Members of LADAS are often given the opportunity to investigate the historical and archaeological significance of buildings or other objects:
Summer 2001 I went up with Colin McAllister and his wife Marion to look at a baptismal stone on a small back road from the Glespin running in the general direction of Glentaggart. The "font " is to be found near the site of a fort underneath Hartwood Hill. It is hollowed out to form two compartments and really it would be unlikely to be used as a baptismal stone. It is marked on Forrest's map of 1816 and has been thought to have been removed from building prior to that that date. Hutchison and MacFeat in their book Douglas - Dale speculate that it might have come from a chapel site suggesting there was a chapel up in the area, confirming this by claiming that Glentaggart actually means the glen of the priest and that the stone was some form of rare double piscina.
A piscina was used for washing the communion cup and paten in but I think that this is unlikely as the piscina normally has a drain in it to let the water escape. Could it be a cross base? Unlikely as two crosses could not have been placed in such close proximity. However if the crosses were round-headed crosses and the sockets were for two stone shafts this might be a possibility. It is known that the monks of Paisley worked up in this area in the early 13th century exploiting the lead. As can be seen in the photograph above, the area is very remote and fairly featureless and if it were like that in those days then some obvious way marker would be useful though this still does not explain what the two depressions were for. Again there would be problems inserting anything into the sockets, as they are not really deep enough. The only thing that the stone reminds me of is a plague stone. In the 17th century in England such stones were used for putting coins in vinegar for goods to prevent the spread of plague. Could one side be used for putting the money in for the goods that were required and the other side for payment for goods left by the stone?
Finally could the stone be much earlier and belong to the prehistoric fort marked as being in existence nearby. Certainly the Covenanter story will continue to be the most acceptable as this area is steeped in the stories of the era. Sadly it is now impossible to go up this road to see the stone as coal extraction is now about to start and the whole area will change.
Early in February I was given a ring by a friend of mine, Colin McAllister, who informed me that a friend of his had found a font. I must admit that I was somewhat sceptical at first as many things that one is called to look at, turn out to be relatively modern or totally different from what one is led to believe. However I was absolutely delighted to find that I was totally wrong and the font was genuine. Underneath is a picture of the font as I saw it when I stopped off on my way back from work to take a look at it.
I must say that I was very pleased to witness a discovery of some importance. I have never seen a font turn up in anywhere other than a church or museum. Moreover the font was actually carved with a number of symbols-these include the Scottish saltire, the scallop shell of St James of Compostella, a fleur de lys and a lion rampant.
The date of the font is possibly 15th/16th century and probably originates from the parish church of Carstairs. The old parish church was demolished at the time of the First Statistical Account-1790. The indications are that some of the stone was brought to build or patch up a set of buildings and cottages that were at Ravenstruther and these are illustrated underneath.
The cottages are no longer there though the ruined remains of them were around till mid February when they were demolished and the stone taken away. Unfortunately I was unable to see the demolition take place though I gather from the owner of the site that nothing else came up. However he did say that it was difficult to see what was happening. Nevertheless I am very pleased with what has been recovered.
The church where the font is likely to have come from is, as I have said, Carstairs. There some pieces of mediaeval masonry at Carstairs including the up turned part of a pillar of the 15/16th century period. Other pieces were taken to Monteith house formerly known as Carstairs House by the Monteith family.
The surviving pieces indicate that Carstairs parish church was a fine building and this is borne out by the fact that its patrons were the bishops/archbishops of Glasgow. Not only were the bishops of Glasgow responsible for the parish church but a castle as well. Carstairs takes its name from the Anglo Norman French words Castel de Terra (Castle of Earth). This refers to a motte that by the time of Edward 1 was being replaced by a stone castle as at the time of the Wars of Independence by Bishop Wishart. Wishart was a prominent supprter of William Wallace and it would not have been long before the castle was taken over by the English. Indeed in 1302 we hear of an English garrison at Carstairs under Richard de Bromsgrove being supplied from Leith. At that time the castle was considered to be superior to the castle at Lanark since it was built of stone whereas Lanark Castle was built of wood.
There have been accounts of mediaeval objects being found at Carstairs as far back as the eighteenth century. In MacCallum Scott's book on Clydesdale, which was published in 1924, there is plenty of good information about the church and various discoveries. Apparently Bishop Pococke from Meath in Ireland visited Carstairs Village in May 1760. He mentions a pillar and base decorated with a fleur de lys as well as a gothic head. He had a drawing made of the head but it disappeared. Another visitor General Roy mentions the discovery of a so-called Roman bath found during digging in the area of the church. This is however likely to be the apse of a Romanesque church built by the Bishops of Glasgow in the twelfth century.
The item below may also belong to this period. It is either a small font or, more likely, a holy water stoup.
It is painted and there is a possibility that the paint is original. If it is as old as I think then it could belong to the original chapel of St Mary of Welbent, which is thought to have been founded in the late twelfth century by Bishop Ingram. The revenues of this chapel were confirmed as belonging to Glasgow Cathedral by a charter of Pope Alexander III.
