trades en of di erent sorts, so that ba ks of v n ow n 2 the ri er at this spot, so sile t and deserted, 0 0 years ago presented a scene of busy life and industry . We cannot help thi n king there was a qu iet sneer under

’ the curate s words when he spoke of the Laird a s havi ng a house that cou ld not only lodge himself but his ” — neighbours . For it was a fact that the Laird John — Ma ca lex a nder was given to hospitality towards the 6 7

pers ecuted Covenanters, and he was specially charged with i “ havi ng harbo u red outed m nisters , and when the High land host wa s sen t i nto the West in 1 6 7 8 to overawe and i t . crus h the Covenanters, he had to pay dearly for In

800 tha t year th e Laird of Glenlyon, at the head of High

la nders, had been let loose upon the Parish of Straiton .

There was one man who welcomed the invasion , and that

was the c u rate of Kirkoswald . Many of the curates mi d re a ne quiet, and took no active part in the persecution ,

and the Dailly curate , the Rev . Thomas Skinner, was one of these 5 but others gave information , and generally made themselves active tools in the hands of the enemies

n a r ti u of the Covena t. The curate of Kirkoswald was p c

r la ly zealous . No sooner did the troops enter Ayrshire

m ofﬁ cer than he went to the com anding , and prevailed on him to send a detachment to Kirkoswald 5 and it was by

his information that quarters were ordered, and many

u houses, whose owners had inc rred the wrath of this

' s u ﬂ er er s meek apostle by harbouring the in any way,

ha d some of these wild , rude caterans from the hills ” billetted on them at free quarters . John Ma ca lex a n der

was one of these, and for a time the accommodation and resources of his establishment were strained to the

n . , i utmost And besides g vi g free quarters to the soldiers,

and submitting to all their rudeness, he had to pay a

ﬁ n f e o 80 pounds Scots .

The punishment, however, does not seem to have taken

f in a 1 much ef ect the way of a w rning . I n 67 9 was fought

the battle of Bothwell Bridge, so disastrous to the cause of

. s or the Covenant Tho e who had bee n there, who were 68

suspected of having been there , were proceeded against with the utmost rigour. A number of Ayrshi re lairds

on e of m of were indicted, and John was the . None them

n seemed to have a swered the indictment, and they were “ ” all forfeited , and , when taken , ordained to be executed W a s . odr ow traitors , the historian , adds that from the papers connected with the case which he saw, it was by no means proved that Ma ca lex a n der wa s a t Bothwell

Bridge . Still he seems to have thought it safer not to trust himself to a trial , and continued in hiding. How he managed to esca pe history does not tell . For years

m 1 68 the sword see ed to have hung over his head, as in 4 “ ” of his name appears in the List Fugitives, that is

or hose who had been at Bothwell, had harboured or

a n resetted any who had been there, to be proceeded gai st

a th e or h as traitors, if they f iled to take bond test wit in

m u a certain time . After his na e occurs the omino s ” Dru mmoch r een word forfeited . Besides the Laird, has

of a vi z the honour giving other two n mes to the list, . ,

m a u u ml Gilbert Ger an , the we ver, and H gh P rdin, the i ler,

h a d m u who, if they not been at the battle the selves , co ld tell if they ch ose something about the secret wherea bouts of some who had been or were suspected of having been

there.

I OF DRUMME LLA N QU NTIN KENNEDY .

Dr u mb u r le Just opposite , a little higher up the river, h on the south side, there stood in t ose days another

m - Dr u mmella n o ansion house called , belonging t a branch 69

n i of the Ken ed es. A portion of the house, which some

ﬁ r e time previously had been destroyed by , was in existence at the beginning of the century, but the property

a having passed into the hands of Kilkerr n , the stones were removed to build wings to the present house . A t the time of the persecution the Laird was Quintin Kennedy

P nkill H who was married to Jean Boyd of e . e was a soldier, and had been appointed one of the Commissioners for ordering the militia of Carrick , and , at the same time , was capta in of a troop of dragoons . In that position the Royalist party naturally expected him to join in the i ra d against the Presbyterians . But he stoutly refused, and although there was a standing feud between him

Dr mmo h r en - and his neighbour at u c e about a mill dam , concerning which there had been a “ gude ganging

” law plea, he refused to follow the example of others who took advanta ge of the times to gratify their private l ma ice . One at least of his people was suspected, and “ a on of his name, John Bryce, ppears the black List ” o Fugitives above referred to . S anxious were the

’ Roya lists to gain Dru mmella n s valuable aid in crushing the Covenanters, that he was waited upon by two of

vi z. them , both personal friends of his own , , Sir Archibald

u lzea n Kennedy of C , and the other no less a personage “ ” la ver se than Graham of Claverhouse, the bloody C , the

- h arch enemy of the Covenant, at whose door lay so muc

’ ’ of the Covenanters blood . The Laird s reply to their

c soli itations must have made Claverhouse wince . No “ i n ﬁeld he said proudly, I will serve the k g in the , but I

” will not be his executioner . C C ONVENTI LES .

Th a 1 0 ha e ye r 66 was a d a rk ye a r for Scotland . In t t

a year occurred the restoration of Ch a rles I I . Episcop cy

wa s m once ore in the ascendant . The Covenant was

declared treasonable, and ministers who would not acknowledge the authority of the bishops were forced to ” ﬁll a resign their livings . Their places were ed by Cur tes ,

- a for the most part ill educated , and many of them immor l

in their lives . Many of the outed ministers who had left their manses had not left their parishes, and continued to preach , m though no longer in the Parish Church . Many of the travelled about the country preaching wherever they had

u a m an opport nity . The people ﬂ ocked to he r fro their h lips the gospel which persecution o n ly made dearer to t em .

“ ” a m m These g therings were called conventicles . So eti es they were held in the halls of mansion houses where the

m n laird was favourable to the Covenant, so etimes in bar s

u f or in rude b ildings o timber and turf, but latterly they were most frequently held in the Open air on a hillside or i n some sequestered spot among th e hills surrounded by h eights on which sentries could be posted to gi ve wa rning

of m of the approach the dragoons . Someti es these con

n i cles a ve t l sted for several days, many of the people sleeping in their pl a ids in some sh eltered nook or cave . As might have been expected in such a covenanting

ou r district as this, there were many such gatherings in parish and the immediate neighbourhood . We know of

7 2

building as well as to the people . There are no traces of it now, and not even tradition can tell where it stood .

n Thither, especially when the ews spread that John Welsh or some of the more famous hill preachers had come to the district, the people ﬂocked from far and near,

a of shepherds from the hills, f rmers from the water

S ti n ch a r or ﬁ s h er Assil, folk from Girvan and along the shore, and a sprinkling from the Castle as well as the

a cottage, the men in their blue bonnets and pl ids and

- hodden gray, the women in home spun shawls and hoods, mothers leading their children or carrying babies to be baptized . We have reason to believe that the S a u chh ill Conventicle was at times something more than a meeting for worship and hearing a sermon . The conventicle appears sometimes i to have become a conference or convention , at wh ch t communications were received and read , and mat ers ff A t di s cussed a ecting the common cause . these meetings

George Martin , the schoolmaster, the martyr of the

r a s s ma rket G , seems to have been prominent, perhaps at times presiding . It will be recollected that it was at one of these S a u chhill Conventions that the compromising

of letter from John Earl Bargany was read, which formed one of the charges against him at his trial .

h eb r u a r 1 6 8 Ou 7 t F y, 7 , at the time when the Highland host was ravaging the district as if it were a conquered

t of country, a meeting of the Commi tee Privy Council was held at Ayr . Though not a member of council,

illi s the E arl of Ca s s , as Bailie Principal of Carrick, was

ﬁ r s t present . One of the things brought before them was 7 3

“ n e i the existe c of two meet ng houses in Carrick , that hi ll on S a u ch and another, the locality of which is not “ a s s illis known . C was at once ordained to raze them to

r the ground or to dest oy or burn them , and to make a strict and exact inquiry into the persons who built them or had been actors and abettors thereof, and whose ground ” they were built ou . Some time before this the committee had issued an order for all persons to give up their ar ms, noblemen a nd gentlemen of quality having license to wear

a s s illi s swords only, and C was enjoined to carry out this order from which he himself was not exemp t . When he received this further order from the council he natura lly demurred in his comparatively defenceless position, and urged that at least he should be allowed a force of soldiers

n of or the assista ce of some the neighbouring gentlemen . t Thi s was refused. Would they allow him then o have some of his own arms back , in case a rabble of the country people or a tumultuary crowd were it but of women in defence of their meeting houses might hinder ” or affront him . But neither would this be allowed . The Earl was going on to make further remonstrances when

of of own one of the members committee, a friend his , whispered in his ear that there was but a hair ’s breadth between him and imprisonment if he made any further

c l diﬂi u ty. A glance at the stern faces around the council

conﬁrmed n table the war ing, and the Earl bowed a silent acquiescence . But we have not heard the last of the S a u chh ill Con

nticl i ve e . The Earl must have had personal enem es on the

n Com mittee of Council, as they seemed bent on drivi g him 7 4

h H e ha d furt er and further to the wall . reported that he

m m z m de olished the eeting houses , and ra ed the to the

ground . It was true it had been done, but not that he

e i t had don . But my Lords were not s a ti s ﬁ ed They

hi m r n issued a new warrant, co mmanding to b i g back the cut timber of the meeting houses to the same place where they were built and to cause cut it in pieces and there to ” burn the same to ashes, which accordingly he caused to be done .

’ T E H LANE S CONVENTI CLE .

About 1 0 0 yards on the left hand side of the road to

Barr , near the Old Lanes Toll, and at the point where the

ti n ch a r a n road begins to wind down toward the S , st ds an ’ ” n u upright dark grey granite boulder ca lled P e de s p lpit .

ﬁ ve n a It is feet six i ches broad at the b se, two

ﬁ ve a n ﬁ ve feet inches in thickness, d feet six inches

a in height . It is in appearance a sort of irregul r

n pyramid . O the top , which slopes towards the

a of south , hole is drilled in the stone to the depth

- an inch and one third in diameter . There are also two depressions cut in the stone near this hole, and altogether

x i n a these may have been designed for ﬁ g a bookbo rd . The slope of the bookboard bei ng towards the south wou ld

th e on wa s enable preacher, the supposition that the stone

u sed for a pulpit, to have his back to the sun , and he would have the prevailing wind in his favour for carryi ng the sound to the congregation scattered over the knolls and

f n of ridges in front o him . O the south side the stone 7 S

lies a ﬂa t irregular slab about a foot in thickness , on which

’ P eden s the mi nister is supposed to have stood. pulpit,

Kn ock er ra n r e- which is on the estate of g , was inspected by

a Mr . the l te Daniel Mackie, whose antiquarian tastes and k nowledge are well known, and it is to him that we are

da t indebted for the above description . In examining the slab Mr . Mackie was surprised to notice what had escaped

o r a n s h observati n befo e, traces of incised Latin cro s, t at is the cross with the upright longer than the tran sverse . This of course carries u s to an age away beyond Peden and the Covenan ters. It evidently belongs to Roman Catholic m times . Could there have been a s all chapel on the spot ?

s u s . It is needles for to speculate further There it lies , with its secret too well guarded . And yet it tells a tale .

a a Long ages ago, in the primev l times, th t big boulder had its home in the granite rocks above what is now Loch

Doon . It was the time when perpetual snow covered our l mountains and ice ﬁ l ed ou r valleys . One day it fell h crashing upon the glacier below, w ich gradually and slowly worki n g its way towards the sea brought it down to

o fu lﬁl where it now lies, and left it there t its future w mission . It as the time when on the other side of the ridge to the north , and in the hollow through which the P en u h a le mor a i ne q pp ﬂows in its upper reaches, a big or

