This book, published on this occasion by Clackmannan District Libraries in 1989, gives a snapshot of Tillicoultry in the late 1800s, whilst borrowing heavily from the previously published parish Statistical Accounts.
Tillicoultry in Olden Times
by Andrew Roxburgh
Publisher of the
"Tillicoultry News" 1878 - 1900
Foreword
This work was first published as a series of articles in the "Tillicoultry News", a weekly newspaper published by Andrew Roxburgh from around 1878 until 1900. It was first published in book form in 1881 by Andrew Roxburgh while a reprint appeared in 1957, published by W.M. Bett.
The text appears unaltered in this new reprint with the exception of a rather long poem which appeared near the end of the book and which was entitled "Ane Auncient Prophecie, Bye Sanct Serf, Anent Ye Town O' Tullochcultrie". For various reasons we thought it best to omit this poem.
D. HYND
District Librarian
June, 1982.
Tillicoultry in Olden Times
Etymology of name
The name Tillicoultry is of Gaelic origin, and is compounded of the three words Tullich-cul-tir and signifies "The mount or hill at the back of the country", referring to the Kirk-hill and Cunninghar, a rising ground which begins near Tillicoultry House and runs in a south-east direction to the Devon. Such Is the etymology given by the writers to both the Statistical Accounts of Scotland, but the writer to the former one, the Rev. William Osborn, who was minister of Tillicoultry from 1774 to 1795, in spite of "Gaelic derivation being at present fashionable" suggests that the name may come from the Latin words Tellus culta "the cultivated land", or Tellus cultorum Dei "The land of the worshippers of God", the latter being on the assumption that Tillicoultry may in olden times have been a residence of some of the Culdees. As he only suggests reasons in support of his Latin derivations rather than puts forward facts, the Latin etymology of the name Tillicoultry must be considered as trustworthy as the popular one of "Tell-a-coo-try", an expression ascribed to a highland drover who had driven a herd of cattle down through Glendevon and along the Hillfoots and who used these words in declining to pay the small charge at Tillicoultry for watering cattle.
Proprietors of the Tillicoultry Estate
The estate of Tillicoultry was granted to the family of Mar in 1261, the fourteenth year of the reign of Alexander III by a charter written in Latin on parchment, and which, when the former statistical account was written was in the possession of Mr. Erskine of Mar. According to that document the estate of "Tillicoultry", was taken by the king from Aleumus de Meser, whose father, of the same name, had received it on feudal tenure from King Alexander II, father of Alexander III. Aleumus de Meser, the younger failed, however, to render to His Majesty the feudal service due for his lands, and consequently, the estate was, in the presence of the principal nobles, formally taken from him and conferred upon William Count of Marr, who had gained the confidence of the king as one of his trustiest nobles, by acts of homage and loyal service.
The estate of Tillicoultry seems to have continued in the possession of the Mar family until in the year 1483 it came into the possession of the ancestors of Lord Colvil of Culross, with whom it continued until 1634, when it was sold to William Alexander of Menstry, a poet of great genius, who was afterwards created Earl of Stirling. Since that time it has frequently changed hands, having been purchased by Sir Alexander Rollo, of Duncrub, in 1644, by Mr.John Nicolson of Carnock, Stirlingshire, in 1659; by Lord Tillicoultry, one of the Senators of the College of Justice and a baronet, in 1701; by the Honourable Charles Barclay Maitland, of the family of Lauderdale, in 1756; by James Bruce, Esq., of Kinross, in 1780; by Duncan Glassford, Esq. in 1806; by Jas Erskine, Esq., in 1810; by R. Downie, Esq. in 1813; and in 1814 by R. Wardlaw Ramsay, Esq. the father of the present proprietor, Robert Balfour Wardlaw Ramsay, Esq., who succeeded to the estates of Whitehall in Mid-Lothian and Tillicoultry in 1837. Part of the Tillicoultry estate, including the mansion-house was sold to the late Patrick Stirling, Esq., in whose possession it continued for about three years, until in 1840 it was bought back by the present proprietor.
According to traditionary legends, Tillicoultry was visited by St. Serf and was the scene of some of his miracles. St. Serf or St. Servanus lived in the sixth century, and was the founder of the monastery on the Island, which is still called after his name, in Loch Leven, Kinross-shire. Andrew Wyntoun, who was prior of the monastery of St. Serf and lived in the end of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth century, wrote in eight syllabled metre, "An Orygynale Cronykll of Scotland", embodying, along with genuine history, many fabulous legends such as were implicitly believed in the old superstitious times, and were doubtless related round the winter firesides with all the embellishments which fear or fancy led the narrators to adopt.
The traditionary legends represented St. Serf as travelling about the country with a Scape Goat, but Wyntoun in his Chronicle describes him as being accompanied by a ram. A thief stole the ram and killed him, and "ate him up in pieces small". When St. Serf missed his ram and could find no one who knew who had stolen him, he ordered the real culprit to be brought before him on presumption. The man protested his innocence, and declared his readiness to swear an oath that he had not stolen the ram. However, he was soon made to blush red with confusion, for the ram was heard to bleat from his inside, and the thief begged for mercy from the saint.
A miracle which St. Serf worked at Tillicoultry, was the restoring of life to two young men, and is told in the following couplet:-
"In Tullycultry, til a wyf
Two sonys he raisit frae ded to lyf".
Though Wyntoun in his Chronicle relates that St. Serf had a ram which followed him wherever he went in his miracle-working travels, yet the older legends from which Wyntoun adapted his tale, describe his companion as a pet goat which was accidently killed at Tillicoultry, and a heap of stones long after known by the name of Cairn Cur or Gur was supposed to mark the spot. It required no great stretch of the imagination to derive the name from the Latin word Caper, or the Gaelic Cobhur signifying a goat.
The following is Wyntoun's account of the detection of the thief who stole St. Serf's ram:-
This holy man had a ram,
That he had fed up of a lam:
And oysit hym til follow ay,
Quherevir he passit in his way.
A theyf this scheppe in Ackien stal
And et him up in pecis smalle,
Quhen Sanct Serf his ram had myst,
Quha that it stal was few that wist:
On presumption nevirtheless,
He that it stal arestyt was;
And til Sanct Serf syne was he broucht.
That scneipe he said that he stal noucht;
And tharfor, for to swer an athe,
He said that he walde nocht be laythe,
But sone he worthlt rede for sehavme,
The scheype that bletyt In hls wayme.
Swa was he taynetyt schamfully:
And at Sanct serf askyt mercy.
Famous Men
It has been said already that the estate of Tillicoultry was for a Iong time in the possession of the ancestors of the Colvils of Culross. One of this family, Lord Colvil, who was raised to the peerage by James VI, in 1609, figured conspicuously in the wars under Henry IV of France, and gained a high reputation for his military genius. Returning to Scotland loaded with honours, he resided at Tillicoultry, and in his old age revisited the French Court.
The following interesting account of his reception by the French king, and of his subsequent residence and death at Tillicoultry is thus given in the old statistical account of the parish:-
"As Lord Colvil appeared in the old fashioned military dress, which he had formerly worn in the wars, the courtiers were all amazed when he entered the royal presence. But no sooner did Henry observe the old warrior than he clasped him in his arms, and embraced him with the greatest affection to the utter astonishment of all present. After his return, Lord Colvil spent much of his time at Tillicoultry, and was particularly fond of walking on a beautiful terrace at the north end of the Kirk-hill, and of reposing himself under a thorn tree, the venerable trunk of which still remains. (This description was written in the year 1793). It unfortunately happened, that standing one day on a stone, and looking up to the thorn tree describing his battles, he fell down the sloping bank of the terrace, and, it is said, was killed on the spot in the year 1620".
