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Garelochside
THE County of Dunbarton,
though not one of the largest in Scotland, is certainly one of the most
romantic and varied in the beauty of its aspect. It embraces within its
limits the most picturesque and striking scenery, sometimes all the wild and
savage grandeur of the Alpine fastnesses of the Highlands, mingled with the
sweet loveliness and flowery meads of a pastoral landscape. The majestic Ben
Voirlich, and the "cloud capt" Ben Lomond, afford to those in search of the
sublime in nature, precipices and gorges worthy of the pencil of a Salvator
Rosa, while the beautiful Duncroyne completely clad with trees, and the
sylvan banks of Loch Lomond, have a charm unequalled in their way. In many a
secluded glen, overhung with beetling precipices, in the northern portion of
the county, the traveller might well imagine himself to be where it
"Seems that primeval
earthquake's sway
Hath rent a strange and shattered way
Through the rude bosom of the hill,
And that each naked precipice
Sable ravine and dark abyss
Tells of the outrage still."
Nowhere in Great Britain is
there a scene of more exquisite character on a still summer day, in the
leafy month of June, than can be beheld from one of the little islands which
repose amidst the dark purple waters of Loch Lomond near Luss. On all sides
save one, where the gleaming water spreads itself away in silvery reaches to
the southern end of the Loch, there arise verdant slopes, decked with
umbrageous oak or sombre pine, the purple heather mantling over all, until
the crest of the mountain ranges is reached, so clearly defined against the
mellow sky. Point and promontory, grey with lichen-covered rocks of
sparkling mica or glittering granite, shoot athwart the gazer's eye as it
turns upon one after another of the pictures over which the fancy of the
artist and the poet loves to dilate. While from the summit of any of the
lofty peaks whose shadows slumber in the dark unfathomed depths of the Loch
below, there can be gained a panorama of glorious pictures of mountain,
crag, leafy dell, and rippling stream, that imprint their features indelibly
on the stranger's mind.
The lands of Duribarton shire
were a portion of the ancient territory of Strathclyde, whose capital
figured conspicuously in the story of Roman occupation, and throughout the
fierce conflicts of the ancient Britons, Picts, and Scots. The name of this
capital appears in the old writs and documents under various spellings,
sometimes Dunbretane, oftener Dunbertane, and Dunbartan, but latterly
chiefly ,Dumbarton, or Danbarton, and the town and port, which have given
their name to the county, bear the impress of the language spoken by the
early inhabitants. By many the derivation of the name is supposed to be Dun-briton,
the "fort of the Britons," and it was known at a still earlier period as
Alcluid, the capital of the kingdom of the Attacotti. This district of the
county, bounded on the west by Loch Long, on the north by Perthshire, on the
east by Stirling-shire, and on the south by the broad estuary of the
Clyde,—was in former days also known as the Levenach, the "field of the
Leven." This word, written in the plural, came to be the designation of the
powerful lords of the soil, Levenachs, and gradually was corrupted into
Lennox. In the thirteenth century the sheriffdom of Dunbarton and the Lennox
were co-extensive, but gradually, owing to the jurisdiction of the former
being considerably curtailed, their identity ceased. It would appear from
the chartulary of Lennox, and other records, that there had been a judge or
justice of Levenax during the reigns of William the Lion and AIexander II.
In the year 1271, as is stated in HoIe's Sutherland, Walter Stewart, Earl
Menteith, the betrayer of Wallace, was sheriff of this county, and constable
of the castle of Dunbarton. In the various Acts of Parliament, published by
authority of Government, the county is not once named during the reign of
King James I. During that of his successor, James II., it seems to have come
more into notice, and in August 1410, "the castell of Dumbertane, with the
lands of Cardross, Rosneathe, the pensione of Cadzowe, with the pensione of
the FermeMill of Kilpatrick," appear to have been annexed to the Crown. In
the reign of James IV. many of the western counties of Scotland were much
disturbed, and the 'power of the Crown had to be put forth to stop "thift,
ref,, and uther ennormities," and for this purpose the Lord of Montgomery is
appointed for "Dumbertane, the Leuenax, Bute, and Arran." Attention was also
devoted to the trade of Dunbarton, and, during the reigns of James IV. and
V., it was the chief naval station in the west, some of the royal fleet
being also anchored in the secluded and picturesque bay of Campsail at
Rosneath.
The Danes, who were such sore
scourges to both England and Scotland, in the course of their many predatory
expeditions, ravaged the shores of the Frith of Clyde, and Dunbarton often
saw their hostile ships pass her ramparts. Readers of History know that Haco,
King of Norway, also, in the year 1263, set forth to punish the excesses of
those whom he considered his unruly subjects in the Western Isles of
Scotland. That expedition, which was under Magnus, King of the Isle of Man,
proceeded up the waters of Loch Long, which are separated from the Gareloch
by the beautiful peninsula of Rosneath. Sailing along its heath-clad
mountainous shores to the head of Loch Long, the invaders dragged their
boats across the narrow neck of land over to the gravelly strand of the
peaceful Loch Lomond. Here they indulged their savage propensities in
ravaging the country around the Loch, almost reducing it to a solitude, and
carried fire and sword far into the confines of Dunbarton and Stirling
shires. Vengeance, however, in the wrath of the elements, overtook the
marauders, for, in retiring with their plunder from Loch Long, a great storm
arose and scattered the fleet. Gathering together his forces to the rescue,
as well as he could, the Norwegian King subsequently saw his expedition
utterly vanquished at the celebrated battle of Largs.