’ ka rme was l h deposited a so throug glacial agency . That is the ﬁrs t chapter in the story which this book of stone

. Th e u s tells second presents with a picture, though dim

' z i m and ha y, o a ti e when another winter reigned on ou r — hillsides and valleys the winter of reli gious formalism and

t — n supers ition yet not altogether barren a d desolate. It 7 6 — is the age of crosses and other symbolisms oi outward

forms and ceremonies . And now the third chapter opens . A grave and solemn ma n with bared head and hair ﬂ owi ng

z in the bree e stands beside that stone . Before and around

is a great gathering of earnest worshippers . Sentries have been posted on A u ch en s ou l Hill and the other heights

u around . The Psalm has been s ng and carried far on the

z — a n bree e . The prayer earnest wrestling with God i n which the woes of Scotland and her persecuted Church are

— ff a n d th en m not forgotten has been o ered , follows the ser on , earnest and homely, with a strong evangelical ring, rousing and startling in its appeals . Verily this is a new era which the third chapter of the

u stoney book brings before s . The Covenanting minister

on standing with his foot the symbolical cross is emblematic . Romish and Episcopal symbolisms and ceremonials are

’ under his feet . The Covenanters worship may be bare even to baldness, but surely it is more of the worship in

Spirit and in truth . And for the worship and word of God

’ s mé olzca l they are there at fearful risks . The y cross may

r ea l not be there, but the cross is there held up before the

u ff minds and hearts of all men . And the cross of s ering too was there or was not far away . And these men and

u ff a ﬂli cti on women had taken it p, and chosen to su er with the people of God rather than worship against their con

B la i r u h a n sciences, and with dragoons quartered at q ,

Girvan , and elsewhere, and scouring the country, they knew they might have a dreadful account to give for their ’ i presence there that day . And the minister s blood m ght

s un be deepe ning the purple of the heather before that set, 7 7 or he might be on his wa y to the scaff old in the Grass

r market i n Edinbu gh . i Th s old gray stone, whose silent story we have been

’ t P eden s trying to extrac , tradition calls pulpit . We know that the well -known wandering Coven a nter and prophet frequented this di strict . We know further that he sta yed a n d preached one night in a house in the h P a rr c . vi z. en o neighbourhood, , j The house is no longer in existen ce, but the traces of it can be seen about a mile

S ti n ch a r w nearer the do n the glen , at the head of which the stone stands . The site is marked by an aged sycamore tree . There is thus every reason to believe the testimony of tradition that Peden preached , perhaps repeatedly, here, a nd the arrangements for a bookboard and footboard seem to point to the conclusion that the stone was frequently

u used as a p lpit, and that conventicles were often held on the spo t .

THE K ILLOC HA N CONVENTICLE.

The Covenanting movement was not con ﬁ ned to one

a . wa s m cl ss It no doubt essentially a popular move ent . It spra ng from and derived its strength from the mass of the people . Still there were not a few of the Lairds wh o

r i n a th ew their lot with the Covenanters , and sh red their ff sufferings in prison , on the sca old, or by having ruinous

ﬁ nes levied on them . Th e Laird of Carleton and Ki lloc ha n took the side of H the people . e is not so well known as the Laird who

ﬂou r i s h ed in the beginning of that century, Sir John

r Cathca t, and who was famous in his day as a man of 7 8

n extraordinary piety . Although the Cove anting Laird

ﬁ u r e does not g in the history of the times, he went the m length , at great risk to hi self, of throwing open his di n i n g hall to his ten a ntry a n d neighbou rs around for

n a m services, co ducted by the outed Presbyteri n inisters , at

’ wa s m which the Lord s Supper someti es dispensed . How

i n ﬂ u n he managed to escape, whether by e ce at head quarters, or in some other way, we cannot tell . “ ” The Hall in which the meetings were held i s u n

d - doubtedly the present ining room, a large and spacious wainscotted room with fa mily portraits of centuries o f

a ca r ts m a C th looking down gri ly from the w lls, and with

’ wild boars heads a n d other hunti n g trophies of the present

n a respected proprietor, Sir Regi ald Cathc rt . There were doubtless other Conventicles held in the

a hall, but the only one of which we have any record is th t at which the Rev . Thomas Kennedy, of Lasswade, was

a present and preached . The Laird w s there with his ﬁll family and servants, and the room was well ed with a

a m grave and reverent congreg tion . After the ho ely m m singing of a Psal , and a fervent prayer, the preacher a id

u o f a a m i the h sh expectancy g ve out as his text Ps l cxx x. , dwellin g m u ch on the sufferi ngs of the persecuted Ch u rch of a on a a u a a m Scotl nd whose b ck , in the l ng ge of the Ps l , “ ” a u the ploughers had ploughed m king long their f rrows .

m m a n d As he went on he beca e ore pointed personal, and pressed on his hearers the necessity and the blessedness of

a s making choice of the Lord Jesus Christ their Saviour,

or and casting in their lot, come weal come woe, with Him and His people .

80 where we have a strange blending of ex treme antiquity with

- r present day life . There is the new reservoir const ucted for supplying Maybole with water, and it occupies the site of a a an ancient l ke, which could never h ve been anything

f m wa s but o small dimensions . A few yards fro what the shore of that lake was discovered an ancient lake - dwelling

” e or Crannog, which , on excavation , yielded an inter sting

ﬁ nd of z bones of animals, shells, bron e ornaments, and a variety of stone implements used by our savage Carrick

i a e progenitors in the prehistor c g .

Cr a i dow g is a Celtic name, and , like other Celtic names,

” ma a is expressive . It e ns The Bl ck Rock , and was so called from the jutti n g points of tra p which diversify its

s of a n d a s om a slope grass heather, well as fr the d rk hues

i u of the latter w th which it is plentif lly clothed . There a r e

w n — h two summits, with a hollo betwee t at to the west presenting the greatest expanse 5 and it was here, probably

s it may have been in one of these gras y hollows, well suited to the purpose, where there would be some shelter m from the wind , and co parative concealment, that the “ ” w m Conventicle was held . The vie fro the summit is

n s h a lloch -on - Mi n n c exte ive and varied , embracing S o h and

i r th the Highlands of Ayrshire to the east, and the blue F ,

of the jagged ridges Arran , the long Kintyre penins u la beyond, and Ailsa Rock conspicuous in the foreground, on

th e . of west But it is not for the sake the prospect, enhanced a s it is by the purple bloom of the heather a n d the rich tints of autumn on the ﬁ elds away yonder towards

of m the north , that these groups men, wo en, and children , in hodden grey, from far and near, are seen wending their 8 1

— way up the slopes of C rai gdow ﬁs her folk from the shore

r ove yonder, shepherds from the hills, farmers and farm h i labourers from the strat s, with a sprinkl ng from the Castle

- and mansion house . They are there at a dreadful risk to feed upon the Word of God from the lips of one of thei r i beloved m nisters, who are outed and persecuted, John

- Welsh of Kirkpatrick Irongray, Dumfriesshire, for the news h as been secretly circulated from mouth to mouth throughout Carrick that he is to preach that day on the

of ra i w Hill C gd o . And now the watchmen have been

of posted to give warning of the approach the troopers, and

ﬁ u r es their g may be seen against the sky on Kildoon Hill ,

Kirkhill, and other heights around . The Opening Psalm is sung with heart and soul, and there are few voices that fail to swell the volume of plaintive melody, which is carried far on the breeze . The prayer which follows is a fervent wrestling with heaven for a blessing . Then the preacher,

u t 2 . amid the hush of expectation , gives o as his text Cor ” v . 2 0 e God We bese ch you, be ye reconciled to , and preaches a very earnest and impressive sermon . Tears may be seen trickling down many a check, and we know of one at least— probably there were more— who under that sermon was led to close with Glori ous Christ ” and enter into the peace and joy of believing . Judging from the specimens we have of the hill preachings in those days , they seem to have been very solemn and stirring , and by

' no means confined to the subject of the s u ﬂ er i ngs and con

n ten di gs of the times . They were full of ro u sing Gospel

n appeals and warni gs, with the view of leading the soul to a personal and earnest decision for Christ . TE I C H AP R V .

HU R H THE PARISH C C .

C H C H OLD DAILLY UR .

W E cannot s a y for certain whether the present r oo ﬂes s ruin is the remains of the identical church which was gifted with its revenues by the First Earl of Carrick to the

of Monastery Paisley, and afterwards transferred by King

to r os sr a u el Robert the Bruce C g , but if there was a still older church, it would probably occupy the same site . The present ruin is undoubtedly very ancient, and was used as

A n a church long before the Reformation . antiquari an friend gives it as his opinion , judging from its form and the f style o its architecture, that it cannot be of later date than

1 the 4 th century, and that possibly it may be much earlier. It is beautifully situated about three miles to the east of

Girvan, at a point where the hill country sinks into the vale, and where the brawling P en qu h a pple burn emerges from its wooded glen and now ripples gently along towa rds the

f w a Girvan, which it joins a e hundred yards down the v lley,

- Da l u hi r near where once stood the old farm steading of q . A t a short distance to the north of the church stand the

gables of the old manse, the side walls having been 8 2

r m to . e oved make way for the plough The old church , parti ally covered with ivy and shaded by old trees, one of h w which as ent ined its roots into the north wall , on the spot

u o where the p lpit used t stand , the surrounding graveyard — where seven centuries of the dead repose a li n k connecting u s wi th the days of the Crusaders and King Robert the — Bruce the graves of martyred Covenanters, the many old

ﬁ n er stones, some of them unlettered save by the g of time , the numerous mouldering heaps over the nameless

a dead, the whole scene being reverently gu rded and

e secluded from the world by ancient tre s , all this makes even the careless and unimagi native feel that here the ” place whereon they stand is holy ground .

Li ke all ancient churches, the building stands due east

2 2 and west. In length it is about 9 feet, in breadth 5 feet , over the walls . Each of the two gables is surmounted by a belfry . A cross formerly stood on the eastern belfry, but it was knocked down by the branch of a tr ee during a storm about a century a go . The double belfry is a very unusual

tes ti ﬁes circumstance, and to the ancient importance of our

i n old church . The western bell was used Roman Catholic i t mes for summoning the people to worship, while the eastern or “ sanctus bell ” was only rung when the more solemn services of the Church were being performed . “ ” Th n e Piscina, a stone basi in which the priests washed their ha nds and also rinsed the chalice at the celebration of

a m the mass, is s id still to re ain in the wall , within the tomb of the Bargany family, in the east end of the building .

n The pulpit, si ce the Reformation , seems to have been

an d placed near the m iddle of the north wall , , considering 84

wa s the length and narrowness of the building, this no doubt the most suitable arrangement . The north wall is partly broken down , but access to the pulpit appears to h a ve been obtained by a doorway through the wall . The tree which grows on the wall where the pu lpit stood is sa id

fu lﬁlment to be the of a prophecy by Alexander Peden , the

m a a . Covenanter, of who there are various loc l tr ditions

ma The south wall is entire , and is re rkable for two doors ,

a wa s the one being rched and wide, while the other, which

. On probably a private entrance, is low and narrow this

m a n d side of the building there is only one s all window, to

a all ppearance, unless it was lighted from the roof, the worshippers would be largely favoured with the dim ” religious light .

THE P RESENT P ARISH C H URC H . Public worship was discontinued at Old Dailly and a

Mi lca vi s h new church was built at , afterwards called New

1 6 0 . Dailly, in 9 Close by the n ew church there was a

a f u m nse built . We have no record o what the ch rch was like, but it was a credit neither to the heritors nor to the

m a trades en of the day, as it had become dec yed only m about seventy years after it was erected . The anse also

n ﬁ ve appears to have been badly co structed, for about

a 1 8 a ye rs before the church was taken down , in 7 5 , new

on e 1 0 on manse, the present , was built at a cost of £ 9 , ’ what is now the glebe, but where in Pont s time, in

1 the early part of the 7th century, stood the farm of “ ” “ P olma ch ow P olma ch ow , at the junction of burn with the Girvan .

r immediately behind the minister, being left st uggling, partly smothered and partly bruised by the weighty “ ” u body of divinity which fell pon him .

