History of the Village

The village grew up around the Castle of New Cumnock or Castle of the Black Bog as it was sometimes called. The Castle stood on the site of the present day Arthur Memorial Church and when the ground was cleared to build the house of Mrs Harvey Sloan across from the Church, the foundations of the castle were uncovered at the side of the church walls. The Castle would be predated by a fortified Crannog with a moated walkway to the Shilling Hill or Leggate area.

The Castle itself is dated from the 14th century and is shown on a map circa 1325, this map is in the Bodlean Library in Oxford. In the earliest map of the village the Castle is called Kumuck Castle and in a 17th century map by Timothy Pont the name is spelled Kumnock . The mail family of the Castle were the Dunbars, but I won’t elaborate on this, as the family history has been well covered in the book by Thomas Murray – The Castles of New Cumnock. However, it is recorded that the last two occupants of the castle were two old ladies of the Dunbar family.

In 1307 Edward the second, King of England arrived at the castle with a vast army but after some weeks, he returned to England. Through the years the spelling gradually became the modern day spelling of Cumnock and this name applied to the area which is now Old and New Cumnock.

The original parish of Cumnock was divided into two parishes on the 11 th of July 1650. What is now New Cumnock was given the larger land area of approximately 48,000 acres but was more thinly populated. In an old guide book of Scotland published in 1821 the page which gives the route from Glasgow to Dumfries we read, ‘On reaching New Cumnock we cross the River Nith and on the right are the ruins of Black Castle’ as the Castle was sometimes known. However, a ruined Castle at this time was looked upon as an ideal source of building material and who knows in some of the older houses of the village there may be built a datestone or even a marriage stone with a crest of the Dunbar family.

One of the other Castles of New Cumnock was Waterhead Castle which sat on the southwest bank of the River Nith on the Dalmellington side of the village near to Craigman and Waterhead farms and in 1974 the site was partly excavated by members of New Cumnock Local History Group. In the course of the excavation it was found that the Castle had been of the Fortified Tower style and was roughly 50ft. By 30ft. With a tower in the northeast corner, where part of the spiral staircase may still be seen. A graphite marker was found among the large whinstone foundation stones. This marker may have been used to illustrate to the masons how the work was to be done. Frome papers in the Carnegie Library we note that the Chalmer family were the residents and owners in the late 1500’s and that Janet Chalmer, Lady of Waterhead was to be married to John Cathcart whose family also held the lands of Fardenreoch, not far from Waterhead. When the Castle was abandoned, is not known, and there is every possibility that the stones from Waterhead Castle would be used to build the nearby farms of Wee Riggend, which is now totally demolished and the farm of Waterhead near to the site of the castle.

The name Castle William is to be seen in many of the maps of the Afton Valley area and on the Armstrong Maps of Ayrshire for the year 1775 there is shown a symbol for a Castle near a large rocky outcrop which is also known as Castle William. No foundations are to be found in the immediate area of the rock but it could have been a turf and timber structure adjoining the large rock and after being abandoned it would rot down into the surrounding grassland leaving no trace. Blind Harry the Minstrel mentioned in one of his ballads that William Wallace spent some time in this vicinity and it may be that the rock was a meeting place for Wallace and his men, or that they used the rock as a lookout tower as it has an all round view of the valley.

At that time the whole valley would have been a loch, which covered the area from Corsencone right through the valley to Dalricket Mill, Waterhead and through by Lochside and the Lowes to the Borland Mill area but through the centuries with mud and gravel being carried down by the burns on the hills surrounding the loch, it gradually filled itself in and became an immense marsh. The water had also been held back by a natural rock formation or geological dyke near to Corsencone on the bottom side of the present day March Bridge. This was removed I believe in the middle 1800’s and thus allowed the water to drain away more easily and quickly. As the water receded, the village spread a little farther from the shelter of the Castle and small croft type farms appeared on the land previously covered with water. These small farms would barely have had a subsistence, the ground being ill drained and sour, the surplus if any would be absorbed in the village.

This lasted for many years and only changed when farmers began to realise the advantages of draining and the use of lime to sweeten the soil, gradually the low lying land became the rich grasslands of today. A leader in this field was Sir Charles Menteith who patented his own Three Draw Kiln for the burning of limestone to turn into valuable fertilizer for the spreading on the fields. The remains of one of the Kilns can be seen at the site of old limestone quarries behind Mansfield Hall Farm. It is in a fairly good state of preservation and is often mistaken for the ruins of a castle, another of the Kilns can be seen at Craigdullyeart and is dated “1837”.

Minerals and Mining

Coal

Coal itself was mined from very early times from the out-crops and small Bell-Pits. The method of working Bell-Pits was to dig down to the coal seam and then dig out as much coal as possible before the roof gave way and the air ran out. Another pit would be started nearby and the old one filled in with waste from the new but it wasn’t until the 1700’s that commercial coal production really began with the forming of the The Afton Mining Company at Straid on the New Cumnock – Dalmellington road, using the new road built by McAdam of Craigengillan. On the other side of the valley at Mansfield, Sir Charles Stuart Menteith was mining in the Grieve Hill area, much of this coal was opencasted as it was only two or three feet under the surface of the peat. Part of this seam was known as Noah’s Ark, owing to the shape of the seam. The coal from these workings was sold in Dumfries, Annan and Lochmaben from a stowage site in Sanquhar to which Menteith built s cart or bogey road for easier haulage of the coal.

