Tynron
Glen
by
John Shaw
MCMXCVI
Web
Edition
Notes: This web edition contains the
final text of the published books, with the images of the original photos
scanned in and scaled to fit. Please
bear with us when the numbers on the photographs and diagrams don’t match the
ones in the text. Also, this page has a
limit on the amount of traffic that can be downloaded in a month. If the page won’t appear because this limit
has been exceeded, please be patient, the site will be back online soon, in the
next dat or two. Thanks, Jim Shaw 5th February 2005.
CONTENTS
Mediaeval Fields on Pinzarie Hill
Farming in the Eighteenth Century - The
Improvements
PHOTO *A The cover photo looks
up Tynron Glen, with the old smithy at Parkhouse in the foreground and
Stenhouse behind
Tynron Glen consists of about 5,620 hectares, 56.2 square kilometres or nearly 13,900 acres and 21.7 square miles.
The glen is barely 5 kilometres wide at its widest above Auchenbrack, by 17.5 kilometres long from High Countam to Wauk Hill. Penpont Parish is to the north-east, Keir to the east and Glencairn to the south-west. Dalry and Galloway touch the western tip.
Shinnel Glen trends north-west to
south-east. The lowest point is about 60 metres at
The Parish
Boundary
Map *1 shows that the parish boundary follows very closely the watershed of the Shinnel. I have walked all the watershed and it does puzzle me as to why the parish boundary, when set in the twelfth century (presumably), is not always precisely on the watershed. It strays by a few metres in places where it would have been just as easy to keep it on the watershed.
Strangely, the parish for some reason takes in the lower part of Scaur Glen to the south-west of the river, which geographically and logically belongs with Penpont. Tynron Parish does not include the very eastern part of the glen on Capenoch, which for some other reason is in Keir Parish. The land adjoining Shancastle Hill and a smaller patch north of Hillhead of Dunreggan were pinched by Glencairn Parish. This has an annoying effect, even today, where, for instance, the inhabitants of Barr Farm have to vote at Keir, while those at Auchenhessnane must vote at Tynron. The parish boundary must have depended on the feudal boundaries of land holdings.
This work deals with the Shinnel Glen, everything within its catchment area, although inevitably some of the statistics refer to Tynron Parish.
William
Wilson
William Andrew Wilson's books on Tynron stimulated my interest and have led me to write a 1990's version. Willie Wilson has something to answer for in calling Tynron Doon a volcano, a widely-held local belief, but his books are lovely to read and have given local people a written record of many aspects of local history. He was a romantic with his own picture of the past. Read his poetry to see that.
Ewart
Library
I have scoured the Ewart Library in
I came to Tynron in 1980 with my wife, Mary,
and my children, James, William and Rebecca. Three years were spent at the
Ford, then five years at
GEOLOGY
500-400 Million Years Ago
500 million years ago is when I choose to begin the story of Tynron Glen. At
that time there was land to the north where the
The earliest local rocks were laid down under this sea in the Ordovician Period (500-440 million years ago) and the Silurian Period (440-395 million years ago) in a geosyncline. This geosyncline was a huge basin under the sea for a hundred million years, into which all the sediments from further north were washed by rivers. The volume of this sediment was such that it continually sank under its own weight, thus building up enormous thicknesses of sediment.
Rock Types
400 million years have turned these sediments into hard sedimentary rocks. Rock types in the glen vary from fine-grained shales and mudstones to coarser greywackes and conglomerates. The typical rock of the glen is the grey featureless whinstone, the local name for the greywacke, formed of grains carried by currents a long way offshore.
Fossils are not found in the whinstone. However there are thin bands of black shales, best seen in the forestry excavations above Shinnel Head, which are fossiliferous. Black shales can easily be mistaken for coal. They consist of very dark mud with some graptolites preserved in them. Graptolites, which are colonial marine organisms, may be found by patient searching. I was obviously not patient enough.
These black shales are the oldest rocks of the area and were laid down very far from land. The black shales can be seen by following the burn in Dun Cleuch 7297, as it tumbles down the steep hillside.
Just through the forestry gate at Shinnel Head up on the left is a quarry which reveals the black shales, which are particularly favoured by the forestry people for surfacing the forestry roads. On the south side of the quarry is radiolarian chert, a rock associated with the black shales. This is a greyish rock which, when broken, gives a razor-sharp edge. It is made up of the siliceous skeletons of minute protozoa.
It is common to find conglomerates, especially up the glen. These rocks consist of coarse sand and pebbles from ancient beaches. A particularly fine place to see these is at Fairy Craig by Appin, but there are also plenty of conglomerate erratics down the glen, carried there by glaciers, notably the boulders in the field by Craigencoon cottage.
400 Million Years Ago
So, all these rocks were deposited in a sea lying to the south of a landmass
situated where the
At least 15 kilometres thickness of greywacke is present in Tynron Glen.
Igneous Intrusions
About 380 million years ago molten rock was forced between some of the beds of primaeval rock. Some of these rocks, porphyrite and lamprophyre, now outcrop in narrow bands as igneous dykes, crossing the glen at right angles. Such rocks solidified quite deep underground, but have been revealed by erosion. Porphyrite and lamprophyre are pink igneous rocks easily distinguished from grey whinstone when freshly broken. They make as good dykestones as the whinstones and their use in a wall is very often the sign of an outcrop.
A convenient spot to find an outcrop is 150 metres south-east of Kirkconnel Loch, where the porphyrite outcrops as a low narrow ridge crossing the track. Along this track the junction between the pink porphyrite and the whinstone can be clearly seen. In this case the country rock (the whinstone) has been baked by the intense heat of the dyke and altered to a dark slaty rock. This dyke outcrop can be followed up to the top of Thistlemark, where some of these distinct pink stones have been used in the march dyke.
Since 380 Million Years Ago
What has happened since then is still not well understood. There are no
rocks younger than Silurian in the glen. This could well be because the area
has not been under the sea since then. However, the
Roughly 225 million years ago red sandstones were laid down in the sea in the Thornhill area, these being made from sand and dust washed or blown from the surrounding desert hills. So Tynron was a desert at that time.
The Hercynian (280 million years ago) and the Alpine (some 60 million years ago) mountain-building periods squeezed and crumpled the local rocks, further reinforcing their north-east to south-west trend. The geological structure is highly complex, despite the apparent simplicity of the geological map *2.
It is amazing to think that this area could have been part of a range of
mountains as high as the
Rock Uses
The whinstone has been fully utilised. It makes the dykes and the houses and is an excellent long-lasting building stone. Though it does not always split along straight lines, it does not weather like the red sandstone. Small abandoned quarries are dotted around the glen especially by roadsides. Buccleuch Estates still exploit the quarry at Aird Wood 827935. Whinstone shingle from the river makes cobbled surfaces for farmyards and forecourts and whinstone makes good roadstone for the forestry.
The red desert sandstones have been used in many buildings in the glen, especially for making the extremely attractive lintels or window edgings. The church is built of the coarsest of pink sandstones with large grains of quartz.
Lead has been prospected but without success. Minerals, even quartz veins, are hard to find. In Tynron parish, but in Scaur Glen, at Corfardine, slates were quarried for a short while at 804961.
RELIEF
AND DRAINAGE
A walk to the top of any one of the glen's highest hills reveals a landscape of rounded whaleback hills, which all seem to be of much the same height, with smooth convex ridges and a gently undulating skyline. A great distance can be seen. Valleys like Tynron Glen have been cut into the rocks, making the dissected plateau of the Southern Uplands.
Discordant Scenery
A surprising point is that the scenery bears little or no relation to the underlying geology. Were it dependent on geology you would expect ridges running north-east to south-west, with valleys between, along the faults and weaker rocks. The Shinnel, flowing south-eastwards for much of its length, cuts completely at right angles across the rocks. This is what discordance is.
The two theories for this discordance are as follows:- 1. The whole area was once covered by rocks laid down in the Cretaceous Period, 135-65 million years ago. These rocks have long since been eroded away, but they used to slope south-eastwards and the Shinnel flowed down this slope. As all these Cretaceous rocks were eroded into the sea to the south-east, the Shinnel continued on its south-easterly course and superimposed itself onto the underlying whinstone, as it cut down into the rocks below.
2. The whole area was covered by the sea and levelled off by the waves as recently as the late Tertiary, say 10 million years ago. Gradually, as the land rose or sea-level dropped, the Shinnel formed its present course on this bevelled surface, and thus was likewise superimposed, cutting right across the underlying rocks.
As there is no evidence of any Cretaceous rocks nor Tertiary marine deposits in the region, neither theory is very attractive.
Radial Drainage
Map *3 opposite shows the Shinnel, the Scaur and the Dalwhat to be parts of a radial drainage pattern centred around Cairnsmore of Carsphairn, Blackcraig Hill and Windy Standard just a few kilometres to the west. These three rivers drain south-eastwards into the Nith.
A sharp elbow of capture shows up on the Shinnel at the Clone and it appears that the Shinnel must have continued south-east at the Clone and flowed into the Cairn not so very long ago. The Clone pass is chock-full of glacial deposits of considerable depth and it seems that this particular course of the Shinnel was cut off in the Ice Age. The height difference between the top of the Clone and the Shinnel Water is quite considerable, however, so the blockage may have occurred several interglacials ago.
The till-filled gap followed by the road from Tynron village, past Clonrae, to Shinnel Wood is also probably a former course of the Shinnel. Now it is a wide valley with only a tiny misfit stream in it. This valley must once have contained a much larger river, i.e. the Shinnel. The height difference between Tynron bridge and Craigturra cottage is a mere 22 metres.
Changes in Sea-Level
There is evidence of a continual drop in sea-level relative to land in recent geological history. This exists in the form of the benches or shoulders on the valley sides. A walk up any hillside in the glen shows that slope angle is very inconsistent, some parts of the same hillside being quite steep and others almost level. If sea-level did not change, then the Shinnel would have regular concave valley sides.
Each uplift of land in the Tertiary has made the Shinnel cut deeper and deeper down into the glen floor. Each bench up on the hillside is a fragment of an old bit of valley side, relating to a time when the valley floor was higher than at present. The valley-side cross-sections above Auchenbrack and Macqueston *4a show these benches clearly and they have been well-used for farming.
The long profile of the Shinnel *4b shows up the changes in gradient of the glen floor. The Shinnel runs across alternate stretches of flattish alluvium with a shallow gradient and steeper sections with rapids and small waterfalls. These latter stretches are called nick points and are caused by drops in sea-level or uplifts of land.
Why are the hills smooth and rounded?
Earlier in the Tertiary, some few millions years ago, as mentioned above, this area could have been under the sea and levelled off by wave action.
When the land was uplifted out of the sea, the rivers cut their valleys and the hills were worn down by sub-aerial processes of weathering and erosion. The rocks of the Shinnel are thinly bedded and mostly break up into flat stones of no great size, not into large boulders. This could contribute to the lack of angularity in the scenery. There are some crags, but only four of any extent, Craigturra, Tynron Doon, Croglin Craig and Sharp Craig.
The rounded appearance of the hills was then accentuated during the last million years or so during the Ice Age.
GLACIATION
The latest great Ice Age began something over a million years ago and, of
course, is still with us. For 900,000 of the last million years
Each glaciation would have started with an accumulation of snow and ice in the Galloway Hills, producing tongues of ice. One of these extended down Tynron Glen, but later expanded and coalesced into a continuous ice sheet with worsening of the climate.
A feature of repeated advances of the ice is that each advance tends to obliterate the evidence of the previous one. Thus it is the evidence of the most recent glaciation that now shows up in the glen.
Tynron Glen already existed before the Ice Age, but the ice has given it all its detailed land forms and caused, I believe, some changes in the course of the Shinnel.
The last Glacial Period began about 70,000 BP (Before Present). The last great build-up of ice started 25,000 BP and was at its maximum a mere 17-20,000 years ago. Deglaciation was rapid and the last ice left the tops of the glen hills some 10-11,000 BP. What can now be seen in the glen is what was left by this last great ice advance and retreat.
Erosion By Ice
A thick ice sheet was responsible for rounding off the tops and the spurs of Tynron's hills and removing all the soil. When the ice melted away, the tops of the hills were bare rock. There are no rugged mountain peaks because this area was already low enough to be completely covered by the ice sheets.
The ice ages all began with tongues of ice pushing down the glen, widening
and deepening it. The truncated spur at Craigencoon and the crags at
Craigturra, Tynron Doon and Croglin were formed by the edge of the tongue of
ice which was occupying the lower ground. The cauldron-like valley-heads of the
Shinnel, Appin and Kirkconnel rivers can also be explained by the action of
glaciers. They resemble the much more impressive corries of further west in
Deposits By Ice
Other important glacial influences lie in the deposits that cover so much of the lower ground in the glen (see map *2). The floor and a lot of the valley-sides and hollows are covered in till (also known as boulder clay or glacial drift), either laid down beneath the moving glacier or left as the glacier melted and deposited its contents of rock on the ground. The till is brown or brownish-grey and consists of everything between small stones and large boulders of greywacke, angular and sub-angular, haphazardly mixed in a matrix of clay or sand.
In some places it is arranged in small egg-shaped knolls with their long axes running down the glen in the direction of the ice. Craigencoon cottage is sited on a feature of glacial deposition big enough to be called a drumlin, but the many smaller ones are best seen around Auchenbrack, on the slopes of Court Hill or on Cormilligan Bottom.
PHOTO *B Cormilligan
Hummocky Glacial Deposits with Run-rig
The large area of Cormilligan Bottom up Kirkconnel Glen is covered in these depositional mounds, as shown on PHOTO *B and they make it a really hummocky bottom.
Where cut into by rivers or machinery, the contents of these knolls can be clearly seen. The forestry quarry just north of Appin has a superb section.
The overall effect of all this deposition was to fill in the valley floor and all the basins and hollows along the glen sides. As can be seen from the geology map *2, well over half the glen is covered in glacial till and the bedrock is often many metres below.
Fluvio-Glacial Deposits
While the ice was retreating 10,000-11,000 years ago, the glen must have been awash with meltwater every summer. The Shinnel must have been braided and would have flooded the flat areas of its valley floor. Alluvium was spread across the valley floor.
Some of the valley bottoms may represent the beds of lakes temporarily dammed by glacial deposits, notably the lovely flat land by Tynron village. In this case the dam would have been in the vicinity of The Linn, where the flat land ends downstream and the glen narrows. The Linn would have been a waterfall initiated by the overflow from the lake. The Linn is the best of several waterfalls and is probably the best place to see salmon leaping. There are still salmon leaping there in autumn 1996. The waterfalls below Appin, where Appin Burn tumbles into the Shinnel, are also splendid, yet far more secluded.
Since glaciation the lakes quickly filled in with the mass of loose debris existing on the glen floor washed into them by the main Shinnel and by the new burns formed on the valley sides. Some of these burns have carved impressive gullies, even gorges, in just 10,000 years, as they have cut down through a few metres of glacial debris on the valley sides and reached bedrock. There is much hidden beauty in these wonderful cleughs. My favourite is March Burn on Auchenbrack.
In 10,000 years time or a lot less
the ice might be back!
EARLY
SETTLEMENT IN THE GLEN
Palaeolithic
If Palaeolithic Man (Old Stone Age) settled the glen in the Interglacials then all record has been swept away by the glaciers. Evidence this far north can only survive in places immune to glacial action, like caves, or where covered and protected by glacial deposits. Whinstone is no cave-former and who knows if Palaeolithic remains lie undiscovered under the till?
I should think it certain that Old Stone Age Man lived in the glen, as the climates of the Interglacials were at least as good as now. Moreover, plentiful animals for hunting existed, such as reindeer, mammoth and woolly rhino, which lived in this area as recently as 14,000 BP. For Palaeolithic Man read Neanderthal Man, as our species of homo sapiens was not round here until 10,000 BP or so.
Mesolithic 10,000-5,000 BP
Mesolithic finds have been made in many sites in
Nothing has turned up in Tynron yet, but an expert survey of the Shinnel
Glen would be likely to reveal the presence of Mesolithic Man. Such folk were
hunters and seem to have lived on the Solway coast, coming inland in the
summers on hunting expeditions for salmon and trout,
Mesolithic Man followed the retreat of the ice sheets northward and so equally did the vegetation, colonising the tundra. By 7,200 BP the glen was covered from top to bottom in oak, birch, Scots pine, hazel and elm. The valley floor had thickets of willow and alder. Summers were already as warm as they are now, though drier. Then between 7,200 and 5,000 BP the climate became more humid and peat bogs formed, especially on the tops.
Neolithic 5,000-4,000 BP
From 5,000 to 2,750 BP summers became warmer and drier again, forest spreading back to the tops. As the climate started to improve, the first farming started soon after 5,000 BP in the forest. This is what marks the change to the Neolithic. A handful of Neolithic folk would have cleared a few favoured patches by cutting down trees with their improved stone axes and by burning. Like some primitive tribes even today they practised a kind of shifting cultivation, probably without any permanent settlements.
Elk, horse, ox, deer, boar, beaver, wolverine, hare, lemming, lynx, brown bear, wolf, fox, stoat, weasel: this incredible range of animals populated the glen. These animals and their habitat have largely disappeared and we are left with just a remnant.
Some Neolithic finds have turned up in the glen. Neolithic stone axes have
been found in Tynron village at 808930, on Barr Hill, and in 1879 by the drove
road on Bennan. A granite axe-hammer was found in a cairn in Tynron parish
circa 1800 and a flint scraper in Fox's Hole on the steepest part of
Craigturra, the nearest thing Tynron has to a cave. Artifacts like these
generally end up in
Bronze Age 4,000-2,200 BP
A black stone axe, found near the shepherd’s house at Kirkconnel, dates from about 3,000 BP in the Bronze Age, as does the small rapier-like blade of bronze found on Macqueston in 1911/12. It is a cross between a dagger and a rapier, 22 centimetres long, and was used for stabbing or thrusting.
Information on these finds is recorded in the Transactions of the
Bronze Age peoples cleared more land and grew crops of barley and emmer (an early form of wheat), together with plants we ignore now, like white goosefoot, black bindweed and persicaria.
Since 2,750 BP the climate has been cooler and wetter, as we can all see. More peat has formed. Stumps of pine in peat cuttings show how peat expanded at the expense of forest.
There are quite a few
Lamgarroch had a "great cairn" on top in the eighteenth century, according to Rae, but it has somehow disappeared. A few stones remain on this stoneless hilltop, together with two intriguing circular hollows. Pinzarie had a cairn containing nine stone coffins, but nobody knows where. Lann Hall had a cairn with a cist and a Bronze Age battle-axe, but the cairn was removed in 1863 and its location is unknown.
There is an interesting cairn 30 metres in diameter lying by Gledbrae at 783937. Recent field clearance stones have been dumped on top of it, confusing any interpretation. This may be the cairn on Macqueston, containing a stone coffin and hammer, which is mentioned by several sources.
Yet another cairn of small stones is marked on the Ordnance Survey map at 753952 just north of St. Connel's Chapel. It looks like it has been rifled. In the nineteenth century it was common practice for lairds with an antiquarian bent to dig the conspicuous Bronze Age mounds, sometimes through intellectual curiosity, often in the hope of finding buried treasure. Cairns were needlessly destroyed, finds disappeared. Another cairn 16 metres in diameter is in the field by Craigencoon, not far from the road. The centre has been dug out by a previous century's enthusiasts, leaving us no evidence of what was in it.
Cairnfields
Around 758974, above Old Auchenbrack, lies a cairnfield situated above the
junction of Appin and Shinnel Waters, where the valley widens out. It is in two
parts, the lower on a steep hillside, consisting of twelve
There are quite a few such cairnfields in South West Scotland, scattered across our hillsides, though they are rather unimpressive relics of human existence.. Some experts see them as covering burials, in that any bodies would have rotted away in the acid soil. Only important people qualified for large cairn burials perhaps, as there are only a few of them.
M.J.Yates has written an interesting article on cairnfields in Proceedings
of the Society of Antiquarians of Scotland 1984. He sees these as evidence for
early farming. Their size is usually 2 to 5 metres across. They occur in
groups, showing where field plots used to be. The cairns are built of field
clearance stones and their irregularity shows they were simply piled up by the
early farmers. Cairns are the most convenient way of disposing of field stones,
especially when a nearby bog, rock outcrop or immovable boulder could be used
to save using up agricultural land. Doesn't this still go on nowadays? It is
significant that cairns lie within throwing distance of each other. Michael
Yates excavated 40
70% of
These small cairns then represent pioneer forest clearance. Tree cover was thinner away from the glacial drift, tree roots shallower and more easy to remove, so cairns are mostly on rock subsoil. Pollen analysis of weeds shows these patches were mainly pastoral and not cultivated: evidence of shifting cultivation. They may have been partly tilled by primitive spade or hoe.
Cairnfields at Pinzarie Hill above
Craigencoon
This is an extensive hillside with a south-west aspect, formerly of rough pasture, but developed in 1986/7 by Economic Forestry. Map *5 shows the area before the forestry.
It contains a sizeable cairnfield of some 68
Near the source of the main burn on Pinzarie Hill are two interesting rings.
One is oval, about 12 metres x 8 metres, the other almost a circle about 20
metres across. They consist of low mounds covered in turf, with some large
stones. The oval seems to contain other features. They are associated with 3 of
the larger
On the other side of the hill a 6 metres diameter hut circle showed up clearly in light snow. This, however, is not threatened by forestry.
Most of Pinzarie Hill has disappeared under trees, so most of the
I originally went up Pinzarie Hill before work started on planting in order to map the layout of run-rig and sod dykes. The lowest cairns just above the stell, including a nice group of five, lie in these Mediaeval fields. Some cairns have obstructed Mediaeval rigs on cultivated fields. Ploughmen did not bother to remove them and the Scots plough took pains to avoid them. These lowest are at about 260 metres, the highest being at 370 metres. The cairns are situated on the better, more gently-sloping land facing south-west, just as Michael Yates says.
Burnt Mounds
The Glenesslin booklet also details many burnt mounds. These mounds are by water, are often crescent-shaped or contain a hollow and consist of fire-cracked stones in a matrix of dark soil, sometimes with charcoal. They show where cooking took place or water was heated by immersing hot stones. In Shinnel Glen the only one I know of is at 824912 beside the stream near the corner of the field on the Maxwelton side. There is also a striking patch of red stones and earth where a burn crosses the dyke at 799919, but there must be others waiting to be found. Burnt mounds are hard to date exactly, but belong to prehistoric times.
Vitrified Fort
Here is a fascinating example of a late Victorian field trip up Tynron Glen. This is taken from TDGNHAS 1892-3.
"25th September. Went with J. Hunter and Joseph Kilpatrick,
Thornhill, to see a vitrified fort in Tynron. It is situated upon the farm of
Pinzarie, about two miles from Tynron Kirk, up the water of Shinnel, a little
from the side of the road. The situation is upon a gently rising hill at the
bottom of a moderately high range composed of greywacke, passing into greywacke
slate, and distant from Shinnel water about 500 yards. It presents a slight
elevation above the adjacent land in the form of a circle, and as nearly as may
be guessed the circumference of the circle is about 80 yards. Running through
the centre from east to west is a rather prominent elevated ridge, the
prominence being chiefly in the middle, composed of loose stones, in no way
cemented, but chiefly vitrified. These stones, the largest of which may weigh
14 pounds, bear evident marks of having been in a state of fusion. Some are
coated with a coarse-like glass of a brown colour. The internal structure of
these stones is porous, somewhat resembling pumice stone, but much denser and
of a lead colour, but sometimes of a lead colour approaching to purple.
Others again have a somewhat fibrous texture, and these are not so
porous, whilst others are devoid of the porous texture, and a good deal
resemble some varieties of green stone, particularly when the grains of quartz
are large. I shall return to the notice of these stones after I have submitted
them to analysis. Could not find the fort mentioned in the statistical account
of the parish, but only of the existence of a Roman road and of a Roman
encampment. The latter is composed of a quantity of rather small stones, but
the larger may have been removed for the building of dykes. It is about one and
a half miles from the vitrified fort, and upon the top of a range of hills
separating Shinnel water from Scar water. Found an account of vitrified forts
in the English Cyclopaedia Art Fort. Found no plants on the way. Brought home
some specimens of vitrified stone."
Unfortunately I have been unable to discover the whereabouts of this vitrified fort or the supposed "Roman encampment", as only vague locations are given. This is a problem with many of the old finds. A map would have helped.
A vitrified fort is made by building walls then setting fire to wood on top of them, thereby baking the stones, although some say the stones were only baked when enemies set fire to the walls.
Iron Age
During the Iron Age, which started about 2,200 BP, men had better tools and
could clear more land for their cattle and for growing grains. By this time we
know the people of the glen as Britons, a Celtic people, as they were
throughout
There is an intriguing feature at 769968 astride the 300 metre contour on Auchenbrack, sited on a prominent spur with a clear view up and down the glen.
It is circular, about 21 metres outside circumference, consisting now of turf and mainly small stones. It has walls around 3 metres thick, although they could have spread to that width. There are two entrances 3 metres wide on opposite sides of the feature. A second less-pronounced concentric ring is apparent on the west and south sides. Inside the circle it is irregular and lumpy with no discernible shapes.
Although it could be a cairn perhaps, it looks remarkably like one of the homesteads in Glenesslin. (See reference at the back). It would have contained a timber house and probably dates from the centuries either side of 100 BC in the Iron Age. The thick stone enclosure would not be enough protection against enemies, but would keep out the still numerous wild animals and also keep in a few domesticated animals.
Whatever it is it has shrunk down over the centuries and also, I expect, been thoroughly robbed: there is a stone dyke nearby. Sod dykes and run-rig are associated with it. The sod dyke which meets it on the east and west sides does not seem to run over the top.
It is interesting that the homestead lies on the edge of mediaeval or post-mediaeval rig, thus indicating continual use of a good area of level land previously cleared.
THE ROMANS
When the Romans came to this area, they built one of their main roads north up Nithsdale via Dalswinton and Durisdeer. Various forts and encampments have turned up.
Dalswinton had a Roman fort by the Nith, housing two cavalry units and was the HQ for South West Scotland. Durisdeer had a small fort, well worth a walk up the pass from the village.
Exciting finds of Roman settlements have been discovered only in the past few years. A Roman site at Carronbridge was partly excavated in 1989/90 in advance of the Carronbridge bypass. Drumlanrig has a superb Roman site found in 1984, which is featured in the exhibition in the visitors’ centre. Barburgh Mill, just north of Auldgirth, was an outpost of the fort at Drumlanrig with some 80 men
The first Roman soldier set foot in the glen soon after 78 AD. Agricola led the invasion and colonisation of this area in the campaign of 82 AD based at Dalswinton, but after 98 AD the Romans left.
The Antonine Wall
It was not until after Hadrian’s Wall, started in 122 AD and especially the Antonine Wall, started 142 AD, that the Romans really dominated the area for a while, when they had a large camp at Drumlanrig and smaller ones at Durisdeer and Barburgh Mill.
Even after 142 under Lollius Urbicus the Romans never had a complete grip, though they may have organised farming and marketing. They would have met the mixture of local resistance and cooperation typical of occupied countries.
Circa 210 Severus led the final campaign into these parts, but in about 211
the Romans withdrew to
Revolts
Revolts against the Romans were irregular but there were several in the
360's, when inroads were made into Roman Britain. The Romans fought back and
had restored order by 367. By 409 "barbarians" like the Picts and
Scots were successfully attacking the Empire from all sides and most of
Romans in Tynron?
There is no actual evidence of Romans in Tynron Glen, though
Drumlanrig's soldiers must have trodden Tynron Glen, at least on their way
over the Clone to Glencairn, where, excitingly, a possible fortlet was
discovered by aerial photography by Cairn Water at
Tynron Doon
Tynron Doon is the glen's outstanding historical and physical landmark. See PHOTO *C.
