Lesmahagow

The Roman coins referred to in the "Statistical Account" of Lesmahagow have been lost sight of, and no record exists as to the places where they were found.

The Lesmahagow relics of Covenanting times are of great interest.  At Neuk is preserved a Spanish trombuco or shoulder gun, with brass barrel and bell-shaped mouth; a plug dirk, being the origin of the bayonet; a claymore (claid-neamh-more), and other swords; a drum used a Drumclog in 1679; and a flag under which the men of Lesmahgow rallied at that engagement.  The flag is of dark blue silk, with a St. Andrew's cross, in white, sewed to the upper corner next the staff.  In the centre is inscribed, in red capital letters, "FOR LESMAHAGOW".  It is believed to be of older date than Drumclog, being probably made 1640 to 1650, when the levies of militia forces, or musters, as they were then called, were raised by the Convention of Estates of teh Kingdom of Scotland ; the Presbyterian clergy of that period acting in a great measure as recruiting sergeants, their contingent being arranged in districts or parishes under a distinguishing flag.   When the Stewart attempted to force the Scotch into a relish for Episcopacy, this flag was preserved as a rallying point among those Lesmahagow men who were determined to resist their arbitary measures, and in testimony of their adherence to the principles of Reformation.

At Auchlochan is preserved in a fine Andrea Ferrara sword, of the rose pattern, worn by one of the ancestors of the present proprietor, and who is elsewhere described as a valiant Covenanter.  At Birkwood are no fewer than seven Andrea Ferraras, several of which are known, from authentic evidence, to have been unsheathed during the cruel persecution.  One of them belonged to David Steel, whose name stands out so heroically among the Lesmahagow martyrs.  It was long traditionally known to have been hid in a moss near Skellyhill, and at last was discovered by accident, buried to the hilt.  Another was worn at Bothwell Bridge by John McWharrie, a younger brother of the Laird of Scorryholm.  He was apprehended long after the battle, and hanged, together with a James Smith, in a field near Kirkkintilloch, where a tombstone is erected over their graves.  The late Mr Gavin Dalzell, draper in Abbeygreen, had in his possession a sword which belonged to an Ayrshire Covenanter ; also some other objects of local antiquarian interest.

There are in this parish a few relics of the "45".  As a souvenir of the Rebellion,  Mr James Meikle, innkeeper, possesses a dirk, said to have been left at Milltown "by ane of the Highlanders".  The inscription upon the blade is "IN TE DOMINE."   In Mr McKirdy's collection are a sword and pistol which were secured by and ancestor of Mr Scott, farmer at Auchlochan, in an encounter on the Broken Cross muir with three Highlanders, who attempted to deprive him of his "brogues".   Tradition says that the Celts had been drinking at Douglas Mill Inn, after the retreat from Derby, when a party of farmers in the neighbourhood rode up ot the door, declaring that their enemies were in persuit of them, and had reached Abington.  When teh Highlanders were at Lesmahagow, a similar device was resorted to by announcing that their pursuers were at Douglas mill.  The artifice was successful, and it is said that a party of the Celts, who had prepared themselves a rude but substantial repast at Auchtykernel, by pouring the contents of a churn into a washing tub, and mixing it up with meal, barely left themselves time to partake of it in their haste to escape from their imaginary pursurers.  Some curious precognitions taken at Lanark with reference to the Rebellion, will be found in the Appendix, Note D.

Amongst the miscellaneousobjects of antiquarian interest in the parish is a powder horn, used at Bothwell Brig, and preserved at Brakenrig ; and a brass bell, found about the year 1830, near Garngour House, anciently known as Cairngower.  It measures 8 1/2 inches in height, including a straight handle, and 5 inches in diameter at the mouth.  It has been cast, and bears a mark which has been carefully examined in order to determine whether it may have been a trade mark, or merely a flaw in the casting.   Viewed in one light it seems like the letter H or K, while in another point of view it resembles two triangles.  This bell may be possibly be ecclesiastical, baptized after the manner of Roman Catholic bells, and used in excommunication by " bell, book, and candle", or it may have been used at fairs by the common crier, at least such is the opinion of an eminent Engligh archaeologist.  A pair of iron handcuffs, and a fastening for the ankle, with a chain attached, were found at Draffan.  They may have been used a the time when the feudal proprietor held his courts there, or they may be comparatively modern.

