Neilston Table
OPS I p 96 states that the baronies of Knockmade and Shutterflat, now parts of the parishes of Beith and Dunlop in Ayrshire, formerly belonged to Neilston. However, I have excluded them from this table. Equally, I have included Lochliboside and Hartfield which were anciently in the parish of Paisley.
We have large gaps in the land-assessment record for Neilston. For a number of places where I have no valuation, I have entered it into the table if I thought it important enough to have been assessed previously. Old maps are a good indicator of farming settlements that were once important. We have these from Pont, at the end of the sixteenth century. I also hope that, in the future, we may be able to fill in some of these gaps in the assessment record.
There are many occasions when Neilston is spelt Nielston.
| Name | Value | Date | Grid Ref | Map Sources | Other forms, comments etc |
| Riglaw | NS 4055 | Roy(PC)
Ainslie(1796) |
|||
| Bowfield | NS 4055 | Roy(PC)
Ainslie(1796) |
|||
| Banklug | NS 4456 | Roy(PC)
Ainslie(1796) |
Bank Clog (Roy), Bunghole (Ainslie). | ||
| Braco | NS 4155 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Ainslie(1796) |
Brak(e/o) (Pont), Brake (Blaeu), Braehough (Ainslie). | ||
| Greenside | NS 4255 | Roy(PC)
Ainslie(1796) |
|||
| Milnthird | NS 4557 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Ainslie(1796) |
Middelthrid (Pont & Blaeu). Mill Thread (Ainslie). | ||
| Greenfieldmuir | NS 4558 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
|||
| Threepgrass Wood | NS 4558 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) |
Threipgras (Pont & Blaeu), Thribgirs (Roy). The first element ‘threep’ will be for the Scots word ‘threip’ which means contested or debated. So, – debated land for grazing? | ||
| Mossneuk | NS 4558 | Roy(PC)
Ainslie(1796) |
|||
| Caplaw | NS 4458 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
Koupla & Koupla B.(urn) in Pont. Koupil & Koupls B. in Blaeu.
Capla (Roy), Couply (Ainslie). |
||
| Auchentiber | NS 4757 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
O: Achiutabyr & N: Achintaubyr (Pont), Achintaubyc O. N. + bridge symbol (Blaeu). (O/N = Over/Nether).
Achintibert (Roy), Auchentiber (Ainslie). |
||
| Plymuir | NS 4357 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
Pleymoore (Pont & Blaeu), Ploughmuir (Roy), Plymuir (Ainslie). | ||
| Foreside | NS 4657 | Pont(33)
Ainslie(1796) |
Foirsid (Pont) – not in Blaeu(Renfrew). | ||
| Shillford | NS 4456 | Ainslie(1796) | |||
| Pattiston | NS 4556 | Ainslie(1796) | Pattiestown (Ainslie) | ||
| Thorterburn | NS 4456 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) |
Thorterburn (Pont), Shortgate Burn (Roy). | ||
| Finniebrae | NS 4356 | Roy(PC)
Ainslie(1796) |
|||
| Muirhouse Farm | NS 4256 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
Moorehous (Pont), Moore Hous (Blaeu). | ||
| Dunsmore Bridge | NS 4155 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
Dunsmure (Pont & Blaeu), Dins Muir (Roy), Dunsmuir (Ainslie). | ||
| Loch Libo
Loch Libo side |
£8 |
1484 |
NS 4355 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) |
L : Libo (Pont), Loch Libo (Blaeu). This £8 land may have included a number of other farms such as Hartfield. See below. |
| Hartfield | NS 4258 | Part of Loch Liboside? But it is some distance away. See under Paisley parish. | |||
| Ram’s Head | NS 4154 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) |
Ramsy (Pont & Blaeu). This is right on the parish boundary and perhaps significant for that reason. | ||
| Rodinhead | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) |
Rodinhead (Pont & Blaeu) – W of Loch Libo. Pont & Blaeu mark another SW of Auchentiber. There is a third in Mearns parish. | |||
| Grange
Southgrange West Grange Farm Townend of Grange Townhead of Grange |
5m | 1642 |
NS 439519 NS 439524 NS 439524 NS 445527 |
Blaeu(Cunning.)
Roy(PC) Armstrong(1775) Ainslie(1796) |
Grains (Blaeu, Cunningham), Grange & Townhead (Roy), Grange (Armstrong), Grains, Grains Water & Townhead (Ainslie).
West Grange was Mid Grange in OS 6” 1st edition Ayrshire Sheet IX (1856). Not in this parish or Renfrewshire. Ex Paisley Abbey. See below. |
| Drumgrain | £11 | 1502 | NS 4555 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) |
Drumgrain (Pont), Drumgrains (Blaeu), Dumbrain (Roy).
Ex Paisley Abbey. See below. |
| Jaapston | NS 4555/4556
NS 4655/4656 |
Ainslie(1796) | Formerly part of Drumgrain? Japston (Ainslie).
See under Drumgrain below. |
||
| Braeface | NS 4555 | Ainslie(1796) | Braeside (Ainslie). | ||
| Howcraigs Hill | NS 4555 | Ainslie(1796) | Howcraig (Ainslie). | ||
| Kilburn | NS 4756 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
Kilburn (Pont & Blaeu), Killburn (Roy & Ainslie).
The first element of this name is possibly Kil (< Gaelic cille, a cell or church). See next entry. |
||
| Kellebrid (Kilbride?) | £5 (100s) | c. 1200 | c. NS 4555 | See below. See also Kilburn above. | |
| Moyne Farm | 1m | 1546 | NS 4753 | Roy(PC) | Part of £5 Kilbride? See under Kilbride below. |
| Aboon the Brae | NS 4555 | Ainslie(1796) | The site of Kilbride? See NSA p 539. | ||
| Waterside | NS 4655 | Roy(PC)
Ainslie(1796) |
|||
| Neilstounside
Over Nilstounside |
22s |
1516 |
NS 4655 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
See below.
East and West in Ainslie. |
| Commore | 33s 4d | 1521 | NS 4654 | Roy(PC) | See below. |
| Cowdonmill Bridge
Cowdon Hall (rems of) Cowdenmoor
|
£5 |
1530 |
NS 4556
NS 4657 NS 4455
|
Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
Kouden & Coudĕ Mil (Pont). Kouden & Coudmill (Blaeu). Cowdenhall (Roy).
Cottounmure (Pont), Cowdenmuir (Ainslie). See below. |
| Knockglass | NS 4454 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) |
Included in the £5 Cowdon above. See below under Cowdon.
Knowglas in Pont. |
||
| East Uplaw
Mid Uplaw Uplawmoor West Uplaw South Uplaw |
NS 4455
NS 4455 NS 4355 NS 4354 NS 4454 |
Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
N: Woū(??), O: Woūp & Wowpla (Pont). N. Wouby, O. Wouby, Woupla (Blaeu). Upleys & Uppleys (Roy). East Uplaw, Mid Uplaw, Uplaw Muir (Ainslie).
Included in the £5 Cowdon above. See below under Cowdon. |
||
| Smiddyhill | NS 4656 | Pont(33)
Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
Smithy Hil (Pont), Smiddyhill (Roy). | ||
| Crumyards | NS 4656 | Ainslie(1796) | ? K(o)um in Pont. | ||
| Craig of Neilston | £5 | 1509-10 | NS 4755 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
Kraig of Nilstoū (Pont).
See below. |
| Snypes | NS 4855 | Roy(PC)
Ainslie(1796) |
|||
| Nether Kirkton
Kirkton Bridge |
£5 | 1511-12 | NS 4857
NS 4856 |
Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
Kirktoū (Pont), Kirktoun (Blaeu), Kirktown (Roy).
See below. |
| Holehouse | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) |
Holhous (Pont), Holhail (Blaeu) – east of Cowdon in both.
Included in £5 Kirkton. See above & below under Kirkton. |
|||
| Kirkland of Neilston | 1m? | 1639 | The church of Neilston, with at least some land, belonged to Paisley Abbey. I am not sure whether this was separate to Kirkton. In the Paisley rental the church of Neilstone is mentioned on p ci and the Kyrkland of Neilstoun on p cxlviii, 1525. On p cl, 1529, it is set for 40s payment to the choristers singing in the chapel of the BVM in the monastery. Renfrew Retours (109) 1639 gives Kirklands of Neilston an Extent of 1m. | ||
| Greenhill | NS 4856 | Pont(33)
Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
|||
| Dyke | NS 4856 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Ainslie(1796) |
Dyk (Pont & Blaeu), Dikes (Ainslie) | ||
| Glanderston Mains
Estir-Glanderstoun
|
5m
5m |
1519
1532 |
NS 5056 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
The Cartulary of Pollok-Maxwell p 338 No 4 1471 refers to Glanderston.
RMS III (1229) 1532 5m AE Estir-Glanderstoun. See below. |
| Spierston Burn | NS 4956/4957 | Roy(PC)
Ainslie(1796) |
Spearston (Roy) – a settlement. | ||
| Netherton | NS 5057 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
|||
| Aurs Burn | NS 5158/5159 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
Aers (Pont & Blaeu). Arr (Roy), Arrs (Ainslie). | ||
| Dubbs | 40s | 1615 | NS 5159 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Richardson(1795) Ainslie(1796) |
Duby (Pont), Dubbs (Roy), Dubs (Richardson & Ainslie).
See below. |
| Duncardloy
(=Dunterlie?) |
1615 | Paired with Dubbs (q.v. above).
See under Dunterlie (Paisley Parish). |
|||
| Fereneze | £10 | 1611 | NS 490590 | Roy(PC)
OS 6” (1858)
|
OS 6” 1st edition Renfrewshire Sheet XII, 1858.
RMS VII (672) 1612, on original of 1611, gives £10 Fernines & Ryflatt. RMS IX (2145) 1649 gives Farnenies & Reflas. For latter place-name see under Ruffles (Paisley parish). See below. The following farms were part of £10 Fereneze in the 1644 Semple Rental so their individual assessments are not in bold: Capillie, West Mains, Chapel, Bar, Mains, Woodneuk, Treis, Crawstob, Nether & Over Gateside, Kelloch, Cowanstoun, Castlehead, Reflass (Paisley), Hoill. |
| Capellie | 40s | 1572 | NS 4658 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
Kapellie (Pont), Kapellies (Blaeu), Keplets (Roy), East & West Kippylaw (Ainslie). 40s in RMS IV (2074) 1572.