Tynron Doon is a multivallate Iron Age hill fort, typical of hundreds in
The 1964-7 excavations found lots of animal bones and bits of iron. The
bones were mainly of ox, with just a scatter of pig and sheep and possibly
horse and deer. Small finds were of blue glass, bone pins, an awl, a lead
weight and pieces of flint or chert, now kept in
The scree below the hilltop contains much interesting archaeological material, including slag, this being where Willie Wilson found a seventh century gold filigree bracteate (a thin beaten plate). Trees now make access to the scree difficult.
The concept of multiple ramparts and ditches probably replaced an earlier
structure of small ditches and wooden palisades, which existed maybe as early
as 300 BC. The
The ramparts are still impressive, but it is known that such fortifications
deteriorate rapidly with time due to soil creep and other mass movements. This
means that the
Tynron Doon may have been a refuge from the Romans looking for slaves or it may have served as a settlement site for people tilling adjacent land and keeping herds in local pastures and forests. The view from the top in 200 BC was mostly of forest.
Tynron Doon is assumed to be still in use in the centuries after the Romans left. It has been suggested that it may have been reused as a motte under Norman influence and the ditches recut. Its continual use as a signalling post is well-known, notably during the Border raids.
The hill must have looked different in the sixteenth century, when an L-shaped tower house was built just within the gate in the north-west corner. It was about 6 metres x 13 metres with a 2.5 metres x 3 metres extension in the north-west corner. This was demolished between 1700 and 1750 and the stone was unfortunately used to rebuild the parish kirk at Tynron. The foundations of this building were still visible a hundred years ago.
The excavations, detailed in the TDGNHAS 1964 and 1971, found the latest
settlement on the
Other Hill Forts
There are other less well-known hill forts in the glen, according to
There may have been a hill fort, though, on Shancastle Doon, which has a dominant view up Tynron Glen and up and down Glencairn. If you climb Shancastle you will have a wonderful view over towards Tynron Doon, but you will see no real evidence that there was a hill fort.
Grennan hill fort lies in Scaur Glen 1200 metres to the north-north-west of Tynron Doon at 825950, but it is tiny. On my last visit in September 1995, the dreaded forestry fence was being driven into its ramparts.
PHOTO *C Tynron
Doon from the north-west, showing the 2 ramparts and three ditches
AFTER
THE ROMANS
Britons of Strathclyde
The Britons reasserted themselves when the Romans left. The British Celtic
Then during this Dark Age period the area was subjected to much settlement and influence from overseas.
Scots
Another Celtic tribe from
Angles
Our native British people came under further pressure in the late sixth
century, when Angles arrived from
Vikings
The Vikings, between 793 and 872, were said to be the scourge of the Solway coast. Judging from the distribution of place names, Tynron Glen itself must have seen some Norse settlement. "Hass", "grain" and "holm" are local names of Norse origin.
Britons, Angles and Scots
In 843 Kenneth MacAlpin, the first king of
Tynron Glen changed hands at least nominally many times between 800 and 945
AD and was never a solid part of
The Angles, for example, held some or all of this area as part of
South-West
So the native Britons, with their Roman admixture, absorbed and still
survived centuries of Scots, Angles, Vikings and even Irish-speaking Gaels,
after which Galloway is named.
Tynron in
A turning point arrived in 1016, when the British
An increase in the population of this area between 800 and 1100 had led to the first large-scale deforestation of Shinnel Glen. More woodland was cut for fuel and timber and destroyed for cultivation and pasture. Cattle and pigs foraged freely in the woodland next to cleared areas and removed the undergrowth. By 1300 there was very little natural vegetation left in Tynron.
THE
In 1072, only 6 years after
David I
David I, especially, (1124-53), encouraged Norman infiltration and, with it,
feudalism. This was a great way of getting
The glen came under a large landowner, receiving land via the favour of the king, to whom all land ultimately belonged. The landowner had tenants who employed serfs, who became tied to the land.
In 1124 Nithsdale was one of the great feudal lordships. The lord's name, the first local landowner's name known, was Dunegal, who lived at Morton Castle. Morton Castle is a picturesque spot by a loch, hidden away at 890992. On Dunegal's death this northern part of Nithsdale passed to Macdonald, his son.
Mottes
Mottes were thrown up around 1200 by incoming landlords, largely Anglo-Norman, in this "barbarous" area. Typical Scottish names like Fraser, Menzies and Balliol, Bruce, Comyn, Grant and Gourlay originate from these times. Curiously, no mottes exist in the glen, but Tynron Doon would have been used as one.
There are many nearby, the nearest just a few minutes away in Glencairn. The
The border of Tynron Glen and Glencairn has Shancastle Doon. "Sean
chaisteal" means "old castle" in Gaelic and there was once a
tower with massive walls on top of Shancastle, now thoroughly robbed for building
at Maxwelton. Fascinatingly,
French was the language used by this new aristocracy, but it never got a
general hold.
Houses
Houses of the time would have been of unmortared stone or of turf, thatched with bracken, heather or broom. More prosperous people might have had wooden-framed houses with wattle and clay walls. Most houses had one room, no chimney, no light and no ventilation. Cattle were tethered in the house. Better-off tenants could have had two rooms with tiny windows. There was little point in building better anyway, because of unrest, Border raids and insecurity of tenure. People expected their dwellings to be knocked down during raids. Because of the materials used, traces of these early houses are hard to find, as once they fell down they would melt back into the land.
N Death of Alexander III
A steady increase in population had led to the clearance and cultivation of
more virgin and marginal land in the glen up to the climatic deterioration
after 1300 with cooler summers and colder winters which must have dampened the
ardour of the keenest of farmers. It is thought that a huge volcanic eruption
of
Alexander III's death in 1286 left no heir to the Scottish throne. The
ensuing disputes brought the end to many years of virtual peace and the
beginning of centuries of unrest. Tynron could scarcely have escaped the Civil
War of 1286-7 and the wars with
In 1300 Edward I invaded
Bruce
There followed in 1306 the notorious episode of Robert the Bruce (allegedly) slaying the Red Comyn in Dumfries, taking refuge in the castle of Tynron Doon and receiving porridge from the good lady of Cairneycroft.
By 1307 the glen must have been one of the routes used by men of Robert
Bruce dealing with the opposition of the family of the Comyn and John Balliol,
his rival for the throne, who was based in
Tibbers and Dalswinton castles remained English strongholds and were not
taken until 1313. In 1313 Bruce also took
Tibbers Castle 862982 is well worth a visit. With its still considerable
moss-covered walls, it is a creepy, magical place, strewn with pink purslane in
summer. It is sited on the tip of a flat-topped basalt ridge and is perched
above the Nith. The walls are surrounded by a deep ditch and there is a large
bailey. It was one of the Norman mottes until the castle was built from 1298.
Edward I was there in 1298 after the Battle of Falkirk, presumably supervising
the construction.
Landowners
In 1309, a descendant of Dunegal, Thomas Randolph, who married Robert's sister, was lord of Nithsdale. This demonstrates that land could only be held by those loyal to the king, like Thomas Randolph, who had to choose sides carefully. The following pages mention some of the large landowners of Tynron over the centuries.
The
In 1354 the Barony of Drumlanrig, formerly an outlying territory of the
Earls of Mar in Aberdeenshire, was bestowed on the
The
Killiewarren
To me Killiewarren is the most interesting building in the glen and not just
because it is the oldest (1617). It was originally a three-storied fortified
house,
The
Pleasantly situated in wooded foothill country a mile north-west of
Tynron, this is a small laird’s house of the early 17th century,
plain and sturdy. It is oblong on plan and three storeys in height, the roof
appearing to have been altered, as so frequently occurs. As also is typical,
most windows have been enlarged and some built up. A more modern wing of two
storeys has been erected to the west, and in the south front of this lies the
present main door. Over this doorway two panels have been inserted, no doubt
removed from over the original door which is on the other, or north,side of the
house now obscured by modern work. The panels, now pleasingly coloured, bear
the arms of
PHOTO *D Killiewarren
PHOTO *E Long Distance View of
Killiewarren
The Queensberry Papers
The Queensberry Papers outline the acquisition of lands in Tynron. For example, in 1509 the lands of Schynell Croft are mentioned. 1606 saw the acquisition by Queensberry of Achinbrack, Mid-Schynelhead, Killiewarren, Benan, Denary (Pinzarie) and Craigencoon from Maitland of Auchingassel, Penpont, part of the Barony of Tibbers. In 1686 Queensberry Estate bought the manor and pertinents of Douglas of Stenhouse.
In 1511 the Barony of Glencairn had been granted by James IV to the Cunninghams and included, as well as land in Glencairn, Cormyligane, Corrochdow, Kirkconnell, Croglinmark, Questoune, Lawne, Stanhouse, Kristemark, Margmalloch, Tanelagoch, Mirgwastune and Mirgmalloch, in other words and other spellings the land to the south-west of the Shinnel, which was mostly in hands other than Queensberry’s over the centuries.
It seems to me very difficult to keep track of exactly who owned what and
when, as great chunks of Tynron were transferred from one large landowner to
another. "The History the Douglas Family" by
The
During the fifteenth century the Wilsons of Croglin, living in Macqueston,
had acquired all the land south-west of the Shinnel, with the local
The failure of the Ayr Douglas Bank in 1781 ruined the Wilsons, who had been
a powerful family, owning by 1796, when the estate was finally sold, Appine,
Margmalloch, Croglin, Tinlego,
The site of Croglin itself is now marked by a small unplanted L-shaped pile of stones 40 metres into the sitkas by the main forestry road at 743984. It was abandoned soon after 1805. For more information see TDGNHAS 1949-50 "Wilson of Croglin".
The Lag Charters
"The Lag Charters" record the details of the Grierson family in Tynron. We know that John Grierson was in Cormilligane in 1535 and owned Carrochdow and Murmulzoth. In 1545 he still owned the same, though the latter is now spelt Muirmolloch (near Kirkconnel?). The Griersons had Capenoch in 1607. The earliest local record is circa 1418 when George de Dunbarre gave up his lands at Le Ard (the Barony of) and Tynnroun to Gilbert Grierson.
Maps and tax returns
These old documents mentioned so far are a very valuable source of information, but it is bitty as far as Tynron is concerned. Written history takes a great leap forward with the publication of the first maps, tax returns and valuations.
Nidisdail Map
Timothy Pont was a Gaelic speaker and a wonderful innovative map-maker,
mapping the whole of
Place names may not always be accurately marked and not every place was shown perhaps. The Shinnel Glen is full of names, for example, while the Scaur is surprisingly empty of detail. But what an extremely precious record of the Shinnel Glen and an excellent illustration of the fact that a map is worth a thousand words.
To show how much ahead of his time Pont was, a 1725 map of Nithisdale by the geographer, Herman Moll, only marks Shinnel River, Ahinbrach Hill and Sislemark: an interesting selection, as Moll claimed his new and correct maps of Scotland were a "work long wanted and very useful for all gentlemen that travel to any part of that kingdom".
Valuation and Hearth Tax
However, sometimes words are worth a very great deal. Witness the importance
of the 1671 Valuation *9 and the Hearth Tax of 1691 *10. Remember
that these were compiled at a time of great unrest in
The valuation interestingly fails to include Auchenbrack, perhaps deliberately in order to avoid payment! Auchenbrack is part of the Queensberry estate for the hearth tax however. It is fascinating comparing the Valuation and Hearth Taxes, just twenty years or so apart and seeing how land changed hands regularly. The names of the properties, though, are all familiar and this shows how the present pattern was ingrained 300 years ago.
The hearth tax list was compiled to raise money for armies fighting against the Jacobites. Duncan Adamson presented it in TDGNHAS 1970.
The Heidless Horseman o' Tynron Doon
I thought long and hard about including superstitions, hobgoblins, fairies and druids in this epic, but I finally succumbed to mentioning this traditional Tynron story.
McMilligan from Dalgarnock was visiting a lass in
Trotter has more about the heidless horseman in Gallovidian magazine, winter 1902.
THEX CHURCH
X HolywoodX
After many centuries of Christianity the Church of Rome extended its
influence with the coming of the French-speaking aristocracy. By 1192 direct
links with the papacy had been established. Monastic settlements, like
Sweetheart Abbey, introduced large-scale sheep farming to the landscape, and so
have much to answer for. About that time there were probably chapels at
Craigturra and Kirkconnel. Tynron parish was delineated in the time of David I
and included in the diocese of
U KirkconnelU
Some excavation was done by Tom Affleck at Kirkconnel in 1983 on a prominent spur beside the aptly named Dry Burn. This showed the remains of a small rectangular building, probably a chapel, with stone walls some 80 centimetres thick. Affleck takes it as seventh or eighth century originally, as it is typical of such hermitages in its isolated position. His article in Glencairn Parish Magazine Summer 1984 gives more detail.
St. Conall himself probably never lived there, but the chapel was dedicated
to him later. Others think that St. Conal, 612-52, who was a Scots missionary
from
W CraigturraW
The "chapel" at Craigturra is even more of a mystery. It must have
stood up behind the present Craigturra cottage. This is the
V Tynron and the KirkV
Tynron village existed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, as a small hamlet of farmers, with the kirk, manse and glebe (the minister's farm). The kirk was endowed with a ploughgate of land, supposedly the area of land which could be ploughed by one ploughteam in a year. A ploughgate was about equal to a merkland, 13/4d Scots, 104 Scots acres or 130 English acres.
The rent for the glebe was paid to the minister, who also nominally received the teinds, a tenth part of the parish produce. However, it was Holywood Abbey that usually took the teinds and appointed their own minister, who was often a canon from the abbey.
The Reformation
In 1559/60, with the Reformation, Roman Catholicism was outlawed, the power of the monasteries suppressed and church property confiscated. Catholicism was replaced by the Episcopal Church. Holywood Abbey was plundered. The ruins lie within the present churchyard at Holywood. In 1587 the lands of Holywood Abbey in Tynron went to the king and in 1617 the king granted them to John Murray of Lochmaben as the Barony of Holywood.
In Tynron the vicar since 1540, Robert Welsh, conformed with the Reformation and remained until he died in 1568. The Reformation in Dumfriesshire met some resistance and indifference and locally it was a slow change rather than a revolution.
The patronage of Tynron church went into the lay hands of Sir James Douglas of Drumlanrig in 1591. This meant that Sir James appointed the minister, but in return he paid the stipend and maintained the church building, manse and glebe. This controversial right of patronage was not ended until 1875.
Covenanters - Hard Times
Charles I, like his father James VI before him, tried to impose bishops and the Episcopal Church against the will of most of the people. By appointing bishops the king could keep control over the Church. The National Covenant of 1638 was drawn up, opposing this state control over the Church.
In 1660 Charles II was crowned on condition that he sided with the Covenant. However the following years saw Charles II persecute all who did not subject themselves to the king as head of the church. Ministers were asked to take the oath of subjection to royal supremacy. Most ministers in this area became outlaws, field preachers, and their congregations largely supported them. The people of Tynron were largely on the Covenanters' side. This made life difficult for the curate put in the minister's place.
Unfortunately many of the large landowners locally, depending for their land
and power on the king, began a cruel tyranny and persecution. Grierson of Lag,
with his aforementioned Tynron connections, was one of the leading
Episcopalians and was responsible for viciously putting down the Covenanters in
the area. In doing so, Lag was able to hold on to his lands. If he had not
sided with the king he would have lost his lands and power and would have
become an outlaw himself. This in no way justifies what he did. It is an
age-old excuse. The remains of
Colonel James Douglas of Stenhouse was against the Covenant, "a violent persecutor of the people of God, and many he harassed and fined on account of their religion, and being a Papist he was Secretary of State for Scotland for James VII" (Rae).
Wilson of Croglin, however, gave a measure of protection to the Covenanters. With parties of soldiers moving about, who were often little more than licensed bandits, life in Tynron in the 1680's was like living under an army of occupation, with sporadic guerrilla warfare.
Local Martyrs
Tynron parish had its full share of the troubles and its own martyrs.
Allan's Cairn 698009, erected 1857 by Rev. Peter Carmichael of Penpont, is set
at Tynron's boundary with Dalry, where are buried George Allan and Margaret
Gracie, chased and shot on the moors. Buried in Tynron churchyard is William
Smith, a 19 year old, shot near Moniaive in 1685, after being chased by Douglas
of Stenhouse and Laurie of Maxwelton. William Fergusson of Glencairn was hotly
pursued in 1684 by a company of dragoons in Tynron, who chased him up "the
giddy eminence of Craigturrach", overpowered him and he was banished to
Covenanters - Better Times
Success came to the Covenanters in 1688, when William and Mary took over and granted freedom of Presbyterian worship.
The Presbyterians are often romanticised as heroes, but they in their turn persecuted not only the Episcopalians but also Catholics, Quakers, gipsies and witches, all regarded as outcasts.
So life was still brief, unsettled and uncertain. Religious leaders and organisations were as much a threat as bad landlords, the weather and the English to the Tynron peasants.
A booklet, The Nithsdale Covenanting Trail, is available with information on all the covenanting sites of the area, which were all well signposted in 1990.
The Kirk-Session
From 1579 the parish had to list its poor and make arrangements for poor relief. This task fell to the kirk-session, who looked after the poor of the parish until 1845 when the Poor Law took this duty away. The session raised money from collections and by fines for minor misdemeanours. Here is a snippet of ecclesiastical history, which exemplifies the power of the kirk, taken from Glencairn in 1694:
"Anent Sabbath Desecration"
"John McConrik, in Tynron, is summoned to appear for "scandalous dryving an cow on ye Sabath out of ye parish of Glencarne". John appeared at a future meeting, when Alexr. McGeachie of Dalquhat deponed that he "did see John McConrik on ye Sabath walking from Tynron throu Glencarne that sam day, and ye said John did return dryving a cow, and Alex. McGeachie did speak to ye said John, and said to him, "How would he be answerable to God or man for dryving ane cow on ye Sabbath"".
What was done to John is not stated!
Cairneycroft
In 1880 on May 15, Cairneycroft, a pleasant and romantic estate of 50 acres, tenanted by two humble farmers, was sold to Rev. Ebenezer Hill, Free Church Minister at Lochmaben. The tenants’ houses required to be rebuilt and the property was being renamed Shinnel Wood.
Cairneycroft had been bought by Tynron Kirk Session in 1742 on the death of weaver, John Brownrig. Brownrigs had long ago been granted a charter for Cairneycroft by King Robert for the hospitality shown to him. From 1742 it was to be let on a 19 year lease and was the property of the poor of Tynron.
The revenue from the lands of Cairneycroft helped the poor of the parish and continued to do so after the Poor Law Act of 1845. The 20 or so parishioners on the poor roll in 1847 were also supported by the ratepaying landowners (the heritors). The board meetings minutes are available in the Ewart Library and make good reading.
LATE
MEDIAEVAL AGRICULTURE
Under the feudal system of the lairds, started in the twelfth century under David I was a farming method of INFIELD and OUTFIELD. RUN-RIG is the term used for this pre-Improvement system of agriculture.
Each tenant in Tynron had a share of common arable lands owned by the big landowners like the Douglases and also rights to common grazing. However, tenants had no right at all to occupy land nor to pass it on to their children.
Arable land was divided into strips or rigs, separated by shallow ditches. Soil from the ditches raised the height of the rigs and improved soil depth. The drainage problem was solved, as the rigs ran downhill and the furrows acted as field drains. The rigs were curved to the left at the ends to facilitate the turning of the plough team at the headland.
Sod Dykes
Earth banks (sod dykes) divided one man’s fields from another’s. Rigs were easily swapped or reapportioned. Sod dykes were built to keep cattle on the parts of the outfield to be manured (the folds), especially at night, or to keep them off where land was cropped. The head dyke demarcated permanent pasture and was the most important division on the farm. Animals were driven above the head dyke onto common grazing each day up loans or access ways.
Ploughteams
Farmtouns or "-tons" were where members of the plough team dwelt,
e.g. Macqueston and Milnton. The hamlet of Tynron would
have had several plough teams. Members of these tenant groups cooperated in the
ploughing, but each man sowed and harvested his own bits on the scattered rigs.
A typical plough team was 8 men and one ox. An alternative was 4 horses and
three people. Sometimes there were mixed teams, for example of four oxen with
two horses in front. The horses were very small, nothing like the Clydesdales
we might imagine. They were probably
Tenants
Tenants were tied to the land in several ways:-
Π. they paid feu rents or produce in lieu, or both;
. they paid cain (kain), a sort of tribute in farm produce. There was a saying about sowing grain: one to sow next year, one to grow and one to pay the laird;
Ž . they gave their services, e.g. for carrying goods, cutting and loading peat or wood;
. they gave their labour for specific periods on the laird's farm, the mains, often when they desperately needed to be working on their own rigs;
. they were tied to the laird's mill and had to keep the mill lead in good repair. As much as one-tenth of the crop was payable for milling.
The tenants themselves would employ a number of servants of various kinds. Servants were taken on for a year at a time at Martinmas, November 11th. These people made up the bulk of the population. Then there were the poor, looked after by the parish and the landowners.
Infield and Outfield
The INFIELD, or croft land, was nearest to the farmtouns. It was divided into rigs and permanently cultivated for oats and bere (four-row barley) with occasional fallows. This land was dunged but became so full of weeds so that it gave bad returns. As the infield would have been the best land and still is, any old rigs on it would have been ploughed out by modern farm machinery.
The OUTFIELD was poor grazing land up the hill, containing some folds of cultivated land. Folds were divided into parts by sod dykes, some cultivated with oats each year, followed by a year's manuring by cattle and oxen. After harvest animals were turned out on the stubble.
It is on the former outfield that patches of run-rig are clearly visible today above the present cultivated fields and sometimes even above the present head dyke. Otherwise hidden features, like these rigs, are shown up clearly by patchy snow cover or when melting snow persists in the furrows or when the sun is very low and its rays angle across the hillside. The middle slopes between Tynron Doon and Craigturra were all cultivated and the patterns of the old fields show up clearly in the right light among what is now largely bracken.
Haughland
There was some haughland along the Shinnel, which was land liable to flood regularly. It was traditionally ploughed for three years of oats, then left under pasture for three years to recover. These meadow haughlands were surrounded by temporary enclosures called hainings. From April to July animals were kept off. Some hay could then be taken, then animals could graze it.
Shielings
Cattle and ewes used to be driven up the hills in summer for a few weeks after calving and lambing. Up on these summer shielings, temporary huts were built and folk often lived up there, milking cattle and sheep for cheesemaking, shearing sheep, spinning wool and cutting peat. One such hut is marked on the Pinzarie Map *11. There is the remains of another on Auchenbrack at 774974, where by following the track and sod dyke for 200 metres above the top cultivated field the foundations of a small rectangular stone building can be seen.
The old peat cuttings can still be seen, as at the top of Auchenbrack at 7797 on the flat tops. On the remote tops there is still plenty of peat.
One reason for sending animals up the hill was to keep them off the crops on the infield, as the sod dykes were not as efficient as modern dykes or fences. Children and servants were kept busy herding the animals in daytime. The beasts were folded at night and animals from ploughteams would often be tethered.
Most animals had to be slaughtered at Martinmas in November when the pasture ran out. Only those needed for breeding or farmwork were kept on, as little fodder was available. Their accumulated winter dung was spread on the infield. There were no turnips or special fodder and any hay was inferior to what we have now. A little hay was cut from the hainings or from the wild and there was some barley and oat straw. Large-scale haymaking did not reach Tynron until the eighteenth century. Small wonder the cattle were small and wiry and the old Scottish Shortwool sheep stunted.
Food and Famine
Famine was never far away. The peasants saw little of the meat from their domesticated animals, though some was salted down. They existed on oatmeal and barley bread, with perhaps a few fish or poached game. Almost everyone had poultry and cain rents were commonly paid in birds or eggs. Crowdy (cheese) was made, ale brewed and kale grown at the back of the cottages. Flax was grown and used for linen and clothing.
A bare subsistence was all that could be had, though the laird might have surplus for disposal or giving to the poor. Two bad harvests in a row meant famine, starvation and rocketing prices. Everyone would have personal experience of severe food shortages.
Agricultural production was always going to be at a low level under the feudal system. What incentive was there to tend, improve or drain land for tenants with short leases, often annual and verbal? It was a stagnant system. Low points were reached in the 1590's and 1690's (the Little Ice Age) with many consecutive bad harvests. Poor starved and died, livestock disappeared. There was a decline in population in the 1690's. Something had to happen.…..
The Deil’s Dyke
The so-called Deil’s Dyke is one of Tynron's mysteries. It is mentioned by
The real Deil’s Dyke of Galloway runs from Loch Ryan to Annan and is seen to great effect on the hills west of Sanquhar, but does not run very near to Tynron. John Barber wrote an excellent article on it in TDGNHAS 1982.
The supposed route of
It is particularly clear above Killiewarren, where it is 3 metres wide and 1 metre high with a path on top. At Killiewarren Hill it suddenly veers for no apparent reason up to the top of the hill and over, where it abruptly disappears just before the Killiewarren march dyke.
Here it is said to cross over the Shinnel by Birkhill and it is picked up
again in what is now the new forestry above Markmony. It runs through the lower
parts of the forestry and along the hill above Macqueston, its most beautiful
stretch, with its double stone dyke and line of pines. There is 1.5 kilometres
of clear dyke until Halfmerk Burn, where it disappears again. It is then
supposed to cross over to Glencairn and can be picked up above Tererran, where
there is 1 kilometre of earth ridge.
MEDIAEVAL
FIELDS ON PINZARIE HILL
On Pinzarie Hill above Craigencoon is a new forestry plantation. Buried under this is the Mediaeval field system (see map *11). In Mediaeval times this would all have been part of Nether Craigencoon land. The lower part of Pinzarie Hill is quite steep, but above there is some more gently sloping land on the bench, which showed the marks of old fields. Just above the stell was a group of four fields, which I mapped before the trees were planted. I used the basic technique of compass and pacing, a pencil and notebook. Accuracy cannot be guaranteed by this method, but it is good for a general picture.
These higher slopes on the outfield must have been a hive of activity. Apart from the four fields, there were other fields now by the Auchenbrack march and which indeed continue along the hillside on Auchenbrack. I also found a few patches of run-rig which did not seem to be enclosed, together with some other small patches which showed the green of cultivation, but did not appear to have rigs. I mapped the fields on the Pinzarie side too, just above High Pinzarie, that are not under immediate threat and so can still be clearly seen. These old fields and sod dykes can be seen on many similar slopes throughout the glen.
The Four Fields
The four fields W,X,Y and Z above the stell have been mapped as well as I could on map *12 and the exact number of rigs and their position have been marked. I have failed to show the S-shapes properly, but these show up well on the photo. These run-rig fields sloped fairly gently to the west-south-west and lay on the shoulder of the hill. The earth dyke running down the centre north to south is a huge bank of stones containing a number of large boulders and is still there, having been left as a forestry ride. The PHOTO *F on *12 was taken from Thistlemark, facing east and up the hill. With the sun at a low angle the old fields showed up beautifully, as did the old loans leading up to these high fields. The forestry road has now cut right through the middle of this area.
FIELD W
This field had 22 rigs in 100 metres, widely-spaced in the north, closely in the south. The lower west side was unsuitable for cultivation, being too wet. The earth dyke in the north-west corner was not clear. A prominent hawthorn stood on the edge of cultivation and stands yet by the forestry road.
FIELD X
Here 19 rigs were in 75 metres. The earth dyke in the north-east corner was still 0.7 metres high and 3.5 metres across. To the north-east was the remains of a small building, beside what was a well-used sheep track, and surrounded by some disturbed ground. There were fainter rigs to the east and west of this building. This was most likely to have been a shepherd's hut, perhaps used as a shieling.
FIELD Y
This was the largest field with 39 rigs in 135 metres. The field sloped
west-south-west, gently at the top, more steeply lower down. This convexity
made it impossible to see the bottom of the field from the top. The east corner
was marsh. There was a stream plus a gulley marking an old stream in the north
part. A group of what I take to be prehistoric field clearance
FIELD Z
There were 33 rigs in about 125 metres. This field contained the much more recent stell (sheep pen), now on the bend in the forestry road. Associated with the stell was a possible small building to the east and other features marked by dotted lines on the map. The west, lower end of the field was too steep to plough. The sod dyke on the west side lay at the top of a sudden change in slope and at the bottom end of the flatter ground on which these fields were situated.