ﬁ n i s h ed 1 66 6 0 0 The new church was in 7 , and cost £ .

of Although no great architectural beauty, it is a more substantial structure than its predecessor appears to have

a been . The heritors, however, fell into the mist ke of

ma of making it too s ll for the population the parish , as it was found necessary, twelve years after it was built,

1 8 that is, in 7 7 , to make a considerable addition by the “ ” of i 1 0 0 building the aisle, giving an ncrease of about

60 0 . sittings, making in all sittings

88 of the oldest records o f the Pa rish o f Barr had been used

ﬁ r s for kindling e .

S S C H URCH CEN URE .

Two hundred years ago the Kirk -Session was what might “ ” of h a d be called the Local Authority the parish . It i great power, and the parishioners stood greatly in awe of t . Breaches of the seventh comm a ndment were by fa r the f most common o fences that came under its jurisdiction . Hence the minutes of the Kirk-Session away back in those

n early times are not all edifying readi g . But in addition

- of the Kirk Session took cognisance other acts, such as

of drinking on the Sabbath, other breaches the Sabbath ,

or n such as gathering nuts, mending fences, doi g other unnecessary work, breaches of the Fast Day, as well as of the Sabbath, absence from public worship, railing, scolding, etc. The punishment to which culprits were subjected was “ ” public rebuke, that is , rebuke in presence of the con

n m f grega ti o . In the case of inor of ences the rebuke was

- sometimes only in the presence of the Kirk Session .

ﬁ n e Sometimes a was exacted, the proceeds going to the

’ n b en eﬁ t of fund in the Session s ha ds for the the poor . The place where delinquents had to stand when under

” going rebuke was called the place of repentance, or the “ ” s to repentance ol. But the word stool is misleading to l a modern reader . In o d times it had a wider m eaning

i lla r than now . The repentance stool was a p of moderate height, and is often called by that name, on which the “ ” parties stood h ei ch in full view of the congregation . 89

“ S ometimes the culprit was allowed to stand laich . Someti mes it was considered s u fﬁ ci ent that he should stand up in his own seat . We have heard that this was done in

’ . il fi na ll Dr H l s time, when public rebukes in this parish y disappeared . In the records there is mention made of s a ckd étlr , a garment of coarse linen, which had to be put on f when the of ence was grave. Sometimes accused persons had to fi nd caution for compearance before the Session . There is one insta nce of the Session ordering the a ppre h ens i on i of a fugit ve from discipline . Sometimes parties “ ” h ad to fi nd security or subscribe bonds in pledge of

u their good conduct in fut re . There is no mention in any “ of ou r records of the jougs . These were dying out by the time ou r records begin . They were iron collars put round the neck of delinquents , and used to form part of the fu rniture of every church . They were attached to a pillar in front of the church , or to the wall of the church itself, and are still to be seen in some old churches, such as m Fenwick. It was only in extre e cases that Sessions had ” recours e to the jougs . The followi ng is an extract from one of our earliest records

1 th 1 6 2 December 9 , 9 , Margaret Ferguson compeared an d confess ed that there was drinking in her house on the ff Sabbath day, was rebuked , upon her promise not to su er m ” the like again was dis issed . A few weeks after John

’ Houston , who was probably one of Margaret s drouthy

e u . custom rs, was hauled p It appears that in the course of the previous autumn one Sunday instead of goi n g to 90

U on e church John had taken a stroll p of the glens . Some

z body either saw him gathering ha el nuts , or suppo sed that this was his errand . When John came down and had got ’ of the length Margaret s he felt a little thirsty, and could not resist the temptation to step in for a refresher, heedless of the fact that at that moment the Rev . Patrick Crawford was wrestling with his afternoon sermon . John was

H e summoned and compeared . stoutly denied the nut i gathering, but pled guilty to the dr nking, for which he was rebuked, and, having promised that he would not do the ” like again , was dismissed .

Two hundred years ago there were two diets of worship h in the church, as there continued to be till wit in living

- or memory . During the interval the ale house change house was largely taken advantage of by those who came from a distance . There is evidence in the records that

’ some of the congregation preferred Meg Fergu son s ale to f the afternoon sermon . Examples were made o some of them . They were rebuked by the Session, and made to promise that they would never do the like again . Meg

herself got a rebuke for selling the drink . In 1 7 1 1 an elder and a deacon were appointed by the Session to

- search the change houses during the service , and probably f to report any cases o persons they found there .

But there were other forms of Sabbath - breaking which

Sessions in those days felt it their duty to deal with . For

of instance, there was a parishioner of the name Robert

a Carson , who added to his ordinary handicraft th t of a

— i t 1 6 barber. One Sabbath day was in the summer of 95

9 2

‘ c n M lure, the partner of his guilt, desig ed to follow him , the minister and Dru mmella nd are appointed to desire

Ba r a n i e A t Lord g to apprehend her . the next meeting the minister reported that Lord B a rga n i e had apprehended Jean until she found caution not to leave the Pa rish for

a n d the period of ane year, all that time to be subject to

Church discipline, under the penalty of ane hundred pounds ” Scots .

“ TH E H O Y COMMUNION AND L FAIRS .

The references to the Communion in the old records are not very frequent . The custom prevailed over the countr y up till well on in the last century of p a rishi oners of neigh b ou r i ng parishes ﬂocking to on e of the churches in the

for district the Communion services, their own churches being shut up for the day. The ministers were present and took part . There was a long succession of tables, and

’ the servi ce went on from 1 0 o clock in the morn ing till

on . well in the afternoon, sometimes late in the evening Communion services have been known to last for twelve “ hours ; and while the tables were bei n g served inside the

of church by a succession ministers, another succession held forth to a changing congregation from the “ tent ” in the churchyard . The tent was a movable pulpit made of wood for the preacher to stand in under cover, and open towards the congregation , seated in picturesque groups on the graves or on forms set ou t on the level ground . While the minister was preaching another was at hand, ready to take his place when he was done . All the time the ale 93 houses in the neighbourhood of the chur ch were driving a roarin g trade .

But the best things are abused, and these big gatherings ’ “ ” wer e abused . All who have read Burns Holy Fair

i - know how . That poem rung the r death knell . But they t continued, hough not to the same extent, down to within

v li ing memory . Dailly was no exception to the above state of matters . There are local traditions of drinking to excess h ﬁ h ti n on . . w o and g g these occasions Dr Hill, became

1 8 1 6 minister of the parish in , was keenly alive to the evils which had grown around these Communions, and induced his Ki rkS ess ion to disconti nue them . This was the ﬁ rs t parish in the district where they were given u p . They were continued in the neighbouring parishes for years after, but the evils were not abated , and these parishes were

of forced by public opinion to follow the example Dailly, and “ tent preachings ” or “ holy fairs ” became things of the past . We have only one or two very meagre references in the

n Session records to such occasio s in this parish . Where these occur they give little more than the number of

fﬁ ci i n communican ts and the number of o a t g ministers . We must remember that over a n d above the communicants

r d there we e hundre s present who were not communicants .

a l i n 1 A t the D i ly Communion 7 49, 5 49 persons communi

ted m2 n 2 6 ca , of who 93 belo ged to the parish and 5 were m “ ” a n . str gers Four inisters and a preacher, probably a

un a a yo g prob tioner, assisted, the latter t king his turn in the

l n 1 0 tent. In May of the fo lowi g year, 7 5 , there were dis

“ ” n n in 00 tributed to commu ica ts the parish 3 tickets, to 94

n h strangers 340 . O t at occasion there were fi ve ministers

a and a pre cher . In the minute dated May of the following

A t m n year there is a much fuller record . the Co mu ion in

1 1 i n that month 7 tickets were given . The congregation

v met at ten forenoon , and the ser ice continued till twenty

or n minutes past two . The tickets toke s were square bits of lead m a nufactured and stamped by Kirk-Sessions them

n i . selves . Many of the Dailly toke s are still in ex stence

They are very plain , having simply the name of the parish — stamped on them thus BQ.

- P OO E I E F THE KIRK SESSION AND R R L .

We have seen that at the time to which we have referred, tw a o - o hundred years g , Kirk Sessions were the supreme authority in parishes, and that they ruled with a rod of

u s iron . It is easy for to condemn the intolerance and

of harshness their discipline, and the want of perspective shown , for example, in putting breaches of the Fast Day on a level with serious moral offences . A t the same time we m u st not forget the good work which they did They ” “ - were a terror to evil doers . Gross crimes would have been far more common in these rude and compa rati vely lawless days but for the stool of repentance, the sackcloth ,

of and the jougs . Then there was the relief the poor of f the parish , the burden o which they bore for three hundred

th e m years, and this is strongest clai they have upon our

1 8 gratitude . Down to 4 5 there were no poor rates in

al o Scotla nd, no Parochi Boards, no Inspectors of Po r. The money for the support of the poor was rai sed and

The parishes of Ayrshire in the last century seem to

f 1 have been greatly in ested with vagrants . In 7 5 2 two Acts of the Justices of the Peace for the County were laid

o - B bef re the Kirk Session . y these it was enacted that all vagrant persons should withdraw fromthe Shire within a

a cert in date, under the penalty of being apprehended ,

a a n d on incarcer ted , fed bread and water for ten days, a n d also ordaining the poor of the Shire to repair to their respective parishes where they were born or have resided

a for the last three years, and make pplication to the Kirk

Session and heritors . The Session agreed to make up lists of the poor of this parish, who are to be served with ” h badges, and allowed to beg wit in the parish, certifying them that if they be found begging in any other parish, m their badges shall be taken from the , and that such a s are

of capable any work, if they shall neglect to work , though not able to maintain themselves by their work , the badge ” shall be taken from them . In spite of the action of the civil and ecclesiastica l

. 1 authorities, vagrancy continued to prevail In 7 7 3 the

Synod and Presbytery had to take action . In a Dailly Session minute of that year it is recorded that “ the Presbytery recommend to all their members to read the

’ Synod s Act against vagrant beggars, and also that no m inister or elder shall give alms to any vagrant beggars,

e i nﬂ u en ce and that th y use their , both public and private, with their parishioners that they do the same . There is one object which comes well to the front in

“ ” i s B ox these ancient records, and that the . The box,

h nd which , as we from an entry for repairs, was mounted 97

i with bras s, conta n ed the monies of the Session . on which th e comfort and even the life of not a few of the paris hioners depended. On a certain day once a year ” the Se ss ion held a special meeting to visit or ” A t f ins pect the box . one inspection o the box it was “ ” found that the bas e brass represented the sum of no

2 . 1 8 less than £ 95 . 5 d In 74 the experts of the Session

m s di s covered a ong the ba e brass a bad shilling, which they at once , doubtless in presence of the Session , caused “ to be des troyed . As we cannot suppose that all this bad money was put into the collection by mistake, this is surely an indication of a very low tone of morality— not to speak of religion . But the box wa s not altogether dependent on the church door collecti ons. These were comparatively small 5 they

i s were s omet me little over one shilling, and very seldom above eight . And there were frequent vacant Sundays . f But the Session had other sources o revenue . There was

morti ﬁca tions the interest on , sums bequeathed to them by

n ﬁ parishioners for the be e t of the poor. Then there were

l i nﬂi cted the sma l penalties in cases of discipline, marriage ” ” bills, which we call proclamation dues, collections ,

ranging from one shilling upwards, levied at marriages, and

mortcloth dues . Besides, the heritors not only contributed when present at church 5 some of them sent contributions annually or on the occasion of marriages or deaths in the

f . er u s s on amily For instance, Sir Adam F g , on the occasion of the death and burial in the churchyard of his

i n h y e father , Lord K lkerra , gave the Session pounds to be

distributed among the poor of the parish . The Lairds of G 98

Bargany and Da lqu h a r ra n are repeatedly mentioned as

”

1 . 2 1 sending their complement of £ Oct 5 , 7 4 7 , ’ 1 r by Baron Kennedy s complement, £ 5 by M . Kennedy of ’ 6 ” D l h r ra n r os . a qu a s marriage , d .

