[History of Rutherglen Contents]
A small mound of earth, at Hamilton Farm, was, about 25 years ago, levelled with the ground. In the bottom of the mound was a stone coffin containing human bones.
DRUMCLAW, a small hill which stands in the middle of a plain called Drumclaw-holm, near the South-west boundary of the parish, was thought to have been artificial. A trial, to ascertain the truth, was lately made by digging a pit on the top of the hill. It was found to be composed of a coarse gravel, with a considerable mixture of earth, without any appearance of stratification. The search was left off in uncertainty. This little hill, being of an oblong form, resembling a sow’s back, is beautifully descriptive of the etymology of its name.
CROSSHILL probably derived its name from a cross that was erected on its top. Near the cross was a stone about 10 feet high, by 3½ broad. It was ornamented with various figures. The most remarkable was that of our Saviour riding upon an ass. There were several ornaments and inscriptions round the figures. This religious monument, during the last persecution in Scotland, fell a sacrifice to the fury of a mob, exasperated at the violent methods that were then used to enforce a mode of religion contrary to the consciences of the people. In one night the whole was broken in pieces, and not a fragment preserved.
THERE was, a good while ago, raised up by the plough, in a field called the Pants, an earthen pot, containing a considerable number of coins, chiefly of Alexander III. and Edward I. Along with the coins were a few rings and other trinkets. Two persons, into whose hands this little treasure happened to fall, were prosecuted by the Sheriff of the county, and imprisoned in Hamilton, until they delivered up the whole. Some, however, both of the coins and rings are preserved by Major John Spens, a gentleman possessed of a laudable ambition, to save from destruction the remains of antiquity in his native country.
THERE was, till of late, a kind of fort, or semi-circular intrenchment in the South-west corner of the parish: but no account of its origin was preserved. It is now levelled with the ground.
At a little distance from this place, and in the estate of Castlemilk, is Maul’s Myre, where Watling-street, a Roman military way in this country, according to Cambden, terminated. The name Watling is given to this road from one Vitellianus, supposed to have superintended the direction of it, the Britains calling Vitellianus, in their language, Guetalin.1 In many places of England it is called Mitchell Scott’s Causeway; and is believed by the credulous vulgar there, that the devil and his friend Mitchell made it in one night. Maul’s Myre signifies a low ditch or marsh, from Maul or Maol, a servant, or whatever is low or mean; and Myre or Meer, a ditch. This etymology is descriptive of Maul’s Myre in the western boundary of Rutherglen. Watling-street hath been traced from Errickstone to several other places in the county.2 All the attempts to discover it in this parish, through which it must have gone, if the commonly supposed line of its direction is true, have been fruitless. this may be owing to the cultivated state of the parish, where not a stone that can obstruct the plough is left unremoved. That it went not far from Chesters is highly probable, as the word is acknowledged by all to be a corruption of Castra.
IN May, 1792, one of the principal rooms in the old castle, at the Farme, was ordered to be repaired. The workmen, having torn down an old stucco ceiling, discovered above it another of wood. It was painted with water colours; but the figures were so much effaced, that excepting a few waved lines and stripes, it was impossible to form any distinct idea of what they consisted. Several lines of writing, in the old English characters, were observed on the sides of the great beams that lay across the house. The letters were black upon a white ground. Some of the lines were so greatly obliterated that they could not be read. The following, however, which were legible, are here offered to the public, as a literary curiosity; and as an example of the way in which the inhabitants of Scotland anciently used to inculcate the principles of morality and good breeding.
Faire speiche In presence, witþ guid report in absence; And maners In to fellowschep, obtain grait revrence.
— Gyf thou heiniousnes dois or Vice also; for scheme remanis quhen pleisour is ago.
He that sitis doun to ye hend for to eite,
forʒetting to gyf god thankis for his meite;
Syne rysis upe and his grace oure pass,
Sitis doun lyk ane oxe, and rysis upe lyk ane ass.
Thir armes that is heir, that ar abuine pented; Ar the nobill howses that the lard of this hows is descendit. J. C. A. H. written 1325.
EACH of the above stanzas is, in the painting, comprehended in a single line. The epitome of the rules of good breeding, that is contained in the first, is so admirably concise, that it probably would have puzzled Chesterfield, and his numerous admirers, to have made a better. The former part of the second stanza is obliterated, but the latter contains a lesson so important, that to have suppressed it would have been a crime. From the last it appears probable that all of them were written when the family of Crawford dwelt in the Farme.
I shall conclude this chapter with two Tables: the one containing the local names in the parish; and the other sirnames of the male heads of families, with the number of families belonging to each name.