This roadway was made up of two rows of limestone blocks approximately 18 inches square and seven or eight inches thick with a central hole with a large wooden “dook” or plug which came into use when the rails were laid on to the blocks. The rails had a matching hole through which a six inch handmade nail was hammered into the plug holding the rails in place. The rails were four feet long, nine inches wide and three quarters of an inch thick with a bottom flange which fitted snugly to the edge of the blocks and a rail on the top side to guide the wheels. This roadway was also graded and enabled heavier loads to be pulled fairly easily. The roadway can still be seen and at one place runs parallel to the old road to Kirkconnel. Some of the stones of the roadway can also still be seen.

Over the years coal mining expanded to mines at Bridgend, Craigman, Marchburn, Polqhuirter, Coalburn and Auchincross. It took the opening of the Railway in 1850 to create a boom in coal sales in the South West. The first of the larger companies to take advantage of this was the Bank Coal Company formed in 1863 and the Lanemark Coal Company formed in 1865, both were eventually taken over by the New Cumnock Collieries Ltd in 1909. These collieries were Nationalised in 1945 and at that time consisted of Knockshinnoch, Bank, Seaforth, Burnfoot, Coalburn and Bridgend. There have been many more collieries in the area over the years. On old maps of the village and the surroundings, mines are shown at the Coupla Rottenyard, Muirfoot Burn, Connel Burn and Polqhuirter Burn. Even on where the garages used to be on Farden Avenue and one at Dalricket Mill, Riggfoot, South Boig Farm and Marchburn. The railway came through the New Cumnock area in 1850 but it had not been an entirely smooth passage. First, the nearest it came to New Cumnock, was in 1848 when the section of railway from Kilmarnock to Auchinleck(Horscleugh) was opened on August 9th 1848 and Dumfries to Annan and Gretna on August 23rd of the same year. It took over a year to raise the finance for the remaining sections Dumfries to Closeburn on October 18th 1849 and the last stretches were opened through to New Cumnock and Auchinleck by the end of 1850. It was named the Glasgow and South Western Railway Company, this being an

amalgamation of the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway and the Dumfries and Carlisle Railway.

The railway bridge crossing the old toll road just below the Bowes Cottage is built with girders from the Vulcan Foundry, Kilmarnock and the girders are stamped with the date 1850, the year they were made. It may interest readers to know that Alexander Anderson, the poet who wrote under the pseudonym of ‘Surfaceman’, worked as a labourer on this railway in the 1870s. One of his most notable poems is ‘The Bairnies Cuddle Doon’, at one time this poem was a must at all school concerts and parties.

One of the most outstanding features of the railway was the building of the Ballochmyle Viaduct in 1846 to 1848 and at that time it had the largest masonry arch in the world. A larger one was built some time later in Austria but it was destroyed in World War Two, so the Ballochmyle Viaduct is still the record holder at 181ft in diameter and 161ft above the bed of the river.

Iron Ore

The development of iron ore in the parish was undertaken in 1847 by a group of iron merchants from Yorkshire who had been convinced of the possibilities of a fortune to be made in iron based on reports from the Houldsworths of Dalmellington who convinced them that there was an area of high quality ironstone just waiting to be exploited. A set of furnaces were built near to the banks of Connelburn and the company transported the coal by a tramway from Straid, the iron ore and the limestone from the mines on Brockloch. The actual furnace had two blowing engines capable of blowing seven furnaces, this was in the hopes of future expansion. The company also built an office, foundry, workshops and dwelling houses for their workers and managers many of them from Consett in Durham. This area was known as the Furnace Rows. This area has been opencasted and now there are virtually no remains of the iron ore foundry or spoil heaps to be seen anywhere, the reports had been ill founded and by 1857 the company( despite building a railroad from the iron ore mines at Beoch where they obtained a better quality ironstone) was offered for sale with a loss of over £100,000.

Limestone

Limestone has been worked for almost as long as coal, it was used as a fertiliser after being burned in the lime kilns. Using burning, broke up and softened the limestone thus enabling it to be scattered on the boglands and lower hill slopes and along with drainage, helped to turn them into arable and pasture land. Burned limestone was also an essential ingredient in mortar and would predate an agricultural use of limestone by many hundreds of years. The mortar made from Mansfield and Benston Limestone had the unique property of being able to bind under water making it invaluable in bridge building. The caverns of Benston Limeworks are vast and are among the oldest and largest in the country and are well worth a visit but only under the guidance of a properly trained guide. Limestone was

also worked at Craigdullyeart, Lanehead, Polquhirter Burn, Westpark, Mansfield and High Polquheys.

Clay

Clay was mined extensively at Wellhill and Benston and between Whitehill Farm and Dalricket Mill Farm and was used to supply the many brick and tileworks in the area including Cumnock Potteries. There are brickworks and tileworks ( NOTE Some works made both tiles and bricks) at Wellhill early 1800s, Lanemark 1860s, Straid1830s, Bank 1930s to 1960s and Afton Bricks 1890s onward. The last local brickworks was Afton Brick and Tile Works at Fordmouth which was also used as a munitions store during the Second World War.

There was also a clay mine just below the Antimony Mines, the clay was extracted and taken to the machinery on the edge of Polshill Burn. This machinery was operated by a water wheel which drove a long horizontal shaft which in turn, through a series of teeth and pinion gear wheels, drove a large paddle type mixer. The clay was emptied into the paddle tank and the paddles in turning broke up the clay and liquefied it so that it could be pumped( by a pump also geared off the shaft) down to the drying sheds at Meikle Westland. The works were known as the Nithsdale Tile Works.

