CHIEF:  Alastair Ivor Gilbert Boyd 7th Baron Kilmarnock

Richard G. and Jerri Lynn Boyd

568 W. Friedrich Street

Rogers City, Mich. 49779

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The Origins of Kilmarnock, Scotland

    (excerpted from the book)

   History of Kilmarnock, 1864, 3rd ed. Archibald M'Kay

 The origin of Kilmarnock, like that of many other towns of real importance, is involved in considerable obscurity, and scarcely any thing illustrative of its ancient history can be gathered from the various statistical works in which it is mentioned. That it is a place of great antiquity, however, seems to be the general opinion.

It is stated by some writers that, so far back as the year 322, it was the residence of a St Mernoc or Marnock. Here, according to tradition, he founded a church, and hence, in all likelihood, the origin of the town; for those who were seeking or had enjoyed his holy instructions would naturally incline to settle at or near the hallowed scene of his labors. It is also said that he is interred here within the precincts of the ground he had consecrated. From the same Saint the town has evidently derived its name, which, as shown by the Celtic word Kil, signifies the cell, the church, or the burial-place of Marnock.

The very early date, however, assigned to the time of St Marnock is doubtful; and it is more probable that he settled here about the end of the sixth or the beginning of the seventh century, when some of the early teachers of Christianity, who had been educated at I-colmm-kill, under St Columba, established places of religious worship in different parts of our island.(1) But there is no account, we believe, on which reliance can be placed, regarding the Church of Kilmarnock prior to the twelfth century. The author of Caledonia, whom we shall afterwards quote on the subject, states that it belonged of old to the monastery of Kilwinning, which was then founded; and Pont, who seems to have perused the records of that monastery, says "it was bulte by the Locartts, (2) Lords of it (meaning a barony), and dedicat to a holy man, Mernock, as witness ye records of Kilvinin Abbay."

To trace the course of the progress of Kilmarnock, even from this time, would be almost impossible. The Town Books extend no farther back than 1686, and, consequently, throw no light on the subject.(3) We may infer, however, that besides the Church of the good old Saint the many natural advantages of the place, such as its somewhat sheltered, yet healthy situation, together with the stream of the Marnock gliding through it, and the Irvine meandering at a short distance, would all tend to make it a favorite place of residence, as the more peaceful arts began to be cultivated. Regarding the particular site of the first houses of the town we are left to uncertainty. The most likely supposition is, that they were scattered around the ancient Chapel dedicated to St. Marnock, which was no doubt situated near to or on the identical spot now occupied by the Low Parish Church.  The  narrow  lane  in the immediate neighborhood,

1. See Dr. Smith's Life of St. Columba.

2. The Loccarts here mentioned are supposed to have been vassals of Hugh de Morville, an Anglo-Norman Baron, who founded the Monastery of Kilwinning, and who "obtained a grant of the extensive and valuable bailiwick, or great Barony of Cunningham" -- See notes on Pont's Cunningham, by John Fullarton, Esq. of Overton.

3. The first entry in the Register of Baptisms is dated 6 Feb 1644.
 

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called College Wynd, is, or rather, lately was, one of the most antiquated streets of the town, and derives its name, we believe, from being the site of some Educational Institution in the olden time; one of its old-fashioned tenements is still pointed out by aged persons as having been a school-house of some importance.(1) In the same lane is another building, said to have been the Manse, and behind it is what was called the Glebe Land. The first Bank, too, of which the town could boast, and which was a branch of the Bank of Scotland, was in the adjoining alley, called Low Church Lane;(2) and, assuming these statements to be true, it is not improbable that this now unfashionable quarter was the nucleous of Kilmarnock. Grange Street, which is near to College Wynd, and which at one time was called the Clay Mugs, from the circumstance of a pottery having been in the place, is also, we believe, one of the ancient neuks of Auld Killie. Strand Street, in close proximity to the Church, has likewise the appearance of considerable antiquity, and in all probability, was one of the earliest streets of the town. Though now chiefly occupied by the poorer classes, it was the residence of some of the more wealthy families during the last century. We may suppose, too, that the Cross, where stood the corn mill of the parish till the year 1703, would be partly occupied with houses at a comparatively remote period; its appearance, so late as the beginning of the present century, before King Street and Portland Street were formed, was old and antiquated in the extreme. But of this afterwards.

