Barony of Bonshaw
Encyclopedia
The Barony of Bonshaw, previously known as Bollingshaw, was in the old feudal Baillerie of Cunninghame
, near Stewarton
in what is now North Ayrshire
, Scotland
.
, Abbot of Arbroath
and Chancellor of Scotland; he was granted land in Aberdeenshire
in 1323 by Robert the Bruce for faithful service. This grant included a defensive work known as the Drum Tower
, thus William became the first Laird of Drum. The family had previously held the lands of Bonshaw and took their name from the village of Irvine in Annandale.
An Irvinehill Farm is still to be found near Kennox
which may relate to this family name or may simply signify that a good view of Irvine is to be had from this eminence. Alexander Smith (died 1938) and his spouse Robina Robb (died 1959) farmed Irvinehill in the mid 20th century and were buried in the Stewarton cemetery.
The Bonshaw barony and estate originally included Bonnyton (Girgenti
), Sandielands and Bankend as well as High and Laigh Chapelton.
Bonshaw, formerly Bollingshaw, Bonstonshaw, or Bollynschaw, was a small estate and Barony of the Boyd's, a cadet of the Boyds, Lords of Kilmarnock.
In 1482, James, Lord Boyd, was granted the lands of Bollynschaw, Chapelton, Crevoch, and others, reserving the tenement of the lands to his mother, Mary, Lady Hamilton.
A daughter of the Bonshaw family, Margaret Boyd, was a mistress to James IV
and her bastard son, Alexander Stewart, became Archbishop of St. Andrews. She later married John Mure of Rowallan Castle
. In 1592 Robertson records that Barbara Lawson, daughter of John Lawson owned the lands of Bonshaw and that by the 1690s they were in the hands of the Dundonald family, the Cochranes, the mansion house now being in utter ruins. A Charter of sasine under the Great Seal of Queen Anne was issued to the successors of the deceased Alexander Cochrane of Bollingshaw on 20 March 1706. The mansion house has been long demolished and all that remains are the entrance gateposts, an ice house and possibly the Moot hill and justice hill.
The first OS maps show the horse mill outside the detached building in front of the farm and stepping stones across the Glazert on a path running up to Crossgates. The later map shows what appears to be a small lake with a total re-arrangement of the formal gardens from the previous map.
Near to the existing farm is the Hut Knoll or more commonly Hutt Knowe (Huit is a 'stack' and Knowe is a 'knol' or low hill), also known as Bonshaw or Bollingshaw Mound, 17 m in diameter and 2.7 m high, variously described as a mounded corn-kiln or lime kiln, but unlike any other known example in the region.
Corn-drying kilns were often built into sloping ground or existing mounds. It has large integral basal stones and was described in 1890 as having culverts or 'penns' in its sides, although these are not visible today. A dwelling by the name of 'Hutt' existed at this location in the 1740s.
In 1828, Alexander Ferguson Reid inherited the estate, he was known as the "Ayrshire Genius" and was an inventor and collector of antiquities, as well as geological and natural history specimens. Reid dug into this Druidical Mound or Moot Hill
several times and found nothing to help explain its age or purpose. Most maps do not show the ice house which lies to the east of the driveway and some confusion in the descriptions may have arisen from misidentification of the ice house, limekiln and the Hutt Knowe. In the grounds of the present farm are curved ditches which are shown to have held water, either as ornamental ponds or for some practical purpose now unknown. The site had an apple orchard within the last 50 years or so, for John Hastings remembers raiding it.
Given that Bonshaw was the 'seat' of the Bollingshaw Barony it is likely that in addition to any other uses the two mounds of Hutt Knowe and Knockenlaw were respectively the Moot hill and justice or Gallows hill of the barony, where the laird would exercise his right of 'pit and gallows' until 1747 when the right was abolished as one of many measures linked to the 1745 Jacobite
rebellion.
Isabella Montgomerie of Dalmore House
married Robert Reid of Bonshaw (b 1827, d 1887).
, his grandfathers Ferrara
sword with which he fought at Drumclog, the first winnowing machine and teapot in Stewarton, devices for catching robbers, etc. etc. He had the stirrups from the horse that the Earl of Eglinton was riding when he was shot and killed by the gauger Mungo Campbell. The 'Hut Knoll' is described as a 'humplock', built by the 'wee Pechs' or by Druids.