Lead

Lead was prospected for, in many parts of the parish and a trial mine was driven on the west side of Afton Water about two and a half miles south from New Cumnock, but the only commercial lead workings were on Dalleagles Burn on the old Afton Estates. There are a larger number of mines and shafts and possibly two smelting points. The remains of one of the smelting points can still be seen, with the chimney flue running uphill for 150 feet from the base of the chimney. A large circle of stones which would have formed the base of the chimney are still visible. The long flue was necessary to take away the poisonous fumes which contained (among other chemicals) Arsenic. There also the remains of a number of small reservoirs all interlinked by a series of water collecting channels. The water would have been used in the separating process and possibly to operate a Stamper and Bellows for the Smelter House. The Dalleagles mines were started in 1790 and employed a fairly large number of workers including many Englishmen, possibly experienced lead miners brought up especially to train the local workforce. It is assumed that the lead was melted from the ore and made into moulds suitable for carrying on pack ponies. There are still good ore specimens to be picked up in the river bed and at various spoil heaps in the vicinity of the workings. It is hoped that in the near future that a plan can be drawn up showing the extent and the layout of these works and the methods used to extract and smelt the lead.

Graphite

Graphite was found at Craigman in a small mine there and was described by John Smith, a historian and geologist of the 1800s as a six foot eight inches coal seam baked by an intrusive basic sill. He also stated that microscopic diamonds had been found in the mine on Christmas Day 1894. The Graphite mine had first been opened around 1750 and worked intermittently for over 100 years.

The last men to work there were William Sanderson, father of Matt Sanderson, Afton Road and Jack Harris both of Coalburn village. They worked for themselves ‘part time’ during the first World War. When iron making was started in Ayrshire, an attempt was made to manufacture graphite crucibles for use in iron and steel making but the quality of the graphite did not allow this. The mine had a brief reprieve during the first World War when for a time it was re-opened to supply graphite for battleship engines. For this purpose, the graphite was mixed with grease to form a heavy lubricant for steam pistons.

Copper

Little is known of this mine, other than its location on the banks of Dalleagles Burn just above the farm under a yellow sandstone outcrop. It is assumed that the copper was worked by monks from the monastery which was somewhere in the Dalleagles area. The position of the mine is shown on a map circa 1740 in the possession of British Coal. Mr Goudie, one time of Dalleagles Village and Dalricket Mill Farm, told me that as a boy living in Dalleagles Village he and other boys would take candles and go a fair way into this mine which at the time was still open. It is now rubbled over.

Antimony

The antimony mine on the slopes of the Knipes, south of New Cumnock was worked from approximately 1830-1864. The mineral was used in a variety of chemicals and old fashioned medicines and more importantly in the manufacture of pewter, being 80% tin and 20% antimony. Good specimens can be found in the spoil heaps in the vicinity. The ore was taken by horse sledge to Kirkconnel and from there to be processed. In the same area is a spot marked on the Ordnance Survey as Fountainhead. This was where the piped water for the village originally started on its way to the small dam on the side of the Garepool Burn near to Patterson’s Well and piped from there to the village.

Freestone

Freestone or building stone occurs all over the valley and is mainly whinstone and a gold coloured sandstone. Both were used extensively up until the late 1920s. One of the big quarries for freestone was at Quarrel Quarry on the boundary of Gatehead and Mansfield Farms. The name Quarrel is an old Scots word for a quarry. British

freestones are generally sandstone or limestone. (Introduction to Geology by E.B. Bailey and J. Weir, 1939)

Antiquities

There are many signs in the New Cumnock area relating to the ancient peoples who inhabited the valley and surrounding hills in prehistoric times. The oldest signs of course are the sites of burial mounds, possibly of tribal chiefs and priests of ancient and forgotten religions. If there are any battle sites they are yet to be found. These people were buried with great ceremony in cairns of various styles and designs. Burial mounds have been found at Polquheys, Meikle Creoch and Polquhirter all containing human bones, mostly calcined, sometimes just buried loose in the ground under the cairn and sometimes in small urns of fired clay. When workmen were removing gravel from a sandpit between the Lowes and Lochside they found two Pigs, as the urns were called, one very large containing a stone and the smaller one filled with human bones.

There is also a mound on Ashmark Farm called Buchanny Cairn but there are no records that I can find relating to its ever being opened. In 1834 a farm servant dug up a small earthenware jar which contained a number of coins. The value of the coins was very small and were of the reign of Edward 1st of England and Alexander of Scotland. The farmer, a Mr George Rankin of Whitehill, where the coins were found, came into possession of some of the coins but the farm servant kept the remainder. A much more important find was made in Glen Afton when the shepherd of Over Blackcraig was walking along a steep and rocky piece of ground near the edge of the River Afton. He heard a tinkling noise by his feet and looking down he saw a golden gleam among the grass. He bent down and found a hoard of gold and silver coins:-

Gold, Scottish: St Andrew’s: various 18, lions 21, half lions 2Silver, Scottish: Robert II Edinburgh groats 4Siver, English: Edward II London half groats 10

Henry V London groats 11, half groats 5Henry V Calais groats 22, half groats 18Henry VI Calais groats 44, half groats 10Henry VI London groats 6Henry VI bad (i.e. counterfeit) groat 1Henry VI London heavy groat 1

The majority of the coins went to the British Museum and the remainder to the Antiquarian Museum in Edinburgh. The shepherd was allowed to keep one gold and one silver coin as a momento and was also given a reward of £85. This sum of money in 1882 was a considerable amount and was of great help to the shepherd and his family in the hard and lonely life they lived in the wilds of Glen Afton.

There are no clues as to how the money came to be there or who had hidden it. It may have been the treasure of Castle William, a castle reputed to be in the area of the rock known by the same name less than a mile from where the coins were found. There are no clues as to how the money came to be there or who had hidden it.

