|
HAVING given some details
regarding the Fleming family, it may not be inappropriate to follow them up
with a very brief notice of some of the early conterminous proprietors, to
whom special reference has not yet been made. These men, though of inferior
rank and influence to the Flemings, yet occupied a prominent place in the
district They were chiefs in their own localities, and had a number of
retainers, who were bound to aid them in all their enterprises. Each of them
occupied his grim baronial tower, in which he defended himself and his
property from the attacks of marauding neighbours, and from which he
occasionally led forth an armed band to revenge his wrongs, or obey the call
of his lord-superior.
We will begin with the Browns
and Dicksons of Hartree.
Hartree is an estate which
lies to the south of Biggar, and was long held by a family of the name of
Brown. Richard Brown of Hartree is mentioned in a* deed dated at Lanark,
20th December 1409, serving William Douglas heir of his father, by an
inquest held at that town. Richard and his son John were, in 1431, appointed
bailies to David Menzies, laird of one-half of the barony of Coulter.
William Brown of Hartree appears in a suit before the Lord Auditors of
Parliament in 1478-9, at the instance of John Martin of Medop. It appears
that Richard Brown, son and apparent heir of Andrew Brown of Hartree, had
married Janet, a daughter of Malcolm Lord Fleming; and his Lordship, on the
23d September 1536, granted a precept of sasine for infefting Richard and
his wife, and the longest liver of the two, in the L.5 lands of Easter
Hartry. Andrew Brown of Hartree was one of the witnesses of the charter of
foundation of the Collegiate Church of Biggar in 1545. In 1587, John Lord
Fleming granted a precept of clare constat for Infefting Andrew Brown of
Hartree, as heir to Andrew Brown, his grandfather, in the lands of Logan,
lying in the barony of Glenholm, his Lordship being superior of these lands.
On the 21st of June 1627, Andrew Brown of Hartree was served heir of his
father, Gilbert, in the annual rent of 300 merks of the village, demesne
lands, and mill of Kilbucho. In the muster roll of a Weapon-showing, held on
the King’s Muir, near Peebles, on the 15th June 1627, it is stated that the
Laird of Hartree (Andrew Brown) was absent himself, but that ten of his men
were present, ‘ horsed, with lances and swords.’
On the 13th of August 1630,
John Dickson, ‘servitor’ to Sir Alexander Gibson of Durie, Clerk Register,
received a charter from the Earl of Morton, of all and haill the town and
lands of Kilbucho, the myln and mainlands and multures thereof, the lands of
‘ Moitt or Maynis of Kilbucho,’ of Raw, Blendewing, Cleugh, Goisland, with
the patronage of the kirk, and the parsonage and vicarage teinds of the
parish. The same John Dickson received, in 1635, two charters from the Earl
of Traquair, conferring on him the lands of Bumfoot, Easter Place, Howslack,
Blackbyres, Hartree Mill, and Threpland, ‘ with the toure, fortalice, and
maner place of the same lands.’ John Dickson, who thus became the founder of
the family of Dickson of Hartree and Kilbucho, followed the law as a
profession, and was raised to the Bench by the title of Lord Hartree. Some
of Lord Hartree’s successors have been distinguished men. We may refer to
Lieutenant-Colonel William Dickson, who commanded the 42d Royal Highlanders
at the commencement of the present century. He accompanied his regiment in
the expedition to Egypt in 1801, and was wounded
'Whan Abercromby, gallant
Scot,
Made Britain’s foes to tack again.’
On his return in 1802, he
reviewed his Highlanders before George in., and an immense concourse of
spectators, at Ashford; and then, at their head, commenced his march to
Scotland, receiving great attention and applause from the inhabitants of all
the towns through which he passed At Peebles, he and his officers were
entertained at a public dinner by the provost and inhabitants of that burgh;
and, in course of the evening, the civic worthies, feeling proud of the
Colonel as a native of their own county, offered to make exertions to return
him as their representative to the next Parliament. They were as good as
their word, and at next election succeeded in securing a majority of votes
in his favour, and the Colonel sat one Parliament as the representative of
the burghs of Lanark, Linlithgow, Peebles, and Selkirk, then united in
returning a member to the Imperial Parliament. Shortly after this, Colonel
Dickson was raised to the rank of Brigadier-General. He is understood to
have been a free, hearty individual, and rather fond of a glass of good wine
or whisky punch. In consequence of repeated applications to these inspiring
beverages, his nose by and by assumed a somewhat rubicund appearance. On one
of his visits to London, he happened to be in company with 1 that daft
buckie Geordie Wales,’ when his Royal Highness said to him,
‘Well, General, how much has
it cost you to paint your nose?’ ‘ I really canna say,* replied the General;
‘ I haena yet counted the cost, as I consider the wark still unfinished.' It
is worthy of notice that the General's servant, Mr William Harlan, who
attended him in his expedition to Egypt, and remained with him till his
death, is still this year, 1862, alive at Biggar.
The Tower of Hartree, which
was a conspicuous object from Biggar, stood on a knoll surrounded by
marshes, near the site of the present mansion-house. It was demolished by
the late Colonel Alexander Dickson, who erected the present building in its
stead.
The Hartree estate is now the
property of David Dickson, Esq., advocate. He generally resides a portion of
the year at Hartree House, and takes a deep interest in all schemes for the
benefit of the district.
Threpland, a farm lying at
the foot of the Hartree Hills, a short distance to the west of Hartree
House, was a separate holding in the time of Alexander ni. At the
commencement of the war of independence, in 1296, Robert, Laird of
Threpelande, swore fealty to Edward I. The name of the proprietors of
Threpland was Brown, at least it was so in 1526. At a short distance from
the * onstead1 of Threpland, at one time stood a cottage or hamlet, called
the Hole ayont Threpland, which very probably was built by the company of
Germans to whom James V., in 1526, gave a grant of the precious mines of
Scotland for forty-three years. These individuals made many excavations in
our hills for the purpose of discovering ores of lead, silver, or gold. A
hole in the hillside, supposed to be dug by them, can still be traced, and
pieces of lead ore are occasionally picked up. This place is referred to in
a rhyme, which, it is said, was composed by a vagrant, who had been
disappointed in obtaining an ‘ awmous1 at the different farm-houses
mentioned:—
'Glenkirk and Gleucotho,
The Mains of Kilbucho,
Blendewan and the Raw,
MitchelhiH and the Shaw,
The hole ayont the Threpland
Wad had them a'.
MENZIES OF COULTER.
One half of the lands of
Coulter, at an early period, belonged to a family of the name of Bisset. It
then passed in succession into the hands of the Newbiggings and Douglases.
The other half was long the patrimony of a family named Menzies. In the year
1385, Robert Maynheis obtained a charter from Robert IL of half of the
barony of Coulter, which his father John had resigned. It is interesting to
note that David Menyheis, one of the members of this family, granted, in
1431, hjs part of the lands of Wolchclide 'in frankalmoigne' to the monks
,of Melrose. At the Reformation, this and other possessions of the monks
were conferred on Sir Thomas Hamilton of Byres, in Haddingtonshire, who, in
1619, was raised to the peerage by the title of Earl of Melrose, but who
shortly afterwards was allowed to change this title for that of the Earl of
Haddington. In 1645, John, the fourth Earl of Haddington, was returned heir
of the demesne lands of Melrose, comprehending, among others, those of
Wolfclyde. The farm of Wolfclyde appears to have been, at a subsequent
period, the property of Sir William Menzies of Gladstanes. It now forms part
of the Hartree estate; and it is worthy of notice that it still pays
annually a few shillings to the Duke of Buccleuch, as Lord of Erection of
the Abbey of Melrose. Alexander Menzies, yr. of Coulterallers, was appointed
Commissioner of Supply and Lieutenant of the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire
Militia, by an Act of the first Parliament of William and Mary, 14th March
1689.
The family of Menzies
continued to hold a portion of the parish of Coulter, particularly
Coulterallers, down to the death of Mr Robert Menzies, which happened in
1769 ; and the lands of Coulterallers and others were purchased two years
afterwards by Mr James Baillie, writer, Edinburgh. The family generally
resided at Coulter, but their names do not appear very frequently in
history.
BAILLIE OF COULTERALLERS.
