Chapter 1

The Early Years

Some places are said to be steeped in history and although Stewarton does not come into this category and is seldom listed in Scottish history books, it has an historical background dating back to the 12th century.

   Events and occurrences which took place in and around Stewarton six, seven or  eight  centuries  ago  are, however, recorded  in  a  few  old  books  with references  to  the  lands  and  buildings which existed during that period.

   Although some of the writings seem fallacious with legend substituting for fact and the curious spellings are misleading, the names of the noblemen and the lands they were given or acquired are listed along with the  early history  of the church.

   According to historians, Stewarton existed prior to the 12th century before the "patronymic" of Stewart was adopted. Nevertheless, the popular belief that Stewarton, Stewartoun, or Stewarte-toun was named after the High Steward of Scotland is generally regarded as nearest the truth. In those days when educational standards were not high and those who could write spelt words as they pronounced them. Steward became Stewart which gave the Royal Family its distinguished name.

   In a book he wrote at the beginning of the 17th century, Timothy Font describes:  "Stewarton Castle a strong Dounijon, the ancient inheritance of ye predecessor so four Scott Kings." This was a reference to Langshaw or Lainshaw.

   At the commencement of the recorded annals of Scotland, the extensive district of which Stewarton "formed grant" was ruled over by the De Morville family. This was during the 12th century and the De Morvilles, as their name implies, were of Norman descent coming over the English Channel in 1066 with William the Conqueror of school history book fame. As a reward for their services, they were given land in Cumberland.

  Meantime, Malcolm Canmore had married an English princess and in the succeeding reign of their son, David I, 1124-1153,  many  Norman  Knights, dissatisfied with the successor to William the conqueror, his son William Rufus, headed   northwards,   among   them De Morville, who was made welcome and he and his fellow Normans were placed in large estates.

   Now the legend of Malcolm Canmore and the Stewarton connection has been told and retold but as no book on the history of Stewarton would be complete without the story, true or false, its inclusion is necessary in this journal. It concerns the time when Macbeth killed Duncan to enable himself to become King of Scotland and after this dastardly deed, the next man on his hit list was Duncan's son, Malcolm, the heir to the throne.   Incidentally, Canmore was Malcolm's nickname and it means Big Head, but whether he took size 8 in bonnets, or crowns, or had an enlarged ego, we'll never know.

  Anyway,  when  Malcolm  heard Macbeth was after him, he headed south for the safety of England but as he reached the  estate  of  Corsehill, just outside Stewarton, he saw that Macbeth and his posse were catching up. In sight of the manor house, Malcolm took refuge in a barn in which a local farmer named Cunninghame was forking hay. The panic stricken prince then jumped into the hay crying:  "Over fork over." Immediately the farmer covered him over with hay and when Macbeth arrived he was directed the wrong way.

   When the coast was clear, Malcolm continued on his journey to England where he was made so welcome by Edward the Confessor that he married his daughter Margaret.

   Seventeen years later he marched back to Scotland and defeated Macbeth in Aberdeenshire in  1057; and all this came about thanks to the initiative of a lowly farmhand in Stewarton.

   Malcolm did not forget the man who saved the life of the future King of Scotland however, for he gifted the whole Corsehill Estate to the Cunninghame family. (And you can take this story with either a pinch of salt or a fork of hay.) This is the origin of the Cunninghame coat of arms: a shake fork shaped like the letter "Y" and "Over-Fork-Over" for the motto.

   King David was the great church builder and he had abbeys erected at various places, including Melrose and Holyrood. His Norman vassals followed suit and Hugh De Morville founded Kilwinning Abbey in 1140. He also settled his own vassal Godfrey De Ross in the lands of Stewarton with a castle at Ruinscraig. (In 1608, historian Timothy Font described it as "a ruin, once a strong castle and the chief seat of Godfrey De Ross, Lord Liddlisdale.") Later it became known as Ravenscraig and all that remains of it today is a pillar of stone in a field at Castlehill Farm, off Dunlop Road.