40s AE in Renfrew Retours (62) 1624. Semple Rental 1644. See below. |
| Killoch | 20s | 1619 | NS 4857/4858 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Ainslie(1796) |
Killoch & Killoch B:(urn) in Pont.
20s AE Killoche in Renfrew Retours (49) 1619. Semple Rental 1644 – see below under Fereneze. |
| Chapel | 23s 4d | 1644 | NS 4958 | See following entry.
Semple Rental 1644 – see below under Fereneze. |
|
| Site of Chapel,
St Connel’s Well |
NS 4958 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) |
OS 6” 1st edition Renfrewshire Sheet XII, 1858.
Chapel of Ferrn(in)s (Pont), Chapel of Fermm (Blaeu). |
||
| Gateside | 10s | 1644 | NS 4858 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
Gaitsid (Pont), Gate Side (Roy).
Semple Rental 1644 – see below under Fereneze.
|
| West Mains | 6s 8d | 1644 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew)
|
The Semple Rental of 1644 (AHC Volume II p 178) gives 6s 8d land in ‘wast mayneis’. The rent given is £23 6s 8d which may be a mistake for £33 6s 8d (50m). Mains is located by Pont & Blaeu.
Semple Rental 1644 – see below under Fereneze. |
|
| Mains | 20s | 1644 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew)
|
The Semple Rental of 1644 (AHC Volume II p 178) gives 20s land in ‘mayneis’. This was probably linked to West Mains (preceding entry) so that the two made a 2m land. The rent was £90 with 2 wedders. Located by Pont & Blaeu.
Semple Rental 1644 – see below under Fereneze. |
|
| Bar | 20s | 1644 | Semple Rental 1644 – see below and under Auldbarrs. | ||
| Woodneuk | 10s | 1644 | NS 4858/4958 | Roy(PC) | The Semple Rental of 1644 (AHC Volume II p 178) gives 10s land in ‘woodnuik’. See below under Fereneze. |
| Trees | 11s | 1644 | NS 4959 | Roy(PC)
OS 6” 1858 |
OS 6” 1st edition Renfrewshire Sheet XII, 1858. The Semple Rental of 1644 (AHC Volume II p 178) gives two tenants in Treis each holding 5s 6d land and paying identical rents of £22, 1 boll beir (barley), 1 wedder, 4½ geese and 9 hens.
See below under Fereneze. |
| Crosstobs
Crawstob |
13s 4d (1m) |
1644 |
NS 4960 | Roy(PC) | OS 6” 1st edition Renfrewshire Sheet XII, 1858. Roy has ‘Crue Top’, ‘Crue Stafe(?)’ & ‘Crue Tub’ running from WNW to ESE. Crosstobs (1858) was by the road junction and right on the parish boundary with Paisley. Roy’s place-names were all to W of the road. Semple Rental 1644 – see below under Fereneze. |
| Cowanstoun | 10s | 1644 | Roy(PC) | Cowanstoun in Semple Rental 1644. ‘Cowen stone’ (Roy). There is another place with this name in Lochwinnoch parish. See below under Fereneze. | |
| Castlehead | 10s | 1644 | NS 4959 | Roy(PC) | OS 6” 1st edition Renfrewshire Sheet XII, 1858. |
| Boyleston | NS 4959 | OS 6” 1st edition Renfrewshire Sheet XII, 1858. Thomas Boile was a tenant in Fereneze in 1526 (AHC Volume I No 62). | |||
| Arthurlie
West Arthurlie |
(10m) | 1543-4 | NS 4958
NS 4958 |
Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
Arthur()y (Pont). Arthurly, N. Arthurly, O. Arthurly (Blaeu) (i.e. Nether & Over). Low, Mid, West + Arthurly (Ainslie).
See below. |
| Auldbarrs | 40s (3m) | 1615 | See below under Arthurlie and under Bar above. | ||
| Wraes | NS 4957 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
Wrae (Pont), Wroe (Blaeu), Wraiss (Roy), Raes (Ainslie).
Once part of Arthurlie (q.v. below)?
|
||
| Lyoncross | 10m | 1559 | NS 5157 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Richardson(1795) Ainslie(1796) |
Lyĕcors (Pont), Lyncor (Blaeu), Lyoncross (Roy). Laigh & High Lyoncross in Richardson & Ainslie.
10m Lyandcors in GD8/162 1559. Ex Kilwinning Abbey. See below. |
| Auchinback
Auchenback Over Auchinbak Nethir Auchinbak |
40s (3m) 5m |
1615 1581 |
NS 5157
NS 5058 |
Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) Ainslie(1796) |
OS 6” 1st edition Renfrewshire Sheet XVI, 1856. Achinbach (Pont), Achinback (x 2 in Roy), Laigh & High Auchenbauks (Ainslie). Over is consistently 3m. The earliest evidence for Nether is 5m, then 10m, then back to 5m. See below. |
| Caldwell Law
Easter Wester |
5m 5m |
1527 1549 |
NS 4255 | Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) |
Coldwel (x2) Coldwelsid, Litil Coldwel (Pont);
Coldwel, Coldwelsid, Litil Coldwel (Blaeu). See below. |
| Carswell
Nether Carswell Over Carswell West Carswell |
£4 | 1511/12 | NS 4653
NS 4653 NS 4552 NS 4552 |
Pont(33)
Blaeu(Renfrew) Roy(PC) |
N. Carswel, Karswell O. (Pont) – i.e. Nether & Over.
Carswell & W. Carswell (Roy). See below. |
| Harelaw | NS 4654 | Roy(PC) | Hairlaw (Roy). | ||
| Dareduff Hill | NS 4552 | Roy(PC) | Torduff (Roy) | ||
| Total | 137m 8s 8d | This is probably an underestimate. |
Robertson(1818) p 300 Table of Property gives the following properties in Neilston:
Easter Caldwell
Wester Caldwell
Cowdon Commore
Glanderston & Neilstonside
Caldwell, part of
Neilstonside
4 different parts of Commore
Glanderston Dike
Part of the £17 land of Arthurlie
Part of the £17 land of Arthurlie
Anderson’s part of Caldwell
Auchinback
Dubs, Park, and Boghall
Laigh Lyon Cross
Maxwell’s Lyon Cross
High Lyon Cross
Airston’s Arthurlie
Kirkland’s part of Arthurlie
Kirkland’s part of Arthurlie
Pollok’s Arthurlie
Part of Arthurlie
Part of Arthurlie
Parts of £17 land of Arthurlie to various proprietors
Hartfield
Ferenize
+ Shutterflatt in the parish of Beith
+ Knockmade in parish of Dunlop
[£17 Arthurlie will not be an Auld Extent valuation – but the property appears to be much divided].
Loch Libo/Loch Libo side
RMP pp 92-96. W.W. Scott No 87, 1295 refers to Lochleboksyd.
RMS I (606) 1374 is a charter by Robert II to Hugh of Eglinton of the lands of Lochlebogsyde. The reddendo or annual return was 10m sterling to maintain a chaplain in Glasgow cathedral. For full document see Fraser, Memorials of the Montgomeries II p 12 No 15 (albeit with typographical errors).
ER IX p 683 1484 gives a sasine to Hugh Mongomery of Lochely Boside.
GD3/1/10/41/1 1484 has £8 (12m) AE Lochlebosyde.
GD3/1/1/20/3 1528 has £2 AE Lochlebochsyd.
Memorials of the Montgomeries II, No 117 1528 has £10 AE Lochlebothsyd.
RSS III (1381) 1545 has £8 AE Lochlebosyd.
GD3/1/7/1/5 1545 has £8 AE Lochlebosyd.
ER XVIII pp 390-1 1545 has £8 AE Lochlebosyd.
RSS III (1906) 1546 has 12m the Syde.
RSS III (1910) 1546 has 12m Lochlyboside.
RSS IV (782) 1550 refers to the lands of the Syde called Lochlebowside.
RMS IV (1674) 1565 has £8 AE Lochlebosyde.
RMS VI (1838) 1607 has £8 AE Lochlibosyde.
Renfrew Retours (159) 1661 has £8 AE Lochlebosyde.
GD3/1/7/3/1 1685 has £8 AE Lochlebosyde and Hartfield.
GD3/1/7/3/8A 1685 has £8 AE Lochliboside & Hartfield.
Renfrew Retours (186) 1685 has £8 AE Lochlebosyde and Hartfeild.
Renfrew Retours (199) 1696 has £8 AE Lochlebosyd and Hartfield.
GD3/1/7/4/1 1704 has £8 AE Lochlebosyde and Hartfield.
Purves p 162 gives Lauchliebosyde as £8 (12m).
Stewart f 50r gives Lochlebosyd as £8 (12m).
AHC Volume I No 87 1533 and No 88 1533-4 concern an Action which mentions lands called the ‘Heid of the Syde’. There had been a raid and one of the items taken was a two-handed sword worth 6 merks.
Grange
Grange is neither in this parish, nor in Renfrewshire. The reason for including it is because it was intimately connected with the next property, Drumgrain, which was in this parish and in Renfrewshire. The names themselves indicate this connection. Grange is the name given to a monastic grange (in this case Paisley’s) so we can date it to sometime after the 1160s when Paisley was founded. Drumgrain is simply Grange with the Gaelic prefix druim which, in place-names, means ‘ridge of a hill’. Hence Drumgrain was the ridge of hill associated with the Grange. As a farm-name Drumgrain lasted on the map until the mid-eighteenth century. It was located by Pont, Blaeu and Roy and their evidence suggests the area of Howcraigs Hill (NS 4555). A little to the south the name survives to this day as an area of woodland called Drumgrain Plantation in NS 4453/4553.
