Fergushill

The old driveway to Fergushill House and the site of the gatehouse.

'Fergushill' as a surname is a sept of the Clan Fergusson; the area is either named after the family, i.e. Fergushill of that Ilk, or more likely, took the name of the area as their patronym, as with the Cunninghame clan. Robert de Fergushill de Eodem had an extensive estate here in 1417; 'de Eodem' refers to the patronym being the same name as the barony. In 1577, A. Fergushill, burgess of Ayr, sold the lands of Gallisholmes to John Wallace of Craigie.[1]

Patrick Lowrie was convicted in 1605 of being a warlock and sentenced to be first strangled, then burned at the stake in Edinburgh. One of his crimes was stated as being for art and part of the Bewitching of certain milk kye, pertaining to Johnne Fergushill, younger, in Halie, at Beltane 1604 years; whereby the kye gave no milk but blood and worsome (purlent) therafter.[2]

John Fergushill (1592–1644) was a Covenanter minister, who in 1618 refused to conform with the decision of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to accept the Five Articles of Perth; these included religious practices retained in England but largely abolished in Scotland and were widely resented.[3] He was imprisoned in 1620 but later released and closely associated with the 1638 National Covenant, objecting to liturgical 'innovations.'[4] He was a leader in the kirk's rejection of bishops that led to the 1638-1639 Bishop's Wars and an associate of Presbyterian fundamentalists, including James Guthrie, executed in 1661 and Archibald Johnson.

In 1671 David Fergushill went to the Corsehill Barony Court to obtain payment for a boill bear from one Thomas Wylie of Little Corsehill.[5] In the 17th-century it was the custom in respectable families for the names of the principal friends present to be entered into the baptismal register. Mr. Baillie of Monkton's register had the names Fergushill, Ashinyards and Muncardine entered.[6]

Robert Fergushill, who died in the late 17th-century, was the last of the family to be local lairds; he is listed in a charter from Robert Hunter of Hunterston as owning a share in the 46s 8d land of Annanhill-Hunter, but William Henry Dunlop remained the proprietor.[7] Alexander Crauford of Fergushill is named as a Commissioner of Supply for Ayrshire in the 1685 records of the Parliament of Scotland.[8] In 1691 the 'House of Fergushill' itself had seven hearths listed in the Hearth Tax records and eighteen other properties within the barony.[9]

The Laird of Fergushill in the early 18th century was one of the local landowners who ordered the bailies of Kilmarnock to 'causeway' the streets, an early example of road improvements in Ayrshire.[10]

Landform feature in Chapelholms woods; this may indicate the boundary between the baronies of Fergushill and Eglinton.

A number of properties in the surrounding area bear the name 'Fergushill,' including Knockentiber, North & South Fergushills near Eglinton and Fergushill in Auchentiber.

In 1596, Fergushill and Middle Auchentiber were inherited by Robert Fergushill, whose wife Elizabeth was the daughter of John Craufurd of Craufurdland; when he died in 1625, it passed to his son, also named Robert.[11] Sometime after 1660, it passed first to Robert's relative Alexander Craufurd, then to his eldest son John Crawfurd in the 1690s.

This was a time of hardship and famine in Scotland, known as the Seven ill years; in December 1696, the city of Edinburgh set up a refugee camp in Greyfriars kirkyard to house starving rural migrants.[12] John was already under financial pressure in 1696 when he purchased Kersland, near Kilbirnie from his wife's elder sister, Jean Ker. He assumed the name and title of John Ker of Kersland and spent the next 30 years avoiding bankruptcy, including a period as a government spy. He sold Fergushill in 1718 to John Asgill and Robert Hackett for £3600, who mortgaged it back to him for £2,600; John died in 1726 in the King's Bench Debtors Prison, London.[13]

1823 map showing the position of Fergushill House and other details.

At this point, legal ownership becomes complex but court records from February 1749 show it had been sold by 'Thomas Craufurd of Fergushill, to Neil Macvicar, writer in Edinburgh.'[14] This seems to have taken place in 1728 and it stayed in the Macvicar family until 1802, when it passed to Robert Glasgow of Montgreenan.[15]

Andrew Armstrong's 1775 publication 'A new map of Ayrshire,' shows Fergushill House located on the north side of Lugton Water, around 75 yards (70 metres) east of the old horse tramway and road bridges, or 'Elbo and Chael' as they were known locally.[16] Fergushill was at its most prosperous around 1560;[17] In 1799, the 12th Earl of Eglinton acquired the house, estate and coal pits, which were joined to Eglinton as a 'pendicle,' a Scots legal term for a subsidiary part of a larger estate. Robin Cummell or Campbell, who worked at Eglinton Castle, states that the Fergushill miners were sold with the land, normal practice for the time.[18]

Lugton Water, modern day.