Sod Dykes
The dykes surrounding the fields often contained some large stones, but were largely made of earth. They must have been some metre and a half high, probably helped by the use of stakes driven into the top. They would have been made by piling up surrounding sods plus stones from the fields. There was sometimes quite a ditch alongside. Several hundred years of disuse has led to their degradation. Even so, some were very clear indeed and stood over 50 centimetres high. How they were farmed has already been described, but when is a very interesting question.
When Were The Fields Used?
For people to work these fields, which we do not consider worthwhile nowadays, they must have been desperate for food. Two things could account for this. Firstly, if the population was expanding, for instance in the thirteenth century, when there was a measure of peace, prosperity and a good climate. Secondly, if the land on the valley floor and the infield was producing lower and lower yields. Folk knew little of rotations or field drainage and they could not manure the infield enough.
Then they could become desperate for more land, so they looked up the hill. They cultivated the most promising land, some of which prehistoric farmers had used. When yields reduced on this new land, they moved further up the hill. At times of reducing population, for example after 1350 with the Black Death, or following the many raids, or at times of starvation, the pressure of land was reduced and the new fields may have been abandoned.
The four fields were probably cultivated over a long period, though perhaps discontinuously, as the rigs were ingrained and the sod dykes were substantial. The rigs were curved in the form of an elongated reverse "S", the relic of Mediaeval ploughteams, which needed a lot of space to turn at the end of a furrow. This S shape partly turned them in the right direction. These rigs are Mediaeval, perhaps twelfth, thirteenth or fourteenth century. It is possible, though, that such fields were still ploughed in the eighteenth century, right up until the Improvements, though they were not shown on the 1772 Queensberry Estate map. The four fields were not marked as rough pasture on the 1850's OS map and they were an oasis of good grass on Pinzarie Hill even in 1985.
These higher plots became superfluous when the stone dykes were built. Pinzarie Hill was enclosed with one long dyke and crop yields vastly improved so that enough food could be grown on the lower land, even for an expanding population.
PHOTO *G An oblique angle shows
up Mediaeval fields on Pinzarie Hill
above Craigencoon cottage
before forestry planting
PHOTO *H New rigs replace the
old, as the forestry machine ploughs
new furrows into the Mediaeval
rigs in January 1987
From the house at Craigencoon the access up the hill was by the tracks or loans marked on the map, the main one being at A on map *11. The workers, animals, ploughs and sledges used these everyday. Note that one of them goes on to Auchenbrack and one on to Pinzarie as the stone dykes were, of course, not there. There must have been quite a few folk living in the predecessors to the house at Craigencoon, possibly a group of primitive houses.
At the upper limit of cultivation was the head dyke, which was clear enough, though fairly discontinuous, as it ran across the highest part of the hill to join the High Pinzarie head dyke. There is a strange dyke (B) on the top of the hill, which goes nowhere and another one (C) running up the hill, which is equally puzzling, as it too suddenly ends.
The location of these pre-Improvement fields is on the more gently-sloping of the shoulders on glacial till. The farmers avoided the steep slopes of the southern side and chose the embayment facing west. Above the head dyke was land with thinner soils on bedrock and more exposed. Animals were turned out on to this former common land at the top of the hill. Animals must also have wandered on the hill between the cultivated fields and, after cropping, onto the fields to manure them.
These old fields with their remains of sod dykes are a remnant of bygone days, a reminder of a long-lost way of life.
Aird
Each time I walked up to see what birds were on Aird Loch, the old field boundaries and settlements on this stony hilltop between 130 and 180 metres jumped out at me. So much so that I endured the bitter east wind of January 1996 to sketch in the extent of the old field system on map *13.
The modern field boundaries of largely straight and orderly drystone dykes were put in place during the Improvements not long before 1822, or at least, most of them, as a few were added up to 1853 and even two stretches after 1853. Some of these are now lying in ruins. This Improvement field system replaced an earlier layout of small irregular fields, marked on map *13 in red. Some of the new dykes were obviously built on the lines of the old dykes. The old dykes were robbed to construct the new.
Some of the fields have been ploughed regularly in recent times and old stone dykes have been removed, but other fields are so full of stones and boulders and small rock outcrops that they show no signs of modern ploughing. It is in these fields that the pre-Improvement field system is best preserved.
All the old fields on the map (except the most western on Milton Braes) were on the land of the Barony of Aird and may date from the century or so before the Improvements, i.e. seventeenth or eighteenth century, an earlier attempt to improve farming practices. These field boundaries are unlike those I described earlier on Pinzarie Hill, which were distinctly sod dykes enclosing very clear old rigs. Some of these old fields could hardly have been ploughed, as they are so full of stones and small rock outcrops, but the pre-Improvement boundaries were at least a good place to put the stones off the fields.
The site of Aird itself is shown on the map. There appears to have been a two-room house plus either some outbuildings or more houses. These houses would have been of unmortared stone with thatched roofs. The site of Aird House has been a jolly good place for dumping more stones in the past two centuries. Somewhere under a pile of stones must be the kiln mentioned in the 1691 Hearth Tax. This whole hilltop contains stone dumps, in piles or in lines, where fields have been cleared, thus making old fields harder to plot.
Apart from Aird, there are also old buildings, now enclosed by a wire fence,
on the east side of Aird on the Cairneycroft march. Here were houses,
outbuildings, small enclosures and an old pond. I have never seen any reference
to these buildings, either on maps or documents. They are very close to the
abandoned croft at
When was Aird abandoned? James Hunter had two hearths and a kiln at Aird in 1691. The Buccleuch map of 1820 marks Aird House in a very large field called Aird Crofts (the infield), of which Aird was quite central and it was probably just inhabited for a few more years. The stone dykes nearest to Aird House were built after 1820. The old holding of Aird was certainly incorporated into Ford by 1853.
FARMING
IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY - THE IMPROVEMENTS
In 1700 the view of Tynron Glen was of an open, undrained, virtually
treeless landscape with infertile moor and bog, mud tracks, meagre crops of
oats and bere, many an irregular patch of arable land on the valley sides,
ill-bred, half-starved cattle, oxen, sheep & pigs, hovels to live in and
POVERTY.
Stagnation or decline were the only alternatives with the run-rig system, but the eighteenth century changed all that. Acts as early as 1661 to 1695 tried to change the face of farming through modernisation, but it was decades before they took effect locally. These acts allowed landlords to sweep away open run-rig fields and to enclose and rearrange the lands as they pleased. Thus began the change which made the glen look very much like it does today.
The first half of the eighteenth century saw a continuation of national
unrest with its local repercussions. The Act of Union of 1707 caused much
unrest before and after, notably amongst the locally strong Cameronians, the extreme
Covenanters. The rebellions of 1715 and 1745 meant the raising of volunteer
forces from Tynron and consequent local turmoil, especially when the
In 1747 Rev. Peter Rae made an important handwritten manuscript concerning Tynron, giving us a description of the parish. His original work and a transcript are in the Ewart.
Changes in Life
Life was changing fast in the later years of the century. Tea came in the
1760's, sugar and coffee in the 1780's and with the sugar a boom in jam and
jelly making. Currants and berries were cultivated in back yards. For the
educated, newspapers came from
Enclosure and Stone Dykes
Enclosure brought the first major rural upheaval since the
One most interesting question is when enclosures came to the Shinnel Glen. Some people seem to think that they have always been there, but the following gives some idea of when they were built.
Roy’s Map
General Roy produced maps for military use (see map *14). It is
difficult to read some of the place names, but the hill shading is effective
and cultivated areas are shown.
The Queensberry estate maps of Tynron of 1772 show no stone dykes. Durisdeer parish, owned by Queensberry, was still unenclosed in the 1790's. Neither, most significantly, is there mention of enclosure in the 1790's Statistical Account for Tynron. Such a radical change would surely have been recorded. Yet in Penpont in the 1790's "there are many inclosures: and the disposition to inclose seems to increase".
Much of the Shinnel Glen was not enclosed until some time into the nineteenth century. 1800 - 1820 seems likely to have been the time when most of Tynron's dykes were built. Dykes were certainly being built at Cairneycroft in 1804 and Singer’s evidence supports this too (see later).
A number of people must have been evicted, as the small, scattered holdings were swept into large compact units. Dykes brought planning and order. On a particular piece of land one tenant took over the running, instead of the former communal efforts on the rigs.
No longer were the peasants tied to their rigs. Some people had to move into
Tynron village and all the common pasture was lost in the glen as landlords put
in more sheep and introduced black cattle for selling in
The Lann estate map of 1834, kept at Capenoch, shows that dyking was completed by then. Lann had the wonderful gateposts built along the road, which are unusual, but not unique to Tynron. In 1996 Six pairs of stone gateposts remain plus four singles. The gateways are too narrow for modern machinery, so some have been removed. It was sad that another of these bit the dust in the eighties, as they are attractive features. Two pairs of gateposts no longer even have a gateway. In 1871 George Black, aged seven, climbed a pillar at Lann Hall and the top stone gave way, falling on the boy and crushing him to death.
Dykes were built in the summer months by whole families, male & female,
old & young. Stones were gathered, or rock quarried, then hauled on slypes
(sleds). In winter months, stones were collected or quarried and dumped in
convenient spots. March dykes were
Tynron's Farming Revolution
Apart from legislation, other factors provided simultaneous stimuli. In the
eighteenth century new ideas and new crops, new thoughts on stock-breeding
filtered northwards from
Larger stone houses were built for the tenants by Queensberry. The gentry
could afford to build houses fit for their position: Lann Hall, Stenhouse,
Selected tenants were given longer leases, giving them more incentive to farm well.
Drainage, liming and rotation were brought in. Lime itself revolutionised farming in Tynron and was brought from Closeburn and Barjarg from 1774. Extensive underground chambers were quarried out of the Barjarg Carboniferous limestone in the woods at 882903. In 1805 Tynron was the leading destination for Barjarg lime, when 4761 measures were carted to Tynron.
Turnips were also a godsend, reaching Tynron perhaps as early as 1745 and later, possibly in the 1770's, the advent of potatoes put an end to famine in most years. Fields were now kept specially for hay. Beans and peas improved fertility. Turnips and hay and improved pasture land meant that more animals were kept over winter and more dung produced. Turnips and potatoes were also important as cleaning crops instead of fallow in the new rotations (mentioned later). Trees were planted for shelter and land improvement.
The building of the dykes meant the removal of most of the surface stones on the fields. The unprofitable outfield was replaced by seasonal pastures. Improved Scots ploughs were lighter and required only one man and two horses, or four on heavy ground. New fields were broken in, increasing crops after 1750. After about 1770 the new ploughs straightened out the old rigs.
Urban growth in
Wages increased - £8 per annum for a farm labourer in 1790. Diet was better, so health improved. All this meant a revolution in Tynron's agriculture and greater prosperity in some measure to everybody, though not overnight. Changes were very slow, but a comparison of farming in 1700 with that of 1800 shows a tremendous difference.
The First Statistical Account
To know what the glen was like at the end of the century, there is the first really useful description of Tynron Parish in 1791-3 in the Statistical Account. Here the Rev. James Wilson reports on his parish. He thought TYNRON had been the spelling since 1730.
He described green hills, well clothed with grass, feeding 8,000 Blackface
sheep. They gave shaggy wool of poor quality, sold in the Borders and
Penpont Parish had barley, wheat, turnips, clover and rye-grass. Thornhill
(Morton) also had lint and peas. Low Lann has a field called
Farms were now let by the Duke of Queensberry for 19 years at moderate rates. He had eleven separate farms and half the parish was on the Queensberry Estate. Some Queensberry tenants with 19 year leases actually put up dykes at their own expense.
Peat was commonly used at the upper end of the glen until the late nineteenth century, though it was easier in Tynron and the lower end of the glen to get coal from Sanquhar.
The rotation used in the glen was:-
Year 1 Lime the land while in pasture
2 Pasture, ploughed in autumn
3 Oats
4 Oats
5 Potatoes or Turnips
6 Barley undersown with Grass
Diary of Andrew Hunter
Surgeon of Camling, Tynron 1781.
This diary, available in the Ewart Library, is absolutely fascinating. While not playing cards, shooting pistols or bleeding people, Hunter wrote in his diary. These are some of the things he wrote about farm activities:
APRIL The people are employed ploughing the potato land. Loading dung. Building dykes. Setting potatoes.
MAY Casting peats at Thornhill Moss.
AUGUST Reaping oats. Shearing.
SEPTEMBER Threshing. Making up the Millar of corn (Cairn Mill). Drying corn. Grinding corn.
OCTOBER Lifting potatoes. Selling old & young beasts & stirks.
NOVEMBER &
DECEMBER Ploughing. Loading timber from the hill.
From the beginning of the nineteenth century another extremely informative document is available to give us a clear picture of the situation in Tynron:
General View of the Agriculture, State of
HOUSES
Houses were not now covered in
turf and straw or heather or ferns. Most people were anxious for the security
of slate roofs. The Duke of Buccleuch "allowed" wood, slate and lime
but tenants had to cart it themselves and fit it to the buildings. Buccleuch
houses were the best kept in the country. The new farm buildings had the square
layout with the farmhouse on the south side.
IMPLEMENTS
The new form of the Scots
plough was gradually replaced by Small's plough using two or three horses on a
long rein. Light carts were pulled by one horse.
Slypes were still used on
steep ground. There were threshing and winnowing machines, worked by water if
possible or, if not, by horses, but no reaping machines yet.
ENCLOSURES
There were quite a few in
Tynron by 1812. The building of stone dykes on the sheep-walks was in full
flow. Tenants on Queensberry's 19 year lease put up the dykes at their own
expense. There were no more commons in Tynron.
The earth dykes were hardly an
efficient fence. Their height was usually 5 feet. In 1812 many of these sod
dykes, having mouldered down, still disfigured some of the sheep-walks and
required to be entirely levelled or removed. All earth dykes ought to be
secured with a paling of wood on top.
FARMING
The rotation included oats,
barley, pease, turnips, potatoes and carrots (although there was trouble with
the fly). There were a few patches of flax. Most farmers' gardens had early
potatoes, carrots, greens, peas, cabbage, beans, currants and gooseberries. The
Tynron rotation now included a crop of hay taken in the seventh year.
Oxen were scarcely used by
1812, though highly recommended by Dr. Singer, as cheaper, docile, powerful and
steady. They also provided good meat and valuable skin. The great advantage of
the horse was speed, important in beating the weather.
Sheep were all short Blackface
despite Cheviots coming in.
Cows were mainly Galloway, a
few Ayrshire.
Farmers knew about the
importance of drainage but did little about it. However, the Shinnel was
straightened using much labour and money.
SERVANTS
Servants were hired for six
months at hiring fairs, but it was better to have married servants in a
cottage.
PEAT
Each cottager's fire needed 24
to 30 cartloads per annum.
TREES
There was a shortage in
Tynron, very few pine, oak, ash, elm. More trees should be planted, but many
were still being cut down. (Many were going to the expanding mining industry.)
Tynron has natural oak, ash, birch & alder up to 25 years old. There were a
few plantations of larch and Scots pine. The implication is that there were
even fewer trees before 1780.
THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
There was a threat of a French invasion in 1803 and perhaps some Tynronians volunteered. However, the war years at the beginning of the nineteenth century boosted agriculture enormously and sent production, prices and wages up rapidly. Much waste land was broken up. But there was a shortage of food locally, as the army came first. Consequently in 1814, with Napoleon's defeat, prices collapsed! Land was taken out of production.
1810 was a significant year in that Buccleuch acquired the Queensberry inheritance and two-thirds of the parish became Buccleuch land at a stroke. Buccleuch was a more enlightened landlord and wished to attract good tenants (and high rents) and so, like other landlords, built new steadings and two-storied stone farmhouses with a good number of rooms. Buccleuch actually provided the stone, lime, wood and slates and a plan, then the tenants constructed the building themselves. The bigger steadings were designed in the form of a square with buildings on three or four sides, e.g. Ford and Auchenbrack. These steadings had byres, threshing mills, a granary, stables and cottages for farm workers. Even shepherds had good stone houses built. Rev. Wilson says steadings were erected mostly 1825-35.
Ayrshires replaced
The annual lettings and hirings brought in new blood from outside, at least
from Dumfriesshire, Ayrshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. The population of tenants
and farm workers was extremely mobile. Even in 1850 half Tynron’s population
was not born in Tynron. Single men in particular moved around constantly. Some
emigrated. There are 16 stones in the kirkyard recording deaths of Tynron's
emigrants, mostly to
Disaster struck in 1845-6 with the potato blight. Potatoes were by then the staple diet and also used for feeding pigs.
Valuation of 1827 *15
This was the first valuation after the 1671 document. It has more detail,
especially of the landowners. It is interesting to note that Tynron was always
the least valuable parish (after Half Morton by
Thomson's Map *16 and
A map by John Ainslie in 1782 is fascinating, but inaccurate, marking Cormilligan on a stream running into the Dalwhat. Thomson's Map of 1821 is clear and fairly accurate and also details 994 hectares of cultivated land in Tynron, along with 3616 hectares never cultivated and 164 hectares wooded. His map compares well with its predecessors, though it is still not precise. In fact, Thomson clearly repeated mistakes made on William Crawford's nice map of 1804 in the National Map Library. Auchengibbert and Lann are particularly misplaced.
The
James Shaw
James Shaw is one Tynron’s most famous worthies. He was the schoolmaster at the parish school up the glen at Glendow. He was a lifelong bachelor, a prolific writer and sought-after speaker at events.
At a dinner of Queensberry tenants in 1893 "Mr Shaw kept the company lively with his quaint pawky humour".
Shaw was writing at a good time for recording change at the end of the nineteenth century. Binders, reapers and mowers slowly reduced the need for agricultural labour during this century. James Shaw notes that about 1870 cots and farmhouses were being abandoned as sheep farming increased.
He paints a picture of McCaw's farm at now-abandoned Cormilligan in the
1870's, of which more later. A sheep farm, very open, no trees, save a few
Scots pines, bog. A one-storied slated, whitewashed but and ben (but it has
four rooms now!) with a porch. A byre, a henhouse, a swinehouse and a stack of
brackens. No wonder that some of the McCaws emigrated to
James Shaw also records that the once well-used drove road, marked on map *20, was almost in disuse by the 1890's. Cattle and sheep from the Lanark sales had wound their way over the drove road on their way to the Stewartry, especially to Castle Douglas mart. The drove road through Tynron ran from Auchenhessnane in the Scaur Glen via Duddiestone Hass 792960, through Bennan, across the Shinnel and Kirkconnel Burns and up Gled Brae. It went thence across the top of Markmony, into Glencairn at 782927 via Bardennoch. For much of its length it runs between dykes or is a good track or footpath. Unfortunately, Economic Forestry planted over the stretch at the top of Markmony. My regular walk from Moniaive to mid Tynron Glen is now much more difficult, as the forestry has to be circumnavigated and rough tussocky grassland traversed. It is a shame the forestry people planted over the drove road, in ignorance, I expect. It was still marked as a footpath on the 1955 OS 1:25000 map, although on the top of Markmony I never knew it as a well-marked path.
James Shaw gives a wonderful description of changes in Tynron in the late nineteenth century. Here are some absorbing lines from Shaw's notes on 30 years of residence in Tynron, taken from TDGNHAS 1894-5:
The curious flat stones which roofed the houses have disappeared in
favour of slates. The number of inhabited houses has decreased and their ruins
are not always picturesque. Tinkers with their donkeys do not now visit us.
Umbrella-menders, knife-grinders and sellers with baskets are scarce, but
tramps asking alms have noways decreased.
The River Shinnel runs as of yore, arched over for many miles with a
beautiful canopy of natural wood. Although illegitimate methods of securing
trouts, with which it was well stocked, have been put down, yet the system of
deep draining, suddenly flushing the water and carrying away the spawning beds,
is an angler’s complaint.
The heritors having mansions in the parish are not now resident. They
spend only a few summer months with us, or let their houses, so the work of
smith, coachman and domestic servants is far less in demand. On the other hand,
houses that have been built or repaired since I came to the parish are much
more comfortable to the inmates.
When I arrived in Tynron and for years afterwards, water was obtained
almost universally from open wells, chimneys were swept by setting fire to
them, messages were conveyed across straths whistling on fingers, towns were
reached by bridle paths. These mountain tracts were used for sheep conducted to
the great stock markets, as Sanquhar, and not being much employed for this
purpose now are falling into decay.
The people around me to a greater extent than at present knitted their own
stockings, plaited their own creels (baskets), carved their own crooks, made
their own curling brooms or eows, bored their own tod-and-lamb boards (a
game), squared their own draught-boards.
A very few women smoked tobacco like men, and a very many men had chins
like women. Broom was boiled, the juice mixed with hellebore and tobacco, and
used as a sheep-dip. The sheep, in fact, were not dipped at all, but their wool
was combed into ridges and the composition carefully poured in the skin from an
old teapot.
There were no wooden frames for bees, only the cosy-looking straw skeps.
The Shinnel drove several mill wheels, now it drives only one.
There was a method of announcing the arrival of letters, by depositing
them in a water-tight chamber of a cairn or mass of boulders on an eminence a
mile perhaps from the shepherd’s house and then erecting a huge pole or
semaphore, which soon attracted a messenger.
The limbs and backs of boys were stronger and carried for you heavy
carpet bags at 1d per mile. Watches were worn in trouser pockets. The
schoolchildren were fitted out with stronger leather bags, like soldiers’
haversacks, containing their dinner as well as their books. Their books were
much more carefully covered with cloth and in some instances with white
leather. Their food was more thriftily cared for and there was no débris of
leaves of books and crumbs of scone left on the roadside near the schoolhouse
as is at present.
The plaid was a much more common article of dress. It is now giving way
to the great-coat or waterproof, which is more convenient to a shepherd,
affording him pockets to hold tea for the weak lambs and covering his body
better.
When I found myself in the interior of shepherds’ and dairymen’s houses,
the old eight-day clock with wooden door and painted dial was common. It kept
company with the meal-ark, a huge chest divided into two compartments, one for
oatmeal, one for wheaten flour. Bacon, hams and flitches, then as now, wrapped
in newspapers, hung from kitchen rafters. Puddings were wreathed round
suspended poles.
Fireplaces are gradually contracting. The older ones are widest. The fire
in winter, eked out by peats and cleft-wood, is often very violent in its
hospitality. Seated in the cushioned armchair, I have for a while maintained
conversation by holding up my extended palm for a fire-screen, but was
generally obliged to push back my chair at the risk of overturning a cradle or
turning the charmed circle into an ellipse.
An inner ladder was stationed in the porch or between the but-and-ben, up
which the children or serving men mounted to their obscure attic hammocks. On
great nails here and there in the walls hung, and still hang, crooks, shears
for clipping sheep, lanterns for moonless nights, mice traps with holes, rat
traps with strong iron teeth and springs.
There were no carpets on the rooms, but the floor was mottled with sheep
skins in their wool and the mat before the room fire was home-made, with all
sorts of dark rags stitched together, having a fluffy, cosy look.
On the chest of high drawers might be observed a Family Bible, a field
glass, a stuffed blackcock and pair of large ram’s horns or a basket with
curious abnormal eggs and with shells from the seashore. A black cat, a
brindled cat and a muscovy were generally crossing each other or demanding a
seat on your knee. You would feel something cold touching your hand and
presently observe it was the nose of a collie dog…
I shall pass over gatherings in connection with sheep, killing pigs etc.
and remark that the kirn or harvest home is no longer celebrated. St.
Valentine’s Day is forgotten and the Candlemas bleeze has given way to a
Christmas present. (The Candlemas bleeze was a gift from pupils to their
schoolmaster on Candlemas, 2nd February). Even the Hallowe’en described
by Burns - the turnip lantern and the pulling of kail stocks - is away, the
only survival being that on Hallowe’en mummers with false face enter your
kitchen expecting an obulus and highly gratified when you are puzzled and
unable to guess their names or even their sex. (No, I don’t know what an
obulus is!).
(continued in TDGNHAS, if you are interested)
Voters in 1868-9
Also quite intriguing to modern eyes is the list of voters 1868-9 and who they voted for! These were the important men of Tynron.
|
PARISH OF TYNRON |
|||||||
|
|
Voted
for Waterlow |
Voted
for |
Did not Vote |
||||
|
|
1868 |
1869 |
1868 |
1869 |
1868 |
1869 |
|
|
Brown, William, Auchenhessnane |
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bryden, Jas, jun, Holm of Dalquhairn |
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
Cotts, William, smith, Shinnel Forge |
2 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Glencrose, John, Strathmilligan |
|
|
2 |
2 |
|
|
|
|
Haining, Thomas, Laight |
|
|
3 |
3 |
|
|
|
|
Hiddleston, David, Low Lann |
|
|
4 |
4 |
|
|
|
|
Hyslop, James, Cairneycroft |
3 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
Hyslop, Mathew, Cairneycroft |
4 |
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Kennedy, Captain John, of |
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Kennedy, Robert, Dalmakerran |
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Kennedy, William, yr. of Dalmakerran |
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Kerr, James, Killiwarren |
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Laurie, James, Tynron Kirk |
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Menzies, George, Auchengibbert |
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Paterson, Robert, Clonrae |
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Turner, Frederick J., Lann Hall |
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Wallace, Samuel, Auchenbrack |
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Wilson, Rev. Robert, Tynron |
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PHOTO *I
MILLS
The mills of Tynron make a fascinating topic. Almost every farm had a mill of some sort at some time. Here is a subject for industrial archaeological research.
Water-driven threshing mills came in between 1800 and 1850. Once one farm had one, the others wanted one, as they saved the most arduous and unpopular labour. By 1812 threshing mills were already common in Dumfriesshire, the latest thing, in fact, although Shaw says only one was working still in 1894.
At Low Lann the millpond is still there and so was the mill wheel until it was removed in 1991 to Keir Mill in order to make alterations to the steading. The feeder pipe is still in situ and you can see where the wheel was on the north-west side of the farm buildings.
At Barr the drop is still there, where the wheel was. The millpond is up the hill by the main road at 824917. The long mill lead still runs along the dyke by the road. The lead runs down from Low Lann millpond at the top, which could also be used for Barr, and from a third dam just over the Maxwelton dyke. No mill is shown here on the 1845 estate map of Capenoch, but it is on the 1856 OS map.
At Lann Hall there was a silted up pond, which has been dug out a little, fenced off in 1994 and planted with trees. The remains of the sluice-gate can still be seen, but I have no idea whether it was a millpond or where the actual mill was, if indeed there was one, as it could have been created just for shooting. Hugh Gladstone shot a teal on it in 1908.
Killiewarren miraculously still has the mill wheel (see PHOTO *J). It is an overshot wheel in an advanced state of disrepair, but in situ. It was fed at the top by a pipe, which is also still there, running on iron rails, feeding from a small dam just to the rear. Killiewarren mill was still used in the 1940's for threshing. When there was enough water, threshing could go on for the whole afternoon.
PHOTO *J Killiewarren, showing
feeder pipe and wheel
Auchenbrack still has its mill dam, which stored about an hour’s water and you can see where the mill wheel was attached to the farmstead. The pond was dredged in the mid-eighties, but has almost silted up by 1996. The water wheel was still in use in the 1950's for threshing and bruising oats, but it was killed off by the arrival of electricity.
At Ford the old millpond has been cleared out, deepened and redammed in 1995.
At Bennan the Bennan Burn was dammed. The old millpond and the clay pipes are still there. The mill was in the corner of the present buildings.
At Dalmakerran there is a millpond just above the house, close to the road.
Clonrae's millpond is marked on the 1850's OS map, but there have been so many alterations at the back of Clonrae that it is hard to tell now where the pond was.
Macqueston had a corn mill in 1747, but even earlier it had a waulk mill for fulling woollen cloth. At Macqueston the mill was still used in 1958. The millpond was just south of the farm buildings.
