"…..She was then to take some of the cow's milk and put it out at a hole of the house where no light came in……"

Imagine the scenario… It's 1631, a bitterly cold winter's morning and the cow's sick yet again….no milk for the porridge.
So what do you do to make it well again?  Easy, you pop round to the neighbours and persuade them to lend you their cat but without once using its name or causing anyone else to do so on your behalf. 
Then you take the poor moggie to the byre, carry it three times round the cow and throw it out the door(!)…..
Are you following this so far?  No? Well it actually happened in the village as the Kirk Session minutes of that year show.

(From a paper read to the Stirling Natural History and Archaeological Society on 18^th March 1930 by the Rev. J.H. Horton-McNeil, minister of Gargunnock who retired in 1934.)

"Among cases dealt with by the Kirk Session are cases of libel and scandal, and with suspected dealings with the power of witchcraft. 

A woman in the parish is accused in 1631 of going to another suspected of witchcraft to seek help for a sick cow. 

She confessed that she went to her, and the said Rosie bade her go home and go to some of her neighbours houses and seek from them the thing that slew the mice without speaking the proper name or suffering any other to speak the name of it. 

The poor cat was to be put thrice round the cow and then flung out at the door.  The woman was also to take her left foot shoe and put it thrice about the cow, and every time to give the cow a clap with the sole of it. 

She was then to take some of the cow's milk and put it out at a hole of the house where no light came in, and take it from the outside and mix it with the water of a March or boundary burn, and bring it home and put thrice thereof into the cow's lug,

"all of which she confessed she did and got the cat in William Swan's house, and within four days after had the fairest young cow.  Because this matter was odious and uncouth therefore the censure thereof was referred to the visitation of the Kirk which was to be shortly thereafter."

When she compeared at the visitation,

"After a grave reproof for her sin the Brethern ordained her to make her publick repentance upon the public place in her lining, and to be punished in her gear or goods at the sight of the Session who know her estate."

….the glafs again circulates, and health and fuccefs to his Majesty afcends with fhouts of joy to the skies….

Edinburgh Evening Courant (Price sixpence) - Thursday, November 16th 1797

The feuars had assembled, and it was resolved to celebrate the victory of their countrymen; two of their number were then deputed from the Meeting to wait on the chief heritors, and a handsome subscription was obtained.

On Wednesday evening the fog having subsided a little, candles were distributed to the poor, and immediately every cottage sent forth a cheerful ray, while the Manse, Martin's Inn, and other houses of size, showed a handsome illumination.  A fire then rose from the Laft Hill (top of the village right hand side) like another moon through the mist to guide the traveller, and the country folks who were hastening from every part to the scene of festivity.

The parade, consisting of the inhabitants that had arms, marched first to salute their patron, Colonel Eidingtoun (Gargunnock Estate); accompanied by several hundred of both sexes.  They were received with unfeigned joy and hospitality by the veteran Officer, who went through their ranks, spoke with great affability, and expressed his satisfaction at seeing so many loyal persons, that he made no doubt, should the occasion offer, would meet him again on the same ground to defend their rights and liberties.  Liquors were then distributed, and they returned, after expressing their thanks and respect for the family in repeated acclamations. 

A messenger being dispatched to Boquhan with an offer of the same compliment, they ascended the hill amidst the blaze of lights, where every house brought forth to its doors the country refreshments and liquors for the entertainment of their friends and visitors. 

Now they are assembled in order round the fire, the glass again circulates, and health and success to his Majesty ascends with shouts of joy to the skies; while the name of Admiral Duncan, with discharges of their arms, echoes through the hills.  The song and dance succeeds during the intervals.  The effusions of rustic mirth mixed with the demonstrations of their loyalty, and moderated by the presence of their favourite pastor, Mr Robertson for whose return they had delayed the celebration.  At a late hour the fires burning low, and the lights near extinguished, the peasant retires, pleased and satisfied, to a sound rest, to rise with fresh spirits again to the labours of the day.


These festivals have their use, whether in the village or at the hall of the country gentleman.  The tenant, the hind and the labourer look forward with satisfaction to the day when their toils and cares are to be dissolved in mirth; and if the season is well chosen as the present, it serves to connect and interest the people in the fortune of their country, and beget a public spirit of no mean use at the moment we draw near.

Does your Porridge Speak to You?

I've certainly heard mine whisper "Perth" but never  "Gargunnock"

The Leckie Broch

Deep in a wood in Leckie Estate a small girl sits on a rock with strange carvings on it.

The story I have (fairly accurate, I think) is that one day Lady Younger was out walking her dogs in the woods when one of them became snagged in a thicket of rhododendrons.  When rescuing it she noticed the rock and later passed word of her find to contacts in Glasgow.
 
The end result was an archaeological dig which uncovered evidence of a large, circular stone-built broch almost 1900 years old which had apparently been abandoned and destroyed very suddenly indeed, probably by the Romans.

To learn more point your browser at The Hunterian Museum, Glasgow. There the story is told in full and what a story.

Sadly the forest has recovered its own.  The rhododendrons have once again largely overgrown the area and the last time I looked (a few weeks ago) the carved rock has regained its anonymity with a thick covering of moss.….. And the little girl? My daughter. She's now a 30 years old and working at Longannet Power Station no less! (Wielding a big shovel, I tell anyone who asks)

In August 1745 the Young Pretender landed on the western shores of Scotland and his appearance amongst the Celtic peoples soon resulted in the gathering of the clans and an army began the march southward from Perth.