The family of Baillie of
Coulterallers, formerly of Bagbie, Harding-ton, and Hillhouse, is an
offshoot from the Baillies of Lamington. It is not accurately known at what
time it branched off, but it has generally been stated that the founder of
it was a younger son of William Baillie of Lamington, who flourished in the
early part of the reign of Queen Mary. This, however, appears not to be
correct, as we find that the Baillies were in possession of Bagbie previous
to 1555. On the 22d of November of that year, William Baillie of Bagbie,
Nicholas his brother, and Michael Short, his servant, and three others, were
‘replegiated* by James, Earl of Morton, to his regality of Dalkeith, to
underlie the law, on the 17th of January following, for the convocation of
the lieges to the number of six score persons, armed in warlike manner, and
attacking James, Lord Sommerville.
William Baillie of Bagbie, in
1574, purchased the farm of Unthank, in the parish of Coulter, of which his
father Richard had been tenant. His son, Alexander, succeeded to the lands
of Bagbie and Unthank, but does not seem to have made up any titles to
Unthank. He was appointed ruling elder for the parish of Roberton to the
Presbytery of Lanark 18th July 1639. His son, Major Alexander Baillie, made
up titles to Unthank, as disponee of his father, in 1642. His brother, Major
Claud Baillie, made up titles to Unthank, as heir to his brother, in 1644.
The lands of Hardington seem to have belonged to a family named Baillie,
probably cousins of Baillie of Bagbie; and on the 2d October 1645, the
Moderator of the Presbytery of Lanark gave thanks to Lord Angus, the Laird
of Lee, Sir William Carmichael, James Wondrone of Wiston, the Laird of
Halcraig, Hardington, probably Alexander Baillie after -mentioned,
Gilkerscleugh, and Gideon Jack, baillie of Lanark, all personally present,
for fchei* commendable adherence to the Covenant, and their resolute
resistance to the enemy at this difficult time; and on 6& September 1666, Mr
William Thomson reported to the Presbytery of Lanark, ‘ That as for the
conventicle keept of late at young Hardington’s house, he,can prove by
Witnesses that Mr Nicol Blaick preached there. The Presbytery thinks fitt
that it be recommended to Littilgilly Sainct John’s Kirk, and William
Somervil, the Justice of the Peace, to take notice thereof for the breach of
the Act of Parliament.’ Major Claud Baillie married Jane Baillie, daughter
of William Baillie of Lamington. The Major was appointed one of the
Commissioners for the county of Lanark, to gather in a supply, in 1666. He
seems to have been of an extravagant disposition. He sold Unthank in 1666,
and on 4th July 1661 he granted an heritable bond over all his lands and
heritages to Alexander Baillie, son of the deceased William Baillie of
Hardington, and Marjory Menzies, spouse of the said Alexander Baillie; and
he granted another heritable bond to Alexander Baillie of Hillhouse, son to
Richard Baillie, his brother-german, for 1300 merks, and to Joan Baillie,
his sister, for 1000. merks, on 29th October 1661. Major Claud Baillie had a
son named William, who succeeded him in the lands of Bagbie, against whom Mr
Alexander Baillie of Hillhouse led an apprising, in which he obtained decree
on 27th November 1672; and Mr William Baillie of Hardington (probably son of
the above Alexander Baillie) also led apprisings and adjudications against
Mr William Baillie of Bagbie, by which he acquired the lands of Bagbie,
Shillowhead and Marchilands, Hillend and Bank, from him. Mr William Baillie
of Hardington seems to have got into difficulties himself ; for we find him
denounced his Majesty’s rebel, and put to the horn, for not making paymqpt
of some money he was owing. An action of ranking and sale of the lands of*
Bagbie and Shillowhead with the Kirklands thereof, Nether Hardington and
Kirklands thereof, the Half West land of Hardington, Fallside, Smellgills,
Hillend and Bank, was brought, in which decree was pronounced on 18th July
1721, declaring these lands to belong to Mr James Baillie, Writer to the
Signet. This Mr James Baillie was son to Alexander Baillie of Hillhouse, who
was son to Richard Baillie, brother of Major Claud Baillie of Bagbie, and
son of Alexander Baillie of Bagbie add Unthank He was born in the year 1660;
married Miss Elizabeth Johnston, daughter of David Johnston, merchant,
burgess, and guild-brother, of Edinburgh; and passed Writer to the Signet in
1694. In right of his wife, he was made a burgess and guild-brother of
Edinburgh 8th July 1696. He is designed of Wells in 1701, and 6eems to have
sold this property previous to 1704, when he married Miss Anna Livington,
daughter of George Livington of Saltcoats, in Haddingtonshire. He had three
sons by his first marriage,—Robert, who was one of the magistrates of
Edinburgh in 1745, and again in 1755; David, who married Miss Helen Bruce of
Earlshall, and was killed at a horse-race at Cupar-Fife in 1725; and
William, who was Governor of Guinea;—and by his second marriage he had an
only son George.
Mr James Baillie purchased
Hardington and Bagbie from the representatives of Mr William Baillie in
1721. Mr Baillie, who died in 1747, is represented as having been ‘a very
honest and bright gentleman,’ and was private agent for the Earl of March,
Baillie of Lamington, Menzies of Coulterallers, etc., and had a large and
respectable practice. His son, Mr George Baillie, succeeded him in the lands
of Hardington and Bagbie, and married Miss Euphemia Bertram, daughter of
William Bertram of Nisbet, and.had—with several other children—James,
Robert* and Menzies. James, who was born in 1732, was a writer in Edinburgh.
He purchased Coulterallers in 1771, and died unmarried in 1818. Robert, who
was born in 1734, was apprentice to his uncle, the Edinburgh magistrate, and
afterwards a settler in Georgia, in the United States of America. He
distinguished himself very much in the American War, and was colonel of a
regiment of Volunteers in the service of his Britannic Majesty. He married
Miss M‘Intosh, daughter of John Mohr M(Intosh, one of the earliest colonists
of Georgia, and one of whose descendants again distinguished himself in the
Mexican War. He died in 1782. Menzies was first an assistant surgeon in the
army'; then a partner of the firm of Bertram, Gardner, & Company, of Leith,
and afterwards Barrack Master at Leith. He was bom in 1741, and died in
1804. He married Miss Anne Hodgson. The present proprietor of Coulterallers,
Robert Granbery Baillie, Esq., who is grandson to the above-mentioned Robert
Baillie, succeeded to the estate of Coulterallers on the death of his
grandunole, James Baillie, in 1818. He married Miss Anna Baillie, daughter
of the above-named Menzies Baillie, and has two sons—James William Baillie,
Esq., W.S., and John Menzies Baillie, Esq., C.A.
THE BROWNS OF COULTERMAINS.
The lands of Coultermains
were held for a long period by a family of the name of Brown, a name that
prevailed largely in the Biggar district. The Browns of Coultermains are
supposed to be a branch of the family of Brown of Hartree, to whom we have
referred. The period at which the Browns became proprietors of Coultermains
cannot now be exactly known. The earliest notice of them that appears on
record is in 1492, when John Brown of Cultre is mentioned as attending an
inquest of the gentlemen of the shire of Clydesdale. Richard Brown of
Coultermains, in 1512, along with John Tweedie of Drummelzier, and James
Lockhart of Lee, became surety for John Symontoun of Symontoun, when he was
arraigned on a charge of treasonably forging false money; and as Symontoun
did not appear to underlie the law, Brown and his associates were 4
amerceated ’ in the sum of 1000 merks. Richard Brown of Coultermains, along
with Malcolm Lord Fleming, Andrew Brown of Hartree, and others, as formerly
mentioned, was in 1526 accused of treasonable communication with Englishmen
in time of war, and received a respite for nineteen years. He also, along
with Hugh Lord Sommerville, on the 24th April 1536, became surety for
William Chancellor of Quothquan, his brother Robert, and James Chancellor,
when they were accused of the slaughter of Thomas Baillie of Cormiston.
In December 1562, James
Tweedie of Fruid, most likely the son of the individual who married
Catherine Fraser, formerly referred to, was attacked when seated before a
fire in the house of William Tweedie, burgess of Edinburgh, and mortally
wounded, before he could raise himself up, or parry the blows aimed at him.