(The fact that Druim was prefixed suggests that Gaelic may have been in use in this part of Neilston during the latter half of the twelfth century. It could be argued that the prefix might instead come from the Welsh word ‘drum’ which also means ridge. However, the name Drumgrane would seem to depend on the name Grange for its meaning and the word Grange is probably a coinage of the mid-twelfth century, when Paisley monastery was founded. At that time it is more likely that Gaelic, rather than Welsh, was an active naming agent in Renfrewshire).
But can we sure Granis/Granys (as it is commonly spelled in the Paisley Rental) means a grange? Seldom can we prove anything with place-names but what was spelled Granis/Granys in the rental, and on the maps, has now become Grange in Dunlop parish. (Cameron Lees, p xci orig. p 43, reads Grange c. 1472 but I think the original may actually read Granys). The distance between what is now Southgrange (Dunlop parish, Ayrshire) and the crest of Howcraigs Hill (Neilston parish, Renfrewshire) is about 3¾ kms which means that Grange and Drumgrain together formed a very large farm. Much of this land forms a long ridge so, in terms of the local topography, the name Drumgrane is apt.
The map evidence also supports equating Granis with Grange. Our earliest forms come from Pont, either directly, or via Blaeu – whose maps were often based on Pont’s survey work. In terms of direct evidence we have one reference to Drumgrain in Pont (33) which is his map of Renfrewshire. It is placed just west of a now-drained loch which probably lay in NS 4655. The shape of Pont(33) is also instructive. It is cut rather like an indenture, or the leaves of a dandelion, with fingers of land stretching towards Ayrshire. It is similar in form to the later parish outlines of this part of Renfrewshire. Unfortunately, we have no corresponding map of Pont’s for the district of Cunningham, Ayrshire. However we can tell what sort of information it contained because the Blaeu maps of Renfrew and Cunningham both credit Pont as the author. The Blaeu map of Renfrew marks Drumgrains west of the same small loch as Pont(33). Then, just over the border into Ayrshire, it marks Druymgrais which must be roughly where Drumgrain plantation is now located. The Blaeu map of Cunningham also marks this, slightly miss-spelled as Druymgnoins and marginally within Ayrshire. A little south Blaeu has marked Grains – where Grange now is. The name Grange was used by Roy (c. 1750), Armstrong (1775) and the Ordnance Survey from 1856. Ainslie, however, preferred Grains in his maps of 1796 & 1800.
If we turn to the records of Paisley Abbey we find that Grange appears in a transumpt of a bull of Pope Clement IV. The transumpt is dated 1469 and is printed on pages 308-314 of RMP. The bull itself is dated 1265. It is also given (pp 8-11) and translated (pp 12-15) by Metcalfe in 1902. The document lists the churches, lands and privileges of Paisley Abbey. The relevant passage reads (RMP p 309): ‘Et le Graynis que nunc Drumgrane vocatur’ i.e. (Metcalfe p 12) ‘and the Graynis, which is now called Drumgrane’. We have extensive information for Drumgrane in the Paisley Rental (see next entry) but we also have data about Grange on pp lxiii-lxiv, xci, cxxi-cxxii and cl. It is called variously Granis (1460), Ye Grange (p xci c. 1472) and The Granys (c. 1525). (As explained above I think Ye Grange [p xci] actually reads Ye Granys). Unfortunately, the lease entries (c. 1516) on pp cxxi-cxxii (original p 94) have their heading partially obscured by a large ink blot which extends over some of the text. However, we may construe, from what remains and by comparing the names of the tenants with earlier and later years, that these entries also refer to Granis. Paisley evidently owned both properties and both names survived; despite the implication of the bull of 1265 that one name had replaced the other.
When Paisley Abbey was founded in the 1160s Renfrew was not yet a separate county, but still part of Lanark. We learn of the names of the various parishes in the ensuing years, but we know little about their boundaries. The rental rather implies that the monks knew that the Grange was not in the same parish as Drumgrane. On p lxiii (original p 8) we have a summary list of the lands in the lordship of Paisley in 1460. Drumgrane is listed – but not Granis. However Granis is listed as the very first item on the next page of the rental. Perhaps, if they thought of one, then they thought of the other. The precise location of the various parish boundaries may have taken time to firm up. The shape of Pont(33) suggests that he had a pretty good idea of some of the nuances by the 1590s but ambiguities remained even as late as the nineteenth century. Wilson, J., General View of the Agriculture of Renfrewshire, p 127, writes of the moor of Mistylaw in 1812:
The marches on the confines of Ayrshire are not distinctly ascertained, so that 330 acres of this moor are disputed, and doubts entertained to what county, what parish, and what heritors these belong.
The word ‘grange’ in conjunction with an abbey conjures an image of an outlying property used to store foodstuffs for monastic use. What is interesting about this Grange is that the rent was paid in cheese and stirks (bull-calves). We find such rents in a number of Paisley’s hill-farms which shows, unsurprisingly, that they produced whatever the soil, climate and topography of the land best favoured. Heifers (female-calves) were allowed to mature, produce young, and supply milk for butter and cheese. Only a small number of the best stirks needed to be retained.
The amount of produce is impressive. In 1460 Granis has a heading of ‘xvxx petre casei’ i.e. (15 x 20 = 300) stones cheese. One part was leased to John Crag for 60 stones cheese, at three annual terms, plus 3 stirks and 10s for another 3 stirks. This seems to be standard and suggests the farm was divided into 5 parts. Because the document was a rolling record we can see that the same was being paid by later tenants in October 1501 and January 1501/2. It is interesting that the payment for 3 stirks had been commuted to 10s cash. This must have become normal practice because as the rental goes on we have frequent references to 10s ‘stirk silver’.
The last rental printed (c. 1525) shows a change. The Granys was still responsible for 300 stones cheese but the stirks have gone and they are replaced by geese. The heading on p cl is misleading because it reads ‘v dd avenarum’ where ‘dd’ is an abbreviation for ‘duodenas’ or dozens and ‘avenarum’ means ‘of oats’. As discussed in the text file on the Paisley Rental ‘avenarum’ is probably a mis-reading for ‘aucarum’ (of geese).
Grange is also exceptional in that it is the only significant Paisley property for which no land-assessment evidence is given within the rental. The rent suggests it was given over entirely to raising and grazing cattle. It may have had no arable land at all, and it was always tillable land that formed the basis for land-assessment. That said, we do have evidence from after it became private property. RMS IX (1224.1) 1642, on original of 1639, gives 5m Graynes in the regality of Paisley, bailliary of Cunningham, sheriffdom of Renfrew – from which it appears it was then thought to be in Renfrewshire.
Renfrew Retours (114) 1642 gives 5m AE of Grainges (or Grains) in the regality of Paisley, bailliary of Cunningham, sheriffdom of Renfrew.
RS53 ff 28r-29r 1642 gives 5m Grainis. RS53 f 32r 1642 gives 5m Graines.
RMS V (2070) 1591-2 is a royal confirmation of Paisley Abbey properties to Claud Hammyltoun. Included are payments to ministers of the various parishes. The minister of Neilstoun’s stipend is to include vicarage teinds – except those of Drumgrane and Granis. It is interesting that these two properties are still paired.
Some notes by Timothy Pont about Cunningham include a reference to a place called Grange. However it is not the same Grange as above. See ‘Topographical Account of the Distict of Cunningham’, Maitland Club, pp 18 & 86.
Drumgrain
RMP pp 23-24; WW Scott No 26 1219 x 1230; NLS PDF pp 60-61; is a charter by Walter II giving various lands to the convent of Dalmulin, Ayr. (This was a house of the order of Sempringham whose properties were subsequently transferred to Paisley). The lands were (mostly?) in Neilston and Lochwinnoch parishes. Unfortunately not all of the place-names can still be traced which makes for difficulties in interpreting the document. It is also given in AHC Volume I No 5, with an abstract in English on pp 31-32. The heading, which will be later than the document, tells us it concerns Drumgrane, Drumley and Petihaucingowin. The document starts by referring to:
totam terram et pasturam de Drumley et Swyneshales, cum omnibus infra istas divisas contentis
(the whole land and grazing-ground of Drumley and Swyneshales, with all that is contained within those boundaries)
The name Swineshales may identify the same place as Delswinchan (see under Kellebrid/Kilbride below).
scilicet et sicut rivulus cadit de Cunigham inter Barbeth [et] Cnoccheyad
(namely, as the burn falls from Cunigham between Barbeth and Cnoccheyad) [The word ‘et’ (and) is inserted by the editor of RMP. It is not in the MS but it seems a reasonable amendment].
et sicut ille rivulus descendit usque in rivulum de Drumgran, et inde ascendendo usque in Silreth, qui descendit subtus veterem domum meam versus aquilonem, et sicut idem Silreth cadit in transversum in Laveran, et per Laveran ascendendo usque ad divisas terre que fuit Roberti Croc de Neliston, et sic per easdem divisas terre Roberti Croc usque ad divisas de Cunigham.
(and as that burn descends as far as the burn of Drumgran, and thence ascending to the Silreth, which descends below my old house towards the north, and as the Silreth falls across into the Laveran, and by the Laveran ascending to the boundaries of the land that was Robert Croc of Neilston’s, and so by those boundaries of the land of Robert Croc as far as the boundaries of Cuningham).
What follows is a very tentative interpretation of the above passages. The land given, was called, as a unit, Drumley and Swyneshales. The first element of Drumley is from Gaelic druim (ridge) so it is probable we are looking at the higher ground near the south end of Neilston parish. The first element of Swyneshales is probably ‘swine’ or pigs, as we also find that in other Renfrewshire place-names. The next section tells us that a burn falls from the direction of Cuningham (i.e. roughly from south) and runs between two places called Barbethe and Cnoccheyad. It is tempting to link Barbethe with somewhere in the parish of Beith but it is more likely that it represents some nearby bàrr (hill) covered with beith (birch) – both elements from Gaelic. Cnoccheyad might be Knockmade which still gives its name to a hilltop plantation in NS 4353 or a Moss ESE of that hill in NS 4453. (There is also another hilltop plantation called Knockenae Plantation in NS 4554 but this is more firmly in Neilston rather than on the boundary with Cuningham, and so less probable). It seems likely we are looking at a small rivulet running roughly NNE from the general direction of Kockmade (hill and moss). It probably flowed to east of South Uplaw.