Another corn mill in 1747 was at Airdmill, known now as Milnton. There is nothing to be seen at Milnton now, except traces of the old lead running from the manse. Though it was no longer in use by then, Airdmill is still the name in the 1851 census. The Pont map of 1590 and other sources called it Miltoun and it was mentioned as early as 1633.
The site of a millpond can still be seen above
Stenhouse Mill
The layout at Stenhouse around 1850 can be seen from the old OS map *18. The mill lead for Stenhouse was fed from a caul across the Shinnel and can still be seen between the glen road and the Shinnel. It runs behind the Millhouse, where there was a water-driven sawmill still working in the 1950's, for which the machinery still lies in situ in the shed at the back of the Millhouse.
Another lead runs from this one and into a now often dried-up millpond by the glen road at 799930, which fed another wheel in the steading, which was used this century from 1908 for generating electricity. This was installed by Drake and Gorham of Glasgow, using the existing waterwheel.
In 1747 there had been a corn mill at Stenhouse. It seems, in fact, that all tenants in Tynron were once thirled to the mills at Stenhouse, Macqueston and Aird. Low Lann, Strathmilligan and Auchengibbert even had horse-driven mills in 1897 for threshing and churning.
PHOTO *K Shinnel Mill
Shinnel Forge
Shinnel Forge was the one real industrial site in Tynron Glen. About 1840 William Cotts built a wonderful two-storey mill building beside the Shinnel. He dammed the river and diverted it via a small millpond on to a 16 foot breast-shot wheel, which he used to provide power to hammer out peat spades, shovels and plough parts. Blacksmith's hearth and working bellows remain for the forge. Cotts had started at Penpont, but moved to this better site. As can be seen from the 1850's OS map *19, Hulton Burn was also diverted to feed the mill. Access to the forge was from Penpont direction.
Presumably the iron ore came from the Dalmellington area. Though ore was expensive to transport on poor roads, the products made were only small. Many lumps of iron slag remain in the river.
Cotts died in 1878, but his descendants continued to do well in the iron
industry. First they moved to Sanquhar in 1874 to make larger objects,
including parts for
After 1880 John and James Penman of Sanquhar became tenants of Buccleuch at
Shinnel Mill. They converted the mill to saw wood and bend iron for wheel rims,
as they were coachmakers and joiners. J. and J. Penman must have closed down
between the wars, but Penmans lived on at Shinnel Forge. In 1952 John Penman
bought Shinnel Forge from Buccleuch. Penman Engineering is now in
Brian Turner bought Shinnel Mill in 1973 and has tried to keep the mill buildings in good condition. He has turned this corner of Tynron into a haven for birds and wildlife, including red squirrels.
THE
TWENTIETH CENTURY
Agriculture
There was relative prosperity in farming until the 1914-18 Great War deprived the glen of its men and horses. Arrears of work and repairs piled up.
The Small Landholders Act meant that smallholdings were released on the large estates for settling people back on the land after the war. Ex-soldiers were given tenancies of smallholdings and loans to get started. Craigencoon was the only one of these in Tynron.
In the inter-war years the pattern of modern farming was set, with booms as ever followed by slumps, guaranteed prices, subsidies, bankruptcies and a flood of imported food. The advent of more machinery, like combines and tractors, threw men off the land. Many farms are run now by one or two men, where there would have been a dozen earlier in the century.
Some farms were finally abandoned during the war or just after -
Cormilligan, High Pinzarie and Hillhead.
PHOTO *L
PHOTO *M Cormilligan’s setting
Cormilligan
I can do no better than reproduce this captivating article by Nell Steel née
Armstrong of
A day to remember
On Sunday, August 21, 1983, a party of 20 left The Farmer’s Arms in
Thornhill, destination Cormilligan, led by the organisers, Robert and Ena
Dobie, with Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Mitchell, followed by: - Mr. James Maxwell and son
John, Mr. John Lorimer, Mr. Ian Kirkpatrick, Walter and Margaret Armstrong,
Jenny Armstrong and husband Tom Murray, James and Barbara Armstrong and
daughter Helen, Jean Armstrong and husband Hugh Steel with daughter Moira,
Allen Armstrong and Nell Armstrong. Owing to other commitments, two of the
Armstrong family, Sarah and Robert, could not be present. The party met at
Kirkconnel Farm, where Mr. Maxwell had arranged for us to be taken over the
hills by landrovers.....
The drive up over Kirkconnel hills was magnificent, past the long wood
with trees growing peacefully, the wood where, as a child, I heard the cuckoo
call for the first time, a few stately rowan trees, which stood out from the
others, laden with red berries, no vandals to hack them down. Round the silvery
loch, which the Maxwell Farming Company have created to add to the beauty of
the hills, past Connell’s Well, where I believe archaeologists are doing a
study. It was there we kept a coconut shell to drink the cold clear water from
the well on our way home from school.
The excitement of seeing Cormilligan in the distance was just as great
that day as it was 50 years ago. We arrived there at
While we talked of days long gone, a bewildered kestrel hovered above us,
gazing pensively on the glorious sicht below. One can never forget the rousing
sound of the skylark, peesweip and whaup (lapwing and curlew), which we
were a few months late to hear.
We were honoured by a member of the Thornhill Pipe Band, Mr. Ian
Kirkpatrick from Moniaive, who played for us during the afternoon.
A visit to the well, through the gate at the bottom of the meadow, where
all the water was carried until 1928, when a supply was led to the house. A few
stones and rushes removed revealed the water running crystal clear, as ever,
I’m sure would enhance any dram. I could imagine hearing faither Jimmy
Armstrong’s strong voice calling, "Mind and sneck the gate".
We took a look through the house and wrote our names on the guid room
wall.
Allen, the youngest of the family, was born at Cormilligan in 1932. It
was a sad day for us all when he left at six weeks old when mother died, but
fortunate that he was to make his home with uncle Sam Armstrong, who was in the
Glasgow Police Force. Allen also joined the police force and retired the day we
visited Cormilligan after thirty years service. In his own words, "Where
else could I have spent such a happy day?"
I was pleased to see the signature of a great-great-granddaughter of
William McCaw, who in 1864 wrote "Truth Frae Mang The Heather" or
"Is The Bible True?". (This is available in the Ewart). He was
shepherd at Cormilligan at the time. There is a picture in the book of William
McCaw and his "mountain home". The house looks just as it was then.
Brother-in-law, Hugh Steel, dug up a bottle from the ash pit and, as I
have recently taken this up as a hobby, it will have a special place in my
collection.
I didn’t hear anyone ask what time it was and could hardly believe it was
5.30 p.m. when we decided to leave the beautiful hills, taking a different
route, along the bottom hill, passing "Bloody Claverhouse’s Well",
following the Cormilligan burn where we spent many happy hours. Robert Dobie
and his mother, Lizzie Armstrong, came to stay quite a lot. She was a keen
fisher and brought many a good fry of trout from the burn.....
We left the bottom hill and joined Kirkconnel burn. We were pleased to
have John Lorimer as his father came to Cormilligan on many occasions. We
arrived at Kirkconnel, which brought back more memories of happy times with the
there we left the Land Rovers and joined the cars to take us on the last
stage of our journey, down past Strathmilligan to call on Jim Glencorse, not a
day older looking, his garden spick and span, just as he always kept the farm
at Strathmilligan.
We had reached the Shinnel road, which winds through its majestic trees
and down through the now silent Tynron village, with Tynron Doon on the left,
leaving behind us a beautiful glen, which is steeped in history. We travelled
on, passing by the Scaur road end, the glen where our father, James Armstrong,
was born at the Shiel and was shepherd at Chanlockfoot. Through Penpont, which
holds many memories, where our grandmother lived until she was 84, after the death
of grandfather, William Armstrong, at Polgowan age 54.....
It is said that "New Lairds Hae New Laws". The Maxwell family
have been farming Cormilligan and Kirkconnel since 1937. We are glad there
hasn’t been a New Laird since our childhood days. A new Law could easily have
prevented us from making this trip.
It was 1938 I set off walking to Lann Hall to begin my first job after
leaving school and had just reached the Shinnel road when a vehicle pulled up,
driven by Mr. McKill Maxwell, who was returning from a sheep handling at
Cormilligan. I was glad of the lift to
James Armstrong was still in Cormilligan in 1943/4 and a shepherd still stayed there till 1948. Cormilligan was a sizeable four room longhouse with considerable outbuildings considering its remoteness, at 315 metres the highest in Tynron. An inscription on the asbestos in the ruins records:
Robert Andrew Armstrong born here in this room 5 2 30, died July 92
ashes scattered round this house where he played as a laddie RIP
Apparently this a mistake, the aforementioned Robbie Dobie says it should read "Alan Armstrong".
There must be a lot of memories tied up in Tynron's lost steadings. I get a funny feeling standing at a place like High Appin, now stranded in the forestry, and reflecting on the families that had lived there and all the work which had been done.
The 3rd Statistical Account 1955
1872 1955
|
oats |
92 hectares |
84 hectares |
|
barley |
0.4 hectares |
nil? |
|
potatoes |
12.5 hectares |
1 hectare? |
|
turnips |
36 hectares |
30 hectares |
|
cabbage |
0.4 hectares |
nil? |
|
improved grassland |
263 hectares |
1,055 hectares |
|
rough grazing |
5,947 hectares |
5,168 hectares |
|
sheep |
14,788 |
17,365 |
|
dairy cows |
176 |
777 |
|
other cattle |
317 |
358 |
|
pigs |
130 |
146 |
|
horses |
62 |
22 |
|
poultry |
? |
3,945 |
The two years are not always exactly comparable, but give a good overall picture of changes in a century. The numbers of sheep and, especially, dairy cattle had increased, the result of better breeds, much improved pasture, buying-in of winter feed and subsidies for hill farmers.
Cattle
EC milk policy put an end to dairying in Tynron. In the 1980's, because of dairy quotas, dairy cattle suddenly became a rare sight, conclusive proof of the effects of politics on grassroot farming. The house cows at Auchenbrack are the remnant of days gone by.
Cattle are now kept for calves. There are now many different breeds,
including Continental cattle like Charolais, Simmental and
Most cattle are overwintered outside. The field they stand in then becomes completely churned up. This is called "poaching" and, although the field is well-manured, it is often a morass to cross as the soil is compressed and water sits on the surface.
1990 brought the scourge of BSE, a disease affecting cattle and which could supposedly be passed on to humans. 1996 has brought the BSE scare mark 2, but this time it’s serious. This crisis could bring another revolution in Tynron’s farms. It has meant a fall in beef prices and a most uncertain future for calf-raising in the glen. Most farms survive on an enormous bank overdraft anyway. Farms that have recently built expensive inside quarters for cattle must be regretting it. We could see the disappearance of most cattle from the glen. A side-effect of the mad cow disease was that Dundas Chemicals no longer found it worth their while to collect carcases, so that farms have had to bury their own, with resulting increased public health hazard.
PHOTO *N Cattle at Kilnmark
Sheep
Sheep farming is still the dominant activity in the glen, as it has been for
centuries. The typical sheep of the 1990's are Blackface ewes carrying lambs
which are Blueface Leicester crosses. Recent times have brought new breeds.
Bennan has Scotch Mule ewes crossed with
There is so much dependence on subsidies for hill sheep now, that it is an interesting thought as to what would happen if subsidies were removed. There is much talk of reducing or even removing subsidies for hill sheep. No longer does the Tynron farmer have his own prosperity in his own hands. He depends on the latest move by European Union farming interests.
Pigs
Nobody keeps pigs any more. There is an old brick piggery up the hill behind Dalmakerran.
Hens
A few folk have some poultry, but the large battery hen enterprise at Lann Hall, opened in 1966, closed in 1990. This business did employ one or two people and it was good to go along to see if there were any cracked eggs going cheap (cheep?). On the other hand nobody seeing how the hens lived could have wished it to continue. The Hen Hoose now has taken over the building by Lann Hall lodge, but the battery shed is used as a store in 1996.
Horses
Most horses on the land had gone by the fifties. However, horses are a common and pleasing sight once again in Tynron from Clonrae to Shinnelhead, as some folk have riding as a hobby. The horses at Strathmilligan are for pulling carriages not ploughs and it is terrific to see the Cowderys driving carriages along the glen road. A new carriage-driving centre opened at Dalmakerran in 1994 has brought more of our friends with a leg at each corner.
Sheep Milking
In the mid 1980's the Malpas family at
Silver Fox
Does anyone remember the Invicta Silver Fox Ranch at Milnton in 1934 or another at Macqueston in 1937? They were both short-lived, as the war finished them. At least none escaped to give us a feral population.
Buccleuch and Queensberry
The Queensberry estate, centred on Drumlanrig, is 44,500 hectares, the
biggest single block of privately-owned land in
Crops
More has changed since the 1955 statistics. There are a few turnips for folding sheep, a few potatoes for farm use, but otherwise it is no longer worth growing any crops at all. Oats have gone since the 1950's. A little barley has been grown since then, the last few fields of barley in Tynron being seen in the early 1980's. It is simpler to bring in feed than it is to grow your own.
Most of the remaining ploughing is just for reseeding of pastureland. In the early 1980's Bennan reseeded 80 acres of shallow peat, mostly ignored by stock. The top five centimetres were cultivated, lime and phosphate were added and grasses and clover sown. This greatly increased the stocking rate.
The 1980's has seen a large-scale change from haymaking to silage, with the advent of big-balers hired in. This has been a mini-revolution in fact, each farm having stocks of big-bale silage in black polythene bags forming attractive clumps by the roadside or a large silage clamp covered with old car tyres. Auchenbrack still insists on making some hay, but this has quickly become unusual. Straw is imported from outside and a common sight in late summer is the arrival of enormous straw wagons up the narrow glen roads. Much of this too is big-bale.
Breakup of Estates
The 1980's and 1990's have seen the breakup of several of Tynron's smaller
estates, which have existed as separate entities for many centuries. The sale
of Stenhouse and dispersal of its land was followed by Lann Hall,
Diversification
The present scenery of Tynron Glen with its preponderance of rough grazing is a landscape most people would consider attractive. So would I. However, in an age where there is over-production of food in this country perhaps the number of sheep can be reduced, particularly if the farmer is making a loss on each ewe. In 1995 the EU were offering £25 per ewe not to keep sheep in upland areas.
The problem is how can farmers make a living round here if they do not keep large numbers of sheep?
Some diversification would be welcome From an ecological and personal point of view I would like to see much more deciduous woodland of native species (and Scots pine of course), perhaps in the Scandinavian way of small patches, providing shelter for farm animals. This would improve the scenery, protect the soil and provide cover for wildlife. Unfortunately it is a brave and far-sighted farmer who would think about trees being cropped in a hundred years time.
Land has been sold off for forestry and there is some potential in shooting rights, holiday cottages (heaven forfend!) and bed and breakfast. No-one really wants to see caravans and campsites in the glen and it is hard to picture deer, ostriches or alpacas. The Government's recent encouragement of land being "set-aside" is also interesting and I wonder if any farmer has taken this up.
The latest craze is to try and get a wind farm on your land. This brings in
enormous rents for the farmer for very little effort. The tops of Shinnel Glen
have been earmarked as potential sites and by gum there is certainly no
shortage of wind. In late 1996 there has been a storm of protests against wind
farms, complaining of visual and noise pollution, especially close to
settlements, and pointing out the limited amount of power produced by even the
thirty-odd 60 metre high windmills recently erected on Windy Standard very
close by. Others have rushed to the defence of windmills, as a wind farm would
provide three jobs locally and it produces pollution-free power. It seems to me
that, while nobody would want thirty windmills on Tynron
FORESTRY
The near monoculture of sheep farming, in any case, has now gone. About 21 of the 56 square kilometres or 37% of Tynron Glen is plantation forestry. Map *22 shows the main areas.
Most of the top end of Shinnel Glen is under forestry. The Forestry
Commission, having bought Auchengibbert Wood in 1955, started planting at
Shinnelhead in 1961. Species planted include
Tynron Glen was originally covered in forest, the removal of which is
reminiscent of the situation in the
Asset-Stripping
In 1995 it was announced that the Forestry Commission was to sell off its
4,000 or so hectares of forest at the top of Shinnel, Dalwhat, Scaur and Euchan
Glens, the
All this timber is very soon due for clear felling. Tynronians had always
assumed that the trees would be extracted via the Heads of the
However, now the forestry is to be sold in blocks, it is evident that the Shinnel block, at least, is likely to go down Shinnel Glen. There are potentially 48,000 loads of wood in these forests, plus 48,000 empty lorries going back up the glens.
The Government allows councils to spend extra money improving roads for the timber wagons and so the council is to upgrade the U400 road up the glen. They have started pre-emptive improvements in 1996 to allow the glen road to take the tremendous pounding expected from forestry vehicles up to 38 tonnes. The full lorries will be bad enough, but much of the damage is caused by the empty lorries bouncing back up the road. Naturally, local people do not want the glen road improved. If it stays as it is, then the large timber lorries will not be able to use it. One welcome improvement, however, has been the construction of passing places, although it is still difficult to see how two timber lorries can pass each other in some of these locations.
The Forestry Commission had the foresight to plan the Heads of the Valleys
road, but nobody foresaw the Forestry Commission forests being outrageously
sold off just before harvesting. Tynron folk do not want the timber trucks to
knock the hell out of the glen road and undermine the foundations of roadside
buildings. A solution might be to impose a clause in the extraction contracts
compelling buyers to use the Heads of the
Any buyer is sure to make a huge profit from the sale of the timber and afterwards gain large amounts in planting grants. All this is at the cost of so much discomfort and disruption to the local people, creating traffic problems, disturbing animals and ruining everyone’s peace and quiet. It always happens that for one person or financial organisation to make a killing, hundreds of other people must suffer.
Appin
In any case the private Appin forest is due to be felled from 1999 and the
timber is bound to come down the glen. There have already been a few loads of
thinnings, but up to twenty vehicles a day are expected at peak times in the
summer. The sale notice for
New Plantations
New forestry was planted in the mid to late 1980's on Pinzarie Hill and Stenhouse Hill by Economic Forestry. These plantings further down the glen are much more visible. Capenoch has also joined in this trend to plant over its poorer land. Unfortunately, the attractive area of Penfillan Moor has now been ruined by ditching and planting.
Before 1961 there were only small patches of plantation, amounting to a very small total area. The scenery of Shinnel Glen has been radically altered by the planting of so much new forestry. Thousands of hectares can be planted with, it seems to me, no restriction and no reference to the people who live in the glen. It is all done behind people's backs. Open pasture becomes forestry on a large scale, yet a minor alteration to a house or the erection of a garden shed in Tynron Kirk requires so much paper work and red tape.
Forestry Grants
Forestry is being encouraged further by grants *24. Government incentives now are up to £1,350 per hectare for planting broad-leaved woodland. Just maybe, when Shinnelhead and Appin are replanted, native trees will be widely used and the present large rectangular blocks will be broken up to improve the scenery. The new forestry on Pinzarie Hill has quite a few hectares of broad-leaved trees on the hillside nearest the road. Unfortunately they have become a favourite food for deer and have not made too much growth in the first ten years.
Woods
There are many small patches of semi-natural woodland in the glen, which are good for wildlife, but the most continuous strip is that along the Shinnel, which stretches right up to above Appin Lodge.
Around the big houses are some exotic and specimen trees. Some of the best examples extend along the drive to Shinnel Wood House, where there are very tall conifers in particular. The limes running down the road to Lann Hall gates are super.
Most farms have small, often long and narrow windbreaks of conifers. Because of their shape, these sometimes do not blend in too well with the scenery, but are often of Scots pine and provide shelter for stock and useful wildlife refuges.
There are also some sizeable patches of natural or semi-natural woodland:-
Stenhouse Wood
"Stenhouse Wood
Wildlife Reserve" is the sign that now greets visitors to a wood, which is
the nearest thing Tynron has to a natural wood. As it is on a steepish slope
that receives a minimum of sun, it has been farmed very little in the past.
The late 1980's and early 1990's have brought work parties to Stenhouse Wood. On behalf of the Scottish Wildlife Trust these have rebuilt the boundary dykes to keep out farm stock. In the wood they have been doing judicious thinning and planting. One object has been to get rid of the sycamores, as they are not native species and can be a menace. They tried cutting them, then painting them with tree-killer, but the sycamores grew like the hydra's heads.
Beech were also to be removed on the pretext that they are not native species. I am not so sure this is a good idea, as they are very beautiful and shade out the undergrowth, providing wonderful open space under their canopy. At least in early 1996 the beeches are still there. Beeches are the oldest and largest trees in the wood.
Oaks have been planted and there are many fine maturing oaks too. Parts of Stenhouse Wood are forests of ash saplings. The conifers had previously been harvested from the top of the wood. The wood is an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and also contains wych elm, hazel, bird cherry, holly and hawthorn.
Tynron Juniper Wood
Though junipers were apparently common on Tynron hillsides in the nineteenth
century, they are now decidedly rare, not only in Tynron, but anywhere in
So to conserve what remained, Tynron Juniper Wood was designated in 1958 as
a National Nature Reserve, now run by Scottish Natural Heritage. It is very
special and I hope the family at the Ford will continue to treasure it. Now
there are about five hectares inside the fence and a considerable number of
rather more damaged specimens on the adjacent hillside. Interestingly, what is
now the finest juniper wood in
This hillside is a real suntrap and contains other interesting trees like geans as well as a healthy population of birds, interesting mosses and three species of moth specific to juniper. Both columnar, up to a giant 7 metres, and sprawling bushy junipers are present. Heather and grasses are among the ground cover, but attempts are being made to clear bracken and bramble.
There was a fire in 1959, which destroyed about a hectare at the top, but it activated a terrific regeneration of junipers, suggesting that fire is the best thing for getting seeds to germinate.
There are a few more junipers on the top of Aird Hill and on Cairneycroft at 826932, amongst a good stand of broom, which would be better were it not open to farm animals. I have also spotted a solitary juniper by a crag up the hillside between Tynron Doon and Craigturra.
Juniper berries take two years to ripen and have many uses, like infusions, making gin, protection against plague and flavouring food, but may be perfectly well be eaten off the tree.
A leaflet is available from Scottish Natural Heritage at the Crichton,
Capenoch
In the lower part of the glen there are many fine oaks, none better than those in Longbank Wood on Capenoch around 837940. These are growing on a fine example of a river bluff. Above the wood is the best of the Shinnel's river terraces. Capenoch is cutting a considerable part of its woods in Tynron Glen at the moment, but is leaving trees like oaks and birch to shelter the new plantings.
Lann Hall Wood
Lann Hall Wood at the top of the hill is quite open woodland in places, with extensive bracken in the lower half and more welcome heather in the top bit. It was still hill pasture in 1845, but was gradually abandoned last century. Planting took place in 1904/5, but there was a serious fire in 1909.
Pinzarie Wood
Pinzarie Wood is by the roadside and contains lots of birch. It is very very boggy and this is why it has remained woodland. It contains interesting plants and birds, but its drawback is that it has been regularly churned up by cattle kept there.
Auchengibbert Wood
Auchengibbert Wood is interesting. It contains some older deciduous trees as well as newer plantings. The scree slope below Craigturra contains some nice trees in rather inaccessible places. The old track up from Craigturra cottage to Auchengibbert can just be traced, at least in winter, starting in the quarry at the base of the scree slope, where the bottom bit of the track has been removed, then traversing diagonally up the slope and disappearing into the planted trees at the top.
Aird Wood
Aird Wood is another of the larger areas of woodland. It is mostly plantation, but if you are prepared to scrabble around by the crags, there are some wild trees.
Dutch Elm Disease
Dutch elm disease has reached Tynron. Some of the trees are clearly affected and may die quite quickly. The elms by Tynron Kirk bridge are badly affected now and will soon be dead.
Caterpillars
An interesting feature of the glen in summer is the fate of the bird-cherry, a common enough roadside tree. In May the bird-cherry is swathed in glorious white blossom, but in early summer it gets festooned in a substance akin to spiders' webs. The culprits are little black caterpillars, which strip the trees of every leaf. The bird-cherry ermine moth lays its eggs in clusters among the small twigs. In spring the caterpillars feed and spin out a thick silk-like web as they go. Within this they are relatively safe, although I have seen blue tits taking them. By July the caterpillars have pupated and infected trees recover and set new leaves, which do not get eaten. The trees rarely fruit, however.
Lochs
Aird Loch was a very attractive spot, but is less so since most mature trees were removed in 1992. It occupies a natural hollow, but was enlarged by a small dam.
Capenoch Loch drains into the Shinnel. I was told it was made in 1881 as a typical Victorian extravagance, a place to walk and watch or shoot waterfowl, but it was already on the 1850's OS map.
Kirkconnel Loch was made in the early 1980's as a fishing loch by Maxwells. It is now beginning to mature for wildlife and has much pondweed.
The old loch at 753953 on Kirkconnel is a really beautiful spot, enhanced greatly by the shell of a Ford Anglia. This loch is often quite dry in summer.
The new forestry lochs at the top of Stenhouse and by Craigencoon attract some wildlife and one or two landowners have created small lochs for wildlife.
Flooding
Flooding is one of my pet hobby horses. Flooding has been greatly aggravated
by man. Tynron Glen can take part of the share of blame for the flooding in
It is only natural for rivers to flood. That is how the river copes with a sudden excess of water after heavy rain. In trying to stop the river flooding, man has made things worse. The solution in the nineteenth century was to cut out all the Shinnel's natural meanders and to straighten and deepen its course. The present course of the Shinnel is only where man has allowed it to be. The effect of this is that the water travels more rapidly down the river and out of the glen. The Shinnel scours its own bed more effectively, thus incising its course.
The effect on
Although flood defences in
There should be a flood policy for the whole of the Nith catchment area and the latest news is that things are moving in that direction.
Rubbish
One of Tynron's imperfections is the amount of rubbish to be found in the Shinnel and tributaries. Much of this can be blamed on farmers of the past, but now, when rubbish can be dumped very cheaply at Gatelawbridge or even collected by the Council for free, there is no excuse. All Tynron's farmers are proud of their glen, but still there is some rubbish being disposed of in the easiest manner by dumping it in the river. It is a real eye-opener to walk up the Shinnel and see asbestos roofing, building rubbish, corrugated iron, barbed wire, large cans that once contained poisonous chemicals and any number of other items. You name it, it is there.
More than one farm has tipped the whole century's rubbish, including fridges, cookers and washing-machines straight down the nearest bit of the river. Out of sight, out of mind. One farmer has removed some of the Shinnel's last natural meanders by filling them in with farm rubbish such as machinery and old cars. Unfortunately this rubbish eventually gets washed down the river in storms. The prize for the best accumulation goes to the one 50 metres from the Stenhouse summer house, opposite Dalmakerran. See PHOTO *O. Connoisseurs might also appreciate the cleughs by Bennan and Macqueston.
PHOTO *O Tynron’s finest pile
of rubbish. Stenhouse Folly in the background.
Rebecca Shaw providing scale.
Pollution
I have seen slurry spread on fields beside the river and big-bale silage stored by the Shinnel and the poisonous liquid draining into the water. I have heard of sheep-dip being poured straight in, killing many fish. Chemicals from forestry and agricultural sprays end up in the Shinnel. Acid rain and road salt don’t help. It is a wonder there are any fish.
Even in 1876 three children of Thomas Gray, the blacksmith at Parkhouse, were poisoned, having drunk water from The Pen, the ditch running from Dalmakerran steading. One died and two were very ill.
MACRAES
OF STENHOUSE
In the Ewart Library are two boxes containing many papers appertaining to the MacRae family of Stenhouse. Anne MacRae died in 1982 and all this interesting material was given to the library by the new owners of Stenhouse, instead of being thrown away, as it might have been. The contents include private letters, legal and estate papers, all manner of tradesmen’s accounts, school reports, rent statements and photos. I have been through it, but I have by no means read it all. From it an interesting picture emerges of a landed family over a specific period.