William Alexander of Menstrie, who was created Earl of Stirling by Charles I, purchased the estate of Tillicoultry in 1634. He was a prolific poet and in 1637 published a complete edition of his works, in one volume folio, with the title of "Recreations with the Muses". His works have been thus described:-
"None of the productions of the Earl of Stirling touch the heart or entrance the imagination. Yet we must allow him to have been a calm and elegant poet, with considerable fancy, and an ear for metrical harmony".
Shakespeare is believed to have been indebted for some of his thoughts to the Earl of Stirling's work. A passage in The Tempest bears a strong resemblance to some lines in the Earl of Stirling's play of Darius. Strange to say, both Shakespeare and the Earl of Stirling were engaged at the same time in writing a tragedy of Julius Caesar, and several passages in the two works bear considerable resemblance to each other. The Earl of Stirling's tragedy was first published in 1606. Shakespeare's according to the usually accepted date, was First Published in 1607, though there are reasons for believing that it was acted in London at an earlier date. Most probably the similar passages in the two tragedies are mere coincidences. The Earl of Stirling held the office of Secretary of State for Scotland for fifteen years, from 1626 to 1641. He died at Stirling in a fine mansion-house, which he built there out of his large fortune, for he was very wealthy, a somewhat uncommon condition for a poet. After his death the estate of Tillicoultry passed by purchase into the possession of Sir Alexander Rollo of Duncrub.
James Bruce of Kinross, who also Laird of Tillicoultry for 26 years, belonged to a family of some note. One of his ancestors Sir William Bruce, was a distinguished architect. Kinross House still standing as a monument of his professional talent; and another Sir John Bruce, was the author of some excellent Scottish poems, and even the famous ballad of Hardyknute has been ascribed by Pinkerton to his authorship. But this poem was really written by an ancestress of Sir Henry Wardlaw. Bart. who at present resides in Tillicoultry, viz., by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Charles Halket. Bart. of Pitferran, who was married In 1696 to Sir Henry Wardlaw. Bart. of Pitreavie in Fife. Lady Wardlaw died In 1727, aged flfty. Her poem of Hardyknute has always been greatly admired. Sir Walter Scott said it was the first he had learned and it would be the last he would forget.
Hardyknute was a Scottish chief who was summoned by his king to Largs to resist the Norwegian Invasion. The poem has a martial yet pathetic strain and consists of forty two stanzas, of which we give the two following as specimens:-
'Go little page tell Hardyknute,
That lives on hill sae hie,
To draw his sword the dread of faes,
And haste and follow me.
The little page flew swift as dart
Flung by his master's arm:
'Come down, come down, Lord Hardyknute
And rid your king frae harm'.
Then red, red grew his dark-brown cheeks,
Sae did his dark-brown brow;
His looks grew keen, as they were wont
In dangers great to do,
He's ta'en a horn as green as grass
And gi'en five sounds sae shrill
That trees in greenwood shook therat,
Sae loud rang ilka hill.
In 1787, Robert Burns, accompanied by his friend Adair, paid a visit to Harviestoun, in the parish of Tillicoultry, where Mrs and Miss Hamilton, the mother and sister of Gavin Hamilton of Mauchline, were then staying. Along with his friends he visited the famous scenery on the Devon; the wild cataract tumbling over a lofty precipice into the deep, black, Cauldron Linn; and the Rumbling Bridge, a single arch thrown across the river, 100 feet high. While staying at Harviestoun he wrote "The Banks of the Devon", and "Fairest Maid on Devon Banks". But much as Burns was impressed with the wild beauty of the Devon tumbling over its rocky bed, and with its sweeter character as it meanders through the valley, he was still more impressed with the charms of the fair Charlotte Hamilton.
How pleasant the banks of the clear-winding Devon,
With green-spreading bushes and flowers blooming fair.
But the bonniest flower on the banks of the Devon
Was once a sweet bird on the braes of the Ayr.
But Miss Hamilton received more favourably the attentions of Adair, whom she afterwards married, than the passionate appeals of the wayward poet. The valley of the Devon is of singular beauty, backed as it is by the bold outlines of the Ochils, which reach their culminating point in Ben Cleuch in the parish of Tillicoultry.
perhaps no part of Scotland shows with equal effect such a fine combination of hill and vale, great beauty well warrants its having been called the Tempe of Scotland. (Tempe was a lovely valley in Greece, so celebrated for its scenery, that the name came to be used as descriptive of any beautiful valley). From this valley, "Blanche of Devon" was torn away on her bridal morn and carried captive to the Highlands, by Roderick Dhu when he forayed Devan side and slew her lover. Poor Blanche, crazed with her sufferings, is made to speak thus by the poet:-
They bid me sleep, they bid me pray,
They say my brain is warped and wrung,
I cannot sleep on Highland brae,
I cannot pray in Highland tongue.
But were I now where Allan glides,
Or heard my native Devan's tides,
So sweetly would I rest and pray,
That Heaven would close my wintry day.
Antiquities
There are only a few places of interest to the antiquary in the immediate neighbourhood of Tillicoultry. On the south end of the cuninghar are the traces of a Druidical circle about 60 feet in diameter. When the old statistical account was written, the circle had the stones of granite standing 5 1/2 feet above the ground. Now, however, the only traces of them are the grass-covered hollows from which they have been dug by some modern Vandal for ordinary building purposes.
More than a hundred years ago, the Honourable Charles Barclay Maitland, then proprietor, greatly improved and beautified the parish by his numerous enclosures and plantations,
and he also planted a thicket of Scotch firs around the Druids' circle, only one of which now remains. A small part of the circle itself has crumbled down into the sandhole, and ere long an object of great antiquarian interest, and one of the very few of which Tillicoultry can boast will, we fear, be entirely lost. Something surely might have been done, and might be done yet, to preserve the remains of this interesting relic of "Tillicoultry in Olden Times".
Just where Tillicoultry glen terminates, there stands on the west side of the stream, a rugged height known as the Castle Craig, on which there once stood a round Pictish fortress from which the rock received its name. Few places are better adapted naturally for the purposes of defence owing to the difficulty of its ascent. On the south and east sides it is guarded by precipitous cliffs, and the fort was protected by a deep ditch and rampart, the traces of which are still quite distinct. There is a tradition that the stones of the fortress were carried away to be employed in the building of Stirling Castle. Be that as it may, a fortress on the Castle Craig would be well situated not only for defence, but for commanding an extensive view, in all directions of the valley of the Devon and across the Forth.
In several parts of the country are remains of circular buildings of Pictish times. They are most common in Shetland, where they are known as Duns or Burghs. The walls were sometimes of great thickness, so much so as to enclose apartments or cells, and were built of large stones neatly fitted into each other and without any kind of cement.
Even the stout Castle Craig seems in a fair way of becoming thing of the past, as a great quarry worked for granite paving stones has already made a huge gap in the side of it next to the stream. The Romans are said to have had a station on the north end of the Cuninghar, and in the middle of last century the place was dug up by Sir Robert Stuart, and several urns containing human bones were discovered. In the year 1785, a large stone coffin was discovered in the midst of a great cairn or heap of stones in Westertown, anciently called Cairntown. The stones of the coffin were neatly cemented together with whitish clay, and it was filled with fine earth, amongst which two small bones were found.
In the beginning of the present century a small bronze axe discovered in a bed of sand not far from the Druid's circle. In 1796, in a drain which was being dug behind Harvieston House, an iron sword was found, about 31 inches long, double edged and straight, but completely rusted through. It was believed to be Roman, as it resembled the sword with which the Roman soldiers were accustomed to fight. When the west approach to Harvieston House was being made in 1802, a rude coffin was discovered, formed of flat stones but not in any way cemented together. In it was a small urn, about five inches in height and the same in diameter, made of sun-dried clay with a rude waved pattern on the outside from the mould in which it had been formed, and containing some dust or ashes and a flint arrowhead. Both sword and urn were preserved by the late Sheriff Tait.