(There is more than one place called Knockmade in Renfrewshire and I have not included this Knockmade in the Neilston Table, locating it instead in Ayrshire. This is probably the Knockmaid which appears in ER XVIII p 487, 1549-1550, and the £5 Knokmadie of RMS V (1960) 1591, which are both said to be in the barony of Renfrew).
The burn of Drumgran presumably refers to the Drumgrane formerly located by Howcraigs Hill (NS 4555) rather than what is now Drumgrain Plantation in NS 4453/4553. (The former site is marked Dumbrain in Roy. It is Drumgrain in Pont and Drumgrains in Blaeu, on the west side of a loch which disappeared between c. 1590 and 1750). From there the boundary went up to the ‘Silreth’ which is presumably the name of another burn.
The most significant burn to the west of the Levern Water is what is now called the Cowdon Burn. This runs roughly ENE from about NS 4556 and joins the Levern in NS 4757. The upper reaches of this burn are difficult to follow on the map but it looks as if a branch of it ascends from north of Cowdonmill Bridge (NS 4556), along the west side of Howcraigs Hill (NS 4555), west of Muirhead (NS 4555), and then east of Knockglass (NS 4454) and South Uplaw (NS 4454) before reaching its source in the marshy ground at the NNE end of Knockmade Moss, just north of the parish boundary. This may be the Silreth.
There is another burn which runs from the boggy ground on the west side of Knockenae Plantation in a NNE direction down the east side of Howcraigs Hill bfore reaching Jaapston. In its upper reaches it is on the east side of a ridge which separates it from the Silreth by only a few hundred metres. This may be the Drumgrane Burn. It runs just east of Braeface Farm (NS 4555) which either was, or was close to, the former site of Drumgrane.
What may be described in these early statements is a boundary coming from the Knockmade Moss, reaching the start of the Drumgrane Burn (c. NS 4554), going up over the ridge in a westerly direction to reach the Silreth, which then flows down to what is now the Cowdon Burn, reaching it in NS 4556. However the Cowdon Burn may not have been called that in the early thirteenth century. It may have been called the Silreth all the way down until its junction with the Laveran. The ‘old house’ sounds to have been located near the Silreth. The site of Cowdon Hall (NS 4657) looks a possible location, albeit the house itself may long since have been built over.
In Blaeu’s map of Renfrew the Cowdon Burn is shown as running into Loch Libo from NNE. Blaeu must have copied from Pont(33) or another draft map of Pont’s. Pont(33) is more ambiguous. It looks as if the Cowdon Burn runs from Loch Libo but the map is a little unclear at that point. Pont does mark ‘Thorterburn’ as a settlement beside yet another burn which is clearly marked as running from WNW into Loch Libo. (Blaeu marks ‘Thorterbur(n)’ and a burn which runs into what is meant to be the Coudon Burn before it joins Loch Libo). The name Thorterburn survives today as a settlement site in NS 4456. On its east side there is a burn running from NNW towards Loch Libo. It is difficult to see on Explorer 333 but OS 6” 1st edition Renfrewshire Sheets XV (1857) and XVI (1856) show it draining into Loch Libo. Roy’s map gives the name Shortgate Burn here but perhaps his surveyors picked up the name Thorterburn from local informants, misinterpreted it and applied it to the Cowdon Burn, which is otherwise unnamed. However, what Roy’s map does show, and clearly, is that the Cowdon Burn does not flow from Loch Libo. There is a watershed here. Water from Loch Libo (and therefore also Thorterburn) flows SW. Water in the Cowdon Burn flows ENE.
Roy’s map also offers a good depiction of the Cowdon Burn joining the Levern Water from WSW, from the side, – which may be the sense of ‘in transversum’ here. From the junction with the Levern Water the boundary then went southwards (i.e. upstream) until it ran alongside the boundary to Robert Croc’s land (presumably Kilbride) which seems to have come a little west of the Levern Water to include ‘Aboon the Brae’ (i.e. Kilbride’s religious site), but not Drumgrane. The land thus bounded would be a sliver running north-eastwards, with the Cowdon Burn as its north-western boundary, the junction with the Levern Water as its northern apex, Robert Croc’s estate of Kilbride to its east and the boundary with Cuningham (Ayrshire) to the south. This was Drumgran.
Drumgran has now disappeared from the map but was located by Pont, Blaeu and Roy. We also have a number of documentary references. Drumgran, the settlement, probably underlay what is now Braeface Farm in NS 4555. The ‘Laveran’ is the Levern Water which is still the name of the burn which runs just east of Drumgran through this little valley in Neilston parish until it reaches the White Cart by Crookston (i.e. ‘Croc’s toun’). The land of Robert Croc of Neilston is probably the land of ‘Kellebrid’ (Kilbride, q.v.) which was likely first allocated to Robert Croc in the period 1160-1177.
The hydrography of the area has changed much in recent centuries and the loch marked by Pont and Blaeu has completely disappeared. The boundaries with Cuningham in Ayrshire have also changed.
RMP pp 47-48, WW Scott No 41, 1230, is a confirmation by Alexander II. (See also RRS Handlist Alexander II No 141):
de tota terra et pastura de Drumloy et Swineshales … et de tota terra et pastura de Petithachengon
(of the whole land and grazing-land of Drumloy and Swineshales … and of the whole land and grazing-land of Petit-Auchingown)
RMP pp 67-68, WW Scott No 59 1361 is a charter of confirmation, this time by Robert, steward of Scotland, and this time to Paisley Abbey, by now the owner of the properties formerly belonging to Dalmulin. The relevant part of the list reads:
de Drumgrane, de Graynis, de Achingown monachorum …
(of Drumgrane, Grange and Achingown of the monks … – i.e. that part of Achingown which belonged to the monks of Paisley)
Drumgrain appears extensively in the Paisley Rental printed by Cameron Lees. There are entries on p lvii (1460), p lxxix (1472), p lxxx (1472), p cxxi (1502, 1508, 1514), p cxxii (1516, 1524), p cxlix (1525 and later), p cl (1525 and later), p clxxvii (1550). (Please note these dates are only guides. The rental was written on a rolling basis with new entries on new dates as leases fell vacant). It is at once obvious that there were certain standard ‘mailings’ or holdings of land at 27s 8d, 38s 6d, 19s 3d etc. These are not entirely consistent, which renders working out the fractions rather fraught. In 1502 we are told Dungrane was £11. In 1525 Drumgrane was £13 13s 4d with the mill. Since the mill was consistently 53s 4d or 4m that means Drumgrane was £11. Those figures are confirmed on p clxxvii for 1550.
£11 was 220s. If we divide 220s by 8 we get 27s 6d which is very close to the figure of 27s 8d which so commonly appears. I cannot prove that Drumgrane was let in eighths, but some of it seems to have been.
Even before the Reformation there was a move towards letting some of the lands of Paisley in feufarm. RSS III (855) 1544 gives 38s 6d lands of the ‘borealis lateris ville de’ (north side of the tounship of) Drumgrane. This is repeated in RSS III (1199) 1545. In both of these the silver rent was also 38s 6d. (The match between land-valuation and silver rent is a very common feature with Paisley Abbey properties). The names of some of the tenants in the Paisley Rental recur in the documents from RSS.
Renfrew Retours (125) 1646 gives 38s 6d of Dumgraine (ex-Paisley) as does Renfrew Retours (178) 1678. Dundonald (143) 1587 gives £7 0s 3d (140s 3d) Drumgrean which must include other fractional parts of the estate.
One particular tenant who appears in 1472 was called John Jope. (He may be the same as the John Jok who appears in 1460). In 1502 there is a John Jobson and on p cxlix (1525) there is a Thomas Jop who died and was succeeded by his eldest son John Jop in 1531. Just NNE of Braeface Farm (which probably sits on what was formerly Drumgrain) is a farm now called Jaapston (NS 460560). This may have been one of the fractional parts of the old Paisley estate of Drumgrain which, post-Reformation, may have fallen to the family of Jop – whose name then became that of the farm, which was Jop’s-toun.
Kellebrid (Kilbride)
The only reference we have to this name is in Lennox II p 2 No 2 which is a charter by Alan, son of Walter, Steward of Scotland, to Robert Croc, of the land of Kellebrid. It is printed (in Latin) on p 2 and there is an English abstract on p 359 No 2. Robert Croc frequently appears as a witness in the pages of the Paisley Register. There is also an English abstract on the POMS (People of Medieval Scotland) website (see People of Medieval Scotland (poms.ac.uk)).
Firstly I give part of the Latin original from Fraser, Lennox II No 2. Alan, son of Walter the Steward, gave etc to Robert Croc:
terram de Kellebrid cum vasto, pro terra centum solidorum quam eidem Roberto debui, per has scilicet divisas, sicut pater meus divisas illas perambulavit, in valle versus forestum suum, quod extendit se versus orientem, usque ad divisas de Morne, et ita secundum divisas de Morne circa longum lacum usque ad divisas de Cunigham, et ex alia parte a divisis de Cunigham per montem super quo stat lapis ex transverso usque ad torrentem qui est iuxta parvum lacum, et sicut ille torrens fluit Del west Delswinschan, et sicut ille torrens cadit in illo torrente qui fluit de longo lacu; et post sicut ille torrens cadit iuxta Drumgran, usque in Laueran … Faciendo pro ista terra et feudo suo servicium unius militis: preterea asingnavi predicto Roberto et heredibus suis, et hominibus eorum de Cuglin, pasturam in foresto meo per has divisas; del Rouateburn desuper del Belalor ex tranverso usque Smallcis, et deinde usque ad torrentem qui est del West del Capilheuid, et secundum illum torrentem usque ad divisas de Cuglin
In the above I have silently changed some ‘u’s for ‘v’s (and vice-versa) e.g. divisas, perambulavit, versus, parvum etc. I have also omitted the hyphen between ‘Del’ and ‘west’ before Delswinschan.