There are a number of candidates who could have gifted the font to the chapel of St Mary. I will discuss several options. One thing is for sure and that is the chapel later to be called a church of Carstairs and its lands were considered a valuable asset to the Prebends of Glasgow Cathedral. A Prebend was a Canon and as such he would have a town house near the cathedral, unfortunately the Prebend's house for Carstairs no longer survives. The only Prebend's house to survive is Provand's Lordship near the cathedral. We do know that the Prebends who held Carstairs were by the standards of the day highly educated people. Some of them even studied abroad at Orleans, Paris, Florence and Barcelona Universities. As the font has the fleur de lys on it, I would think that this suggests a French connection as far as the donor is concerned.
A possible candidate could be John de Castelarris who made several supplications about his benefice. In 1417 he realized that it was unwise to support the anti pope at Avignon. He had a rival Thomas de Myrton who pointed out that John had supported Benedict XIII. However Thomas did not reckon with John Stewart-John's patron, who was Constable of the Scottish army in France. In 1422 John Stewart supported John's claim, as he was both his personal secretary and prebend to the church of St Mary Orleans, which was John Stewart's church. John de Castelarris triumphed at the second attempt and got Carstairs. Apart from the support of his patron, he got the backing of Pope Martin V who was trying to get the pro Avignon supporters on his side since he wished to promote a spirit of reconciliation after the conference at Constance in 1420. This conference brought to the end the period of the Avignon papacy, which had been well supported by the Scottish Church.
Equally a strong case could be made for Robert Blackadder, Archbishop of Glasgow who had the chapel of St Mary, Carstairs made into a church by 1508. Archbishop Blackadder is described as building and repairing the chapel. The font could date from this period as well as the column section illustrated on the right. This incidentally is the only photograph of this column. It was too heavy to take away and unfortunately the demolition men took it away.
Further research has shown that the bucket font which appears to be 12th century belongs to the time of Bishop Ingram who was active both in Carstairs as well as in Glasgow. Incidentally at this stage it is important to refer to the origin of the word Carstairs that derives from Castel del Terra or earth castle - an apt description of a motte. Unfortunately if there was a motte, it was probably demolished in the late 13th century when Bishop Bondington of Glasgow got permission to construct a castle in stone on the site.
Another interesting confirmation of the reason for the stones ending up at Ravenstruther is that as early as 1517 the lands of Carstairs and Ravenstruther were granted to William Sommerville. At that time Ravenstruther was known as Ronstruther- another interesting placename to work out the origin of. Apparently the lands of Ravenstruther went with ownership of the lands of Carstairs and so that explains how the Monteiths might have had good reason to use the stones for building houses out at Ravenstruther.
The Royal Commission whose job it is to record the stones were particularly impressed by the fonts. They remarked that they are often told that a font has been found but usually it turns out to be something else. They were very impressed that a carved font had been found and they were in overall agreement with myself about a possible date.
Other stones have turned up thanks to the kind offices of Jeff Camp who alerted me to their presence. Jeff was in the final stages of putting together his rockery and he asked me to have a further look to see if there were any other stones that I thought worth saving. The best one has a couple of stars on it and possibly it was a decorative feature such as a door surround or a window surround. The way the stars are carved would suggest to me a date in the fifteenth century. My big regret was that I was not around for the demolition of the remaining properties at Ravenstruther as I feel sure that there are other pieces of worked or indeed carved stone that I missed.
The Clydesdale Hotel in the Bloomgate, adjacent to the site of our recent
dig, is being
renovated by J D Witherspoon. Ed Archer, Secretary of the Society, has taken the
opportunity to examine the oldest hotel in the town.
The views of the ballroom now give more of an impression
of what it was really like complete with its minstrel's gallery. It was
under this room that many bodies were found and they were supposed to be
monks. The dark red decoration is perhaps the original for the ballroom. It was here
that that Lanarkshire Yeomanry used to have their dinners in the summer after
the Douglas camp had drawn to a close.
The builders of the extension to the
Clydesdale used salvaged wood for the roof. They took the wood from a
demolished building, one can tell this by the practise of numbering the
wooden beams which were then oak pegged on the ground to see that the
roof beams fitted together properly and that is why they were numbered to
assist the builder. This practise seems to have been used in the seventeenth
century. In the case of the Clydesdale they just used any old beams and
then cut them to fit. The beams are Baltic pine and probably were brought to
Lanark from Leith across the Lang Whang road.
An old boot repaired in part with a
wooden sole which is reckoned by local shoemaker David
Brown to be a cut down foreign leather boot. It may have belonged to one of
the French prisoners of war billeted in the Clydesdale during the Napoleonic
War.
The photo was taken of the window glass because much of it is original 18th century glass.
One of the more unusual items that I have come across on my forays into the countryside is a derelict Victorian railway carriage near Braidwood. Basically it is a miracle that the carriage is still in existence considering the storm last December. Certainly it is fairly old and I would be inclined to date it about the 1870's which would make it fairly rare. I can not recall seeing anything like it previously and I would welcome any comments from any Railway buffs out there. I am sure that it is worth doing something with. Have you seen anything like this ? If so please contact the society.