About 30 years ago a stone coffin with a few bones in it was found far below the surface of the ground, as the side of the sand-hole was being further broken in upon. In another sand-quarry further north, about mid-way between the road and Tillicoultry House, two small urns containing ashes were found 23 years ago. One of these, unfortunately was broken in the quarrying out of the sand. Many urns have also been found to the west of Tillicoultry on the Alva estate. Evident traces of a road well-defined may be yet seen all along the face of our hills from Stirling to Dollar as far above what is called the old road, as the old road is above the present. From the existence of Roman camps in the neighbourhood it has been conjectured that this was a Roman road.
Close behind Tillicoultry House is the old church-yard, near which there stood also in olden times the church and manse. In 1730, the first manse on the present site was built,
followed by others in 1766 and 1811, and the old manse was converted into a stable.
The first church on the present site was built in 1773 and the present building was opened for public worship on 26th July, 1829. In Roman Catholic times the church belonged to the Abbey of Cambuskenneth, to which along with the tythes and pertinents it was granted by King Malcolm.
The inscriptions on the upright stones in the old church-yard are still quite legible, but their oldest dates only go back to the beginning of the last century. There are a great many flat stones, however. Some of them apparently of great age, but so thickly covered with moss, that it would require the patient labour of some Old Mortality with chisel and mallet, to restore their hidden inscriptions.
One of these is said to cover the grave of "The wicked Laird of Tillicoultry". The story of his crime and punishment is thus told in the Picture of Scotland, by Robert Chambers, Edinburgh, 1827":-
Legend of the Clenched Fist
In proceeding up the vale the first object that attracts attention after Alva, is the village of Tillicoultry, also the capital of a parish. The only thing worthy of notice about Tillicoultry, besides its extreme pleasantness, is a large stone which lies in the churchyard. This is the subject of a curious and amusing old legend, which, as reported to us by a friend, seems strikingly illustrative of at least one-half of the proverb, that "It's kittle shooting at craws and clergy".
In the parish of Tillicoultry, as in all other places under the sun, there once lived a wicked laird. The wicked laird of Tillicoultry happened, on one occasion to quarrel with one of the monks of Cambuskenneth about the payment of certain church dues; and, in the course of the debate, was so far exasperated, that, forgetting entirely the respect due to a churchman, he fairly knocked the holy father down. Of course, a man who had been guilty of such an outrage could not live long; he died therefore, and was buried. But, as he had not been afflicted by any supernatural torment upon his death-bed; as he had neither drawn air into his lungs and breathed it out blue flame, nor had supplies of water carried to him by relays of servants to cool feet which set the floor on fire, and made cold water splutter and boil as it was dashed upon them; more than all as he had died unshriven; and without having expiated his offence something yet remained by a consolatory legacy of lands to the church; something yet remained to be done to manifest the indignation of Heaven at his impious act. He was buried as dead men wont to be; but his spirit did not walk as the spirits of wicked men wont to do. That would have been too equivocal; it might have been said that he had murdered men as well as knocked down priests. But mark his punishment! The hand - the sacriligious hand - was found on the morning after the funeral, projecting above the grave, clenched as in the act of giving a blow.
The people were dreadfully alarmed; but what could they do but exclaim in astonishment, sain themselves, wish they never might do anything to incur so dreadful a judgment; then take up the unholy corpse, adjust the arm by its side, and again commit it to the earth. On the following morning great numbers repaired to the churchyard, to see whether the laird's arm had again been rejected of the grave. There it was thrust up and clenched as before. The process of interment was repeated, and again up came the clenched fist. Again it was repeated and so on for more than a week. The people were then in a state little short of distraction. They had applied to the priests of Cambuskenneth, who, with much shaking of heads, had refused to interfere. The news spread far and wide, and hundreds gathered to witness the miracle. Hundreds, however, could not bury the laird more effectually than a single sexton. At last an expedient was thought of, by which the power of numbers could be turned to account. They united to bring from a considerable distance, and roll upon the grave, the huge stone which now marks the spot; after which the clenched fist no longer appeared.
It need scarcely be suggested. that If anybody had been daring enough to watch the place by night, they would probably have beheld a detachment of devils, who had wickedly assumed the dress of monks, come and undo the work or sepulture, leaving the hand exposed. When the story is told on the spot at the present day, the rustic narrator the story Is told on the spot at the present day, the rustic narrator looks cautiously round the edge of the mass of rock, half afraid that his tale will be confirmed by the appearance of the clenched fist growing out like a mushroom, between the stone and the earth.
Note - It is customary in Scotland, when a child happens to strike, or, as the phrase is, to lift its hand to a parent, to say "Weel, weel, my man, your hand'll wag abune the grave for this."
Ecclesiastical History
It is certain from the antiquities in the neighbourhood that for several centuries after the Christian era the Druidical worship prevailed in this part of Scotland. In the third century, Christianity was introduced by St. Ninian, who converted many of the Britons, and to whom several churches around, as the one at Alva, were dedicated. The conquest of the country by the Saxons on the departure of the Romans again plunged the country into the darkness of superstition. In the year 596 the Saxons were themselves converted to Christianity, and in the sixth century St. Serf took up his abode in a Hermitage at Culross, and in the double capacity of priest and physician extended his way over the surrounding district. Tradition says that he left a prophetic malediction on Tillicoultry for the destruction of his goat, viz., "That no heir should ever be born nor laird die on the estate, nor should the parish ever possess a married minister". This prophecy has been fulfilled with such a near approach to literal accuracy, that is not surprising to find it hinted that it was made to suit the circumstances.
On the brow of the hill on the east side of Tillicoultry Glen, there is a natural arrangement of rocks somewhat resembling a pulpit. This is said to have been one of the spots from which the Scottish Reformer, John Knox, preached to our persecuted forefathers in covenanting times. He was then living at Castle Campbell as the guest of Archibald, fourth Earl of Argyll, who had openly renounced the doctrines of the Church of Rome.
In the parish of Tillicoultry there were formerly three villages, Westertown, Eastertown, and Coalsnaughton.
Westertown was the original of the modern town of Tillicoultry, and Eastertown was situated to the east of where the farm steading of Tillicoultry Mains now stands. The Parish Church was built on its present site, in order that it might be conveniently situated and be about equi-distant from the three villages.
We have but little information regarding the ecclesiastical history of Tillicoultry or the occupations of its inhabitants during the long struggle for religious freedom under the Stuart kings. The Reformation was legally accomplished in Scotland in the year, 1560 when an assembly of the Estates of the kingdom abolished the jurisdiction of the pope, "each proscribed the mass, and enacted that parish should have its own pastor or at least a reader to read the scriptures and common prayers".
The church lands and revenues were mostly seized by the nobles, who were consequently zealous for the reformation; and the Presbyterian clergy were in general very poorly supported, and In many parishes there were none at all.
During the short and troubled reign of Mary, and the ungenerous attempts of the Stuart kings to force upon the Scottish people a religious prelacy which was nearly as distasteful to them as popery, and which led to the noble stand for their national religion by the convenanters, there could be little or no settled parochial administration of the Presbyterian religion. Indeed, episcopacy was, in form at least, restored by James I on his revisiting Scotland in 1617. He coolly informed the Scottish Parliament that he had nothing more at heart than to reduce their barbarity to the sweet civility of their neighbours. In the following year the Five Articles adopted at Perth by the General Assembly, and afterwards confirmed by Parliament infused the essential principles of episcopacy into the Presbyterian model.