Generally speaking, the
county of Dumbarton was comparatively little traversed by the broad stream
of Scottish warlike history, although, from time to time, it was the scene
of striking episodes. Part of the adventurous career of Wallace, the hero of
Scotland, was associated with 'the territory round Dunbarton and the
Gareloch, and, as is well known, the patriot King Robert the Bruce passed
many of his latter days in the parish of Cardross, where he ended his
troubled days in peace. From his castle, not far from the confluence of the
Leven with the waters of the Clyde, he could survey the placid estuary along
whose shores he enjoyed sailing his pleasure boats, and exploring the many
lovely inlets and romantic lochs which allure the voyager by their singular
beauty. He died on 7th June, 1329, lamented by the Scottish nation, whose
liberties he had secured, and his pathetic charge, on his death-bed, to Sir
James Douglas, the "brave and gentle knight," is well known, when the latter
was enjoined to take the hero's embalmed heart to Palestine and deposit it
in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. The unfortunate Mary Queen
of Scots is associated with the history of the county, for, shortly after
the battle of Pinkie, when but a child, she took up her residence in the
county of Dunbarton, and on leaving Scotland two years afterwards, she
embarked from this ancient fortress. A small French fleet, consisting of
four galleys, had been sent to transport the youthful Scottish Queen to the
shores of her beloved France, and received their charge on board from the
hands of her mother, the Queen Regent. Accompanied by her governors, her
half brother the Lord James, then in his seventeenth year, and by her " four
Marys," who were children of the same name and age, chosen as her playmates,
from the families of Fleming, Beaton, Seaton, and Livingstone, the beautiful
child Queen, whose story has been the theme of so many effusions of poetry,
set sail for sunny France. After but a few stormy, unhappy years of her life
had passed, the Queen lay immured in an English Castle, there to await the
last scene of her strangely chequered career.
"I was the Queen o' bonny
France,
Where happy I hae been;
Fu' lightly rase I in the morn,
As blithe lay down at e'en."
In the troubled times of the
Civil War, the county and castle of Dunbarton were the arena of various
sanguinary conflicts, and the latter was, over and over again, besieged and
captured, first by the Royalist forces, and again by those of the Scottish
Estates. At onetime an order was issued for the destruction of its
fortifications, but eventually it was placed amongst the number of those
strongholds which, at the time of the union of the kingdoms, were decreed
always to be kept in a state of readiness for defence. Thus we have seen
that the county has had its stirring epochs of history, and in tracing the
changes which have come over that portion of the ancient kingdom of the
Lennox, it will be found that many soul-inspiring traditions and poetic
legends linger around its heathery braes and frowning mountain heights.
Within the limits of the
territory which extends from the corner of Cardross parish, opposite to the
Castle of Dunbarton, along the shores of the Frith of Clyde, and embracing
all the lands on either side of the Gareloch, there is much to interest the
students of secular and ecclesiastical Scottish history. It is therefore
proposed to examine into the records which exist in tolerable fulness of the
three parishes of low, Rosneath, and a portion of Cardross, as the latter
was at one time part of the ancient territory of Rosneath. With the
exception of the southern division of the latter peninsula, nearly the whole
of the three parishes, at one time formed part of the great possessions of
the noble family of Lennox, and it will therefore he of interest to trace
the history of that distinguished house. Including the historic valley of
Glenfruin, with its sorrowful associatioris of strife and massacre, the
district named has been the scene of many stirring events, and has been the
chosen home of a number of men who have adorned the annals of their time and
shed a lustre upon the scenes amidst which they moved. It is always of
importance to trace the gradual environment of a once bare and uncultivated
stretch of heath-covered soil within the region of well tilled and
productive farm lands, in which the natural capability of the surface ground
is being fully developed. And the transition from grassy slopes of natural
pasture or luxuriant bracken to the populous watering places, all adorned
with gay gardens and handsome summer villas, is certainly sufficiently
striking to merit careful investigation. While to unravel the curious
details of the family history of those territorial magnates, who once held
sway on the banks of the Gareloch and the classic shores of Cardross, cannot
be said to be an unprofitable task. It will therefore be useful, before
actually describing the districts more immediately coming within the scope
of this local history, to give a glance at the general condition of
agriculture, building, archaeological remains, and rural economy throughout
the county of Dunbarton, as a whole. To do this properly, it may be also
necessary, here and there, slightly to diverge and take a more extended
survey of the actual state of the whole West of Scotland, at the period when
the great baronial families who owned the broad domains of the Lennox were
in the zenith of their power.
The condition of agriculture
and farming throughout the country in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
was poor and unproductive. Lands and property of all descriptions were
subject to raids and spoliation at the hands of rival chiefs, and marauders
of various kinds. The country was in a disturbed state, and the arm of the
civil power was scarcely sufficient to ensure protection for the lieges, who
were fain to place themselves under the guardianship of some warlike baron.
A great deal of the land was covered with dense and dark forests, or
overspread with heather and moss, and little had been done in the way of
tilling and improving the natural capabilities of the soil. Oats, wheat,
barley, pease, and beans, were grown in the Lowlands, and in some of the
more fruitful straths in the Highlands. The clergy, who had long enjoyed,
especially through the liberality of David I. and his successors, great
revenues and privileges, were the chief agricultural improvers of the
country. They granted leases to their tenants and vassals, and the latter
were encouraged in their efforts to clear the forests, and bring the moors
and mossy lands under cultivation. All over the southern and western
portions of Scotland, there were mills for the grinding of oats into meal,
and in the hamlets and villages were numerous malt-kilns and small
breweries, where the grain was rendered into malt and ale.
