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Notes on
the way through Ayrshire - 100 years ago
LOUDOUN PARISH.
EAST of
Kilmarnock. The town of NEWMILNS, the capital of the parish, is
seven and a half miles east of Kilmarnock, and stands on the north bank of
the Irvine, with a wing called Greenholm on the south bank,
which is in the parish of Galston. It is not a new but an old town,
having been made a burgh of barony in the reign of James
IV. It has a terminal railway
station, lace and muslin manufactories, a grain mill, lots of shops; a
pas" office, with telegraph, money order, and savings bank
departments; Royal and Clydesdale Banks; Established, Free, and United
Presbyterian Churches; two public schools, and a working men’s
institute. Population in 1871, 3028; in 1881, 2860.
Its chief antiquity is an
old tower, notable in the history of the
Covenanters. The Established Church
here will always be held venerable, in memory of the Rev.
Dr. Laurie, minister of Loudoun, the
first Christian minister who exerted himself in behalf of the poverty
stricken and persecuted young poet Burns.
The Churchyard
contains several martyrs’ monuments, one of them in memory of Captain
John Nisbet
of Hardhill, one of the toughest of
the Covenant heroes. He was a descendant Murdoch,
one of the Lollards of Kyle.
In early youth he was engaged in military service on the Continent;
returned to Scotland in 1650, at the age of 23; accepted the
Covenant with King Charles II.
at Scone, and fought many battles for his persecuted Christian brethren.
He was amongst the Presbyterians of
Ayrshire who suffered defeat at Pentland
Hills, 40 of them being killed and 130 taken prisoners. Nisbet
was left lying on the field for dead, November, 1666. But the hero
had more persecution to endure, and more battles to fight for his country’s
freedom to worship God. Being of the same genuine Loudoun stuff as
those who fought and conquered with Wallace and with Bruce at Loudoun
Hill, he rallied, and found his way home; was present, with the rank of
Captain, at Drumclog, where Claverhouse
was defeated, June, 1679, and at Bothwell Bridge, where the
Presbyterians were completely overwhelmed with numbers, and defeated with
great slaughter, June 22, 1679. "Honest old John Nisbet
"-as Sir William Hamilton,
the Commander at Drumclog, styled him-was captured by the
enemy, at Fenwick, in 1685, conveyed to Edinburgh, and
executed. He met his death with great fortitude, Here is another martyr’s
tombstone in a kail yard. Newmilns has cultivated environs, delightfully
figured with woods and rippling burns, on both sides of the river.
The town of Darvel
stands on the right bank of Irvine River, near the foot of Glen
Water, one mile and a half east of Newmilns.
It is largely in the form of one street, extending east and west to fully
half-a-mile in length. It has a post office, a Union Bank, some good
shops; Free, United Presbyterian, Secession, and Evangelical Union
Churches ; a public school ; and thrives with lace factories. Population
in 1871, 1729; in 1881, 1701.
Loudoun
Hill, two miles east of Darvel, is a most Earl of Pembroke,
who were here completely defeated and routed by 600 Ayrshire men, under
Bruce, March, 1307.
Loudoun
Castle stands on slightly elevated ground, nearly two miles west of
Newmilns, and fully half-a-mile north-east of Galston. An old part
of it was built in the fifteenth century; and that, we suppose, would be
built on the site of a still older castle which was in existence at a much
earlier date. We find Sir Neil
Campbell of Loudoun mentioned
amongst those who, to save their lives, swore fealty to Edward,
July 29, 1296. A sister of his, or of his father, was married to Sir
Reginald Crawford of Crosbie Castle,
Sheriff of Ayr, and was the maternal grandmother
of the great William Wallace.
The Dukes of Argyll,
if not all the Campbells of Scotland,
are descended from these ancient Campbells
of Loudoun. The stately modern
mansion, which it now chiefly is, was built during three years-from 1807
to 1811 - and a better ideal of a grand lordly castle rising amid its
woods could not be. The pleasure grounds are very fine: the park, studded
with great trees, and reaching down south to the Irvine,
half-a-mile distant, is bonny. There are many miles of " Loudon’s
bonny woods and braes " and " Loudon’s flowery lea, lassie
"-an excellent place to spend " happy bridal
days"--lying to the sun. Sir
John Campbell, first Earl of Loudoun,
created 1637, resisted
Charles I. in his attempt to force
Episcopacy on Scotland; garrisoned the castles of Strathaven, Douglas,
and Tantallan for his fellow Covenanters;
in 1641 was appointed Lord
High Chancellor of Scotland-an
office which he held for 19 years, until he was deposed at the
restoration; was also First Commissioner of the Treasury; and in 1648
was President of the Scottish Parliament. Died in 1663. Hugh,
third Earl, was a friend of Allan
Ramsay. Burns,
on the origin of the song, "The Lass o’ Patie’s Mill,"
says -- " The following
anecdote, which I had from the present
Sir William Cunningham of Robertland,
who had it of the late John, Earl of
Loudoun, I can, on such authorities,
believe:- Allan Ramsay
was residing at Loudoun Castle with the then Earl, father to Earl
John; and one forenoon, riding or walking out together, his Lordship and
Allan passed a sweet romantic spot on Irvine Water, still called
‘Patie’s Mill,’ where a bonnie lass was ‘tedding hay, bareheaded,
on the green.’ My lord observed to Allan that it would be a fine theme
for a song. Ramsay took the hint, and lingering behind, he composed the
first shetch of it, which he produced at dinner."
The hamlet of LOUDOUN
KIRK lies nearly a mile to the west of the Castle, and close by
the wood-shaded ruin of Loudoun Kirk and auld
Kirkyard, where may be seen the graves of Thomas
Fleming of Loudoun Hill,
who fell at Drumclog; Janet
Little, the Scottish milkmaid
poetess, contemporary of Burns;
and another poetess, Lady Flora
Hastings, daughter of Francis
Radon, Marquis
of Hastings, by his wife, Flora
Mure Campbell, Countess of Loudoun
in her own right. Lady
Flora
was born in 1806. Endowed with rare talents and accomplishments,
she was chosen a Lady of the Household of H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent,
where she was seized with a painful malady-enlargement of the liver. From
this unfortunate circumstance her chaste and refined character was abused
with shameless scandal, in the midst of which she died, aged 33 . Her
poems, in one volume, were published after her death. The Countess, last
of the great Campbells
of Loudoun,
was so affected by her daughter’s piteous and untimely end that she
survived her only a short time, and died of a broken heart.
The parish is about nine
miles long, east and west. Area, 15,486 acres. Population in 1571, 5525;
in 1881, 5239.
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