When Charles I succeeded to the throne in 1625, he wanted to endow this Episcopal Church by taking back the church lands from the nobles into whose hands they had fallen. But the nobles were by no means zealous in a reformation which would deprive them of their lately acquired possessions, and they forced the king by their determined resistance to give up the attempts. "He ended by issuing (1627) a commission to receive the surrender of inapropriated tithes and benefices, and out of these, and the superiorities of the church
lands, to increase the provisions of the clergy". The preceding brief sketch of the ecclesiastical difficulties of Scotland after the Reformation leads up to the following account of the work of the Commission of 1627, in the parish of Tillicoultry.
The account is extracted from the Reports of the Parishes published by the Maitland Club. "At Tullicultrie, the twentie ane day of May, the yeir of God, Im. Vic. twentie and sevin yeirs. The whilk day the Commissioners under-written. That is to say, Mr. Andrew Rynd, minister at the said kirk of Tullicultrie, Thomas Alexander in Cairntoune. (The old name for Westertown). James Hutcheson thair, Patrick Waitt in westsyde of the burn of Cairntoune, Robert Stalker in Coalsnaughton, David Drysdale alias Guidall Mair, Alexander
Drysdale in Drimmie, John May in Harviestoun, and Robert Hutcheson thair, chosen be the Moderator and Presbyterie of Dunblane, and sworn for the lawful administration and execution of the commission grant it to them (to be tryed) be the act of His Majestie's Commissioners, after due and long consideration of the points and particulars contained in the said commission according to our knowledge and conscience have given and give this present answer underwritten to every particular.
In primis - We declare there is in our parish of Tullicultrie the number of three hundred and fifty communicants or thereby.
Secondlie - That the parish is in length ane large myle or thereby, and in breid of arable land, ane large halff myle or thereby.
Thirdlie - That the klrk being almost situated in the midst of the parish, be our judgements the roome fardest distant from it is halff a myle or thereby.
Fourthlie - The parish kirk, for ocht we can know or learne was never unit to ony yther kirk, but is alleqed to be united to the kirk of Alveth, [Alva] and, albeit for a certain space after the Reformation they were served with divers ministers, viz., Robert Monteith in Alveth and ane Sir Alexander Drysdale at the kirk of Tullicultrie, yet (or the most part ever since they have been both servit with one minister for lack of maintenance, so we cannot declair be what warrand these kirks were united; but the cals of this kirk before the alledged union was (In respect of the number of communicants as also largeness of bounds and situation) as is before declairit, and the stipend wont to be pay it to the minister of the Samyn was bot two hundred and fyftie merks at the most.
Fyfthlie - It is a kirk of the prelacy of the Abbacie of Cambuskenneth to the quhilk Abbacie the personage and viccarage doe perteine.
Sexlie - it is not a laich patronage.
Sevinthlie - It is a benefice by itself and a parish kirk and aucht to haiv a minister alone, seeing there is sufficient means for his maintenance.
Auchtlie - The minister of it being lykewise minister at Alveth hath out of this parish and personage at present stipend for serving the cure thereat, the soume of three hundred merks money Scots yeirlie and is payit be ane nobile Lord James, Lord Colvile of Culross in name and behalf of ane noble and potent Lord John Erle of Mar, Lord of the erection of the said Abbacie of Cambuskenneth whereunto the said kirk doth pertain.
Ninthlie - Forasmuch as this parish is the most competent part for holding of a school, and training up of the youth, there is presently a school in the parish but no foundit rent for the samyn, both desireth there were ane competent means allot it for maintenance of the saymn.
Tentlie - No hospitals, chaplancies, prebendacies, nor frierlands in the parish, but only ten acres of abbot lands.
Eleventlie - The hail feu lands in the parish holdin of my Lord Colville, together with the Westsyde of the burn of Tullicultrie holdin of Sir William Alexander, and set out in farming by him, pays in stock twenty six chalders victual and silver duty reckoning every hundred merks for one chalder victual, and of teind the whole parish is worth and paid of old fourteen chalders, five bolls, ane firlot victual; but being valued above the worth pays presently sixteen chalders. (Here follow details which we omit).
Twelflie - The vicarage of the whole parish is worth communibus annis ane hundred merks money foresaid.
Therteenthlie - The whole parish payes the thretteenth pek of their whole cornes ground at the mylne of molter; together with five bollis eleven peks of dry multre beir yeirlie.
Fourteenthlie - The haill parish payes of kayne foullis twenty two dozen and a half".
In the old statistical account the date of Mr. Andrew Rynd's admission to the Kirk of Tillicoultry is put down at 1648, with a statement however that the date is uncertain. The following complete list of the ministers who have followed him with the year of their admission :-
REV. JOHN FORREST 1669
REV. ROBERT KEITH 1676
REV. ROBERT GOURLAY 1692
REV. JOHN TAYLOR 1714
REV. ROBERT DUNCAN 1728
REV. ALEXANDER STEEDMAN 1731
REV. JAMES GOURLAY 1765
REV. WILLIAM OSBORN 1774
REV. ALEXANDER STIRLING, LL. D. 1795
REV. HENRY ANDERSON 1808
REV. DAVID SMITH 1843
All the ministers since the Revolution in 1688 have been bachelors except three. Mr. Duncan's lectures on the Epistle to the Hebrews were published after his death and were much esteemed for their piety, orthodoxy, and learning.
FORMER CONDITION OF THE INHABITANTS
In the old statistical account of the parish of Tillicoultry which is written with minute care and in quaint and interesting language, there are some particulars regarding the population of the parish and the occupation of its inhabitants, which give us a glimpse of the social and industrial condition of the people about a century ago. The population table for 1792 gives the total number of the inhabitants of the parish as 853.
At present our factories and mines are the main sources of employment, but in 1792, there were only 21 weavers and miners in the whole parish, whilst there were 51 general labourers, and 25 male and 12 female farm labourers. There were 6 wrights, 7 masons, 3 smiths, 3 shoemakers, 8 tailors, 1 gardner, 1 miller, and 1 dancing-master. The number of communicants of the Established Church was 359, whilst 97 belonged to the Secession, 2 were Episcopalians, and 1 a Cameronian. There were only one minister and one schoolmaster. There were no fewer than 34 farmers, only five of whom paid more than £50 sterling per annum of rent.
The farms were mostly laid down for grazing. The writer of the Old statistical account thus bewails the influx of dissenting strangers into the parish as tenant farmers.
"For 15 years past, almost all the farms which have been let, have been taken by strangers from other parishes in the neighbourhood, and who are Seceeders. If the present system prevail for other 13 years, the greatest part, if not the whole of the parish, will be possessed by persons not belonging to the Established Church".
The gross rental of the parish was then £l,700 sterling. A census seems to have been taken of live stock and agricultural implements as well as human beings, for there were 116 horses, 195 cows, 36 ploughs, and 89 carts in the parish.
Mr. Tait of Harviestoun was in the van of agricultural progress. One of his enclosures, containing 5 1/2 Scotch acres, was let in 1793 for grazing at four guineas per acre.
The hill lands at that time were divided into five farms capable of maintaining in pasture and fodder about 3,500 sheep. The Mill-Glen and Forehill farms were inferior to none in the Ochils for producing excellent mutton and fine wool. There was no common grazing land on the hill at that time, but previous to the year 1774, there were 3,000 acres of common hill land belonging to the feuars of Tillicoultry. In 1769, however, Mr. Barclay Maitland entered a process in the Court of Session for a division of the common hill, but the process was withdrawn in 1774 and the matter referred to arbiters. The consequence was that all the feuars gave up their rights to the common hill ground, receiving as compensation either low ground or a diminution of their feu-duty.