The first notice of any consequence which we have of Kilmarnock, and more especially of the extent of its population, at an early date, is in a document, given in Chapter X, respecting the appointment of a priest or clerk for the parish in the year 1547. The parishioners who took part in that election amounted to about three hundred; and as they, in all likelihood, comprised the whole, or nearly the whole, of the heads of families at that time in the parish, it may be inferred that the population was little more than fourteen hundred -- a number which appears very small when we consider that the parish of Fenwick was then included in that of Kilmarnock.

1. Since the above was written, we have been favored with extracts from various letters respecting Kilmarnock in past times, written by William Gregory, Esq., Virginia, to his brother here, James S. Gregory, Esq., Registrar. One of these extracts corroborates the above statement regarding the name College Wynd. Mr Gregory says: "At the north end of the Wynd, and the north- west corner of the Kirk-yard, stood an old house (it may be standing yet), the walls of which belonged to the College, and in it were probably educated some of your west country worthies--Boyd of Trochrig, and perhaps, his kinsman, Zachary Boyd, and others. The College was burnt down about the middle of the last century. My father attended there at the time, but was too young to be examined regarding the fire; however, I have heard him say that John Glen (whom I remember) was brought before the Bailies and examined as to what he knew about the fire. John answered that he "kent naething about it, as he and Rab Elshender were making clay men in the Kirk-yard at the time." The Collegians used the Church-yard at that time as a play ground." It is said that the name of the last teacher in the College Wynd School was Mushat. As corroborative of Mr Gregory's conjecture respecting Zachary Boyd we may state that, according to Chambers Encyclopedia, that eminent divine was educated at Kilmarnock.
 

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Of course the document furnishes us with no idea of the aspect of the town in regard to its streets or buildings; but it is worthy of remark, that the most of the names attached to it, though different in their orthography, are such as are common amongst us at the present day. The following are the various surnames from the document mentioned; and as the number of each is also given, it will be observed that the prevailing names were Brown, Smith, Boyd and Adam.

Adam......... 11           Fulton...............10               Nevine...........3
Allan............3            Gemyll................6               Norvell... .......3
Andro...........4           Gilmure...............5               Nychole.........1
Angus...........1            Gray..................2                Pally..............4
Arnot............2            Halkill................1                Pawtoun........12
Auchenloss....6            Harbartsoune.....1               Patrick....   .....1
Bar........    ...1            Harper...............8               Quhyte.......  ...6
Blakwod.......2            Hillhouss............3                Rankyne.........1
Black........  .1            Hobkyn.............1                Robisone........1
Boill.............1             Howay..............1                 Ross...........  .4
Boyd.........15              Holmes.............1                Schaw........... 2
Borland.......3              Hog..................7                Smyth.......... 16
Brokat........1              Kendy...............1                Steele..........   6
Brown........20            Kirkland............1                Stesen.........  .1
Calderwood....1          Launchland.......4                Stevinsone......1
Campbell....  ..1          Lowdoun..........3                Strauchand......1
Chalmer....  ...1           Lowry...............3                Tailzeour.......  8
Cochrane.....  .1          Lymburnat.........4                Tanathill.......   9
Craig.....   ......2           Lyndsay............4                Tempeltoun......1
Craufurd.........2           Masoun............2                Thomson......... 3
Credy............2            Miller...............8                 Tod.............    1
Crux..............7            Mure...............2                  Torrence....... .1
Cunynham......5            Mychell...........1                 Wallace.........   8
Curry.............5             Myll................1                Warnock........  3
Cuthbertsoune.1           Nasmyth..........1                Wilsoun........   .2
Dickey...........5             Neill................2                Wright.........    .1
Duncane.........2                                                      Wylie..........    .6
Findlay...........4

Timothy Pont, about  sixty years after the time spoken of, namely, in 1609, visited the town when making a survey of Cunningham, and, in his own quaint manner, thus describes it: "Kilmernock-toune and Kirk is a large village and of grate repaire. It hath in it a veekly market, it hath a faire stone bridge over the river Marnock vich glydes hard by the said toune, till it falles in the river Irving. It hath a pretty church from vich ye village, castell and lordshipe takes its name .... The Lord Boyd is now Lord of it, to quhose predicessors it hath belonged for maney generations. In tis church ar divers of ye Lord Boydes progenitors buried, amongs quhome ther is one tombe or stone, bearing this inscription and coate, Hic jacet Thomas Boyde Dominus de Kilmarnock qui obiit Septimo die mensis Julii 1432, and Johanna de Montgomery eius spousa. Orate pro iis.(1)

1. In the books of the Irvine Presbytery, the following notice occurs regarding Lord Boyd's tomb: "At a visitation at Kilmarnock, 19th June 1649, anent ane superstitious image that was upon my Lord Boyd his tomb, it was the Presbiterie's mynd that his Lordship sould be written to that he wold be pleased to demolish and ding it doun, and if he should refuse, that then the Presbiterie was to take a further course." This appears to have been in accordance with an act of Parliament, passed a few years previously, for "abolishing monuments of Idolatrie."