After camping at Dunblane the army proceeded westwards to cross the forth at the ford (later bridge) at Frew, near Kippen.  The Prince sent a message to the proprietor of Leckie Estate, George Moir saying that he expected to reach Leckie Castle the following day and share its hospitalities with members of his staff.  Moir had never been too open about his sympathies and perhaps would rather not have received the message, however he returned a reply couched in the most favourable terms.  Unfortunately his message was intercepted by Colonel Gardiner's dragoons who were in the area watching out for signs of the Prince's army and the messenger was taken off to Stirling Castle.  That evening a party of dragoons were sent to Leckie Castle to seize the hapless George Moir from his bedroom and transported him, too, to the castle where he remained for the next two years, only being released from the danger of execution after the interposition of Sir James Campbell of Ardkinglass and Gargunnock, a near neighbour and relative of the Duke of Argyle.

Colonel Gardiner then retired from Stirling to Edinburgh and the Princes army crossed the ford and proceeded eastwards through the village of Gargunnock by the Main Street (which was not a cul-de-sac then as it is now) and the Manse Brae then on to Touch and eventually to Bannockburn.  At mid-day the Prince arrived at Leckie and were received by Lady Betty, the Laird's sister, who acquainted them of the happenings the previous night.

During dinner the widow Forrester, better known by her maiden name, Katy Paterson, a mother of six fatherless children and a tenant in the Beild appeared in a state of great agitation.  Her case was a difficult one and Lady Betty laid it before the Prince who, as a result of his foreign training promised recompense afterwards.

Apparently some of the poor woman's sheep were being stolen by the Highlanders.  At this the Chief of the McGregors remarked that it would most likely have been the Camerons to blame.  "God forbid," retorted Locheil the Chief of the Camerons, "It'll be the McGregors."  "I'll wager a hundred pounds it's no the McGregors" retorted their Chieftain and at that both left the table and with pistols loaded ascended the hill vowing that they would personally kill any of their own kinsmen involved.

As they passed onward they came upon a Cameron with a sheep on his shoulder.   Locheil raised his pistol, aimed and fired, wounding the theif in the lung.  He then addressed his retainers on the outrageous proceeding of stealing from friends and gave warnings for the future.  The poor wounded man was transported with them as far as Touch where he died the next day.

Mr Seton of Touch was abroad at the time and his house joiner (an austere royalist) refused to provide a coffin for the dead man but another joiner with different views did and the burial took place near the Bridge of Millburn on Touch Estate.  When Mr Seton returned he paid off the royallist joiner and replaced him with the second whose descendants have now long been associated with the area.

From the Stirling Journal and Advertiser of 1895

PS   This story has been repeated recently in a local newspaper by a well known local historian who, however, locates it entirely in Touch Estate.  Who's right?….Who knows?  Over 300 years stories are bound to change a bit but my money is on this version.

For those of you who are interested in the history of the Lairds of the lands of Leckie, I have now transcribed into a Microsoft Word file a booklet written in 1906 called "The Lairds of Leckie" which traces the ownership of Leckie from Robert the Bruce down to modern times.   Anyone strong enough to read its 17 closely typed pages, some of which are in old Scots legal language will learn, amongst other things, about the decline of the family, Leckie after the Laird was murdered, and how his son, at the time an infant, pursued the perpetrators in the cause of justice for decades thereafter.
If you would like a copy just email me

Muirhead Bone's connection with Gargunnock seems to have been through the minister Dr Robert Stevenson who served here from 1888 to 1927.  He stayed for a time at the manse in 1910 and standing at the study window one day (see below, left) sketched a view of the path taken by the minister from the manse to the churchyard each Sunday.  The signed and dated sketch was returned to the Kirk Session by Dr Stevenson in the 1940s with a letter describing it and the artist.  He was invited to the inauguration of the first public water supply in the village, paid for by the minister, but sent his apologies    A framed magazine reproduction of an etching (bottom left) by him of the North wing of the church hangs in Gargunnock House.

Muirhead Bone was born in Glasgow in 1876.  He was trained as an architect but worked as an etcher and watercolour artist. He settled in London in 1901 where he became a member of the New English Art Club.

On the outbreak of the First World War, the government minister, Charles Masterman, became the head of the War Propaganda Bureau (WPB). At first the WPB concentrated on producing pamphlets but Masterman was aware that the right sort of pictures would help the war effort. In May 1916 he recruited Bone as Britain's first official war artist. Commissioned as an honorary second lieutenant, Bone arrived in France during the Battle of the Somme.

After completing 150 drawings of the war, Bone returned to England in October, 1916. Over the next few months he drew pictures of shipyards and battleships. He visited France again in 1917 where he took particular interest in the ruined towns and villages.

His works appear in the catalogues of many of the world's most famous collections.

After the Armistice, Bone returned to the type of work he produced before the war.  Knighted in 1937, Bone was also a war artist in the Second World War. He was thought by many to be a bit detached from his subject, only painting or drawing what he or anyone else could see with their own eyes.

.Sir Muirhead Bone died in 1953.

It's not often us amateur artists get to hang beside famous ones like Muirhead-Bone is it?  Especially with a bit of world-wide exposure thrown in.

Who could resist it?  Certainly not me.  Everyone deserves their 15 minutes of fame don't they?

So here's one of my own efforts showing Trelawney House in the Square.  It's done in what I call the "Peoples' Friend" style, for those of you familiar with that magazine.

Trelawney Cottage was built in the late 1700s by John Murdoch, son of the farmer in the Beild Farm a short

distance to the west of the village in Leckie Estate.  The house owes its present day looks to a renovation in the early 1900s.

At various times it has been an Inn, a young-men's club and Guest House (a name still used by older inhabitants in the village, including me) and, during the 80's, a Sub Post Office occupied the smaller portion which originally was a stable.

It is now occupied by our resident genealogist Ian McCallum who has researched and written a fascinating history of the house.

Do I hear any offers of commissions???