Then I give most of the English abstract from Fraser Lennox II p 359 No 2:
Charter by the said Alan, son of Walter … to Robert Croc … of the land of Kellebrid, with the waste, for the 100 shilling land which he owed to the said Robert, by the marches perambulated by the granter’s father, in the valley towards his forest, which extended eastward to the marches of Morne, and so around the long lake to the marches of Cunigham, etc., as therein described: To be held of the granter and his heirs in feu, for rendering the service of one knight: This charter also assigned to the said Robert and his heirs, and their men of Cuglin, pasture in the granter’s forest, within the limits therein described; and, in the event of any of their cattle being found beyond these limits, payment was to be made in terms of the charter granted to the said Robert by Walter the Steward, father of the said Alan.
This charter must have been something of a repeat. Alan’s father, Walter, the first of what later became the Stewart family, had been rewarded by King David I with a huge estate in Renfrew before about 1160. He then assigned parts of this estate to his own supporters, in return for military service. Robert Croc was one of these adherents and part of what he obtained was this land of Kellebrid. But, although the surviving charter is from Alan, it is reasonable to suppose that it was based upon a now-lost original grant by Walter. Walter had perambulated the lands so that there would be no disputes about boundaries. We may also infer that Walter had granted some pasture-rights to Robert and his men. It is stated that if their animals strayed, then compensation was to follow the arrangements made in an earlier charter by Walter to Robert. Walter is thought to have died in 1177 so this document has its roots in the period c. 1160-1177. Professor Barrow realised that Kellebrid was a form of Kilbride so what we are looking at here is the allocation of a land previously dedicated to St Bride, a popular saint in this area. During the process of Norman colonization many of the earlier ‘Celtic’ dedications must have been swept away to be replaced by the newly-popular ‘Roman’ dedications. This particular Kilbride has disappeared but is fossilised in this document.
Here follows part of what is given on the POMS database where the document is dated 1177 x 1204:
Alan son of Walter, … has given … Robert Crock, the land of Kilbride with waste, for a land of 100s. which he owed to Robert, by stated bounds, which his father perambulated, as far as the bounds of Mearns [parish, RNF], in the valley towards his forest, which extends to the east, as far as the bounds of Mearns, following the bounds of Mearns around Long Loch, until the bounds of Cunningham (AYR), by the mountain on top of which stands a stone, crosswise, until the torrent that is next to the small loch, as it flows to the west ‘Delswinschan’, and as that torrent falls into that torrent which flows into Long Loch, and afterwards, as that torrent falls next to Drumgrain, as far as ‘Laueran’. … Robert shall hold and possess that land by the aforenamed bounds, … for … the service of one knight; moreover, he has assigned to Robert, his heirs and his men of ‘Cuglin’, pasture in his forest, by stated bounds.
I am going to propose some amendments to this interpretation but it has to be said there will always be a degree of uncertainty.
Firstly, we should not be looking for a big estate. 100s was £5 and such lands were not uncommon in Renfrew; nor were they large. For comparison we can remember that the parish of Eaglesham was probably 100m or £66 13s 4d in total, and Eaglesham was not the biggest parish in Renfrewshire. Within Neilston parish itself there were other properties which were bigger. Drumgrane was £11, while Arthurlie and Lyoncross were each 10m (£6 13s 4d) so Kellebrid was not necessarily extensive.
Kellebrid was to be held for the service of one knight but in this period knights’ fees were not set at £20 as they sometimes look to be in later years. Kilbride also came ‘cum vasto’ – that is with its waste or uncultivated land. When we come across the term ‘waste land’ in these documents we should not be thinking of some desolate acres with which nothing could ever be done. They carried the specific meaning of ‘uncultivated’ and it was from cultivated land that proprietors drew rents. Uncultivated lands might be given over to pasture or forest. The term could equally be used for lands that had temporarily fallen out of cultivation because of war or disorder. It sounds as if Kilbride had some waste land – which is what you would expect of a hill farm.
The place-names are critical. Specifically we have:
Kellebrid, Morne, Cunigham, Delswinschan, Drumgran, Laueran, Cuglin, Rouateburn, Belalor, Smallcis, Capilheuid.
Some of these are straightforward:
Kellebrid is Kilbride.
Morne is not, I think, Mearns – and William Fraser obviously didn’t think so either. See below for fuller explanation.
Cunigham is Cunningham and the meaning here is the parish border between Neilston and Ayrshire – which c. 1200 was probably not exactly as it is now.
Drumgran was a farm in Neilston parish which belonged to Paisley Abbey. Unfortunately it is lost to maps today but was located by Pont, Blaeu and Roy. We also have a number of documentary references. It probably underlies what is now Braeface Farm in NS 4555.
Laueran sounds as if it was a burn because the text states that a torrens (torrent/stream) falls next to Drumgran, usque in Laueran that is as far as or until (it falls) in Laueran. The Levern Water is still the name of the burn which runs through this little valley so the word torrens is referring to one of its tributary streams.
Cuglin is probably Cowglen in Eastwood parish. Cowglen was a large and important farm which may have been worth £7.
Capilheuid The only place-name which bears a resemblance, to what I assume must be ‘Capelhead’, is Capelrig which has now become Barcapel (NS 5457) in Mearns parish. It is about 3 kms from Cowglen. Barcapel Holm Farm is located by a little spur of land which projects eastward. Immediately south of this spur runs the Auldhouse Burn which runs roughly west on the south side of Barcapel and then does a loop round the spur to run North. Was this spur above Auldhouse Burn once ‘Capelhead’?
Delswinschan Does this represent an unidentifiable name Delswinchan or should it be read ‘of Swinschan’? The first element of ‘Swinschan’ might be for swine or pigs and there are other names beginning with this element in both Renfrewshire and Ayrshire.
Rouateburn Does this represent the name of a burn running by Ryat Farm which is at the north end of Mearns parish and only about 1½ kms west of Barcapel?
Belalor, Smallcis – I cannot trace any sign of these.
We also have two references to lakes or lochs. One is a parvum lacum (little lake) whilst the other is described as longo lacu (long lake).
The charter is made up of two separate grants and will be easier to decode if we keep them separate. The first part concerns the physical definition of Kilbride. The second part concerns the grant of some pasture rights to Robert’s men in Walter’s forest.
Firstly, the location of Kilbride:
If we put together the place-name Morne and the lake or loch references we can unlock the geographical location of Kilbride.
RMS III (3271) 1546 refers to 1m AE called ‘lie Moin’ in the parish of Neilston (ex Earl of Lennox estate).
ER XIX p 471 1561 refers to 1m of ‘lie Mone’.
NRAS3957/21 1671 refers to 13s 4d (1m) of the Moyne in the parish of Neilston. Also NRAS3957/22 and NRAS3957/23.
The place these documents are referring to is Moyne farm at NS 4753. It is Moin on Roy’s map.
Fraser, Lennox II p 126 No 83 1485 has a reference to the lands of the Langlochmur.
GD220/6/1967/4 1519 refers to 1m AE called Langlochmure in parish of Neilstoun, (Earl of Lennox estate.)
Moyne Moor and Moyne Farm are immediately west of ‘Long Loch’ which is located in NS 4752 and appears to have formed part of the parish boundary between Neilston (to W) and Mearns (to E). It is physically a long loch and it is easy to see how, in 1519, it could have been known locally as the ‘Langloch’ with the moorland adjacent to it on the west being known as ‘Langlochmure’. The farm is now Moyne but in the past has appeared as Moin and Mone. I think this was the Morne of Robert Croc’s charter. ‘Long Loch’ was probably translated directly from English into Latin – in which case we could argue that some at least of the local population were English-speakers by 1200. (If it had enjoyed a Gaelic name like Loch Fada it would possibly have been transmitted differently).
Identifying the parvum lacum (small or little loch) is a bit more complex. There is actually a loch called Little Loch in Mearns parish, just over 2 kms east of Long Loch. However, this identification is unlikely, even though it was called Little Loch in Roy’s map of the mid-eighteenth century. The situation is confused by the fact that other lochs which appear on today’s maps have been artificially created by dams (Harelaw, Commore, Craighall). Both Pont and Blaeu mark an unnamed loch immediately east of Drumgrain/Drumgrains which is the Drumgran referred to in Robert Croc’s charter. In Pont’s map it is shown as smaller than ‘Lang loch’ (Long Loch). Blaeu doesn’t name ‘Lang loch’ but, in his map too, the Long Loch is shown as the bigger of the two. If we take the smaller loch east of Drumgran as the ‘little loch’ of the charter then it must have been drained some time between the 1590s and the 1750s. Roy’s map does not show any other lochs or lochans to the west of Long Loch in Neilston parish. If asked to place the ‘little loch’ I would site it over the ‘Links of Levern’ which are named in OS 6” 1st Edition Renfrewshire, Sheet XVI, 1856, in NS 4655. The ground here is still marked as marshy on today’s map.
We can then take Robert’s charter clause by clause to see what other information we can extract:
in valle versus forestum suum, quod extendit se versus orientem, usque ad divisas de Morne,
(in the valley towards his forest, which extended towards the east, as far as the boundaries of Morne) –
so Roberts’s land of Kilbride was in the valley near Walter’s forest, which forest stretched east as far as the boundaries of the farm of Moyne. It sounds as if the forest was in the still-wooded area around Neilston Pad which is north of Moyne Farm and Long Loch.
et ita secundum divisas de Morne circa longum lacum usque ad divisas de Cunigham,
(and then following the farm-boundaries of Moyne around the Long Loch as far as the boundaries of Cuningham) –
this sounds as if Moyne included the Long Loch, which lies to its south-east, and that Moyne itself was part of Kilbride, else why would the charter describe the south-eastern boundary of Moyne? Even today the parish and county boundary with Cunningham lies just south of the Long Loch.
