land, William, ninth Earl of Glencairn. At the death of his lordship the work was abandoned, and no other member of the family proceeding with it the pile was allowed to become a wreck. Several members of the Glencairn family lived in the old mansion-house, and the last individual of distinction who occupied it was a relative of the Eglinton family. It is at present occupied by an obliging old lady, who kindly showed me over the house. From the brow of The Place brae the view is delightfully picturesque. At the foot is the neat bowling-green and the little river winding along. On the rising ground opposite stands the village; in the hollow the church, with a well-wooded background; and beyond a widely diversified landscape, through which runs the railway -a thread of that wondrous iron network that has brought many secluded towns and hamlets into direct communication with the large centres of industry. Taking a last look at the old mansion-house and its surroundings, I musingly strayed in the direction of Jack's Thorn, a neat farm-steading that tops the neighbouring hill to the east. In its immediate vicinity there are many venerable trees. In some places they form clumps, but elsewhere stand in regular rows, forming as it were a carriage drive. These trees, from their seeming age and diversified appearance, doubtless formed part of the "faire park" spoken of by Pont. From Jack's Thorn I passed down an avenue and entered a field. A pleasant walk over the gowan-spangled grass brought me to the top of a sward-covered circular mound, which tradition affirms to be the site of Kilmaurs Castle, but there is not a vestige of the building remaining, The plough has long since passed over the spot, and cattle lowing stray where the ancient castle stood in all the pomp of family distinction. Pont surveyed the district 266 years ago, and wrote as follows concerning the stronghold :—“ The castell is ane ancient, strong building, belonging to the Earl of Glencairne, environed with a faire parke, called Carmell wod, from the vatter of Carmell that runs by it." This, reader, is all that is recorded concerning the castle of Kilmaurs. Its pomp and form are matters of conjecture, and were it not for the fact that several old people in the village remember of sporting among some ruined remnants of masonry which occupied the spot the situation would be unknown. 6 Kilmaurs Castle was the baronial residence of the Cuninghames of Kilmaurs, Earls of Glencairn. The surname, it will be observed, is territorial, and was originally assumed from the bailery of that name, and alludes, according to Van Bassen, to the following circumstance :- "One son of Friskin assisted Malcolm (afterwards Malcolm Canmore), after the murder of his father, King Duncan, in making his escape from the tyranny of Macbeth; and being hotly pursued, took refuge in a barn, where Friskin concealed him by forking straw over him, by command in the words of the motto, Over, fork over.' The pursuit being over, the prince made his escape to England, accompanied by his faithful preserver. The prince was no sooner in possession of his kingdom than he rewarded his preserver with the Thanedom of Cuninghame, from which he and his posterity took their name, and grained the shakefork as the armorial figure, with said motto, to perpetuate the memory of his happy escape.' Doctors differ on many subjects, and so do historians. Sir G. M'Kenzie affirms that the shake-fork and motto were assumed by the noble house of Glencairn owing to their having the office of master of horse in the king's stables. I have no doubt that the arms of the family, an argent, a shake-fork, and sable, with the motto, "over, fork over," have reference to some circumstance connected with the family history, but leave the reader to draw his own conclusion. The first of the family upon record is one Warnebaldus de Cunninghame, who flourished in the reign of Edgar and Alexander I. (The latter reigned from 1107 to 1124.) This Warnebaldus is assumed to have been in possession of the lands of Kilmaurs, and possibly the castle may have been built by him, but this is merely conjecture. After Warnebaldus there follows a long list of "Knights that wight and worthie were," but I will not weary the reader by a recital of their numerous virtues, warlike exploits, and doughty deeds, but simply state that the last of the male line of the main stem of the great Cunninghame family was John, fifteenth Earl of Glencairn, who died unmarried in 1796. He succeeded his brother James, the early and indulgent patron of Robert Burns, the ploughman poet. What Scotchman who has read the "Lament" for this Earl of Glencairn can ever forget the soul stirring effusion ?