Donald MacDonald MacRae was one of ten children born at Kingussie. I have been told that he was in fact adopted, as his father was a gamekeeper on the estate and was shot in a shooting accident. That’s as maybe, but he was trained for a commercial career and leased Stenhouse estate from Buccleuch in 1892. In the same year he married Rosalie Lloyd, 13th of 14 children, a daughter of the Lloyds Newspapers magnate.
He bought Stenhouse in 1907. By 1909 he owned Parkhouse smithy and Markmony and was renting Birkhill from Laurie of Crawfordton. In 1912 he purchased Kilmark and Strathmilligan, for which he needed a large loan, the terms of which are reproduced in full:
PROPOSAL FOR LOAN OF £7,000
over
Heritable Subjects in the Parish of Tynron
in the
................................................................
BORROWER: DONALD MACDONALD MACRAE, Esq. of Stenhouse, Tynron.
AMOUNT OF LOAN: £7000
RATE OF INTEREST OFFERED: 4 per cent per annum.
SECURITY SUBJECTS:
(FIRST) Stenhouse Estate described in the title deeds relative thereto
as, ALL and WHOLE the Mains and Lands of Stenhouse Mill and Multures thereto
belonging, and Lands of Margmony, being parts of the Ten Merklands of Stenhouse
and ALL and WHOLE the lands of Clackquhounack and teinds, parsonage, and
vicarage of the same, with the houses, biggings, yards, orchards, mosses,
muirs, meadows, parts, pendicles, and universal pertinents of the said lands
lying in the Barony of Glencairn, Parish of Tynron, and Sheriffdom of Dumfries.
(SECOND) The lands of Kilmark and Strathmilligan with the teinds and
pertinents thereof, described in the title deeds as
1. ALL and WHOLE the lands of Marquieston now called Marquieston Park,
being a part of the Ten Merkland of Stenhouse as sometime possessed by Samuel Williamson
and thereafter by James McTurk, Esquire of Stenhouse...
2. ALL and WHOLE the right of property or dominium utile of the Lands of
Tinlego alias Tinleoch with the pertinents thereof, together with the teinds,
parsonage and vicarage of the same and the woods, fishings, parts, pendicles
and pertinents thereof as sometime possessed by Robert Kennedy, together with
such part as shall correspond to the said lands of Tinlego of the seat in
Tynron Kirk sometime occupied by Walter Wilson of Croglin and his family
situated directly opposite to the Pulpit and LASTLY all and WHOLE the lands of
Strathmilligan and Kilmark described in the original title deeds thereof as the
two Merk and a half Merkland of Strathmilligan and one Merkland of Kilmark with
houses, biggings etc...
THE STENHOUSE ESTATE, being the Subjects first above referred to, was
purchased by Mr. D.M.MacRae from his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch at Whitsunday
1907, for the sum of £12160; and the lands of KILMARK and STRATHMILLIGAN, being
the Subjects second referred to, have been purchased by Mr. MacRae from the
said Duke of Buccleuch, with entry at Whitsunday 1912, for the sum of £6900
sterling, making a total purchase price ... of £19060.
The Annual Rentals, per Valuation Roll, in respect of the STENHOUSE
ESTATE, are as follows:
Farm and House, Stenhouse.........................£255
Summer House..................................................£2
Woodlands........................................................£6
Stenhouse Cottage............................................£4
House, Smithy and Byre, Parkhouse................£5
Shootings.......................................................£10
Total assessable rental in respect of Stenhouse.........£282
The Annual Rental of the Lands of Strathmilligan... ..£69.1
and the Farm of Kilmark has been let as from Whitsunday 1912 at an annual
rental
of................................................................................£200
Together.......£551.1
The Annual Burdens, in respect of Stenhouse, are as follows:
Feu Duty....................................£1:17: 4
Land Tax...................................£4: 2: 5
Minister's Stipend....................£10:15: 8
Parish Rates..............................£7: 9: 7
Total Burdens on Stenhouse.................£35:19: 8
The Annual Burdens, in respect of Kilmark and Strathmilligan, are as
follows:
Feu Duty..................................£12: 2
Minister's Stipend....................£12:13: 6
County Rates...........................£10: 1: 9
Parish Rates..............................£7:
Total Burdens on K. and S....................£31: 4: 4
Total Burdens.......................................£67: 4:-
Nett Annual Rental of Security Subjects....................£483:17:-
CONDITIONS OF REPAYMENT follow...
BORROWER'S AGENT: DAVID PATERSON, Solicitor, Thornhill.
So much historical information is included on such deeds, which are often hidden away.
For tax purposes a valuation roll for Stenhouse Estate was prepared in January 1915. This too is an important local historical document, a copy of which is on the next page.
Donald was a very important man. He was a JP, was on the County Council, chairman of Tynron Parish Council, on the School Board, President of Dumfriesshire Liberal Association, a director of Nithsdale Auction Company and President of Nithsdale Horse Society. He had a finger in every pie. He attended the United Free Church of Glencairn to which he donated an organ in 1900. By 1911 he had what I expect could be the glen’s first car.
He was a renowned breeder of Blackface sheep but his pride and joys were his pedigree Aberdeen Angus cattle. He was a keen shooter and was responsible for killing thousands of birds, hares, rabbits and occasional deer. His game books show the tally. Blackcock and red grouse were the favourites.
As an example of his liberal views, MacRae proposed splitting Dalmakerran into smallholdings during the First World War. The local Tories would have none of it!
STENHOUSE
ESTATE
Valuation Roll for Taxes
January 1915
|
DESCRIPTION AND SITUATION OF SUBJECT |
PROPRIETOR |
TENANT |
OCCUP -IER |
INHABITANT OCCUPIER NOT RATED |
ANNUAL VALUE OF DWELL-ING HOUSE |
YEARLY RENT OR VALUE |
|||
|
Farm
and House, Stenhouse |
MacRae,
Donald Macdonald
per David
Paterson, Solicitor, Thornhill |
|
Proprietor |
|
|
255 |
|||
|
Summer House |
" |
|
" |
|
|
2 |
|||
|
House, Markmony |
" |
|
" |
Robert
Anderson, Shepherd |
4 |
|
|||
|
Lodge of Stenhouse |
" |
|
" |
Jas.
Robertson, Chauffeur |
4 |
|
|||
|
House, Stenhouse Cottage |
" |
|
" |
Janet
Maxwell, widow |
4 |
|
|||
|
House, Stenhouse Dairy |
" |
|
" |
D.A.Clement, Cattleman |
4 |
|
|||
|
House, Holmhouse |
" |
|
" |
|
|
4 |
|||
|
House, Holmhouse |
" |
|
" |
Hawthorn
Gibson, Gamekeeper |
4 |
|
|||
|
Woodlands |
" |
|
" |
|
|
8 |
|||
|
House
of Stenhouse, Millhouse |
" |
|
" |
R.McGowan, Gardener |
4 |
|
|||
|
House
of Stenhouse, Cottage |
" |
|
" |
Empty |
4 |
|
|||
|
House
of Stenhouse, Cottage |
" |
Wm.
Wilson, Grocer’s Assistant |
Tenant |
|
|
4 |
|||
|
House
of Stenhouse, Parkhouse |
" |
|
Proprietor |
|
|
5 |
|||
|
House
of Stenhouse, Parkhouse |
" |
|
" |
Andrew
Collow, Ploughman |
5 |
|
|||
|
Farm
and House, Strathmilligan |
" |
John Glencorse, Farmer |
Tenant |
|
|
68 |
|||
|
Farm, Kilmark |
" |
C.H.Dickie, Farmer, of |
" |
|
|
200 |
|||
|
House, Kilmark |
" |
Burnhead, Thornhill |
" |
D.Goudie, Dairyman |
6 |
|
|||
|
House, Tynron Kirk |
MacRae,
Ivor Alexander
per David
Paterson, Solicitor, Thornhill |
Jessie B.Kennedy, widow |
" |
|
|
7 |
|||
|
House, Tynron Kirk |
" |
Jessie B.Kennedy, widow |
" |
Wilfred
Barker Gardener |
7 |
|
|||
|
Farm
and House, |
" |
Alexander Brown, Farmer |
" |
|
|
49 |
|||
|
House, Tynron Kirk |
" |
James Laurie, Merchant |
" |
|
|
16 |
|||
|
Shop
and Stores, (Licensed) |
" |
James Laurie |
" |
|
|
18 |
|||
|
Stable and Gig Shed |
" |
James Laurie |
" |
|
|
2 |
|||
|
Grain Store |
" |
James Laurie |
" |
|
|
4 |
|||
|
House, Tynron Kirk |
" |
F.M.N.Gourlay, Farmer, Milnton |
" |
|
|
7 |
|||
|
House, Tynron Kirk |
" |
F.M.N.Gourlay |
" |
R.Farrow, Chauffeur |
7 |
|
|||
|
House, Tynron Kirk |
" |
Alex Gibson, Labourer |
" |
|
|
5 |
|||
|
House, Tynron Kirk |
" |
Elizabeth Coltart, widow |
" |
|
|
4 |
|||
|
House, Tynron Kirk |
" |
Thos.
Coulthart, Farm Foreman |
" |
|
|
5 |
|||
|
House, Tynron Kirk |
" |
Wm. Stitt, Labourer |
" |
|
|
3 |
|||
|
House, Tynron Kirk |
" |
Parish Council |
Tenants |
|
|
1.10 |
|||
|
Shop, Tynron Kirk |
" |
John Lorimer, Shoemaker |
Tenant |
|
|
1.15 |
|||
|
House, Tynron Kirk |
" |
Wm.
McCartney, Coachman |
" |
|
|
3 |
|||
|
House, Tynron Kirk |
" |
Margaret Smith, widow |
" |
|
|
3 |
|||
|
House, Tynron Kirk |
" |
Mary Brown, widow |
" |
|
|
5 |
|||
|
House
and Workshop, Tynron Kirk |
" |
Jas. Reid, Joiner |
" |
|
|
5 |
|||
|
Shootings, Tynron Kirk |
" |
|
Proprietor |
|
|
1 |
|||
|
Shootings, Stenhouse Estate |
" |
|
" |
|
|
25 |
|||
MacRaes had three children, Annie Marion MacDonald born in ?, Ivor Alexander
in 1895 and Ruth Margaret in 1909. Ivor was a blue at football and cricket at
In 1913 Donald MacRae bought
Rosalie was left with two daughters. There is little about Rosalie, Annie
and Ruth in the records and I do not really know much about them. Rosalie set
up the Tynron Jubilee Nursing Fund in 1897, which lasted until 1913. She was
also a founder member and president of Tynron W.R.I. Rosalie died
The ownership of
Annie had most to do with the estate and lived at Stenhouse until she died
Ivor's name is on the war memorial in Tynron. I believe it was originally financed by the MacRaes, as Ruth certainly had paving stones around the memorial laid in 1929.
There are many fascinating details about the house. Many tradesmen's accounts are in the collection. For example, electric lighting was installed in 1907, using power from the waterwheel to charge batteries. Many alterations had to be made to accomplish this and there were not a few problems with it afterwards. The conservatory was built in 1902 and expensive improvements were gradually made to the house. A complete list of furniture exists ordered from one firm for £522 on entry to the house in 1892. Many of these goods were collected from Crossford Station. In the 1980's the conservatory was taken down and all the furniture and contents were sold in a house sale in 1984.
I was hoping to find something about
As for the farm, in 1931 it still employed a cattleman for 23 cattle, a shepherd for 346 sheep on Markmony, a ploughman, a dairywoman, an assistant shepherd and fencer and also a general farm worker.
These six full-timers were augmented by casual workers for the hay. Turnips,
oats and cabbages were grown. The farm still had two work mares (old) and 40
hens. In 1931, however, all the pedigree Aberdeen Angus stock was sold at
In 1982, with Annie's death, the estate was broken up. The village houses have all been sold individually and the land has been split up. Most is now in Bennan, only two fields being retained. So a once famous estate is no more and a beautiful steading stands silent.
In the 1691 Hearth Tax *10 John Douglas at Stenhouse had easily the superior house in the glen with 13 hearths in his mansion. MacRae made Stenhouse the pride of the glen again. In the 1990’s there has been much work to modernise Stenhouse, not a few trees have come down and rhododendrons removed.
SCHOOLS
In 1696 the Act for Settling of Schools was passed, stating that a school, a schoolmaster and a schoolhouse were to be provided for every parish that did not already have one. Penpont and Glencairn had schools before then, but maybe there was not one at Tynron.
However, there was a school in Tynron by 1703, when the minister, Riddell, and kirk-session were "satisfied with the conversation (behaviour), fidelity and diligence of their schoolmaster". We know of schoolmasters appointed 1721-1745, but some did not stay long, as things did not always run smoothly. The schoolmaster was appointed on a salary of £22 per annum by the church to instruct in the principles of the Christian religion, to teach to read and write well, to cast accounts, to sing psalms at church and in private families and to teach any other parts of learning as were thought proper. Tynron’s peasantry were as well educated as any in the world.
John Gibson
Things improved further in 1754 when the Society for Propagating Christian
Knowledge in
Gibson's bequest was unusual, as it was also to help the poor. £13 per annum was given between 12 needy people, each getting 10 shillings cash and 10 shillings worth of flax. The remaining £1 was to be split between the four or five who had made best use of the flax. Thus was industry encouraged. Gibson's help also meant that scholars could be sent on to university, even if from a poor family. I wonder what has happened to the money now? It must be still around somewhere.
The parish school up the glen at the house now called Glendow was opened some years later. It is first mentioned in 1786 in the Wilson Papers, then in 1789 in the parish registers when the schoolmaster, John Watson and Mary Seaton produced Mary, the first of enough children to populate the school themselves!
In 1836 there were 46 pupils at the endowed school of 63 places. 34 places were filled of the 36 at the parish school.
Religion, Latin, Greek, Writing and Arithmetic were taught. The schools taught in English and proved the final death knell for Gaelic, previously accelerated by the 1707 Act of Union. The last Gaelic speaker in Tynron may have died in the early eighteenth century. By 1893 attendances had fallen in line with the population to 36 at the endowed school and 18 at the parish school.
The Education (
Rev. David Couper Minister of Tynron
Robert Kennedy Dalmakerran
Adam Brown Bennan
Thomas Haining Laight
James Laurie Merchant, Tynron Kirk
They set the salary and fees, they organised repairs and even set the timetable. The salary then was £82 plus the sewing mistress (I am not sure I have written that correctly!). The whole of the school's money went to the teacher's salary, so the teacher was left to provide for school expenses out of his salary in any way he pleased.
James Shaw was always present at these meetings, pressing for improvements, although not a member of the board! The minutes of the meetings at both schools 1872-1919 are all available at the Ewart Library and they make fascinating reading.
The log book for
Attendance was not always regular. On
Absences in 1874 November-December included those for outdoor work, funeral, teacher ill, whooping cough and a severe snowstorm. Epidemics of measles often closed the school.
On
In 1880 there were 55 children on the roll, so many that the schoolroom was overcrowded, when all the children were present. The heritors provided the money at once to build the addition to the schoolroom. In 1884 there was a "Compulsory Officer", but children were still kept off for trivial excuses. So much so that Laurie wrote "many absentees yet. Believe the School Board has a Compulsory Officer somewhere".
Attendances were below twenty by 1918 and the endowed school was finally
closed in 1939. The final sad entry in the book, dated
The glen school remained open until about 1958 when there were 10 or 12
pupils, though between 1951 and 1956 there were never more than 5 pupils. How
interesting and ironic that there are many more children in Tynron Glen in the
1980's and 90's. Two minibuses are needed to take children to Penpont Primary
and
*29 James Shaw, Tynron’s
Country Schoolmaster, 1862-1896
Some might say Tynron is no village, but a hamlet, a clachan in fact. It has
no shop and few facilities. It has a postbox *
, an old red telephone box ( and a
village hall. The shop finally closed in the seventies and now people shop
locally at Penpont or over the hill in Moniaive. The more adventurous go to
Thornhill and most people will forage in the supermarkets in
Trades
Willie Wilson calls 1870-1914 the Golden Years of Tynron. The village was lively with all the children. Various tradesmen flourished there, joiners, the shopkeeper, a wheelwright, a blacksmith at Parkhouse and a shoemaker. Many women were lace-makers, dressmakers, milliners, spinners and weavers. In the 1851 census there were:
George Black, his wife and 7 children, blacksmith at Parkhouse.
Alexander Gracie, tailor.
Thomas Smith and 7 children, joiner.
Alexander Fraser, sawyer.
David Wallace, shoemaker.
Janet Muirhead, dressmaker.
Gradually these trades died out, as goods from the cities became widely available. Jimmy Reid, the joiner, was still working in 1938 at Tynron Kirk.
Searching the records it is possible to find out the names of the folk who did these jobs. For instance, the merchants known are:
George Amuligane 1549
William Wishart 1681
John Grierson 1734
William Irving died 1757
Jacob Carruthers 1770
James Williamson died 1826
Robert Hyslop from 1826
another James Williamson 1837-51 at least
William Hyslop died 1865
James Laurie 1857 assistant, then 1868-1914
William Wilson 1914-1959 (apprentice from 1897)
Marion Pollock until it closed
Tanyard
There was a tanyard at
Tynron Kirk Whisky
The famous Tynron Kirk Whisky was made for the shop in the second half of the nineteenth century by Laurie, the shopkeeper. It was blended in the churchyard and used water from the well behind Kirkland Farmhouse. This well is still open. The bonded store was in Kirkland Farmhouse, which still has the iron bars in the window beside the garage.
Laurie had the contract for supplying the Houses of Parliament with whisky.
Willie Wilson took the whisky business over with the shop, but gave it up
when the Houses of Parliament contract was lost. It was apparently lost when
the quality dropped and competition from big companies overwhelmed this tiny
enterprise. Rumour has it that
Robert Burns would have tied his pony up outside the shop in the course of
his duties as exciseman touring the local parishes. One of his round trips from
Ellisland was Thornhill-Penpont-Tynron-Crossford-Dunscore. One visit to
"Tyneron" is recorded in his handwriting at the exhibition at the
Robert Burns Centre in
Jimmy Laurie from the shop sold his wares at all the glen's farms and
bartered produce too, using a horse and cart. He is pictured on the right of
the old photo *30a. His nephew, Willie Wilson, born in Moniaive, started
as his apprentice then took over the lease of the shop in 1914. William Wilson
died
Another tale says that he used to use yesterday's papers to wrap up
deliveries, but then charged his customer half-price for the paper!
When
Jim Glencorse
Regarding the whisky and much else too, Jim Glencorse's reminiscences of the glen this century are really worth reprinting from Matt Mundell’s article from the Standard May 1981:
The Glen of Change
Jim (85) recalls the drovers and the
three bob local whisky!
Beside a spindly glen road, over which he
long since walked his lambs and ewes to market and where he collected groceries
from a packman’s cart, Jim Glencorse is again watching the start to one of the
outbye world’s most critical seasons, the hill lambing.
The forthcoming weeks of struggle, as each
dawn unveils its unpredictable menu of successes, disappointments, joys and
sorrows to the region’s upland sheep men, will jog many memories for Jim, whose
first steps in a lambing field were taken before the turn of the century.
In over 80 years of dwelling in the same
quiet burnside Jim Glencorse has seen many changes in his home, Shinnel Glen.
While progress has remoulded dramatically many south-west valleys through
mechanisation, new farming techniques, stock intensification and improvement,
timber encroachment, holiday homes and fewer herdings, Jim remembers clearly
some of the bygone days’ colourful happenings around Tynron:
- The big droves of sheep coming over the hills from Lanark on their
way to the Stewartry.
- His own days of droving to Thornhill, when the roads were dotted
every 20 yards with flocks from surrounding glenways.
- Ploughing and drilling one day on the steep braes with Clydesdales
and Half-Bred horses.
- The world-famed Tynron Kirk blended whisky.
- The weekly "mobile shop" - a horse and sheeted spring
cart.
- The big "neighbourings" at the sheep clippings.
All these features have gone now. So too has
Tynron Upper School, where Jim was a pupil until he left at 14 years of age to
work on his father’s nearby Strathmilligan farm, where he had already been a
big help at the lambing for several years prior to leaving the school desk.
"It was a big mistake when they started
closing down these country schools. You could learn all you needed to know
there," said Jim, who recalls some pupils from the likes of outbye
Shinnelhead at the head of the glen having to walk several miles daily to their
one teacher school. "I have seen them weel drookit many a morning when
they came in," he said.
The
Several of the farms in these early days had
as many as three shepherds. Strathmilligan, a 230 acre unit stocking
Strathmilligan had also about 40 to 50 acres
of arable ground and four or five acres were broken each year. Jim was still
young when he started behind the Clydesdale horse and the swing plough. But for
some of the other work, such as drilling, he preferred the Half-Bred horses.
"They were smarter on their feet and easier kept and had an advantage with
their smaller feet on top of the furrows." The lea always had to be
ploughed one way, down the steep hill, even with horses.
His recollections of what he admits were far
happier days include his treks to Thornhill with the farm’s sheep. For a
Saturday sale the stock was sometimes driven down the glen on a Friday and was
put in a field overnight near Carronbridge. "You needed a good dog for that
job and they got keen on this work."
"We were lucky sometimes if we got as
much as £1 for lambs," says Jim. "There were some big sales though,
probably as big as they are now."
He can remember too the days his father
walked calving heifers over to Moniaive station for entraining to sales at
Castle Douglas. One nearby farmer, John Wallace of Macqueston, Jim recollects,
cycled to Castle Douglas mart in the morning to buy heifer calves, cycled back
home and then spent an hour or so sowing grain or working in the garden.
Jim’s own droving tramps to Thornhill took
only a few hours. They were jovial days for the shepherds and farmers. "I
have seen the road lined with stock as far as you could see, heading for the
sales. Maybe a drove every 20 yards with folk from Moniaive and even Dalry
travelling them."
Prior to that there were the days when
mighty droves of sheep passed the farm loaning on their way over the hill
tracks from Lanark sales, heading to the Stewartry. There are still signs of
the old pad coming over from Auchenhessnane past Pinzarie and Jim himself has
taken stock on its continuation over from Birkhill to come out near Hastings
Hall at Moniaive. "It was a well-worn road," he said.
The mode of transport changed, but before
the likes of Alex Wood started to haul stock in and out of the Penpont glens by
cattle float, there was still the likes of grocer, Jimmy Laurie,
from Tynron selling his wares weekly at all
the glen’s farmsteads and cottages from his horse and cart. The only protection
for the goods heaped in boxes on the spring cart, including far famed thick
black tobacco, was a sheet. But Jimmy Laurie carted provisions up the water
summer and winter.
He had another claim to fame for the whisky
which he blended. Tynron Kirk Whisky was sent at one time to
The grocery business was taken over by
William Wilson, who had worked for Laurie since he was a youngster and whose
wage at one time was reported as being a pair of boots and a suit of clothes.
Jim Glencorse can still remember the first
motor vehicle which came up the Shinnel. "Everybody was running to see
it" His own method of travelling has changed little, for he still bikes to
Tynron on a cycle he bought in the 1920’s and which he has kept in good working
order since.
For a hill farmer the vagaries of the
weather can bring bitter recollections. Jim vividly recalls the 26th and 27th
April 1919. "That was a bad storm, the worst. We were just in the middle
of the lambing. The snow began at
"Then 1947 was bad too. There were a
terrible number of lambs lost that year. It rained for a whole week without
stopping. The wind would have blown the coat off you. There were lambs lying in
the morning on their backs with their bellies turned up and their mothers were
away getting shelter. Where there were burns an awful lot of lambs were washed
away."
In the changing fortunes of the glen, Jim
reckons the introduction of modern veterinary aids helped improve the sheep
stock and led to higher lambing percentages. That and pasture improvement.
But it was always hard to make a profit, he
contended. "I remember there used to be a lot of corn grown on the hills
before my day. The ministers were paid with the crop, but if it was grown
beyond the dyke the minister could not claim it."
The social scene has changed too in Shinnel.
Jim used to bowl at a house, long demolished, called Clodra, and here too they
held many enjoyable invitation-only dances, some surviving from 7p.m. to 5a.m.
He remembers walking back home from a dance once in Scaur Water and finding the
family sitting at breakfast when he arrived back. He had then to change clothes
and get onto the road and walk two heifers to Thornhill market. One did not
make the required price, so he drove them home, where one promptly gave birth
to twin calves.
There are plenty of reminiscences too about
the sheep shearing. Jim was buister, the youngster who puts on the flock brand
with
"There were some happy days. Even the
folk were different too somehow," said Jim.
Glencorse is an old family name in Tynron, but now Jim has died and he was
the last Glencorse in the glen. Browns of Macqueston and Telfers in Parkhouse
are the main families with deep roots now in Tynron. The oldest inhabitant,
until she moved in 1993, was 86 year old Miss Annie Watson of Stenhouse Lodge.
Annie was born in the mining
The first substantial buildings in Tynron after the school were in 1785 when
TYNRON
KIRK
The kirk is sited on a prominent knoll on top of the remains of many previous kirks. Tynron village has gathered round the kirk at a river crossing and a minor road junction.
MinistersW
Names and details of the ministers since 1540 can be found in Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, available in the Ewart, but here is an abbreviated list:
Robert Welsh 1540-1568 was probably a monk from Holywood.
William Taylor 1568-1604? was previously in Penpont and Glencairn. He renounced the Papish religion.
Richard Brown 1604-1645
John Lidderdale 1644-1662 was deprived of this charge on the establishment of Episcopacy.
Robert Ramsay 1664-1677 was presented by Charles II and thus conformed to Episcopacy.
David Laing 1677-1689 deserted his charge at the Restoration.
John Murray 1691-1700 first minister after the Restoration of 1689.
Simon Riddell 1701-1743 in 1715 marched to
Thomas Wilson 1743-1780 was the first minister presented by the Duke of Queensberry. He was a Wilson of Croglin.
James Wilson 1780-1827 nephew of above. Had 6 daughters and 2 sons.
Robert Wilson 1828-1870 was related to the above. He was the first minister known to have been born in Tynron, at Auchengibbert.
He had eight daughters before he had his only son.
David Couper 1871-1906 was seen as a squire as well as a minister. He had two daughters, three maids, a laundry woman, a coachman and a gardener-cum-odd-job-man.
Samuel Gilfillan Carmichael 1906-1938.
There is a story worth repeating about the Rev. Carmichael. Next to the manse was a piece of land where tinkers used to stay and one day when they moved on they left a dead donkey. The minister asked the council when they were going to remove the corpse. The man from the council replied that he thought the minister was responsible for dealing with the dead of the parish. Carmichael, who was much of a character, then stated that he was just informing next of kin!
The last minister was John McWilliam from 1938-65. He was a well-known birdwatcher, President of the Scottish Ornithologists' Club no less. He is said to have spent all his time on birds, while his wife did the parish work. He was Irish and was often so moved by his own preaching that he had tears in his eyes.
When McWilliam died the manse was quickly sold, renamed The Garth and Tynron
sadly ceased to be a separate parish, when it was linked with Glencairn and
Moniaive on
Along with every other small kirk the threat of closure has hung heavily over Tynron church. It has not survived and another facet of old village life is gone. The church is for sale. What will become of it?
Tynron ChurchX
The first substantial church was built just after 1700, but there was a
succession of older buildings before that going back to the twelfth century and
there is a long association with St. Cuthbert. Cuthbert was an Anglo-Saxon, a
monk and later bishop of
The communion cups date back to 1610. Half the roof of the church of 1700 fell down in 1750, but unfortunately freestone from Tynron Doon was used to rebuild it. There were further major repairs in 1787 which made the church comfortable except when snow penetrated the crevices in the roof!
Tynron Kirk was again in a ruinous state in 1834 and the present building
was built in 1837 for £975 by John Dalyell of Minnyhive. The architect was
William Burn of
The church was rebuilt in 1889 when there was a fashionable wedding to reopen it, Marion Brown, daughter of Adam Brown at Bennan. There were huge crowds and schoolchildren were given a bag of edibles and a sixpence.
The heritors were liable for the upkeep of the kirk. Even in 1912 Mr. MacRae was being asked for a levy of two pence in the pound rental to meet the cost of new windows. MacRae duly paid his share, £2.7s. MacRae also had to pay £23.9.2 towards the minister's stipend.
