Skulferatu #146 - Keir Old Graveyard, Keir Mill, Dumfries and Galloway

While spending a few days in Penpont, I took a walk along the Scaur Water to visit the Old Graveyard at Keir Mill.  Sunlight flickered through the heavy covering of trees around me as I walked along a well-trodden dirt path.  Down a slight embankment the river gurgled and burbled while reflecting diamonds of bright sunshine and flickers of the blue grey of the sky above. 

 

Cutting up from the river by a bridge that led to the road, I walked on to the small village of Keir Mill and then down another dirt path and through some woods that brought me to the Old Graveyard.  Through the iron turnstile gate, I walked around the lichen covered gravestones through long, wet grass that soaked my feet. Like all graveyards around here, hundreds of rooks squawked from nearby trees, the braver ones flapping down to gravestone perches to keep an eye on what I was up to.

 

 

Keir Old Graveyard

 

 

Keir Old Graveyard

 

 

Gravestone at Old Graveyard

 

 

Gravestones at Old Graveyard

 

 

More gravestones

 

At the far end of the graveyard, I came to a gravestone marking where various members of the Macmillan family lay buried.  To anyone who is a fan of cycling, or even just enjoys getting out and about on a bike, this gravestone is an important memorial to one of the fathers of the bicycle, Kirkpatrick Macmillan.

 

 

Kirkpatrick Macmillan’s gravestone at Old Graveyard

 

 

Kirkpatrick Macmillan’s gravestone

 

Kirkpatrick Macmillan was a blacksmith from Keir and was the man who in 1839 created the first ever pedal driven bicycle, or velocipede as it was known back then.  Prior to this, bicycles were really nothing much more than hobbyhorses powered by walking or by just zooming on them down a hill.  Macmillan’s invention meant that a rider could now propel themselves along with pedals which made cycling much more efficient, and to prove this he took to cycling along the country roads around his home to show the potential of his machine.  On his bike he travelled from his home in Keir to Dumfries, some 14 miles away, in less than an hour.  In 1842 he set out from his home to Glasgow, 70 miles away, and completed the trip in two days.  Approaching Glasgow, he became one of the first people to be prosecuted for what we’d now see as reckless cycling.  A large crowd had gathered to see him and his marvellous invention when he accidentally knocked down a little girl.  The child was not badly hurt, but Macmillan had to appear at court the next day and was fined five shillings.  It was rumoured that the magistrate who fined him asked to see a demonstration of his bike and was so impressed that he paid the fine for him.  On his cycle back from Glasgow to his home it is said that he overtook the mail coach, his bike managing the stupefying speed of 8 miles an hour on the rough road.

 

 

Sketch of Macmillan’s bicycle

 

Macmillan never took out a patent for his invention or tried to monetise it, however the design for his bicycle was copied by several others who cashed in on it.  Not one to complain or care too much about that, Macmillan preferred to live the quiet life in his home in the countryside, where in 1878 he died at the age of 65.  The Smithy and house in which he lived still sits on a road just outside of Keir Mill and is adorned with various plaques celebrating his invention.

 

 

Kirkpatrick Macmillan

 

In a hollow in a tree standing near Macmillan’s grave I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on my walk.

 

 

Skulferatu #146

 

 

Skulferatu #146 in a hollow in a tree

 

 

Skulferatu #146 in a hollow in a tree

 

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #146

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 55.219208

Longitude -3.788853

 

what3words: trap.harmonica.pocketed

 

I used the following sources for information on Kirkpatrick MacMillan –

 

Cycling – 5^th December 1896

 

Dumfries and Galloway Standard – 8^th March 1939

 

The History of Cycling in Fifty Bikes

By Tom Ambrose

2013

 

Information plaque at the Old Smithy by Keir Mill

Skulferatu #145 - Threave Castle, Threave Island, Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway

 

Imagine taking a walk on a sunny, summer morning through the countryside while hundreds of birds sing in the hedgerows and trees around you, bees buzz, butterflies flap, and dragonflies appear in a brief flash to just then disappear again in the magical way that dragonflies do.  While you walk, the ruins of a castle tower appear in the distance and as you get closer you see it is on an island in the middle of a river.  By the river there is a wooden jetty with a bell on it and when you ring the bell a boatman comes from over on the island to ferry you across.  Ah, doesn’t that just sound like an ideal way to spend a summer morning? And yup, that’s just what I did today while taking a visit to Threave Castle just outside Castle Douglas.

