Campsie
Sources
RMS I (699, 787) 1381-2
RMS I App 2 p 590 Index A No 1143, Index B No 9
RMS I App 2 p 592 Index A No 1189, Index B No 9
RMS I App 2 p 600 Index A No 1299, Index B No 4
RMS II (159, 165-6) 1430, (318, 323) 1449-50, (450) 1451, (634) 1458, (795, 809) 1464, (843) 1465, (858) 1465-6, (1453) 1480, (1653) 1486, (1840) 1489, (2711) 1503, (2816) 1504-5, (3237) 1508, (3240) 1508
RMS III (394) 1526, (1212) 1532, (3140, 3171, 3174, 3178) 1545, (3269, 3282) 1546
RMS IV (68) 1546-7, (346) 1549, (769) 1553, (1049) 1555-6, (1180) 1557
RMS V (76) 1580
RMS VI (894, 968) 1599
RMS VII (870) 1613
RMS IX (1529) 1644, (1849) 1647
RMS XI (648) 1664
RSS I (1828) 1508-9, (3498) 1526
RSS IV (2271) 1553
RSS VIII (1940) 1583-4
AS I (176) 1621
GD1/88/3 c. 1217
GD32/20/6 1511
GD61/63 1678, GD61/88 1706, GD61/90 1707, GD61/93 1711, GD61/94 1713, GD61/105 1755, GD61/144 1794
GD86/2 1251
GD198/232 1752
GD220/1/A/3/7/9 1570-1
GD220/1/A/3/8/3 1572
GD220/1/A/5/3/9 1597 on original of 1587
GD220/1/F/2/2/1 1692
GD220/1/H/8/2/4 1714
GD220/1/K/2/2/4 1736, GD220/1/K/8/2/2 1735
GD220/2/1/3 c.1225, GD220/2/1/13 c.1272, GD220/2/1/37 c.1390-1400, GD220/2/1/38 & 39 1400, GD220/2/1/112 1506
GD220/6/722 No 5 1725
GD243/1/3 No 7 1604
RH4/48 No 28 1735
CS229/B/4/54 1777
Laing Charters (489) 1544
Charter Chest of the Earldom of Wigtown, 1214-1681, FJ Grant (ed.), Scottish Record Society, Edinburgh, 1910
Charter Chest of the Earldom of Dundonald, 1219-1672, FJ Grant (ed.), Scottish Record Society, Edinburgh, 1910
RHP 46777 Lands at Clachan of Campsie, 1877
RRS II No 120 (1165 x 1174), No 367 (1189 x 1195), No 379 (1195)
Dumbarton Retours (27) 1627, (30) 1634, (46) 1647, (61) 1665
Stirling Retours (17-18) 1599, (35) 1602, (42) 1603, (44) 1604, (52-3) 1606, (71) 1610, (82) 1615, (122-4) 1627, (147-9) 1634, (159) 1635, (181) 1644, (187) 1647, (237) 1665, (247) 1668, (273) 1675, (278) 1676, (353) 1581, (368) 1599, (387) 1681
OSA Vol 15 No XIX pp 314-386, 1795 (written in 1793), by Rev James Lapslie who was a native of the parish.
J Cameron, ‘The Parish of Campsie’, Kirkintilloch, 1892
Drummond, P.J., An analysis of toponyms and toponymic patterns in eight parishes of the upper Kelvin basin, PhD thesis, Glasgow University, 2014
Campsie parish boundaries
We have important early evidence for the boundaries of Campsie parish which I have looked at in some detail. Campsie was a large parish and was reduced in size in 1649 when parts were taken off and added to Baldernock and Kilsyth. The parish tables I have produced reflect the post-1649 situation but it is important to remember that they do not reflect the earlier mediaeval structure. Not only was Campsie formerly very big but Baldernock seems to have been very small.
