The history of Lesmahagow commences with the grant by David I., the "Sair Sanct for the Crown", who A.D. 1144, for the soul's weal of himself, his ancestors, and successors, and by the advice and counsel of John, Bishop of Glasgow, gave to the Abbey of Kelso, and to the abbot and monks serving the Lord there, the church of Lesmahag, and the whole land of Lesmahagu according to their proper boundaries, with all manor of lawful pertinents in wood and open, moors and marshes, pastures and waters, with mills and other buildings, with mansions to be built on their own land as they pleased, in free and perpetual alms, to be held for prayers for the weal of souls; the church to be free of all Episcopal dues and exactions, that the abbot and monks of Kelso might ordain a prior and as many monks of their own order dress as the place would honestly support, and for the reception of poor travellers, also that it should be a place of refuge or sanctuary for those who in danger of life or limb should flee to the said cell, or come within the four crosses standing around it; of reverence to God and St. Machutus, the King granted his firm peace.

At the King's desire, and with the consent of the Bishop of Glasgow, a prior and monks of the order and habit of the Tyronenses were there planted.  The Monastery of Kelso had been founded by the same monarch, A.D. 1128 and the monks who were of the reformed order of Benedictines, or followers of St. Benent, first established at Tyroon (Tyronium), in the diocese of Chartrres in France, were henced called Tyronenses.  Their founder was the eldest St. Bernard, who is to be distinguished from the great St. Bernard, so noted as a theological writer.  The Tyronensian order of monks had six monasteries in Scotland, and each of the brethren of the establishment where he resided followed whatever trade or mechanical art he knew; so that a College of industrious artisans of the Order consisted of sculptors, carvers, carpenters, smiths, masons, horticulturists, etc under the direction of an Elder, and the profits of their work were brought into a common fund for general maintenance.  They were sometimes employed over a wide district of country; and in the "Statistical Account of Scotland" (article " Hamilton Parish"), it is mentioned that the old bridge acrosss the Avon, near Barncluith was built by the brethren of Lesmahagow.  Their dress at first was gray cloth, but they afterwards wore a black habit.  By the rules of the society the members were enjoined to poverty, but the love of ease and luxury, fostered by the endowments of pious persons, undermined the original character of the association, and tended in course of time to bring about the revolution which is known as the reformation.

The confirmation of the King's grant by John, Bishop of Glasgow, is in a separate deed, which declares that the monks should be free from all Episcopal dues and subjection, and derives some light and interest from a fact regarding the Bishop's character which appears in Lord Hailes' "Memorials of Provincial Councils of the Scottish Clergy".   In the year 1138, Alberic, Bishop of Ostia, legate from the Pope, assembled a council of Scottish prelates and nobles at Carlisle, when John, Bishop of Glasgow who had retired as a Brother among the Benedictine monks, was obliged by the legate to resume the duties of the Episcopal chair. It is not therefore to be wondered at that the Bishop, to whom the cares of office were a burden, or who lacked the usual clerical ambition of his order, should have freed the monks of Lesmahagow from Episcopal dues and subjection, and have counselled his Sovereign to do so.

The privilege which Lesmahagow possessed of being a sanctuary would no doubt speedily attract a crowd of persons who fled from their enemies and avengers; and as all obtained the King's firm peace and protection who fled to the said cell, or came within the four crosses standing around it, except those guilty of murder and dismembering, it is interesting to inquire what were the limits of the sanctuary.  It is believed, after careful investigation, that these were the boundaries of the modern parish, but the evidence derived from crosses is very defective.  Crossford, now known as   Nethanfoot, was probably the ford at the cross.  Broken cross, which, doubtless, was once unbroken in the moor of that name, does not appear in any charter, but the Small or Slender cross (Gracilis crux), stood somewhere on the road to Lanark.  As in every Roman Catholic country crosses are erected by the roadsides and in public places, it cannot be safely inferred that these crosses were ever intended to mark the limits of the sanctuary or define its boundaries.

The "firm peace", above referred to , exhibits a slight trait of royal selfishness to the eyes of third parties, although we mustacquit the pious David of being primarily actuated by selfish motives in making the grant.  It implied a penalty of four cows to the King by our most ancient law, and one to him whom the offender would have struck, if the hand was raised to strike within the King's girth; and nine score of cows to the Kins, besides asythment or composition to the kin of him slain, "after the assize of the land", if a man was slain in the peace of our Lord the King. (Act Parl., p. 300.)

As the character of King David I granted to Kelso the barony as well as the church of Lesmahagow, it is also of importance to inquire, from the words of it, whether the crosses were to be erected, or were already in existence.  If the former, they would subsequently consitute the bounds of the barony, but if in existence, connected with a church, most probably belonging to Culdees and then transferred to the Benedictines, they would no doubt be situated near such buildings.  That a church and crosses were in existence at the period of the grant seems settled by the words of charter.  If they had not existed, the King would have granted the barony to the monks, with the privilege of building a church, and of erecting such crosses as should thenceforth be the limits of the sanctuary.  The probability is elsewhere discussed in this work that the King, by this charter, granted a title to the church which the Benedictines had previously built upon his domains, adding the privileges of sanctuary, and erecting a barony at the same time.

The concluding words of the pious King's charter show that the grant was made out of reverence to God and St. Machutes.  This saint, known under the various names of Magutus, Maclovius, and at the later period Maclou, Malo or Malou, (whence St. Maloes in Aleth, Britanny, of which he was the first bishop, derives its name), was a disciple of Saint Brendan the elder, who flourished in the middle of  the sixth century, first at Clonard in Ireland, and subsequently at Llan Carvan in Glamorganshire, and who returned to Ireland before his decease.  Machutus was the companion of Saint Brendan and his marvellous and romantic voyage to the happy isles of the north, which are believed to have been the Orkneys.  Chambers, in his work "De Scotorum Pietate" (Parisiis, 1631, p. 198), says of him: - "Saint Maclovius or Machute, bishop and confessor, born of noble parents in Scotland (Ireland ?), viz., the Earl of Guincastel and the Countess whose name was Darnal, but much more noble from his mass of solid virtues, in which he made such progress under Saint Brendan, that he combined those within his own character, which it is most rare to find, viz., great prudence with great simplicity, the utmost gravity of manners with the utmost gentleness, and the study of literature with works of charity".