 

 

Threave Castle – in the distance

 

 

A view of Threave Castle

 

 

A view of Threave Castle

 

 

Over the river to Threave Castle

 

Threave Castle is one of those imposing ruins, a symbol of the once powerful might of the Douglas family, who were at one time the Lords of Galloway and Earls of Douglas. Going by the name of the Black Douglases, they were a mighty and influential family in Scotland up until their downfall in 1455.

 

The castle was built in 1369 for Archibald Douglas when he was appointed the Lord of Galloway by King David II.  Archibald appears to have been a rather unpleasant character who was also known as Archibald the Grim, a nickname that some say was given to him due to his sinister looks and the harsh and cruel way he treated the people of Galloway, while others say it was because of his ‘countenance in warfare against the English.’ It could have been both, given that he ruled the lands he held with an iron fist and also seemed to enjoy battling with the armies of England.  Rising to become one of the most powerful men in Scotland, Archibald died an old man at Threave Castle in 1400.

 

 

Bridge over to the castle entrance

 

 

Threave Castle

 

 

The Artillery House

 

 

Gun loop

 

After Archibald’s death, Threave Castle remained with the Black Douglases, and over time their hold on so much power led to some jealousies and plots against them. One of these being from a member of their own extended family.  Things all kicked off when in 1437 King James I died and Archibald Douglas, the grandson of ‘The Grim’ was appointed the Lieutenant General of Scotland.  He was in effect the Regent as the new king, James II, was only six years old.  Unfortunately for Archibald, his role in the affairs of state didn’t last long as he died of a fever in 1439.  This left his son, William, who was around fourteen or fifteen at the time as his heir.  Various factions in the aristocracy realised that there was now a chance to step in and seize control, one of these being William’s great uncle, James Douglas, Earl of Avondale.  He, along with several powerful allies, including the Chancellor William Crichton, decided to break up and end the power of the family of the late Archibald Douglas.  They engineered an invite for William and his younger brother David to come and dine with the young King James at Edinburgh Castle.  There, while the boys were eating and chatting with the young King, Crichton and his men burst in, with Crichton placing a bull’s head on the table as a symbol for the execution of traitors.  He and his men then seized William and David, dragging them off to a show trial before having them beheaded on Castle Hill.  James Douglas then inherited his nephew’s wealth and titles to become the most powerful man in Scotland.  Enjoying his riches, James dined on the best foods and drank the finest wines.  So much so, that he became quite fat and earned the nickname ‘James the Gross’.

 

When James died, Threave Castle passed down to his son William. William, much like his father, enjoyed committing a bit of murder.  He, also like his father, wanted more land, more power, more everything.  So, firstly he improved the defences at the castle by fortifying it with an artillery house and then, along with the Earls of Crawford and Ross, he hatched a plot against King James.  Wanting a few more backers in his plot he also invited Patrick Maclellan, the Sheriff of Galloway to join with them.  Maclellan turned him down wanting no part in the scheme.  This didn’t sit well with William and the more he dwelt on this rejection, the angrier he became.  So much so, that he and his men seized Maclellan and took him to Threave Castle where they held him prisoner.   Maclellan’s uncle, Sir Patrick Grey, on hearing about his nephew’s plight appealed to the King who wrote a letter ordering William to release him.  Sir Patrick then rode to Threave and delivered the letter.  However, rather than handing Maclellan over, William hanged him from the battlements in front of his shocked uncle.  Sir Patrick then fled for his life.

 

 

Threave Castle

 

 

Threave Castle – East front and entrance gateway

 

King James on hearing of Maclellan’s murder and of William’s plotting decided that rather than go to all-out war with him, he would invite William to Stirling Castle under a promise of safe conduct and would try and reason with him. Surprisingly, William turned up.  Less surprisingly, things did not go well.  The King, after growing tired of trying to reason with William lost his temper and stabbed him in the neck.  His courtiers then joined in and hacked William to death, before throwing his bloodied and broken body out of a nearby window.  After this, things did not go well for the Black Douglases.  They lost much of their land and most of their power.  In 1455, after a siege, Threave Castle was surrendered to the King.

