Lesmahagow

A careful reading of these entries seems to indicate that the bone of St. Machutus may have belonged to Sir James Hamilton, and been regarded as forfeited with his other property to the Crown ; and that Sir James may have had a chapel at Craignethan, the church plate whereof the King immediately appropriated to the use of the Chapel Royal, by getting the royal arms engraved upon it.

After the death of Sir James Hamilton, historians represent the King as the victim of the most gloomy suspicions, and his Court, formerly the scene of elegant hospitality, as transformed into the solitary residence of an anchorite and a misanthrope, many of the nobility having retired to their castles alarmed at the fate of Hamilton.   The Treasurer's accounts show that the King devoted himself to sporting, possibly to drown care.  In July 1541, he visited Crawfordjohn on a hawking expedition, accompanied by the Queen, and the preparations for their visit seem to have been truly on a royal scale.   From thence the royal party went to Craignethan Castle, and thence to Peebles, Edinburgh, and Stirling.  Immense hounds, the dog collars being gilt, and studded with gilt stars.  The King, notwith-standing every effort to revive his spirits, pined away and died the following year, leaving an infant daughter, known afterwards as the beautiful but unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots.  His dying thoughts, as they wandered back to the period when the daughter of Bruce brought to his ancestor the dowry of the kingdom, found utterance in the words : "It came by a lass, and it will pass with a lass."

A short time after the death of James V., and early in the governorship of James, second Earl of Arran (who, by a solemn deed called "The Act and Covenant," had been recognised as Regent by the Estates of Parliament assembled), a recal of the forfeiture of Sir James Hamilton was resolved upon, and obtained in favour of his son James, who subsequently became Sir James Hamilton of Evandale, and High Sheriff of Lanarkshire.   On the 10th December 1543, Sir James being in nonage, had curators nominated to enable him to seek a release of his fathers forfeiture, and it appears that his relative, the Earl of Arran, previous to granting the restoration of the property, bound the minor and his curators to secure to him the £20 land of Draffane, with the castle and fortallice thereof, and other lands in Lesmahagow, in discharge of certain alleged claims against the deceased Sir James of Finnart.  The Earl accused the deceased of having obtained a title to the lands of Bothwell Muir, and one half of Crawfordjohn, by false deeds, and of in consequence drawn their rents for a number of yars, and also of having illegally possessed himself of certain "heirship movables" that should have gone to the Earl on the death of his father, and also of the legitim belonging to another of the legitimate brothers.  An arrangement was made by which the lands of Bothwell Muir, and one half of Crawfordjohn, were to be restored to the Earl by the youthful Sir James, and that the Earl, in consideration of his giving up all the movable claims, should have conveyed to him by Sir James, certain lands in Lesmahagow, and also those of Fynnart.  The presumption is, that these lands had been conveyed to Fynnart in a fair and legal manner by his father, the first Ear of Arran.   The following statement more fully explains the arrangement between the parties interested.   Be it remembered, that James, first Lord Hamilton, had received a grant of one half of the barony of Crawfordjohn when the Douglases were forfeited.  James, second Lord Hamilton and first Earl of Arran, obtained in 1512 a confirmation of this grant to his father, with remainder to heirs-male, whom failing, to Sir James Hamilton.   The other half of Crawfordjohn went by marriage ot the House of Kilbirnie, who kept it until 1529, when Lawrence Crawford of Kilbirnie exchanged it for the estate of Drumry, in Dumbartonshire, with Sir James Hamilton of Fynnart, and Margaret Livingstone, his wife, who was heiress of Drumry.  (Nisbet's Heraldry. App.)  On the death of his father in 1529, Sir James Hamilton, who, as we have before seen, was legitimized by Act of Parliament, took possession of the whole barony of Crawfordjohn, which he soon exchanged with James V. for the territory of Kilmarnock.  The whole of Crawfordjohn then became annexed to the Crown.  One of the stipulations between the second Earl of Arran and the guardians and curators of Fynnart's son was, that young Sir James, in the event of his being restored, should enter into the the following agreement, viz., that he should consent to the rescinding of the excambion of the lands of Kilmarnock and Crawfordjohn, which being effected, he should immediately enter upon the lands and barony of Crawfordjohn, on condition that he resigned one half of them to the second Earl of Arran, retaining the other half which had been acquired in exchange for lands belonging to his mother.  This arrangement was fully carried out, and in 1565, he obtained a grant by which the moiety of Crawfordjohn was attached by annexation to his barony of Evandale.    (Reg. Mag. Sig., xxxii., No 420)  The second Earl of Arran was infeft, as already mentioned, in Draffane, with the castle, also in Crossford lying under the bank (now known as Underbank), Blair, Auchincro, Halhill, Auchinacht, Auchtygamill and Shancroft, Slabodum, Garalwood, and Merisland, Wellburn, Newland Cumer, Interaquas, Scorreholm, Stokbriggs, Auchloquhan, and Logane, extending to a £50 land in the barony of Lesmahagow; all which lands, it was asserted, had been obtained by Sir James from the first Earl by undue influence.  (Act Parl., ii.439.)  This was so favourable a subject for litigation, that Hamilton of Libberton, Sir Jame's grandson, attempted to reduce his father's agreement, and succeeded in doing so for a short period, during which the main branch of the Hamilton family so warmly espoused the cause of Queen Mary; but in 1565, the decree which he had obtained was declared null and void.  (Act of Parl., iii.383.)

It has been a subject of much interest to obtain accurate information regarding the visit of Mary Queen of Scots to Craignethan Castle, after her flight from Lochleven on the 2d of May 1568.  She first took refuge at Niddrie Castle, the property of Lord Seton, in Linlithgowshire, and arrived at Hamilton on the 4th of May.

The author of the "House of Hamilton" says:- "One her Majesty's escape from Lochleven, she  proceeded to Hamilton, where she was most gladly welcomed, and whilst her friendds and adherents were assembling from all quarters for her defence, she took up her residence in the Castle of Craignethan"  It is believed by well

well informed persons, who have investigated this matter with local advantages, that Queen Mary remained for some time at Cadzow Castle, and from thence was removed by her adherents, the Hamiltons, to Drafane (i.e.., Craignethan) Castle, as being a place of greater security.  Regent Murray, in his proclamation, issued on the evening on May 3d, states that she had “repairit to the place of Hamilton;” while Sir William Drury, writing to Cecil on the 6^th, informs him “that since the despatch of his last letter, he could not hear of any more than that the Queen continued at Draffan among the Hamiltons, and all the defenders thereupon.”  And yet, writing on the following day, he states that the Queen, the day after she came to Hamilton, where she now resteth, sent a gentleman to the Earl of Moray.  (Keith’s Hist., Edit. 1845.)

In the history of the House of Rowallance (Ap., p 131) appears a letter form the Queen herself, to Sir William Mure, dated “Off Hamilton, 6^th May, 1568,” commanding him, with all his forces, “baith on fute and horse, to be here on yis next Sunday at fardest.”  Tytler speaks of her “camp at Hamilton,” which was the rendezvous, and it is not inconsistent with the fact of her Majesty’s person being removed to some distance for greater security, until the 13^th, when the ill-fated march to Langside took place.  Nor is it surprising if her enemies were not correctly informed as to her movements.  Where the Palace of Hamilton now stands, there was then only a square tower, called “The Orchard” or the “Place”, quite unsuited for the residence of royalty; and it may be confidently presumed, irrespective of evidence, that Craignethan Castle, both as a place of strength and on account of its greater distance from Glasgow, where the Regent was assembling his forces to oppose her, was a more fitting retreat than Cadzow Castle, in the circumstances.