In a small planting is described the place where Alexander Watt, a Jacobite
participant in 1745 rebellion, hid his silver when he was forced to flee to Ireland. Duguid comments that it is said that Reid has A fouth o'auld nicks nackets (nick-nacks) and that Captain Francis Grose himself (the author, artist & historian, and friend of Robbie Burns) was envious of the collection.
Cunninghame
Cunninghame is a former comital district of Scotland and also a district of the Strathclyde Region from 1975–1996.-Historic Cunninghame:The historic district of Cunninghame was bordered by the districts of Renfrew and Clydesdale to the north and east respectively, by the district of Kyle to the...
, near Stewarton
Stewarton
Stewarton is a town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. In comparison to the neighbouring towns of Kilmaurs, Fenwick, Dunlop and Lugton, it is a relatively large town, with a population of over 6,500. It is 300 feet above sea level.Groome, Francis H. . Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland. Pub. Caxton. London....
in what is now North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland with a population of roughly 136,000 people. It is located in the south-west region of Scotland, and borders the areas of Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire to the north-east and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the East and South...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
The Irvines and Boyds
William Irvine (c.1298) (also known as William de Irwin) was a clerk in the royal chancellery and protégé of BernardBernard of Kilwinning
Bernard was a Tironensian abbot, administrator and bishop active in late 13th- and early 14th-century Scotland, during the First War of Scottish Independence...
, Abbot of Arbroath
Abbot of Arbroath
Abbot of Arbroath was the head of the Tironensian Benedictine monastic community of Arbroath Abbey, Angus, Scotland, founded under the patronage of King William of Scotland from Kelso Abbey and dedicated to St Thomas of Canterbury. The abbot, John Gedy, was granted the mitre on 26 June 1396...
and Chancellor of Scotland; he was granted land in Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...
in 1323 by Robert the Bruce for faithful service. This grant included a defensive work known as the Drum Tower
Clan Irvine
-Origins of the clan:As a surname Irvine is of territorial origins from one of two places of the same name. Firstly from Irving, an old parish in Dumfriesshire and from Irvine in Ayrshire....
, thus William became the first Laird of Drum. The family had previously held the lands of Bonshaw and took their name from the village of Irvine in Annandale.
An Irvinehill Farm is still to be found near Kennox
Chapeltoun
Chapeltoun is an estate on the banks of the Annick Water in East Ayrshire, Scotland. This is a rural area famous for its milk and cheese production and the Ayrshire or Dunlop breed of cattle.-Templeton and the Knights Templar:...
which may relate to this family name or may simply signify that a good view of Irvine is to be had from this eminence. Alexander Smith (died 1938) and his spouse Robina Robb (died 1959) farmed Irvinehill in the mid 20th century and were buried in the Stewarton cemetery.
The Bonshaw barony and estate originally included Bonnyton (Girgenti
Girgenti House
Girgenti House was a small, rather eccentric mansion built on part of the old Barony of Bonshaw in the parish of Stewarton, East Ayrshire, Scotland.-Bonnyton:...
), Sandielands and Bankend as well as High and Laigh Chapelton.
In 1482, James, Lord Boyd, was granted the lands of Bollynschaw, Chapelton, Crevoch, and others, reserving the tenement of the lands to his mother, Mary, Lady Hamilton.
A daughter of the Bonshaw family, Margaret Boyd, was a mistress to James IV
James IV of Scotland
James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...
and her bastard son, Alexander Stewart, became Archbishop of St. Andrews. She later married John Mure of Rowallan Castle
Rowallan Castle
Rowallan Castle is an ancient castle located near Kilmaurs, at NS 4347 4242, about north of Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland. The castle stands on the banks of the Carmel Water, which may at one time have run much closer to the low eminence upon which the original castle stood, justifying the...
. In 1592 Robertson records that Barbara Lawson, daughter of John Lawson owned the lands of Bonshaw and that by the 1690s they were in the hands of the Dundonald family, the Cochranes, the mansion house now being in utter ruins. A Charter of sasine under the Great Seal of Queen Anne was issued to the successors of the deceased Alexander Cochrane of Bollingshaw on 20 March 1706. The mansion house has been long demolished and all that remains are the entrance gateposts, an ice house and possibly the Moot hill and justice hill.