The sheep grazed on the hill were mostly black-faced, the breed being brought from Tweeddale. The best white fleeces were sold at 10d per lb., and the inferior kinds at 5d. or 6d. On the farms in the low grounds two horse ploughs were just coming into use. The principal crops raised were oats and barley. "Wheat is too much neglected, except by Mr. Johnstone, and even peas and beans. Crops of turnips are seldom to be met with, and cabbages are never raised in our fields". But though fields of cabbages were awanting,
yet in the gardens there must have been prolific crops of potatoes. "A remarkable crop of potatoes was raised on Mr. Barclay's garden, the produce being no less than 105 pecks, or 6 bolls and 9 pecks, raised from one peck planted". Had the Tillicoultry News been then in existence, this would have afforded material for a glowing paragraph with a challenge to any place far and near to produce the like. There were then two orchards in the parish, comprising about six acres, and mostly planted with apple trees. As a proof of the advanced state of agriculture in the county of Clackmannan, a plough and ploughman were sent in the summer of 1793 from Clackmannanshire to Windsor to give a proper specimen of ploughing on his Majesty's farm.
The crofts in Tillicoultry along the foot of the hill were covered with loose stones, which had to be gathered of the soil. These were smooth on the surface and rounded as if water-worn. The soil at the foot of the hill is described as being a fine quick loam, but not very deep, and the haughs of the Dovan (which is the old form of the name Devon) as of a deep loam mixed with sand, the lands on the south side of the stream being much inferior to those on the north side.
At that time the Devon afforded better sport to the angler than now. It abounded with excellent trout and parr, with pikes and eels in the deep pools, and with white and grey sea-trouts in harvest and spring, and great numbers of salmon from the Forth in the spawning season. small pearls were at one time found in its bed. Tillicoultry burn is formed by the junction of two small hill streams, the Daiglen and Glooming-side burns. There was an old belief, which has been quoted as an undoubted fact, but which every local angler knows to be myth that no fish have ever been found In Glooming-side burn, and that when put in they have always died, owing to some injurious property in the water derived from the rocks over which it flows.
Then, more than now, the Devon overflowed its banks when swollen with rain or the melting of snows,and often worked sad havoc with the crops of hay and corn on the level fields adjoining. The following story is told in the old statistical account:-
"A very remarkable and uncommon flood happened in September 1785, which carried away a prodigious quantity of corn, broke down a stone bridge at the Rack Mill, in Dollar and occasioned other very extra-ordinary damage. The river rose in four or five hours more than 13 feet above its usual height at Tillicoultry Bridge. A woman who was assisting a farmer in removing his corns on the south side, was forced away by the rapidity and violence of the stream, and brought in safety to the opposite bank. Her clothes had made her float on the surface of the water, though she was carried down about a quarter of a mile".
The number of families in the parish in 1792 was 212, all of whom except 36, lived in the villages of Westertown, Eastertown and Coalsnaughton. There were only 8 houses in the parish consisting of more than the ground floor, and we may picture the people as being mostly engaged in farm work and other kinds of outdoor labour, with a few artisans, and a number of weavers busily plying the shuttle in the manufacture of Tillicoultry Serge. The coal and iron mining had been almost entirely discontinued there being only a few miners to supply the inhabitants with coal. A good many labourers had however been employed a few years before in working these minerals, and in the following year, 1793, the working of the iron-stone was resumed, the following year, 1793, giving employment to 64 miners and 10 women-bearers. This reminds us of the old and cruel custom in early days of coal-mining, of women having to carry the coal along the passages underground and also to the surface by inclined planes or circular stairs cut out in shafts.
It may safely be asserted that the inhabitants of Tillicoultry in the end of last century, had their bad qualities as well as their good ones. What the bad ones were, does not appear, but if they were to be measured by the amount of Church fines imposed or rather received, they can neither have been numerous nor flagrant, as these fines amounted to 13s 6d per annum, which sum went to swell the funds available for the relief of the poor.
We have already described the people as being mostly engaged in farm work and other kinds of outdoor labour, and they bore the character of being sober and industrious, attached to the King and Constitution, and zealous supporters of the Presbyterian worship and church government. The women, in the intervals they could afford from family cares, were engaged in spinning worsted and woollen yarn, particularly the latter.
A considerable improvement had taken place in the health and habits of the people. As an instance of refinement in the furniture of the houses, it is stated that in 1764 there were only 9 or 10 clocks in the parish, whereas 30 years later, there were upward of 60.
The drainage of the land, and warmer and drier houses, had made the ague, formerly a common malady, then almost unknown. The field work which exposed the people to rain and cold made rheumatism a somewhat common complaint. The most dreaded form of disease, however, was the Plague, which has now disappeared with a better knowledge and application of sanitary laws, but which in olden times was looked upon as a peculiar visitation of Providence, and in no way to be attributed to man's indolence or ignorance.
On one occasion when the Plague visited Scotland, a man died suddenly in the Westertown of Tillicoultry, and the people were all afraid to touch the corpse or even to enter the house. At last they pulled it down, and the man was thus interred in the ruins of his own home, the heap being long after known by the name of Botchy Cairn.
In the end of last century the following were the wages which were paid for some kinds of work at Tillicoultry:-
A tailor got 8d a day, besides his diet; the custom then being, as it still is in some rural districts, for the tailor to work in the houses of his customers. A day labourer earned 10d or 1s; a mason from 1s 6d to 2s; whilst a farm servant got in money from £6 to £10 per annum. These sums, small as they seem compared with what are earned in our own times, were double of what had been paid 50 years previously. The farmers had to pay every thirteenth peck of their meal as multure to the miller. We have no information as to the wages earned by the weavers. On an average each miner gained 1s 6d, and each bearer 8d per day.
There was no assessment for the poor, who were supported by the church collections and other incidental profits including the above mentioned fines, along with the interest on a mortification of £212 sterling. In 1793, the number of poor people paid from the funds for the poor was only 7, but assistance was given privately to others in the shape of money, clothing, and payment of house rents, and school-fees for their children. The total money available annually for the poor was not much over £20. The increasing tendency for people to seek parish relief, was then, as now, deplored as a sign that the old delicacy in receiving money from the poor's fund was passing away.
The only tolerable roads in the parish were the main road along the Hillfoots, and the one leading over the bridge to Coalsnaughton. All others were in a very neglected condition, and there was not even a public road to the market town and harbour of Alloa, the only outlet for the exportation of the coal and iron. The road to Alloa was a semi-private one leading through the estate of the Mar family, who kept it in repair and who charged a tax called Gate Mail, of fourpence on every chalder of coal led to the shore for exportation. The difficulty of getting the minerals conveyed to the Forth was doubtless the reason why the working of them had been almost discontinued. Railways were undreamt of, and St. Serf's vision of "Sax-storye mills, like Ochil hills" had not yet been realised.
There was then only one school In the parish, situated at Westertown, which was "by no means centrical or convenient for the rest of the parish". From the account we have thus given of the state of the parish in 1793, our readers will be able to see the force of the following recommendations made by the Rev. Mr. Osborne, as sources of improvement and melioration:-
"1st - If the public school were situated more in the centre of the parish, or if a school were established at Coalsnaughton.
2dly. - If a bridge were bullt over the Dovan below the Westertown.
3dly. - If the farmers were to fallow more of their land, and to pay more attention to sowing wheat.
4thly. - If some encouragement were given to the weaving of serge.
5thly. - If the coal were to be wrought as extensively as formerly, for supplying the country and the foreign markets.
6thly. - If a waggon-way were made for carrying the coals to Alloa harbour.