et ex alia parte a divisis de Cunigham per montem super quo stat lapis ex transverso
(and on the other side from the boundaries of Cunningham by the hill on which a stone stands obliquely) –
Let us assume that ‘ex alia parte’ implies that the scribe is now talking of the western boundary of Kilbride. There would be no point in describing the southern boundary if that was the boundary with Cunningham. If the charter is working round the boundaries in a clockwise manner it follows that the next relevant boundary to be intimated is that on the west. It appears that a defining part of the boundary was a hill with a standing stone on it. The phrase ‘ex transverso’ is rendered in the POMS translation as ‘crosswise’. Although it is quite often the case that hills, (eg a Beinn Tarsuinn), can be described as ‘athwart’ in the sense that they stand against the run of other hills in an area, it is not easy to see how that could describe a single stone. Other meanings for ‘transverso’ could be ‘sideways’ or ‘obliquely’. ‘Obliquely’ seems probable since there are many prominent standing-stones which have developed a lean in the thousands of years since they were first erected. Indeed it may well have fallen flat in the interim and now be unnoticeable. Perhaps it stood on one of the two little hills which lie immediately SW of ‘Aboon the Brae’ and are found in NS 4554. The present Knockenae Plantation sits atop the most southwesterly of the two. Burns to their east run directly into the Levern. The burn to their west runs NNE past Braeface Farm towards Jaapston, which was probably once part of Drumgran.
usque ad torrentem qui est iuxta parvum lacum,
(as far as the stream which is next to the little loch)
The ‘little loch’ may well have stretched south to what is now Waterside in NS 4655. This little stream was presumably immediately south of it.
et sicut ille torrens fluit Del west Delswinschan,
(and as that stream flows to/from the west (of?) Delswinschan/Swinschan)
There is some ambiguity here. Perhaps there was once a place called Delswinchan or Swinschan close to the south end of the Little Loch and this stream flowed on its west side). The only stream that might fit this description is the small watercourse which runs from WNW to ESE just beside Aboon the Brae.
et sicut ille torrens cadit in illo torrente qui fluit de longo lacu;
(and as that stream falls into that (other) stream which flows from the Long Loch)
On Ordnance Survey maps, and in the New Statistical Account, the Levern Water flows from the Long Loch. However, in recent centuries the hydrography of this area has been much reworked with modern dams in several places. It is also the case that a long burn or river can have different names in different sections, as tributaries join it. It may be that the burn that issued from the Long Loch in Robert Croc’s time was not called the Levern – but only became the Levern further downstream, possibly below the little loch. At any rate the burn that flowed west of Delswinchan must have joined the burn that fell from the Long Loch above the south end of the little loch. This does seem to fit the junction of the unnamed burn beside Aboon the Brae with the Levern in NS 4654.
et post sicut ille torrens cadit iuxta Drumgran, usque in Laueran …
(and then as that burn falls next to Drumgran, as far as the Levern)
This combined burn, i.e. the burn to west of Delswinchan, joined to the burn from the Long Loch, passed next to Drumgran, and then into the Levern – which we can presume was the known name of the water that issued from the north end of the ‘Little Loch’.
Drumgran (q.v) was a large and important farm which belonged to Paisley Abbey. Although the name is lost I assume it was on the eastern and northern sides of what is now Howcraigs Hill (NS 4555). This is at the northen end of a clear ridge or ‘druim’ (a frequent Gaelic topographical term).
If we add to this the surviving tradition of a chapel at ‘Aboon the Brae’ we have a plausible location for Kilbride. The farm possibly extended up the west bank of the Levern from about NS 4655 to include Moyne Farm and the Lang Loch. It followed the (then) Cunningham border westwards before turning north towards Drumgran to finish at the Levern again. Because its total value was 7½m (1m of which was Moyne farm), it may not have included Craig of Neilston (£5), Neilstonside (22s+), Commore (2½m) or the Carswells (£4). However, because the lands of Kilbride then disappear from history, it could be that they were absorbed by one, or more, of their neighbours. The heart of the estate was probably the chapel site near ‘Aboon the Brae’. This is a very tentative proposal but it can be linked with the outline of Drumgrane presented in RMP pp 23-24 (above). There has been so much change to the drainage-systems of the area that there will always remain a degree of uncertainty. However, it may be that the farms of Drumgrane and Kilbride lay adjacent, Drumgrane to west, Kilbride to east and that sections of the burns discussed above fomed the march between them.
There is one other piece of evidence to link these two descriptions. The first mentions Swineshales, the second mentions Delswinchan. Are these names the same – a place-name to do with pigs? The context suggests somewhere in the vicinity of Aboon the Brae, perhaps part of Drumgrane rather than Kilbride? The above descriptions only offer a part-solution. If other researchers can map the outline of the Little Loch, or locate the hill with the standing stone, this visualisation could be improved.
As for the precise location of Kilbride, NSA pp 328-9 writes:
Tradition has transmitted an account of other two religious houses, before the Reformation, besides the parochial kirk. One of these had been placed at the “chappell”, and another, at the sequestered spot called “Boon the Brae,” near Waterside bleachfield. The springs at both places are exceedingly fine. They were the holy wells of the Papists in former times, and, if purity of water could confer holiness, that name they deserved. The spring, “Boon the Brae”, issues from the solid rock, and is one of the finest and most copious in the parish. It is perennial. Of these chappells no traces remain. Even the walls and foundations of them cannot be discovered.
OPS I p 96 writes:
Tradition has preserved the sites of two ancient chapels, one on the west bank of the Lavern, near Arthurley, at a place still called Chapel, and another about a mile from the church, at a sequestered spot called “Boon the brae”. There is a fine spring at each.
The former site can be found at West Arthurlie (NS 4958). The well (or spring) is St Connel’s Well.
The latter is now called ‘Aboon the Brae’ (NS 4555). The well is not named on Explorer 333 but there is a little blue ‘W’ (for well) a short distance SE at NS 460549. On OS 6” 1st Edition Renfrewshire, Sheet XVI, 1856 this is named Lady’s Well. Within CANMORE (the online database of Historic Environment Scotland) this chapel has been given Canmore ID No 42982. Because of the name ‘Lady’s Well’ it has been assumed the chapel was to the Virgin Mary. It may have become so after Robert Croc’s time. But before that it was probably dedicated to St Bride. Under the ‘General Observations’ made in the NSA p 539 this spring is particularly remarked.
The place-name Kilburn occurs at NS 4756. The first element suggests Gaelic cille, the last element is English burn which does not make for a very convincing combination. I do not know of any religious connotation but obviously such a name draws attention.
The second part of Robert Croc’s charter is about a completely different location. Alan assigns Robert, his heirs, and their men of Cuglin:
pasturam in foresto meo per has divisas;
(pasture in my forest by these boundaries)
That is, he defines the forest boundaries within which Robert and his men may pasture their livestock.
del Rouateburn desuper del Belalor ex tranverso usque Smallcis,
(from the Rouate Burn, from above Belalor, and across as far as Smallcis?)
At this point I am reduced to guesswork. Belalor may be a place-name of two elements where the first is from the Gaelic baile or tounship – often reduced to Bal. The only local names which may correspond with the second part of Belalor are the Aurs Burn (NS 5158/5159) which is Aers on Pont’s map; or an Allirs which appear with Arthourlie in ER XXI pp 457-8 1581. However this place may recur later as Auldbarres in the Renfrew Retours and is not very persuasive. I am stumped by Smallcis – unless it is Sheills.
et deinde usque ad torrentem qui est del West del Capilheuid,
(and from there as far as the stream which is West of Capelhead)
There are two options here. One is the Auldhouse Burn which runs from SW to Barcapel. However I do not think this could be described as west of Barcapel since when it reaches Barcapel it runs on the south side of, and then east of, the settlement. More likely, I think, is the Brock Burn which forms much of the western boundary of Cowglen Farm and Eastwood parish, is joined by the Aurs Burn at Darnley, and ascends southwards on the west side of Ryat. (Here also the local hydrography has been much affected by the building of dams and reservoirs).
et secundum illum torrentem usque ad divisas de Cuglin
(and following that stream as far as the boundaries of Cuglin).
The Brock Burn provides the western boundary of Cowglen – except for that part called Little Cowglen which later became known as Broken Bridge and stretched west of the Brock Burn.
So Walter’s forest (or one of his forests) probably lay in the northern section of Neilston parish, roughly between the Levern Water and the Brock Burn. Robert’s men were allowed to take their cattle there to graze. If they strayed there was a penalty. For an idea of this we can look at another charter of a slightly later period.
Macquarrie, ‘Notes on some charters of the Bruces of Annandale’, No 6, 1245 x 1295, gives a scale of fines for animals which strayed. I think ‘averijs’ probably here means cattle or oxen so the going rate was a 1d fine for each 10 of cattle, sheep, goats or pigs. Horses were fined at the rate of ½d each. (We see similar ratios in souming arrangements elsewhere. Horses were classed as the heaviest grazers).
Neilstounside
The following are references to the various parts of Neilstounside:
Dundonald (95) 1516 – 22s Over Nilstounside
Dundonald (97) 1517 – 22s Over Nilstounside
Dundonald (99) 1522 – 22s Over Nilstounside
Dundonald (109) 1627 – 22s Over Nilstounside
Renfrew Retours (189) 1690 – 22s Over Neilstounsyde
Renfrew Retours (189) 1690 also refers to the superiority of an 8m land AE which included Over & Nether Neilstounsydes, Midle Glanderstoun, Kilburn and Glanderstoundyk, all within the parish of Neilstoun.
Commore
Fraser, Lennox II p 187 No 115 1508 is an acceptance, by Mathew Cambel of Kyllocht, from the Earl of Lennox, of Kowmoir (lordship of Darnley, Renfrew) in lieu of Newmanis (Tarbolton, Ayrshire). Kowmoir is spelled Kowmoir (3 times) and Kilmoir (once).
Dundonald (92) 1521 – 33s 4d Cowmores
Dundonald (99) 1522 – 33s 4d Cowmores
Dundonald (109) 1627 – 33s 4d Cowmores
Renfrew Retours (189) 1690 – 33s AE Coymore
Lennox holding in Neilston
Fraser, Lennox II, No 98 pp 158-159, 1495 is a sasine of Elizabeth Hamilton, ‘former’ spouse of Mathew, Earl of Lennox. The background to this rather unusual designation is given in Lennox I, pp 326, 332-334, where it is shown that they were awaiting a papal dispensation for their marriage. The lands comprised:
le Manys de Dernlie, … terras de duabus Kersvellis … terras de le Crag de Neylstone, Hoylhous, et Greynhillis … terras de Kyrktoune de Neylstone’.
RSS III (2409) 1547 shows Kowmure & Neilstounside to be ex-Lennox estate.
