Pilgrim Spots in Galloway - M'Kerlie. 1916.
Galloway - Sloan. 1908
BUITTLE, Galloway - Rev. R.T.Tarbet. 1899
Extracted from: "Pilgrim Spots in Galloway" by E Marrianne H M'Kerlie, published Sands & Co, London. 1916.
BUITTLE
Besides its great historical interest, Buittle in old days was famed for its orchards, - a fame that now would seem to belong to its granite quarries. Far profounder and further reaching, however, are the memories preserved in the names of its two churches dedicated respectively to St Ennan and St Colmonel.
The former was the earlier church, situated on the west bank of the Urr, near its embouchure. Whether its dedication was to St Iman, like the one at Parton, or to St Ennan, first bishop of Raplere, can only now be a conjecture.
The church of Kirkennan, in the thirteenth century, was granted by Devorgilla to New Abbey, and the site may still be pointed out at Kirkenner, now a private property.
Whatever divergence of opinion may exist respecting the origin of the name of Buittle, the dedication of its second church would seem to ally it with the Island of Bute, which took its name from a little cell erected there by St Brendan, which in Gaelic was called bothe, and he was honoured as patron of this royal island " (St Brendan the Voyager, O'Donoghue, p. 213).
In Western Galloway we know that he was also honoured in the person of his best-known disciple, St Machute (St Malo), at Wigton. St Colmonel, however, was a predecessor of St Brendan, and also had his commemoration in the Island of Bute.
In the words of Dom Michael Barrett (Cal. of Scot. Saints), he is thus referred to "St Colmoc or St Colman, bishop, A.D. 500. He was an Irish Saint, and became bishop of Dromore. There is no record of St Colmoe having ever lived in Scotland, but Scottish writers number him among the Saints of the country; and from the dedications in his honour still existing, there seems good reason for supposing that he had some connection with that kingdom…. Another dedication is Kilmochalmaig, - the site of an ancient church on the west coast of Bute where the remains of a pillar with a sculptured cross may still be seen."
GALLOWAY. by J.M. Sloan. A&C Black, 1908.
Gazing towards the tortuous Urr from any of the hills around its estuary, with Rough Island breaking in colours of grey and green the monotony of the tide-washed expanse of land below, the sorely damaged face of Craignair Hill arrests the eye in the distance. 'This hill is - or rather was - composed of a superior quality of granite, which has been quarried for a hundred years or more until its dimensions have been reduced by the larger half. From Craignair the town of Dalbeattie - about 5000 inhabitants - in which the houses are almost uniformly built of local granite, has mainly derived its industrial history.
The granite affords to this district one of the most important industries in Galloway, the stone, whether crushed or in rough blocks, or hewn and polished, finding its way by rail way and river into all parts of the world. An aerial ropeway connects the quarries and crushing mills at Craignair with the railway at Dalbeattie, and affords a curious instance of science as applied to commerce invading the tranquil beauty of nature in that delightful vale of Urr.
On the west side of the river, and surrounded by sheltering woods and hills, are the neighbouring mansions of Kirkennan and Munches. The estate of Munches, rich in its deposit of granite and noted for its arboriculture, is the home in chief in Galloway of the ancient Maxwell family of Munches and Terraughty, another branch of the Galloway clan of the Maxwells. A former laird of Munches, Mr. W. H. Maxwell, represented Kirkcudbrightshire in the first Gladstone Parliament from 1868 to 1874, and was Convener of his County from the establishment of County Councils in 1888 continuously until his death in 1900. He was a distinguished agriculturist, and the most popular Gallovidian of his time. His memory survives not only in his native valley, but in all Galloway.
The undulating country around and beyond Dalbeattie, with the Urr flowing through it, is rich in features of natural beauty and in its historical associations. In this valley lay the ancient Barony of Urr, which in the period of Edwards occupation was attached to one Percy, of the clan of the Northumberland Percys, and was conferred by Bruce upon Sir James Douglas after the battle of Bannockburn. Nestling cosily in the near shadow of the background of wooded hills to the north of Craignair the vanishing remnant may be traced of the ancient Castle of Buittle, or Botle. The derivation of the name is one of a host of moot points in Galloway nomenclature. Probably Sir Herbert Maxwell is not far from the truth of history when he traces it to the Anglo-Saxon Botle, meaning a dwelling the old name being reminiscent of the invasion and influence of the Northumbrian Saxons among the Celts of Galloway in the Dark Ages.