The Kirk -Session moreover tried to increase their

ﬁ n nci n revenue by doing a little a g. Some of the lairds did not think it beneath them to do business with the box.

n n 1 8 P enkill O o e occasion , it was in 7 4 , the Laird of , “ ” Alexander Boyd, had a transaction with the Session . H e was not long away till he returned with a gold coin in his hand which he said he had got from th em

’ ” ﬁ a l u znea as a f g , but which was only a quarter Johannis,

6 n the Johannis being a Portuguese coin worth 3 shilli gs . ” It was called a Joe . The laird had only got a quarter ” Joe . As the Session reimbursed him with three shillings he must have got two quarter Joes instead of two ha lf

of - guineas , eighteen shillings instead twenty one shillings .

One of the deacons, for there were deacons in these

” n days, was a shoemaker and lived at Waulkmill . In o e “ F o h reference to him he is said to live at r d ou s e . His

‘ M lella n name was John C . John did not see why he

’ b en eﬁ t of ﬁ n a nci n should not get the the Session s g, so

2 2 5 . d . he borrowed £ 5 , and paid it back to the last penny in boots and shoes for the poor . The money aliment was distributed weekly in sums

6d . ranging from to but the latter sum was rare . One shilling was a very common allowance . The Session also

of m made grants of articles clothing, someti es paying the tradesmen , sometimes giving material . It is interesting

I d . to note the prices . Blankets ranged from S . 3 to

1 00

C C C THE ARRI K LASS .

u Church life , like all other life, was q ieter and slower m m in the olden ti e than now . There were few sche es,

or . organisations , public meetings of any kind Still we ﬁ nd the existence within this Presbytery and elsewhere of an institution which had a similiar object in view as ou r

n ot n . conference . It was , however, called by that ame It ” was called a classis .

a eef It is a L tin word, a word which usually means ﬂ , though it had another meaning which survives in ou r word

In Holland, after the Reformation , which in that country,

a o as well as in ours , took the Presbyteri n f rm , the word

' cla s s zs came to be applied to a stated meeting of pastors

of u chi cﬂ and ruling elders churches nearly neighbo ring, y

f u h for the exercise o discipline in their ch rc es . In other

a words, it was practic lly what we call a Presbytery .

’ d a s s zs a But in the Presbytery of Ayr, , or cl ss, was used

f n a s o in a dif erent se se . The class w not c mposed of the

of a whole Presbytery, but a p rt which met statedly for

of mm prayer and the discussion questions of co on interest,

r i u t r a theological o other. In a m n te of Presby e y of d te

“ ‘ ’ 1 697 we read that the severa l classes that meet some times for prayer are a ppointed to meet those of Carrick at

m u i x of a t S t. vo Daillie and those Kyle Sy ington , Q and ” u of 1 a i n A chinleck . Another minute date 7 37 states th t

the Presbytery there were four classes, those of Cumnock ,

Galston , Ayr, and Maybole . We have been told by the

h was late Dr . Chrystal , of Auc inleck , who ordained to that I O !

s in 1 8 f pari h 33, that at that time and for some years a ter, the Carrick class was in the habit of holding its meetings

l M an r in Dai ly anse, essay o paper being read by one of the member s and r emarks made u pon it or the subject

‘ - t . M Kn i h t by o hers The well known Dr . g , of Maybole, who was Modera tor of the General Assembly in 1 7 66 and the author of a work on the New Testament entitled a m ” Har ony of the Four Gospels, which a local wit called ’ t ’ Trying to mak owre men gree wha never cast oot,

t a used to a tend these meetings, and it is said that p pers “ ” rea d by hi m at the classical meeting at Dailly formed

s the ba is of this work . H e was an able man but a dry preacher . One wet Sunday morning he arrived at the “ ” “ ” ’ t i . I m ves ry drook t John, he said to the beadle, all ” “ ” “ ’ wet. Never mind, doctor, said the beadle, you ll be i ” dry eneuch when ye get into the p00p t. “ ” The classis , we may mention before leaving the subject, was sometimes appointed by the Presbytery of Ayr m i to take so e action in cases of discipline, and w th the addition someti mes of other members to visit grammar schools . In 1 7 38 the Presbytery appointed the brethren

’ ot a the Cl ss of Ayr, along with other three members , to visit the Grammar School of Ayr, and the Classes of Cum “ nock, Maybole, and Galston are each appointed to visit the grammar s chools that are in each of their bounds at ” t i ﬁ rs t i he r classical meet ng . TE R V C H AP I I I .

E LAI RDS AND TH IR LANDS .

H B OY D F P E N KILL T E S O .

TH E ﬁ r s t recorded ancestor of the Boyds was Simon,

ﬁ r s t H e brother of Walter, the High Steward of Scotland .

m 1 2 0 on died some ti e before 4 . Later King Robert the

a Bruce granted certain l nds to his gallant adherent, Sir

of m . Robert Boyd, the ancestor the Earls of Kil arnock

m wa s Later on in the sa e line there a Robert Lord Boyd ,

ﬁ u r es m a a who g in history as Cha berl in of Scotl nd, during m III mhi m the minority of Ja es . Fro the Boyds of f P en kill and Tr och r a gu e are descended . The last o the E arls of Kilmarnock took part in the For ty-ﬁ ve and was afterwards executed for high treason and the title declared

forfeited . The ﬁ r s t of the Boyds who rose to fame was

X BOYD MARK ALE ANDER .

H e wa s f P enkill son o Robert Boyd of , and grandson

H e 1 6 2 . H e of the Chamberlain . was born in 5 was ” h n A r educated with hi s uncle James , Tulc a , chbishop of 1 0 2

1 04

i m Baillie, who studied under him , mentions the deep pression made upon the students by the fe r vour of h is “ Latin prayers . Refusing to sign the ﬁve Articles of Perth by which the King tried to assimilate the Presby

E mof terian to the piscopal for Church Government, he

Tr och ri retired to g, but was afterwards elected Principal of

of the University Edinburgh , very much to the annoyance of the King . In consequence of the royal remonstrance with the Provost, Bailies, and Council , he reti red to his H . e estate was subsequently minister of Paisley, and died

or Tr och r i 1 6 2 at Edinburgh, , as some say, at g, in 7 , aged

- forty eight . But the best known name among the Boyds is that of

Z C H B OYD A ARY ,

H e cousin of the above . also studied in France, where for a time he attended his cousin ’s classes in the University of Saumur, where he afterwards became a professor him

n self. O account of the persecution of the Protestants he

1 6 2 came home, and in 3 was appointed minister of the

Barony Parish, Glasgow, where he continued till his death . Three times over he was elected Rector of the University

f H e . o Glasgow . signed the solemn League and Covenant When Cromwell came to Glasgow he railed on hi mand his soldiers to their face from the pulpit of the Barony so “ that on e of the ofﬁcers wanted to pistol the scoundrel ” No, said Cromwell, we will manage him another way . t H e invited him o dinner, and by the length and fervour of his devotions s o won the respect of Zachary that he had

H e 1 6 not another word to say against him . died in 5 3 or 1 0 5

i ni 1 6 the beg n ng of 5 4, and was succeeded by Donald

l of a H e Cargi l, one the martyrs of the Coven nt . was in

a ﬁ n is h ed harness to the l st . Shortly before he died he a “ work en titled : The Notable Places of the Scriptures

” of Expounded , at the conclusion which he added : Heere ” n re d n o . the author was ee his end , and was able to o more — It is said that when he was making his will his wi fe one — of th e Renfrewshire Mures requested him to leave some

Mr u m n thing to . D rha , a mi ister, and a great favourite with “ ” “ ’ ’ . hi s both No, no, Margaret, was reply, I ll lea him “ ’ naethin g but thy bonnie Another version is : I ll l ’ ’ ” ea him what I canna keep frae him . Mrs . Boyd after i wards became Mrs . James Durham . His property , wh ch

was was considerable, divided between her and the

University of Glasgow . His bust, with an inscription

a commemorating his various benef ctions, stood over the entrance to the second quadran gle of the Old University hi m Buildings in the High Street . H e left behind many

of works , the best known which are a metre version of the — Psalms which competed with our version (by Rous) for its — “ place in the Psa lmody of the Church of Scotland The ” “ ’ ” Ba ttell S onll Z last of the in Death , and ion s Flowers, ” s i Edi ﬁca ti n or Chri t an Poems for Spiritual o , which con

of sist verses on select subjects in scripture history, very quaint , homely, and even ludicrous sometimes, but with a

ﬁ n e strain of devoti onal feeli ng running through them . 1 0 6

DA L H A RRA D QU N OL CASTLE .

There is a still older ruin of the same name in Lochmoddy

Loch md U glen , overhanging o dy burn , and quite close pon the railway, which has greatly spoiled the natura l beauty of the spot . There is a tradition that the building was

of m never completed , the Prince Darkness, for so e reason or n other, havi g taken umbrage at its erection a n d pulled

n down during the night what was built duri g the day . But there can be no doubt the castle was completed and

inhabited . It must have been much more extensive than

is indicated by the existing remains . It is said that the

stones were largely used in building the new, which is now

old called the castle, and this may account for the

smallness of the ruin . And the discovery in the present old castle of stones bearing marks of an older date than its

con ﬁr m erection s this idea .

ﬁ n The age of th is older castle is unknown . But we d from the Glasgow Commissary Records that there was a

” 1 residence at Da lqu h u r a n as early as the year 5 36 . “ Da l u h u r a n e In that year, and at q , Johnn K nnedy of Cu lzea ne signed an obligation binding himself to resign the superiority of the lands of Dru mmella n e to Patri ck

B a lm la na ch a n Kennedy of a c .

If stones were taken from it to build the new house, a ﬁ s u fﬁ ci en t portion was left to be habitable . We n d from the Kirk-Session records that a certain witness in a case

‘ M Lewr a th before the Session is called the wife of Thomas , ” rr residing in the old castle of Da lqu h a a n . That was in

1 0 7

1 2 2 a t the year 7 , or 4 5 ye rs af er the building of the castle

on the bank of the Girvan .

To pass to the old castle which now goes by that name, we ﬁn d tha t there are two dates on it indicating that it was

in 1 6 1 begun 7 7 and added to in 6 7 9 . The former date is i over a w ndow in the interior of the second story, along with the initials the same initials being carved on the mantelpiece of what appears to have been the drawing-room (i n those days called the withdrawing

m r 1 6 room), on the sa e sto y . The date 7 9 is over the

of principal doorway, and undernea th is a line Latin verse in the style of the monkish rhymes handed down from the middle ages

” t cr i U S ptu ra s ona t ﬁ nis non pu gna coronet. whi ch may be translated

’ not th e ﬁ h t s o c u e c e Tis g , S ript r ri s, ” It is th e end tha t gives th e prize .