Besides these crops, there
were large tracts of rich natural meadow, and the green sward, in the glades
of the thick forests, which provided grass that was turned into hay for the
use of horses and cattle. The grazings on the mountain braes and glens, and
the more open parts of the woods were stocked with ample herds of sheep,
cattle, and quantities of swine, whose chief food was the beech mast. Swine,
indeed, formed the principal animal food of the humbler denizens of the
soil, for certain rights were always reserved to the cottager or village
bondman, which ensured him pasturage for his pigs. But the rearing of sheep
and cattle was an important element in the farming operations of the period,
and these formed not only part of the baron's estate, but were largely
consumed as food at his table. It was more in the Lowlands that sheep
abounded, for it was not until well on in the eighteenth century, that sheep
breeding was introduced as a regular business into the highland counties. In
1747 it was commenced and carried on in Dunbartonshire, by Mr. Campbell of
Lagwyne, who then resided in the parish of Luss, before which time
Dunbartonshire, generally, was stocked with black cattle, which brought in a
poor return. The wool of the sheep formed an important article of export, or
was often manufactured into cloth of a coarse description for the farm
servants, the skins being tanned and exported to England or Flanders. Cattle
were used as food, their carcasses being sometimes sold in the market of
tine burgh, while the skins that were not exported were made into shoes,
coats, saddles and bridles, or other articles in use, by the rough retainers
of the baron or laird of the soil.
The rearing of horses was
also an important department in the farming economy, and they were a good
deal used in rural work, and great care, as appeared from the various
chartularies, was bestowed in ensuring a superior breed of animals. Many of
the nobles had breeding studs on their estates, and young brood mares, and
their foals, were allowed to run wild through the extensive forests
producing hardy and excellent light horses. These domestic horses, however,
were quite different from the ponderous war horse, which was itself decked
with armour, and had to bear the weight of the knight, armed cap-a-pie with
steel mail. In the lighter farming operations such as driving of wood and
peats, or taking in corn during harvest, and even in ploughing and
harrowing, oxen were used, but carriage of farm produce for distances was
performed by horses.
Professor Cosmo Innes, in his
Early Scottish History, gives some interesting details as to the state of
cultivation of the lands in the more Lowland districts of Scotland, which
would apply to parts of Dunbartonshire. Strict rules were laid down for the
protection of growing corn and hay meadows, and a right of way through a
neighbouring territory was sometimes purchased at a considerable price, or
made the subject of formal donation. Wheat was cultivated, and even wheaten
bread was used on special occasions. Mills driven by water, and even by wind
power, were used for grinding corn, although the rude and laborious hand
mill or quern, still was extensively employed in the preparation of meal.
Mention is made of the care exercised in rearing and improving the breed of
horses; Roger Avenel, the lord of Eskdale, having a large stud in that
pastoral valley, while the Earl of Dunbar, before his departure to the Holy
Land in 1247, sold his stud to Melrose Abbey for a large sum. High value was
set upon pasturage, whether for cattle or sheep, though this was sometimes
found to clash with the rights of game and the forest, for it was necessary
to preserve the quiet and solitude which the red deer especially demanded.
Penalties were exacted for the trespassing of cattle or sheep upon
neighbouring pastures, and the royal sanction was given to prevent this,
while travellers also were secured, in their rights of pasturage, for one
night in passing through the country. The word forest, as applied to large
tracts of land suitable for game, is early encountered in Scottish history.
Cosmo Innes says that the right of cutting wood was carefully reserved when
pasturage or arable land was granted ; and if it was for the special purpose
of fuel for a salt work, or for building, its use was mentioned in explicit
terms. The great lords were jealous of their privileges of game and
forestry, and occasionally resented, or endeavoured to counteract, the
interference with their rights on the part of some of the religious houses,
upon whom their ancestors had bestowed benefactions of land. Game, such as
harts and hinds, boars and roe-deer, even the eyries of hawks and falcons,
were all expressly reserved, when a gift of land was made to some of the
abbeys or monasteries, the very trees in which the hawks built being
carefully noted. The knights and ladies delighted in the pastime of the
chase, and an acquaintance with the mysteries of woodcraft and hunting, was
considered essential to the education of those who disdained the more
prosaic occupations of trade, commerce, or the learned professions. Scottish
stag-hounds and wolf-dogs were much prized in foreign lands, and even in the
reign of David II. were an actual article of export. On the other hand, the
hawks of Norway were considered the finest for strength and fleetness of
flight, and, at one time, were imported into Scotland in Norwegian merchant
vessels. It will be remembered that King Robert the Bruce, one of the most
accoinplished knights of the age, was also an adept in the mysteries of the
chase, and, in particular, could wind his hunting horn in such a fashion
that his devoted follower Sir James Douglas, on one occasion, pronounced
that the blast could be none other than that of the King.