It may have been the treasure of Castle William, a castle reputed to have stood in the area of the rock known by the same name, less than a mile from where the coins were found. An ancient roadway or drove road to Galloway and Kirkcudbright went up through the valley and the money could have been buried by a traveller meant to come back and collect it but died or was killed, as these were troubled and dangerous times. The answer to that, will of course, never be knownIn about the year 1850, two dugout canoes were found in the marsh below New Cumnock Castle site. These canoes would have been used possibly by the inhabitants of the castle to travel to and from the mainland as we must remember that the castle was formerly on an island.

Other finds will have been made throughout the district but not thought worthwhile by the finder to tell anyone about or to go unrecognised for what they really were.

The Church

The original church of New Cumnock came into being in 1659, after the commissioners for the plantation of churches divided Cumnock into two parishes in 1650. One section being named Old Cumnock and the other upland section being New Cumnock having nearly three fourths of the acreage of the original parish but it was very thinly populated. The site chosen for the church was beside New Cumnock Castle. In 1659 the small tastefully designed church was opened, built with an eye for beauty and a knowledge of art, sadly lacking in many other churches of the same period.

It was cruciform in shape and initially had three entrances this apparently was in keeping with church design. Two of the doors were later blocked up leaving the main entrance east facing towards the main street of the village. This door is remarkably low in construction and is surprisingly stark and plain carrying no decorative stonework at all. The only relief in the almost crude frame is the date 1659 carved in the lintel. However the stark simplicity of the main doorway is more than compensated for in the delicate pillars and open carving of the windows in an early English style. Viewing the decaying interior as it stands today it is still not too difficult to picture the former beauty of this little church. From traces that remain the walls were lime and mortar faced and interior decoration would almost certainly be confined to carving on the bases of the groin beams which helped to support the main roof timbers, the seats for these beams can still be seen around the walls.

Initially the roof would probably be thatched and then slated at a later date. In a small belfry above the main door hung the bell and the groove worn by the action of the chain can still be seen as are the remains of one of the metal guide loops, the bell is still in use in the present day parish church.

Nothing is known of the masons who built the church but it can reasonably be assumed that they were local men who worked around the country and had picked up the rudiments of an early English style which they incorporated into their design. This would probably explain the discrepancies in the stonework of the windows. The building stone for the church would be quarried at Polquheys, dragged downhill to

sledges which would be used to transport it across the remnants of the loch to the high ground adjacent to the castle. In a History of New Cumnock published by Helen J. Stevens, she puts the capacity of the church at 380. On the face of it, this would appear to make such a small building rather crowded but as it was the custom to carry a small seat or stool to church, only a few pews would be needed for the gentry. The church was dedicated in 1659 and the following year the first Minister Hugh Crawford took up his duties. In 1662 Mr Crawford, a Presbyterian, had the charge taken away from him by Charles II and in 1667 the Earl of Dumfries decided there should only be one church to serve both Cumnocks. He, the Earl, put the case to the ecclesiastical authorities securing the reduction of the New Cumnock Church and the congregation was ordered to the church at Old Cumnock.

In 1687 when persecution of the Presbyterians had worn itself out, Hugh Crawford returned to New Cumnock and was inducted again in 1688, he died four years later. It was 1697 before another minister was found in the person of James Gilchrist and he moved to Dunscore Church in 1701. The charge lay vacant again until Thomas Hunter took over in 1706 and served the community 51 years retiring in 1757. Mr Hunter died shortly afterwards aged 100 years. 1758 saw the arrival of James Young who was minister of the parish for 38 years. Mr Young was an evangelistic preacher who incurred the wrath of Robert Burns and he figures as Jamie Goose in the ‘Kirk’s Alarm’. William Reid followed in Mr Young’s footsteps and served the parish for 38 years. In that time he fell foul of the inheritors of the church when he cut down several of the fine old trees on surrounding church grounds, the case went as far as the supreme court where the minister was finally acquitted. The last minister of the church was William Craig and by that time the village had grown and the church was proving inadequate for the expanding population. A larger church was needed and in 1833 the present church was built. The doors closed again on the little church but on this occasion it was for the last time and after 174 years it was left to mould into the ruin it is today.

Ghosts and Legends

Like all old villages New Cumnock has its share of ghosts and legends and this article will endeavour to cover the more important ones. We will start with the haunting of a tower which originally stood in the grounds of Knockshinnoch Farm at the Leggate. This tower stood to the left of the steading among the trees and a fair portion of the building was still standing in the early 1800’s, it was believed to be part of a mediaeval religious house. At that time a farm worker by the name of Turley used to meet his sweetheart in a recess of the tower and one evening they heard a faint rustling and the figure of a stately woman glided across the room and disappeared. This put an end to Turley’s romantic meeting place. Shortly after this happening, a young man was passing the tower and he heard the strains of beautiful music coming from within the tower, he listened for a while then went to the farmhouse of Knockshinnoch and told them about the music. They laughed at him but finally were persuaded to go with him and listen. The music grew in volume and they could hear feet tapping to the rhythm of the music, they listened for some time until one of the people made to enter the tower. With a sudden crash the music stopped, it was broad daylight and inside the tower was empty!!!

In the dwelling house of Knockshinnoch itself there was a ghost seen by many people who frequented the farm, this ghost had the figure of a very old man dressed in clothes of an ancient style who haunted the darkest corners of the farmhouse. His face was so sad and wistful that many people who saw him were tempted to speak to him but when they tried to do so he disappeared. It is also said that no one ever felt afraid of this ghost.

