The Sights of Clydesdale

On 12 March members of Lanark and District Archaeological Society were due to hear a lecture by Dr Charles Kennedy on the Fourth Crusade. Unfortunately, due to illness Dr Kennedy was unable to attend. Instead the members and friends met in Lanark Library were given an illustrated tour of the Sights of Clydesdale by local archaeologist Tam Ward. Tam began by stressing that he saw archaeology and history as being about people rather than building or artefacts and that today's buildings will be tomorrow's history. In his talk Tam was able to show a number of buildings in the area that had either been lost completely or were in very poor repair, but neither the less had an important role to play in telling the story of the people of Clydesdale.

Clydesdale has a range of sites and monuments covering the whole range of history. Tam began by discussing some of the castles and great houses in the area. The mote at Carnwarth dates to the 12/13th century in a period when many Flemings and Normans came to the region. Few of these fortifications later became stone structures, but Tam illustrated the 16th/17th Century stone castle at Crawford. There are also a number of 17th century laird's houses in the area, including Jerviswood house in Lanark and West Shield near Forth that was demolished in the 1970s.

The nearby tower at East Shield dates to the 16th century and incorporated a dovecot. Tam explained that only the laird was permitted to keep pigeons and there provided a valuable resource. Not only did they provide meat and eggs, but also their dirt could be used both as a fertiliser and a source for gunpowder. Most importantly the pigeons did not need to be feed but could be release to eat the corn and crops in the countryside and so provided essentially free meat to the laird. The 15th century Covington Tower also included a dovecot and the walls of the tower were 11 foot thick. Tam mentioned that bastle houses were an important part of the Clydesdale story, but one that he was not going to discuss on this occasion.

Turning to industrial archaeology Tam described the life of William Symington (1764-1831), a mining engineer in the Leadhills who had built the first steam powered boat. The Leadhills was an important source of lead and also gold from mediaeval times. The railway built to connect the mines to the main Caledonian line had some historically important concrete viaducts. The most spectacular of these at Risping Cleuch was dressed with terracotta bricks from the Cleghorn brickworks. However when these bricks started to fall from the viaduct the whole structure was demolished. Tam lamented the loss of such an important piece of heritage. Another piece of the lost heritage of Clydesdale is the red roads that were once common through the area due to the distinctive colour of the locally quarried stone. As the roads of the area are resurfaced with asphalt the red roads are being turned black. Tam discussed fruit growing and deep mining that were both once major industries in the area, but now there is little evidence of either activity.

Turning his attentions to churches, Tam discussed the 15th century chapel at Carnwarth, which is part of a much more modern building. The chapel contains a number of mediaeval effigies that can be viewed by prior arrangement. Tam then discussed the historical significant of the churches at Lamington, Dunsyre and Biggar. He also had a slide that showed the reconstruction of the mediaeval arches of St. Kentirgern's in Lanark. The ruins were significantly damaged by a violent storm in the 1950s.

At the April meeting of the Society Tam described recent archaeological discoveries in the district.