Lesmahagow

AUCHINHEATH

AUCHINHEATH COTTAGE
The residence of James Ferguson Esq, Ellenbank - (Click to see larger image)

Auchinheath was anciently known as Avonhath, or River Place, and was in the same district with Auchnacket, i.e., the field of the upland stream. Auchin is diminutive of Auch, signifying field of; and we have in the rendering "small field of heath," a tolerably accurate description of what probably existed in Celtic times when much of he country was covered with heather, and enclosures were beginning to be known.

It appears, in other part of this work, that William Lawrie "of Auchinheath" married the heiress of Blackwood. The surface was not of great value at that period, but the minerals on that part of the estate, which were then unwrought, have proved a source of wealth, and have rendered Lesmahagow gas coal well known all over the world. The enterprising tenants of the Auchinheath coal-fields, Messrs James Ferguson & Company, have laboured assiduously for about thirty years in turning to profitable account these hidden treasures, and a lithograph of the cottage of James Ferguson, Esq. of Ellenbank, kindly presented by that gentleman appears as one of our illustrations. In a future chapter Mr Ferguson has contributed some interesting statistics of the Lesmahagow gas coal trade. Gas coal is also extensively wrought on the estates of the Duke of Hamilton and the Earl of Home.