RSS IV (2295) 1553 is a gift of the non-entrance of £100 (150m) AE of Crukistoun, Crukisfew, Neilstoun, Neilstounside, Inchinnan etc. This was a huge estate and there is a long list of lands in Inchinnan, Eastwood and Neilstoun – but without any specific valuations. There is a section which states:
‘and of thir landis of Neilstoun, that is to say, Ovir and Nethir Kerswellis, Langlochmure, Grenehillis, Hoilhous and Glanderstoun’. It then adds Ovir & Nethir Kirktoun.
Renfrew Retours (189) 1690 gives ‘the lands of Neilston, comprehending the lands of Over & Nether Carsewell-moyne; the lands of Craig of Neilston; the lands of Greenhill; the lands of Spinstoun; the lands of Over & Nether Kirktoun; the lands of Braedlie; the lands of Holehouse, with the mill of Glanderstoun, within the parish of Neilstoun, parts of the lordship of Darnlie’. Late Retours (such as this) are often corrupt but it is useful for place-names. The name ‘Carsewell-moyne’ will represent the running together of two separate places – Carswell and Moyne. ‘Braedlie’ will be the Bradely marked by Pont(33) near Holehouse.
Cowdon
RSS II (667) 1530 gives £5 AE Coldoun.
Dundonald (50) 1537 gives £5 Coldoune, Ulplays & Knowglass.
Dundonald (51) 1562 gives £5 Coldoune.
Dundonald (54, 55, 56) 1597 give £5 Coldoune.
Dundonald (57) 1601 gives £5 Coldoune.
Dundonald (58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 66) 1621 give £5 Coldoune.
RMS VIII (724) 1621 gives £5 AE Couldoun.
Dundonald (67, 68, 70) 1622 give £5 Coldoune, also (71) undated.
Dundonald (72, 73, 74, 75) 1623 give £5 Coldoune.
RMS VIII (746) 1623 gives £5 AE Cowdoun, Wolplas & Knokglas.
Dundonald (76) 1631 gives £5 Coldoune, Ulplays & Knowglass.
Dundonald (77) 1631 gives £5 Coldoune.
Dundonald (78, 79) 1634 give £5 Coldoune.
Renfrew Retours (189) 1690 gives £5 AE Coudone, Wonpleyes & Knockglass with lake called Lochlevoch.
Purves p 162 gives Laidtoun as £5 (7½m). (I do not think this is Laidtoune in Kilmacolm parish (q.v.). I think this is more likely a transcription error).
Stewart f 49v gives Coldoun as £5 (7½m).
Craig of Neilston
RMS II (3421) 1509-10 gives £5 AE Crag-Neilstoun.
RSS VI (1663.45) 1572 (on an original of 1509) gives 50s Craigneilstoun which was presumably half the property; see (1663.46) for the other half.
RMS II (3712) 1511-12 gives £5 AE Crag de Neilsoun in lordship of Darnley.
GD220/1/F/6/2/5 1511/1512 gives £5 Craig of Neilston in the lordship of Darnley (Earl of Lennox).
NRAS 1209/1082 1545 gives £5 AE Crag of Nelestoun in lordship of Darnley.
RMS V (596) 1583 – No valuations.
Kirkton
RMS II (3712) 1511-12 gives £5 AE Kirktoun & Hoillhous in lordship of Darnley.
GD220/1/F/6/2/5 1511/1512 gives £5 Kirkton & Holehouse in the lordship of Darnley (Earl of Lennox).
RSS IV (2295) 1553 gives Ovir & Nethir Kirktoun.
Glanderston
There seem to have been 2 separate 5m units in Glanderstoun. One belonged to the family of Lennox, one to the Mures?
GD220/6/1967/4 1519 5m AE Glanderstoun in lordship of Darnley (Lennox). Also GD220/6/1969/2 15(??) (Lennox).
Fraser, Lennox II, No 139, pp 228-9, 1527 refers to a piece of land or tounship in Glanderstone called ‘Johne Wilsonis maling’ (i.e. the piece of land rented by John Wilson) (Lennox). See also GD220/2/1/139 1527 (Lennox); GD220/6/1976/1 1527, GD220/6/1978/1 1529.
RMS III (1229) 1532 5m AE Estir-Glanderstoun (ex Lennox, to Mure)
ER XXII p 491 1593 refers to 5m Eister Glanderstoun; (ex Mure).
Renfrew Retours (47) 1617 5m AE Glanderstoun; (Mure).
GD220/6/2026/9 1630 5m Glanderstoun (Lennox).
Renfrew Retours (113) 1642 5m AE Glanderstoun; (Mure).
GD220/6/2035/24 1675 5m Glanderstoune (Lennox).
Renfrew Retours Q (No 4) 1676 (see text file) refers to 5m Glanderstoune.
Dubbs
ER XII p 712 1503 gives a sasine to John, Lord Ros, of Overauchinbak, Duncardle, Dubbis.
ER XIV pp 528-9 1513 gives the same rent for Duncardlie and for Dubbis which is the immediately following item. This suggests they had the same value.
‘Duntardloy, Dubbis,’ in RMS IV (252) 1548.
Duncardloy and Dubbis are paired as 40s AE in a number of Retours: Renfrew Retours (36) 1615, (92) 1634, (99) 1636 & (138) 1649.
The only suggestion I can make for Duncardloy is Dunterlie (NS 5059) which lies just west of the Levern and so in Paisley parish. It is Dunter in Pont & Blaeu, Dunterly in Roy. A neighbouring name is Carlibar.
Fereneze
ER IX p 661 1450 gives a sasine to Robert Sempill of Farneleis.
AHC Volume I No 62, 1526 is an Action which gives us the names of 20 tenants in ‘Farnynes’ plus others in other locations.
AHC Volume I No 118, 1541 refers to David Pollok’s land of Farnyneis.
The Semple Rental of 1644 (AHC Volume II pp 178-179) gives a detailed breakdown of the components of this £10 land. The following properties are listed: Capillie 3m; West Mains ½m; Chapel 23s 4d (1¾m); Bar 20s; Mains 20s; Woodneuk 10s; Treis 11s; Crawstob 13s 4d; Nether & Over Gateside 10s; Kelloch 8s 9d + another unnamed place, probably also Kelloch at 8s 9d; Cowanstoun 10s; Castlehead 10s; Reflass 5s. Hoill is named but not valued. These total 196s 10d where £10 = 200s. We are missing 3s 2d.
It is likely that the missing 3s 2d concerns Killoch. In Renfrew Retours (49) 1619 Killoche is given an ‘Auld Extent’ valuation of 20s. In the Semple Rental of 1644 we have 8s 9d which is certainly Killoch and another 8s 9d which is probably Killoch. 2 x 8s 9d = 17s 6d which is 2s 6d short of the 20s we would expect. The Killoch of the Semple Rental also looks to have included a place called Boughholm – which is given no valuation. We have a further anomaly over the valuation of Ruffles (Raislat, Reflass etc), which is in Paisley parish. In Renfrew Retours (49) 1619 it is given as 3s 4d AE. In the Semple Rental of 1644 it is given as 5s. At this point we should probably admit defeat and accept that we cannot be certain of the individual valuations of the smallest components of this £10 estate. They may vary slightly between different documents – not because their values changed but because sometimes they included other very minor settlements and sometimes they didn’t.
We can compare the names of tenants given in 1526 with those entered in the rental of 1644. Families with the names Cochrane, Pinkertoun, Gammyll/Gemill, Crag/Craige are found in both.
Capellie
The Semple Rental of 1644 (AHC Volume II p 178) gives ‘Capillie’ within the rental of Ffernineis (Fereneze). There were 3 tenants each holding a 13s 4d land (or 1 merkland). They each paid the same rent: £66 13s 4d (i.e. 100m), 1 stirk, 1 wedder, 8 geese. This is a good example of how useful rents are as a check on land-assessment data. Lands of the same value should nominally pay the same rent. Over time, and changing circumstances, they often differed. But here, in 1644, we have lands whose valuations had probably been set as merklands in the twelfth century, still paying an equal rent. What’s more, the merklands of the twelfth century may have simply sat on top of even earlier valuations, possibly fractions of a pennyland, more probably fractions of a davach.
Chapel
The Semple Rental of 1644 (AHC Volume II p 178) has three entries for Chapel. There appear to have been three units of land, of 6s 8d, 6s 8d and 10s (total 23s 4d or 1¾m). The 10s unit included the mill. Each was rented by a John Cochrane, but it is not certain if this was one man. The two half-merk lands paid the same rent of £33 6s 8d (50m) and 1 wedder. The silver rent for a ½m was half that of a full merkland in Capellie.
Bar
The Semple Rental of 1644 (AHC Volume II p 178) has two entries which may refer to Bar. Since the entries are in the section headed Ffernineis (Fereneze) it is more likely that we should be looking at a Bar in Neilston parish than Barr in Lochwinnoch. The first entry specifically says John Cochrane, in Bar, 10s land. The next entry says only Gilbert Biggar, 10s land. However, since the holdings are of the same value, and pay the same rent (£40, 2 bolls beir [barley], 4½ geese and 15 hens) it seems fair to assume that each was half of the 20s land of Bar. It is possible this relates to Auldbarrs (q.v.).
In case any readers are wondering how a tenant paid 4½ geese it should be said that we frequently meet with fractions of an animal in a rental. Working out the respective dues in a subdivided property was an arithmetic process. If the original holding owed 9 geese then, when it was divided in two, each half became responsible for 4½ geese. When it came to actually handing over the rent, the tenant and factor would come to a practical arrangement such as an extra goose in alternate years, or a commuted money payment.
Arthurlie and Auldbarrs
Arthurlie was an important site but became fragmented; often associated with Partick (Renfrew parish).
Memoirs of the Maxwells of Pollok pp 146-8 No 25 1413 mentions a place called the Allerris.
RMS II (213-214) 1439-40 deals with two halves of Arthourle (ex John de Pollok).
GD148/14 1471 gives Wester Perthuyk and half Arthourle – passing to Elizabeth Steuarde, sister of deceased William Steuarde.
ER IX p 675 1473 is a sasine to Isabella Steuart of Perthvik and Athurley.