 

 

South side of the tower and the artillery house

 

 

South side of the tower

 

 

South side of the tower and artillery house

 

 

Atop the tower

 

 

Looking up the castle tower

 

The castle remained under the ownership of the Crown until 1526 when it was handed over to the Maxwell family.  It then enjoyed a relatively peaceful time until 1640.  The Maxwells were keen supporters of Charles I, and this led to the castle being besieged by the Covenanters.  The siege lasted for 13 weeks before the castle defenders agreed to surrender and were allowed to ‘march out with, bag and baggage and all the honours of war.’  The Covenanters then briefly occupied the castle before it was decided that it should be made uninhabitable.  The roof was removed, along with the ‘the lofting, doors, and windows’ and ‘the ironwork’.  Despite this, the castle was used again briefly in around 1810, this time to house French prisoners captured during the Napoleonic Wars.  In 1913 the castle was entrusted into state care.

 

 

View over River Dee from Threave Island

 

 

View from Threave Island

 

After having a good wander around the castle and the island, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on my visit in a hole in the ruins of the artillery house that stands at the side of the castle tower.

 

 

Skulferatu #145

 

 

The Artillery House

 

 

Skulferatu #145 in a hole in the wall

 

 

Skulferatu #145 in a hole in the wall

 

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #145

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 54.9394

Longitude -3.969712

 

what3words: quality.prank.mash

 

I used the following sources for information on Threave Castle –

 

The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century, Volume One

David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross

1887

 

Castles and Keeps of Scotland

Frank Roy Fraprie

1907

 

Traditions and Stories of Scottish Castles

A.H. Millar

1927

 

Historic Environment Scotland – Threave Castle

 

Canmore – Threave Castle

 

 

Skulferatu #144 - Tongland Abbey, Tongland, Dumfries and Galloway

 

On a sunny morning during a stay in Kirkcudbright I decided to pay a visit to Tongland.  Yes, Tongland is a real place.  Sounds made up I know, but it does exist.  It is a small village just outside Kirkcudbright with a few houses, a derelict church, a rather stunning looking Modernist style hydro power station (unfortunately hidden under scaffolding and sheeting during my visit to the area), and the remains of an ancient abbey that I fancied taking a look at. 

 

On leaving the Airbnb I was staying in, I walked along to the harbour and then took the path along by the River Dee.  Passing a small industrial estate area where in one of the units they make all that lovely fake food you see on the tables of various popular period dramas; I reached a more rural area of reeds and muddy banks.  Then making my way up and into fields of cows, past the remains of an old railway embankment and back to a path by the river, I ended up across from the power station.  Here the path I was walking on became narrower and more overgrown.  Wondering if I’d taken a wrong turning somewhere I decided to carry on regardless and thankfully soon came out on a proper, well-trodden path again that led me to a bridge over the river.  A little bit further with a stint along the main road and I was walking down a small residential street and into the grounds of the old and now derelict Tongland Parish Church.  Here in the graveyard, not far from the church, stand the last remains of the old abbey.

 

Abbey ruins in Tongland Graveyard

 

Abbey ruins in Tongland Graveyard

 

Abbey ruins in Tongland Graveyard

 

Abbey ruins in Tongland Graveyard

 

Tongland Abbey was founded in around 1218 by Alan, Lord of Galloway.  He, at this time, was one of the most powerful men in the whole of the British Isles who owned huge tracts of land in Scotland, England and Ireland.  A relative, friend and confidant of King John of England, he was one of the King’s advisers in 1215 negotiating the terms of the Magna Carta.

 

For over three hundred years the abbey was home to the Canons of the Premonstratensian Order who were also known as the much easier to pronounce ‘White Canons’ due to the colour of their habit.  The Premonstratensian Order were founded in 1120 by Norbert of Xanten, later Saint Norbert, at Premontre in France - hence the name.  Once an impressive set of buildings with the tallest spire in Galloway, all that remains of the abbey now are a wall and arched doorway that were incorporated into a later church.  This church, also a ruin, is now no more than some walls and a belfry. 

 

The Belfry

 

Doorway of the old abbey

 

The history of Tongland Abbey is a relatively peaceful one, though in 1235 during an uprising in Galloway against King Alexander II, royal troops killed both the Prior and Sacristan of the abbey.  Then in 1455 King James II used the abbey as his base while his troops carried out a siege on the nearby stronghold of the Douglas family, Threave Castle.  Other than that, the Canons carried on doing the things that Canons do.