7thly. - If a navigable canal were made by means of the Devon to join the Forth.
8thly. - If some public works, such as an woollen manufactory, or a cotton mill, or a printing field, were erected at Westertown, as the situation is thought highly convenient and advantageous for such useful works.
But the great sources of improvement and melioration are honesty, industry, sobriety,
and a regard to religion, and without which, and the blessing to God, all human schemes will be nugatory and vain".
A glance at the progressive rate of the population will show at once the dates of the development of our industries.
The population of the parish was -
In 1755 - 787
In 1789 - 903
In 1792 - 853
In 1793 - 909
In 1801 - 916
In 1808 - 1050
In 1821 - 1160
In 1831 - 1472
In 1837 - 1803
In 1841 - 3213
In 1851 - 4686
In 1861 - 5054
In 1871 - 5118
In 1881 - 5544
The Authority of the Kirk
In olden times, long before there had been either secession or disruption, the kirk session of Tillicoultry had undisputed authority in the parish, acting, in the capacity of a court of justice, as a terror to evil-doers,and the guardian of morality and religion and even of property.
Any new comer to the parish was sure to be asked immediately and to be brought under the jurisdiction of the court, as the following case will show.
On 28th April, 1698, "it was reported to the Session that a man (we omit names) has lately transported himself from the parish of Blackford, and taken up his residence in this parish, and though enquiry was made by the elders for his testimonials, yet they have none from him. The Session therefore appoints the officer to charge the man to produce a certificate of his behaviour in the parish where he resided formerly, otherwise he will be proceeded against before the civil magistrate in order to his removal from this parish".
A somewhat original method was periodically adopted to ensure that the members of Session were themselves sufficiently pure in character to act as judges over others. The Session would meet and ask one of their number to retire, and the remainder carefully enquired at each other if there were any fama against their brother. If his character came through the ordeal unsullied, he was recalled and took his place again as a member of the court, and another was asked to retire, until his conduct had likewise been sifted, and so on until they had been weighed in the balance all around. This investigation took place annually before the appointing of an elder as representative to the Presbytery and Synod. It is surprising how seldom the authority of the Session was questioned or evaded, and how few refused to appear before it when summoned, or proved contumacious when the sentence was passed, all showing how great was the influence of the Church over the people, wanting as it did any secular method of enforcing its decisions.
The fairs at Stirling, Alloa, Dollar, and other places were attended by the good folks Tillicoultry, and the temptations proved so strong, that the Kirk Session was generally exercised thereafter in dealing with those who had got drunk, or to adopt the euphemism that was then employed, who had got "a little mistaken with drink".
Were the same stringency to be shown now as formerly in dealing with cases of breaking the Sabbath and other sacred days, the task would be one of some magnitude. Thus on 28th August 1695, "the Session was informed that a man in How-dud did yoke his horse the last fast day to load divettes". The delinquent was summoned to a meeting a month later and "was asked by the minister how he came so gracelessly to contemn a day set apairt by the Church for humiliation? Answered, that he did indeed yoke his horse, but his neighbour telling him that it was a fast day, he presently loused his horse, and wrought none with him, and that he was sorry he had so far forgotten himselfe" After this explanation he got off with a sessional rebuke.
Another case will illustrate the method of dealing with Sabbath-breaking. On 8th December, 1696, a woman was summoned before the Kirk Session of Tillicoultry, and "was interogate if she used to cut her kaill and bring in her water on the Lord's Day? She answered that she never brought in her kalll on the Lord's Day except It was once, having forgot them on the Saturday and that she never brought in water on the said day, except it had been a drink of fresh water, and that very seldom". After her case had been duly considered she got a sessional rebuke for the "preterite", and the threat of a congregational rebuke in the future. If she again set such an evil example.
Quarreling amongst neighbours, the use of nicknames and profane language and even family disputes were brought before the session for consideration and settlement. As an example we may give a case which came before a meeting of Session on 20th August, 1699. A woman in the Eastertown stayed at home one Sabbath day, feigning sickness, and during her husband's absence at Church stole his money out of his "chist". Husband and wife having both been summoned, "the minister enquired of the said John if what was reported of his wife Catherine staying at home on the Sabbath under pretence of sickness, and of her stealing money out of his chist was truth? He answered affirmatively, but that she had returned to him the money. The minister enquiring at the said Catherine how she came both to lie in calling herself sick, and be so heinously guilty of the breach of the Lord's day by her breaking up her husband's chist and stealing his money? Who answered, she was indeed sick, and though she did take that money, it was her own which she had given to him, and that her taking of it was because he was so scrimp a stewart in supplying her necessity out of the samen". After this case had been duly considered, the husband and the wife were solemnly counselled by the minister to begin a more Christian and conjugal way of living.
When the minister had to be from home, he was careful to make the best possible arrangement for the oversight of his flock during his absence. "The whilk day (16th October, 1693) the minister (Mr. Gourlay) being to be a moneth away be appointment of the Synod, requested the elders to notice that the people attend the ordinances in the neighbouring congregationes till his return".
Again on the 25th February, 1697, "The whilk day the minister informed the Sessione that he was ordained by the Assembly to supply for three moneths space, Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, and was oblidged to take his journey the first of March, upon which account the minister did seriously exhort the elders to double their diligence in his absence, and carefully to send one of their number to each presbyterie during this absence in order to his getting the church supplied by them as the assembly has ordained, as also to be careful to notice the indigent case of the poor of the parish, as also to have a special inspectione over the carriage of the congregatione".
The charge and discharge of the contents of the poors box was one of the most important duties of the Session. Frequently there was so much on hand, that money was lent at interest to the portioners and others on good security.
The practice of tent-preaching at the Sacrament is not so old a custom but some of our readers may have witnessed it. As a meeting of the Tillicoultry Kirk Session on 10th July, 1699, one of the elders was authorised to get 1,700 new tokens, and another "to go to Stirling for cups, and to give bond that they shall be carefully returned".
At the same meeting, "the Session considering that the Sacrament of the Lord's supper cannot be celebrated within the church by reason of the minuteness thereof, does therefore appoint it to be celebrate upon the Thorn Green, and the deacons to wait at all hands for the poors money with basons". How long it is since the tent-preaching was discontinued at Tillicoultry, we cannot tell.
The tent and the mortcloth were two special objects of care to the Session. We find 2nd August, he following sums paid for the keeping up of the tent:-
By Cash to James Nuckle, wright, for working at the tent, the sume of eight pound, eight shillings Scots.
By Cash to Robert Brown, wright, for 16 days at the tent, nine pound twelve shillings, Scots.
By Cash paid David Smart, wright, for working at the tent 15 days, the sume of ten pound, ten shillings, Scots.
By Cash paid Mrs. Kirk for oyle and culering to the tent, the sume of four pound, seaven shillings, Scots.
What a new mortcloth cost, the following entry in 1749 will show:-
By Cash paid John Haig, merchant in Alloa for a new Mortcloth as per his receipts the fifteenth of May and the second of September, Moyl and forty-nine; viz., for nine yard black Genoa velvet, at £12 6s Scots per yard, £110 14s.
We occasionally find the lairds of the Tillicoultry estate acting as members of the Session, and amongst them Lord Tillicoultry.
"Sederunt, 24th August, 1701. - Mr. Robert Stewart of Tillicoultry, now one of the Senators of the College of Justice, was solemnly ordained in the presence of the congregation, ane elder of this parish". Later, Mr.Wardlaw Ramsay, father of the present proprietor, acted in the same capacity.
