Lesmahagow

As it is important to ascertain the age of cairns, two questions here suggest themselves, which are more easily put than answered :-viz., whether cairns of unknown antiquity were used as places of sepulture at comparatively recent periods ? also, whether the superstition prevalent among the ancient Romans of depositing a coin with the remains of the dead as a passport to a better world, did not linger in some parts of Scotland until dispelled by the light of the Reformation ?  It is doubtful whether there were public burying-grounds before ecclesiastical districts were marked out as parishes.  The churchyard implies a church.

On Boreland hill several cairns were demolished about forty years ago.   In the centre of one of them was found a small stone cist or rude stone coffiin, and two circular ornaments of jet or cannel coal, each about three inches in diameter, and highly polished, concave on one side and convex on the other, the concave sides having numerous concentric circles described on them.   One of them, however, was broken and a good deal chipped on the edge.  They were claimed by the two labourers who found them, named Ferguson, from the parish of Minnyhive, and are now lost sight of ; but from description they may have somewhat resembled those referred to by Wilson ("Archaeology", p. 292, 293), and are believed to have been interesting evidences of the state of the decorative arts in remote ages.  They may have served as charms for the prevention or cure of evil, as well as for female ornament.  On the Dillar hill, within a cairn, was found a stone hammer head, believed to be now in the Newcastle Museum.  On the boundary between Coultershogle and Leelaw, a stone kist or coffin was discovered in the centre of a cairn, its dimentions being about 2 feet by 18 inches.  The corpse had probably been buried with the knees drawn up towards the breast, as this was customary when the remains were not burnt.  The mould was richer inside the kist than the adjoining soil, but no bones were seen.  In a plantation, on the Corehouse estate,  may still be seen a rude stone cist sunk in the ground.   It is about the same size as the one just noticed, but has neither bottom nor lid.   At the junction of the lands of Corehouse, Kirkfield, Leelaw, and Coultershogle, a large cairn existed, which has been partially removed, without, however, disclosing anything of interest.  It may possibly have been erected to mark the boundary of separate properties.  The most ancient Celtic practice was to refer the decision of any controverersy about boundaries to the oldest men or chiefs of the clans.  The jury of Birlaw or Boorlaw men was, comparatively speaking, a modern instituion, confined to burghs of barony, the proprietors of which enjoyed certain municipal privileges, and the inhabitants, to a certain extent, the benefits of self-government.   "Cairns" and "cairns at the water sheds" are expressions frequently met with in charters, to denote the boundaries of estates.

The late Lord Corehouse had an excavation scientifically made of a karn or cairn on his farm of Longside.  It is to be regretted that information cannot now be obtained of so accurate a nature as the subject merits ; but there were stones so arranged in the centre as to have been evidently intended for sepulchral purposes.  Two rude urns of baked clay, one very large, the other smaller, were found inside a stone coffin.  The small urn contained bones partially calcined and broken or pounded, some of them perfectly fresh.  It has been erroneoulsy stated in Swan's "Views of the Clyde," that there were eighteen small urns around the large chest, in the form of a circle, which gave rise to the idea that the remains of the chief had been surroinded y those of his family or warriors.   One of the urns hs been lost sight of ; the smaller one, about 6 inches in diameter at the top, and 4 in height, is now in the possession of Mis Edmondstoun Cranstoun, as well as still smaller cinerary urn, recently restored by kiln-burning it with some fresh clay.

Cairns have been removed at Brackenrig, Birkenhead, and other places in that district of the parish.  In most of them were found stone cists, containing bones apparently crushed, or ashes, but they were seldoom preserved, and the urns being of clay imperfectly baked, soon crumbled to pieces, or were thrown aside as worthless.   At Yondertown, beneath a cairn, a perfect cinerary urn was found, which is now in the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow.  Near the dwelling-house of Leelaw, a small cairn was a removed from a field which was subsequently sown with barley.  On the site of the cairn there sprang up so strong a crop of oats with dark stems and ears, that the barley was completely choked by it.  When the latter crop was reaped, the oats were left standing, but were afterwards cut down and given to the horses.  An ancient variety of oats, the seed of which had lain dormant, was thus lost ; but as a small portion of the cairn still exists within a plantation , it might possibly be recovered.  The explanation of this curious fact probably is, that a crop of oats had just riipened at the period when the cairn was erected, or some seed may have been deposited with the remains of the deceased, from a superstitious feeling.   The vitality of grain is well known to those who have seen wheat excavated from the mummy pits of Egypt.  The Britons, according to Diodorus, laid up corn in the ear, and preserved it in subterraneous caves or pits, from which the air was carefully excluded.  Varro informs us that it thus remained fresh and good for fifty years.   The position of the cairn at Leelaw does not favour the idea of its having been a storehouse, as there was no part of it underground.  At Auchlochan so many sepulchral urns were found between forty and fifty years ago, when formng a new approach to the mansion house, that presumptive evidence seemed to be afforded of a skirmish having taken place in the neighbourhood at an early period.  Some of the inhabitants remember a carin having stood where the urns were met with.  They were all in fragments except one, which has been lost.  The present proprietor of Auchlochan  lately caused and excavation to be made as, near as possible to the spot, when some additional portions of cinerary pottery were discovered, but no entire urns.  The fragments were of light-red earth, moulded by the hand, imperfectly kiln dried, and ornamented with lines of punctures,  and apparently of Celtic manufacture.  There was also found a stud or button of low conic shape, about seven-eighths of an inch in diameter, composed of gas or "cannel" coal highly polished, and similar to what Wilson "Archaeology," p.300) describes as having been found at Dubbs, parish of Stevenson, Ayrshire, in 1832.  Part of what appeared to be a spear or sword was also brought to light ; but on submitting it to the scrutiny of the British Archaeological Association, it was pronounced to be part of the field of a Roman mirror, composed of debased silver, and possibly of the same type with the specula described in the "Brit. Arch. Journal" (vol. xvii., p282).  In these early times glass mirrors were unknown, and the metal mirrors had usually a piece of pumice stone attached to them, by which they were kept polished and bright.  The history of this singular relic must for ever remain a mystery.  Perhaps some Celtic lady received it from her lord or lover, as a souvenir of some "raid" upon the invaders of their country, and her dying request was that it should rest with her ashes ; but tradition has handed down no knowledge of the occupier of the dark mansion in which it was deposited.