Until fairly recently pew rents were paid by the heritors, whereby pews would be reserved for the family and servants. In 1908 Mr MacRae from Stenhouse enquired as to how much pew space the MacRaes were entitled to. The total pew length was duly measured, the Duke of Buccleuch consulted, and MacRaes were allotted two seats and a bit. (The majority of the pews were allocated to Buccleuch). See *31 to see how this was allocated. This was even though the MacRaes themselves attended the Free Church in Dunreggan.
Some Tynronians had left the Church of Scotland with the formation of the evangelical Free Church in 1843 and had to make the long walk over the hill to the new kirk at the end of Dunreggan, now in ruins. Some preferred the Cameronians at Scaur church in Penpont.
James Shaw gave this account of births, marriages and deaths 1865-95:
On Sundays waggon loads of children,
carefully packed in straw, presided over by the maternal or paternal owner, or
both, would pass my home on the road to the church. Wives and maidens, who
could not command such a conveyance, walked past, their shoes and stockings in
a napkin, ready to be put on at the rivulet’s side nearest the church. At that
time the greater part of the families in my district were Cameronian or
Reformed Presbyterian. At the present time the
Ever since I came to Tynron, the child
enters the Christian Church on a secular day. Neighbours are invited and the
table groans with every kind of food. Butter (salt, fresh or powdered), bacon
and eggs, sweet milk and skimmed milk cheese, potato scones, soda scones, drop
scones, treacle scones, tea and a dram are part of the fare. The shepherds have
a very restricted number of baptismal names. At one time the fourth of my
schoolboys were "William".
Weddings are celebrated in the same
hospitable and jovial style. I have sat in a barn or cheese-room, the walls of
which were lined with sheeting to protect our clothes, the floor sawdusted for
dancing. The built-in boiler was transposed into a platform for the fiddlers.
The tea was taken in relays. The minister, schoolmaster and small gentry
occupied seats at the first table, which, along with forms for sitting on, was
improvised from slabs for the occasion.
The commoner folk and young herds were next
regaled at a second spread, while the elders smoked tobacco outside. The dances
did not consist of walking, simpering and circling round each other with
planetary regularity, but were like those that took place in Alloway church, as
far as noise, life and motion were concerned. Towards morning came that awful
ordeal, the pillow dance, or "Bob at the bolster", an ingenious
method of picking out the bonny and weel-liked and placing the less
distinguished at the bottom of the class. The best man having picked out the
bride, it next became her turn to throw the handkerchief to whomsoever she
chose. The happy swain knelt as she stooped. The fiddlers shrieked a minuendo
and the last kiss that ever alien lips should secure was wrested from the
bride.
Funerals were well attended and the custom
of having a service prevailed and only began to thin out after I entered the
parish. I was told by a well-wisher to get acquainted with the people and to
attend all the sheep shearings and funerals to which I was invited. The
attendance at funerals is diminishing and generally a few gigs now pick up all
the mourners. The exodus of young men and daughters into the large towns reacts
on provincial simplicity. I witnessed wreaths of flowers heaped on the coffin
of an old Cameronian, whose opinion, I am certain, had never been taken on the matter.
The humblest family must have a memorial stone.
In the 1950's, 25 or 30 attended weekly services, but recently services have been restricted to just one a month at Tynron, run from Penpont, as part of the Penpont, Keir and Tynron Parish. Nevertheless the church and churchyard are kept in good condition by the council and a Covenanters Trail signpost has been erected. The kirk is surprisingly big inside and will hold some 314 people. The only time it does, though, is at the occasional wedding or funeral.
The oldest tombstone is of 1683, John Douglas of Stenhouse. From the
opposite side of the religious spectrum is the stone of William Smith the
Covenanter, but this stone dated 1685 is much later than the event. There is a
1692 stone of the
Village Hall
The Tynron Parish Hall was created about 1927-8. It was formed from a joiner's workshop and stable, which properties were gifted by Misses MacRae. One of the original aims was to house the village library. It was also stipulated by the MacRaes in the agreement that no intoxicating liquor was to be sold on the premises. So what happens at dances now is a continual disappearance of the participants to their cars for a medicinal tot! Needless really, as there was also a stipulation that alcohol could be consumed in the hall on special occasions
Tynron Women’s Rural Institute
There had been great pressure for the building of a new hall in the twenties from the newly formed Tynron W.R.I., who had nowhere to meet, with the school hall not always being available. Tynron W.R.I. has been going strong ever since. Competitions held have included:
cardboard box covered in wallpaper
potato peeling
hopping
bowl from a gramophone record
whistling
footstool made from syrup tins
neatest ankles
apron made out of a flour bag
best sixpenny supper for one person
peeling potato blindfolded.
neatest parcel of a pair of shoes
Tynron W.R.I. cards as early as 1924 are in the MacRae collection. See *32a&b. At that time the women would walk down the glen in the dark evenings, carrying their lights. As each lady saw the lights coming, she would know it was time to leave the house and join the merry party walking down the glen road.
The village hall got a new car park in 1993 to go with the alterations which have put in Velux windows in the roof and repaired the flat roof. A grant has been obtained for this work, but materials and help have also been freely given by the folk of Tynron. The newly renovated and freshly painted hall is still used for Tynron Rural, carpet bowling, Halloween parties, dances, meetings and as a polling station.
Tynron Community Council meets regularly to decide on all the local issues.
See *33.
- Gas
A gasometer was marked on the 1856 and 1900 OS maps. It was sited by Lann Hall farmhouse and, as far as I can tell, must have supplied the village, as happened in Moniaive.
- Electricity
Electricity came through the village in 1931-3. It was supplied by Dumfriesshire County Council from the Penpont-Moniaive line, though I am not sure how many houses in the village were connected, if any! The lines were low voltage and could only supply lighting, which cost £1 per room per annum. Stenhouse, of course, had been generating their own electricity from a water-wheel since 1907.
It was not until 1954 that the South-West Scotland Electricity Board put up an 11 kilovolt line and supplied Tynron's outlying farms and cottages with enough to power all the latest gadgets available.
In 1991 new street lights were put up. One resident remarked that they no
longer need to go to
- Water Supply
Until 1924 the church, school and village were supplied from a tank situated
above the church. The new village hall would have needed more water and there
was already scarcely enough for the rest, so a new supply was laid on from
Auchengibbert Linn above
The 1950's brought mains water. Nowadays water comes from Kettleton Reservoir, constructed in 1938, but this only goes up the glen to the two bridges. Water from Kettleton is gravity-fed into a tank at Auchengibbert, refurbished in 1991, from where it is piped down to the village.
Farms like Auchenbrack still have their own source from the hillside. Auchenbrack's water kept flowing even in the tremendous drought of summer 1984, but barely.
Penpont's water supply used to come from the spring across the road from Clonrae.
- Public Services
The nearest police station is at Thornhill, but it is not manned all the time. A police car is almost a rarity in Tynron and sets all the tongues wagging. The fire engine has to come from Thornhill. Doctors from Moniaive and Thornhill and the district nurse provide an excellent service. Dumfries Infirmary deals with most of the hospital cases. The yellow library van travels up to Glenburn regularly. The mobile shop has stopped visiting recently, but there is still the fish van.
- Buses
The motor car has all but killed off the bus services, but even in 1996 two
buses and a daily postbus call in the village, connecting the glen with
Thornhill, Moniaive and
- Trains
Thornhill railway station opened in 1850. Now trains can be caught at
Life in Tynron?
There is still some life in Tynron, but no longer is agriculture the only
raison d'être. The kirk cottages have been bought by the National Trust for
Tynron village was made a conservation area in 1989 by Nithsdale District
Council to stop the village being spoiled. This allows for the planned bungalow
on the
New residents are likely to be outsiders, some escaping from
Tynron has the same problem as every other small community. Its sons and daughters leave as soon as they can, as there are no jobs and no houses available. Are these children of Tynron ever likely to return to stay?
The blessing or curse of tourism has not really hit Tynron. Not a holiday
caravan nor a bed and breakfast. Not yet. The sight of a caravanette driving up
the glen is still a novelty. Perhaps it is fortunate that the glen road is
no-through-road and the steep hill to Moniaive protects Tynron from tourists.
And yet Tynron Glen is as attractive as any in
Twinning
The Auld Alliance Twinning Association of Keir, Tynron, Penpont and Dunscore
has been very active. Tynronians have visited villages in L'Oise Department in
The Hen Hoose
The Hen Hoose took over the buildings formerly used by the battery farm at Lann Hall in 1993. What an unlikely setting for an ambitious venture, restoring furniture and providing a centre for arts and crafts mainly for women. The bric-à-brac and the tearoom are certainly aimed at the tourist market and are attracting visitors into Tynron.
At least Tynron has enjoyed something it has not often done before - 50 years of peace. History shows that this will not last for long, but let us enjoy it while it lasts. The next war might be the last...
Football, Cricket and Sports
A late football result:
1896 Tynron 1 Moniaive 0, played on Tynron ground, the glebe.
Whatever happened to that fixture?
Cricket used to be played too at Stenhouse, even before the First World War. There is a photo of a team from 1922 in the Ewart, when they played on the field over the road from the village houses.
Sports were held too in the field by the village or on Dalmakerran Holm, especially on jubilees and other royal events.
Carpet Bowling
Carpet bowling is the big sport still played in Tynron. As late as 1958 it was still played in the old village hall 3 kilometres up the glen at Clodderoch, (pronounced Clodrie), now less than a ruin. Tynron Bowling Club were the tenants of Clodderoch in the 1930's. Looking at the ruins of Clodderoch in the 1990’s it is difficult to imagine it being big enough for bowling and the village dances. But it was! The 1851 census showed six McCaws living there. In 1881 there were seven MacDuffs in Clodderoch.
Curling
Tynron's great traditional sport has been curling. John Laurie's pamphlet "Curling Songs of Tynron" 1870-6 has this wee poem:
Oor bonnie loch, the
news is brocht
Wi' twa-inch haup is cled
A braver sheet, mair true an' sweet
King Johnny never spread.
In 1861 Tynron Curling Society was formed. There were games long before this, but nothing organised. In 1865 Tynron Core had a rink in fine condition.
There are many references in the newspapers to AGM's and matches in the nineteenth century. The curling loch was Aird Loch, which was somewhat smaller than at present, and Tynron's successful years were the 1860's and 1870's. Back in 1863 they had used a sheet of ice in a neighbouring parish. The new loch at Craigturra was in use by 1886, when Aird Loch was "open and exposed". There were still three rinks in 1910 and curling was brilliant in the 1930's, when there was lots of ice. Tynron Curling Club was still renting the pond from Buccleuch in 1939 for one shilling per annum, and I imagine curling would have stopped during the war or just after.
In 1996 Craigturra Loch is overgrown with willows and totally unusable. Aird Loch could still be used, but it is difficult to imagine more than a very few days in the 1980's or 1990's when a suitable thickness of ice would have been formed. Perhaps a long term climatic change helped to put an end to curling.
Gardens and Crafts
The Glencairn and Tynron Amateurs', Cottagers' and Gardeners' Horticultural Society is in its 117th year in 1996. In Moniaive in August all sorts of garden and industrial produce is exhibited and Tynron is quite well represented.
PHOTO *P The
POPULATION
OF TYNRON PARISH
The first census of the parish was taken by Alexander Webster in 1755, as things were improving in Tynron:
1755 464 including 92 and four-fifths fighting men.
1793 500
1801 563
1811 574 Culmination of Improvements and farming expansion.
1821 513 Post-war decline, reduced prices and increase in farm size.
1831 493
It is interesting that Tynron was one of only two parishes in Dumfriesshire showing a population reduction 1801-31. Glencairn increased by 665 and Penpont by 266 in that same period.
1851 482
1861 446
1871 381 Drift to towns and cities. Less farm workers needed.
1881 416 Gentry houses empty in census month of April.
1891 359
1901 334
1911 309 Continual drift away from the land.
1921 315
1931 295 Mechanisation of farms.
1951 244
1961 205
1971 166 Forestry taking up agricultural land, but providing few, if any, jobs.
1991 estimated 140 folk in Tynron Glen, the lowest population of any parish in Dumfriesshire. Can this figure get any lower? There are few jobs locally, but as Tynron is a desirable place of residence, surely numbers cannot drop further?
These figures include the part of the parish up the Scaur, but not the part of the Shinnel Glen in Keir parish. The total population of Tynron Glen has always been therefore slightly less than the figures above.
In 1801 there were 101 inhabited houses and 5 uninhabited. 336 people were employed in agriculture, 27 in trade, manufacture or handicraft.
In 1831 there were 90 inhabited houses, i.e. 5½ people per house. There were 80 people in the village. 170 children under 15 lived in the glen.
In 1990 there are 58 inhabited houses with about 140 people, i.e. less than 2½ people per house. The houses were much smaller in 1831!
The electoral rolls for 1913 and 1988 are printed here. See *34 and *35. They are a treasure trove of information. In 1913 there were 66 voters on the list, all men, of course! Some women got the vote in 1918. In 1988 there were 114 voters. Not many surnames are on both lists.
ROADS
Prehistoric Roads
These would have been just tracks through the forest, so for evidence of these tracks to be preserved would need a stroke of good fortune. There would have been some well-trodden paths, but perhaps not much in the way of through routes, as Tynron is hardly on a major crossroads or valley route.
Roman Roads
When the Romans built their well-known road up Nithsdale, there is a tradition that there was a spur road up the glen, crossing Colt Hill at the top of the glen.
Pre-Improvement Roads
Unmade roads and tracks continued to be used until the eighteenth century. In the seventeenth century tenants had horses, which were used for bringing in crops from fields, transporting peat and stone and performing carriage services for the landlord, i.e. delivering cain rents or taking produce to market.
Unmade roads made wheeled vehicles impractical, so pack animals were used,
for instance a horse could carry 2 cwt of wool. Heavier loads could be pulled
by oxen or by using slypes for hauling hay, stone or peat. There would have
been a few heavy two-wheeled carts drawn by a single horse. It was a good day's
work to get to
Slypes or sleds drawn by horses were still used in Torthorwald in 1750, but were only a memory by 1790. They were replaced by two- or four-wheeled carts pulled by horses, or Queensberry might have had some heavier ox-drawn wagons.
Improving Roads
Narrow, unsurfaced, rutted, uneven, all roads were quagmires in wet weather.
Tynron, however, lay on the direct route, the post road, between Edinburgh
and Galloway. This was the pilgrimage road to Whithorn and kings would have
passed through Tynron. James IV passed through in 1507. General Roy's Military
Map of 1747 shows the old
Statute Labour
The 1790's Statistical Account says roads were much improved in Tynron since statute labour. This had begun in 1669 (and ended in 1845) with the Highways and Bridges Act and meant that each man spent four days per year repairing, ditching, fencing and making the 13 miles of main highways 20 feet wide. Most of the time this meant throwing stones from one of the many roadside quarries into the biggest ruts. An excellent map of the Statute Labour roads in the 1840’s is available in West Register House, Edinburgh.
A new stone bridge was built at Tynron Kirk in 1718, following the first
county survey of bridges and highways, which found the roads very much decayed
and almost impassable. The new builder was allowed timber and stone from the
old bridge. The bridge was strengthened in 1724 for the post road, but needed
repairs after 1764. It finally fell in the floods of 1782 and was rebuilt in
1783. It was again rebuilt after 1850. I saw an advert in the paper in 1851 for
rebuilding and improving Tynron Kirk bridge. Plans and specifications were held
by Mr Kennedy in
In 1801 the old bridge over the Scaur into Penpont was taken down and a new
one built. This was at the time the whole
The
Other Bridges
In December 1758 Christian Alison, a servant girl, going along a timber bridge at Mounthooly, Holmhead, the bridge fell with her and she died in the water and her corps was found near Killiwarran next morning.
The first proper bridges up the glen were
The Duke of Buccleuch was a good landlord and improved the glen road quite early in the nineteenth century, though even then the main roads themselves were passable only on horseback.
Turnpikes
In 1789 Turnpike Roads were begun in Penpont. This gives us a definite date for another improvement of the Edinburgh-Galloway route. On one of these occasions the road between Clonrae and Craigturra was realigned. The old road can be seen on the south side of the present road.
The first Scottish Turnpike Act had been in 1750, but as usual progress was
slow in the backwoods! The map of the Edinburgh-Wigtoun road *36, taken
from
In 1836 there was a daily post between Moniaive and Thornhill and there were
15 miles of road in Tynron Parish, 14 maintained by statute labour and one mile
of turnpike maintained by tolls. The one mile was from
I am not sure when the Clone road, now the A702, superseded the Hillhead route, though most probably about 1800, when coaches started becoming a popular means of transport instead of horses and the Dumfries to Ayr road via Moniaive and over the Clone to Tynron was improved to take coaches. The first proper coach, The Craigengillan Castle, did not run this route until 1833. In 1865 an omnibus started between Moniaive and Thornhill Station. It is difficult to picture any coach crossing to Moniaive via Hillhead, when there was always the much easier, though rather longer, Clone route with 100 metres less climb.
The track through the Ford and Linnhouse to Tynron and beyond to Killiewarren was prominent still in 1896, but little used by 1922. The old drove road, previously mentioned, from Moniaive-Gled Brae-Bennan-Duddiestone Hass-Sanquhar is shown on map *20.
The first motor cars must have had a rough ride. The glen road was poor even in the 1920's and used to end as a surfaced road at Old Auchenbrack. Perhaps that is why Old Auchenbrack is built at such an angle across the road. Map *20 also shows the glen track above Old Auchenbrack used to run on both sides of the Shinnel and up to Appin across a ford. The line can still be seen clearly on Everside on the north-east side of the Shinnel, above Old Auchenbrack.
Road Trustees
The records of the Road Trustees from 1843 are kept in the Ewart.
They had powers to raise money. In Tynron, for instance. they could raise 5d in the £ on the valuation. They reveal, for example, that the 300 yards of road from Macqueston to Shinnel Water was surfaced properly in 1883, so it was put on the list of Highways of Tynron. The Road Trustees were abolished in 1889 and the responsibility for the roads passed to the newly-formed County Council. The Trustees records are very informative. In 1845 from a total of £28 16s, the following were allocated:
|
|
£4 |
|
|
£4 7s |
|
|
£4 |
|
Scar |
£5 |
|
|
£5 |
It also states who the money was paid to, the surveyor and those responsible for the roads.
Examples: in 1854 Mr Kennedy of
In 1847 the Dalmakerran to Glencairn Parish road was added to the above list and the Strathmilligan road repaired, as was the road to the Manse.
The 1849 schedule for Tynron bridge to be widened and reconstructed was after a petition laid before the commissioners.
In 1851 the Auchenbrack road ran only to Appin march. The road was then extended towards Shinnel Head.
Also in 1851 it was agreed that the Mecklewood road, i.e. the present A702, should be maintained jointly by Tynron and Glencairn and that Glencairn should contribute towards the work on Tynron bridge.
In 1856 Mr Kennedy had done up the road to the manse and had built a wall along and encroached on the road and narrowed it. Mr Hunter at the manse had complained. The Trustees had to go and see to decide.
In the 1990's the roads are kept up very well by the council. Even the glen road gets regularly resurfaced and potholes are filled in quite promptly. The plentiful new lay-bys for the forestry vehicles are not unwelcome. The council are not quite so successful at keeping water off the roads. They get everybody moaning when the mechanical flail makes a hell of a mess of the roadside hedges and trees.
1990 saw the first decent signposts. The glen road up from Tynron no longer just has a no-through-road sign, and there are directions now to Tynron off the main road.
Two of the old granite mileposts are still standing, at Low Lann cottage (15
miles to the Midsteeple at
CLIMATE
AND WEATHER
Most of the year the glen receives air from across the North Atlantic, the most common directions being from between south and south-west. This is moist maritime air and brings us more than our fair share of precipitation.
Air from over the North Atlantic Drift has the miraculous effect of keeping
the glen 17°C warmer in winter than average for our latitude and only about 1°C
cooler in summer. It leads to comparatively little difference between winter
and summer temperatures. An extreme example was in 1984, when the highest
temperatures on 23 June and 23 December were identical at 11°C. Both days were
cool and damp, showing that the midsummer can be no warmer than a mild wet day
just before Christmas. Contrary to much adverse publicity, average winter
temperatures of about 3°C in the glen are hardly any colder than those of
Actual figures are hard to come by, so I am using figures for Eskdalemuir,
which, I suppose, would be similar to those of Shinnelhead. However, the
weather down at Tynron village or by the
S Precipitation increases with
altitude up the glen.
Eskdalemuir averages 50 days with snow or sleet falling and 24 days of snow lying. Some years there is very little snow lying in Tynron Glen, except on the tops, 1988-9 and 1989-90 being examples, which were very mild. In other years patches survive through from January to April. !995 brought a proper white Christmas with 15 centimetres of T snowT falling on Christmas Eve, followed by a severe spell up to New Year, when the temperature plummeted to minus 16°C and did not rise above minus 8°C for four days. Naturally the New Year brought the usual wet and mild weather with temperatures well above zero. The 5th and 6th of February 1996 brought record snowfalls of 50 cm with another 15 cm on the 9th.
Shinnel Glen can hardly claim to be an exceptionally sunny spot. Eskdalemuir averages just 1.4 hours of sunshine a day in January and 5.6 in June. January 1996 was the dullest on record with a total of just nine hours.
Some summers can be wonderfully hot. 1976, 1982, 1983 and 1984 were warm and dry. In 1991 even August was fine, though it is usually a disappointing month. I remember climbing up the hills in the summer of 1984 and thinking that the glen looked like nothing less than a desert, with barely any green to be seen following a drought. 1995 has brought the hottest summer this century, with temperatures hitting a record 32°C on 31 July and reaching 30°C on several days.
Yes, the great thing about Tynron's weather is its unpredictability. I
remember one day in 1987 when the glen road was awash with floodwater and
gravel, so that parts were washed away or blocked. The water at the glen road
end was at bum level in my car. There are often problems with the stream from
AUCHENBRACK
I decided to do some more detailed research on Auchenbrack and the
surrounding lands. These were chosen because I was staying at
Maitlands
Auchenbrack was a separate holding as early as 1369. "The History of the Douglas Family" contains this first reference to Aghenbrekis, when it was transferred from one branch of the Maitland family to another.
In 1451 the king granted the Barony of Tibbers to George de Creichtoun, Knight, but later the same year William Matelande's charter to it was confirmed and it was returned to the Maitlands. Later in 1451 James Maitland received the barony from his brother, William, and it included Achinbrek. So Auchenbrack was just one of the many lands in the Barony of Tibbers, which seems to have included all the land between the Shinnel and the Scaur.
The Maitland family of Auchingassill (Penpont parish) were prominent until 1606, when their lands were taken over by the Queensberry Estate.
The Barony of Tibbers, including the five merkland of Auchenbrack had passed
in 1509 to the
In 1579 Bessie Douglas, widow of John Hunter at Auchinbrak, died and left
her estate to John Douglas of Killiewarren.
Achinbraik is marked on the Pont map of circa 1590 and in 1685 Sir Duncan
Campbell, a prominent Argyll supporter, lived here. The Hearth Tax shows Thomas
and William Hunter at Auchenbreck as tenants of Queensberry in 1691. The 1690's
were bad years and Queensberry's tenants at Auchenbrack, like James Hunter, Jon
Tait and William Hunter were in severe debt. The Hunters were a prominent
Tynron family in Bennan, Pinzarie, Craigencoon and Auchenbrack. It is said that
they were chased out at the point of a gun by the
Williamsons
The parish registers, first mention 1751, show that the Queensberry tenants at Auchenbrack were Williamsons, first James, died 1787, then Samuel, died 1807, then another James, until he died in 1840.
In 1810 Buccleuch took over the run-down estates of Queensberry and
Auchenbrack was to benefit greatly. The final dykes were built and then,
probably in the 1830's, the present steading was added on to the existing
eighteenth century farmhouse, formerly called
Wallaces
The 1841 census shows the coming of the Wallaces, well, Samuel Williamson Wallace initially. He was 30 years old and a tenant of Buccleuch at £300 per annum.
Samuel Wallace married Susan Reid and by 1851 he employed 12 labourers and ran 1900 acres. In 1852 their first child, James Reid Williamson Wallace, was born, giving us the clue that the Wallaces were not unrelated to the Williamsons.
The 1861 census is a great example of the interesting information that can be revealed. It says Auchenbrack (at that time usually spelt "Auchenbreck") had ten rooms with windows:
b. Glencairn Samuel Wallace 50 farmer
b. Dalmellington Susan Wallace 37 wife
b. Tynron James 9 scholar
b. Tynron Robert 7 scholar
b. Tynron Samuel 6 scholar
b. Tynron Janet 4
b. Tynron Margaret 2
b. Tynron John 1
b. Sanquhar Agnes Kerr 22 governess
b. Carsphairn David Clark 29 shepherd
b. Penpont Robert Kerr 17 ploughman
b. Tinwald Marion Hucheon 29 cook
b. Glencairn Margaret Thompson 18 dairymaid
b. Tynron Jane Ritchie 15 nursery maid
Further children, Quintin and Walter, were born later. The herd and ploughman would have been in the bothy, the servant girls in the house and the sexes kept apart as far as possible. Jane Ritchie's family were in Old Auchenbrack.
The long-serving shepherd for the Wallaces at Old Auchenbrack was her
father, James Ritchie. He and his wife, Mary Armstrong, had at least ten
children, several not surviving childhood. Living at Old Auchenbrack, which
only had one room with a window in 1861, must have been rather crowded, but
only too typical of the times. James Ritchie was twenty years old in 1841. He
spent all his working life herding on the braes of Auchenbrack, till he died in
1887, aged 70, or so it says on his stone in Tynron Kirkyard. This was not
typical, as other workers came and went. Ritchie himself was born in Closeburn
and most labour was hired in from surrounding parishes. Samuel Wallace was from
Glencairn, Mary Ritchie from Durisdeer. Wallaces had servants and labourers
from Sanquhar, Carsphairn, Penpont and Tinwald, even one from
In the 1870's Princes Park Cottage was built, where Auchenbrack's second herd stayed.
The 1881 census reveals that only a housekeeper, Jane Rae, unmarried and aged 55, was in Auchenbrack with its 15 rooms with windows. This supports James Shaw's comment that the heritors were all away for the winter and returned for the summer, after the census month of April.
In 1885 fire destroyed half the dwelling-house of Auchenbrack.
In 1890 the farm came up to let from Whit Sunday. It was advertised with 1950 acres, including 473 arable, meadow and enclosed pasture. It had good dairy, Cheviot ewes with half-bred lambs and Blackface ewes with cross lambs. Present tenant not an offerer (or so it said in the newspapers).
At least since 1875 James Reid Williamson Wallace had been the joint tenant. Samuel had died in 1884 and James was in charge. James was renting Appin too after 1890 and Shinnelhead from 1895, building up a vast area at the top of the glen. In 1905 he moved to Auchenbainzie, Penpont and younger brother, John William Wallace, became Buccleuch's tenant in Ford. James Wallace retained the tenancy of Appin until 1917 and died in Thornhill in 1922. Quentin Wallace held Shinnelhead until about 1960, when it was bought by the Forestry Commission, while more of the family moved in to Macqueston and Corriedow until they left in 1923. Wallaces left Ford in 1933 and all that remained of the Wallaces then was the tenancy of Shinnelhead.
I chanced upon the graves of Samuel Wallace, his wife, Susan Reid, and eldest son, James Reid Williamson Wallace in Glencairn Churchyard.
Robert Wallace
Robert, named above on the 1861 census, became Professor Robert Wallace at Edinburgh
University, a leading world authority on agriculture, who wrote about farming
practices in places like India, Egypt, New Zealand and Canada. He wrote
"Country Schoolmaster" about his Tynron teacher, James Shaw and his
own short biography is in the Ewart. His brother, Samuel Williamson Wallace,
was Director of Agriculture in
Gaskells
In 1912 the tenancy was taken over by William Rawstorne Gaskell, known as
Ross to everybody. The Gaskells had been in engineering and the Liverpool Daily
Post in
1926 was a landmark as Ross Gaskell bought Auchenbrack from Buccleuch. In 1927 he started building. Firstly he made the terrace and put a second storey on the old part of the building. In 1933 the tennis court was made and two years later the new wing was added nearest the road.