At Buittle a Scottish king was born - John de Baliol - for in the thirteenth century this castle in its fastness by the Urr was the home of the John de Baliol, husband of Devorguila, one of the three daughters of Alan, the last of the old Lords of Galloway, who by right of his wife was the feudal ruler of the province. The patriot's foot treads softly about this ruin, where seven centuries of change and decay have perhaps modified but little the engaging natural beauty of the landscape.
Higher up the river, beyond the railway, sleeping in the green pastures there through the rushing ages, defiant of all storms and floods, is the Moat of Urr, which occupies an important niche in Scottish archaeology, one of the largest and most complete of several hoary old moats in Galloway that keep perennially green on the surface, albeit at the heart grey enough with age. It is a conical mound, with the top perfectly flat, and discovers in distinct outline the lingering formation of a citadel and trenches. Veiled in darkness nigh impenetrable is the origin of this relic of antiquity. Prehistoric it may be, a place of Pagan sacrifice to the Sun-God, who often sets thereabouts in awesome colours ; a rude court of justice subsequently; or it may have been thrown together for purposes of defence in the age of Fergus. Let the old moat keep its secret!
If romantic tradition be true, the moat and the grazing-land around it were bestowed by Robert the Bruce upon one Dame Sprotte during the War of Independence. Bruce had deteated Sir Walter Selby in a duel there, with the aid of that Galloway Amazon, who entertained the warriors, after the combat, to her bowl of brose. King Robert expressed his gratitude by giving Dame Sprotte as much land as she could run round within the time required by him and Sir Walter Selby to complete the frugal refreshment.
Going back towards the Buittle of the De Baliols and the good Devorguila, the cleft in the hills, above which is seen the Buittle parish kirk, opens a natural avenue to further vignettes of picturesque country in Galloway East. The kirk of Buittle occupies a site apart, as if inviting the peasantry around to refreshment amid the peace of nature. The minister of Buittle in Burns's Dumfries years was one of the fighting parsons of Galloway, who attained to immortality of a sort, made worse, doubtless, than he deserved, through the licence of his satirist;
And by our banners marched Muirhead,
And Buittle was na slack;
Whase holy priesthood nane can stain
For wha can dye the black?
Behind the kirk of Buittle an irregular expanse of hills, mostly wooded, separates the higher tableland there from the flat country around the base of Screel and Bengairn. Of especial importance for its romantic charm is the ravine running from Gelston Castle, immediately under the eastern side of Screel, and towards the lands Orchardton This beautiful glen has sometimes been called "the Trossachs of Galloway."
Through it passes the road between Castle-Douglas and Auchencairn. Its sylvan charm is heightened by the contrasts in colour and outline afforded by the lower ridges of Screel, where grey rocks look out from among the heather. Over all the plain stretching towards Auchencairn and the sea thereabouts have long been in ruins. This curious old tower is associated with Scott's Guy Mannering It belonged to Sir Robert Maxwell laird of Orchardton in the early decades of the eighteenth century, the prototype of Scott's "Bertram"
As an infant Sir Robert was educated at Douay. Escaping from that seminary, he joined the army of France. He fought in the Stuart cause at Culloden, not knowing his relation then to the estate of Orchardton. Along with other soldiers of the beaten Culloden army, he was a fugitive in Galloway, where he was captured and confined in the Tower of Orchardton - his own ancestral property. Sir Roberts identity was discovered by an old female servant, and the estate of Orchardton wrested from his uncle by process of law. This Sir Robert Maxwell, whose romantic history softens the lichens on the old walls of the decaying tower, married a daughter of the last Lord Kirkcudbright. He lost the estate of Orchardton in consequence of his responsible partnership in the notorious Douglas and Heron Bank in Ayr, the failure of which was the blackest day, in the commercial sense, which the Scottish Westlands experience in all the second half of the eighteenth century.