The reference seems to be to Paul ’s saying I have fought

ﬁ h t ﬁ n i s h ed m the good g , I have y course, I have kept the

faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of i o ” r ghte usness . There are few sweeter spots in our parish

t a han the old g rden , now partially cleared of trees and

e a t r arr nged, stretching away in velve y lawn , variegated with

r ﬂowers - sh ubs and , down to the old , gray, ivy mantled

walls and turrets, the haunt of the owl , and lively with the i chatter ng of jackdaws , the scene to the south in the ” direction of the river being bounded by the crow wood ,

ma ni ﬁ t ﬁrs t0 s with g cen Scotch , in whose p branche a noisy

colony of rooks has been settled from time immemori al . 1 08

We a re able to give our readers a glimpse of the castle

2 00 and its surroundings as they existed nearly years ago, and not long after the castle was built . Duri ng the reign of E piscopacy there was an Episcopalian clergyman in the

“ ” Parish of Maybole (th en spelt Mi nn ib ole ) named mmi H A b er cr u e . e William superseded John Hutcheson ,

n the Presbyterian mi ister there, but was himself ousted by

’

. A b r cr u mmi Hutcheson s return at the Revolution e e, who

m u see s to have been of an observant nat re, wrote a history of Carrick which is extant . As he refers to the removal of the Parish Church from Old Dailly to New Dailly as a recent event, the time at which he writes must be near the

1 H e end of the 7 th century . follows the course of f the river in his description o ou r district . After a glowing “ picture of the House of Dr u mmoch r en he says Not

of far from this, downe the water, stands the stately castle

Dol u h a rr a n m q , the building whereof is much i proved by

of 1 6 a dditions lately made thereto (the addition 7 9, or something later), which make it by very far the best house of all that country, surrounded by vast enclosures of wood, that the country is not able to consume it by their building

a k and other instruments . And amongst them there be o

z trees of a considerable si e, that will serve either for jest f ” (joist) or roofe o good houses . There are still a number

ﬁ Da l u h a rr a n of very ne oaks in the q grounds, more

Dowh a il h especially in the neighbourhood of , some of w ich

’ x i were no doubt in e istence n the historian s day .

1 1 0

er u s s ou n e of Kilker a n Duncan F g , young laird e, in coming to his place of B u r nefu te and throwing down and breaking

a into the houses of the said pl ce , and for forcibly keeping

” B u r n efu te the lands of waste for the space of one year . In the beginning of last century the ruins of Kilkerran

Castle were almost entire . Since then it has been greatly m encroached upon by ti e , and probably also by the hand of man . The last serious calamity to it happened about

1 8 0 . u 7 One day, j st a day or two after an inspection had been made of the building, which had been showing signs

a n n of giving way , to see if ythi g could be done to preserve i t , a large portion came down in sight of two of the neighbours with a thunderous crash and amid clouds of

m n n dust, falling in i mense solid blocks, showi g the stre gth

ma A l l a and substantial character of the ancient sonry . th t

is left standing now is the lofty gable, with its corbie steps

and a portion of two side walls attached , the ﬂoor supported by a massive arch covering what appears to have been

a the ancient kitchen . Still there is enough left st nding to

u s m of n u u give so e idea of the grandeur the origi al str ct re .

u We do not know when the castle was b ilt . Some think from its architecture it may be as old as the 1 3th or 1 4th

century . But whether the present castle was built then or not it is probable that there was a house h ere i n th e days

a m r u of King Robert the Bruce . The f ily of the Fe g s s on s

ﬁ r s t of Kilkerran come into notice in his day, and the residence of the family was always here till about 2 0 0 years

ago .

th e King Robert Bruce, doubtless for military services,

r s made a grant of certain lands in Ay shire to Fergu , son I I I

f ” o Fergus . The next glimpse we get into the history of

1 66 the family in thos e early times is in 4 , when John Fergu s s on resigns a porti on of his estate which is con ﬁ r med by charter under the han d of James I II . to Fergus Fergu s s on his son and Janet Kennedy his spouse . Duri n g the civil wars the family sustained a serious reverse of fortune . The then representative, Sir John

Fergus son , was a staunch Royalist , and his attachment to the Royal cause led him to impoverish himself and incur a heavy debt, the only reward he received from the King being the honour of knighthood . His estates were seques tr a ted by Oliver Cromwell and fell into the hands of his neighbour, the Lord Bargany.

’ i r A u chi S John s youngest son was Simon of nwi nn .

a n Simon gai had a son John , who, having studied for the t Scot ish bar, gained a name and fame as an advocate, and amassed considerable wealth . H e advanced money to h' clear o the debt on the property, and in this way acqu ired m m Th the estate fro the elder branches of the fa ily . i s

1 0 0 H e was in 7 . was created a baronet by Queen Anne

in 1 7 0 3 . It was in his time that the castle ceased to be the residence of the family and the oldest portion of the

present Kilkerran house was built. The site of the present house had been occupied for many generations by an old house or “ tower ” called

n ch a n B mcl n Ba rcla a al a a a cha n . , or It was the residence of

r “ a ve y old family, a branch of the Ken nedi es of the ”

C u lzea n . 1 6 1 Cove, the ancient name of As far back as 3 ,

’ zu d in the 3 year of King David s reign , John Kennedy 1 1 2 had a charter of con ﬁr ma ti on of the lands of Balma “ ” cla na ch a n i Du mri ton granted by the K ng, at b

(Dumbarton) . It seems to have been towards the end of the 1 7 th century that the estates passed from the Ken n edies into

of er u s s ons the hands their neighbours the F g , as one of the m elder branches of the latter fa ily, who was a party to the above transaction by which Sir John became possessor of “ ” of B a r cla na ch a n the Kilkerran estate, is styled John . Sir John himself had sat in the Scots parliament under the same title, but when he entered into the estate he changed

a the name to Kilkerran . The old house was still st nding when A ber cr u mmi e wrote his account of the district 2 00 “ H e years ago . says, Upon the South Syde, and at some

of B a r cla n a ch a n distance from the river, stands the House with its gardens and orchards, all which are surrounded by a wood, all the water from this downward till near Daillie ” being so covered with wood that it looks like a forrest . It

r d Ma 1 6 6 appears from the Session records of date 3 y, 9 , that there was an old lady B a r clon noqu h a n then living and that she had a seat in the church . The last of the race of which we have any record is Robert Ken nedy of

lma cla na ch a n 1 2 2 . B a , who was alive in 7

of Sir John Fergusson, who restored the fortunes his house, was succeeded by his son , Sir James . Like his m father he devoted hi self to the Bar, and eventually rose

o to the Bench under the title of L rd Kilkerran . H e

n o marr ied Lady Ja e Maitland . She was the only child f

Lord Maitland, son of the Earl of Lauderdale, and of Lady

of of Maitland, daughter the Earl and Countess Sutherland .

1 1 3

i Th is Lady Ma tland , who seems to have been early left a

w 2 0 widow, r es ided ith her daughter at Kilkerran for about

E 1 years, and died at dinburgh in 7 4 7 .

i 1 H i r . e S James, Lord K lkerran , died in 7 5 9 is believed to have been buried somewher e within the walls of the old l cast e. It is probable that there was a burying-place of

” M h r kill consecrated ground beside the chapel of a c y , about three qu arters of a mile to the north -west of the old castle, and that it is here where many of the older generati ons of th e Fergu s s on s and their people were laid

r s r of or to e t, though the e are now no traces tombstones graves .

WHY DOES AI LSA CRAIG BELONG TO THE PARISH OF DAILLY ?

We have a ll heard the supernatu ral explanation of the

n witch who was ﬂyi g through the air, carrying in her apron the rock whi ch she had taken out of what is now

P enwha l pp e Glen , to Ireland, when her apron string broke , “ ’ ” and with the exclamation What ails ce ? she let her

f a burden all into the s e , hence the name . To pass from

t c able to fa t, in former times Ailsa formed part of the

Kn k n Barony of oc gerra n . For a time it was in the ha ds

ross ra u el of the Monks of C g , but latterly fell back into

s r a s s illis the posse sion of the Ea ls of C , to whom it l i . 1 80 6 a s s i l s formerly belonged In , the then Earl of C

l 1 8 1 was created Baron Ai sa, and in 3 he was raised to the 11 1 1 4

f still higher dignity of Marquess o Ai lsa . Hence when the

Kn ock err a n Barony of g changed hands , and came into the M r . a possession of Mackie, the father of the l te proprietor, the island was retained by the Marquess on account of the

title . But that does not wholly explain the connection of the

ou r la n i island rock with parish . The true exp at on we t — believe o be this When parishes were originally formed,

1 2 th which was about the century , they were much

a s larger than they are now. For various reasons, such

of n the division the original estate, or the inconve ient

s u situation of the Parish Church , many parishes were b

Da lmk n divided and new parishes formed . a err a seems to

to have been one of the original parishes, and extended

the sea, including Ailsa Craig . The fact that churches were built in situations central for the population of the

parish , and that our old Parish Church is situated only

one mile from the western boundary of the parish , and six

miles from the eastern , is a strong evidence that our parish

on e m at ti e extended much further to the west . It is undeniable that it extended to the south and i ncluded

what is now the Parish of Barr, which was disjoined in

1 6 Da lma ker r a n i a 5 3 . As a further evidence that or gin lly

ﬁ nd extended to the sea, we an entry in the books of the Glasgow Commissary Court of date 1 639 in which “ i Girvan Mains is said to be in the paroch n of Daillie .

n m The cha ge ust have taken place centuries before, but the writer may have been quoting from an old document

- anterior to the sub division , of which perhaps he was not

c nﬁr ma tor in aware . There is o y evidence, too, the import

C H APTE R IX .

E TH E VALLEY OF GIRVAN COAL FI LD .

EARLY C HARTERS .

h a COAL was wroug t in Scotland, and was a source of we lth

1 h on ﬁ ni n ou r as far back as the 3t century . C g view

of to the Water Girvan Coal Field, the earliest record of

u 1 1 m the industry takes s back to the year 4 5 . A ong the records of the Abbey of Cr os s r a gu el there has survived a

‘ M Gillela ne of . charter that date It is by John , Lord of the half of the Over Barony of Glen s tyn ch er common ly

Da lch a r n e called then , like the rest of what i i s now the Parish of Barr, in the Par sh of Dailly. It is in “ ” favour of his very dear friend Fergus Kennedy, Lord of

B on u mn B u ckmon n E y , otherwise called y , in the arldom of

B u cﬁ a n a n Lennox . The name now takes the form of , and designates a parish in the shire of Dumbarton , the ancient

1 Lennox country . It appears that in the year 2 90 for

of services rendered, the Earl Lennox had granted that

estate to Gilbert de Carrick , and Fergus Kennedy had

inherited it from him . In addition to his being a very

i Glen st n ch er h dear fr end of the Laird of y , Fergus a d other “ H e claims upon him . had helped him i n his great 1 1 6 1 1 7

” necess ity, and it was partly in repayment of money h advances that the C arter was drawn out . The Charter is in the ru de Latin in which these documents were expressed , and in the description of the property transferred the — ° ' wor ds occur Ca r bona n x s lapi de ct ca k e (coalpits stone and limes tone) . And it is added that the property is to be held of the Earl of Carrick , and the said Fergus is to become bou nd to do therefore the services due and

” wont. Now as there is no coal, and never was any in

S ti n ch a r the va lley of the , the above clause can only be explai ned by saying that the Over Barony of Glen s tynch a r extended to that part of th e Earldomof Carrick in our

ﬁ eld valley, and included at least a portion of the coal , distant from the valley of S ti nch a r about five miles as the cr ow flies . We are safe , then , in saying that we have evidence of coal having been wrought in our valley ne a rly

5 00 years ago . The next mention o f coal in our district is in a Charter

1 6 ﬁ u r e of date 5 the last g not being legible . For centuries the wealth of the gre a t Abbey of C ros s r a gu el had been gradua lly accumulating . The greater part of Carrick

n o wed allegia ce to i t. But the Church was now in a transition state . The Reformation was in process . The