Dunbartonshire being one of
the counties bordering both with the Highlands and Lowlands, the customs of
the lords of the soil partook of the characteristics of each. Their more
peaceful avocations of farming and hunting were carried on, often for long
periods, without interruption from the savage forays of plundering or
vindictive neighbours. It was soon after the period of Robert the Bruce and
his successors that, in addition to the baronial hall, the guilds of free
burghers were beginning to be a great civilising power in the land. The
Church also now was asserting itself as a potent factor in the affairs of
Scotland, and no doubt, in times of invasion and internecine strife, the
protection afforded by the monastery and its rulers was felt of great moment
to the afflicted peasantry. Provided that not too great enquiry was made
into the private lives of the monks, and the wily schemes of the higher
dignitaries of the Church, the ecclesiastical authorities were easy task
masters, who were happy to exercise a paternal sway over their humble
dependents. The upper classes of the people held their own against the
encroachments of the sovereign, and the attempted exactions of the priests,
and the great middle body of the people, who now constitute the back-bone of
our country, were, as yet, unendowed with the elements of political power.
Civilisation had not
introduced hitherto much of the refinements or elegancies of modern life.
The dress, no doubt, of the barons and nobles in the Lowlands at any rate,
was, upon certain occasions, characterised by considerable splendour. All
kind of robes of velvet, richly adorned with ermine, and a tunic of silk, or
brocade, or other precious material, sometimes fitting close to the figure,
or hanging in loose folds around the person, trunk hose, laced sandals, or
shoes, with a rich head dress, completed the attire of a nobleman of the
period. Sumptuary laws were enacted by our ancestors, which rather startle
the free and independent Britons of the present day. In a parliament held in
1455, the following rule was passed. "All Earls shall use mantles of brown
granit open before, lined with white fur, and trimmed in front with the same
furring, of a handbreadth down to the belt, with little hoods of the same
cloth pendant on the shoulders. The other lords of parliament shall have a
mantle of red, open in like manner before, lined with silk or furred with
cristic gray, griece or purray, and a hood of the same, furred as the
lining. All commissioners of burghs shall each have a pair of cloakes of
blue cloth, furred to the feet, open on the right shoulder; the fur of
proportiotiable value, and a hood of the same. Whatever Earl, Lord, or
Commissioner shall enter parliament except dressed as above, shall pay a
fine of ten pounds. All men hired as advocates shall wear green habits in
the form of a short tunic, the sleeves to be open like those of a tabard."
Ordinary burgesses were limited to gowns of silk, trimmed with fur, and,
except on holidays, their wives were forbidden to wear long gowns and trains
; short kerchiefs and hoods being deemed sufficient as a rule. The clergy
were prohibited from wearing scarlet gowns or "mertrick fur," unless they
were dignitaries of some cathedral or collegiate church, or had an income of
over 200 merks. In 1471, considering the great poverty which prevaile-1, and
the cost of importing silk, this article was to be worn only by those whose
revenue was over one hundred pounds Scots, in landed rent, with the
exception of knights, heralds, and minstrels. As for the common order of the
people, it was ordained that, at his ordinary work, the labourer or
husbandman should wear garments of white or grey colour, although, on
holidays, he was graciously permitted to indulge his fancy in the matter of
light blue, green, or red attire and provided the price was not over forty
shillings the elne, his wife might adorn her person with home made kerchiefs
of the same prevailing tint.
In the households of the
great lords, it was the fashion to keep accurate accounts of the expenditure
incurred, and the following details regarding a member of the Argyll family
are interesting. "1636. Given to my Lord Lorne's sone, the 2S of March,
quhen he went to Rosnetb, ane gold ring, set with ane Turkiss steno, pryce
xx lib. Spent by my Lordes sone and his company quhen be went to Rosneth the
said tyme, iiii' xi lib. Item the 18 of Junii to be coat and brekis to him x
quarteris of fvne skarlet xviii lib. the ell, xlv lib. Item ane pair of silk
stockings xxi lib. Item ane black French bever-hat lxxiii lib. 6s. 8d., and
ii dusson orange ribband points v lib. xiis. 1st Jany., 1637. To the bairne
himself the said day ane Spanish pistolet iiii lib. Gs. Sd. For ane brusche
for my Lord of Lorne's sone to brunch his head with xs. Given to my Lord of
Lorne's sone to play him with quhen he went to Edinburgh to sic his father x
lib. 1638. Mair spent he my Lord of Lorne's sone and his company going out
of Balloch to Rosneth, being thrie or four dayes be the way xvi. lib. xiiis."
The residences of the barons
and lairds, as may be seen from the ruins of many of these buildings in the
county, were of sufficient strength and size to combine the requirements of
defence, and accommodation for the family and retainers. Clustering around
them were the humble habitations of the armed vassals, who followed their
lord to the field, and of the inferior workmen and cultivators, who
ministered to his wants and wrought on the soil. At the tables of the nobles
a profusion of viands was exhibited, and they groaned under massive joints,
cut from "marts," "sticks," and "fed oxen," along with abundance of salmon,
all sorts of sea fish, trouts, herrings, fresh and salted, game of all
sorts, from great haunches of red deer venison, to the smaller varieties of
woodcock and snipe; cheeses and curds, and many sorts of dainty sweetmeats
flavoured with all manner of spicerics, ginger, sugar, cinnamon, cloves and
saffron. Huge loaves, bannocks, and cakes of oaten and wheaten flour,
flanked the more substantial dishes, and the whole was washed down with
draughts of Flemish and Spanish wines, along with copious libations of home
made spirits, choice Nantz brandy, and the less potent beverages of mead,
and home brewed ale. The decorations of the table were by no means splendid,
for, although the dresses of the lords and ladies were adorned with costly
jewels, diamonds, rubies, topazes, jacinths and emeralds, the dishes of
silver plate on the "buffet" were goblets, "chargers," "basins," and
"lavers" of silver, sometimes plain, gilt or parcel gilt, and (but rarely)
plates for the guests of the same costly material. In place of the tea or
coffee of a later period, the breakfast meal consisted of solid and
substantial viands, the mighty baron of beef, the tempting venison pasty,
the tender sirloin or the spiced ham, along with foaming ale, the milder
mead, or generous foreign wines, in flagons of silver, furnished the guests
with ample entertainment.