RMS II (1574) 1483-4, on original of 1483, King confirmed charter of Elizabeth Stewart, Lady of Parke, who had granted William Cunynghame of Craganys, the lands of Perthik and Arthurle, reddendo p.a. 5m in name of feufarm. Also in GD148/29-30 1483-1484.
ER X p 771 1495 gives a sasine to John Steuart of Wester Perthvik and Arthureley.
The Cartulary of Pollok-Maxwell p 312 No 4 1496 refers to ¼ of Arthurly.
GD148/50 1496-1497 refers to Arthurle, given by William Spark to his three sisters.
GD148/58 1500 refers to John Spark’s sale of Arthurle to William Cunynghame of Craganys. See also GD148/58A c. 1500 & GD148/59 1501.
ER XII p 711 1502 gives a sasine to John Ros which includes Arthurle.
GD148/67 1505 gives portioners of Arthurlie and Perthuic.
GD148/93 1512 gives ¼ Arthurlee and ½ Wester Pertik.
GD148/101 1520 gives ½ Wester Perthik and ¼ Arthurlie.
GD148/146 1537 gives ½ Wester Perthwik and ¼ Arthurlie.
The Cartulary of Pollok-Maxwell p 313 No 6 1543-4 refers to half the lands of Wester Perthwik, extending to 5m AE; and ¼ Arthurlie extending to 33s 4d AE.
Arthurlie and Alleris in RMS IV (253) 1548.
GD148/184 1556 gives 16s 8d lands of Arthourlie.
ER XXI pp 457-8 1581 refers to 5m AE Arthourlie & Allirs.
Renfrew Retours (36) 1615 has 5m AE Arthorlie & mill of Arthorlie. Also in Renfrew Retours (92) 1634 & (99) 1636.
Renfrew Retours (38) 1616 has ¼ Arthourlie at 33s 4d AE (2½m).
RMS VIII (732) 1621 has ¼ Arthourlie.
RMS IX (640.1) 1637 on original of 1622 gives 2 x ¼ parts of Arthurlie.
Renfrew Retours (124) 1646 has 2 x ¼ parts of Arthorlie extending to £3 6s 8d (5m) AE.
£5 6s 8d (8m) AE Arthurlie & Auldbarres + mill of Arthorlie in Renfrew Retours (112) 1641 & (139) 1649.
40s AE Auldbarris is mentioned separately to Arthurlie in Renfrew Retours (36) 1615, (92) 1634 & (99) 1636. It is with Arthurlie in Renfrew Retours (112) 1641 & (139) 1649. (The combination of Arthurlie and Auldbarrs as 8m is correct – Arthurlie being 5m and Auldbarrs being 3m).
Purves p 162 gives Artherlie as £3 6s 8d (5m).
Stewart f 50r gives Arthrly as 5m.
‘Craigends’ pp 138-140 c. 1690, refers to 5m AE of Arthurlay. The breakdown includes references to 15s Nether Arthurlay, as well as the lands of Hodgeglen and Wrays. (Roy’s map marks ‘Hodge Glen’ to S of Arthurly. Pont gives ‘Hogsglen’ to NNE of ‘Wrae’ and W of Auchenback. Blaeu does likewise).
I am not certain what the Allerris of 1413, Alleris in 1548, and the Allirs mentioned in 1581 refer to. Pont marks a hard-to-read place-name just south of Arthurlie & Aers which looks like N: (Arndts)?
It is difficult to give the total assessment of Arthurlie because I am not sure if some of the references to ‘one-quarter’ are actually of the whole unit, or perhaps only part of it. On the basis of the above it appears Arthurlie was 10m AE – if we take a quarter as 33s 4d. Robertson’s Table of Property in 1818 suggests it was £17 (25½m). However, I don’t think this will be Auld Extent.
Lyoncross
Lyandcors in RMS I (471) 1372-4. RMS I App. 2 p 629 Robert III Index A No 1699, Index B No 34 – Lyand Cross to Kilwinning Abbey from Sir John Maxwell of Pollok.
RMS II (2429) 1498 is a confirmation of a charter by Robert III in 1393, which in turn confirmed an earlier charter of Robert II in 1390. The charters were in favour of Kilwinning Abbey in Ayrshire. The charter of Robert III had united to Kilwinning the lands of ‘Liandcorse’ (Lyoncross) which had been given by Sir John Maxwell of Polloc. These documents are only calendared in the printed Register of the Great Seal (RMS). However, they are given in full, along with an English abstract, in ‘Archaeological and Historical Collections Relating to the Counties of Ayr and Wigton, Volume I, 1878, p 172 ff : Collections towards a history of the Monastery of Kilwinning’. Footnote 7 on page 179 gives two further references. Firstly, to a document (No 141) printed on pp 136-137 of Fraser’s ‘Memorials of the Montgomeries, Earls of Eglinton’, Volume II, 1859, which concerns the ‘Bailiery’ of Kilwinning (including ‘Lyandcorss’) in 1545. Secondly, to a document of 1559, given below under GD8/162.
AHC Volume I, No 82, 1531 gives a dispute about whether or not the tenants and inhabitants of Lyoncross were due fees to the mair of fee of the Over Ward of Renfrewshire. The Abbot resisted this on the grounds that Lyoncross was annexed to the regality of Kilwinning and its inhabitants had not had to pay these dues in the past.
10m Lyandcors in GD8/162 1559.
10m AE Lyandcorce in Renfrew Retours (13) 1602. Lyandcroce in RMS VI (1838) 1607.
10m AE Lyoncorss in Renfrew Retours (198) 1695.
Purves p 162, under the heading ‘The Kirklands of the Shire of Renfrew’, gives ‘The Lyon cross of the Abbot land of Kilwining’ £6 13s 4d (10m).
Stewart f 50r, under the heading ‘The Kirkland wtin [within] ye She(rif)fd(om) of Renfrew’, gives ‘The lyancorss of ye abbat land of Kilwyn(in)g’ £6 13s 4d (10m).
Auchinback
RMS I (799) 1390 grants Auchinbak to John de Rose.
ER XII p 711 1502 gives a sasine to John Ros which includes Auchinbankis.
ER XII p 712 1503 gives a sasine to John, Lord Ros, of Overauchinbak, Duncardle, Dubbis.
Nethir Auchinbak & Ovir Auchinbak in ER XIV pp 528-9 1513. Rents equal which suggests equal valuations.
Ovir Auchinbak in RMS IV (252) 1548.
Nethir Auchinbak in RMS IV (253) 1548.
5m AE Nethir Auchinbak in ER XXI pp 457-8 1581.
10m AE Nether Auchinback in Renfrew Retours (36) 1615.
40s (3m) AE Over Auchinbak in Renfrew Retours (36) 1615.
10m AE Nether Auchinback in Renfrew Retours (92) 1634.
40s (3m) AE Ovir Auchinback in Renfrew Retours (92) 1634.
5m AE Nethir Auchinbak in Renfrew Retours (99) 1636.
40s (3m) AE Over Auchinbak in Renfrew Retours (99) 1636.
5m AE Nether Auchinbak in Renfrew Retours (112) 1641.
40s (3m) AE Over Auchinbak in Renfrew Retours (138) 1649.
5m AE Nether Auchinbak in Renfrew Retours (139) 1649.
Caldwell
ER IX p 659 1444 gives a sasine to David Cauldvell of Estir Cauldvell.
ER IX p 666 1458 gives a sasine to Ade Mur of Nethircauldvell.
ER IX p 679 1479 gives a sasine to Alexander Cauldvell of Wester Cauldvell.
RSS I (3857) 1527 gives 5m AE Caldwell (Earl of Eglinton/Mure).
RSS III (1381) 1545 gives 5m AE Cauldwell, (1906, 1910) 1546 5m Cauldwell, (2957) 1548 5m AE Cauldwell.
ER XVIII p 391 1545 has 5m AE Caldwell (Hugh Montgomery).
ER XVIII p 471 1549 has 5m AE Westir Cauldwell (Thomas Cauldwell).
ER XVIII p 591 & p 596 1555 have 5m AE Caldwell (Earl of Eglinton).
RMS IV (1674) 1565 has 5m Caldwall.
RSS VI (1382) 1571 has 5m Cauldwell Eistir (Mure).
RMS VI (1838) 1607 gives 5m AE Cauldwell (Eglinton).
Renfrew Retours (47) 1617 has 5m Eister Caldwell (Mure).
Renfrew Retours (87) 1632 has 5m AE Wester Cauldwell (William Cauldwell).
Renfrew Retours (113) 1642 has 5m AE Eister Caldwell (Mure).
RS53 ff 29r-29v 1642 gives 5m AE Eister Cauldwall.
Renfrew Retours (127) 1647 has 5m AE Eister Cauldwalls (Mure).
Renfrew Retours (144) 1654 has 5m AE Eister Caldwell (Mure).
Renfrew Retours (159) 1661 has 5m Caldwall (Eglinton).
Renfrew Retours Q (No 4) 1676 (see text file) refers to 5m Easter Caldwalls (Mure).
GD3/1/2/4/14 1811 has 5m AE Little Caldwell (Earl of Eglinton).
Purves p 162 gives Knockmaid and Caldwell Easter as £8 6s 8d (12½m).
Stewart f 50r gives Knok(?)aid and Cauldwell Eister as £8 6s (?) (probably = 12½m). (This line is very faint).
With regard to the above two lines I have not included the £5 Knockmaid in Renfrewshire, although it is so given in some documents. If we subtract £5 or 7½m we are left with 5m for Easter Caldwell, which is consistent with other sources.
Purves p 162 gives Caldwell Wester as £3 6s 8d (5m).
Stewart f 50r gives Cauldwell Wester as £3 6s 8d (5m).
In summary it appears there were two Caldwells, Easter & Wester, each worth 5m.
Carswell
GD220/1/F/6/2/5 1511/1512 and RMS II (3712) 1511/1512 give £4 of the two Carsewells in the lordship of Darnley.
RMS III (3271) 1546 gives £5 Carswellis Ovir & Nethir.
ER XIX p 471 1561 gives Kerswellis Ovir & Nethir.
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