Notes on
the way through Ayrshire - 100 years ago
SORN PARISH.
Joseph Train,
poet and antiquary, was born here, 1779. In his boyhood he received
little schooling, but persevered in self-education as he grew to manhood.
In 1806 he published " Poetical Reveries; " in 1814, "
Strains of the Mountain Muse; " in 1845, " Historical and
Statistical Account of the Isle of Man; " in 1846, "The
Buchanites from First to Last." He became a friend and correspondent
of Sir Walter Scott;
and the great novelist says that most of the authentic knowledge he
possessed of Robert Paterson,
known as " Old Mortality," was obtained from "an account
transmitted by my friend, Mr. Joseph
Train, supervisor of Excise at
Dumfries, to whom I owe many obligations of a similar nature." Died
December 14, 1852, aged 73.
Sorn Castle
[ 14th Century, major additions c.1864 ] is
half-a-mile north-west of the village, and stands on a cliff overhanging
the north edge of Ayr River; is a modernized edifice of unknown
antiquity, set in the richest of garden, wood, and river scenery. It was
visited by James V.,
as also the renowned Dr. Johnson.
The Cleuch Burn, which here gurgles into the river from the distant
Blacksidend Hill, 1342 feet high, is adorned with bright cascades
and rugged sylvan cliffs.
THE TOWN OF CATRINE
David Dale, in company with the
first Claud Alexander of Ballochmyle,
whose sister Wilhelmina
was immortalized by Burns as "The Bonnie Lass o’ Ballochmyle."
Prior to that date the site of Catrine was occupied by a solitary house
and smithy, belonging to one Thomas
Henry, whose forefathers had lived
at the same place from time immemorial. There is a disposition to call it
the birthplace of Henry the Minstrel,
but we have been unable to discover any definite oral tradition in support
of it. Smith of Deanston,
inventor of tile drains in agriculture, was employed in some capacity at Catrine
mills before going to
Catrine House,
west of the town, stands on the south bank of the Ayr, where " The
Dugald
Stewart, one of the early friends of
Burns.
It was on the occasion of the young Poet’s introduction to the society
of the professor at Catrine House that he first got so far up in
the world as to dine with a lord (Basil,
Lord Daer) who chanced to be here as
a visitor. " This wot ye all whom it concerns, I, Rhymer Robin, alias
Bunls, October twenty-third, A ne’er-to-be-forgotten day, Sae
far I sprachled up the brae, I dinner’d wi’ a lord." This was in
1789, the year before the building of Catrine town and mills
was commenced. With the woods of Catrine Bank on the east,
Ballochmyle on the north, and plantation belts on the south, Catrine
enjoys exceedingly fine sheltering environs.
The
Rev. Alexander Peden, the prophet,
was born in the parish, 1626. He had been three years minister of the
parish of New Lute, in Galloway, when he was ejected by the
Government with many others of the Presbyterian clergy. After the
battle of Pentland Hills, in 1666, a proclamation was issued by the
privy council for his apprehension, together with other leading
Presbyterians. Of those distinguished for their piety who were apprehended
on that occasion, 10 were hanged on one gibbet at Edinburgh, and 35 before
their own doors. But Mr. Peden,
with sagacious foresight, found refuge in Ireland, where he obtained
employment at threshing corn with the flail, until King
Charles, apparently alarmed at the
diminution of his subjects, had written a letter to the privy council
commanding them to desist from their horrible work. The hanging being over
for the time, Mr. Peden
returned to his sacred calling in Ayrshire, preaching in the fields, and
visiting the sick and the bereaved. But he was apprehended in Carrick,
conveyed to Edinburgh, tried, condemned, and sent to prison in the
stronghold on the top of the Bass Rock, then used as a State prison
for influential Covenanters.
The Bass Rock is a precipitous island standing in the sea at the
entrance to the Firth of Forth, like Ailsa Craig at the entrance to
the Firth of Clyde, but is of smaller dimensions. He was kept there till 1678,
when he was taken out and put on board a ship, with 60 others, to be
transported to Virginia. But the cruelty of the persecutors was not
gratified in this instance, for the captain of the ship, on learning the
true character of the gentlemen whom he had got on board, refused to
proceed with such a cargo, and they were all set at liberty in London. Mr.
Peden immediately returned to his
ministerial duties in Ayrshire, where the persecution was raging at the
height of its fury. Claverhouse
had let loose over the district 6000 Highland soldiers-Roman Catholics, if
they were anything-to enter every house and demand food and lodging, to
prevent the Presbyterians from engaging in worship both in and out of
doors, and to search out and apprehend their leading men. Most of the
ministers saved their lives by yielding to break the Covenant in some
important points ; but Mr. Peden
yielded nothing: his prophetic spirit was incorruptible: he was provided
with other means of safety, When again and again the enemy heard of him
preaching and visiting the sick, and again and again scoured the country
in search of him-and there was not a house nor pig-sty where he could have
remained without the certainty of being discovered and shot, or led to the
scaffold-he always foresaw their movements-often, no doubt, by the
assistance of his surrounding adherents-and lodged him-self safely in a
cave near the village of Sorn. The entrance to his cave was protected
against the scent of bloodhounds and other dogs of the persecutors by a
pool of water, and was covered with natural shrubs and a large willow
tree, by the branches of which he swang himself across the water.
According to the history of the time from his liberation in London till
his death, he must have lived in and out of his cave for seven or eight
years. In our Peden,
nor in the time of the Hebrew prophets-for then, as now, "a prophet
had no honour in his own country," and they even "killed the
prophets." There is no doubt, however, that the the Rev.
Alexander Peden had a most
wonderfully clear perception of coming events, which made him more
earnestly believed in as a prophet than any other whom Scotland has ever
known; and, though we dare not com-pare him to the prophet Daniel, he was,
nevertheless, an honest prophet. No false prophet would have borne for one
week the sufferings which this poor faithful minister endured for 20
years. It is comforting to know that he was preserved from the hands of
his enemies to the last, and died a natural death, in hiding, but not in
his cave-for, at a quiet moment, when he felt his end fast approaching, he
crept into his brother’s house, not far distant. His brother, being
alarmed at the danger, suggested that he might be safer in the house of
another brother, at Auchinleck. But he said, "In 24 hours I do
not care if they make a whistle o’ my banes," and within that time
he had breathed his last. Died in 1686, aged 60. (See Old Cumnock)
The surface of the
parish is cultivated and wooded in the west, and some distance up the
valley of the Ayr towards the east; rises to wild mossy moors and bleak
hills in the north-east; and includes a large part of Aird’s MOSS in
the south, which is level. The minerals include ironstone and coal, which
for many years have been extensively worked about Glenlogan and Gilmilnscroft,
on the south side of Ayr Water. The parish measures about six and
a-half miles each way, comprising 19,195 acres. Population, 4255.
Sorn Church - 1658; Sorn Bridge -
c.1710;
and .co.uk