In 1932 Gaskell became tenant of Holmhouse from Stenhouse, then in 1935 Strathmilligan and Kilnmark were bought from Stenhouse. The 1920's and 1930's saw the planting of the now familiar windbreaks on the hillsides, named after important events, starting with Dan's Wood in 1930 and finishing with Exhibition Wood in 1938. There were only ten acres of woodland on Auchenbrack previously.
World War II brought tragedy to the Gaskells, as Sergeant Pilot Trevor and Ordinary Seaman Peter were killed. They are two of the five names on Tynron war memorial.
After the war
Ross Gaskell died in 1950, but his wife, Helen, not until 1980.
Mains electricity came to Auchenbrack in 1954, though there was already a 110 volt supply from a petrol-driven engine and batteries.
Auchenbrack Farm
Auchenbrack in 1991 has 1100 Blackface ewes and 15 Blueface Leicester ewes on 797 hectares. The Blackface ewes are kept for five years and crossed with 30 Blueface Leicester tups to give a 135% lambing rate, high for a hill farm. Three Blackface tups are retained to keep a small supply of home-grown ewes. The rest are bought in.
There are 70 beef cows, mostly Blue-Greys, half of which calve in the autumn and half in spring. At any time there might be 100 calves of various ages. The cows are crossed with the two Simmental bulls. Three Ayrshire house cows are kept for supplying milk to the houses on Auchenbrack.
The main crop is silage. About 12 hectares is cut per annum and a slightly smaller area for hay. The silage is big-bale, but the hay is traditional small-bale. A few hectares are improved each year by sowing rape or typhon. Sheep are folded on this land and then grass is sown. Typhon is a new crop like miniature turnips, the tops of which is eaten by sheep and it grows again. A small patch of tatties is grown for farm consumption and some turnips mainly for feeding to animals.
Small shelter belts are still being planted by Dan Gaskell, the latest on Everside in 1995.
The farm has a shepherd, Bill Brown, at Princes Cottage and a stockman/tractorman, George McMillan, at Kilnmark, who does everything. There are two tractors and an ATV.
PHOTO *Q Princes Cottage, left,
and
PHOTO *R Craigencoon in 1986
before restoration. Some can imagine a stone circle in the boulders by the
cottage
Kilnmark
Kilnmark is usually spelt Kilmark on old documents. It used to be a rather small area, just a one merkland, being only 46 hectares on its own. Including, as it does now, Tynleoch and Marqueston it is 205 hectares, with 114 of hill and 91 of meadow and pasture.
Early Documents
I found no mention of it until 1590, when Kilmark is marked on Pont's map. In 1606 it occurs in the Queensberry Papers. In 1609 or 26 John Wilson of Croglin acquired the merkland of Kilmark from Sir Thomas Kirkpatrick of Closeburn. John passed it to his son James in 1660, then it went to James and William Wilson in 1690. Kilnmark, strangely, is not mentioned in the Hearth Tax. However, a kiln is indicated at Tynleoch and James Wilson held it as a tenant of Douglas of Stenhouse.
In 1720 it was sold to Alexander Ferguson of Craigdarroch and in 1724 it was bought by Peter McTurk of Stenhouse.
Parish Registers
Its first mention in the parish registers is in 1756. This entry is for the birth of William, born to Robert Dempster and Isobel McWhir. This couple were in Midshinnel both before and after Kilmark and had at least five other children.
Queensberry owned Kilmark again in 1770.
In 1825 there was this advert in the newspaper:
Kilmark with Strathmilligan, Tinlego and Marqueston to be sold by
Stenhouse. Quantity of thriving young wood, plenty of game, land in highest
order. All four steadings may be sold separately.
I presume Buccleuch bought it.
Large Families on the Censuses
The 1841 census saw John and Flora Corrie, their six children and two labourers in Killmark. Corries were simultaneously in Tinlego (Tynleoch).
In 1846 or 7 Samuel Wallace of Auchenbrack took over the tenancy of Kilmark, which now was definitely owned by Buccleuch.
In 1851 James and Jean Johnstone were in Killmark with six children.
In the censuses of 1861, 71 and 81 and until 1890 Thomas and Martha McLean were the occupiers. They had seven children and went to the Free Church of Glencairn.
1890-1902 Adam and Sarah Lees were in Kilmark with six children and four servants. They, typically, had moved on from Auchinleck to Cumnock, Penpont and finally Tynron.
Kilnmark had been the dairy farm for Auchenbrack since Wallace took over in 1846/7, but in 1912 it was sold to MacRae of Stenhouse for £6,900. Wallaces had gone and now Charles Dickie was tenant and the dairyman in Kilnmark was David Goudie. MacRae trustees sold Kilnmark to Gaskells in 1935 and Kilnmark reached its present situation of being part of Auchenbrack.
The McMillans in Kilnmark since the 1970’s, but leaving in May 1996, have continued the tradition of large families.
Tynleoch
The first reference to Tanelagoch is in 1511 in the Queensberry Papers. Since the name means "shallow water", I would think that the hollow beside the present ruin was once filled with water, as it is once again now. Alternatively the name may refer to a shallow ford across the Shinnel to give access to the road. Nowadays Tynleoch is reached over Kilnmark bridge and all there is to see of it is the foundations. It is a lovely spot in summer, but rather bleak in winter as it faces away from the sun.
There are many and various spellings of the name, though I have heard it
pronounced "Tinlake". Tonluoch is marked by Pont, for instance.
Janelagoch was part of the Barony of Glencairn in 1611. In 1626 Susanna Wilson
(of the
In 1744 it is first mentioned in the registers, when Barbra was born to
Andrew Clark and Marrion Tait. In 1767 Tanlego was Queensberry's, but by 1770
was part of the
A 1794 advertisement was for a sale by public roup at Tynron Kirk of a
quantity of oak and ash from McQuestown ... and Tanleoch, belonging to Mr
Wilson of Croglin, including sixty large old oak trees, the best in Nithsdale.
In 1796 Tynleoch was sold with the break-up of the
In 1825 Tinlego still had a steading, as it was advertised for sale by Stenhouse. In 1830 there was the sale of land from the sequestrated estates of John Smith in Glencairn and Tynron, including the superiorities of Croglin, Tinlego and Land.
Tynleoch Abandoned
In 1841 Tynleoch was still inhabited by James and Jean Corrie and their daughter, but they may have been the last occupiers, as all signs point to the abandonment of Tynleoch in the 1840's:
- 1. there is no further mention in the census.
- 2. Tynleoch is not marked, nor is a house mentioned on the Buccleuch map of circa 1847-53.
- 3. the potato blight disaster of 1845/6 could have been the last straw.
- 4. in 1846/7 Tynleoch probably became part of the Kilnmark set-up and a steading was no longer viable.
- 5. the 1850's OS map marks Tenlaight in ruins.
There are many entries in the registers up to 1838 and it is clear that two families lived in Tynleoch at times, a family in each room of a but and ben, along with uncertain numbers of children, grandparents and servants. It is also apparent that families often only stayed there for a year, before moving on to another rental, perhaps again only for the one year.
In the 1840's Tynleoch consisted of 95 hectares, of which 75 were hill pasture and only 17 arable, a difficult living. You can imagine the life these families led. What incentive was there to farm well, what chance to get out of the rut?
Buccleuch, presumably, had bought Tynleoch in 1825 and finally sold it to Stenhouse in 1912. In 1935 Gaskells acquired Tynleoch and its present status was reached. Now it is just the name of one of Auchenbrack's hirsels.
Above the head dyke run-rig can be seen on some of the fairly level land on the spurs, showing that, before the dykes, there was cultivation much higher up the hill than now. The field to the south-east of the house site was recently ploughed and much broken pottery was turned up.
Marqueston Park/McQueston
I expect that most people are unaware that there were two McQuestons in the glen, with many different though confusingly similar spellings. This McQueston is now part of Kilnmark, though it was once a separate holding. It is very small, 65 hectares, and it must have been difficult to make a living on it.
The first mention of
In 1737 Walter Wilson of Croglin inherited the half merkland of Makverstoun.
This is undoubtedly
In the parish registers it is never clear to me which Maqueston is which. Somebody could untangle the two, given time, but I did not bother to try. If you go there now, you can still see the foundations and you can ponder on how any family could have survived.
The 1747
A newspaper advert of 1789 announced:
To let for 5 years from Whitsunday 1789 by Croglin Estate:
(the other) McQuerston, Birkhill and Thistlymark, 372 acres
presently held by Wm. Hewetson, AND lands of
136 acres presently possessed by Samuel Williamson, Auchenbrack,
AND lands of Tinlego, Tanleoch (both!), Appin, Croglin and
Marcreoch, 2014 acres
possessed by James Hewetson and James McTurk.
By 1791 Queensberry had bought
The next evidence is the 1851 census for
b.Keir Ann Prentice 44 widow, farm servant
b.Kirkmahoe Thomas Prentice 14 scholar
b.Tynron Sarah Prentice 7 scholar
b.Tynron Margaret Prentice 5 scholar
Widow Prentice was on Tynron's poor roll 1847/55, receiving 2 shillings a week (10p).
Then the 1861 census for
Marqueston
b.Tynron Robert Walters 47 ploughman
b.Kirkpatrick
b.Closeburn Jane 23 domestic servant
b.Tynron Joseph 14 agri lab
b.Closeburn Robert 7 scholar
I assume these two references are to the house in question. There are no accounts of it in the later censuses, so it may be that Marqueston was not abandoned as a separate settlement until the 1860's.
It is still mentioned later in land sales. For instance, in 1912 it was
bought by Stenhouse as part of Kilmark and Strathmilligan. This included all
the lands of Marquieston now called
Craigencoon
Craigencoon first appears on paper in 1578, when it was held by John Douglas of Craiginkunne (Johnne Douglas curatouris of Craigincwne), nephew of Sir James Douglas of Drumlanrig. Craigencoon belonged to Queensberry until 1810 and presumably before that it was part of the Barony of Tibbers. The 1590 Pont map shows Kraginkum, but only one. There were once two Craigencoons!
In 1602 John Hunter held it. He died, leaving four sons, Robert, William, Andrew and Archibald. The Hunters of Craigencoon, Pinzarie and Glenlochar could be offshoots of the Penpont Auchenbainzie Hunters. In 1691 the Hearth Tax names two Craigencoons: Thomas Hunter, Craigincome and Jon Hunter in Neyr Craigincome. This is exciting, as it is the first indication that there were two Craigencoons.
This Thomas Hunter, sometime of Craigencoon, died age 84 in 1727. Jane Shitlington, his spouse, died in 1714 age 69. Shitlingtons held Stanehouse as early as 1484. Two magnificent tombstones of Craigencoon now stand by the door of Tynron Kirk.
The 1747
The first entry for Craigencoon in the parish registers is in 1746, when
Thomas Hunter was in Nether Craigencoon, and then in 1751, when Andrew Hunter
was in
Craigencoon in the Twentieth Century
In 1914 was the first naming of Craigencoon as such in valuation rolls. Up to then it was just one of the houses on Bennan. In 1914 it was inhabited by David Carruthers, ploughman. He went away to the war and Craigencoon lay empty for several years. After the war Hugh Broatch took Craigencoon as a smallholding for the resettlement of soldiers. Buccleuch Estates had been asked to make available suitable small plots of land. Hugh is always listed as a poultry farmer. He had just the two fields from Bennan, and stayed with his mother and father, Ina and William. Hugh was the postie for some years until his retirement in the fifties.
Hugh's daughter, Charlotte Stenhouse Broatch, was born in Craigencoon and
Charlotte, later Scott, can claim to be one of the few folk to be born in the
glen and to live and die here.
The house was soon empty. In the early 1980's Craigencoon belonged to Forsyths of Bennan and was only used as a holiday home for an artist, as it had no facilities and was becoming a ruin. Economic Forestry bought it in 1986 and at last, 1990-5, it has been done up, quite tastefully too, retaining the fine old cow-byre with its stalls. Sadly, however, it often seems to be empty, though there are plenty of improvements going on even in late 1995.
What happened to
Look at the map of Auchenbrack, map *37. See how the present farm of
Auchenbrack consists of six previous holdings, now amalgamated:- the small
areas of
The Improvements brought a change to larger land holdings. First Midshinnel
was split between Shinnelhead and Auchenbrack and the steading abandoned. This
happened before 1820. Auchenbrack and
Thus the Auchenbrack on all the old maps and documents was Old or High Auchenbrack.
Look where Auchenbrack is marked on the Thomson and Johnston maps, *16
and *17. Both the Thomson map 1821 and
The 1876-7 Valuation Roll gives one holding of Buccleuch as Auchenbrack,
Midshinnel
Further up the glen is the site of the house at Midshinnel is on the north-east bank of the Shinnel 50 metres downstream from the bridge at 743986. Midshinnel as a land holding died shortly after 1808, when one half of Midshinnel went into Shinnelhead and the other half became the north-west hirsel of Auchenbrack, The Craig. The Forestry Commission avoided planting over the last remains of the building.
Magmalloch and Markreach
These lands lie opposite Appin on the south-west side of Appin Burn, i.e.
above Kilnmark and
Magmalloch is mentioned in Queensberry Papers in 1511 and Markreach in 1611. By 1770 Magmalloch and Markreoch belonged to Wilsons of Croglin, who was building byres at Margmalloch in 1781. In 1796 the two holdings were sold with the break-up of the Wilson Estate. Was this the end for both, as the 1821 Thomson map marks neither (nor Appin!)?
Someone was still at Magmalloch in 1765, but any houses up there were abandoned
soon afterwards. Where folk lived exactly may be difficult to find now that
forestry has buried any evidence. Magmalloch was probably on Magmalloch Burn,
almost opposite Appin at 743970. I wonder if Markreach was renamed
BIRDS OF TYNRON
Tynron is great for
birdwatchers!
In a reasonable year you
could expect to see up to 90 species. There is such a wide variety of habitat,
from open moorland to deciduous woods, coniferous plantations and wee lochs.
There are 119 species on this list, though I have only seen 102 in 15 years as
a keen birdwatcher. A birdwatching trip can vary from a walk on the tops in the
winter, when all that is seen is a solitary crow, to a bright morning in late
May in Stenhouse Wood with many vociferous songbirds.
This is my personal survey
since 1980. I am grateful for advice from Brian Turner, Shinnel Forge, the one
person who knows more about Tynron's birds than I do. Brian is a well-known
bird photographer, who has had his pictures published in many birds magazines.
He also has a moth trap and can tell you which moths frequent his bit of
Shinnel Glen.
R = Resident seen all year round
B = Breeding
V = Visitor to the glen. Not
breeding in the glen
S = Summer
W = Winter
LITTLE GREBE V(B?) Best
place is Aird Loch.
CORMORANT V Seen sometimes
at Aird Loch or Capenoch, mainly in winter, or flying over. I have seen several
at once, drying their wings on the boat.
GREY HERON RB Colony at Aird
Loch, but the trees were cut down in 1992. Also nested in Hulton Wood until it
was cut down in 1990. 1993 moved to small plantation of larch and Scots pine
close to Aird Loch with ten nests in 1995. Herons are doing well. The old
curling pond at Craigturra often has one.
MUTE SWAN V I have
occasionally seen one or more likely two in Tynron.
WHOOPER SWAN WV Try
Kirkconnel Loch.
GREYLAG GOOSE V I have seen
some flying over.
CANADA GOOSE V Very recent
arrivals. Bred at Aird
PINK-FOOTED GOOSE V Noisy
flocks of geese often seen flying over in winter in V formation are most likely
to be pink-footed.
TEAL V I have only once seen
any round here, though I know someone who shot teal in Tynron in 1992. MacRae
shot one or two in the early years of the century.
MALLARD RB Many breed along
the Shinnel. They can be seen anywhere wet. I have seen sixty on Capenoch Loch
in winter.
TUFTED DUCK V In the area,
but rarely seen in Tynron.
GOLDENEYE WV One duck on
Aird Loch in 1995/6.
GOOSANDER RB 3 or 4 pairs
breeding. A fine sight flying along the Shinnel. This is one bird that is
subject to disturbance. Water bailiffs will destroy nests if they can. Rafts of
baby goosanders are delightful.
RED KITE ? Became extinct in
the nineteenth century. I read a wonderful report from about 1880, "shot a
red kite, believed to be the last in the area"! However, kites have been
reported in the area recently, after being reintroduced into
HEN HARRIER ? Reported on
Kirkconnel, but I have yet to see one.
GOSHAWK ? Reported up the
glen in the forestry. They breed in Glencairn.
SPARROWHAWK RB Around, but
not often seen.
BUZZARD RB Several pairs.
They have done well recently. Buzzard calls are a very typical sound of the
glen.
GOLDEN EAGLE V Always
rumours of an odd eagle, but likely to be mistaken for buzzards. I have only
ever seen one, near Old Auchenbrack, being chased by a buzzard protecting its
nest and simultaneously mobbed by a peregrine.
OSPREY V Reported seen on
migration.
KESTREL RB Plenty around, a
wonderful sight. Croglin Craig is
MERLIN ? Rare sightings.
PEREGRINE SB Usually two
breeding pairs. Expanding in South-West
RED GROUSE RB A few breed up
on the heather, on the tops above Auchenbrack and Kirkconnel and on Capenoch,
but they are much less common now.
BLACK GROUSE RB One or two
around, but this is a bird which has disappeared in an alarming fashion in the
seventies and eighties. Leks of 12 males were at Appin in the seventies. Above
the Clone as many as 29 lekking males were reported in the early eighties. Sir
Hugh Gladstone records that 114 were shot at Auchenbrack on
GREY PARTRIDGE RB Almost
disappeared in the 1980's, as so little grain is now grown. Common earlier this
century, but hard to find now.
PHEASANT RB Very common,
especially squashed on the road.
CORNCRAKE Now a distant
memory. Common last century, but gone by the 1950's.
MOORHEN RB One or two pairs
breed along the Shinnel or Aird Loch. Getting hard to find.
COOT V Aird and Kirkconnel
Lochs, if you are lucky.
OYSTERCATCHER SB Hearing the
first oystercatchers fly over at night is one of the first signs of spring.
GOLDEN PLOVER SB One pair
bred successfully in 1990. Only found on the very tops, if at all.
LAPWING SB Not nearly as
common as they were ten years ago. Early silage cuts are probably to blame. On
mild winter days flocks may come inland to feed.
DUNLIN ? I have never seen
any in Tynron.
SNIPE RB You always have a
good chance of putting one up in one of Tynron's many bogs.
WOODCOCK RB Best seen roding
in the spring.
CURLEW SB Arrive on the
first mild days, if any, in February. The braes suddenly go very quiet when the
curlews leave in August.
REDSHANK S(B?) Occasionally
seen, notably at Kirkconnel Loch.
COMMON SANDPIPER SB Arrive
in April, only stay three months to breed.
BLACK-HEADED GULL V Large
flocks from Loch Urr visit most of the year, but especially in spring and
summer on the flat fields around Tynron village.
COMMON GULL V The gull most
likely to be seen in Tynron in winter.
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL V
Visit when bored with
HERRING GULL V Sometimes
appear.
GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL V
Most likely in summer, when one or two fly around.
FERAL PIGEON RB Breed at
Hillhead and High Pinzarie.
STOCK DOVE V?B? Elusive.
WOODPIGEON RB Too common, say
some people.
COLLARED DOVE V Expanding
rapidly locally in the 1980's. I am not sure if they are breeding in Tynron.
CUCKOO SB Heard commonly
from May to July.
BARN OWL RB We are lucky to
have breeding pairs. One very cold winter day I found one frozen solid to a
branch at the Ford.
TAWNY OWL RB Can be heard
almost any night.
LONG-EARED OWL SB Breed in
small coniferous plantations on hillsides.
SHORT-EARED OWL RB Breed on
moorland.
NIGHTJAR ? Possible.
SWIFT SV Fly over from
Penpont, Maxwelton or Moniaive.
KINGFISHER V Reported lower
down the glen. I saw one at
GREEN WOODPECKER RB One or
two pairs probably. The yaffle draws attention to them.
GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER RB
Less rare, 4 or 5 pairs.
SKYLARK SB Fantastic song on
the hillsides in spring, but seem to leave in winter.
SAND MARTIN SV Common in the
nineteenth century. Now sometimes seen down the glen.
SWALLOW SB Most settlements
have them. Have two, sometimes three, broods.
HOUSE MARTIN SB At some
farms.
TREE PIPIT SB Pairs on
valley floor every 100 metres or so some years. Some years there are few and
many people never notice this bird with its spectacular song flight. The 1879
bird report said that tree pipits had been scarce all year and some had
lingered exceptionally late into October. The writer adds that he shot a fine
pair, though! The nineteenth century mentality of naturalists was of shooting
and egg-collecting.
MEADOW PIPIT RB Everywhere
on the moors and braes. Many are summer visitors, yet it is often the only
small bird out on the hills in winter.
GREY WAGTAIL RB Riparian.
Flick their long tails by streams, mostly in summer.
PIED WAGTAIL RB Most now
leave in winter. Breed in the stone dykes along the roadside.
WAXWING WV? You never know.
DIPPER RB The Shinnel is not
yet acid enough to deter dippers, so they are breeding still. At least 5 pairs.
WREN RB May be the commonest
bird in Tynron.
DUNNOCK RB Very common.
ROBIN RB Start singing, when
other birds are silent in September. Found right up to the top of the forestry.
REDSTART SB Attracted to
nestboxes.
WHINCHAT SB Rare, but
attracted to new forestry.
STONECHAT RB I thought
probably the last ones disappeared in the 1980's, but I have seen one or two in
1995/6. Once common.
WHEATEAR SB One of the early
migrants, late March or early April.
RING OUSEL ? Mythical bird
as far as I am concerned. I have walked all the likely localities without
success. I am assured that they must be there.
BLACKBIRD RB A typical glen
bird.
FIELDFARE W Huge flocks
appear in October and stay till April.
SONGTHRUSH SB All or most
leave for the winter.
REDWING W Often in mixed
flocks with fieldfares.
MISTLETHRUSH RB Plenty
around.
GRASSHOPPER WARBLER S?(B)?
Possible, as they like new forestry, but I searched in vain in May 1996.
SEDGE WARBLER S?(B)?
Probable, but I am surprised that I have not noticed any yet.
WHITETHROAT SB Not many
probably.
GARDEN WARBLER SB Song so
easily confused with blackcap. I have found garden warbler nests though.
BLACKCAP SB A few.
WOOD WARBLER SB These
warblers are very localised in specific habitats, like Stenhouse Wood.
CHIFFCHAFF SB A few.
WILLOW WARBLER SB Common as
muck.
GOLDCREST RB Conifers full
of them with their distinctive song.
SPOTTED FLYCATCHER SB Arrive
very late, often late May. Use nestboxes.
PIED FLYCATCHER SB Brian
Turner has his own colony of up to 12 pairs at Shinnel Mill, established by
putting up lots of nestboxes. Elsewhere not many, except in Stenhouse Wood.
LONG-TAILED TIT RB Small
groups of this most beautiful bird can be seen in winter feeding with other
tits.
COAL TIT RB Lots.
BLUE TIT RB Likes nestboxes.
GREAT TIT RB Attracted to
nestboxes. One of the winter sounds, starting in December, is the great tits
piping away.
TREECREEPER RB Common, but
not easy to find when you are looking for them.
JAY RB A few lower down the
glen.
MAGPIE RB In 1980 a rarity,
but have since colonised the glen.
JACKDAW RB Fond of chimneys.
ROOK RB Large colony of 114
nests at Auchenbrack in 1993 split into five separate rookeries with 149 nests
in 1996 all close by. There are only a few now at Macqueston, four in fact in
1993, but up to 19 in 1996, where there was a rookery of 107 in 1973 in Scots
pines. There were 7 rookeries in 1885, including one by the manse. They were
all gone by 1910.
CARRION CROW RB The only
bird which can be seen absolutely anywhere in the glen at any season.
RAVEN RB Easily seen flying
over, cavorting and croaking characteristically. Family parties especially
conspicuous in autumn. Have bred at Capenoch Loch, Appin Glen and even very
close to Tynron on Craigturra Craig.
STARLING RB Declining
nationally, but lots in Tynron. Terrific mimics of curlew and oystercatcher
calls.
HOUSE SPARROW RB Not common
in the glen.
TREE SPARROW ? Never seen
any round here.
CHAFFINCH RB Ubiquitous.
They nest separately, then in August they form big flocks.
BRAMBLING WV? I've never
seen any.
GREENFINCH RB Bird feeders
attract them.
GOLDFINCH RB Appear as if by
magic when dandelions are in seed. Also common in winter on thistle seeds.
SISKIN RB More and more come
to bird feeders especially after January. Small flocks in winter. Also like
dandelion seeds.
LINNET SB Getting quite
scarce. Now rarely seen in winter.
REDPOLL RB Difficult to find
except when dandelions are in seed. I remember seeing redpolls, linnets,
siskins and goldfinches all feeding on one prolific crop of dandelions (in my
front garden at
CROSSBILL WV Another of my
bêtes noires. Everyone else sees them plundering the pine cones.
BULLFINCH RB Elusive.
SNOW BUNTING WV Reported.
YELLOWHAMMER RB I think they
are not as common now and many disappear in winter as there is nothing much for
them to eat.
REED BUNTING RB A few
around.
NIMALS
The glen is full of mammals and reptiles, but it would still be possible
to go for a walk and see only a few rabbits or a flat hedgehog on the road.
Mole Molehills are not uncommon even on the hill tops, and there is still a
molecatcher in Tynron in the nineties.
Bat
There are eight species of bat in Dumfriesshire, but although pipistrelle are
very common, I have
never seen any of the larger bats. I am told that noctule, Daubenton’s,
Natterer’s and brown
long-eared bats are likely to be in Tynron, though hard to spot.
Hare Common. One of the most endearing sights is to see hares running up
the road in front of the car and finally diving into a gateway to escape. They
seem to like the roadsides, but can be seen anywhere, waiting until the last
minute on your approach and then shooting off. Some of the hares on the hills
turn very pale in winter, but are not true mountain hares.
Vole Billions! Water, bank and field voles. A boom year means good eating
for short-eared owls.
Melting snow on grassy hillsides reveals the
network of tunnels made by voles under the snow.
Brown rat Some rats live at the farms, but not too many.
Red squirrel Common enough and not threatened by grey squirrels.
Fox
Always a fox around, but we kept poultry and were never troubled. I sat by an
upturned tree at Magmalloch one day and was surprised by a fox coming out of a
hole beside me. Was she more shocked than me? I could hear cubs mewing inside.
Badger Some, possibly several setts. I only ever saw one in Tynron, along the
road by Lann Hall.
Weasel Plenty. Once at the Ford on a summer's day, I was watching young
sparrows taking dust baths on the road. Suddenly a weasel popped out, picked up
a baby sparrow, looked round, then disappeared. There was no fuss. The other
sparrows watched quite unconcerned.
Stoat Easiest to spot them crossing the road.
Otter Are there any on the Shinnel? They are reported on the Shinnel and the
Dalwhat in 1994/5.
James Shaw says the last otter was in the
1870's.
Mink They are a nuisance. Everyone says so, yet I have never seen one alive
on all my walks. I did
find one knocked over on the road near
Shinnel Mill in 1996.
Roe deer A good number. You are quite likely to see them down the glen.
Hedgehog Common.
Shrew Common, pygmy and water should all be present.
Mice House mouse and wood mouse.
Polecat Exterminated in the nineteenth century.
Frog Plenty, right up to the pools on the tops of the hills, where I have
seen a crow eating the spawn.
Toad Less common than frogs.
Adder Always possible you might see one. I have personally never seen one in
Shinnel Glen..