ﬁ rs t General Assembly of the Reformed Church had been held The monks were in a state of alarm . The Earl of Ca s s i lli s and other lairds were beginning to make raids on the property of the Abbey . The former took the

Commendator of the Abbey , Alan Stewart, to his Black

Vault at Dunure , and held him before a slow fire till in his extremity of torture he signed away some of the Abbey 1 1 8

lands . There are indications in some of the Charters of this date of the state of poverty and panic into which the monks had fallen . In the above Charter, which is by the

- half roasted Abbot, Alan Stewart, in favour of James

Stewart of Cardonald, a lease is given for ﬁ ve years of certain lands in the Regality of the Abbey, the lease including the Coa l ﬂ u i d of now called

Da lzellowli e . Another deed in favour of the same James Stewart mentions certain sums of money which he had

on expended the repair of the Abbey, and assigns to him

a n a and his wife certain l nds with tei d she ves, that is , the tenth sheaf t a ken from every h a rvest ﬁ eld 5 ﬁ s h i n gs a n d

ﬁ s h er i es of a th e of the Water Girvan , till it f lls into sea,

ﬁ s hi n with teinds of the g, etc . 5 also the forty shilling land

' of of r a i oth ra i och w zf/z Me Ca /zeu c/z o old extent C g (C g ) , f

’ Zellowlze within the said lands . In 1 5 69 another Charter was executed by the same Alan

m B r u n s tou n Stewart, this ti e in favour of the Laird of ,

. H e William Kennedy, the Baillie of Carrick was the

h of of B r u n s tou n e third usband Black Bessy Kennedy ,

th H e sister to e Laird of Bargany . had been lending a

H e helping hand to the monks in their trou bles . had paid merks for reparation of the Abbey, and had otherwise rendered them help a n d assistance in this most ” perilous time in the necessaries of life . In return they transfer to him among other properties all and whole the six merk eight shilling and fourpenny land called Mains of

B r u n s tou n Da l u h a rr a n , formerly called Nether q , of old

- s l extent, with manor place, fortalice, orchard , stal ages or

coa l lzeu clzs coa l ots brewlands, , and p , quarries, woods and

1 2 0

— to Kennedy of Bennane, that in his time we do not know

— Dr u mmoch reen how long before coal was wrought on , h and that there was more than one pit going . T at, how ever, does not mean anything very extensive, as the pits i were very shallow in those days, the coal being carr ed out of the pits in creels, women being often employed as carriers . The next public record we have of the Dru mmoch r een

1 0 1 coal industry is in the year 7 . In order to keep down the water the colliers had erected a primitive hand pump , which they were, or thought they were, under the necessity

- f on . i t o working Sunday The Kirk Session heard of , and at their meeting on August 1 7th of that year appointed on e or more of their number to speak to the coal grieve anent his drawing water ou t of the hough of Dr a moch r ei n on ” Sabbath day . In the year 1 7 2 6 the Session were again in difﬁcu lti es i n regard to Sabbath profanation in the same neighbourhood .

This time the defaulters were Alexander Gordon , Wallace toun , and his whole family . Alexander wrote a letter to the

on 1 th minister, which was read at a meeting 5 December,

1 6 f 7 2 , acknowledging that he and his whole amily were

‘ ‘ guilty of working t/zr ougfzf or gelf u lﬂ ess ﬂ za z zz w a s t/ze S a éé a t/z ” da y . This being a singular case, the minister was asked

m of to take advice of so e his brethren of the Presbytery, which he did, and the advice given and subsequently acted on was that if the said family were penitent a sessional rebuke and the same intimated from the pulpit would be A f the most proper course. Accordingly lexander, his wi e, family, and servants all appeared before the Session , and one 1 2 1

' by one ackn owledged their oﬂence and their sorrow on

it a n ff account of , d the following Sabbath , all the o enders , a s enjoined by the Session, being present, the minister intimated the above acknowledgment to the congregation ,

r whe eupon, very much to the relief of all parties , the matter took end .

! 1 11 1: DA LQUHA RRA N p 1r s .

When and where coal was ﬁ r s t found on the estate I have no means of knowing . From various indications, it is probable that a commencement was made at a point near ’ ” Oa k the Colliers , a knotted and gnarled tree, evidently

r of g eat antiquity , which stands on the side of the road from

la t h u s e 1 0 S e o to the Castle, and about 5 yards east of the

Castle. The tree was so called because, according to

Da l u h a rr a n tradition , the Laird of q and the colliers were in the habit of meeting at that spot to discuss and settle matters of common interest . Our forefathers would no sooner make a beginning than they would have to face the di fﬁ cu lty of getting rid of the h water, w ich would accumulate all the more rapidly from the circumstance that the coal lies at an inclination . They

a were ingenious enough , however, to make the discovery th t by dri vi ng a mine from the surface to the coal on a level or i n such a way that the water would dow out by its own t gravity, hey would accomplish the two objects of getting rid of the water, and working the coal , as we say, Level

h a c e i n e e th e a u ho a s one of hi s e e w a s en T is rti l , s rt d by t r s ri s , writt Mr r a n . c s Kenne a n d now nc u e to com e e ne to by F i dy , is i l d d give pl t ss the u ec of h ch a e s bj t t is pt r. 1 2 2

’ free. A few yards east of the Colliers Oak one of thes e ” day levels, as they are called, was driven , which drained a portion of the coal near the outcrop . Finding from experience the great advantage of getting

i r coal level free, our ancestors set about cutt ng anothe day level . And they deserve credit for the way they have done i t. Instead of cutting it from a low point in the coal

n ow o ﬁ n d measures, they g to the lowest point they can and

1 00 begin it there . This point is about yards west of

Dowha il of House, and only a few feet above the level the

l. river Girvan , and not many yards from the old channe i The level itself bears traces of long and pat ent labour, A which show the value put upon it in those early days . t

h of the entrance it is protected by an arc , until a stratum

n th u B rock is reached stro g enough to carry e s rface . y this

on r means, and with the assistance of e o two shafts in the

S la teh ou s e— vicinity of the wrought, it is probable, by a

— - windlass perhaps one ﬁfth of the whole coal ﬁ eld was wrought level free . We now come to the period of

C I OR I N GA UN - I EYES IN L NES, EES ( NGOING ) .

One of these was made at the west end of H ou s emou n t i House. Another, which was carr ed into the lower seams, started on the south side of the turnpike road in Wallace

owﬁ ld r town c e . While these and pe haps more places in the vicinity were being wrought in this way, the south end of Low Stables was where the horses used for drawing the t coals out of the pits were stabled, and the nor h end the

’

r s . h or s ekeepe house Hence the name Old Stables, or Low

1 24

stoops around the pit supported a surface of that thickness .

u r th er n 2 0 0 F , the incline bei g yards to the dip of the pit,

o ne and the inclination being at least foot per yard , the stoops at the bottom of the incline must have Suppor ted a

of or 0 0 h stratum double the thickness 4 feet. Notwi t m standing this, the stoops at the botto were made no

of larger than they were in the vicinity the pit . A g ain , the

one a éove t/ze ot/zer parrot and corral coal stoops were placed , which would have been perfectly correct had the coal seams

s o. been ﬂat, but they were not Consequently, to have had the under stoop in a position to have supported the upper, it should have been put as far to the dip of the upper as

z a the difference between the perpendicular and the hori ont l .

on e From or other of these causes, or both combined, in — the year 1 848 the year of much greater crashes above ground in the political world— about the middle of the last extension of the incline in the corral coal workings on the east side, the pillars commenced to break down . Men were employed to prop and build up the workings, but all

cr ee their eff orts were of no avail . The p gradually extended h away to the east and as far west as the whin dyke, w ich proved a barrier against it in this direction . From this point it gradually, day after day and week after week , ' a ﬁ ecti n i ts travelled uphill, g all the seams in course, until it became evident that a portion of the workings would ff m entirely break down . A desperate e ort was now ade to save the incline by propping and building the workings on ff each side, but this had no e ect in stopping the creep .

on 6th 1 8 h A t last, December, 4 9 , the w ole workings from the eastern extremity to the whin dyke came down with 1 2 5

r one c ash , shaki ng the whole surface as with the shock of

s c an earthquake . Notwithstanding the serious a pe t of

s matters previou ly, nobody about the place anticipated

r . such a cata strophe . But the wo st remains to be told

n 6th D or on th O that night, ecember, the morning of 7

Decem ber, in consequence of the coal falling amongst the

- fi r e. red hot bricks of the engine furnace, the workings took ’ A t fi ve o clock in the morning the fi r e was so strong that

ﬁa mcs r 2 00 the eached the top of the pit, a distance of feet,

t t m z and se the pi hea d fra e in a bla e. ﬁ All the attempts to exti nguish the r e were unsuccessful ,

a and it continued to make r pid progress . It appeared to

i r come d ect from the pit to the surface, and also to spread a long west to the whin dyke above Wallacetown and east

n i to a other whin dyke beyond C ra gies ide. The whole brow of the hill between these two points was red - hot for

n . e ma y years These two dykes, how ver, proved to be ff e ectual barriers to the spread of the ﬁ re east and west.

ﬁ r e After all the coals near the outcrop were burned , the l gradual y crept away down the workings, and the surface

became cooler , until , at the present day, the main evidence tha t the ﬁ r e sti ll exists is the cons tant discharge of gases from the cracks and rents on the surface .

DA LZELLOW LIE F IRE PIT .

The histor y of mining in the valley of th e Girvan has been “ ” very chequered . In the year 1 835 the sitting of the

Ki l ra mmi e t a n n g pit ook pla ce, d the imprisonment of Ioh 1 2 6

- Brown in a living grave for twenty three days . A few “ ” years later there occurred the sit in the Da lqu h a r r a n

ﬁ r e i n workings and the subsequent wh ch is still smoulderi g . A t m a ore remote period the other pit higher up the water,

Da lzellowli e a , now discontinued, lso had its share in

. A t of las ﬁ r e misfortune the middle the t century it took ,

a one and fter burning for about hundred years, at last

ou t. A t ﬁ re burned itself the period when the broke out, the coal ﬁ eld belonged partly to Kilkerran and partly to

u l C zea n . Coal was dug here as fa r back as the 1 s th

- century . When we picture to ourselves the coal mining of these primitive times, we must dissociate our mind from steam engines, and, indeed, machinery of all kinds, even “ of the gin , and think the miners, including women and m children, tra ping down from the surface into black

cr eels on s caverns with wicker baskets, , their back , and then when they were ﬁlled toiling a n d staggering back with them A t to the surface . that early period the land and the coal ﬁ eld under it were part of the rich revenues of the

r s ra l old Abbey of C os gu e . In the charters of the Abbey “ ” a s Y ello li the name is given w e. Whether before the

or o f Reformation , in the course the general scramble for the Church lands and property which followed the

ﬁ eld Reformation , we do not know, but the coal came to be jointly possessed by Kilkerran and C u lzea n . There were frequent disputes between the two proprietors as to their

a n d on e m rights, at ti e these disputes took shape in a gude

’ ” of i gangin law plea, wh ch a bulky record is or used to be in the library of Kilkerran .

1 u r a u th ori t is . The pit took ﬁ re in the yea r 7 49. O y the Rev

1 2 8

f w— e . w be still living Part of the coal could still be rought , although in the neighbourhood of the ﬁ r e the heat was so great that the men had to work stripped to the trousers . The warmth on the surface told in the rapid growth of the

n young wood planted o the hill , and there was not a part of

Kilkerran woods that brought in a better return . There was another wa y in which the misfortune became

n . an advantage, though it was a more questionable o e l Illegal distillation used to be carried on in our va ley .