Buittle, Galloway, by R.T.Tarbet. (From The Gallovidian, Vol.1. Summer 1899.
"Gallawa' hills they waive wi' broom
Wi' heather-bells and bonnie bloom ;
There are lordly estates and livin'd braw
Amang the hills o' Gallowa'
WHERE is Buittle ? Teaching a class one day, I had occasion to use the word
''credentials,'' and endeavoured to bring home its meaning to the members by asking a boy
what a merchant in Glasgow, who had never seen him before, would say to him if he went
into his warehouse and said he wanted a parcel of goods for the minister of Buittle. To
this I had the naive reply ''The first thing he would say would be "Where is Buittle
?"
If the reader will look at the map and mark the towns of Dalbeattie and Castle-Douglas and
the Solway shore, he may know that within those marks the parish lies. Or, if his map is
sufficiently large and detailed, let him note the river Urr and know that the parish lies
ten miles along its right bank down to where the river enters the sea.
Now, as to the pronunciation of the name. It is purely Gallovidian. When I was elected to
this charge a friend wrote to me
"The elected of Buittle
My greetings are due till."
That is quite off the mark. Another wrote
"Here casten is thy lot
For time or long or little
Be true to thine own heart,
True to the hearts of Buittle."
But neither is that quite right. It is more like the French "oeu", Boeuttle
and yet not quite that either.
As to the meaning, the present spelling gives no clue. But it was formerly spelt Botel,
and those who have inquired into the meaning of our place-names at once recognise a Saxon
word signifying house. It is the same word as in Newbattle (new house) and Morebattle
(great house). You have it also in Battle, near Hastings, and in Bootle, Lancashire.
The name is really the avenue that leads us into the history of the parish. What was it
that was called "Botel"?, the church, as in these other instances, or the old
castle, Buittle Castle? I thought at first the name was given to the church, for Buittle
Church, I learned, was a house in connection with Sweetheart Abbey. Among other traces of
connection, the monks of Sweetheart had a right to the flower of the produce of Buittle
garden. (In one respect, I may be permitted to think that times have changed for the
better.) But, on further reflection, I incline rather to think that the name was given to
the castle.
It is impossible here to enter into an antiquarian argument on the subject; but, among
other reasons, I may state this one. At the time the castle was built, and before it,
there are traces of churches in Buittle, but they go under a different name. There was a
church dedicated to Saint Inan (C. 809), a trace of which is preserved in the name of an
estate, Kirkennan. On a certain field thereof signs of a churchyard were discovered.
The earliest written notice seems to be of 13th January, 1297, when Master Richard de
Haveryng, clericus, had letters of presentation to the church of Botel. By this time the
castle and barony existed.
There is a confirmation by Pope Benedict XIII. of a charter by Thomas, Bishop of Galloway,
dated 16th July, 1381, granting the church of St. Colmonell of Butyll to the Abbey of
Sweetheart. That name survives, if it indeed be the same, in that of a well not far from
the present ruin, called "Sancomell." The present ruin is probably the ruin of
"that new church built before the Reformation in the Barony of Buittle."
What now of Buittle Castle? There are no visible remains, although the foundation may be
traced. The place has been carefully explored, and, I am informed, nothing of any
consequence was found - some large bones, which it at first was greedily believed pointed
to giant inhabitants of "those days," but which on closer inspection, proved to
be the bones of animals that had furnished the larder.
Its story begins in the thirteenth century with the name of John Balliol, who married
Devorgilla, daughter of Alan, Lord of Galloway The tale is told in Wyntoun's Chronicle:-
"Now to rehers it is my will
Some wertys dedis off Dervorgill,
That lady was as I hard say
Alanys douchter off Galloway
Jhon eldare Ballyoll in his lyffe
That lady weddyt till his wyff
And on her syne efftyr that
Jhon the Ballyoll the King he gat."