The first OS maps show the horse mill outside the detached building in front of the farm and stepping stones across the Glazert on a path running up to Crossgates. The later map shows what appears to be a small lake with a total re-arrangement of the formal gardens from the previous map.
Alexander Reid and the Hutt Knowe
Corn-drying kilns were often built into sloping ground or existing mounds. It has large integral basal stones and was described in 1890 as having culverts or 'penns' in its sides, although these are not visible today. A dwelling by the name of 'Hutt' existed at this location in the 1740s.
Moot hill
A moot hill or mons placiti is a hill or mound historically used as an assembly or meeting place. In early medieval Britain, such hills were used for "moots", meetings of local people to settle local business. Among other things, proclamations might be read; decisions might be taken; court cases...
several times and found nothing to help explain its age or purpose. Most maps do not show the ice house which lies to the east of the driveway and some confusion in the descriptions may have arisen from misidentification of the ice house, limekiln and the Hutt Knowe. In the grounds of the present farm are curved ditches which are shown to have held water, either as ornamental ponds or for some practical purpose now unknown. The site had an apple orchard within the last 50 years or so, for John Hastings remembers raiding it.
Given that Bonshaw was the 'seat' of the Bollingshaw Barony it is likely that in addition to any other uses the two mounds of Hutt Knowe and Knockenlaw were respectively the Moot hill and justice or Gallows hill of the barony, where the laird would exercise his right of 'pit and gallows' until 1747 when the right was abolished as one of many measures linked to the 1745 Jacobite
Jacobite rising
The Jacobite Risings were a series of uprisings, rebellions, and wars in Great Britain and Ireland occurring between 1688 and 1746. The uprisings were aimed at returning James VII of Scotland and II of England, and later his descendants of the House of Stuart, to the throne after he was deposed by...
rebellion.
Isabella Montgomerie of Dalmore House
Dalmore House and Estate
Dalmore was a country house and small estate in the Parish of Stair, East Ayrshire, on the River Ayr, East Ayrshire, Scotland-History:...
married Robert Reid of Bonshaw (b 1827, d 1887).
Dr. Duguid's visit to Bonshaw
Dr. Duguid in a work of fiction visited 'Bonnshie', circa the 1840s and lists some of the items in Reid's collection, including garden seats made of bog-oak from Auchentiber MossAuchentiber
The hamlet of Auchentiber is in North Ayrshire, Parish of Kilwinning, Scotland. Auchentiber is NE of Kilwinning on the Lochlibo Road, from the hamlet of Burnhouse and from the village of Barrmill. Grid Ref. NS3647. Some new housing has been built, but the settlement is still very much a hamlet...
, his grandfathers Ferrara
Ferrara
Ferrara is a city and comune in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital city of the Province of Ferrara. It is situated 50 km north-northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km north...
sword with which he fought at Drumclog, the first winnowing machine and teapot in Stewarton, devices for catching robbers, etc. etc. He had the stirrups from the horse that the Earl of Eglinton was riding when he was shot and killed by the gauger Mungo Campbell. The 'Hut Knoll' is described as a 'humplock', built by the 'wee Pechs' or by Druids.
In a small planting is described the place where Alexander Watt, a Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
participant in 1745 rebellion, hid his silver when he was forced to flee to Ireland. Duguid comments that it is said that Reid has A fouth o'auld nicks nackets (nick-nacks) and that Captain Francis Grose himself (the author, artist & historian, and friend of Robbie Burns) was envious of the collection.
See also
- Barony of PeacockbankBarony of PeacockbankThe Barony of Peacockbank was in the old feudal Baillerie of Cunninghame, near Stewarton in what is now East Ayrshire, Scotland.-The history of Peacockbank:...
- LambroughtonLambroughtonLambroughton is a village in the old Barony of Kilmaurs, North Ayrshire, Scotland. This is a rural area famous for its milk and cheese production and the Ayrshire or Dunlop breed of cattle.-Origins of the name:...
- Corsehill
- A Researcher's Guide to Local History terminology
External links
- http://geo.nls.uk/roy/ General Roy's Military map of Scotland.
- http://www.futuremuseum.co.uk Details of the De Soulis, De Morville and other Cunninghame families.