OPS I p 44 translates a passage from the Register of Glasgow (No 103, pp 88-9), dating it approximately to William the Lion’s reign (1165-1214), which sets out the parish boundaries:
beginning on the west at the rivulet running along (next to) the land of Blarescary (Blarescavy), which rivulet divides the parish of Campsy from Buthernok, and following that rivulet as it runs and falls into the water of Kelvyn towards the south, and thus following the Kelvyn water and its ancient course until ascending eastward you reach the rivulet which runs along (next to) the land of Kelvesyth [Drummond pp 179-80 corrects this to Keluesyth or Kelnasyth after studying the original MS; Kilsyth], and divides the parish of Monyabroc [now Kilsyth] from the parish of Campsy; and thus ascending by that rivulet, viz., the Garcalt, to the boundaries of the land of Blarenebleschy, which belongs to the parish of Monyabroc (Monybroc), and so following the old boundaries between the lands of Blarneblenschy (Blarneblenchy) and the land of Glaskell, which is in Campsy, all the way to the water of Caroun [Carron], which there divides the parish of Campsy from the parish of St Ninian of Kyrctoun of the bishoprick of St Andrews, and so following the water of Caroun westward as far as the rivulet which is called Fennauch, which there divides the parish of Campsy from the parish of Fyntre, including the land of Glaskell, and so following the boundaries of the lands of Glaskell and Balneglerauch, as far as the march between the parishes of Strathblachan [Strathblathan’, Drummond pp 179-80] and Campsy, and thus descending by that march as far as the march between the parishes of Campsy and Buthirnok, and so descending by that march all the way to the water of Kelvyn where the bounding began.
(I have put alternative readings or translations from the Register in round brackets and modern names, explanations or new readings in square brackets).
OPS I p 45 states that:
In 1649 that part of Campsie which lay between Inchwood Burn and Garrel Glen on the east was annexed to Kilsyth (30 ploughgates of land).
Also that part of SW Campsie which lay between Balgrochan and the Brawzyet burn was annexed to Baldirnoch (21 ploughgates).
What sense can we make of all this?
The first boundary to be mentioned by the Register of Glasgow is
the rivulet running along (next to) the land of Blarescary (Blarescavy), which rivulet divides the parish of Campsy from Buthernok, and following that rivulet as it runs and falls into the water of Kelvyn towards the south
From the statement in OPS (above) we can assume that the ‘Brawzyet burn’ was formerly the boundary with Baldernock. This is now the Branziet burn which is still marked on the map and enters the River Kelvin in NS 5872. If we follow this upstream (i.e. north) it runs just west of Easter and Wester Blairskaith up to its source on Blairskaith Muir in NS 5976. ‘Blarescary’ or ‘Blarescavy’ must be Blairskaith so the Branziet Burn was already the parish boundary with Baldernock c. 1200.
The next boundary is:
and thus following the Kelvyn water and its ancient course until ascending eastward you reach the rivulet which runs along (next to) the land of Kelvesyth [Kilsyth], and divides the parish of Monyabroc [Kilsyth] from the parish of Campsy; and thus ascending by that rivulet, viz., the Garcalt
The southern boundary of Campsie is the Kelvin which we follow upriver until we reach the ‘Garcalt’ which divides the parish of Kilsyth from the parish of Campsy. The phrase ‘and its ancient course’ implies that the Kelvin was already known to have changed its course and that the boundary was to be according to the ‘ancient course’ – and not the more recent course – even c. 1200. The burn dividing the parishes of Campsie and Kilsyth is stated to be the ‘Garcalt’ which is probably for Garvalt (< Sc. G. Garbh + Allt or Rough Burn). This is now the Garrell Burn which runs from west of Garrel Hill in NS 6981 down through the town of Kilsyth into the Kelvin. (Roy’s Fair Copy shows the Garrel joined the Kelvin at a point SE of Dumbreck. It also shows the Kirk of Kilsyth as East of the River Garrel). We can be confident of the derivation Garvalt because in Pont(32) the Garrel Hill is called ‘Garuald H.’ and in the Blaeu map of Lennox it is ‘Garuald Hill’.