At Dalleagles village one of the oldest houses in the parish was used as a public house and was haunted by the ghost of a landlord who had been murdered by some Englishmen who worked in the nearby leadmines on Dalleagles Burn. Somewhere on Blackcraig Hill there is a cave where lived a giant and his wife who terrorised the inhabitants of the valley and the travellers who daily used the Glen on the old road to Galloway. A travelling fiddler had been on this road and had disappeared and it was said that the giant had kidnapped the fiddler who was forced to play for the amusement of the giant and his wife. At the same time the Laird of Dalhanna had a young fat bull and the giant stole the bull and carried it to his cave and killed it for food for himself and his wife. On hearing of this, the Laird saddled his horse and made his way to Blackcraig, where he hid in the undergrowth near the cave mouth. He waited till the giant’s wife went down to the burn for water to start cooking some of the meat. He entered the cave where the giant lay asleep and Dalhanna killed him where he lay. As he left the cave the giant’s wife saw him and she pursued Dalhanna and eventually caught up with him catching hold of his horse’s tail, the Laird drew his sword and severed her hand, a wound from which she eventually died. Both the giant and his wife are buried in Lochbrowan Holm.

On a lighter note we learn of the whisky stills in the vicinity of Corsencone Hill – the isolated windy area being an ideal place to hide a still and the wind carried away the fumes of distillation. The largest still was at Craigdullyeart not far from Craigshiel on the old road to Kirkconnel and Sanquhar. One story concerns a farmer coming off the hill to Merkland and on his cart were two casks of whisky. He noticed a revenue man coming along the road towards him, so he stopped his cart and started to load it

up with reeds for thatching. The revenue man, not suspecting him asked if he had seen anything suspicious that morning. The farmer said that he didn’t like to ‘klype’ on a neighbour but he thought he had seen Craigshiel slipping about on the hill up to no good. The farmer in question was in bed when the officer arrived and pretended to be indignant at the thought that he would do anything illegal. In the meantime Merkland had reached home and the whisky now reposed in a gutter hole in the garden. Sometimes the laugh was on the other side, forty gallons of whisky were hidden in the peat moss to await dispatch to its destination but when the time came for collection the whisky had either sunk into the peat or the bearings were wrong, for the whisky was never found. The quality of the whisky was first class and found a ready market in New Cumnock, Old Cumnock, Muirkirk, Kirkconnel and Sanquhar.

Knockburnie

The stealing of Knockburnies grey mare and its consequences.The stealing of Knockburnie’s horse is a very interesting one as it takes into account the sense of trust between the farmers and the travelling people at this time and the awful consequences of the betrayal of that trust.

In 1811 the farm of Knockburnie was tenanted by Mr John Kerr. He was a man of generous nature and his house was ever open to rich and poor and because of the kindness they received, ‘gangrel bodies’ made it a place of very frequent resort. On at least one occasion the farmer’s open hearted hospitality was no protection against the thieving propensities of his guests. One summer evening a small band of Highland tinkers arrived at the steading and as usual received nothing but kindness at the hands of the master. After supper, in which the strangers joined, everyone retired to bed. Next morning on going to the stable, Knockburnie was amazed to discover that the stall was empty which should have been occupied by his good grey mare. A further look around disclosed the fact that the tinkers had disappeared. In the style of their nomadic brethren in the East, they had silently stolen away but they had stolen away the farmer’s pony also. Without any loss of time Knockburnie set out for the neighbouring farm of Marshallmark and there he told the story of his loss. The two farmers who were also brothers, found that each of them had lost a pony and after talking the matter over, resolved to follow the thieves. One of the ponies had cast the half of a shoe a few days before and with that as a guide they soon found the track. There could be no mistake about the first directionin which the thieves had gone and following the track they reached Old Cumnock. There, they learned that a party had rattled through the town during the night. On went Knockburnie and Marshallmark. Inquiry by the way assured them that the grey mare was still in front. At last Kilmarnock was reached and there they learned that the tinkers had gone in the direction of Fenwick. Marshallmark went no further and turned himself homeward but Knockburnie set out undaunted to follow the robbers through the Mearns. He was not only upheld by righteous indignation but the ‘dourness’ that every Scottish man has inborn in him that would not permit him to give up the pursuit. He had come away unprovided with money but the country folk were nothing loath to supply him with food as he passed their doors and told his tale.

He traced the runaways right through Glasgow and having a hazy notion as to where they had their stopping place he followed them right to the Highlands, to the vicinity

of Glencoe. Before approaching the place he enlisted the services of a number of in county constables. The home of the tinkers was a secluded glen and the policemen hid themselves while Knockburnie went forward alone. He saw his grey mare woefully jaded and tired and when he called her by her pet name the pony raised her head, neighed gladly and came limping towards him. While Knockburnie was stroking her and speaking gently to his ‘wee bit powney’ an old crone came forward and said, “Yer faur afield this morning guidman.” “Atweel that, I’m faur afiel,” replied Knockburnie.“An what may ye be wantin this mornin guidman?” she asked.“Oh naething,” was the reply, “except my powney.”Just at that moment a man, the head of the gang, appeared on the scene. He was dumb struck with amazement but at length he exclaimed with a loud oath, “I didnae expect to see you Knockburnie.”“An I,” said Knockburnie, “didnae expect ye wad hae stole my grey mare.”

The tinker was about to lay violent hands on his unwelcome visitor when the policemen rushed upon the scene and secured their man. He was taken to Edinburgh, tried and died on the scaffold, according to the law of the times for horse stealing, aggravated in this case by the baseness of robbing a man whose hospitality he had just enjoyed. The other pony belonging to Marshallmark had been ‘swapped’ but was recovered with great difficulty. Both horses were brought home and one of them which lived to a great age was known as ‘The Tinker’ ever afterwards.