Patrick Hunter, John Hunter, burgess of Edinburgh, John Bum of Over Posso,
George Paterson of Harestanes, and William Glen, the Laird of Fruid’s
servant, were tried for this murder; and among the 4Pre-locutouris ’ at the
trial were the Laird of Coultermains, the Laird of Carmichael, my Lord
Semple, the Laird of Traquair, and the Laird of Coilstone. The panels were
on this occasion acquitted. John Brown of Coultermains was arraigned for
taking part in the murder of David Rizzio, in March 1566 ; but it is not
known whether he suffered any punishment for this crime or not.
In the year 1571, during the
regency of the Earl of Lennox, the people of Scotland were divided into two
inveterate factions, called respectively Queensmen and Kingsmen; that is,
those who favoured Queen Mary, and those who favoured her son James. Both
factions held separate Parliaments, and pronounced condemnation and
forfeiture on each other. The Queen’s party held a Parliament at Edinburgh,
in the autumn of the year referred to, under the protection of William
Kirkcaldy, the Governor of the Castle, and, of course, passed the doom of
forfeiture on their opponents, the Earl of Lennox, the Earl of Morton, the
Earl of Mar, and, among many others, James Johnston of Westeraw, John
Lindsay of Covington, and John Brown of Coultermains^4 for certain crymes,’
as the author of the 'Diurnal ’ says, ‘and poyntis of tressoune contenit in
the summondis directit thairupone; and decemit the saidis personis, and ilk
ane of thame, to have tint and foirfaltit thair lyvis, landis, and guidis,
and ordaynit thair airmes to be riffin, and thair namis and armis to be
deleted out of the buikis thairof for ever; and thairefter the saidis
lieutennentis and nobilitie, with sword, sceptour, and cronn, past to the
mercat croce of Edinburgh, and thair causit prodame the said foirfaltour.'
From this it appears that the Laird of Coultermains was opposed to the
unfortunate Queen Mary, and took part with the Earl of Murray, the Earl of
Lennox, and others, who contended for the government of her son James.
Robert Brown of Coulter, most
likely a relative of the- Browns of Coultermains, was, in the June of 1596,
cruelly slaughtered on the Green of Coulter, and the goods and cattle of his
brother carried offf by Thomas Jardine of Bimock, and his two sons, Humphrey
and Alexander, individuals who, about that period, committed many barbarous
outrages in the Upper Ward. One of their most atrocious deeds was their
burning and destroying the place of Iittlegill, in the parish of Wandell, in
1589, 1 with haill laiche housis, bames, and byres thairof, and haill
insicht and plenessing being thairin, and their crewall burning and slaying
of umquhile Alexander Bailzie of Little-gill, Rachel Bailzie, dochter to
Mathow Bailzie now of Iittlegill, and umquhile Achiesone, servand to the
said Mathow, the 6aidis umquhile three persones being all within the said
place the tyme of the burning and destroying thairof.’
The estate of Coultermains
consisted of two divisions. The one was called the dominical 50s. lands of
old extent, and the other the L.5 lands of old extent. The 50s. lands lay on
the west, and are those which were first acquired by the family of Brown,
and On which the old mansion-house was built. Till 1598, this mansion was a
tower, or, as it is called in the deeds, a fortalice, and the exact spot on
which it stood is the north-east comer of the present garden. The family
abandoned the tower at that time, and erected a small but commodious
dwelling-house near it; and this building remained till 1838, when it was
removed by the present proprietor, Mr Sim. Two stones of the old building
were carefully preserved, and built into the elegant new edifice then
erected One of these stones has the inscription, J. B. 1598, K. L.; and the
other, J. B^ K. L;, 1600. The initials refer to John Brown, and his spouse,
Katherine Lockhart, a daughter of the old Clydesdale House of Lee.
This Laird died in 1600, and
was succeeded by his son Richard, who, on the 12th of May of that year, was
retoured heir of his father of the 50s. lands called ‘ Coultermaneis,’
within the barony of Coulter. John Brown, and his son Richard, involved
their affairs and estate in pecuniary difficulties; but from what cause,
does not appear; and wadsets were granted over the lands to Sir James
Lockhart of Lee, Malcolm Fleming, younger, of Cardon, Menzies of
Coulterallers and Carlops, and Walter Carmichael. It appears that in the end
Sir James Lockhart1 exerted himself to set the
affairs of his relatives the Browns free from embarrassment, and that
through his means a charter of resignation in favour of John Brown, and his
wife, Jean Sommerville, was granted by the various parties, restoring all
their possessions from wadsets, in 1637.
John Brown, the Laird of
Coultermains of whom we are now speaking, was what was called a ‘
Malignant,* that is, he favoured the side of Charles L; and though he did
not openly join Montrose, and take part in his military movements, yet he
secretly gave him his countenance and aid. The consequence of this was, that
he came under the lash of the Presbytery of Biggar. At a visitation of the
Kirk of Coulter, on the 16th of July 1645, one of the questions asked at
John Currie, the minister of the parish, was, ‘if there was any in his
parish suspected of malignancie?’ The answer was, that ‘John Brown,
portioner of Cultermaines, was suspected, because it was reported that his
reasoning in discourse with company did tend that way. As also, when upon a
time, ye minister in his sermon was stirring up ye people to advance and
hasten the levie, the said John Brown was perceived to smyle.’ Mr Brown
denied that there was any truth in these allegations, and, being removed,
the elders of the parish were called in; but though they admitted that ‘ he
was bruited and ill thought off/ yet they could not charge him with any
special act of malignancy. The case being referred to the minister and
elders of the parish for further examination, John Currie, on the 19th
November, reported that he and his session had been diligent in trying the
disaffection of John Brown, but had not found out anything against him of a
serious character. This did not satisfy the Presbytery, and therefore John
Currie was ordered to cite the Laird of Coultermains to appear before the
Presbytery at their next meeting. The Laird accordingly appeared before the
Presbytery on the 24th December, and admitted that he smiled in the Kirk
when the minister was insisting on constancy in the good cause; but he
asserted that the smile was extorted from him by the light behaviour of a
person that sat near him in the Kirk, and that he was very sorry that such a
thing had taken place. He declared ‘ that he thocht weill of ye work of
Reformation,’ but denied that he received any protection from Montrose, or
was at the Battle of Philiphaugh. He confessed, however, that he went in-the
cause of the King to Dumfries with the Marquis of Douglas. These admissions
not proving satisfactory to the Presbytery, Robert Elliot of Kilbucho,
George Bennet of Quothquan, and the indefatigable John Currie of Coulter,
were appointed a committee to investigate still further into his conduct.
These worthies reported at the next meeting th&t they were unable to elicit
any further information, and therefore it was resolved to cite the Laird to
appear once more before the holy conclave. The result of the whole was, that
the Laird was forced to compear on the 21st of October 1646, when he humbled
himself, confessed his malignancy, and craved pardon. He was thereupon
referred back to the Kirk of Coulter to fulfil the rest of his censure.
This, as laid down by the Presbytery in cases of malignancy, was to appear
before the congregation, and ‘ efker sermon, to stand before ye pulpitt, and
mak open confessione of yr offence, and falling down upone yr knies, craive
pardon for ye same.’
At the period to which we are
now referring, when great commotions in Church and State prevailed, and
property and even life were insecure, John Brown of Coultermains removed the
writs and evidents of his lands to the house of his friend and
brother-Malignant, William Lindsay of Birthwood, situated in a solitary but
beautiful glen at the foot of Coulter Fell. Here an accident happened, by
which the whole papers and charters containing the history of the Browns,
and the rights and titles of their estate, were destroyed. The following
extract from the Charter of Novodamus of both halves of Coultermains in
favour of John Brown of Coultermains, dated 4th February 1659, tells the
story:—‘ Richard, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland,
and Ireland, and dominions thereto belonging, to all men to whose knowledge
this our present charter sail come, greeting,—Be it kxiowne that for-as-mekill
as we understanding that our loved Johne Broune of Coultermaynes stands
heritablie infeft in all and haill the fyve pund land of Coulter Maynes,
alswell that halff thereof called the auld or west halff, as in that other
halff of the samyne called the new or eister halff of the saidis lands, with
houses, biggings, yardis, pairts, pendicles, and pertinents thereof
whatsomever, lyand within the parochin of Coulter and our Shereffdome of
Lanark, holdin immediatelie of us and our predecessors, Kings of Scotland,
be service of warde and relieff, and siclyke, wee being certainlie informed
that in the time of the late troubles in the year ane thousand sex hundreth
and fiftie ane, the said Johne Broune, for securing his writes and evidents
of the saidis lands, haveing committed the samyne to the custodie of William
Lindsaye of Birthwode, to be keeped wtin his hous, as a place remote and
reteired frome all publice hieways, the saide hous, and all within the
samyne, and among the rest, the saidis haill writs and evidents, were be ane
sad and unexpected accident totallie brunt, and destroyed with fyre, as hes
beene sufficientlie instructed and made appear to our said Commissioner of
Exchequere, be twa severall certificates of the truith thereof produced
before them,— ane whereof subscribed be the Moderator and brethren of the
Prisbitre of Biggar, and the other, be the Justices of our Peace within that
our countie,' etc., etc. The Brounes thought it necessary to get a similar
charter from Charles II., July 1st, 1661, two years afterwards.