 

There was however one rather colourful character who briefly occupied the role as Abbot at Tongland, this being John Damien.  He was an Italian, or maybe French alchemist, though malicious rumours were spread by his enemies that he was actually a ‘Mohammedan’ from Turkey who had murdered an Italian monk and stolen his habit.  On being discovered he had fled to France where still in monks garb, he passed himself off as a man of medicine.  There, he fleeced his patients out of exorbitant amounts of money and killed so many with his pills and potions that he had again to flee and ended up in Scotland.  Probably none of this is true, but he certainly did experiment with alchemy in an attempt to make gold from base metals.  He also tried to find potions that would make old men young, ill men well and one that would kill lice, a huge and itchy problem back then. 

 

Damien became a favourite of King James IV and would often be invited to play cards and backgammon with him.  He regularly took part in shooting matches with the King, using the primitive firearms of the day.   The King liked to wager large amounts of money on these matches, and he usually lost to Damien.  This however did not dampen the King’s affection for him and in 1504 he appointed Damien the Abbot of Tongland.  Whether Damien ever visited the abbey or just claimed a big fat wage from it, we don’t know.  It did appear though that he didn’t have a great deal of interest in carrying out his role and spent most of his time either carrying our various experiments in alchemy or enjoying himself at the King’s court.

 

In 1508, much to the amusement of his enemies…and his friends, Damien decided to experiment in flying.  He had a large pair of wings made with feathers sown into them and had these attached to his arms.  Then, in the first recorded attempt at flight in Scotland, he jumped off the walls at Stirling Castle.  Yup, you guessed it, he didn’t fly.  He went down, down, down and then SPLAT he landed in a dung heap.  He survived the fall but was out of action for a while with a broken thigh bone.  On recovering, Damien carried on much as he had before, but then after the Battle of Flodden in 1513 his name disappears from the records.  It is assumed that he died in the battle along with his friend and benefactor King James.

 

The history of the abbey during the 16^th century appears to have been one of decline with the buildings being recorded as in a poor condition in 1529 when they came under the care of the Bishop of Galloway.  By the time of the Scottish Reformation the religious community at the abbey had gone, and in 1587 the buildings and land around became the property of the Crown.  The abbey is recorded as still standing in 1684 but shortly after this appears to have been dismantled with the stone being used to build a nearby bridge and other buildings.

 

Tongland Parish Church

 

The graveyard in which the remains of the abbey stand is dominated by the derelict building of Tongland Parish Church.  This church was built in 1813 and then abandoned in the 1930s.  Since then, it has slowly fallen to bits and is now a roofless shell.  There was some talk of it being restored and used as an exhibition space, but this has never come to anything.

 

Tongland Parish Church

 

Wandering around the graveyard I came across the slightly creepy Neilson Mausoleum from which three white marble faces stare out.  This is the burial place of James Beaumont Neilson, the inventor of the hot-blast process for smelting iron, his wife Barbara Montgomerie and their son Walter Montgomerie Neilson, an engineer who founded the largest firm of locomotive and marine engine manufacturers in Europe.  All three at one time lived in and owned a nearby estate.  Peering in through the barred gate of the mausoleum I felt that the ivy creeping around Barbara’s face and obscuring her almost seemed to symbolise how the history of her life is lost in that of the two ‘great men’ she sits between.

 

Looking over graveyard to Neilson Mausoleum

 

The Neilson Mausoleum

 

Bust of Barbara Montgomerie

 

After a stroll through the graveyard, I made my way back to the abbey remains and there I left a Skulferatu balancing precariously in a gap in the wall.  I hope it doesn’t fall.

 

Skulferatu #144

 

Skulferatu #144 in a gap in the abbey wall

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #144

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 54.86302

Longitude -4.030535

 

what3words: homework.eradicate.tour

 

I used the following sources for information on Tongland Abbey -

 

Sidelights on the History, Industries and Social Life of Scotland

Louis Barbe

1919

 

Alan Lord of Galloway the ‘Magna Carta’ and Tongland Abbey

Tongland and Ringford Community Council

 

Canmore – Neilson Mausoleum, Tongland Abbey