There was a famous still on the banks of the Lady Glen , and there are traces of others elsewhere . A great trouble with the smugglers was the getting rid of the smoke from the still with the least risk of detection . Sometimes it was carried along the surface for a considerable distance in trenches covered over with stones and turf to some outlet where what remained of th e smoke might be safely left to

ﬁ n d its way to the upper air. There are traces of such trenches on the banks of the P enqu h a pple ravine at

Kn ock er r a n ﬂowi n g , and at Littleton , where the burn g

Tr lor P en u h a le through o g farm enters the q pp , and there is a small cave with the remains of a well . It is said that the smugglers in the upper end of the valley fell upon a still more simple and ingenious method of escaping detection by carrying on their operations in the

D lz llowli e m i a e pit, and that latterly the s oke wh ch was “ ’ ” seen oozing to the surface at the r eeki n sta ne h a d ﬁ another source than the burning of the coal eld . The same clever rogues found another wall of defence in the

of superstition of the district. One them occasionally dressed up for the part of a ghost so that the neighbour 1 2 9

t e hood got the reputa ion of being haunt d , the gave th e b u rning b ills by night as wide a berth — There may be people still living a t all events

n — a s n there were not ma y years ago who, young men , k ew

ﬂa the vou r of the brew in the burning pit. TE R X C H AP .

M N N O T A B L E E .

H EW AINSLIE.

’ H E W ﬁ r s t AINSLIE saw the light at Butler s Brae, Bargany,

h 1 t 2 . on s April, 7 9 Across the river from Bargany House,

rising from the level along which runs the carriage drive, is ’ s a sloping and wooded bank . That is the Butler Brae, and at the foot, about a hundred yards from the bridge , T stood the cottage where the poet was born . here are no traces of it now . The father, George Ainslie, was baker to

Bargany, and he named his son after the laird , Sir Hew

Dalrymple Hamilton . Hew being delicate from his birth , his father got a tutor to teach him at home . Afterwards

n ﬁ n a ll he was sent to the Parish School of Balla trae, and y

H e to the Ayr Academy . returned home at the age

1 A t of 4 . this time Sir Hew was engaged in an

m of extension plan for the improve ent the estate, under the direction of the celebrated landscape gardener, White,

of by whom a number young men , mostly from the South , were employed . Young Ainslie joined them, as he says,

”

m o . to harden y constituti n , and check my overgrowth

The young men got up a private theatre in a granary, 1 30

1 3 2

he paid to Ayrshire, after his removal to Edinburgh, led to “ ” ma of his writing A Pilgri ge to the Land Burns , in which ,

of b e amid descriptions in prose no great literary value, incorporated most of his songs . From the want of an i n ﬂ u en ti a l publisher the work fell almost still-b omfromthe “ 1 8 press . In 5 5 , at New York , he published Scottish

” Songs, Ballads and Poems . Many of his compositions are

' ’ ’ W/zzs ﬂ e B zn é ze Gems o S ca ms !: S on to be found in , f g, and other collections .

’ If Ainslie s lyre is d eﬁ ci ent in some of the higher and m more spiritual chords , yet, for natural pathos, for sy pathy

’ with Nature s varying moods, for broad humour, for strong

of u patriotism , and not least for his command gen ine

Scottish Doric, he is well entitled to the high place which he continues to hold among Scottish poets of the second rank . Dailly may well be proud of him . One of his most famous pieces is the following

DO IE IN TH E H IN ’ HAI W T O RS T.

’ ’ I ow e i n th e h n o h a t s d i i t irst, ’ ’ A t th e wa - a n o th e a o g g sw ll w, W h en th e w nd r o ca u a n d th e u n o a u i g ws ld , b r s gr w b ld , A n d th e wu ds a r e h a n gi n g yellow 5 B u t oh o e fa r to s ee , its d wi r ’ ’ ’ Th e wa - a n 0 h er th e h ea r a n wi g g t g gs , ’ ’ ’ Th e ea -s et o a h n n e e d d s i i , h a a en h a ri a r ld n T t d rk s t e we e w o th ee.

Th ere wa s mickle love a tween us twa ’ Oh twa cou ld n e er b e fon d er A n d th e th in g on yerd wa s n ever ma de Th a cou h a e a r u s u n e t ld g t s d r . ’ ’ ’ B u t th e w a y 0 H ea v en s a bu ne a k en ’ ’ A n w e ma u n bea r wh a t it likes to s en 1 33

’ s comfo hou h to wea ri e men It rt , t g . , ’ ’ Tha t th e wa rs t 0 this w a r ld s wa es ma u n

’ ’ Ther e s mony th i ngs th a t come a n gne j u st kcnt a nd j u st forgotten A nd th e ﬂowers th a t busk a bonni e bra e li e Gi n a nith er yea r e rott n . ’ ’ B u t th e a oo 0 h a o e c c l st l k t t l v ly , ’ A nd th e n s h e a e to me dyi g grip g , ’ They re settled like eter ni ti e ’ h l Ma ha I e e w i hee O ry , t t w r t

L N HA MI TO P AUL . In the early days of the coal industry the custom

Da l u h a r ra n prevailed, of which q is now almost the only

i n survival Scotland, of the proprietors of the land retaining

a the working of the co l in their own hands, a manager or grieve, paid by and responsible to the estate, being

1 8th employed . Till near the end of the century the Bargany coal ﬁ eld was wrought on the north bank of the

Gi rvan opposite Bargany House . It might seem strange that the laird should have had a going colliery almost

- u w within a stone cast of his front door, and in f ll vie of hi s wi ndows . But we must bea r in mind that before the days of steam and when the coal was brought to the s a m urf ce by the slow process of winding, by eans of a ” horse or gin , a colliery would not be so much of a

a blot on the l ndscape as it is now . For many years the situ ati on of Bargany coal grieve was held by a man of the name of John Paul. John was a rough and passionate

A t . man . the same time he was shrewd and pawky A t one ti me th e Ballantrae people got the idea into their

e i h ads that there m ght be coal along their shore, and sent 1 34

“ r for John to examine and repo t . John knew what was ’ ” fu what, brawly, but to please them he went, and after kneeling down on the shore and smelling the ground round

of about him , rose and said, with a solemn shake the head ,

’ Boys , there s nae coal here . In the year 1 7 7 3 we ﬁ nd John occupying the same ’ cottage at Butler s Brae which , a few years later, came to be the residence of George Ainslie, the Bargany baker, the change of occupancy being proba bly owing to the opening of Ki l ra mmi e or a pit or pits at g the neighbourhood, which rendered it necessary that John should take up his quarters there . In the above year there was a son born to him at ’ m m Butler s Brae, who he na ed after the laird, Hamilton . m Besides Ha ilton , he had other two sons, and all f three showed signs o a rhyming gift, judging from stories of i mpr omptu verse -making sometimes ind u lged in by the

ﬁ r i boys around the es de. Hamilton received his early i education in the parish school, where, at th s time, not

H e only Latin but French was taught. seems to have gone straight from the parish school to Glasgow University, which he entered to study for the Church . There he had

-m m m for his class ate a Glasgow lad na ed Thomas Ca pbell ,

- A h who afterwards became the world famous poet .

a intim cy soon sprang up between the two kindred Spirits . m In a co petition , which both entered, for the best poem

n off z o a given subject, Hamilton carried the pri e . For some time during his student career he was tutor to a

s family in Argyll hire, and as Campbell held a similar m appointment in the sa e county, their intimacy was kept u p, and a correspondence, mostly poetical, was carried on

1 36

of h a d old building the new bridge, and actually sold the one to the contractor as a quarry . No sooner was he infor med of this intended act of sacrilege than Paul at “ ’ ” o once wrote the Petition of the Auld Brig Doon, which was printed and circulated over the country, and in two or three days a s u fﬁ ci ent sum was subscribed to r e

of purchase the materials the old bridge, and also to keep it in repair. A good many years afterwards the waters of the Doon had so much undermined the buttresses of the

of old bridge that it seemed to be in danger coming down .

David Auld, an Ayr barber or hairdresser, who had made

’ ’ a fortune by the exhibition of Thom s statues of Tam o

h a n r S te and Souter Johnny, and who built the inn and

’ B u r n s s shell palace in the neighbourhood of Monument , applied to the Trustees for money to prevent the ruin of the old fabric, but he was told that as it was only a private

u s tiﬁ ed footpath, the Trustees would not be j in applying f any portion o their funds for such a purpose . Thereupon

r M . Auld sent them copies of the poetical petition which

r had forme ly saved the bridge, and of which the Trustees

n were ignorant . O reading it they at once contributed privately the sum that was necessary to complete the required repairs .

i n ﬁr m of When he became too for the duties his charge, an assistant was appointed , who was so popular that people “ ” . S o came from the country round about to hear him , said the old minister grimly, you think yourself a very big man because you are followed by the multitudes . Let me tell you, my man, a still greater crowd would gather to ” see you ha nged . 1 3 7

Though always a great favourite in female society, he

. H never married e died at Broughton Manse, in February,

1 8 8 1 . 5 4, aged The following is

N F H D R ’ THE P ET I TIO O T E AUL B IG O DOON .

Mu I e mo e n fa c of a da st , lik d r bri s y, Dec ne un we th e ct mof eca ? li , pt, vi i d y ’ ha m o a r ch h ch ou e ches o er S ll y b ld , w i pr dly str t ’ Doon c a s c ea mfromK e to a c h or e s l si str yl C rri k s , ’ ’ Be s u ﬂered i n o v on u f to fa bli i s g l ll , A nd h u r l to wr eck my venera bl e wa ll ? Forbid it every tu te la ry power Th a t gu a rds my keystone a t th e mid night h ou r 5 ’ o e who cha me B u rn s s la F rbid it y , , r d by y, n d Amid th os e sce es ca n lin ger ou t th e a y. ’ ’ Let N a n ny s sa r k a nd Ma ggie s ma ngl ed ta il P ea i n m ca u e a nd i n th e ca u e e a l d y s s pr v il , Th e ma n of ta ste wh o comes my formto s ee A nd cu ou a s b u t a i n a n for me ri s sk . sks v i , h ea r of orr o w m fa e e o e Wit t s s w ill y t d pl r , h o u Wh en e is t ld th e A ld Brig is no more . o h en oh o the mo e ha n a n S t p t ; , st p r t v da l ra g e h a ma r h e o u ona a e T t ks t is r v l ti ry g , A nd th e u c u e of ou fa h e a s bid str t r y r t rs l t , Th e e of h th e oa o f a e a prid t is , b st g s p st ’ F or ne e let ou ch en ch r en e v r y r ildr s ild t ll , B ou h ﬁ n l f f y y r decr ee t e e o d a bric ell .

—A OF W C THOMA S THOMSON FRIEND SIR ALTER S OTT .