and thus ascending by that rivulet, viz., the Garcalt, to the boundaries of the land of Blarenebleschy, which belongs to the parish of Monyabroc (Monybroc),
So we go up the Garrel Burn northwards until we reach ‘Blarenebleschy’ which was considered to be in ‘Monyabroc’ or Kilsyth parish. ‘Blarenebleschy’ has not survived onto today’s map but we find Blairblinshy in Pont(32) and Blaeu(Lennox), ‘Barblinsha’ on the map in Nimmo’s Stirlingshire (1777) – which was based on Edgar’s Survey of 1745, ‘Berblinchie’ on Roy’s Fair Copy, and even ‘Borbtinshy’ in Ainslie’s map of Southern Scotland (1821). It does not appear on the OS 1st Series 6” map but on the basis of the earlier maps we can locate it to c. NS 6982 with the southern boundary presumably being the ridge of the hill. The northern boundary was probably the Carron, the old course of which is now drowned under the Carron Valley Reservoir but which, handily, is still partly marked on the map (OS Explorer 348) as a boundary.
and so following the old boundaries between the lands of Blarneblenschy (Blarneblenchy) and the land of Glaskell, which is in Campsy, all the way to the water of Caroun [Carron], which there divides the parish of Campsy from the parish of St Ninian of Kyrctoun of the bishoprick of St Andrews,
We must now go north with Blarneblenschy to the east of us, in Kilsyth, and ‘Glaskell’ to the west of us, in Campsie. This continues until we reach the River Carron which is here the boundary with the parish of St Ninian’s (Stirlingshire). The only problem is to identify and locate ‘Glaskell’. We know it must be west of Blarneblenschy and at the northern edge of Campsie but is there any other evidence for it. Unfortunately the name seems to be lost from all the old maps although it may be relevant that an earlier name for what is now the Kirk Burn and Nineteentimes Burn running through Campsie Glen was ‘Glasdur R.’ (Blaeu map of Lennox) or ‘Glashdur water’ (NLS Pont Texts f140v). Below Lennoxtown OS Explorer 348 marks the river as the Glazert Water. Fortunately we have some other documentary evidence.
W Fraser, Lennox, II, No 202 Charter by Maldoune, Earl of Lennox, to Malcolm, the son of Duncan and Eva the Earl’s sister 10/8/1217
Glaskell, Brengoene, et carucatam et dimidiam de Kelnasydhe
(Glaskell, Brengoene and a carucate and a half of Kilsyth).
and No 203 c. 1217 to the same
totam Glaskell
the whole of Glaskell
RRS IV Pt 1 No 7 pp 60-61, 1251, Alexander III confirms to Malcolm son of Duncan and Eva sister of Maldouen, earl of Lennox, the gift that the earl made them of the lands of Glaskhel and Barnego and 1½ ploughgates in Kilsyth and advowson of the church of Moniabrock (Kilsyth).
Glaskhel’ Brengoen’ et de una carucata terre et dimidia de Kelnasydhe cum donacione ecclesie de Moniabrocd’
(Barnego is in Stirling but I am just a little doubtful about this identification).
RMS III (2095) 1539-40 James V confirmed to William Levingstoun of Kilsyth, the lands of Wester Kilsyth lying on the western side of the hill called Garwaldhill and the burn called Garwaldburne plus half the lands of Glaswellis, then called Fannoch-hauch and Myddilthrid, extending in total to £24 OE.
Retours (Stirling) (124) 1627 lists:
the lands and barony of Wester Kilsyth comprehending the lands of Wester Kilsyth;
half of the lands of Gleswallis with pertinents called Fynnochauch and Midlethrid. This list is repeated in Retours (Stirling) (147) 1634 with one addition – the lands of Wester Kilsyth are said to lie on the west side of Galvalhill.
Glaskhel, Glaswellis and Gleswallis are all variants of Glaskell. RMS III (2095) states that half Glaswellis was then called ‘Fannoch-hauch and Myddilthrid’ whereas in Retours (Stirling) (124) they are given as pertinents. GD220/1/H/8/2/4 1714 refers to half the lands of Glasswalls called Finnockhaugh.