   Although nothing is known about the ordinary people who lived around Stewarton at that time, under the rigid Norman feudal system those who worked for the De Morvilles would be nothing more than serfs or glorified slaves.

   When Robert the Bruce laid his claim to the throne of Scotland, one William De Ross was an illegitimate contender for the succession and on Bruce becoming king in 1306 the estates were forfeited and the Rosses disappeared. A case of don't get mad, get even!

   Back in 1283 the lands of Stewarton had been elevated into a separate lordship and they became the inheritance of the Fitzalan family who held the office of High Steward for generations. Walter Fitzalan had married Marjory, daughter of Robert  the  Bruce,  and  this  family eventually,  from  Robert  II  in  1371, became the rulers of Scotland for over three hundred years.

   The building of the churches, abbeys and castles in the 12th and 13th centuries resulted in towns, villages and hamlets springing up in their vicinity and as Stewarton has been described as a few houses around a church, it is presumed that it came into being about that time.

   During the next couple of centuries "the lands” or “the lordship” of Stewarton were to change hands many times, depending on who found favour with the current king. During the reign of King Robert III, John Stewart, the Earl of Buchan, the Regent's son, and Elizabeth De Douglas, his spouse, had a charter of the lands of Stewarton, Armsheugh and Dunlop on the resignation of the Earl of Douglas. In the 15th century the lands of Stewarton were granted by James II to William, 7th Earl of Douglas but he had to forfeit them back to the crown. Then James III granted the lands to Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran and his wife Mary, the King's sister, which were also forfeited back to the crown, very strange goings-on indeed.

   In Robertson's "History of Ayrshire families,” there is an interesting tale which may have some truth in it. Again in the 15th century it seems that Alexander Kennedy  of  Ardstinchar,  who  was nicknamed the Dagger, was becoming a pain in the noble neck of the 5th Earl of Douglas,  Lord  Galloway, due to his trouble-making and law-breaking, so he offered a reward of "the forty  merk land  of Stewarton" to the man who would bring him Kennedy's head. One Christmas Sunday morning when the Earl was worshipping in the Church of St.  Ninian, Kennedy led a gang of a hundred of his followers to the Church, when, it is said, he claimed and received the reward, a nice Christmas present. However, the Dagger got his comeuppance afterwards when his brothers, frightened that he would usurp the whole estate, smothered  him  with  feather  beds. Charming people!

   In 1545 Nigel or Neil Montgomery of Lainshaw. the second son of the Earl of Eglintoun, received a crown charter of lands of Stewarton which remained with this  family for two  hundred years. A century earlier, about 1450, Lainshaw had come into the Eglintoun family through the marriage of a Montgomery to a daughter of the Kennedy's.

   In 1564-65, Queen Mary granted a charter of lands and lordship of Stewarton to John Sempill, son of Lord Sempill, and Mary Livingstone, his spouse.

   Earlier in 1508 a feud arose between the Montgomeries and the Cunninghames of Cunninghamhead. The cause of the dispute seems to have been the decision of James IV to transfer the chief magistry, the office of the King's Bailhe, from the Earl of Glencairn (The Cunninghames) to the Earl of Eglintoun (The Montgomeries.) As those representatives were appointed by the King to keep the peace with the right "to seek out and search offenders, to execute them after legal trial and to compel other lords within their bounds to assist them whenever they though it necessary to call them,” they were extremely powerful men.

   The feud culminated in the murder of Hugh, the 4thEarl of Eglintoun, at Annick Bridge on the 15th April, 1586. They did not forgive or forget readily in those days. Hugh, on his way to Stirling to attend the King's court, intended to call on his kinsman at Lainshaw and he let this be known beforehand. The trouble was that Sir Neil Montgomery had married Elizabeth Cunningham of Aitket and although it was said to be a love match, both clans frowned upon the union.