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In another old work, entitled Northern Memoirs, written by Richard Franck,(1) in the year 1658, we have an interesting glimpse of the town as it then appeared. We suspect, however, that the picture is rather extravagantly drawn; at all events, it reflects no great credit, in some respects, on the memory of our ancestors. After de-scribing the town as :an ancient corporation, crowded with mechanicks and brew-houses," and as a place, "through the midst of whose crazy, tottering ports, there runs a river replenished with trout," the writer says: "step into her dirty streets, that are seldom clean but on a sun- shiny day, or at other times, when great rains melt all the muck, and forcibly drive it down their cadaverous channels into the river Marr, whose streams are so sullied then, that the river loses its natural brightness, till the stains are washed out, and so become invisible. All which to examine. is enough to convince you that the influence of planets is their best scavenger..... These inhabitants, he proceeds, "dwell in such ugly houses, as, in my opinion, are little better than huts; and generally of a size, all built so low, that their eaves hang dangling to touch the earth......  And that which is worse than all the rest, is their unproportionate, ill contrivance.... Not one good structure is to be found in Kilmarnock; nor do I remember any wall it has, but a river there is, as I formerly told you of, that runs through the town; over which there stood a bridge so wretchedly antient, that it's unworthy of our commendations.(2) Regarding the skill of the inhabitants in mechanical pursuits our tourist speaks more favourably. "Part of their manu-facture," he remarks, "is knitting of bonnets, and spinning [weaving] of Scottish cloth, which turns to very good account. Then, for their tempers of metals, they are without compeer -- Scotland has not better; and as they are artizans in dirks, so are they artists in fuddling, as if there were some rule in drinking, so that, to me, it represents as if art and ale were inseparable companions. Moreover, their wives are sociable comers [kimmers], too, yet not to compare with those of Dumblain, who pawn their petticoats to pay their reckoning. Here is a jolly crew of ale-men, but very few anglers, crowded together in the small compass of a little corporation, curiously compacted."

From these scanty quotations a faint idea may be formed of the appearance of the town two hundred years ago. The mean condition in which Franck represents it is not to be wondered at; for it was then but a mere village, with no Magistracy or Town Council, (3) with

1. Franck as a native of Cambridge, and is supposed to have served as a Captain in a cavalry regiment, under Cromwell. Like old Izaak Walton, he was a devoted angler: and he was making a fishing tour through Scotland when he visited Kilmarnock. A limited edition of his memoirs was published in 1821, with notes by Sir Walter Scott.

2. It is a curious that neither the Church nor the Dean Castle are noticed by our author. The former, he perhaps, considered too humble an edifice for particular description; and the latter, being somewhat distant from the town, might escape his observation.

3. The first magistrates were appointed in 1695; and for upwards of a hundred years prior to that time, the Burgh was governed by a baron-bailie, nominated by the Boyd family. There is still a baron-bailie appointed by the superior, and in virtue of his office he has a seat at the Board of Commissioners of Police.

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little commerce, and, consequently, with few of the comforts and conven- iences of life. It appears from his statement that the men of Kilmarnock were peculiarly skilled in the art of cutlery; and this is somewhat corroborated by another old book, (1) in which the town is noticed  as "famous for all kinds of cutler's ware." We have found no other evidence, however, of such a trade having been ever carried on in the town to any very great extent; and we have seen only one instance of the word cutler being mentioned in the early Records of the Burgh. The minute in which it occurs is rather curious: 13th July, 1686.-- The quhilk day James Thomson, ane of the dragoons of horse,  Adam Black's  companie,  was decerned to pay John Tod, cutlerin Kilmarnock, the sum of 3s 4d Scots, and the said John Tod to give up to James Thomson his wyffis body cott, quhilk was pandit for threepence, and paid to the said James." That the inhabitants were artists in fuddling," as Franck expresses it, we can more readily believe, for the Council, in by-gones times, were often under the necessity of making enactments for the suppression of drunkenness. In 1695, for example, it was enacted that "no ale be sold by vintners after ten o'clock on Saturday nights;" and in 1702, a proclamation was issued, "strickly requiring all vintners, taverners, and other retaillers of Liquors, to shutt their doors nightly at the tolling of the bells at ten hours throw the week, and at the tolling of the nine hours bell at the Saturday's and Sabbath's night, and to allow none to drink in their houses after the Said times, under penalty of six shillings Scots, for each person, to be payed by the master or mistresse of the house." In the same proclamation all persons were also prohibited from "walking upon the streets unnecessarily, and from bringing in water, or carrying of burdens upon the Lord's day." The following extract from the minutes of the Kirk Session shows that special efforts were also made by that body to abate the social irregularities noted by Franck:

"Sessions, Debr 12th, 1689.-- The qlk day the Sess. appoints the Elders in their respective quarters to go through and search the several ale-houses and other suspect places therein each Saturdays night, immediatelie after nine o'clock, and that they take notice of such as they find drinking there, after the sd hour, or any way deboshing, and make delation thereof to the Sess. from time to time. "It is also appointed, that the Elders, who collect the charitie at the Kirk doors, do, immediatelie after the publick worship is begun, go through the town, and search for such as absent themselves from publick ordinances, or are drinking, or otherwyse profaneing the Lords day: And that in the after- noon, after the publick worship is over and ended, they take notice of such as, by straying up and down the town or through the fields, or by idle discourse in companys together, or by drinking and otherwise, do profane the Sabbath; and that they make delation thereof accordinglie."

The principle architectural erections in the town and its immediate neighbor- hood, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, were the Bridge, the Church, and the Castle; at least no other is mentioned by Pont.

The Bridge to which he alludes was no doubt situated on the same site which the Old Bridge, leading from Cheapside to Sandbed Street, now occupies, and was probably the one spoken of by the "piscatorian"

1. A Journey through Scotland: London, 1723.
 

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traveler", Franck, as "unworthy commendations." According to the Towns Books it underwent some alteration in 1753, in order that it might be made "more safe for all sorts of traffic;" and about 1762, it was rebuilt in consequence of having been much injured by floods. The present structure, we believe, is the one then erected.

Of the Church no trace now remains save the steeple, which still stands attached to the present Parish Church.(1) About thirty years ago the date, 1410, was inscribed on it--a date which some old people had recollected seeing on the lintel of one of the doors. That it belongs to that, if not an earlier period, its venerable appearance would seem to testify. In 1770 it was considerably repaired, as shown by the following notice in the Town Treasurer's Books: "1770. Nov 22--N.B. This day, the roof of the Parish Steeple was finished by John Reid, Plumer in Ayr. He agreed to take down the old roof, & find a new one compleat, for L52 Sterling. The Heritors to pay the one half, and the Town Council the other." It was also furnished, in August 1853 with a finely-toned new bell, weighing twelve hundredweight, which cost about L100 sterling. The old bell, which weighed nearly four hundredweight, bore this inscription: BLESSED IS THE PEOPLE THAT KNOW THE IOYFULL SOVND, PS. 89, 15, NVM. 10, 10. ALBERT DANIEL, CELI ME FECERVNT, KILLMARNOCK, AN.DOM., 1697.(2) It may be added, thatthere is a tradition that the lower part of the steeple was used as aprison in the time of the Covenanters, and that some of them were therein incarcerated.

The Castle spoken of by Pont still exists, though in ruins, and is now known by the name of the Dean. It is, perhaps, the oldest building in the locality, and was long the stronghold of the ancient barons of Kilmarnock, whose names are closely interwoven with the early annals of the Burgh. We shall, therefore, give a brief description of it before entering more fully into other historical details.

1. "When the old Church was taken down (1802), and the west side of the steeple laid bare, there were brought to view three niches in the wall, some five or six feet above the floor, and perhaps some six or seven feet in height, before which the altar stood, and the priest officiated in Popish times. These niches were arched at the top of a gothic shape." Letter of W. Gregory, Virginia.

2. The old bell was purchased for a church in Stewarton, and still does good service in that ancient village.

Richard G. Boyd, Secy/Ed
Clan Boyd Society, International
568 W. Friedrich Street

Rogers City, Mich. 49779

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Boyds of Badenheath

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Panoramic View of Kilmarnock (Dean Castle)

 KILMARNOCK, SCOTLAND  by  ARCHIBALD M'KAY  1864

"Kilmarnock House" and other Olden views of Dean (Kilmarnock) Castle

The Origins of Kilmarnock, Scotland

Boyds of Penkill / Trochrig

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