While the foregoing was the
style in which the wealthier lords of the soil lived, it must be admitted
that the labourers on the estate dwelt often in miserable hovels of clay and
stone, thatched with straw or bracken, which succeeded to the wooden
structures of the thirteenth century. When stones were so plentiful, and the
price of labour so cheap, it is a wonder that wood continued so long to be
in use for the humbler classes, both in the burghs and round the mansions of
the great. The food of this class consisted greatly of the many varieties of
fish which were found in an inexhaustible supply in the seas round the
coasts, and in the inland lakes and rivers. Herring and salmon, cod and
ling, haddocks, whitings, trouts, eels, perch, pike, and numerous others,
along with mussels and oysters, in many localities, were to hand in vast
numbers, and proved a staple article of diet, with an occasional surfeit of
pork, on holidays and festivals. The waters of the Frith of Clyde, and the
innumerable salt water lochs of the western coast of Scotland, were often
thronged with fishing boats, some of which had come from a great distance to
ply their craft and furnish supplies for the tables of the wealthy and
great.
In the work of Cosmo Innes,
before mentioned, will be found further interesting particulars, as regards
the proceedings of the Barons Courts, which were collected in the year 1621,
and gave a picture of the rural economy of the period. There are regulations
for "muirburn, summer pasture, peat cutting, mills, smithies, and ale
houses," also against poaching on land and water, and even against cutting
briars, "but in the waxing of the moon." Curiously enough swine were
prescribed, and rooks, hooded crows, magpies, with other birds of evil
reputation, are to be-destroyed. Regulations are strict for preserving the
trees round the cottars' and farmers' houses, and tenants are bound to
afford their cottars the comforts of fuel and kailyards, "with corns
conform." Encouragement to agriculture is afforded by rules for sowing
"uncouth" oats, a species of seed superior to the common black Highland
grain, for gathering together manure, and for irrigating, "drawing water
through the land," long antecedent to a system of drainage. The greensward
on the banks of burns and rivers are not to be dug up or broken, as a
precaution against sudden "speats" of water. And tenants are taken bound to
make four rude implements of iron, called "crosscuts of iron," annually, to
be used against wolves, which were not finally extirpated from the country
till the end of the seventeenth century.
Such, roughly speaking, was
something like the condition of affairs which prevailed over a considerable
portion of the more Lowland districts of Scotland, and it may be taken to
apply, as a whole, to the county of Dunbarton. Although much of the northern
portion of the county bordered on the Highlands, and though the Gaelic
language was largely spoken throughout the whole territory, still it could
hardly be affirmed that Celtic customs and organisation prevailed to any
extent. Upon the whole, the influence of the monasteries inclined to the
side of law and order, and their inmates, at all events, showed commendable
zeal in spreading a knowledge of agriculture and the improvement of the
soil, while they undoubtedly contributed a good deal to the advancement of
mere secular learning. The rude and warlike barons of an earlier age, cared
nothing for scholastic acquirements, and often gave way to gross
superstition in matters of religion, yet they gladly bestowed money and
lands for pious purposes, and their successors emulated their example to a
far greater extent.. Commendable zeal was displayed by the proprietors of
the land in seeing that the parish churches were maintained in proper order,
and that additional chapels were provided in outlying districts. When the
Reformation took place, and the shackles of Romish superstition were
removed, the grand system of education, established through the influence of
John Knox, diffused the boon of secular knowledge and the priceless benefits
of spiritual instruction throughout the length and breadth of the land.
The three parishes of Row,
Rosneath and Cardross, which are the subject of the present volume, form a
very interesting portion of the county of Dunbarton, and have many features
of beauty which will repay investigation. They all border the Firth of
Clyde, and, from various coigns of vantage in each, a splendid prospect is
gained of these historic waters which once were freighted with the royal
navies of Scotland and France and, in later years, have often seen a portion
of the magnificent squadrons of Great Britain,
"The armaments that thunder
strike the walls of mighty cities,"
slowly steaming up to their
allotted station. Any day, from the wooded heights of Cardross, or the
heather knowes of the Rosneath peninsula, may be seen those grand specimens
of naval architecture, the mighty Atlantic liners, steaming up and down the
waters of that Firth, on which once the miniature pleasure vessels of King
Robert the Bruce sped along in their panoply of swelling sails and
picturesque oarsmen. Vessels of every description of rig and construction
are incessantly gliding over the surface of the broad estuary, and transport
the produce of the thousand mills and factories of the West of Scotland to
distant quarters of the globe. And the rushing locomotive, with their long
waving trail of white steam, convey merchandise and passengers over the face
of the land with magical celerity,—very unlike the tortoise-like pace of the
lumbering vehicles in the olden time.
What a mighty change too has
come over the landscape itself, since those early days in the remote period
centuries before the Britons of Strathclyde roamed beside the shores of the
Clyde. At that time the sea rolled around Dunbarton Rock, its dark blue
waves reaching perhaps half-way up the Vale of Leven. The cliffs at the
eastern side of the railway between Cardross and the tunnel at Dalreoch
clearly show that the sea once laved those fissured rocks. Similarly, at the
Gareloch, near Rosneath Castle, the conglomerate cliffs show every
indication of there having once been an old 'sea beach at their base. Dr.