In July 1681, a deed was
committed by the Laird of Coultermains, which strongly marks the disordered
state of the country at the time, and the disposition of the local
proprietors to disregard the laws and settle their disputes by brute force.
Alexander Menzies, Laird of Coulterallers, about that period, for the
accommodation of the housewives of his neighbourhood, erected a waulk-mill
on his own property, near the foot of Coulter Water, and a short time
afterwards built a house contiguous to it, as a dwelling for the person in
charge of the mill. Mr Brown offered no obstruction to the process of
building this house; but after it was completed, he, on some ground or
other, manifested his dissatisfaction. Mr Menzies, in consequence, took out
a law-borrows against him; but Mr Brown paying no regard to this legal
protection, assembled a considerable number of persons connected with
Coulter, and among others, John Vallange, Luke Vallange his son, John Kemp,
James Brown, William Brown, John Patoun, Mungo Inglis, and Alexander Inglis,
‘ all boddin in feir of weir, armed with swords, pistols, axes, and other
instruments,’ and leading them to the waulk-mill in question, there ‘by
force, bangistry, violence, and oppression, did demolish and throw down the
said dwelling-house.’ For this crime, the Laird and his accomplices, just
named, were served with an indictment at the instance of Sir George
Mackenzie of Rose-haugh, his Majesty’s advocate, and Mr Alexander Menzies of
Coulterallers, on the 80th of the same month of July, to stand their trial;
but, unfortunately, the result is not known.
In the chapter on the
Covenanters, we have referred to the capture of a James Brown of Coulter by
Claverhouse; but this person was not the Laird of Coultermains, though it is
very possible he was a relation of the family. John Brown of Coultermains
died in 1685, and was succeeded by his son Richard, of whom nothing of
importance is known. His son William was the next Laird of Coultermains, who
obtained a disposition of the estate from his father in 1704, upon which he
expede a crown charter, and was infeft. The eldest son of William was John,
who succeeded in 1736, and was at first minister of Symington, and
afterwards of his native parish of Coulter.
The memory of this worthy
clergyman is still held over the district in the very highest respect. As a
minister of the Gospel, he was distidjguished for his piety and
intelligence, as well as for his deeds of hospitality and benevolence; and
as a proprietor, for the improvements he made on his ancestral property, by
embankments, water-ducts, and planting, thus affording ample employment to
his poorer parishioners. With the exception of the old trees which stood
round the tower taken down in 1598, he was the planter of all the others, on
this now well-timbered properly. He built a considerable addition to the
mansion in 1753, which formed the principal part of the house that was
removed in 1838. An ornamental window, which was carefully placed in the new
house, has the above date, 1753, cut on it, and is preserved as a sort of
memorial of the worthy minister. His eldest son, called William, was
educated for the Church, but was carried off by consumption in 1771, at a
very early age. His worthy father received a severe blow from this
bereavement; and when asked by the family when the funeral should take
place, he replied, ‘ Do not be in a hurry, you may have two to bury.’ He
died the same night, and the worthy minister and son were interred in the
same grave. An incident occurred at the funeral which we have heard related
by an eye-witness, The minister’s man, an attached old servant, was so
overpowered by his feelings, that he fell, as if he had been dead, into the
grave. Water from the baptismal well soon restored him to consciousness ;
but the incident, of course, made a great noise at the time at which it
happened.
John Brown, before the
Sheriff of Lanark, 3d July 1795, was served heir to his father, John Brown,
Laird of Coultermains, and minister of the Gospel at Coulter, to whom we
have just referred. He married Miss Cecilia Grizel Bertram, a daughter of
the old House of Nisbet and Kersewell. Mr Brown was a Deputy-Lieutenant of
the county of Lanark, and a freemason, hailing from St Luke’s Lodge,
Edinburgh. He was admitted an honorary member of the Lodge of Biggar Free
Operatives in April 1796, and on the occasion presented the Lodge with a
donation of two guineas. On the 19th of February 1817, Mr Brown sold
Coultermains to the late David Sim, merchant, Glasgow. The present
representative of this old family is John Brown, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh, a
gentleman well known and universally respected.
We regret that the old
documents connected with this family were lost, and that we are thus left in
ignorance of the time and manner in which they acquired their estate, and
other incidents in their early history. In preparing even a brief notice of
their proceedings and their different successions, it is difficult to avoid
confusion from the continued repetition of the family names, Richard and
John, which evidently were favourites with the House of Coultermains. It
was, in fact, a common custom with great families, to adhere as closely as
possible to certain names, and hence, from this source, no small
embarrassment is felt in writing family history. The Browns of Coultermains
for three hundred years held their property in direct succession from father
to son, and, with one exception, were all called Richard or John.
The present proprietor of
Coultermains, Adam Sim, Esq., in 1838, erected an elegant mansion on the
estate. It is in the Elizabethan style of architecture, from a design by Mr
Spence, architect, Glasgow. It stands on a lawn not far distant from the
banks of the Clyde, and is finely embowered amid luxuriant plantations.
Internally it is fitted up in a style of great elegance and taste. The
library is a fine apartment, stored with a rich collection of antiquarian
lore; the drawingroom is magnificently adorned with costly furniture, and a
perfect profusion of rare and choice works of art; and one of the rooms
above stairs is fitted up in a very impressive manner, with carved oak
pannelling in the medieval style of art, with antique furniture and stained
glass windows. The floor and walls of the lobby are covered with a variety
of implements of the olden time; every apartment, in fact, has its store of
curiosities; while scattered over the house is one of the largest
collections of Lanarkshire antiquities that was ever made. The
generous-hearted proprietor deserves the utmost gratitude for the immense
labour, to say nothing of the cost, that he has expended in gathering these
rare articles together, and also for the readiness, frankness, and evident
delight that he, on all occasions, exhibits in showing them to his friends.
THE BAILLIES OF LAMINGTON.