Years later, a band of tinkers were encamped on a little green in front of the Smithy, in what is now New Bridge Street, Cumnock. They had been drinking and began to quarrel, one woman shouted to another, “Your faither took awa a helter frae Knockburnie.”“Aye,” chimed in another, “an a bit beastie at the end o it.”Evidently the memory of such a black day in their annals was held in deep disgrace by these nomads who have their code of honour like every other society. The conversation was overheard and related by a gentleman living in Cumnock.

The Covenanters

Ayrshire was in the heart of the Covenanting country and the New Cumnock area had more than its share of Martyrs to the Covenant. On the southside of the Nith across from Corsencone Hill stands a monument to Corson and Hare. The two men were making their way homeward to Kirkconnel when they were ruthlessly shot by troopers who had heard them singing Psalms as they walked peacefully homewards. The singing of Psalms was enough for the troopers to murder both men.

To the west of the village on Crossgellioch Hill above Dalgig Farm there is another monument to three young men who again were shot by troopers solely on the evidence of their being in possession of Bibles. The ruthlessness and brutality of the King’s troopers was sometimes tempered by compassion as in the case of Campbell the Laird of Dalhanna who was a staunch supporter of the Covenanters. It came about that Campbell saw the troopers making for his farm and he knew that the reason for their visit would not be a peaceful one, so he hid in a dense thicket of

broom near to the farm. The soldiers searched the farm and its surroundings but missed Campbell hiding in the broom. As they were about to move away, one of the troopers on horseback saw Campbell hiding in the broom and shook his head at him to keep out of sight and they rode away.

Another instance of a trooper’s help arose at the lonely farmhouse of Monthraw, a small steading on the side of Cannock Hill (now on the side of the reservoir). The farmer’s wife was alone in the house with her children as her husband had gone to a distant market and would be away for several days. She had just put the children to bed and was backing up the peat fire for the morning, when there came a knock at the door. In such a lonely spot she was reluctant to open the door and she asked who was there. A man’s voice answered that he was a King’s messenger on his way to Sanquhar with dispatches. He had lost his way in the dark and begged for shelter as he was exhausted. The woman let him in and gave him supper and showed him through to the Spence, a sort of box room with a small window. As the soldier lay down to sleep he heard a noise at the window and the shutter was wrenched off. The soldier picked up his gun and fired a shot through the window, he heard a groan and he went outside and found the body of a man. This man turned out to be the shepherd from Craigdarroch to whom only a few days before, Monthraw had sold a cow. The shepherd knew the money would be hidden in the Spence and had taken advantage of the farmer being away to try and steal the money back. The plan misfired owing to providence in the shape of a lost trooper who had been given shelter.

There no doubt would be other stories of kindness by troopers and excessive cruelty and clues may still be found to bring forth these stories. An instance of this occurred on the farm of Dalricket Mill when the farmer, Mr Goudie, was clearing stones from a field and he came across a piece of stone with lettering or numbers on it. Could this have been part of a larger stone, maybe a headstone on a forgotten Covenanters grave? Possibly Marion Cameron and her two female friends who were shot by troopers for their adherence to the Covenant and buried by friends where they lay in the peat moss. Generations later, a farmer was bringing in his cattle and the feet of one of the cattle turned up a pin attached to a piece of cloth. The farmer dug into the moss and found the bodies of the three women still in a remarkable state of preservation owing to the antiseptic properties of the peat moss. Sadly it is not recorded exactly where this was or if the bodies were moved or indeed a stone had been put up to commemorate there savage and untimely deaths.

Agriculture

The beginning of agriculture in the parish will go back many hundreds of years to the early hunting peoples who would build the first settlements on what would be the high ground on the shores of the loch which at that time covered the whole of the valley. The sites of many of the small settlements can be seen when viewed from the top of Benty Cowan, Dalhanna, Blackcraig, Corsencone and Carsgailoch and can be identified by the light green colour of the close cropped grass and sometimes the remains of turf dykes which can usually be seen as shadows when looked at against the sun. We must also bear in mind that the farms of these days would be very small in relation to the large farms of today. Cereal crops were in their infancy and would be hand cropped with a flint or bronze hook, the crop itself would be ground in small querns i.e. small hand grinders. This would consist of a hollowed out stone about eighteen inches high and twelve across with a hollow about eight inches deep. The grain would be poured into the hollow and then ground down into a coarse meal with a pestle shaped stone, much as a modern day cook will use a mortar and pestle to grind down herbs to use as flavouring.

Life would have been very hard for these early settlers and their animals, hay for the winter feed would be sparse and with little food value, being only the natural wild grasses and cereals. As always there were leaders in agriculture as in everything else and these people would notice that certain grasses were favoured by the animals and some cereals due to natural hybridizing and crosses produced by larger seed heads and theses would be kept for the following years sowing. Gradually better strains of cereals and grasses would be developed and combined with better drainage, the discovery that burnt limestone sweetened the soil. Farming developed into an industry where instead of a struggle for survival, they now had surpluses to sell and trade.

The boom in agriculture really came to Ayrshire with the development of a strain of dairy cow which was to become world famous THE AYRSHIRE COW. This combined with the spread of the railways, enabled the dairy produce to be rushed to the evergrowing towns and cities. These innovations of course, were accompanied by the development of newer and better ploughs, reapers and harvesters which allowed the larger areas of land to come into production.

The next article is a typical example of the efforts and attempts to improve some of the land in a hill farm and was published in The Journal of the Highland and Agricultural Society for March 1840. The farmer, Mr Ivy Campbell of Dalgig Farm, won the second gold medal for his article. Basically he improved the land over a period of time by draining, liming, a system of crop rotation, sheep grazing and the use of new types of grass seed thereby improving the coarse hill ground enabling more stock to be fed.