-especially the last two stanzas, for in them the bard pours forth his grief in the bitterness of his soul. "Oh! why has worth so short a date? While villains ripen gray with time; That smiles sae sweetly on her knee; And a' that thou hast done for me !" Leaving the site of Kilmaurs Castle I struck through a field, and after a brisk walk arrived at a low hedge, which I cleared with a bound, and landed in a secluded road minus my hat, which flew off during my brief suspension between heaven and earth. There was no help for it; back I had to go to recover my new "felt," which I did at the risk of tearing my unmentionables into ribbons. Moving in the direction of the village, I arrived in Kilmaurs road, turning the corner just in time to see a young gentleman imprint a kiss on the rosy lips of a rather good-looking young lady whose waist the left arm of the happy fellow encircled. She did not seem averse to the salutation; but oh! when she discovered that they had been caught in the act, "Her face it reddened like the rose, then pale as ony lily" she hurriedly drew down her veil to hide her confusion. Smilingly I passed, for I thought of my own daffing days, and how the young lady might have chided her lover with the following stanza of an old song :— "Behave yoursel' before folk, Behave yoursel' before folk, It wadna gie me muckle pain, Gin we were seen an' heard by nane, But guidsake no before folk." CHAPTER XIII. Kilmaurs continued-The old Church-Its appearance and history-An Anecdote of the Rev. Hugh Thomson-The Glencairn Isle and Monument-The appearance of the Vault when opened-A Ghastly Keepsake-The Rev. George Paxton-"Wee Miller"-"The Double Suicide" The Old Manse-Covenanting Relics-A Stroll along Crosshouse Road-The Estate of Plann-Busbie Castle-The Tumulii at Greenhill Farm-Home again. At the foot of the village of Kilmaurs, in the centre of a small graveyard, stands its old Parish Church- -a Gothic structure of considerable antiquity. Finding the gate of the little burying place open I entered and stood for a few moments leaning on my staff surveying the grass-covered mounds where Stoical indeed must the man be who unmoved can stray through an old churchyard without musing upon the apparent end of life, or cherishing a passing thought upon the layers of fellow-mortals who moulder beneath his feet. "Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, According to Scottish saint The church upon near inspection appears to be a quaint old building which has received several additions. the author of Caledonia it was dedicated to a named Maure, who is said to have died in 899, and who was commemorated on the 2nd of November. "So early as 1170," says Paterson, "Robertus filii Wernebaldi granted the church of Kilmaurs, in the township of Cunninghame, with half a caracute of land, to the monks of Kelso. This charter was confirmed by Richard Morville, Great Constable of Scotland, and Lord of Cuninghame, the superior; also by Engleram, Bishop of Glasgow, who died in 1174. The monks enjoyed the rectorial revenues, and a vicarage was established to serve the cure. In Bagimont's Roll, as it stood in the reign of James V., the vicarage of Kilmaurs, in the deanry of Cunninghame, was taxed at £2 13s. 4d., being a tenth of the estimated value. The whole passed into lay hands after the Reformation.' The interior of the church is in keeping with its exterior, being plain and of a peculiar shape. It contains nothing of interest. In the wall there is a stone slab to the memory of Hugh Thomson of Hill, minister of the gospel at Kilmaurs, his wife, and twelve children. Mr. Thomson died in 1731. "He was a person of great muscular strength," says the writer of the Kilmaurs article in the Statistical Account. "We have heard that, being in Kilmarnock on a market day, he approached a stand on which a blacksmith had exposed to sale horse-shoes and other hardware articles of his own manufacture. Mr. Thomson, wishing to purchase some of the horse-shoes, asked the price of them, and on being told, said by way of joke-'So much for these. I could twist them with my fingers.' 'Twist them, then,' said the smith, ' and you shall have the price of your own making.' Mr. Thomson took one of them up and twisted it almost with as much ease as Samson broke the green withes with which he was bound. The blacksmith stood aghast; and thinking his customer no cannie, he gave him the shoes on very reasonable terms, and was right glad to see his back turned." Separated from the church by a narrow passage stands the Glencairn Isle-a dungeon-like building with an iron gate, and a small barred window, through which the light of day streams and dimly illumines the interior. Under the window there is a brass plate bearing the following inscription: "This ancient burying place of the Glencairn family, which had fallen into ruins, has been restored by Dame Charlotte Montgomery Cunninghame, in memory of her beloved husband, Sir Thomas Montgomery Cunninghame, 8th Baronet of Corsehill, and descendant of Andrew, 2nd Son of the 4th Earl of Glencairn. He passed to his rest 30th August, 1870." Against the eastern wall stands a handsome mural monument, erected by James, the seventh Earl of Glencairn, in the year 1600. This beautiful specimen of ancient architecture |