This son was the competitor with Bruce for the crown of Scotland. Balliol senior died
in 1269, and was survived by Devorgilla over twenty years. Need I tell again how, in
devotion to his memory, she had his heart encased in silver, and how in Buittle Castle and
her other dwellings she set it where he used to sit at table, and put before it the food
that would have been put before him, and how the poor waited at her door and had her dead
lord's portion distributed to them? In memory of her lord, and as a resting-place for that
"sweet heart," she founded Sweetheart Abbey. From Buittle the charter of Balliol
College, Oxford, was dated.
Patriotic as well as devout, she built the old bridge, which stands to this day, across
the Nith, connecting Galloway with Dumfries.
The name of Buittle recurs in our national history but in a bald form. Bruce marched on
Buittle after burning Dumfries. We find the Comyns temporarily in possession. When Bruce
succeeded to the throne he granted the lands of Buittle to Sir James Douglas of Douglas.
In 1346 Edward Balliol took up his residence at Buittle Castle. In 1355-56 Balliol
surrendered his claim to the Crown, and the estates fell back into the Douglas family
till, in 1455, they became forfeit, and the lordship of Galloway reverted to the Crown. It
was probably retained as royal property till Queen Margaret bestowed Buittle on a Robert
Maxwell, tutor to her son James V.
Step by step that royal palace, that meeting place of knights and dames of renown, sank
into obscurity. It would seem that places, like systems, "have their day and cease to
be." Like persons they play their part upon the stage, the curtain falls, and they
disappear. But another twist of the thread in these "Three Old Women's hands"
and Buittle might have been, to-day at least another Balmoral.
There is a very old building in the parish - viz, the round Tower of Orchardton. It is the
only round tower in Galloway. What its use was is a question. Neither its site nor form
seems adapted for defence. There are gruesome hints about its being used as a dungeon
prison by the terrible Douglases, of living deaths within, and fearful hangings without.
There attaches to the tower the romantic story out of which Scott wove the tale of Guy
Mannering. The narrative of Miss Goldie is to the effect that rebels after Culloden hiding
by the coast, with the hope of escaping across to the Isle of Man, were caught and brought
to the tower before Mr Goldie, the Commissary from Dumfries. He seemed to have no
alternative but to order the execution of the prisoners, when he was struck by the
appearance of a young man who was tearing up a paper. He bade them seize the paper, which
was found to be his commission as an officer from the King of France. So he was able to
detain him as a prisoner of war instead of shooting him as a rebel. He proved to be the
long lost heir of Orchardton, only son of the late Sir Robert Maxwell.
The ecclesiastical history of the parish since the Reformation is not marked by any
notable feature. All the ministers before me since the Revolution Settlement, five in
number, are buried in the churchyard, and, according to their epitaphs, they were all men
of distinguished learning and piety (de mortuis nil nisi bonum). An old farmer,
living when I came, remembered worshipping within the old walls, i.e., of the present
ruin, and he spoke, I think, of the "earth floor." The present church was built
in 1819.
An old custom survives still, in the use of shortbread at Communion. There are some who
trace the origin of the use of this bread to the fact that it is unleavened, but I think
that a more probable explanation which sees in the custom only a natural desire to use the
finer bread for that sacred purpose when there were only the two kinds of bread baked -
this and the common oatmeal cakes. Although this use is now rare, I fancy it must have
been common in many parishes, especially country parishes, and that up till thirty or
forty years ago, or even a time less remote.
While the parish no longer knows the presence of royal knights and royal dames, nor its
hills and valleys longer ring with the clash of sword and spear, it has a modern
distinction of another sort. It is the main seat of the granite industry of the south; the
granite burgh of the south, Dalbeattie, in a large measure depends on the great quarries
in Craignair Hill in Buittle; while much of the granite is shipped from Palnackie, a small
port in the parish. So extensive is the industry, including granite crushing and the
making of granolithic, that one may speak quite literally of a greater Buittle furth of
the geographical bounds for that rugged hill, Craignair, has gone to make many a smooth
pavement: those unshapely boulders are among the fairest ornaments of more than one city ;
yea the famous Thames embankment itself came largely from Buittle.