Heaps of earth or stones were always raised over the grave of the Celts.   It used to be a common saying intended to gratify a friend, that the speaker would not fail to add "a stone to his cairn".   There was, however, another motive for rearing a monument in the form of a heap of stones, viz., to mark the burial place of a criminal; a practice which has been sometimes described as of Druidical origan, although not uncommon in comparatively modern times. The real motive in this case appears to have been to appease the spirit, which, according to Celtic mythology, was believed to hover over the unhallowed grave.  In forming an opinion as to the intention of parties in constructing a sepulchral tumulus, antiquarians must be guided by circumstances.   The presumption is, that a kistvoen or stone receptacle for the body of one who was honoured and beloved would be carefully, although rudely, contructed, and this idea is confirmed when battle axes or articles or ornament are enclosed; whereas a criminal's remains would be contemptuously thrown down and trampled with the dust, and finally crushed with a heap of stones piled over them.   In that ancient poem, "The Aged Bard's Wish," he requests that his harp, a shell of liquor, and his ancestor's shield, should be buried with him; and instances are on record, where a complete suit of armour, and the bones of what had no doubt been a favourite horse or dog, have been discovered in a sepulchral mound.

Tumuli or mounds of earth were often family burial places, and may have been used at distant periods by distinct households.   They were raised by Romans, Gauls, Germans, and other European nations, at least 2000 years ago.  In the only tumulus which exist in the parish of Lesmahgow, there is a foundation of stones; and excavation has yet to determine whether any light can be thrown upon its origin.  It is situated on the farm of Blackhill, where may also be seen the only megalithic monolith or great "standing stone" now in the parish.  Not many years ago a similar monument existed on the contiguous farm of Hallhill, which tradition pointed out as the memorial of a battle.

With the exception of some Roman pottery discovered in a moss on the estate of Stockbriggs, between four and five feet deep, and occasional fragments found in drains, Lesmahgow has produced no specimens of Roman Fictile ware, nor has the author been able to trace any well-established examples of stone dishes for domestic purposes.   There have been frequently found, however, querns or hand millstones of great beauty and solidity.  Some of these, when carefully examined, are found to be grooved or fluted in the upper portion of the upper stone.   The earlist method of reducing grain into flour for the manufacture of breaad was by pounding.  The Britons, even in the time of Vespasian, according ot Pliny, sometimes used the pounding stone.  The quern or stone for grinding may have been partially introduced into Britain by the Gauls and Romans, but it was not their invention.   The quern is still used in the Scilly Islands, also in some parts of the Western Isles, and the most remote districts of the Scottish mainland.  It requires four hours for two women to grind a bushel of grain by this process.  The method of preparing grain for the quern was called "graddening", with Jamieson ("Scottish Dictionary") derives form the Norse word gratti, i.e. grit-stone, of which querns were frequently made.   The Scotch word groat or grot is allied to it.  The process of "graddening" was conducted thus :- A women seated near a fire took up a handful of corn, which she held in her left hand, setting fire to the ears, and being provided with a stick in her right hand, she dexterously beat off the grain at the instant when the the husk was quite burnt, and before the grain was injured.  In remote parts of Scotland where the custom of hand-grinding still exists, the grain is not set fire to, but roasted like coffee beans, by being put into a pot, and constantly stirred with a wooden spatula or "spurtle".  It is interesting to inquire for what purpose the grooves or hollow indentations on some of the  Lanarkshire querns were carved.   Some of these are vertical, others horizontal.  In early periods of our history, when barter was the common mode of transacting business, these hand   millstones were doubtless exhibited at every great mart or "fair", and the work of manufacturing them was probably a seperate one, and hereditary, like other Celtic trades and occupations.  Each maker would probably affix his distinctive trade mark, which may account for some of these variously shaped grooves.  They may have been intended in some instances to assist the manipulation of the stones while turning.   Querns were gradually superseded by grist mills, driven by water-power, which, from the period of   Norman conquest down to about four or five centuries ago, were erected on each great barony.  The vassels ere "thirled" or astricted to a particular mill, "thril-age" being the name of the servitude by which they were bound to have their corn ground on certain terms.  The district or lands so bound was termed "sucken".