The Session records of Tillicoultry date as far back as 1640. For about the first fifty years, they are written with the old spelling and abbreviations, and with letters of now obsolete form. In some parts the writing is faded, and has a tangled appearance owing to the ink from the opposite page having penetrated through the paper. Up to 1649, it is very difficult to read these records, but after that date, the peculiarities are more uniform, and by comparison the key to the forms may be got.
Between 1649 and 1660, as our readers well know, there was an interregnum, following the execution of Charles I. During that period England professed itself a common-wealth with Cromwell as its ruling spirit. The Scottish people however resented the execution of Charles, and opened negotiations with his son, then a refugee in Holland. The young Charles delayed coming to terms with the Scots until he had seen the result of Montrose's enterprise, but on the defeat and execution of that nobleman, he came to Scotland in 1650, and gave a false vow of adherence to a form of religion which in his heart he despised.
That same year, Cromwell defeated the Scots at Dunbar but the latter, nothing daunted, crowned their prince as Charles II at Scone on New Year's day 1651.
In September Charles entered England with an army and was defeated at Worcester, escaping with difficulty to the Continent. Scotland was no longer able to resist; her General Assembly was dispersed, and no church courts above synods allowed to meet; and the country was kept in complete subjection under General Monk with 8,000 English troops, principally stationed at the forts at Ayr, Leith, Perth, and Inverness. The restoration of monarchy in 1660 when Charles II became king was hailed with joy in Scotland, but the general feeling of happiness was mingled with some forebodings as to the fate of the national church. It is not part of our task to draw a picture of the religious persecution in Scotland, cruel under any circumstances, but especially heartless from the Stuart kings to the land of their forefathers.
Two features seem to characterise the session records of our parish during these eventful times, viz., that they give scarcely any reflection of the general history of the country, and that they contain few of the cases of immorality which most commonly exercise the judicial faculties of Kirk Sessions.
The inference to be drawn from the former of these characteristics, and which is probably the correct one, is that Tillicoultry enjoyed from its quiet and isolated situation, a large measure of immunity from the disorders prevalent in the country. Still it would seem that the parish or rather congregation, had to send its complement of men to resist the English at Dunbar. In the years 1650 and 1651, the county of Fife which then included Kinross, raised for the war with the English 7,920 men, and probably Clackmannan was proportionally drawn upon. We find the following reference to the battle of Dunbar in the Session records, 22nd October, 1656: -
"Also Margaret Lambert, who was desireing the benefite marriage, of aleadging her husband was killed in the defeat at Dunbar, producit Martine Paton, and David Drysdaile, webster, who wore sogers with her husband, and who being demandit if they knew any thing concerning the death of her husband, declared upon oath that they saw him deadlie woundit upon the place, and that there was no appearance of his life to their best knowledge, and also for verificatione hereof after the defeat at Dunbar, on the list of the slaine men being given up of everie congregatione within the shire, his name was enroled among the rest, whereby it was evidenced to the Session that he was dead, whereby the said Margaret was declared to be free to marry againe".
Though the cases brought before the Session at that time were mostly for "banning" and swearing, occasional imprecations, various forms of Sabbath-breaking, and intoxication from drinking ale, yet the general immorality of Scotland at that time, forbids us to assume that Tillicoultry was characterized by exceptional purity in the lives of its inhabitants. When Presbyterianism was most entire, and its power of inflicting punishment, a power it freely used, was greatest, immorality in its worst forms abounded to an extent never since known. Doubtless the religious fanaticism and violence of the times were to be accounted for to some extent by the spirit of resistance raised by the unjustifiable interference with the national expression of religion, as well as to the rude manners then prevalent.
Hanging and burning, mutilation and torture were inflicted for trivial offences. Witchcraft was firmly believed in, and ministers stuck pins into old women to test their complicity with the evil one. We find no case of trial for witchcraft in the Tillicoultry Session records, but occasional complaints of women having been called witches by their neighbours. The following is a strong case of imprecation:-
8th September, 1661. - "Whilk day compeired a man from Coalsnaughton, and being accused of imprecating the devil ding the sides of the kirk together, denyed the same, whilk being referred to witnesses was sufficientlie proven and wherefore the Session ordaines him to make his repentance and pay his penaltie". We have already given some cases of Sabbath breaking, and a few more may be here quoted. Elders were appointed to "visit" or act as moral policemen during time of divine service.
6th September, 1657. - "Man in Harviestoune accused of Sabbath breaking in leading of corne upon the Lord's day. Acknowledged that what he did was of ignorance, nor remembering that it was the Lord's day".
17th April, 1659. - "Tenane in Drimmie accused of Sabbath breaking by biging a stack of corne, confessed the samen".
21st April, 1661. - A woman and her daughter "accused of bearing burdens on the Lord's day".
15th September, 1661. - A woman "accused of breaking the Lord's day in gathering of pees".
12th December, 1661. - A tenant in the parish "compeired, and being accused of slying of sheep on the Lord's day, denyed the same, affirming it was a week beast dying, and he onlie let out the blood".
12th January, 1663. - "The backster and his wife ordained to be sued for selling ale in tyme of divyne service".
9th July, 1665. - "Woman in Townehead accused of Sabbath breaking in laying forth webs to dry".
8th April, 1666. - A woman, who was a coal-bearer, "being accused of banning and swearing, confessed the samen".
Strangers coming to the parish were closely watched as appears from the following:-
20th October, 1658. One of the elders "whyle he was searching the Westertown in time of divine service and apprehending, ane within the congregation of Blackford travelling upon the Lord's day, did deliver his horse to constable's hands till he should find caution for satisfactione".
The following ordinance was passed regarding strangers, 29th October, 1659:- "The Session taking to their consideration that diverse strangers getting lodging upon the Saturday at night do travel on the Lord's day, therefore the families where they lodged were ordained to refuse them lodging except they engaged to stay the Sabbath".
The following is the only case we find of political terms being introduced:-
23rd December, 1656. - "Two men being accused of reproaching pietie and godliness and the notions of Puritans and Whigs, ansred that what they spak was against the sect of the puritans and not against none of the godlie, and the session taking the samen to their consideration, and finding that the said speeches were a stumbling blok and a scandal and thought to be in reproach of godliness ordained them to be gravely admonished and to make their repentance".
Manufactures and Minerals
Tillicoultry was famous in olden times for the manufacture of a coarse kind of woollen cloth called Tillicoultry Serge. The writer of the old statistical account describes it as being "a species of Shaloon, having worsted wrap and yarn warp". Weavers or "websters" as they were called, are mentioned in the oldest records of the Kirk Session; but the earliest notice of the manufacture in Tillicoultry has for its date the reign of Mary Queen of Scots, in the middle of the 16th century. What led to its being located here can be conjectured. David I received into his dominions a number of Flemish refugees, driven in 1155 from England by Henry II, whose policy thus contrasted unfavourably with that of Henry I who had gladly given encouragement to the honest Flemish artizans to settle in his realms.
It is not improbable that the woollen manufacture was introduced into this part of Scotland by some of these Flemish refugees. Amongst the natural advantages in its favour may be reckoned, the supply of wool which was obtained from the pastoral lands of the Ochils. When this supply was insufficient, it was not uncommon for the gudewife to go to Edinburgh for a stone of wool which she carried home on her shoulders, and afterwards spun into yarn in the intervals of her household duties. Well may a former writer apply to the prudent and managing dames of Tillicoultry the epitaph of an ancient Roman matron -
Domum mansit, lunam fecit,
which has been rendered by Gavin Douglas, "She keepit weel her house, and birlit at her wheel".
The cloth was sold at an average price of 1s sterling per yard, and though the same kind of cloth came to be manufactured in other places in the neighbourhood, it bore everywhere the name of Tillicoultry Serge.