‘Fannachhauch’, ‘Middthrid’ and ‘Souththrid’ appear on Pont(32) to WNW, W & SW respectively of ‘Blairblinshy’ – and all south of the R. Carron. They appear as ‘Fannachhauch’, ‘Mid thrid’ and ‘South thrid’ in the same positions in Blaeu’s map of Stirling. The first of the three names is ‘Finnickhauch’ in Blaeu(Lennox) and then survived onto the maps of Edgar, Roy, Grassom, Ainslie and OS 6” 1st Series Stirlingshire Sheet XXII (1859-61). The buildings are marked, but not named, on Explorer 348 at NS 676845. Mid Third and South Third have not enjoyed the same longevity. South Third appears as ‘Seuthird’ on the map in Nimmo’s Stirlingshire which was based on Edgar’s Survey of 1745. He located it in Fintry parish. It is probably ‘South Ridd’ in Roy’s Fair Copy of c. 1750. There is no further trace of Mid Third and I know nothing of a ‘North Third’.
Finnich-Haugh is just WNW of Haugh Hill and is where the R. Carron now enters the Carron Valley Reservoir. However it may be that from here to its source this part of the Carron was formerly called the Finnich. On Thomson’s map of Stirlingshire (1820) the parish of Fintry is shown extending south of the Carron River to include The Meikle Bin (NS 6682) and the Little Bin (NS 6782). I suspect this south-eastern extension of the parish (over to the south side of the R. Carron) took place after 1200 but before 1745 and that this land was formerly part of Campsie and represented some or all of Glaskel. This would make sense of RMS III (2095) and Retours (Stirling) (124) 1627 & (147) 1634.
and so following the water of Caroun westward as far as the rivulet which is called Fennauch, which there divides the parish of Campsy from the parish of Fyntre, including the land of Glaskell,
I think this section vindicates the claim made above. The River Carron west of Finnich-Haugh was formerly called the Finnich and, c. 1200, divided Campsy from Fintry. Glaskell must have been south of the River Carron/Finnich. We know moreover that Glaskell consisted of two halves. I suggest the eastern half was the land surrounding the Meikle Bin and the western half was the land between what is now Bin Burn and the Carron/Finnich – a triangle of land with the base stretching from Baldorran Knowe (NS 6581) to Moss Maigry (NS 6381). This would put the western end of Glaskell beside what used to be the Glasdur River.
and so following the boundaries of the lands of Glaskell and Balneglerauch, as far as the march between the parishes of Strathblachan and Campsy,
The western boundary of Glaskell has taken us up to the Glasdur River which is now the Kirk Burn or Nineteentimes Burn which runs through Campsie Glen. On the west side of the Campsie glen was the important farm of Balnacleroch (Balneglerauch above) which simply means township of the clergymen. This had a valuation of £8 or 12m in 1610 which would have made it one of the biggest farms in the parish. It possibly comprised all the land between Campsie Glen and the watershed west of Fin Glen. This ridge was, and is, the boundary with Strathblane parish. (See Guthrie Smith’s map in ‘Strathblane’). Campsie’s northern boundary probably ran from Moss Maigry to Holehead to Hart Hill to Earl’s Seat – much as it did in later centuries.
and thus descending by that march as far as the march between the parishes of Campsy and Buthirnok, and so descending by that march all the way to the water of Kelvyn where the bounding began
The boundary then follows the ridge south from Earl’s Seat to Little Earl to Owsen Hill to Dumbreck and then south between Ballagan and Blairtummock and across Craigend Muir until it reaches the old boundary between Campsie and the then-smaller parish of Baldernock by Blairskaith Muir and so back down the Branziet Burn to where we began.
So, if that was the old parish of Campsie what happened in 1649?
According to OPS that part of Campsie which lay between Inchwood Burn and Garrel Burn on the east was annexed to Kilsyth.