   When Lady Elizabeth heard about visit, so strong was her Cunninghame affinity that she contacted her relations, Aitket,   Robertland,   Clonbeith   and Corsehill -they used the lands they owned as names in those times — with a view to murdering the unsuspecting Hugh. This quartet, and their henchmen, armed with pistols, hid near the Annick and within sight of Lainshaw, and when a fluttering tablecloth appeared at the battlement, presumably held by the vengeful Liza, the gang pounced on the horse-mounted Earl and John Cunninghame of Clonbeith shot him dead. Thereafter the path along the left bank of the Annick was known as the Mourning Path, and appears in old maps.

   This was neither the beginning nor the end of the affair for the Cunninghames and the Montgomeries were literally at daggers drawn for a century. The feud was a most deadly one caused it is thought by jealousies created by two powerful families living near to one another. There were numerous battles and attacks on the castles belonging to both families and there were countless killings and wounded as a result.

   After the shooting of the young Earl of Eglintoun the Montgomeries vowed a solemn oath that every Cunninghame who had been present at Annick Bridge would die. This started a ruthless hunt for the offenders which resulted in many innocent Cunninghames and their workers being killed just because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Laird of Corsehill fled the country never to return. John Cunninghame of Clonbeith absconded to Denmark and Cunninghame of Aitket was tracked down from Ayrshire to Renfrewshire, then to Hamilton where he was caught and brutally killed. Cunninghame of Robertland fled to Norway where he took refuge at the Court there. He was eventually pardoned by King James VI of Scotland (I of England) who was visiting Denmark, after intervention by Queen Ann. He returned to this country with the royal party and remained as one of Her Majesty's master stablers. And what of the scheming Lady of Lainshaw who had actually  entertained  the  Earl  wearing a  false  smile  before  being  responsible for his death? For the remainder of her life she lived in fear, seldom venturing out in daylight and only occasionally at night. Latterly  she  once  more  returned  to Lainshaw and although the Montgomeries left her alone they never once looked her in  the  face,  while  the  peasants  in Stewarton feared and dreaded her for the misery she had caused in the district.

   The wild west of America might have been tough but it had nothing on the wild west of Scotland.

   As stated earlier, Stewarton was formed round a church which the De Morvilles  had  granted  to  Kilwinning Abbey in  Roman Catholic Scotland before the Reformation. According to an old document called Bagimont's Roll, in the reign of James V, the vicarage of Stewarton in the Deanery of Cunninghame was taxed £4, one-tenth of the estimated value. Other revenues had also to be paid to monks at Kilwinning including "133 boils of meal, I boll of bear, 254 bolls of oats and £34.6s and 8d." (One boll Scots equals 6 Bushels and bear was barley.)

   After the Reformation the lands belonging to the church in Stewarton "passed into lay hands." At Lainshaw a chapel which had been dedicated to the Virgin Mary was allowed to fall into ruin and  according to  one  account was "denominated Chapeltoun," presumably the same Chapeltoun which was to become a large estate and mansion and which is now an hotel. A different account states that there was a separate chapel at the adjoining estate of Chapeltoun.

   Nothing is known about Corsehill Castle or manor house which is said to have existed on the opposite side of the bum from Ravenscraig. Pont, writing in 1608, lists "Corsehill, a fail well planted duelling ye possessions of Alexander Cunninghame laird there of." This was the  residence  of generations  of  the Cunninghame’s of Corsehill, situated outside Stewarton with an avenue leading to it   from  the  town,  later  to  be  named Avenue Street. Not a trace of it remains today.

   Other important families around Stewarton were the Cunninghame’s of Robertland and Arnots of Lochrig (Lochridge). For several hundred years Robertland formed part of Corsehill Estate.

   The story that emerges from the history of Stewarton's early years, like most histories, is one of lust for power, vengeance, greed and murder among the so-called noblemen of the times. Nothing is known about the ordinary people and there must have been stonemasons, fleshers, bakers, weavers and, as has been hinted, bonnet-makers, around at that time.  It is not until later that the proletariat or commoners are mentioned and who they were and what they did will be dealt with in another chapter.