Hately Waddell in his work Ossian and the Clyde, points out that marine
deposits have been discovered all about Cardross and Ardmore Point, and that
the acquired lands, near the former place, yearly increasing by the
recession of the tide, are full of purest sea channel of all modern tints,
and with similar varieties of shells. The Clyde estuary would, in some
places, seem to be diminishing in breadth, although as may be witnessed
along the shores of the Gareloch, the soil near the beach has been gradually
washed away by the tide. Long years ago, says the learned author, there
would be great changes in the Clyde estuary, "Erskine submerged, Dunbarton
Rock a double-headed islet, and Cardross a tongue-land from Dunbartonshire.
Ardmore and Rosneath Points, now rich with verdure and waving with trees,
would then be invisible; Rosneath itself, a mere circular peninsula, tacked
like an emerald by a link of rock to the solid land; Ardenslate and Hafton
all but separated from Dunoon; Bute divided by Kilchattan Bay at Kingarth;
Portincross cut off from the shore, and Arran intersected by deep and rocky
inlets, or scooped into wider bays. Loch-Winnocb and Loch Lomond, at the
date in question, would be inland seas—the Cart, the Gryffe, and the Leven,
as rivers, gone."
The author goes on to
speculate upon the changes: "If so, and we have no reason to doubt it, then
there was corresponding breadth and depth of water in the Gareloch, in the
Holy Loch, and Loch Fyne. Certain it is that, in the glacial period,
icebergs with their load of boulders, like crystal decanters with a cargo of
pebbles, were afloat in the Gareloch. I have myself counted not fewer than
90 of these huge blocks in a mass together, the burden doubtless of some
iceberg which had swung in from the south-east and grounded above Fernicarie.
In those days the ridges between the Gareloch and Loch Long would be a mere
strip, and the moor at Poltalloch, through which the Crinan Canal now runs,
between Lochgilphead and the Western Ocean would be quiet and deep water.
Loch Long, for example, at no very remote period, must have been deep water
a mile and more beyond the highway at Arrochar; where an alluvial deposit of
vegetable matter of which the strata can still be counted, lies plainly
extended as a beautiful valley, from 15 to 36 inches deep of soil on the old
bed of the sea."
The geological formation of
this part of the county presents specimens of rock from the oldest strata,
mica slate, to the limestone. The mica slate, resting upon the gneiss, is of
a uniform character, composed chiefly of parts adhering together without any
intermediate cement. Mica is everywhere seen, quartz also abounds, but
felspar is scarcely perceptible. Towards the south of Row parish there are
beds of red sandstone and coarse conglomerate. Gypsum and thin beds of
limestone are associated with the sandstone, which is covered with a whitish
constratified clay, full of water. There is a blue limestone on the top of
the slate in Ardenconnal, and in Glenfruin, in which masses of pyrites are
found. In the lower part of the parish there are alluvial beds of gravel,
sand, and clay, containing marine shells, shewing that the sea had once
covered a great deal of the shore lands. On the opposite side of the
Gareloch similar geological features are observed. On the high ground above
Clynder there are good examples of chloride slate in the quarries which have
been opened up, the direction being from north-west to south-east. Not very
far from Knockderry, on the Loch Long side, there appears a large mass of
greenstone lying interposed between the strata. The greenstone is like a
dyke, from twenty to thirty feet thick, and close to it is more of the
chlorite slate rock. The south-western extremity of the parish is pervaded
by conglomerate and coarse sandstone rock, which occurs in beds of
considerable thickness. This rock is of similar description to the great
sandstone formation which extends along the coasts of Renfrew and Ayr,
embracing the Cumbraes, and a portion of the southern half of Bute. The line
of formation, between the sandstone and primitive rock of the parish, runs
along the valley stretching from Campsail Bay to Kilcreggan. In the slate
formation on the Loch Long shore, as well as in the quartz, iron pyrites is
found in considerable abundance. On the rocks in the neck of land between
Loch Long and the Gareloch we see finely bedded strata of mica schist,
tilted up at a high angle, and their edges ground and smoothed in a curious
way, with long parallel lines, clearly indicating the work of ice. The
valley of Loch Long, at one time, must have been completely filled by an
immense glacier, part of which extended over this neck of land and down the
Gareloch.
Some of the interesting
boulder stones which are to be found throughout the West Highlands, still
exist on the shores and braes of the Gareloch, and, fifty years ago, more
than one hundred fine boulders of grey granite were found in position on the
ridges between that Loch and Loch Long. Probably the boulders had their
origin in the great granite mountains, such as Ben Cruachan, more than
thirty miles distant, as the crow flies; being transported by the ice across
valleys and hills, floating on a sea which may have been over fifteen
hundred feet above the present sea level. The conclusion which Mr. Charles
M'Laren, the eminent Scotch geologist, came to in 1846 regarding these
boulders, was that they have come on the sea at a far higher level than now,
brought by currents from the north-west. The most remarkable one in the
parish is at Peatoun, on Loch Long, resting in the channel of a burn which
runs down to the loch at a height of 226 feet above the sea. It is of
gneiss, its dimensions 24 by 18 feet, and probably it was transported across
Loch Long to its present site. All along the shore between Kilcreggan and
Peatoun numerous large boulders are to be seen, while they also exist in
many places on the Gareloch shores. At Shandon there is a large boulder on
the shore at the gate of the Hydropathic establishment, about 10 feet by 14.