The Garrel Burn we have already identified as the burn which runs through Kilsyth. The Inchwood Burn must be what is now Wood Burn just west of Inchwood. This is roughly the current boundary although the latter deviates west just north of the R. Kelvin to include Inchterf Farm. (This is also visible on Grassom’s map of 1817).
Also that part of SW Campsie which lay between Balgrochan and the Brawzyet burn was annexed to Baldirnoch.
West Balgrochan is just north of Torrance and the burn just west of it is the current parish boundary between Campsie and an enlarged Baldernock. Writing in 1892 J Cameron (Parish of Campsie p 186) says that since 1649 the Tower Burn has formed the boundary between Campsie and Baldernock. Tower is at NS 6174 immediately south of West Balgrochan.
Altermunin
The parish of Campsie described above also contained what had once been the separate parish of Altermunin. They had both been granted to Kelso Abbey by David, brother of King William, whose charter is given in The Book of Kelso No 226 p 186. (At this time David was Earl of Lennox – see RRS II, No 205, 1178 x 1182 – although the title was later resumed by the native family). David refers to the churches, lands, teinds and other pertinents of Camsy and Alt(er)munin. His gift was confirmed by King William in RRS II No 120 (1165 x 1174) or Book of Kelso No 386. (See also RRS II p 33). These churches were confirmed again in RRS II No 367 (1189 x 1195) as Chamsi and Altermunin (see also Book of Kelso No 13), and in RRS II No 379 (1195) as Camsy and Altermunin (see also Book of Kelso No 409).
Once the native family of Lennox had resumed control of the earldom they decided to give Campsie parish to Glasgow – Kelso notwithstanding. The Register of Glasgow No 101 pp 86-87 (1208-1214) describes the gift of the church of Kamsi by Alwin earl of Lennox. He also grants the land which he gave the church of Kamsi at its dedication along with adjacent chapels. Altermunin is not mentioned. The clear implication is that Alwin had now rationalised things – whatever the parochial situation was before. It may well have been Alwin who ended the independent life of the parish of Altermunin. The first witness to the grant was his son Maldowen.
The Register of Glasgow No 102 pp 87-88 (1208-1214) describes a confirmatory grant of Camsi by Maldowen, son of Alwin earl of Lennox. He also grants the land which his father gave the church of Camsi on its day of dedication along with adjacent chapels. Altermunin is not mentioned. The next charter in the Register (No 103 – discussed above) describes the extent and boundaries of Campsie parish. These reflect the situation after Alwin’s reorganisation since Altermunin is not mentioned but its lands are included within Campsie. (Indeed if it wasn’t for the Kelso connection we would not know of Altermunin as a parish). Altermunin (now Antermony) is some 6 kilometres ESE of Clachan of Campsie so it once formed an intermediate parish between Campsie and Kilsyth. By the time of Campsie’s grant to Glasgow we can see that Altermunin had been swallowed. Yet its burial grounds on Alton Farm were still remembered some 700 years later (J Cameron, Parish of Campsie, 1892, p 193).
Of course the gift of Campsie to two different institutions caused a long-running dispute between them. OPS I p 45 (quoting Register of Glasgow p 100 [No 116] and Register of Kelso p 189) shows how the dispute between Kelso Abbey and the Bishop of Glasgow was theoretically cleared up in 1221 with an agreement that Kelso would get 10 merks of silver yearly from the benefice.
A glimpse of the old land-assessment picture
J Cameron, The Parish of Campsie, Kirkintilloch, 1892, p 205 writes:
Being in urgent need of money, the Earl [of Montrose], as early as 1630, sought to raise funds by feuing off the Balgrochan and Balmore lands to those who were willing to give a grassum on condition of small feu-duty. There is some doggerel on this subject …
Twa centuries syne the Marquis o’ Grahame
Gaed oot tae the wars at the heid o’ his men;
His income was sma’, tho’ he’d titles enew,
And great part o’ his lan’ he had then to feu.
The eleven ploughs o’ Bo’grochan were acquired at that time
By eleven sturdy carles, as they ca’ed them lang syne.