Thomas Thomson, who is described by competent judges a s the most learned and exact investigator of his

” 1 68. time, was born in the Manse of Dailly in 7 Not only hi s his a - father, but gr ndfather and grand uncle were ministers

r of the Chu ch of Scotland , the former in Auchtermuchty, th e la tte r in Elgi n . Thomas rec eived his early education 1 38

f 1 at the Parish School , and at the age o 4 entered the

e 1 8 University of Glasgow, where he took his degr e in 7 9 .

wn It had been the wish of his father, rather than his o ,

h v that he should study for the Churc , but an e ent now occurred by which his thoughts and career were turned in h another direction , and t at was the acquaintance which he

-i h formed through Lord Kilkerran with Lord Hailes, son

to ﬁ rs t of law Kilkerran, and the Scottish critical enquirers . In 1 7 93 we ﬁ n d him established in Edinburgh studying law and living in lodgings in Bristo Street along with his younger brothers . It was at this time that Thomas formed a friendship with

of Sir Walter Scott, which continued till the death the

2 latter in 1 83 . Scott became a frequent vi sitor at Bristo

H e of Street . got into the way dropping in at breakfast

on e time Sunday mornings, and John used to sp ak with delight of the conversations between Scott and his brother at these meetings . Sir Walter is said to have been indebted

Mr m . to . Tho son for some of his materials There can be no doubt he would draw from such a mine of Scottish historical research for historical materials . It is supposed that some of his names were taken from this district, and were suggested to him by his friend . No doubt Scott was in the habit of coining, and showed great genius in coining s i ni ﬁ ca n t a f g n mes, and it may be thought that some o the following were s o coined . But he sometimes found such i names ready made, and it seems not unlikely that hear ng

of ou r some names from his friend, his quick instinct at C once appropriated them . For example, Lady lowre ” owru m fr ou r Glowr eowr u m , which may be taken om ,

1 40

on of of John Thomson , e the greatest Scottish artists certainly the greatest Scottish landscape painter of his “ ” o time, styled The Scottish Claude L rraine, commonly

of Du ddi n s ton H known as Thomson g . e was the fourth

of and youngest son the Rev . Thomas Thomson, who was

of H e minister this parish for nearly 4 3 years . was born

1 s ' H e on t 1 8 . in the Manse of Dailly September, 7 7 was

as destined by his father for the ministry, but his t tes lay in

f . hi s a di ferent direction Even at an early age, art, future

own . mistress, had claimed him as her When his father h i m intimated to his wish that he should be a minister, he went down on his knees before him, and, with tears in his hi m eyes, implored him to make a painter. The old gentleman merely patted him on the head and bade hi mgo to his book and learn his lessons . From early boyhood he

of was more of a student Nature than of books, delighting

u of a to roam among the beautif l surroundings the M nse,

’ frequently rising at two o clock on a summer morning to

H a d et or see the rising sun from the top of y Kirkhill, or to witness the peculiar effect of its rays penetrating the trees in a neighbouring wood . Even in boyhood his pencil

iﬁ c was pr ol . But he was quite independent both of pen cil

of and paper, as could be seen on the walls the Manse,

ou t of both inside and , which contained many his sketches,

s nu ﬁi n executed with the ends of burnt sticks, the gs of candles, or anything else he could procure that would do .

His father, while amused at his precocity, still held by his purpose that he should study for the Church .

n In additio to the ordinary studies for the ministry, young Thomson devoted himself to physical science, such 1 4 1

’ a s i it was in those days, inherit ng his father s tastes in this

a n d roﬁci nt direction , became p e in astronomy, geology,

r optics, an d chemist y . A t the early age of 2 1 he was licensed to preach the

Gospel by the Presbytery of Ayr, and there seems to have

diﬂi cu l been no ty about his being presented by the Crown ,

a l the p tron , in succession to his father, which took p ace in

1 80 0 wa s the year . Not long after he settled he married

Miss Ramsay, daughter of the minister of Kirkmichael . H H e still continued to pu rsue his favourite studies . e was frequently to be seen in the woods of Bargan y with his

o or . A n ma n sketchbo k easel old , still alive remembers seeing hi msitting for hours befor e an old tree

. a at Old Maxwelton Me ntime his reputation was growing,

i n h i s but not own parish . The Dailly people did not like

l s such exc u ive devotion to art , to the neglect, as they thought, of his proper work . There were stories about the

Sabbath day being partly gi ven up to ar t at the Manse .

And there were some of his pictures , caricatures, so droll that some of the douce parishioners shook their heads over A t h them . the same time t ere were some of the Sabbath ’ critics who began to think that the minister s preaching was not quite orthodox . A few left the church and travelled

- all the way to the Burgher meeting house at Maybole, and altogether there was so much dissatisfacti on in the parish

s i that the Pre bytery felt called upon to nterfere, and appointed one of their older members to have a private

r a n d hi m interview with M . Thomson , remonstrate with on

Mr . to the subject of these grievan ces . Thomson listened

i r ff his rebuker in s lence, and appea ed to be greatly a ected 1 4 2

— ﬁ n er s by them with downward eyes ﬁ x ed on his nervous g , giving only an occasional modest glance at the face of his

h a d rebuker. The old man was pleased , thinking he made a good impression , and resolved that he would make a favourable report to the Presbytery . Little did he know

or that all the time young Thomson was sketching, rather etching, a laughable likeness of his rebuker with a pin upon

- his thumb nail .

It is not to be wondered at that Mr . Thomson should

Du ddi n s ton have desired a change . Accordingly when g , i a beautiful parish in the neighbourhood of Ed nburgh , ’ behind Arthur s Seat, became vacant, he and his friends took steps which wer e successful to secure the a p‘ m pointment . Here his talents found ore scope and i encouragement . His fame as a landscape pa nter

H e continued to spread . was early admitted an honorary

of hi s member the Royal Scottish Academy, and works continued year after year to grace the walls of its D exhibitions . His ailly pictures were for the most part

n gifted away to friends . But he was now i duced to put

ﬁ r s t a money value on his talents . For the picture he

ff 1 H s sold he was o ered 5 guineas . e him elf thought

h i n this was too muc , and it was only when a fr e d, in

con ﬁdence whose judgment he had , told him it was worth three times the money, that he could be persu aded to accept . Commissions for pictures pour ed in upon

r oﬁts th e him from all parts, till his p reached sum of about a year . The Manse was famed for hospitality . Walter Scott, John Clerk of Eldi n, after

T a wards Lord Eldin, Sir . Dick L uder, and most of the

1 44

’

. H Thomson s pictures . Landscape was his forte e was fond of depicting ancient castles and decayed

’ fortresses, such as Queen Mary s Castle of Craigmillar, of which he has given various views, and other ruins

s along the east coast . In the We t he had many subjects

ro Eti ve Du n fi f m the Trossachs , Loch Lomond , Loch , s ta

’ f 810 nage Castle, Dunluce, Wol s Crag, One of his

f of A ch ra happiest ef orts was a small picture Loch y.

of There may be others of his pictures, the subjects which

ou r lie in parish, in existence, but the only one, so far as we are aware, is the old Castle of Kilkerran , which hangs

- in the dining room of Kilkerran House . A P P E N DIX I.

- DAILLY PLACE NAMES .

A vcrmnron 'r M 11) A u cn n nrou r A u rma rc rr r , , EASTER c

Withi n the grounds of Bargany .

— cl i BA LCEA CHY Probably an oth er form of Bal etch e .

BA L R Y— ck rr a n 1 00 f C O O u Kno ge , about yards west o the

roa d en d . — B A LDRYN A N About a quarter of a mile east of High

Newlands.

— - BA RCLO NOQ UHA N A mansion house or castle on or near

s of l the site of the pre ent House Ki kerran . — B ERRY KNOLL 0a B e nny Kn ows s Above Loves tone

1 0 Hill, about yards west of the stone quarry .

P a a x — In m BLACK the wood to the north of Ro illy Pit . — B LA WE A RY On the Farm of Lochr ie. — B oc n a a n On the west side of the road above Heather

Row . — B URNFOOT A t the j u nction of the Dobbi ngs ton and

n Li nds a ys ton Bur s .

mmc n rb — h l o f C Opposite Pen i l Castle, on the south side

P enqu ha pple B u rn . 1 46 — CA RS KULL B CIOW Glenwells on Dru mmochreen Farm .

S p a rN os — On Glenton on of CAULD Farm , the south side

the old Maybole Road .

LA CHA N EA S Y p oUr — a mr a n C S Near C eg , on the south side

mr n of the road between the trough and Ca ega .

A A P — C L CH N LUCK Near Kilkerran House . — C LA Y CROFT Between P la nta i nh ea d and the road to Blair — CORA LH ILL Also Q u a r r elhi ll and Qu a r ryhi lL — CORS ERU N N EL In the neighbourhood of Rou gh neu k.

RA I E N A RRY— n M or s ton C G QU O o Farm . — CRA IGEN S OLUS Between Lane and Maxwelton . — CURRA CHA N Above Woodend on Moor s ton side of

Filfa r u h a r q Burn . — DAILY KEG Near Romilly Pit .

DA L U H IR— On of P en u h a le Q the right bank the q pp Bu rn ,

near where it enters the river .

A LR E A H I — I D C E n the Toddy Glen above Kilkerran House . — D IRTY DU Bs Near Dr u mmoch r een Farmhouse at the side

of the burn .

— n on DRONGAN O Drongan Burn , the upper side of the

r carriage d ive to Kilkerran . — DRONGAN Oh the old road to Girvan in Maxwelton

Holm . — E LDINTON On Maxwelton Farm to the east of Dailly water

reservoir, where John Semple the Covenanter was

shot . — EN TRY H EA D or DRUMMOCHREEN The old house by the

river. — FA LTR IP LOCH A t the lower end of the present curling

pond .

1 48

— ’ KORA LS CRA FT On the top of Meg s Hi lL

’ LA D — l n i Y W E LL OR Mv LA Dv s G e e . , WELL Near g

LA N I A N — l n N L E The house at the o d lime work o Blair Hill . — MA C HRY KILL The site of the old Celtic Chapel on White

hill Farm .

— n Ga la nston MAVIS NEST O the burn at the back of . — M IDTON OF C A MREGA N Between Old Dailly and Cam

regan on the south side of the road , where John

Stevenson the Covenanter lived . — M ILCA VIS H The name originally given to the village of

1 2 New Dailly . The name occurs in 7 0 . — M ULLOCKS TON Probably what is now called High

Mullocks . — MUIRY ETT OR MOORGATE Where Low Craighead Far m

steading now stands .

N HA LL— n a mre a n M UTTO O C g , about a quarter of a mile up the old wood road running up the hill from near

the drinking trough . P EN BLEA TH Also Easter and Wester P enblea th on

Dobbi ngs ton Farm . ’ H— P ETHMOUT In the Weavers Glen , Bargany. — PROM ISE PUM P Ou the Maitland approach to Kilkerran “ ” r House, corrupted from Prim ose, the name of the man

o wh used to be employed to carry water to the house .

— n ROYAL OAK O the old road at the Bargany pond .

D— Li nds a s ton B a lc m S CA RH EA Opposite y , on the a ey side of

the burn .

HA KIS TON HA KS HA WS T N r A S HA KS IS TON , S , S O , o S H WS TON

Dru mi r va n Near g Bridge, on the upper side of the

present carriage drive to Kilkerran . x 49

’ ILLvn u s— th e o h S o Near fo t of the Bellman s Brae, t at is ,

the brae be tween the Barr Road and Woodend . The

- l n n ﬂi . chu rch o cer , or bel ma , lived here, hence the ame — ’ S ma moowmt Ou the south side of the Minister s ” i h lm M n o o oors . Brae, between G u d e and to March — S mn owr n In P enquha pple Glen . — TEN 8 11 111 4 11 0 LAND Between the Romilly Pit and

S la teh ous e.

WA r s n ou s s - q s o l ca led Watchhouse, was on the Bargany

r i ll . oad, near the v age

W r M — a u mn u . o DRU MOC HRE EN Ou the river near the

’ s ﬁ n A b rcr mmi e s Old Hou e, where, as we d from e u

u k l c mmill acco nt, there was a wau mill as we l as a o

2 00 years ago .

W 111TES TA NECRA F'1 — A t W of lit le to the N . . Romilly Pit.

W n nn x — B oo u ehind Wooden d .

1 5 2

D 1 8 - 8 D. . 1 1 . WILLIAM CHALMERS , , 4 43 (J oined th e Free Ch u rch a t th e Disru ption a nd a fterwa rds beca me P r i ncipa l of th e E nglis h P resbyteria n Ch ur ch Coll ege i n

Lond on . )

I - 8 1 8 1 . DAV D STRONG, 43 5 5

D 1 8 - 1 D . 86 CORNELIUS GIFFEN , . , 5 5 9.

- EO GE L D D 1 86 1 0 8. G R TURNBU L, . . , 9 9