The following figures will give an idea of the progress of agriculture through the years from the Statistical Account of 1791 by Rev. James Young.“In the parish there are 1200 people, including 80 farmers with a very large number of farm servants, both male and female.”

There were also 400 horses, 1000 milk cows and their followers and a very large number of sheep. The cereals are barley and oats with a large acreage of potatoes which were mostly used in the area.

Large quantities of barley, cheese were carted to the towns. The harvest in 1790 was only just finished on the 9th November. In Aytouns Survey of Ayrshire in 1810 we find that little has changed. On the farms we find 6 saddle horses, 103 draught horses, 1200 cows and 20,000 sheep. The cereal crops were wheat, rye, barley oats, peas and beans and the root crops were turnip, rape, cabbage, rutabaga, turnip-cabbages, carrots and of coarse potatoes.

A new innovation on most of the farms by this time was a new type of iron plough constructed by Mr John Wilkie of Cambuslang. At this date in 1810 several hundred of Mr Wilkies ploughs were in use throughout Ayrshire.

Finally, from the Statistical Accounts of 1845 by the Reverend Matthew Kirkland of New Cumnock, he remarks that great improvements had been made in the meadowland of Mansfield by putting in an extensive drainage system and resowing out with Timothy, Yorkshire Fog and a little rye grass.

The following table still from the Statistical Account shows the monetary value of the crops, produce etc for that year:

£ s dPotatoes, Barley, Wheat 11,660—0—0 Hay(natural and cultivated) 2,701—0—0 Wood(Thinnings and felled trees) 45—0—0 Coal, Lime, Freestone, Lead 2,940—0—0 Wool and skins(average value) 2,500—0—0 Butter, Cheese, Eggs 7,536—0—0

-------------------Total: £27,382—0—0

The following notes have been taken from the article History and Tradition by Thomas Kirkland, they were published in the 1898 Schools Fellows Annual Magazine. This copy was kindly loaned to the History Club by Mr W. Trotter and I have copied more or less as was originally printed and added explanatory notes where necessary.

The Mill

The site of this historic place was on the left at the foot of the brae leading up to Gisbons Park (Shilling Hill). It is on this hill that Mr Hyslop of Bank still pay ‘mutter’ charges. (Mutter or multure meaning the fee for grinding the grain.) It was the howf of the fast youths of the parish who held their midnight carousals there. It was known to be the home of the Gilmour family who had to flee the country for smuggling here. They had a still under the floor and the smoke and the fumes went

up the kitchen vent, it took a while for the customs agent to find the still thus giving Gilmour time to escape.

1650

Before this little is known, everything seems to have been very primitive. All internments were made in Old Cumnock, our first church (the ruin in the graveyard) was built in 1659. There is no mention of a minister until 19th September 1706 when the Reverend Thomas Hunter was ordained. He got no stipend for the first four years and during the rest of his fifty years ministry he was paid 750 Merks or £40. 12/- in our money.

From the church the village got a fair start, there were two services and the country folk who formed a large part of the congregation, needed refreshment and to meet this a large crop of publicans sprang up who generously provided free cheese and bread to their patrons. With the publicans there grew up tradesmen and shopkeepers to meet the needs of a rapidly developing agricultural industry no doubt largely caused by British foreign commerce which started about this time. We had, however, little to boast of for in 1801 our population was only 1112 but shortly after this our purely agricultural parish got an impetus from the coal works at Grievehill, Coalburn and Straid. Early in the century these were augmented by no less than five limeworks all going at one time. This lime was not used for building purposes but to meet the demand of a great agricultural boom, this being supplemented by a demand for drainers. Our farms were soon studded with cottages and early in the century more corn grew on Bank and Polquheys than is now grown in all the parish. No doubt the present mill built in 1735 was one of the first houses of consequence. The Old Mill Farm was one of the first public houses and it is not known if the Castle Inn got the road changed to Kirk Port, probably about 1800. (Kirk Port means quite literally ‘way to the church’)

Up to this time there were few if any houses at Pathhead. Old Dalhanna told my informant William Walker that he remembered the first being built and that it was down at Nith-ford there being no bridge there then. So the Old Nith bridge must have been built when the century(19th) was young and many of us remember it being replaced by the present one in 1862. The old thatched cottages of the last century with their ‘crookit Birk Burghers frae Afton Glen’ have all passed away and our rise as seen in our Kirks, the present Established Kirk being followed by the building of the Free Kirk in 1843 and R P in Bridgend (now free) in 1867 followed by The Bank Iron Church in 1873.

No less noticeable are our schools. The parochial teacher Mr Muncie had his school at one end and lived in the other end of the building presently tenanted by Mr Howat, precentor. The next school was held in Mr Aird’s property (the building known as the Old School?) built in 1810, the public library with 600 volumes in it being placed there in 1828. A school was built by the Free Church in 1845. These two schools were supplanted by the present schools at Village and Bank in 1875. The Afton Road School was formed in about 1824.

The Castle from the first has been the commercial centre and the village proper. The Castle Race has from its beginning been held on the Thursday before Whit

Sunday and on the same day a fair for the sale of cattle was held at Pathhead and latterly at the Castle Green, the last fair was held in 1885.

In 1837 we had 8 professional persons, 9 innkeepers, 34 tradesmen and shopkeepers, 5 carriers and William Pagan, postmaster who sent the letters with the coach which met (going both ways) at the Crown Hotel at midday.

We follow on now with the dates of the founding of Church/Banks etc.

Masonic: St John’s Lodge no. 334 was formed on 30th November 1833.James Muncie, R.W.M., Henry Cowans, S.W., W. Robertson, J.W., S. Ferguson, Treasurer, J. McGregor, Secretary.

Foresters: Founded 17th July 1875, present membership is 75.