In the orchard of Mr Templeton, near Crossford, there is a building about which archaelogists differ in opinion.  At first sight it resembles a lime kiln excavated on the slope of a hill, but its paved floor, and no other part of it, is scathed by fire, so that some other explanation of its origin and use must be sought for.   One suggestion is at is was intended for illicit distillation, but abandoned because discovered by the excise officers, or , perhaps, in consequence of the supply of water proving deficient.  Another conjecture is, that it may have been a granary or a hiding place.  Throughout Scotland, but especially in the Highlands, are found subterranean buildings of rude but substantial construction called eird house, which are believed by some to have been hiding places of the aborigines.  In the parish of Kildrummy, in Aberdeenshire, the late Professor Stuart discovered about fifty of these, in all which he found wood ashes and charcoal, with an aperture for the escape of smoke.   In most cases, it is thought they have been used at some period as granaries by the inhabitants.  When cleared out, handmill-stones have been found in considerable numbers.  The Celtic tribes spent their time in warfare, and in hunting, taking from their stores a requisite quantity of grain for daily use.  In Somersetshire and Wiltshire such granaries are called penpits.  The fire was kindled for "graddening", previous to hand -grinding, as formerly described, and was a more recent process in preparing grain than the treading by means of cattle, or crushing it with a tribula, roller, or flail, and subsequent drying and pounding.  It is almost unnecessary ot state that malt or drying kilns, once so common, are now superseded ; but the building at Crossford bears no resemblance to them, being excavatd.  The roof, if it ever had one, was probably made of wood, covered with turf, leaving only a small aperture for the escape of smoke.

Form careful examinations made at Crossford, it appears that in early tiems much inconvenience was felt during seasons of drought from deficient depth of water in the Clyde for the passage of the ferry-boat.  Nearly opposite Carfin House, and immediately above the modern bridge, there are numerous square holes, measuring from 12 to 15 inches each, cut in the bed of the river, and stretching across in single file.   Had they been intended as supports to a bridge, they would doubtless have been in a double line.  The presumption is. that by inserting blocks of wood in these holes, and stretching planks or wattles across from one to another, a barrage would be effected, which, so lon as it lasted,  would create a depth of water sufficient to float the ferry-boat.  It is probable that floods in the river, or the defective construction of this "wear",  may have sometimees marred its purpose, as an attempt was made to construct a second one at a different place.   Nevertheless, we may believe, that for a long period, by means of one or both of these, the river was so raised as to aford an ample depth of water, even during the drought of summer.

At Hallhill burn, near the farm of Connalholm, there is a curios gorge, which will amply repay a visit.  The rivulet appears to have been roofed over for about 20 yards; the supports upon which the roof rested being inserted in sockets cut out of the solid stone, three pairs of each side, and directly opposite each other.   Towards the lower end, and additional prop rested in a hole cut out of the rock in the bed of the stream.  No tradition relating to this singular spot is known to exist, but it is probable that at the period when Engligh "raids" were common, cattle may have been driven into this gorge for safety, and the place would be rendered still more secret if the wooden roof were neatly covered with turf.  It has been suggested that it may have served as a place of concealment for the Covenanters; but is so, it is remarkable that no record or tradition of the fact should have been handed down.

While noticing the antiquities of the Christian period, it is nescessary to advert to the tomb of St. Machutus and the early church of Lesmahagow, both of which are sometimes erroneously represented as having been "founded" by David I.   That pious King grants "the church and whole lands of Lesmahagu, with the men and all manner of pertinents, to be held, the said church, as a cell of Kelcho," showing that the church had previously been built, and was then in existence; and this he did "of reverence to God and St. Machutus".