The house was described as 'A good mansion, surrounded by some fine old trees, render the place still worthy of being inhabited by ane honest and descreit gentleman.'[19] After 1803, it was used by George Reid of Barquharry, Factor to the Earl of Eglinton and a friend of Robert Burns.[20]

Cummell records Reid was fond of entertaining at Fergushill.[21] One of his most interesting guests was Byla Greenshields, who habitually wore yellow buckskin trousers and white shoes to his dinners at Fergushill; the usual invitation was - Dear Byla, The leather breeks and taps buits on Thursday.[22]

Fergushill is described in 1823 as 'a commodious farm house, covered with thatch: but its ancient gardens, pretty well stored with plum and other fruit trees, indicate its former rank.'[23] By 1991, all that remained of the old house were a few low walls near South Fergushill Farm and present day Fergushill cottage, a disused driveway and demolished gate-lodge.[16][24]

Aerial photographs and observations on the ground show the Chapelholms woodlands still contain the ditch, dyke and coppiced trees that may have formed the boundary between the two baronies of Fergushill and Eglinton.[25]

Townhead of Fulwood belonged to James Fergushill, disposed to him by Alexander Dunlop of that Ilk in 1687; this remained within the family until about 1750, when it was acquired by William Mackie of Mosside.[26]

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  The old Fergushill church at Benslie.
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  The interior.
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  Memorial to William MacAlpine.
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  Janburrow, Fergushill church's old manse and previously the G&SWR company agent's office near Montgreenan.[33]

A flat bottomed and 15-foot-long (4.5 m) section of Vignole rail from the 1831 Ardrossan and Johnstone Railway

A typical waggonway. The Little Eaton Gangway.

This line began life as a waggonway which opened in 1831 between Ardrossan and Kilwinning and was known as the Ardrossan and Johnstone Railway.[49] It was initially built to the Scotch gauge of 4 ft 6 in (1,372 mm) and was worked by horses.[50] It had a passenger services worked by a carriages, which held 24 passengers; 16 inside and 8 outside.[50] The railway was built by the Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal company. It commenced on the west side of Ardrossan harbour. The three-mile-long (five-kilometre) Doura branch left the main line near Stevenston and crossed under the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway to reach the Doura coal pit.[49][50] The 1⁄2-mile (800-metre) North Fergus Hill branch left the Doura branch at South Fergushill, just after the Lugton Water crossing to reach the Fergus Hill coal pit.[49][50] Crossing gates were located at Dirrans, Corsehill, Saughtrees and Fergushill. Clonbeith siding was located near the Fergushill gates.[46] The Fergushill drive entrance into the Eglinton Estate passed Chapelholm Woods was carried over the railway by a bridge; this has since been demolished.[51]

The line would have been involved in the transportation of visitors to the famous Eglinton Tournament of 1839.[52] The section beyond the terminus station at Dirrens was for coal, however the Earl seems to have had a private station at Millburn. The ruins of Millburn station are still extant. Between 28 July 1834 and September 1835 over 21,000 people had been carried on the railway using the regular passenger service. By the late 1830s the annual figure was around 30,000.

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  Mill Cottages, South Fergushill and the Chapelholme Drive to Eglinton Country Park.
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  The old Fergushill school house.
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  Fergushill cottage looking towards Kilwinning.
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  The 19th-century waggonway bridge (foreground) over the Lugton Water near Fergushill farm.
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  The Fergushill Burn where it joins the Lugton Water.
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  The old well in the woods near Fergushill cottage.
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  The ruins of old Fergushill Cottage.
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  The ruins of old Fergushill Cottage and its garden remnants.

Typical mug and sole drain (Scotland, 18th century) from South Auchenmade moss.

These tileworks was built in 1831 at North Fergushill farm and consisted of a moulding room, kiln and drying stores. The tileworks were in a field just to the east of an unclassified road between North Fergushill farm and the old Dalry to Kilmarnock railway line. The first manager of the Tilework appears to be a Hugh Bunton or Buntine. Bunton probably lived at the adjacent Tilework Cottage. From September 1836 to the end of 1837 the Eglinton Estate purchased between 5,000 and 10,000 tiles per month for use on its farms.[53]

The fate of the tileworks is revealed in the memoranda from George Johnston, the Earl of Eglinton’s factor, to the Earl’s Commissioner, Mr Gairdner. By the end of 1852 demand for tiles had fallen considerably, production however was not reduced. George Johnston noted there were 480,000 unsold tiles stored at Fergushill and there was no room for the next year’s stock. The 1855 OS map notes the tilework is disused. The old clay pit site is now a large pond, and Tilework Cottage is a privately owned house.[53][54]