All evidences tend to prove that, at one period, there were extensive
glaciers in the valleys of the West Highlands. There is also a huge boulder
of mica slate on the farm of Callendown, on the Helensburgh and Luss road,
150 feet above the sea, which may have come from the north, down the valley
now occupied by Loch Lomond, and been carried up Glenfruin. The glaciation,
however, of this district is, on the whole, from the northwest, so that it
is more likely its line of transport was from the west.
The prevailing soils of the
county are clay, on a subsoil of till, and gravelly loam. On the banks of
the Clyde there is a considerable extent of deep black loam, but this bears
only a small proportion to the rest of the surface land. The climate is mild
and favourable to health, but not quite so advantageous for the growth of
pasture. The prevailing winds are the west and south-west, but the east wind
blows a good deal in March, April, and May. In 1777 the Duke of Argyll made
great efforts to introduce a better system of husbandry, and Wright, who
visited the county in that year, found the Duke and other proprietors trying
to beautify their estates. The progress which he saw was continued
gradually; enclosing and planting were carried on, drainage advanced, and
the land enhanced in value. On the Duke of Argyll's farm at Rosneath,
cultivated by himself, the following rotation of crops prevailed. 1, Oats;
2, pease; 3, barley; 4, potatoes and turnips; 5, wheat and grass seeds; 6,
hay; 7 and 8, pasture. The principal changes were substituting potatoes for
fallow land, which was done when the season and soil permitted the ground to
be pastured in time, and if enough manure could be got. Wheat was greatly
increased in cultivation, and turnip husbandry generally introduced, and the
potato was grown with great success. Much of the potato crop went for
feeding horses, cattle and pigs, and for seed, but a great deal was consumed
by the people, as well as exported to Greenock and Glasgow. The growth of
artificial grasses was generally introduced, but rather little attention was
given to the management of grass lands and natural pastures. No fruit
orchards were grown for profit, but there was a large amount of natural
copse woods, and they yielded a handsome return. The introduction of sheep
farming over the waste ground had greatly improved the pastures and
increased their value. The sheep were mostly black faced, from breeds which
were said to have been introduced from the high lands of Dumfriesshire and
Lanarkshire about 1750. The cattle were chiefly of Highland breed, and were
purchased in the various West Highland markets. Horses used to be bred in
the county, but they were of inferior quality, and the Clydesdale breed was
recognised as by far the most useful.
Red deer used to be common in
certain parts of the county, but now are only found in two of the large
islands in Loch Lomond, though roe deer are more numerous. The introduction
of sheep has greatly tended to displace deer, and the gradual restriction of
the ground under heather has much diminished the supply of game, although
there are some fine grouse moors in various places. In the Lochs, salmon and
sea trout are common, and herring, cod, whiting, haddocks, saithe, and other
varieties, abound in Loch Long and the Gareloch. The king fish had been
taken early in the century on the shore near Helensburgh, and about 1830 an
enormous tunny, 9 feet long, was captured in the Gareloch. In this loch, at
one time, oysters used to be got, but they were both more numerous and
larger in Loch Long. Mussels are found in great quantities near the Row and
Rosneath Points, but no care has been taken for their preservation, and
sometimes several boats at a time may be seen gathering tons each of fine
mussels, to the irreparable injury of the breeding places. In the year 1811
an exhaustive "General view of the Agriculture of the County of I)unbarton "
was drawn up at the instance of the Board of Agriculture, from which much
valuable information will be gained as to the state of matters at that date.
Careful descriptions are given of the farms, the soil, mode of husbandry,
cottars houses, implements, pastures, and the entire operations pertaining
to agriculture and forestry. The farm houses and offices generally, though
of small dimensions, were substantial and commodious, and the proprietors
were beginning to recognise that it was their duty and interest to see to
the comfort of their tenants. As a rule the cottages of the labourers were
very poor, but an improvement was observable, windows were being glazed,
chimneys constructed in the gables, and roofed with tiles and slates. The
sheep farms had much increased in size since 1794, when Mr. Ure estimated
them on an average at 600 acres. Farms of £20 and £30 rent were to be met
with in various parts, but they were miserably cultivated and excessively
overcropped. In the highland districts the small pendicles were occupied by
tenants, who were sometimes artificers, or engaged in wood cutting, herring
fishing, or other occupations; to which, too often, might be added
smuggling. The farmers were generally of the old school, of limited
education, following implicitly the practices of their fathers, and had no
capital. In fact the feudal state of society had scarcely disappeared from
the county, and there were still on some of the estates farms let to three,
four, and even more tenants as conjunct lessees, to be cultivated in common.
The average rent of arable land in the clay district was about 18s. per
Scotch acre, in gravelly soil 20s., and in rich loam 35s. In some very
favourable situations fields, and even whole farms, were let at £3 10s. per
acre for a lease. The rise of rent, particularly in the pasture district,
had been great and, since the introduction of sheep farms, land formerly let
at £20 and £30 had risen to £300 and £400. The conclusion which the authors
of the report came to was that, in this county, when judiciously employed,
the capital of the arable farmer yielded about 11 2/3 per cent., and that of
the sheep grazier 10 3/4 per cent.; a moderate return, when the skill,
perseverance, and outlay necessary are taken into account.