A TABLE,
Containing the Names of Places in RUTHERGLEN.
| Alleys. | Drum-law-holm. | Mill-rigs. |
| Balloch-mill. | East-croft. | Moorside. |
| Bankhead. | East-field. | Pants, or St. Mary’s croft. |
| Bencath-hill. | Farme. | Pyet-shaw. |
| Blackfauld. | Galloflat. | Quarrel-law. |
| Blairbath. | Gallomoor. | Quarrelholm. |
| Blairtum. | Gillgove. | Quarrel-side. |
| Boultree-burn. | Green. | Rosebank. |
| Bullions-law. | Hamilton Farm. | Rutherglen-mill. |
| Calf-ward. | Hanging-croft. | Scotstoun. |
| Chapel-croft, or Trinity-croft. | Hanging-shaw. | Shawfield. |
| Chesters. | horse-croft. | Sheriff-rigs. |
| Clinkert-hill. | Killdale. | Stonelaw. |
| Cock-moor. | Kings’ Crosshill. | Temple-cross. |
| Cowans-loan. | Kirk-rigs. | Tongues. |
| Cross-hill.3 | Lemonside. | Warlaw. |
| Cross-flat. | Lochbrae. | West-field. |
| Drum-law. | Lunnieside. | West-moor. |
A TABLE,
Containing the Sirnames of the Male Heads of Families in RUTHERGLEN,
with the number of Families belonging to each Name.
Those marked with the asterisk are of long standing in the parish.
| Sirnames. No. | Sirnames. No. | Sirnames. No. |
| Adam, 3 | Furlong, 1 | Nisbet, 3 |
| Aiton, 1 | Fyfe, 1 | Noble, 1 |
| Allan, 1 | Gardner, 1 | Park,* 14 |
| Allison, 1 | Gemmil, 1 | Parkhill,* 3 |
| Anderson,* 2 | Gilchrist, 1 | Paterson,* 8 |
| Atkin, 3 | Gilmour, 1 | Pedie,* 1 |
| Atkinhead,* 1 | Glen, 2 | Perston, 1 |
| Auldcorne,* 1 | Graham, 1 | Pettigrew, 1 |
| Bain, 2 | Grey, 1 | Pinkertoun,* 3 |
| Baird, 3 | Hamilton, 10 | Pitcairn, 1 |
| Barkley, 1 | Hart, 1 | Purdon, 1 |
| Barr,* 1 | Harvey, 4 | Rae, 1 |
| Bennie, 2 | Hodgeson, 1 | Ralston, 1 |
| Bisset, 1 | Hosie, 2 | Ramsay, 2 |
| Blair, 1 | Hunter, 4 | Rankin, 3 |
| Boddin, 3 | Hutchison, 1 | Reid, 2 |
| Bowie, 1 | Jack, 1 | Riddell,* 11 |
| Bowman,* 6 | Jackson, 2 | Ritchie, 1 |
| Boyd, 1 | Johnston, 1 | Robertson, 4 |
| Brown,* 8 | Kelso, 1 | Roger, 2 |
| Brownlie, 2 | Kerr,* 9 | Ross, 1 |
| Bryce, 2 | Key, 2 | Russel, 1 |
| Bryson, 3 | Kirkwood, 1 | Sawers, 1 |
| Cairn, 1 | Knox, 2 | Scott,* 7 |
| Calder, 1 | Lang, 6 | Scouller, 2 |
| Chalmers, 1 | Lawson, 2 | Shaw,* 6 |
| Clerk, 1 | Letham, 1 | Shearer, 2 |
| Cochrane,* 2 | Lietch,* 1 | Shields, 2 |
| Corbet, 1 | Lindsay, 6 | Smith,* 4 |
| Craig,* 9 | Lochhead, 3 | Sniddon, 1 |
| Crane, 1 | Love, 4 | Somervile, 2 |
| Crawford,* 1 | Lowson, 1 | Spens,* 2 |
| Cross, 2 | Lyon, 1 | Steven, 2 |
| Cummin,* 1 | McAllaster, 1 | Stewart, 1 |
| Currie, 1 | McAuley, 2 | Stirling, 1 |
| Dalglish, 1 | McDonald, 2 | Swan, 1 |
| Dickieson, 1 | McEwing, 1 | Tenant, 1 |
| Dickson, 1 | McFarlane, 2 | Thomson, 3 |
| Dinsmuir, 1 | McKenzie, 2 | Turnbull,* 5 |
| Donald, 1 | McKey, 1 | Urie, 3 |
| Dugald, 1 | McMath, 1 | Walker, 3 |
| Duncan, 3 |
Mair, 1 | Wallace,* 2 |
| Dunn, 3 | Maitland, 1 | Wark, 3 |
| Dyer, 1 | Mark, 1 | Warnock, 2 |
| Dykes,* 1 | Meiklejohn, 1 | Watson, 2 |
| Edmiston, 1 | Melvil, 1 | Weir, 1 |
| Elles, 1 | Melvin, 1 | White,* 4 |
| Farie,* 1 | Mercer, 1 | Williamson, 5 |
| Findlay, 1 | Millar, 3 | Wilson,* 14 |
| Finnie, 1 | Montgomery, 2 | Wingate, 2 |
| Fleming,* 4 | Morrison, 1 | Wiseman, 1 |
| Forrest, 1 | Morton, 1 | Young, 2 |
| Fram, 1 | Motherwell,* 2 | Yuil, 3 |
| Friebairn,* 3 | Muir,* 8 | |
| Fullford, 1 | Murdoch, 2 |