To the south of Coulter are
the lands of Lamington. The earliest proprietor of these lands of whom
mention is made, is Hugh Braidfoot, who, according to Blind Harry, died
previous to the year 1295, leaving a son and a daughter. Hesilrig, the
English Sheriff of Lanark, put the young Laird to death; and his sister,
whose name was Marion, purchased the protection of the English, and leaving
the tower of Lamington, took up her abode at Lanark. Sir William Wallace, in
the year 1296, occasionally sojourned at Gilbank, in the parish of
Lesmahagow, the residence of his uncle, Nichol Auchinleck. It was his wont,
when living here, to repair at times for recreation to the town of Lanark;
and here he accidentally met with the heiress of Lamington. At the time at
which Wallace first saw her, she was little more than eighteen years of age,
possessed of great personal attractions, and distinguished no less for her
modesty than for her amiable and generous disposition. Wallace fell deeply
in love with her; and finding that his love was returned, he, after much
hesitation, on account of his own unsettled mode of life and the disturbed
state of the country, made her his wife, greatly to the mortification of the
English Sheriff, who, it seems, had a design to wed her to his son. Some
time after his marriage, Wallace received a visit from his attached
companion-in-arms, Sir John Graham, accompanied by a small party of his
followers. One morning the two chieftains and their retainers attended mass
in the Parish Church of Lanark, which stood at a short distance from the
town, and, on their return, the English soldiers, who at that time occupied
the town and Castle of Lanark, intentionally fastened a quarrel on them in
the streets. After some altercation, swords were drawn, and a sharp conflict
ensuing, a strong party of the English were marched from the Castle to the
aid of their friends. The Scots fought stoutly, and slew not a few of their
opponents; but being overborne by numbers, they were forced to retreat, and
naturally directed their steps with all speed to Wallace’s mansion, where
they were admitted by a female domestic, who had presence of mind to bolt
the gate behind them. This retarded their pursuers; and by a back passage
they succeeded in securing a safe retreat amid the woody fastnesses of
Cartlane Craigs. The English, incensed at their escape, seized the wife of
Wallace, and barbarously put her to death. The news of this sad event was
conveyed to Wallace by an old female retainer of the House of Lamington, and
naturally overwhelmed him with the deepest sorrow and distress. On
recovering, he vowed from that time to devote himself entirely to the
service of his country, and either to drive out the English, or perish in
the attempt. It was instantly concerted that an attack should be made that
night on the garrison of Lanark; and Auchinleck being apprised of this
resolution, joined them with a small detachment of men. The Scots, divided
into several little parties, came suddenly and unexpectedly to Lanark, and,
by fire and sword, put the whole garrison, consisting of about 250 men, to
death. Among the slain were Hesilrig the Sheriff, his son, Sir Robert Thorn,
and other persons of distinction.
It is stated by the Minstrel,
that Marion Braidfute had by Wallace a daughter, who was married to a person
named Shaw, and that ‘ rycht gudly men came off yis lady zong.’ It is
supposed that either this lady herself afterwards, or that her daughter and
heiress, was married to William, a member of the family of Baillie of
Hoperig, in East Lothian. It was the opinion of the learned antiquary, Sir
William Baillie of Castlecarry, that the name Baillie was the same as
Baliol, and that the family of Hoperig was a branch of the illustrious House
of Baliol, the head of which was Lord of Galloway, and, at one time, King of
Scotland. William Baillie, who married the heiress of Lamington, was taken
prisoner at the Battle of Durham in 1346. After his release, King David
Bruce, in 1357, raised him to the rank of a knight; and on the 27th of
January 1368, conferred on him and his heirs a new charter of the lands of ‘
Lambestown,’ on condition of rendering the usual service.
William Baillie left two
sons, William and Alexander. Alexander is supposed to be the founder of the
family of Baillie of Carphin. William, the heir of Lamington, is designed in
a charter, dated 4th Feb. 1395, also proprietor of Hoperig; and it thus
seems that these two estates were for some time possessed by the same
individual. He gave his son William as a hostage in exchange for David Lesly
of that Ilk, in 1432; and this son is mentioned in a document, dated 1466,
as still the possessor of the estates of Hoperig and Lamington. He was
appointed by his country one of the conservators of peace; and in this
capacity he took part in the negotiations at Nottingham that led to the
conclusion of a treaty of peace with England in 1484. His daughter, Mary,
was married to Lord SommerviUe of Carnwath; and in 1485, he witnessed a
charter of the lands of Cambusnethan, granted by that baron to his son.
Sir William Baillie left a
son, William, who was his successor, and who married Marion, a daughter of
Patrick Home of Polwarth, Comptroller of Scotland in the reign of James IV.
He obtained a charter of his lands, under the Great Seal, in 1492; and left
two sons, William, his heir, and John, the progenitor of the Baillies of St
John’s Kirk, Jerviswood, and Walston. William married Elizabeth, daughter of
Lord John Lindsay of Byres, and bad a son, also William, evidently a
favourite name in the family, who, in 1542, was appointed to the office of
Principal Keeper of the Wardrobe to Queen Mary. * This gentleman was a keen
partisan of that Queen. He appeared on her side with his followers at the
Battle of Langside; and on this Account his lands were ravaged and
afterwards forfeited by the Regent Murray. By his wife Janet, daughter of
James, Earl of Arran, he had William, his successor, and another son, said
to be the progenitor of the Baillies of Bagbie and Hardington, now
represented by R. G. Baillie, Esq. of Coulterallers.
William, the next Laird of
Lamington, married Margaret, a daughter of John Lord MaxweU, and relict of
Archibald, Earl of Angus. By this lady he had one child, a daughter, who, by
the negotiations of her mother, was induced to marry a relative of her own,
Edward Maxwell, Commendator of Dundrenan, and third son of Lord Herries of
Terregle8. Baillie conferred the fee of his estate on his daughter and her
heirs, on condition that they should assume the name of Baillie, and bear
the arms of the House of Lamington, reserving only a life-interest in his
estates to himself and his lady. While his wife was stall living, he formed
an improper intimacy with a Mrs Home, by whom he had a son. After his wife’s
death, he married this woman, with the view of legitimatizing his son; but
in this object he failed. The son, thus prevented from inheriting his
paternal estates, devoted himself to the profession of arms. Like many
enterprising young Scotsmen, he went abroad, and fought with distinction
under the banner of the renowned Gustavus Adolphus. When the contentions
between Charles I. and the Parliament broke out, and both sides prepared to
adjust their differences by the arbitration of the sword, Baillie returned
to his native country, and threw in his lot with the opponents of royalty.
Under old Lesly, Earl of
Leven, he was appointed Lieutenant of the Scots army that assembled at
Berwick in 1644, and afterwards marched into England He shared in the
victory over the Royalists on Marston Moor, and took part in the siege of
York and the capture of Newcastle. When the great Montrose was known to be
carrying everything before him in Scotland in the cause of his royal master,
Baillie was despatched from England to oppose his movements. He encountered
Montrose first at Alford, and afterwards at Kilsyth, and in both cases
sustained a defeat. Historians have not failed to vindicate the generalship
of Baillie, and to admit that his failures on these occasions were
attributable not to himself, but to the nobility and Committee of Estates,
by whom his counsels were thwarted and set aside. In the year 1648, he held
a command in the army that was raised in Scotland in favour of Charles I.,
and placed under the direction of the Duke of Hamilton. This army was
marched into England; but was remarkably ill-conducted, as the Duke was no
general. The consequence was, that his troops were defeated and dispersed by
the English Roundheads; and Baillie, after being deserted by his commander,
was forced to surrender at Uttoxeter to Lambert, one of Cromwell’s captains.
He is known to have made an effort to recover his paternal estate of
Lamington, but without success.
William Maxwell, the son of
the Commendator of Dundrenan, took the name of Baillie, and married
Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Stewart of Craigiehall, Linlithgowshire. He was
the elder for Lamington parish at the formation of the Presbytery of Biggar.
In 1648 he was a member of the Scottish Parliament, and agreed to support
the cause of Charles I. after he was placed in confinement by Cromwell and
his party. The engagement which a number of the other Scottish barons
entered into on this occasion, as is well known, gave great offence to the
Presbyterian clergy. They denounced it from their pulpits, and threatened to
inflict spiritual censures on those who should obey the edict of the
Parliament, and take up arms in defence of the King. Baillie of Lamington,
in consequence of his connection with the ‘ sinful engagement,’ as it was
called, was, along with others, pounced on by the Presbytery of Biggar, and
summoned to appear before them. He accordingly appeared on the 12th December
1649, and pled that by taking part in the engagement he did not consider
that he had done anything wrong. The members of Presbytery were of a
different opinion, and therefore they intimated to him, ‘ if he wold not be
readie to give satisfactione against ye next meiting, that they wold enter
into farther proces against him.’ He came up before the Presbytery again on
the 2d January 1650, and the reverend court laid down in detail the charges
which they brought against them. They were as follows:—‘His being a member
of that parliament consenting to yr unjust proceedingis, and not dissenting
with ye honest partie of that parliament,—his being att ye committee of
estaitts flowing from that Parliament, and giveing his oath yr,—his keiping
ye first rendezvous at Lanerk moore wth his men verie willinglie,—his
refusing to helpe ye westeme forces, and not suffering his men to helpe
theme or joyne with theme,—his giveing furth his men to the enemie without
constraint,—his goeing a great way for joineing with Lanerkers,— and his
refuseing to cleare himself anent subscrybing the unlawfull band.’