"It is much to be regretted", says the Rev. Mr. Osborne, "that more attention is not paid to the manufacture in the place where it was invented, or at least brought to the greatest perfection. About 50 years ago, a Serge web from Alva would not sell in the market while one from Tillicoultry remained unsold. But this is by no means the case at present.
The author of this account can give no precise statement of the quantity of Serge wrought here as the stamp master keeps no list.
He supposes however that he stamps annually 7,000 ells of serge, and an equal quantity of plaiding. Some of the weavers are now employed in making muslins, but as this branch is still in its infancy, it is impossible to say with what advantage It may be attended". The reference to selling the Serge in the market points to a very different mode of disposing of the goods to that which is now carried on. Some of our oldest inhabitants may be able to recollect the times when the manufacturers used to carry their goods to the markets at Perth, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, and expose them for sale on their stalls. About the year 1821 more attention began to be given to the manufacture of shawls, plaidings, and tartans, which came to be in as high repute as ever the Serge had been.
It is not part of our task to recount the extension of the trade of Tillicoultry by our enterprising manufacturers, with the improvements in machinery and employment of steam as a motive power. Their goods have obtained a world wide reputation, and even our Queen has been clad in the Victoria tartan of Tillicoultry design and manufacture. The words of the old song have thus been considered to have obtained a literal verification:-
"Tarry woo, tarry woo,
Tarry woo is ill to spin;
Card it weel, card it weel,
Card it weel, ere ye begin.
When it's cardit, row 'd, and spun,
Then the work is haflins done;
But, when woven, dress 'd, and clean,
It may be cleadin' for a Queen".
The minerals of the parish have long attracted attention, and the ample supply of coal has no doubt greatly contributed to the success of the manufactures. At the time when the old statistical account was written however, the working of the coal had been discontinued, though a few years before 20 pickmen had been employed, and about 3,000 chalders of coal exported annually from Alloa harbour. "The Devon Company", says the writer, "have been tacksmen of the coal for more than a year and a half, but have wrought none except a very small quantity for land sale. The design of taking a coal, without working it, is incomprehensible. While coals remain under ground, they are of no value either to the proprietor or the tacksmen". He predicts that in the process of time the coal will be a most profitable concern, as there are inexhaustible fields of it to be found.
On the west side of the Mill Glen are hard grey bassaltic rocks, and on the east side a species of red granite capable of taking a polish. Many metals such as silver, lead, cobalt, and antimony are said to be found in veins in the hills, but not in sufficient quantities to pay for the working. The presence of silver in the Ochils is well known from the history of the famous silver mine on the Alva estate, from which for thirteen or fourteen weeks ore to the value of £4,000 per week was extracted by the proprietor, Sir John Erskine of Alva.
About the middle of last century copper was wrought in the Mill Glen. "Four different kinds of copper ore were discovered, the thickest vein of which was about 18 inches. The ore when washed and dressed was valued at £50 sterling per ton. A company of gentlemen at London were the tacksmen, and for several years employed about 50 men. After a very great sum of money was expended the works were abandoned as unable to defray the expense".
Veins of iron ore are also found in the hills and there are traces of old workings of this metal. On the east side of the Mill Glen is one of these discontinued iron mines, forming a cave penetrating horizontally into the hill side, with an inner portion crossing the entrance shaft at right angles, the whole forming a T-shaped hollow. The explorer who with lantern in hand ventures into the dark recesses, wading through the water under which the floor of the cave is submerged, will be rewarded with as many specimens of the rusty ore as he can with the blows of his hammer chip from the reluctant rock. When also he returns to the light of heaven he will find that his garments have been copiously bedewed with the iron-impregnated moisture dripping from the roof.
Miscellaneous
The situation of Tillicoultry, as well as of the other towns along the Hillfoots, is singularly beautiful and picturesque. We have our great factories throbbing with industrial vitality, and with the marvellous mechanical invention and activity of the nineteenth century. In little more than the time that it took our fore-fathers to visit one of the neighbouring villages, we can be whirled with the swiftness of the wind to the great centres of population in our country. And yet in the midst of all our bustle we have only to look up to behold the steep face and towering crest of the hills looking down upon us with the benign placidity of some guardian deity, and have only as it were to step out of the town to be in the midst of the most romantic Highland scenery.
In olden times when people had to use more than they do now the powers of locomotion bestowed upon them by nature, and when they had frequently to cross the hills to get to the place beyond, many hardships and dangers were encountered in storm or darkness, lives sometimes lost, and adventures of thrilling interest afterwards recounted. The lover of natural history and the angler have unusual opportunities of indulging in their favourite pastimes, while the ascent of the summit of Bencleuch, by the invigorating exercise and the fresh mountain air, imparts renewed life and energy to the jaded mind.
In the oldest records which we have come across there is mention of the three villages of Westertown, Eastertown, and Coalsnaughton. Eastertown has long ago disappeared, and Westertown has developed into the modern town of Tillicoultry. The village of Devonside is of quite recent growth, probably only dating back about 40 years, when a brick and tile work was first erected there.
The mossy soil in the level lowlands of the parish must in very remote times have been covered with natural forest, as in draining the land, bog oak has been found, black as ebony and in a high state of preservation. The drainage of the parish and the land greatly improved the climatic conditions of the health of the inhabitants.
In the beginning of the present century the snipe was one of the commonest birds owing to the undrained state of the bogs and marshes. Eagles were also sometimes seen on the hills, and amongst the wild animals were polecats, badgers, and otters. In a foot-note in the old statistical account it is stated that in the beginning of last century the common broom grew so tall and luxuriant near the manse, that the crows and magpies built their nests in the branches. The broom plants must have been giant in those days. On the banks of the Devon are still found singular concretions amongst the clay. These are of fantastic forms, and might be mistaken for the fossils of animals.
Before railways were thought of, other means of opening up communication between the Devon valley and the Firth of Forth was contemplated. It was considered that the Devon might be made navigable by deepening its bed. The famous engineer, James Watt, surveyed the river in 1766, and reported that it might be made navigable as far up as Dollar, at an expense not exceeding £2,000, as its elevation at Dollar above the Forth at Cambus was trifling. The turnpike road along the Hill foots does not seem to have been one of the old stagecoach routes. About 1840, an attempt was made to run a stage-coach from Perth to Glasgow along this way, but it was soon discontinued for want of support.
The writer of the old statistical account, with striking contrast to his usual sagacity, apprehended that Tillicoultry would decrease in the number of its inhabitants from the following causes:-
"1st. The division of the common in the hills.
2nd. sales of many of the feus, each of which maintained families.
3rd. The neglect of the coal;
and 4th. The small attention and encouragement which is given to the weaving of Tillicoultry Serge"....
The following inscription on the bell of the Parish Church indicates that it is entitled to more respect for its antiquity than it usually receives for the quality of its tones:-
"Soli Deo Gloria Cornelis Ovderogge Fecit Rotterdam 1670"; the rendering being, "Glory to God alone; made by Cornelis Ovderogge at Rotterdam in 1670".
Conclusion
Our object having been to bring together into book form what we have been able to learn about "Tillicoultry in olden Times", we owe no apology to our readers for omitting almost all reference to more recent events. It has been our aim to interest and instruct, and we have resisted the temptation to introduce matter which, though authentic, might have failed to aid our purpose. If at any time we have seemed to depart to some extent from our subject it has been to call in the aid of history, contemporary with the times of which we were writing, by way of illustration and elucidation. As it is good for the individual to take sometimes a retrospective view of his past life, so it may be advantageous as well as interesting to a community to get a glimpse of its former conditions and history....
We shall not venture to predict what will be the state of our community when the events of our own times will be searched out in proof of the antiquated customs that prevailed in the nineteenth century.