The usual enclosures
throughout the county were dry stone dykes, but hedges and ditches were
common. Ploughing was well executed, a great improvement having taken place
in the last few years. The ploughing was done by a pair of horses driven by
a man, but it was only a short time ago that four horses were used to drive
the plough. In Arrochar, and other Highland parts, the old "Highland spade"
was still used, chiefly for digging very steep ground on the sides of
mountains, and also on boggy ground which would not carry horses. The wheat
grown in the county was, generally, of good quality, and sold high; the
average price per boll in 1808 having been £2 4s. The quantity of barley
raised in 1809 was very small, owing to the high duties on malt, and the
increasing demand for wheat. Oats had been the grain chiefly cultivated in
Dunbartonshire, a second, and even a third crop often followed the first.
The inferior oats were generally given to the cattle on the farm, or sold to
the innkeepers. The price of oats in 1808 was £1 8s. per boll. Turnips were
grown on nearly every farm in the county, but not to a great extent, and
they were found to thrive best on the gravelly and loam lands. Justice was
not done to the cultivation of turnips in this county, and the tillage was
imperfect, and a strong prejudice existed for potatoes. They were planted on
every variety of soil, and were found to thrive even on the stiffest clays,
where there was sufficient declivity for carrying off the water. Large
quantities of potatoes were sold in Glasgow and Greenock, and those unsold
formed, for eight months in the year, the chief sustenance of the labouring
classes. A little flax was sown on almost every farm for the use of the
family, and spun by the female servants in the winter evenings.
The greater part of both cows
and oxen in the county were purchased from the West Highlands, the few
reared in Dunbartonshire being of the same breed. The bulk of the cattle
wintered were disposed of in April to dealers from the south of Scotland or
the north of England, or else sold in the public markets in May and June.
The number of cattle fattened in the county was much smaller than that of
those wintered. Oxen were sometimes used in harness, and were formerly
employed at Levenside by Lord Stonefield, and at Rosneath by the Duke of
Argyll, for both ploughing and carting, but found inferior to horses in
every respect. They were still used at Ardmore, the seat of General Geils,
and were worked both in the cart and thrashing mill, being managed in the
Indian method, by chains passing over the top of their heads. The total
stock of sheep, which were all black-faced, in the county was about 28,000.
The pasture which the hills afforded was their only food, either in winter
or summer. On the smaller sheep farms, which were far the most numerous, a
breeding stock was generally kept. Farm servants were engaged generally for
six months, and their wages ran from £18 to £22 per annum, in addition to
their board; the women receiving £8 to £12. Day labourers earned from 2s. to
2s. 6d. each, and the day's work was about ten hours. Provisions were high
in price, the average price of beef being eightpence a pound of 23 oz;
mutton ninepence, veal and pork and vegetables still dearer in proportion.
Salmon, which used to be sold at threepence, was seldom below eighteen
pence, and salted herrings were double the price they were a few years ago.
But the high price of food chiefly affected the manufacturing population, as
the farm servants consumed chiefly potatoes, oatmeal and cheese. Coal was
the fuel mostly used by all classes of the people, the price near the pits
being upwards of eight shillings a ton, but double that figure in the more
remote parts of the county.
At the present day, according
to an enquiry into the condition of farm servants held in Dunbarton in
December, 1892, there is a considerable change for the better. It was found
that, generally speaking, they worked in summer from 5 a.m. till 6 at night,
with an hour and a half for meals. They were engaged by the year, and the
married men had from 20s. to 22s. per week, a free house, sometimes a small
garden, and coals driven. There was no allowance for extra work, except
perhaps some refreshment. Some of the cottages were very poor and damp, and
the drainage was bad. Ordinary labourers ranged from 18s. to 20s. per week,
and drainers wages were about 3s. 6d. per day. Shepherds wages were.£24 a
year, with free cottage and garden, ten bolls of meal, a cow and its keep,
but he had to feed the lambs out of that. Benefit Societies were not much
taken advantage of by the labourers, but some of them were in Assurance
Societies. There was no trades unions among them, and the relations between
master and servant were very agreeable. The general condition of the farm
labourers in this county was better than it was a few years ago. They got
few holidays, the only ones being about the term days, or at the new year.
Altogether the writers of the
general view of the agriculture of the county in 1811 considered that a
great change for the better had occurred in the food and mode of living of
the farm labourers. The wretched, damp, and smoky hovels that offended the
eye of a stranger were much diminished in number, and the peasants' cottages
wore a greater appearance of comfort arid cleanliness. The food of the
labourers in summer was generally oatmeal porridge and milk for breakfast,
bread and cheese with milk for dinner, and porridge for supper. In winter,
their dinner for the most part was barley broth, with salt beef or salted
herrings. Amongst the peasantry the fondness for ardent spirits, though
still too prevalent, had considerably abated, and they were in a healthy
condition,—small pox and fever being little known. As regarded the farmers,
their general deficiency of capital was one of the most serious obstacles to
improvement. The feudal system of land occupation, by which the land was
parcelled out amongst a number of occupiers, and cultivated solely by their
labour without any expenditure of money in improvements, was totally
incompatible with the prosperity of the country. There were still some
proprietors who adhered to obsolete notions, such as that their interests
were in opposition to those of their tenants, but there were others who
encouraged intelligent and enterprising farmers, well knowing that the
interests of both were inseparably connected. It was a wrong system to
burden tenants with vexatious services, to cripple them with short leases,
to compel them to waste their capital in building houses, enclosing fields,
and executing these improvements which, being permanent, ought in all equity
to be done by the landlord. The connection between the landlord and tenant
must be formed on fair and equal terms, and kept up in the spirit of
confidence and liberality. |