The Laird denied the greater
number of these charges, but admitted that, in Parliament, he gave his
consent to the engagement, and took no part with the ‘ honest partie,’ and
that he refused to render any help to the western forces. The Presbytery
laboured hard to bring him to ‘ a sense of his guyltinesbut not succeeding,
they appointed a committee of 1 some breather and rewling elderis* to dead
with him, and report at a future meeting. The clergy, in these days, when
they entered on a case of this kind, pursued it with unwearied obstinacy;
but in searching the records of Presbytery, we failed to discover any
intimation that the Biggar divines had succeeded in extorting any further
confession from the Laird, or inflicting on him any sort of punishment The
kirk-session of Lamington found him quite inexorable, and therefore deprived
him of his office of elder, until he should give signs of penitence and make
satisfaction.
Sir William Baillie was
succeeded by his grandson William, who married Henrietta, a daughter of
William, Earl of Crawford. By this lady he had only daughters, the eldest of
whom married Sir James Carmichael of Bonninton. Sir James agreed that his
estate should be sunk into the family of Lamington, and that his heirs-male
should bear the title and surname of Baillie. During last century, the
estate of Lamington was held by two other heiresses, the last of whom,
Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Lord President Dundas, married Sir John
Lockhart Ross of Balnagown. This lady’s son, Sir Charles Ross, had a
daughter named Matilda, who married Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane, K.C.B. The
eldest son of this lady, Alexander Dundas Ross Wishart Baillie Cochrane,
Esq., as heir to his mother, is the present proprietor of the Lamington
estate. He was bom in 1816, and received his education at Eton, and Trinity
College, Cambridge, where, in 1837, he took the degree of B.A. In 1844 he
married Annabella, a daughter of A. R. Drummond, Esq. He represented
Bridport for upwards of ten years in the Imperial Parliament, and the county
of Lanark for three months in the spring of 1857. He was elected for Honiton
in 1859, and this place he still continues to represent. Mr Cochrane has
devoted a good portion of his time and attention to literary pursuits. On
returning from his travels in Greece and the east of Europe in 1840, when he
had only reached his 24th year, he published a poem entitled ‘ The Morea.’
He has since published a work on Italy, and several novels, such as 4Lucille
Belmont,’ (Ernest Vane,’ 4 Florence the Beautiful,’ etc., and other
productions. He has taken a warm interest in the affairs of the town of
Biggar; and has especially been noted for his generous efforts to befriend
the poor, and promote the cause of education. The old tower of Lamington,
which it is supposed had stood from the days of Wallace, was greatly
demolished eighty years ago, and thus rendered altogether uninhabitable. Mr
Cochrane, some time ago, erected an elegant mansion on the estate, at which
he usually resides a part of the year, and, from his affability and active
benevolence, is held in great and deserved esteem, not only by his tenantry,
but by the population of the district at large.
LOCKHARTS OF SYMINGTON.
The first proprietor of
Symington of whom we know anything was Simon Lockhart, who flourished in the
reigns of Malcolm IV. and William the Lion. Simon was one of the witnesses
of a donation of the Church of Weston, to the Abbey of Kelso, by Wicius of
Weston, for the safety of the soul of King Malcolm and his brother William,
some time previous to 1164. The honour of knighthood was conferred upon him
by William, as appears from a gift, which he bestowed on the Abbey of Kelso,
of the Church of Wodechurch, with the whole of its parish, as well of
Thankerton as of the village of Sir Simon Lockhart. This gift was confirmed
by Jociline, Bishop of Glasgow, who occupied that See from 1174 to 1199. A
controversy afterwards arose between the Prior of Paisley and the Abbot of
Kelso in regard to the chapel of the village of Sir Symon Lockard; but a
compromise at last took place, by which it was agreed that the chaplain
appointed by Sir Simon should continue for life, and that the chapel should
then be resigned to the Abbot It is understood that it was from this knight
that the village and parish received the name of Symon’s Town, afterwards
changed into Symington.
The Lockharts continued for a
long period to be proprietors of Symington; and their names occur repeatedly
as witnesses in early charters. They became proprietors of the estate of
Lee, in the parish of Lanark, an estate still possessed by their
descendants. The lands of Symington at length fell into the hands of a
family who took the name of Symington of that Ilk. The Symingtons are often
incidentally mentioned in our public muniments. As already stated, John
Symontown of that Ilk, was, in 1512, charged with the crime of forgery and
making false money. Robert Menzies of that Ilk, John Tweedie of Drummelzier,
James Lockhart of Lee, and Richard Brown of Coultermains, conjointly and
severally became caution that he would appear and stand his trial, under a
penalty of 1000 merks. As he did not come forward, these parties forfeited
this large sum.
THE BAILLIES OF ST JOHN’S
KIRK.
The lands of St John’s Kirk,
in the suppressed parish of Thankerton, were long possessed by a family of
the name of Baillie, a branch, as we have already said, of the Baillies of
Lamington. Thomas Baillie of St John’s Kirk, like the rest of the Baillies,
was a partisan of Queen Mary. On the 27th of February 1572-3, he was delatit
for the slaughter of the umquhile James Ballanye and others at the Battle of
Langside, 18th May 1568; but the case against him was in the end deserted.
He had previously, however, sustained serious losses by the ravages
committed on his property by the Earl of Murray, shortly after that battle.
On the 4th of January 1642, John Baillie was returned heir of the lands of
Thankerton, lately St John’s Kirk, with the teinds and pasturage in the
Common of Thankerton, the lands of Lockharthill and a portion of Anneston
commonly called 4Schawcruick,’ in the barony of Symington, and the lands and
meadow called Annetscheill, with pasture in the Common of 4 Wowstoun.’ We
have already referred to the part which the Lady of St John’s Kirk played
during the persecuting times of Charles II. and James VII. She appears to
have had a strong leaning in favour of the Covenanted work of Reformation,
but manifested some alarm and indecision at a time when a terrible system of
rapine and bloodshed, carried out under the orders of Government, made the
stoutest hearts tremble. From this respected family sprung the Baillies of
Walston and Jervis-wood, that have given birth to men who have played a
distinguished part in the public transactions of their country. The estate
of St John’s Kirk, which is pleasantly situated at the foot of Tinto, has
been out of the hands of the Baillies for a considerable period.
THE CHANCELLORS OF SHIELDHILL.
The Chancellors of Shieldhill
are the oldest proprietors of land in the neighbourhood of Biggar. They are
supposed to have come to this country from France at the time of the Norman
Conquest, along with the Sommervilles of Camwath, whom they acknowledged as
their lords-superior. The alliance between them and the Sommervilles
appears, according to Nisbet, to have existed at least in 1317, in the time
of Robert Bruce. The oldest of their charters extant, is one that is
referred to in that curious gossiping work, 4 The Memorie of the
Sommervilles,’ and was granted by Thomas Lord Sommerville to William, or, as
Nisbet calls him, George Chancellor of Shieldhill, in the year 1432. George
was succeeded by his son Alexander, who added some lands to the family
estate, and obtained a charter from Lord Sommerville in 1460. He was
succeeded by his son George, who resigned his lands into the hands of his
superior, Lord Sommerville, in 1472, for new infeftment, and at that time
received a new charter. He is styed 4 Nobilis vir Georgius Chanceler,
dominus de Quodquan.’ By his wife, a daughter of Ramsay of Dalhousie, he
left a son, William, who was his successor, and in whose favour, and of his
wife Janet Geddes, a daughter of Geddes of Rachan and Kirkurd, a sasine was
registered in 1477. In the account of the famous incident of 4 Speates and
Raxes,’ which took place in July 1474, William Chancellor of Quothquan is
mentioned as one of the parties who turned out to the assistance of his
friend and superior, Lord Sommerville, when it was supposed that he was
placed in a state of danger in Edinburgh.
The next two Lairds of
Shieldhill were John and Robert; but nothing is known regarding them worthy
of special notice. The successor of the last named was William, who was
infeft in his lands in 1583, and was designated of Shieldhill, Quothquan,
and Conniston. In April 1535 he became surety for Hugh Lord Sommerville’s
underlying the law at the next Justice Aire at Lanark, for art and part of
southrief and oppression done to John Tweedale, Carnwath, in reiving from
him his cows, horses, crops, goods, and utensils. In the year following! his
Lordship rendered a similar service to William Chancellor and his brother
Robert, when they were charged with the crime of being art and part in the
murder of Thomas Baillie, Laird of Cor-miston. The Chancellors were fined in
the sum of three hundred merks for not appearing to answer this charge; but
Lord Sommerville and Richard Brown of Coultermains came forward as their
cautioners, and a new trial having been appointed, they gave themselves up
to justice, and were acquitted.