In the opinion of some, a Culdee church once existed in the parish of Lesmahagow, probably at Kirkfield.  That there was a burying-place near the modern house is almost, if not altogether certain, from the circumstance that a field there is still known as the Kirkyard park.  It is remarkable that although there was at onw time a chapel at Greenrig, which is not far from Kirkfield, all traces of its site are lost.  If the original church granted by David I. stood at Kirkfield, the monks appear very soon afterwards to have commenced building a new church at Lesmahagow, which was the principal church, until burnt by John of Eltham, in 1336.  Our means of judging of the appearance of this church are scanty, but not altogether wanting.   Some of the inhibitants still remember an excavation being made by the late Dr.Frame, in his garden, which lay to the south of the present church, and part of which was afterwards converted into an addition to the parish burying ground.   When trenching the ground a foundation wall was discovered, also a few carved stones, which fortunately have been preserved.  It is said that a pot of   curious shape was also found.  A staircase was opened up, but no success attended the attempt to follow its windings.  Near to the burying ground of the Neauk family, so much lime rubbish was met with, that was difficulty excavations could be made.   About 30 yards to the east of the vestry, and nearly in a line with the old churchyard wall, some carved stones were thrown up from a grave nearly seven feet down.   Several rude stone coffins were met with in the year 1859 in the new buring-ground, which, from the position of the remains, were all of the Christian period.  As there were doubless cloisters and dormitories for the accommodation of the monks, it was a matter of some interest to ascertain the sites of them, if possible ; accordingly, excavations were recently made, where public report spoke of vaults, two within the inner alley, and one inside the new enterance to the churchyard.  With the exception of part of an oak beam charred, and some free sotnes which had suffered from the action of fire, these excavations led to no results,  and the attention of antiquarians was thrown back upon the carved stones, a few of which had been found fixed into the wall of the Kerse buring-ground, when repaired in 1857, and preserved by the author, but the greater number of which are in the possession of Mr McKirdy.  These formed part of the walls of a carpenter's shop, which was long occupied by the late Mr John Miller, to whom the parish is  indebted for the model of the church which was taken down in 1803, and whose shop was built close to the churchyard wall, with materials excavated by Dr. Frame.  A few of the best preserved of these stones were photographed and sent to London, to be submitted ot the British Archaeological Association.  Some of them pronounced by Mr Roberts, architect, to be Norman, of date circa A.D. 1100 or 1120.  Two are specimens of the dog-tooth ornament, and from the circumstances of one being much more shallow and earlier than the other, the comparison led to the conclusion, that one must have been the origin of the dog-tooth moulding;  the deeper one being as nearly a dog's tooth as possible, but not carved into foils.  Two plainer stones consisted, the one of a mullion, the other a moulding, both about a century later than the preceding.   Another carved stone was pronounced Norman, the interlaced ornament resembliing a "true lover's knot",  complete in itself, and not running out of the stone.   It is suggested that it may have been part of  a capital.   Another stone was a Norman voussure, or arch stone,  carved with a grotesque imitation of a head with a long beak.  There are several examples of this kind of  ornament, one of which, at Avington Church, was noticed at the   Berkshire Congress, and is figured in the "British Arch. Journal", vol. xvi., p 58.  Other examples are given by Parker, in his " Glossary of Architecture", Plate 117, from St. Ebbes, Oxford; Tickencote, Rutland; Lincoln Cathedral,St Cross, Hants; and Thorney, Berks.   Another stone from Lesmahagow, Mr Roberts pronounced to be evidently part of an early coffin lid, and Mr Vere Irving, vice-president of the Archaeological Association, thinks it to be part of the top of an altar tomb.  It is carved with a very elaborate geometrical cross, of about the date A.D. 1160 or1170, judging from the   edge mouldings.  The wheel-head of the cross consists of a small cross in the centre, surrounded  by a curved interlacing enclosed in a circle.  This is again surrounded by a similar interlacing.  These stones have been lithographed, vide page 36 of this work.  Some of the older stones were a portion of tracery, of apparently the thirteenth century.  A good many stones from the early ecclesiastical buildings were exhibited to Mr Vere Irving when in Scotland, and several of them were recognised as having been used inside the church as rests for the beams, others were capitals of small pillars, and several, which at first sight looked like cope-stones ornamentally carved, were found to be hollow on the under side, suggesting an inverted arch.  A very good early eccesiastical head, which is a Madonna in one view, and a monk in his cowl in another, and which, no doubt, once formed an ornamental stone in the early church at Lesmahagow, has been built into the wall of the farm house at Bankhead.   An early representation of Adam and Eve is built into the wall of the parish school-masters garden.

About twelve years ago the ruins of the old tower or house of Gillbank were removed, being dangerously dilapidated.  Here resided Auchinleck, the friend of Wallace, and tradition points to is as one of the favourite resorts of that hero.

Near the fall of Stonebyres there was at one time a castle or stronghold called "Cairnie Castle", but of its age or history little or nothing is known.   In the "Old Statistical Account" it is mentioned that in the year 1794, several  narrow archways were there discovered, in which were two querns, with deers horns, and bones or animals.  A gentleman, aged ninety-three, still living in the neighbourhood, confirms this report in so far that there were remains of a stone building, which were gradually carted away to form the road, but he does not remembe hearing of vaults being discovered, or any relics of early British or Roman periods.  In the absence of authentic information, one can only conjecture that this was a peel or place of strength.  At Moat was a building, 30 feet by 15, arched below, and which could be surrounded by water.  It was used to resist the Annandale thieves, the lower part being loop-holed.

It is melancholy to reflect that so many objects of interest have been allowed to remain unexamined and underscribed until too late, and consequently, that so much has been lost or left to conjecture.  It is of the greater importance that earnest attention should now be devoted to those which have been handed down to us, for "time's decaying fingers" are difficult to arrest.