Notes on the way through Ayrshire -
100 years ago
GALSTON PARISH.
EAST of Riccarton, south
of Loudoun. The town of Galston stands on the Ayrshire Road from New
Cumnock to Glasgow by the Mearns Moor. The town occupies a
sheltered, hollow place at the foot of the beautiful Anne Burn, on
the left bank of the Irvine, crossed here by a Duke of
Portland, delegating to the people
his power of governing the place. As the system was not authorised either
by royal prerogative or Act of Parliament, it was unsatisfactory to the
bailies and councillors, as well as to the people who elected them. It is
now a police burgh; has Established, Free, United Presbyterian, and
Evangelical Union Churches ; several public schools ; British Linen
Company and Union Banks; a post office, with telegraph, money order,
insurance, annuity, and savings bank departments; a railway station;
woollen, millboard, and lace manufactories. Population in 1871, 4727; in
1881, 4085.
The only village in the
parish is GREENHOLM, a suburb of Newmilns. Lanfine House,
one mile and a-half west, and Milrig House, in a detached part of
Riccarton parish, two miles south of the town, are nice places, each of
them standing in an ornamental park and woods. Cessnock Castle, a
mile south-east, with the lovely Anne Burn babbling through its
woods, is a scene of antiquity and beauty. Robert
Wallace, post office reformer, was a
son of John Wallace of Cessnock,
and was born in 1773. His father having sold Cessnock and bought Kelly
in 1792, he removed thither, and at his father’s death succeeded to that
estate. He became senior partner of the firm of Wallace, Hunter & Co.,
Greenock; in 1833 was elected M.P.
for Greenock ; and, as evidence of the extraordinary estimation in which
he was held by his constituents, he was, for four successive elections,
returned free of expense. By four years of incessant advocacy of post
office reform, he acquired a wide popularity; was honoured with a
complimentary communication from the Postmaster-General of France ;
presented with an address by the people of Kilmarnock; had conferred upon
him the freedom of the cities of Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Perth, and the
burghs of Paisley, Dingwall, Inverness, and Dornock ; and when harassed by
commercial misfortune in his old age, Mr, Wallace was presented with a
public testimonial in the shape of an annuity of £500. Died at Seafield,
Greenock, aged 82.
John Goldie,
miscellaneous writer, was born in the parish of Galston, 1717 ;
removed to Kilmarnock, where he carried on the business of cabinetmaker,
subsequently of wine merchant. He is author of a volume entitled
"Essays on Various Subjects," humorously known as Goldie’s
Bible, and is held in grateful memory as a friend of Burns. Died in
1809.
The Churchyard is
hallowed with the tombs of several martyrs. The field of Drumclog
is on the Strathaven side of the east boundary of the parish. Here, on a
Sabbath in June, 1679, a large congregation of
Covenanters having gathered from the
banks of the Irvine and the Avon to worship God on the moor - as they were
not allowed to do so in their homes and churches, unless according to the
Roman ritual enforced by the English Government - they were discovered by
a body of dragoons and foot soldiers under Claverhouse.
The worshippers had no alternative but to put their Bibles in their
pockets, send the, women out of sight with the children, range themselves
in order of battle, and fight for their lives. The soldiers were
completely defeated by the country folk, many of whom were armed only with
the peaceful implements of industry-- hay and corn forks. Lest it should
appear an exaggeration to give the victors’ account of this battle, we
subjoin that of Claverhouse
himself. His spelling, compared to the general literature of the time in
which he lived, proves that he was not a man of culture, and had read
little. His account proves also that he was a coward, being the first to
gallop off the field. This we might expect, for the history of the human
race clearly shows that no man of extraordinary cruelty has ever been a
hero. He says:-" I thought that we might make a little tour to see if
we could fall upon a conventicle; which we did, little to our advantage,
for when we came in sight of them, we found them drawn up in batell, upon
a most advantageous ground, to which there was no coming but through
mosses and lakes. They were not preaching, and had got away all there
women and children. The consisted of four battallions of foot, and all
well armed with fusils and pitchforks, and three squadrons of horse. We
sent both partys to skirmish, they of foot and we of dragoons; they run
for it, and sent down a battallion of foot against them; we sent three
score of dragoons, who made them run again shamfully; but in the end they Mr.
Crawford and Captain Bleith, besides
that with a pitch-fork they mate such an opening in my rone horse’s
belly, that his guts hung out half an elle, and yet he caryed me af an myl;
which so discoraged our men, that they sustained not the shok, but fell
into disorder. There horse took the occasion of this, and purseued us so
hotly that we had no tym to rayly. I saved the standarts, but lost on the
place about aight or ten men, besides wounded; but the dragoons lost many
mor. They ar not corn esily af on
the other side, for I sawe several1 of them fall before the shok. I mad
the best retrait the confusion of our people would suffer, and I am now
laying with my Lord Rosse." The
number of Claverhouse’s men
killed at Drumclog was about 40; and nearly the whole of them would
have been slain, but the majority of the Covenanters disobeyed the command
of their General, Sir Robert Hamilton, and did not pursue the retreating
forces, owing to a previous resolution that they should not fight on ,the
Sabbath except in defence of their lives. A monument is erected on the
field.
Valuable coal seams,
somewhat broken with trap dykes, lie under the western part of the parish,
and coal-works animate the district. Chalcedony, agate, and another
precious stone known as the Burmawn or Galston pebble are found on
the surface, which is moderately diversified with hill and dale, rising
east and south-east to the summit of Distinkhorn, 1258 feet above
sea level. The lower and middle parts are in prime cultivation, and
furnished in many places with sheltering plantations, and the upper part
is dotted with sheep, where
" The rising sun
owe Galston muirs, Wi’ glorious
light was glintin’."
Its length, east and
west, is 124 miles; its general breadth, about three miles; its area,
15,243 acres. Population, 5961.
"Barr Castle! Tenantless
and wild!
Dome of Delight! Dear Haunt of mine!
The shock of ages thou has foiled,
Since fell the last of Lockhart's line;
Thou, left a hermit, to grow grey
O'er swallow, crane and bird of prey."
John Wright, local poet, circa 1815.
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