Slowworm Plenty around, I expect. I have twice narrowly missed mowing one with
my mower.
Lizard I have only seen a dead one. There must be plenty.
Newt Common newt and great water newt have been reported. Palmated newt is
possible.
PLACE
NAMES OF TYNRON
Most of these names are to be found on NX 79
and NX 89 1:25000 OS maps. Though quite a few names are Old English (O.E.),
more are Gaelic in origin and have been Anglicised to some extent. At the time
these names were written down, in the twelfth century mostly, Gaelic was
dominant. I got lots of help from Johnson-Ferguson’s book.
A four-figure map reference is given.
AIKIEKNOWE 8092 O.E. hill with oaks, (the
steep rocky wee hill by the glen road end)
THE AIKS 7992 O.E. oaks
AIRD 8293 ard = a height or high place
APPIN 7497 apuinn = abbey lands
AUCHENBRACK 7696 achadh na = field of; breac =
spotted; or salmon, trout
AUCHENGIBBERT 8093 tiobart = a well; or
Gilbert
AUCHENGOWER 7698 gobhar = goats
BAIL HILL 7296 O.E. back; or bonfire, beacon
hill
BARR 8292 hilltop
BENNAN 7894 beannan = small hill
BIRKHILL 7893 O.E. birch
BLACKCRAIG HILL 7098 creag = crag
BROOMY KNOWE 7795 O.E. cnoll = round-topped
hill
BROWN KNOWES 7298 and 7895
BRUNT HILL 7496 probably "burnt"
CAIRNEYCROFT 8293 O.E. croft of
CAIRNEY KNOWE 7697 O.E. hill of
CAMLING 8394 cam linne = winding pool
CAPENOCH 8392 ceapanach = place of tillage or
tree stumps
CAUL 7993 O.E. cald = dam to divert water into
a mill lead.
CLODDEROCH 7893 cluain = meadow; darroch = oak
CLODQUHANOCH 7992 clach = stone; canach = of
the tax;
or chanaigh = of cotton-grass
CLONE 8291 cluain = meadow
CLONRAE 8293 cluain = meadow; reidh = smooth
COATS WOOD 8393 probably Cotts, who ran
Shinnel Mill
COLT HILL 6998 O.E. colt
CONRICK HASS 7097 comhrag = confluence,
meeting-place; (Norse) hass = a pass
CORFARDINE HILL 7995 curr = end, pit;
feoirlinn = farthingland
CORMILLIGAN 7495 mollachan = hillock, or
Milligan a name as in Strathmilligan.
CORMUNNOCH 7396 (Welsh) cor = bog, or coire =
deep circular hollow;
munnoch = ? O.E. bilberry
CORRIEDOW 7694 coire = deep circular hollow;
dubh = black
COUNTAM 7698 con = hound; or can = head of;
tom = hill
COURT HILL 8192 used as a court by barony of
Aird?
CRAIGELLER 7199 creag = crag; iolaire = eagle
CRAIGENCOON 7795 creagan = little crag;
cumhainn = of the gorge
CRAIGSKEAN 7399 sgine = knife-cut
CRAIGTURRA 8193 turaid = turret; or O.E. turf
or peat
CRAW LINN 7000 O.E. crow
CROGLIN 7397 creag linn = crag waterfall
CRYSTAL FOULDS 7897 ???
CRYSTAL KNOWES 8193 ???
DALMAKERRAN 8092 dail = field; of sons of
Ciaran
DALRY dal righ = meadow, field of the king
DALWHAT HILL 7295 chat = wild-cat
DEMPSTERS HASS 7396 dempster = judge or
officer of court; (Norse) hass = a pass
DRY BURN 7295 and 7594 O.E. burn = stream
DUDDIESTONE HASS 7996 Duddie or Doddie is
probably a name (George);
or doddy = without horns or bare hill
DUN BRAE 7397 (Anglo-Saxon) dun = hill or
place or dwelling
DUN CLEUCH 7297 O.E. cloh = steep-sided valley
DUNSCORE (Welsh) din = fort; ysgor = rampart
or dun = hill; sgor = sharp rock
EVERSIDE 7597 O.E. upper side
EWE CRAIG 7495
FAIRY CRAIG 7497
FIDDLERS MOSS 7698 O.E. mos = moss; fiddler =
common sandpiper
FORD 8292
GLED BRAE 7893 gled = kite
GLENSKELLY HILL 7395 sgealaighe = teller of
tales
GRAIN BURN 7199 (Norse) grein = a small valley
branching off a big one
GREEN HILL 7296 green = grein? as above
HALFMARK 7696 measurement of land by value
HARD KNOWE 7499 O.E. hard = herd
HERD NAZE 7100 O.E. shepherd's promontory
HILLHEAD 7992
HOLMHEAD HILL 7593 (Norse) holm = low-lying
land by river
HOLMHOUSE 7894
HULTON 8293 O.E. hyli tun = hill farm
JARNEY HILL 7499 ?O.E. marshy place
KEB HILL 7598 O.E. keb = a ewe that has an
immature lamb
KEIR (Welsh) caer = fort
KILLIEWARREN 7993 coille = wood; a'bharain =
baron, or gharain = undergrowth
KILNMARK 7696 O.E. cyla = grain-drying kiln or
coille = wood; mark = land measure
KIRKCONNEL 7694 O.E. Connel's Church
LADY'S KNOWE 7992 which lady?
LAGDUBH HILL 7098 black hollow
LAGGANPARK HILL 8390 lagan = a hollow
LAGLUFF 7199 lagan again
LAIRD'S BRIDGE 7894 Queensberry probably
LAMGARROCH 7198 O.E. lann = enclosed land; or
lamb; carroch = rough
LAMGARROCH STRAND 7299 O.E. strand = stream
LANN 8092 (enclosed) land
LINNHOUSE 8192 linn = waterfall
LOCKERTY SHEUCHS, 7000 luachair = rush; O.E.
sheuch = ditch, stream,
SYKES, BURN and BOG furrow or peat digging;
O.E. sic = stream or ditch
LOOP END 7497 ?winding glen
MACQUESTON 7794 personal name + O.E. tun
MAGMALLOCH 7396 marg = mark; mallaichte =
accursed
MARKMONY 7893 monadh = hill
MARKREACH 7397 reachd = of the law; or of
great sorrow
MARQUESTON BURN 7596 O.E. marg = markland;
wasten = O.E. western
MIDSHINNEL 7498
MILNTON 8192 O.E. mill farm
MONIAIVE moine = a mossy place; shaimhe = of
stillness; or eibhe = cry
or monadh abh = hill stream
MOUNTRASCAL 8092 monadh raschoill = hill of
brushwood; or O.E. raskill = deer
MULLWHANNY 7197 meall or maoil = hill; vaine =
green; or chanaigh = cotton-grass
OX HILL 7200
PAGAN'S THORN 7794 ???
PATIE'S CLEUCH 7299 ???
PEAT RIG 7298 O.E. rig = ridge
PEELTON HILL 8091 (Old French) pel = palisade
of stakes
PENFILLAN MOOR 8492 (Welsh) pen = a head;
faolan = little wolf
PENPONT (Welsh) head of bridge
PINZARIE 7894 peighinn = pennyland; iaraigh =
westerly; or arigh = shieling
ROUGH CRAIG 7299 O.E. rush
ROUGH GLEN 7993
ROUNDHILL 8393
ST. CONNEL'S CHAPEL 7595
SCAUR LAW 7399 sgor = mark, notch, sharp rock
O.E. hlaw = a hill
SCROGHOUSE 8193 O.E. stunted bush, thornbush
SHANCASTLE DOON 8190 sean chaisteal = old
castle
SHARP CRAIG 7498
SHIEL 7398 (Middle English) schele = a
shepherd's summer hut
SHINNEL sean allt = old river
SHINNELHEAD 7299
SIGHT KNOWE 7594
SNAB 7795 O.E. projecting point
STELLBRAE 7594 O.E. steall = place with
stones, enclosure for sheep
STENHOUSE 8093 O.E. stonhuis = stone house
STONEFAULD KNOWES 7496 O.E. fald = fold
STRATHMILLIGAN 7794 srath = valley + Maolagan
1291 (a name)
TERERRAN HILL 7693 tir iaran = western land
THISTLEMARK 7795 sounds obvious, but old
spelling is Sislimark or Thirstymark
TORBRAEHEAD 7896 O.E. torr = pile of rocks,
rocky peak
TRANSPARRA 7296 O.E. parroch = small field
TROSTON HILL 7099 (Welsh) traws = across; O.E.
tun = enclosure with dwelling
TYNLEOCH 7695 tanaloch = shallow water
TYNRON 8092 various old spellings:
Tynrone, Tintroyn, Tindroyn, Tintroyan,
Tinrin, Tyndron, Tindrim, Tinnerin, Tinrane.
suggested meanings:
dun ron = fortified hill with nose
tan drum = fire ridge
(Welsh) din rhon = lance fort
tigh an sroin = house on the point
WAUK HILL 8490 O.E. wet, or fulling of cloth
WETHER HILL 7196 a male lamb
WHITE KNOWE 7200
YEARN CRAG 7298 O.E. earn = eagle
Other place names are not recorded on maps and
so can easily be lost. As an example, King's Seat is the prominent rock on the
top of the face of Pinzarie Hill. It is now disappearing into the forestry.
Another is Silver Well Brae, the gentle incline up from
Place names on Ordnance Survey maps can also
be misleading. In the 1980's update of the 1:25000 maps the survey confused the
names of the woods on Auchenbrack. For instance, Jubilee Wood is the one at
772963 and not as marked. Unfortunately this sort of mistake is likely to
remain on future maps, although I did write to the OS and point out this plus
other small errors on the new map.
REFERENCES
I have looked over every possible reference source in the Ewart & Library,
Books and Booklets
A Country Schoolmaster, James Shaw Robert Wallace 1899
Tynron in Picture, Poetry and Prose William A. Wilson 1927
Tynron, Topography and Historical Notes William A. Wilson 1940
Tynron, Dumfriesshire from the Mists of Antiquity and Verse William A.
Wilson 1957
Tynron Reminiscences William A. Wilson 1960-6
(lodged in
The Churchyard of Tynron Rev. J. M. McWilliam 1959
The Natural and Genealogical History of the Shire of
Covenant and Hearth vol. iii Tynron Parish No 34 Robert A. Shannon 1973
Diary of Andrew Hunter, Surgeon, Camling, Tynron 1781
Annals of Glencairn John Corrie 1910
The Parish of Glencairn Rev. John Monteith 1876
Why Forget? Moniaive in Bygone Days Jock Black 1992
The Gallovidian, Winter 1902 R. de Bruce Trotter
Glencairn and Tynron Scrapbook, 1893-1911 Mrs Pollock of Tynron Kirk
Making of the Scottish Landscape R. N. Millman 1975
Evolution of
The South of Scotland, British Regional Geology, 3rd edition
1971
The Place-names of Dumfriesshire Col. Sir Edward Johnson-Ferguson 1935
The Book of Dumfriesshire James Anderson Russell 1964
History of the Douglas Family Percy W. L. Adams 1921
The Lag Charters 1400-1720 Scottish Record Society 1958
The Queensberry Papers
General View of the Agriculture, State of
Birds of Dumfriesshire Hugh S. Gladstone 1910
Early Education in Dumfriesshire James Anderson Russell 1967
Glenesslin, Nithsdale The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical
Monuments of
Inventory of Monuments in Dumfriesshire Historical Monuments (
History of
An Historical Atlas of Scotland c400 - c1600 Peter McNeill and Ranald
Nicholson editors 1975
Statistical Accounts
1st Statistical Account of Dumfriesshire 1791-3 Tynron by Rev. James Wilson
2nd Statistical Account of Dumfriesshire 1836-41 Tynron by Rev. Robert Wilson
Unpublished Statistical Account 1873 (bound in Ewart Library)
3rd Statistical Account of
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, 16 Bernard Terrace, Edinburgh EH8 9NX has all the historical and architectural monuments on a card index and on maps plus photos of listed buildings and aerial photos of Tynron. &
The National Library of Scotland on
Tynron Parish Registers, births, marriages and deaths,
available at New Register House, Edinburgh and Dumfries Archive
Centre in
(Marriages and deaths missing 1783-1823. Later marriages give no place names).
Tynron Census Records 1841-91 available at New Register House and Dumfries Archive Centre.
The Ewart Library has most of these records, all of the books, but it
also has the records of Highway Authorities,
Electoral Rolls from 1914 and Valuation Rolls from 1863 are also available
at 27,
The Domesday Disk contains information on Tynron by Tynron's children and others. The disk is kept in the Ewart or is more likely to be on tour around the county.
General Register House, Edinburgh EH1 3YY has tax registers and sasines.
TDGNHAS = Transactions of the
many articles with Tynron connections, including
1885 List of Birds in Tynron Parish Tom Brown
1887 Glencairn Bird Report Corrie, plus Gladstone's bird reports
1949-50
1957-8 Churchyard of Tynron Rev. J. M. McWilliam
1958-9 Tynron parish records
1964 and 1971 Tynron
Maps
1:50000 Geological Maps New Galloway, solid and drift
Thornhill, solid and drift
1:63360 Geological Map Maxwelltown, solid and drift
1:25000 sheets NX 69/79, 89/99; 1:50000 sheets 77 and 78 Ordnance Survey Maps
1850's large-scale Ordnance Survey maps are lodged in
West Register House,
The National Map Library,
The
Tynron Challenge
There are thirteen tops over 500 metres in Shinnel Glen. You have to be fit and mentally unbalanced to do them all in one walk, but the stupendous views are worth it.
Start at Countam. The 300 metre climb up from Old Auchenbrack takes 40 minutes. Countam to Bail is about 20 kilometres and the total climb, starting from Old Auchenbrack is about 900 metres, so it is the equivalent of doing a serious Munro. This was my schedule at my steady amble, pausing to speculate, cogitate, masticate and urinate. I then had the long walk into Moniaive, giving a total of nine hours.
height time taken
Countam 502m 00.00
(Keb Hill) 499m 00.11 (too low, it does not count)
Ox Hill 505m 01.04
Allan’s Cairn 497m 02.02 (doesn’t count either)
High Countam 502m 02.22 The Southern Upland Way makes walking easier on this stretch, although ATV tracks can be followed for much of the way.
Black Hill 550m 02.45 (the top is not in Shinnel Glen)
Colt Hill 598m 03.03
Lamgarroch 573m 03.46 It is tedious then retracing your steps.
Lagdubh Hill 560m 04.27
Blackcraig Hill 555m 04.32 Going up and down Conrick Hass is a pain!
Mullwhanny 535m 05.15 (twin peaks)
Transparra 528m 05.31
Cormunnoch 500m 05.57
Green Hill 540m 06.07
Bail 517m 06.19 get a helicopter to meet you here
Tormentil
Potentilla erecta. I have not included a section on wildflowers, as this would be an enormous undertaking. The glen is predominantly sheep pasture and the tormentil provides such a beautiful display on the cropped turf from June to September that I regard it as the flower that would always remind me of Tynron.
Dramatist, John Fletcher, expressed the widespread belief in the medicinal power of tormentil in the seventeenth century, when he wrote:
This tormentil, whose vertue is to
part
All deadly killing poison from the
heart
In the "Country Farme", a book of rustic lore published in 1616, a powder or decoction of tormentil roots was recommended "to appease the rage and torment of the teeth". Tormentil roots are grand for curing colic, diarrhoea and cystitis, so if you are suffering from all three it is a good bet, as there must be millions of tormentil flowers in the glen in July.
A local name for tormentil, blood root, refers to a red dye extracted from the roots and used to colour clothing. Tormentil roots were also used as an alternative to the oak bark in tanning hides, their highly astringent quality proving ideal for the purpose.
The tormentil’s buttercup-like golden-yellow flowers secrete a nectar that attracts pollinating insects. In wet weather or at night, when the four petals close up, the tormentil flower has the clever ability to pollinate itself, producing up to twenty fruits on its seed head.
Vanessa Gourlay’s beautiful watercolour shows the height tormentil can reach
on ungrazed land. Sheep obviously enjoy it and munch it down to the level of
short grass pasture.
INDEX
|
Aird 6, 27, 30, 42-3, 50, 58, 70-2, 99, 118-9 |
|
Allan’s Cairn 32, 129 |
|
Angles 22 |
|
animals 58, 75, 121 |
|
Appin 5, 11, 12, 27, 30, 50, 63, 67-9, 104,
106, 114, 116-7, 119-20 |
|
Armstrong family 62-3, 109 |
|
Auchenbrack 4, 9-12, 14, 18, 27, 29-30, 35,
38, 42, 49, 55-6, 66, 94, 104, 106, 108-20, 129 |
|
Auchengibbert 30, 49-50, 55, 58, 65, 67, 71, 94 |
|
Auchenhessnane 4, 30, 50, 53, 55, 88 |
|
|
|
Barr 4,56 |
|
Bennan 25, 27, 53, 56, 64, 66, 73, 77, 82, 92, 106, 115, 117 |
|
Birkhill 27, 36, 50, 74, 88 |
|
bridges 104 |
|
Britons 17, 20-2 |
|
Bronze Age 14-5 |
|
Bruce 24, 33 |
|
Buccleuch 6, 42, 48-50, 65, 75, 92, 99, 104, 108-10, 112-5 |
|
buses 97 |
|
|
|
Cairneycroft 24, 30, 33, 42, 45, 55, 61, 70 |
|
|
|
Camling 30, 47, 50 |
|
Capenoch 14, 27, 45, 56, 67-8, 71-2, 118-20 |
|
Carmichael, Rev. 90 |
|
carpet bowling 98 |
|
Carronbridge 19-20 |
|
cattle 22-3, 35, 45, 47-9, 53, 63-4, 75, 77, 88-9, 109, 111 |
|
Celts 17, 21 |
|
church 31, 75, 90-3, 112 |
|
Clodderoch 89, 98 |
|
Clone 9, 19, 97, 105, 119 |
|
Clonrae 9, 29-30, 50, 55-6, 65, 94, 104 |
|
Colt Hill 4, 19, 103, 129 |
|
Cormilligan 12, 27, 30, 49-50, 53, 61-3 |
|
Corriedow 27, 30, 50, 110 |
|
Covenanters 32-3, 44, 93 |
|
crops 14, 34-6, 40, 45-8, 54, 63, 66, 77, 82-3, 88-9, 111 |
|
Craigencoon 5, 11, 14-16, 27, 30, 37-42, 50,
72, 108, 111, 115-7 |
|
Craigturra 9, 11, 13, 20, 30-2, 35, 70, 99, 104, 118, 120 |
|
Croglin 9, 11, 27, 30, 50, 113, 116, 118 |
|
curling 99 |
|
|
|
Dalmakerran 30, 44, 50, 55-6, 64-6, 73, 75, 82, 106 |
|
Dalwhat 9, 67, 121 |
|
David I 23,31 |
|
Deil’s Dyke 36 |
|
discordant scenery 8 |
|
diversification 66 |
|
|
|
drainage pattern 9 |
|
drove road 53, 88 |
|
Drumlanrig 19-20, 25, 32, 115 |
|
Duddiestone Hass 53, 106 |
|
Durisdeer 19-20, 44, 109 |
|
|
|
electricity 56, 77, 94, 110 |
|
erratics 5 |
|
Ewart Library 4, 44, 47, 74, 83, 98, 126 |
|
|
|
flooding 72 |
|
fluvio-glacial deposits 12 |
|
food 36, 44, 47-8, 54 |
|
Ford 30, 42, 49-50, 56, 70, 104-6, 110, 121 |
|
forestry 67-9, 72-3 |
|
forts 17, 20, 36 |
|
|
|
Gaelic 22-3, 29, 82 |
|
gas 94 |
|
Gaskell family 110-2 |
|
gateposts 45 |
|
Gibson, John 82 |
|
Glencairn 3-4, 19, 27, 33, 36, 53, 74, 90,
100, 106, 109-10, 113-4, 118 |
|
Glencorse, Jim 63, 87-9 |
|
Glenesslin 13, 15, 18 |
|
Gourlay, Vanessa 127, 131 Grennan 20 |
|
greywacke 5 |
|
Grierson family 27, 30, 32 |
|
|
|
haughland 35 |
|
hearth tax 25, 29-30, 42, 77, 108, 112-5 |
|
Heidless Horseman 29 |
|
Hen Hoose 65, 98 |
|
hens 63, 65, 77, 115 |
|
Hillhead 61, 103, 105, 119 |
|
Holmhouse 110 |
|
Holywood 31-2 |
|
homestead 18 |
|
horses 34, 45, 48-9, 63, 65, 88, 103, 110 |
|
houses 23, 48 |
|
Hulton 58, 118 |
|
Hunter, Andrew, surgeon 47 |
|
|
|
Ice Age 9, 11 |
|
igneous rocks 6 |
|
index 128-9 |
|
infield and outfield 34-5, 42 |
|
Iron Age 17-8, 20-1 |
|
|
|
|
|
Juniper Wood 70 |
|
|
|
Keir 3, 4, 56, 100, 114 |
|
Killiewarren 20, 25-7, 30, 36, 50, 55-6, 89, 108 |
|
Kilnmark 28, 50, 64, 74-7, 110, 112-7 |
|
Kirkconnel 11, 14, 27, 30-1, 50, 53, 62-3, 72, 104, 118-9 |
|
|
|
kirk-session 33, 82 |
|
|
|
Lag Charters 27, 32 |
|
Laird’s Bridge 104 |
|
Lamgarroch 4, 14, 129 |
|
landowners 24, 27, 32, 34 |
|
Lann Hall 14, 27, 45, 49-50, 55-6, 63, 65,
66, 69, 71, 89, 97-8, 106, 113, 121 |
|
Laurie, James, merchant 82, 84-5, 87-8 |
|
Laurie, John, schoolteacher 83, 99 |
|
lime 45, 47-9, 66 |
|
Linn 10, 12, 58, 106 |
|
lochs 72, 99, 118 |
|
Low Lann 47, 55-6, 58 |
|
|
|
Macqueston 9, 10, 14, 27, 30, 34, 36, 50,
55-6, 58, 64, 73, 88-9, 106, 110, 114, 120 |
|
Magmalloch 27, 30, 50, 114, 117, 121 |
|
Maitland family 27, 108 |
|
Markmony 30, 36, 53, 67, 74, 76-7 |
|
Markreach 30, 50, 114, 117 |
|
|
|
Maxwelton 32, 119 |
|
McCaw family 53, 61-2, 98 |
|
McWilliam, Rev. 90, 93, 125 |
|
Mesolithic 13 |
|
Midshinnel 27, 30, 112, 116-7 |
|
mills 56-9 |
|
Milnton 30, 34, 42, 50, 58, 65, 110 |
|
ministers 27, 31-2, 82-3, 90 |
|
Moniaive 84, 87, 88, 90, 92, 94, 97-8, 103-6, 119 |
|
mottes 20, 23-4 |
|
Morton Castle 23, 25 |
|
|
|
|
|
Neolithic 13, 156 |
|
Novantae 17 |
|
|
|
Palaeolithic 13 |
|
parish boundary 4 |
|
peat 14, 35, 47-8, 103 |
|
Penman family 58 |
|
Penpont 4, 45, 47, 62, 83-4, 87-8, 90, 92-4,
100, 103-5, 109-10, 112, 115, 119 |
|
pigs 22, 49, 63-4 |
|
Pinzarie 14-17, 25, 27, 30, 35, 37-42, 61,
67-9, 71, 88, 108, 115-7, 119 |
|
ploughteams 31,34-5, 45 |
|
Pont, Timothy 29, 30, 58, 108, 112-5, 117 |
|
potatoes 45, 47-9, 63, 66, 83, 111, 113 |
|
|
|
quarries 6 |
|
Queensberry 27, 30, 44-5, 47, 49, 50, 53,
65, 82, 103, 108, 112-5 117 |
|
|
|
Rae, Rev. Peter 44, 125 |
|
railway 77, 88, 97 |
|
Reformation 32 |
|
roads 68, 103-6 |
|
Romans 17, 19-21 |
|
|
|
rubbish 73 |
|
run-rig 12, 15, 18, 34, 37-41, 44-5, 113 |
|
|
|
St. Connel 14, 31, 61 |
|
St. Cuthbert 31, 92 |
|
sandstone 6 |
|
Scaur 3,4, 6, 9, 20, 29, 44, 53, 62, 67, 89,
92, 100, 104-8 |
|
schools 53-5, 82-3, 99 |
|
Scots 19, 21-2 |
|
sea-level changes 9 |
|
Selgovae 17 |
|
Shancastle 4, 20, 23 |
|
Shaw, James 53-6, 83, 110, 125 |
|
sheep 35, 47-9, 53, 63-6, 75, 79, 88-9, 109, 111 |
|
shielings 35, 38 |
|
Shinnel Forge 55, 58-9, 118, 120 |
|
Shinnelhead 5, 27, 30, 65, 67, 69, 106-7, 110, 117 |
|
silver fox 65 |
|
Singer, Dr. 45, 48, 125 |
|
sod dykes 15, 18, 34-40, 42, 48 |
|
sports 77, 98-9, |
|
statistical accounts 44, 47, 104, 126 |
|
Stenhouse 25, 27, 30, 32, 45, 50, 57-8,
66-8, 70, 72-3, 74-81, 89, 92-4, 98, 108, 112-4, 131 |
|
stone dykes 6, 17, 42, 44-5, 47-8, 70 |
|
Strathclyde 21-2 |
|
Strathmilligan 30, 50, 55, 58, 63, 65, 74-5,
77, 88, 106, 110, 112, 114 |
|
|
|
tanyard 84 |
|
tenants 34, 44-5, 47, 49, 61 |
|
Thistlemark 6, 27, 29, 30, 38, 50, 114 |
|
Thomson map 49, 51, 114, 117 |
|
Thornhill 6, 84, 87-8, 97, 105, 110 |
|
Tibbers 24-5, 27, 108, 115 |
|
till 9, 11, 13 |
|
tormentil 131 |
|
trades 76, 84 |
|
Turner, Brian 58, 118 |
|
twinning 98 |
|
Tynleoch 27, 30, 50, 74, 112-3, 116-7 |
|
Tynron Doon 4, 9, 11, 20, 21, 29, 35-6, 70, 92 |
|
|
|
valuations 29, 30, 49, 50, 76 |
|
Vikings 22 |
|
village hall 93-4 |
|
vitrified fort 17 |
|
voters 55, 101-2 |
|
|
|
Wallace family 106, 109-10, 117, 125 |
|
water supply 94 |
|
whinstone 5, 13 |
|
whisky 84, 87-9 |
|
Williamson family 74, 108-9, 114, 117 |
|
112-4, 117 |
|
Wilson, William 4, 20, 31, 36, 84, 87, 89,
125 wind farms 66 |
|
woodland 13-15, 22, 48, 66, 69-72, 110, 118 |
|
WRI 77, 93-6 |
If you can read this
small, I am so so sorry if I have missed anything in this index, but it is a
tedious business! JS
PHOTO *
This
second edition has only been made possible
through
the generous sponsorship of
Pat
and Rowland Smith of
Thanks to my son, James Shaw, for the
computer and help with computing.
Thanks to Vanessa Gourlay for her
water-colour of the tormentil.
Thanks to the Ordnance Survey for
permission to use OS maps.
Thanks to Buccleuch Estates for use
of maps.
Thanks to the
Thanks to the
This work has been a labour of love, a tired old cliché (I am
fond of tired old clichés), but I have typed it all in using one finger, two if
you count the shift key. I imagine someone reading this in 2096 and I think of
how much I would have enjoyed reading a book about Tynron written in 1896. It
is a home-made production, but I still hope that it gives enjoyment to a few
folk and that this might inspire the next Willie Wilson to produce an improved
version sometime in the future.
Tynron Glen first produced using ™Kindwords 3 on an ™Amiga
Computer April 1992
The 1st edition was produced using ™Microsoft
Word 7 ÿ and ™Windows 95 on an ™IBM
Photos taken by the author
This 2nd edition has minor changes ©
John Shaw Moniaive