…
In this district a ploughgate is a 6s 8d land of old extent, and varies from 60 to 110 acres, according to the situation and the barrenness or fertility of the soil. It is one thing on Clochcore moor and another in the richer lands near the Kelvin.
The eleven ploughs contain the lands of Easter and Wester Balgrochan and Carlston, and extend from the march across Clochcore Moor to the river Kelvin, the southern boundary of the parish. The lands are differently valued, regard being evidently had to situation and fertility. Wester Balgrochan is assessed at £48 Scots per plough, Easter Balgrochan at £44 10s Scots, and Carlston at £39 Scots.
Cameron then goes on to give a table (p 206) of the original (1630-1643) feuars of Carlston, (which had 3 ploughs), Easter Balgrochan (4 ploughs) and Wester Balgrochan (4 ploughs).
But although these lands constituted the eleven ploughs o’ Bo’grochan there were, in addition:
Balgrochan mill & mill-lands.
A possle (small parcel of land) of Wester Balgrochan, called Sandyhole. (Roy’s Fair Copy marks Sandyhole immediately SE of Ballgrochan).
A possle of Wester Balgrochan called Guildie Acre.
(Collier-aiker, Sandieholl & Guildie-aiker are referred to in RMS IX (1849) 1647).
The Temple of Balgrochan (i.e. lands which had once belonged to the Templars and had then passed to the Hospitallers). We know from other sources that the Temple Lands of Balgrochan lay on Wester Balgrochan.
It is possible Sandyhole, Guildie Acre and the Temple of Balgrochan (which were all in Wester Balgrochan) once made up another ploughgate. In that case the total for Balgrochan and Carlston would be 12 ploughgates which seems a more likely total than 11. Twelve ploughgates at 6s 8d each would together make a 6 merkland of old extent.
(RH4/48/28 1735 gives a 6s 8d land in Wester Balgrochan while CS229/B/4/54 1777 confirms a total of 26s 8d (= 4 x 6s 8d lands) in Easter Balgrochan. However there is a problem in that Carlestoun is given as 40s in GD220/1/A/3/7/9 1570-1. Following Cameron above I would expect it to be 20s).
The feuars also had extensive obligations and Cameron describes these in some detail:
The eleven plough lairds of Balgrochan pay a somewhat archaic reddendo for their lands, each 6s 8d land of old extent being a ploughgate, paying sundry sums for ferme meal, multer meal and bier, lyme craig, and coal, sheep, poultry, coals, etc., the whole amounting in money to £69 6s 8d Scots for each ploughgate or 6s 8d land of old extent.
They also had to perform a number of services.
(A general caveat on relying on Cameron’s evidence should be entered here. He was writing, in 1892, on the basis of oral tradition, about what may have been the case over 250 years earlier. I think his descriptions of Balgrochan may subsume some of the smaller farms such as Barraston. Accordingly although I have followed through on his evidence in the following paragraphs I have not followed it through in the Campsie table – relying, there, only on what I can find in the documents)
Why is Cameron’s account important? Firstly because it suggests that what constituted a ‘plough’ or ‘ploughgate’ in 1630 was not the same as a carucate or ploughgate or ploughland in the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries. In some parts of Scotland a ploughgate (or carucate or ploughland or ploughgang) consisted of 8 oxgates (or bovates or oxgangs). However, in his preface to ‘Liber S. Marie de Calchou’ (The Book/Register of Kelso, 1846) Cosmo Innes writes (p xxxii):
At the period of the Rent Roll, or about the year 1290, a great part of their ample lands and baronies were held by the monks “in dominico,” in their own hands, and cultivated (by their villeins, doubtless,) from their several granges, as at Reveden, Sprouston, Molle, Faudon, Witemer, Witelaw, Bolden. The land so held they measured in ploughlands where arable, and by the number of sheep it maintained where pasture. We must not judge of a plough of the monks by our modern notions, or fill it in our fancy with a pair of quick-stepping Tweedside horses. The Scotch plough of the thirteenth century (and for three centuries afterwards) was a ponderous machine drawn by twelve oxen, whether all used at once, or by two relays; so that for the five ploughs of Reveden they had sixty oxen;
and on p xxxvii:
Beyond the mains and the hamlet, or cottar-town as it was sometimes called, along the outskirts of the barony, were scattered in small groups the farm-steads of the husbandi, the next class of the rural population. Each of these held of the Abbey a definite quantity of land, called a husband-land. It has been already noticed that the Scotch plough required twelve oxen; and a ‘plough-gate’ of land was composed of twelve ‘ox-gangs’. Each tenant of a husband-land kept two oxen; and six together united their oxen to work the common plough. The husbandland thus consisted of two ox-gangs, which might vary according to the soil; …
As a fair specimen of the rate at which these tenants sat, we may take the rental of the barony of Bolden, which was considered as the model of the Abbey lands in regard to services. The monks had twenty-eight husband-lands there, each of which paid yearly six shillings and eightpence of rent in money’ plus services.