Gardeners: Instituted 10th November 1883, present membership 180

Rechabites: Founded 12th October 1889, membership 246, juveniles 90.

Band of Hope: (under the auspices of Afton and New Cumnock Free Churches Instituted October 1889, membership 250.

Bank Free Church, Band of Hope: October 1897, membership 140.

Band of Hope: Instituted at Coalburn in 1893, present membership 40.

Flourishing Sunday Schools at Coalburn, Burnfoot, Bank Baptist Church, Bank Free Church, Connelpark, Gospel Hall in Pathhead and three other churches in the village.

First postal delivery of letters by Alex Dalziel in 1852, the present number employed is 8.

First bank. City of Glasgow branch, Agent William Hunter 1854.

Gas introduced by A.H. Kirkland in 1850.

A hearse got up by voluntary subscription in 1858, Chief Manager was the late H. Kirkland.

Dalleagles School built by Miss Guthrie 1854.

The Cattle Show, instituted in 1854, Dr Rankin, President; John Hyslop Esquire, Vice-President; J. Picken, Treasurer and secretary.

Ploughing Match in 1860, William Lennox, President; Gilbert Wilson, Banker, Treasurer and secretary.

The Bowling Club in 1860, John Hyslop Esquire, President; James Craig Esquire, Vice-President; John Patterson, Secretary; Robert Brown, Treasurer.

New Cumnock and Bank Schools built in 1874.

Afton Bridge built in 1879.

The Roman Catholic School built in 1883.

The Town Hall built in 1889 at a cost of £982.14s.10d.

We now have a peep into the diary of a Dr Muir who lodged with John Hair of Muirfoot Farm (the same John Hair who had a lease of the Castle Green for 999 years, under the conditions of 10/- or 50p per annum).

Dr Muir states:

1784 the potatoes were frosted black

1785 April 1st Ploughs were stopped by frost

1786 Two bridges were built, one over the Connel Burn, the other over the Garrive Burn. Also in this year there was a singing school and two dancing schools.Jas. Kennedy dancing master. Mr Richmond has a school in the Hall of Auchincross.

1786 March 10th. Afton mine broke out carrying all before it, a heavy stone barrow,A piece of iron 18ft. long and completely destroyed air pumps. However it did No harm?

1787 Aug. 23rd. There was a Quakers meeting.

1788 At the end of this year a drum was appointed to go through the village every Morning at 5am and every evening at 9pm.

1788 Saw a man with a waxen coat at Capt. McAdams. I suppose the firs oilskinSeen here.

1788 Nov. 8th. Mr Maxwell proprietor of Grievehill a little before this began to work coal.

1789 Aug.31st. An English company opened a lead mine. They are said to be Quakers in principle.

1789 Dec. 10th. James McCron began to teach in his School House. He got six Scholars the first day.

1791 May 19th. The original Castle Race. A capital race between a bay nag from Hamilton and a wee light brown mare from Keirmill above Dumfries was run on the Cumnock road in heats of about one mile. To the surprise of the onlookers the wee mare won. 1st prize – 25/- (£1.25), 2nd prize – 13/- (65p).The race was accompanied by the Bailies Band made up of 1 halbert bearer

(a halbert was a long shafted axe like weapon dating from the 15th and 16th centuries. At this period it denoted a leader), 2 drummers, 2 fifers and 1 fiddler who met in Mr Farquhar’s shop in the Castle and marched up the Mill Road to the Coupla and back to where the race took place.

1793 May 24th. Four ran at this race but the race lay between Mr Brown’s brown mare and Mr Farquhar’s grey nag.

There now follows a record of births, marriages and deaths a few are given here:-

Births

1793 April 18th. Howatson, born to Chas. Howatson Esq. Craigdarroch

1793 June 4th. George, to Archibald Campbell.

1793 July 26th. Samuel, to John Sharp, Coupla Liggat. John, to John Howatson and Mary Gemmel.

Marriages

1785 Jan.11th. George Rankin of Whitehill to Jenny Logan of Knockshinnoch.

1785 Sept.12th. Hugh Mitchell in Dalleagles to Grizzel Logan of Knockshinnoch.

1787 July 9th. Duncan Grant in Sanquhar to Katrine Howat of this parish.

1794 Andrew Wyllie, to Agnes Baird, both living in the Castle.

1794 Dec. 12th. Thos. Hunter, Laird of Polquirter to Jean daughter of Wm. Kay Farmer at Girlaph.

Deaths

1786 March 23rd. Anne Farquhar, Tailor, Wyllies mother in Castle.

1788 June 9th. At New Mill, John Goudie, an aged man.

1789 June Archibald Ewart, Schoolmaster.

1790 May 24th. Wm. Marshall, late tailor. He died very rich, worth thousands. He left £100 to the poor here.

1790 Dec. 22nd James Logan Esq., of Knockshinnoch.

1801 David Arthur. Of Benston.

There is an old document in the possession of Mr George Patrick of Pathhead. A Disposition and assignation by the Rev. George Hunter empowering his only son

Joseph Hunter in Polquirter, to act against the heritors for four years unpaid stipend and what extra per annum the court may apportion. He was ordained on the 19th September 1706 and the first four years got no stipend. The specified stipend750 merks Scots, being quite inadequate remuneration, the parish being 12 miles by 7 miles and the number of examinable persons being above 1500. This is drawn up by James Orr, Sanquhar and exceeds two pages of foolscap, stamp 9d and iswitnessed in the manse of New Cumnock on 20th March 1756 by George Campbellson of the deceased James Campbell, surgeon of Cumnock and John Howat in LittleMains, New Cumnock. The above mentioned Rev. Thos. Hunter was an ancestor of Dr Hunter.