William Chancellor was
succeeded by his son William, who had a charter from Lord Sommerville in
1546, and who married Agnes, a daughter of Sir John Hamilton of
Crawfordjohn. Being allied with the Hamiltons, as might be expected, he .
was attached to the cause of Queen Mary. He accordingly, with his retainers,
joined the Queen’s party at Hamilton, and took part in the unhappy encounter
at Lang-side in 1567. On this account his mansion-house at Quothquan was
destroyed, and his lands were devastated by the Regent Murray. The successor
of William was Robert, who- married a daughter of Symington of that Hk. His
son John was the next Laird of Shieldhill, and the sasine of his lands is
dated 1605. John was succeeded by his son Robert, who was distinguished for
his loyally to Charles I. and Charles U. In consequence of his attachment to
the Stewarts, he was, no doubt, either opposed, or at all events
indifferent, to the Presbyterian form of Church government then established
It was on this account perhaps that he and his family got into trouble with
the Presbytery of Lanark. On the 24th of June 1630, he was summoned before
that reverend court, when ‘ being convick of contempt of word, of raling
against his pastor, wes ordainit to find cautione to obeye qlk thing he
promisit to do, whairfor he wes injoined to make his publick repentance in
his awin claithes only one day, if he maid a guid con-fessione, and so to be
absolved’
The minister of Quothquan was
not content with the prosecution of Mr Chancellor himself. He laid an
accusation before the Presbytery against Lady Chancellor, and her daughter
Susanna, for having resorted to charming in order to restore a child to
health. The corpus delicti was, that for the attainment of this end they had
4 buried the claithes of a chyld betwixt laird’s lands.’ The worthy
incumbent, on the 23d of September 1630, insisted before the Presbytery that
the Lady of Shieldhill should appear before the brethren, and, in all
humility, confess her fault, and give signs of unfeigned repentance. It is
certain at least that Miss Chancellor, on the 14th October following, did
appear before the Presbytery, ‘and, in presence of the brethren, upon hir
knees confessit her grit offence in haying any medling with charmers, and
promisit amendment in tyme coming.’ The reverend gentleman had another
contention with Mr Chancellor before the Presbytery of Lanark in 1689. The
cause of offence on this occasion was, that Mr Chancellor had broken open
the door of Quothquan Kirk, and interred the remains of his Lady in the
interior of the said Kirk. As we have stated elsewhere, the Laird had to
acknowledge his fault, and was ordered to be censured by the kirk-session of
Quothquan.
Robert Chancellor died in
1664, and was succeeded by his son James. The opinions of James on the
political and ecclesiastical topics of the day were somewhat "different from
those of his father. He appears to have attached himself to the cause of the
Covenanters. After the Battle of Bothwell Bridge, he was for some time
confined in prison on the charge of having given shelter to some of the poor
countrymen who fled from that unhappy conflict On another occasion, he got
into trouble by taking violent possession of a piece of ground called the
Parkholm, lying on the river Clyde. The river formed the boundary between
die lands of Thankerton, belonging to Carmichael of Bonniton, and those
belonging to James Chancellor, George Kello, and others. About the year
1638, a violent storm taking place, caused the Clyde to overflow its banks,
and form a new channel, thus leaving a piece of ground belonging to
Carmichael on the opposite side of the river. It got the name of the
Parkholm, and remained for a number of yean in a neglected, state.
Carmichael, considering it to be his property, at length put it under the
plough, and year after year carried off the produce, much to the
dissatisfaction of the neighbouring proprietors, who entertained an idea
that the river should still form the boundary, as before. Carmichael dying
about the year 168S, and his son and successor being a minor, James
Chancellor and his friends thought the time favourable for establishing
their claim to the piece of ground referred to. They mustered about eighty
men, furnished with pitchforks, great staves, scythes, pistols, swords, and
mastiff dogs, and in a rude and violent manner cut down ‘ the whole growth
of fourteen bolls sowing of com or thereby,' drove it home to their houses,
and there made use of it in bedding their cattle, or converting it into
dung. Thus ‘corns which would have yielded at least ninety bolls, at eight
pounds Scots the boll, were rendered useless for man or beast' During the
progress of the plunder, the tenants were confined to their houses under a
guard; so it was altogether a riot and oppression, inferring severe
punishment, which was accordingly called for by the curators of the young
landlord. The Council having heard both parties, found the riot proven, and
ordained Mr Chancellor of Shieldhill to pay 300 merks to the pursuer. The
Lords of Session finally determined, in 1695, that the Parkholm should
remain the property of Sir James Carmichael.* James Chancellor was returned
an elder by the Presbytery of Biggar to the first General Assembly that met
after the Revolution in 1688.
The members of this family
are not known to have taken a very prominent part in the stormy and violent
contentions of former ages; which constitute the larger portion of written
history. They appear in general to have held on the noiseless tenor of their
way, doing good and receiving the esteem and approbation of their neighbours.
They have thus contrived to preserve their name and their property for
centuries, while the family of many a baron, once powerful and endowed with
extensive domains, have disappeared. The present proprietor of Shieldhill
estate is J. G. Chancellor, Esq.
THE LINDSAYS OF COVINGTON.
To the west of the
possessions of the Chancellors lay the lands of the Lindsays of Covington.
For a considerable period they were neighbouring proprietors of the Flemings
of Biggar, while they held the lands of Thankerton. The oldest writs of
Thankerton in possession of the Fleming family do not indeed extend farther
back than the year 1465, but it is understood that these are not the
original titles. The lands and barony of Thankerton were sold on the 18th of
February 1666 to Sir William Purves. The Lindsays of Covington were not only
neighbouring proprietors of the Flemings, but several marriages took place
between the two families that united them in a greater bond of intimacy and
friendship. The Lindsays of Covington were descended from the Lindsays of
Crawford. The first of them was John Lindsay, who was the son of Sir Philip
Lindsay, and married the heiress of Covington some time previous to the year
1366. Lord Lindsay, in his ‘ Lives of the Lindsays,9 gives a detail of the
successive Barons of Covington; but there is nothing very interesting in it,
except to the genealogist Margaret, a daughter of John Lindsay of Covington,
became the second wife of Robert Lord Fleming, who died in 1494. John
Lindsay of Covington was one of the persons who witnessed the Charter of
Foundation of Biggar Kirk in 1545. That baron, during the very year in which
he signed that charter, was arraigned, along with several of his relatives
and eighteen other persons, for having assembled a party of two hundred men,
armed with lances, culverings, bows, and other invasive weapons, and on the
28th September, marching to the barn of James Sommerville, Rector of
Iibberton, and there wounding Robert Millar, the Rector’s servant, in the
neck and other parts of his body, to the effusion of his blood and the
danger of his life. Lord Sommerville became surety for Lindsay himself, and
he was detained in Edinburgh ‘ until a royal license was granted for his
departure.’ The record does not say what was his ultimate punishment.
John Lindsay of Covington,
about the commencement of the seventeenth century, married Agnes Fleming,
only daughter and heir to John Fleming of Bord. Her tocher, amounting to
8000 merks, was paid on the 13th of November 1602 by John Lord Fleming. The
oldest son of this pair was George Lindsay, who, on the 4th of November
1623, was retoured heir of his father in the barony of Covington, and also
of two oxgates of temple lands called ‘ Stane,’ in the barony of Big-. gar,
the value of which, according to the ancient extent, was 16s. 8d., and
according to the new extent, 3 merks. This Baron of Covington seems to have
married Lady Rachel Fleming, a daughter of John, second Earl of Wigton; and
a discharge for her tocher, dated 31st March 1630, is still preserved.