Now the lands of Kelso are widely removed from Lennox but I wonder if Innes offers us a clue as to the situation in Campsie. If there were 12 oxgates to a plough or carucate in Lennox that would mean each of the eleven ploughs o’ Bo’grochan was actually an oxgate. Balgrochan and Carlston together would make a carucate and be classed as a 6 merkland old extent, originally making a return of 6 merks per annum. (See text file ‘Lennox, General Comments’ for further discussion). Moreover if this were true for Campsie it might also be true for the rest of the Lennox. This would explain the otherwise yawning disjunction between what appear to be the ploughgates of early Lennox and their successors in the seventeenth century. In addition there is evidence from the rental of Paisley Abbey that several of their properties in the parish of West Kilpatrick were subdivided into twelfths – presumably each classed as an oxgate.
The report on Campsie for the Old Statistical Account was written in 1793 by Rev. James Lapslie who was a native of the parish and well-versed in its traditions. (For a brief biography see J Cameron, The Parish of Campsie, pp 3-26). On p 315 he says there had originally been 150 ploughgates in Campsie but that in 1648 21 had been taken off to add to Baldernock while another 30 had gone to Kilsyth. 150 less 51 makes 99 but on p 314 Lapslie states that there were 101 ploughgates in Campsie. On p 336 he says that 73 of these were possessed by 8 great proprietors (whom he lists), the other 28 by 37 feuars or portioners. Setting aside the slight arithmetic problem it is plain that a ploughgate of the eighteenth century cannot mean the same as a carucate of the thirteenth century. Neither can it have been the same as a ploughland of the fourteenth century because we have clear evidence from 1392 (Fraser, Lennox, II No’s 34 & 35) that a pluchlande (Scots ‘ploughland’) was then the same as an arachor – which is the Gaelic word for a carucate (from the Latin for ploughgate).
Unfortunately we have no contemporary records to tell us quite how a new meaning had evolved but the likeliest solution is that a ploughgate in the eighteenth century was what had formerly been known as a bovate. In many parts of Scotland it was reckoned there were 8 bovates to a ploughgate. The evidence quoted above from Balgrochan, plus Cosmo Innes’s preface to the Book of Kelso, and also the evidence from West Kilpatrick, all suggest there were 12 bovates to the carucate in Lennox. In that case Campsie’s original extent of 150 ‘ploughgates’ would actually be 12½ carucates. Of these it lost 2½ to Kilsyth in 1649 and 1¾ to Baldernock. The remainder should be 8¼ carucates.
I find 130¾m which suggests 5 carucates but there are a lot of holes in the land-assessment record. If we ignore merklands altogether we still have references to a total of 4 carucates in the earlier documents so I think an overall figure of 8¼ carucates is not unlikely.
It is also clear from Lapslie’s account how important issues of extent were in reckoning economic obligations. He writes (pp 324-5) that two men served as foxhunters in the parish from 1715-1792, paid by the tenants ‘at so much per plough’.
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