Sir William Lindsay, the last
Baron of Covington, by profuse expenditure, squandered away the family
inheritance, so that his lineal descendants became, ere long, merely
labouring men. Lord Lindsay has given the following amusing anecdote
regarding Sir William, the last,Laird, who died previous to the year 1688:—
4 Sir William left four daughters, one of whom marrying John Baillie of St
John’s Kirk, was mother of a daughter married to William Somerville of
Corehouse, representative of the Barons of Cambus-nethan. Their daughter
Isabella married Inglis of Eastshiel, whose only child, Violet, was the late
Mrs Lockhart of Birkhijl, who died in 1825. She used to relate to her
grandchildren the following anecdote of her ancestor, Sir William, who, it
appears, was a humorist, and noted, moreover, for preserving the picturesque
appendage of a beard at a period when the fashion had long passed away. He
had been extremely ill, and life was at last supposed to be extinct, though,
as it afterwards turned out, he was only in a “ dead faint,” or trance. The
female relatives were assembled for the 44 chesting” in a lighted chamber in
the old tower of Covington, where the bearded knight lay stretched upon his
bier. But when the servants were about to enter to assist at the ceremonies,
Isabella Somerville, Sir William’s great-granddaughter, and Mrs Lockhart’s
grandmother, then a child, creeping close to her mother, whispered in her
ear, 'The beard is wagging —the beard is wagging!” Mrs Somerville upon this
looked to the bier, and, observing indications of life in the ancient
knight, made the company retire, and Sir William soon came out of his faint.
They explained that they believed him to be actually dead, and that
arrangements had even been made for his funeral! In answer to his question,
“ Have the folks been warned?” (гл., invited to the funeral), he was told
that they had, that the funeral day had been fixed, an ox slain, and other
preparations made for entertaining the company. Sir William then said, “ All
is as it should be; keep it a dead secret that I am in life, and let the
folks come.” His wishes were complied with, and the company assembled for
the burial at the appointed time. After some delay, occasioned by the
non-arrival of the clergyman, as was supposed, and which afforded an
opportunity for discussing the merits of the deceased, the door suddenly
opened, when, to their surprise and terror, in stepped the knight himself,
pale in countenance, and dressed in black, leaning on the arm of the
minister of the parish of Covington. Having quieted this alarm, and
explained matters, he called upon the clergyman to conduct an act of
devotion, which included thanksgiving for his recovery, and escape from
being buried alive. This done, the dinner succeeded. A jolly evening, after
the manner of the times, was passed, Sir William himself presiding over the
carousals.’ This story will remind the reader of the resuscitation of
Athelstane, and his subsequent supper, in Ivanhoe.
THE COCKBURNS OF SKIRLING.
The barony of Skirling, or ‘Scrawlin,’
was possessed by a family of the name of Cockburn for more than three
hundred years. The first Cockbum of Skirling appears to have been Alexander,
who, some time prior to the year 1362, married Margaret of Monfode, daughter
and heiress of Sir John of Monfode, to whom Robert L granted the whole lands
of Skirling and the advowon of the church. The names of many of the
subsequent Barons of Skirling appear in our public muniments. We may refer
to one or two of them. In the year 1478, the Auditors of Parliament decided
that Walter Tweedie of Dreva should restore to Adam Cockbum of Skirling a
silver cup double gilt, having a foot and a lid, which Cockbum had laid in
pledge for twenty merks. At a Justiciary Court held at Peebles on the 12th
November 1498, Sir William Cockbum of Skirling, James, his brother, and John
Paterson, in 'Kingildurris,* produced a remission from the charge of being
art and part in the slaughter of Walter, son of John Tweedie of Dreva; also
of being art and part in the southrief of a sword and shield from the said
Walter,—and further, of forethought of felony, in mutilating Andrew Tweedie
within the town of Edinburgh during the sitting of Parliament.
William Cockbum of Skirling,
who flourished in the early part of the sixteenth century, appears to have
had a feud with Alexander Crichton of NewhalL He was, in addition to other
acts of oppression, charged with carrying off a box of documents belonging
to that gentleman, which he found in possession of Patrick Aitken, burgess,
Edinburgh,—with forcibly occupying his lands of Kirkrighill, pasturing on
them seven score of cattle and sixty horses and mares, overturning a ‘ fail
dyke,’ etc. This case was brought by the Councillors of State before James
V. The King, who at the time was sojourning at Crawfordjohn, wrote to his
Councillors the following reply
‘Rex.
. Trust Counsakraris, we
grete yon weO, and hes resavit zonr writingis anent the Laird of Scraling,
and thinkis zour avise and consel beat anent the publishing of dome gevin
aganis him. Quhair ze mentione of ane Minut send, we haue sene nane.
Therefor we pray zou yat ye tak yat travil to pass to him and deolair quhow
it etandis. Swa yat his lyf and gnddis are in our handis. Gif he cumznis in
will we wilbe gracious to him. Fail-zeandyairof, we sail cause justice be
keipit. Andyairefter yat ze write to tb ane ansuir, as ze will do vs
singular plesour.
Gevin at Craufordjone, ye
xxix day of March, and of our regne ye xxij zeir/
James Cockbum thought it
proper to come in the King’s will, and this he did on the 31st of March
1536; but no statement has been left on record regarding the punishment
assigned him by the King. Sir James Cockburn of Skirling, most likely a son
of the preceding Laird, was a keen partisan of Queen Mary. The Queen, as a
mark of her confidence and respect, appointed him Governor of Edinburgh
Castle in the spring of 1567, in room of the Earl of Mar. Birrel, in
noticing the event, says, ‘ The 21st of this month the Castell of Edin-burge
was ranched to Cockbume of Skirline at ye Queinis command. This same day
ther rais ane vehement tempest of vunde, which blew a verey grate shipe out
of the rode of Lieth, and sicklyk blew the taile from the cocke wich standis
one the tope of ye steiple away frome it, so the old prophecy came trew,
'Quhen Skirline sail be
Capitaine,
Ye cock sail vant his taile.’
The author of the 'Diurnal’
states that this change in the command of the Castle was made against the
wishes of the inhabitants, who were in favour of the Earl of Mar, as he ‘
wes a guid man and na oppressour.’ Sir James Cockbum, however, did not long
enjoy the honour of holding this responsible office. James Balfour, Clerk
Register, who had been instrumental in getting the banns proclaimed between
the Queen and Bothwell, was appointed Governor on the 8th of May of the same
year, most likely as a reward for his subserviency. Cockbum still remained
faithful to the Queen; and the consequence was, that his lands were ravaged,
and his house of Skirling was destroyed by the Regent Murray, while he
himself had to seek security in exile.
James VI., as some
compensation for the services which Sir James had performed, and the losses
which he had sustained in defending the cause of his mother, Queen Mary,
with the advice of his Parliament, erected Skirling in the year 1592 into a
free burgh of barony, ‘ with all the easements, liberties, and commodities
in as ample and large form as any burgh of barony within this realm, with
power to keep and proclaim a fair to be observed within the said burgh on
the fourth of September yearly, and a market day weekly upon Friday.’ At
that period, however, Sir James Cockburn had paid the debt of nature, and
his son William possessed the estate of Skirling. This baron was succeeded
by his son William, as we find from a * Retour’ that he was returned heir of
his father, on the 20th Dec. 1603, of the lands and barony of Skirling, the
L.20 lands of Roberton and Newholm, and the L.10 lands of ‘Heidis,’ all of
old extent, annexed to the barony of Skirling. This was, most likely, the
last proprietor of Skirling of the name of Cockburn, as, in the roll of the
persons who attended the weaponshaw held on the Borrow Muir of Peebles on
the 15th day of June 1627, it is stated that James Cockbum, bailie of Sir
John Hamilton of Skirling, appeared for that knight, who was absent; and who
thus seems by that time to have acquired the superiority of the barony of
Skirling. Skirling is now the property of Sir William Gibson Carmichael,
Bart, of Castlecraig.
We close this volume, which
is principally of an antiquarian character, with a woodcut representing the
Moat Knowe of Biggar, undoubtedly one of the oldest monuments of antiquity
in the parish.
It may be mentioned that Sir
James Lockhart was the father of the celebrated Sir William Lockhart, who
was the friend and minister of Oliver Cromwell, his ambassador to France,
and the commander of his army at the taking of Dunkirk. Sir William married
Robina Sewster, the niece of Cromwell, and thus the cousin of the
Conltermains family was intimately connected with the great head of the
Commonwealth.
You can download a pdf version of
this book here |
