Fergushill

Fergushill is a small community in North Ayrshire, Parish of Kilwinning, Scotland. The Barony of Fergushill was held by the Fergushill family of that Ilk and the area has a complex history.

History

The Fergushills of that Ilk

'Fergushill' as a surname is a sept of the Clan Fergusson; the area is either named after the family, i.e. Fergushill of that Ilk, or more likely, took the name of the area as their patronym, as with the Cunninghame clan. Robert de Fergushill de Eodem had an extensive estate here in 1417; 'de Eodem' refers to the patronym being the same name as the barony. In 1577, A. Fergushill, burgess of Ayr, sold the lands of Gallisholmes to John Wallace of Craigie.Paterson, James (1866) History of the Counties of Ayr and Wigton. Kyle, Vol. 1. Edinburgh : James Stillie. p. 288.

Patrick Lowrie was convicted in 1605 of being a warlock and sentenced to be first strangled, then burned at the stake in Edinburgh. One of his crimes was stated as being Mackintosh, Ian M. (1969), Old Troon and District. Pub. George Outram, Kilmarnock, p. 61.

John Fergushill (1592–1644) was a Covenanter minister, who in 1618 refused to conform with the decision of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to accept the Five Articles of Perth; these included religious practices retained in England but largely abolished in Scotland and were widely resented. He was imprisoned in 1620 but later released and closely associated with the 1638 National Covenant, objecting to liturgical 'innovations.'Mackie, Lenman and Parker, A History of Scotland, p. 204. He was a leader in the kirk's rejection of bishops that led to the 1638-1639 Bishop's Wars and an associate of Presbyterian fundamentalists, including James Guthrie, executed in 1661 and Archibald Johnson.

In 1671 David Fergushill went to the Corsehill Barony Court to obtain payment for a boill bear from one Thomas Wylie of Little Corsehill.Corshill Baron-Court book Archaeological & Historical Collections relating to Ayr & Wigton. 1884. Vol. IV. Pub. Ayr & Wigton Arch Assoc. p. 100. In the 17th-century it was the custom in respectable families for the names of the principal friends present to be entered into the baptismal register. Mr. Baillie of Monkton's register had the names Fergushill, Ashinyards and Muncardine entered.Robertson, George (1823). A Genealogical Account of the Principal Families in Ayrshire, more particularly in Cunninghame. Pub. Cunninghame Press. Irvine. p. 27.

Robert Fergushill, who died in the late 17th-century, was the last of the family to be local lairds; he is listed in a charter from Robert Hunter of Hunterston as owning a share in the 46s 8d land of Annanhill-Hunter, but William Henry Dunlop remained the proprietor.Dobie, James (1876). Pont's Cunninghame topographized 1604-1608 with continuations and illustrative notices (1876). Pub. John Tweed. p. 69. Alexander Crauford of Fergushill is named as a Commissioner of Supply for Ayrshire in the 1685 records of the Parliament of Scotland. In 1691 the 'House of Fergushill' itself had seven hearths listed in the Hearth Tax records and eighteen other properties within the barony.Urquhart, Page 92

The Laird of Fergushill in the early 18th century was one of the local landowners who ordered the bailies of Kilmarnock to 'causeway' the streets, an early example of road improvements in Ayrshire.Paterson, James (1866) History of the Counties of Ayr and Wigton. Vol. III - Cuninghame. Edinburgh : James Stillie. p. 374.

Fergushill House and other properties of that name

A number of properties in the surrounding area bear the name 'Fergushill,' including Knockentiber, North & South Fergushills near Eglinton and Fergushill in Auchentiber.

In 1596, Fergushill and Middle Auchentiber were inherited by Robert Fergushill, whose wife Elizabeth was the daughter of John Craufurd of Craufurdland; when he died in 1625, it passed to his son, also named Robert. Sometime after 1660, it passed first to Robert's relative Alexander Craufurd, then to his eldest son John Crawfurd in the 1690s.

This was a time of hardship and famine in Scotland, known as the Seven ill years; in December 1696, the city of Edinburgh set up a refugee camp in Greyfriars kirkyard to house starving rural migrants.K. J. Cullen, Famine in Scotland: The "Ill Years" of the 1690s (Edinburgh University Press, 2010), , p. 160. John was already under financial pressure in 1696 when he purchased Kersland, near Kilbirnie from his wife's elder sister, Jean Ker. He assumed the name and title of John Ker of Kersland and spent the next 30 years avoiding bankruptcy, including a period as a government spy. He sold Fergushill in 1718 to John Asgill and Robert Hackett for £3600, who mortgaged it back to him for £2,600; John died in 1726 in the King's Bench Debtors Prison, London.

At this point, legal ownership becomes complex but court records from February 1749 show it had been sold by 'Thomas Craufurd of Fergushill, to Neil Macvicar, writer in Edinburgh.' This seems to have taken place in 1728 and it stayed in the Macvicar family until 1802, when it passed to Robert Glasgow of Montgreenan.Paterson, James (1899) History of the County of Ayr with a Genealogical account of the families of Ayrshire. Vol. 2. Pub. Thomas George Stevenson, Edinburgh. p. 504.

Andrew Armstrong's 1775 publication 'A new map of Ayrshire,' shows Fergushill House located on the north side of Lugton Water, around east of the old horse tramway and road bridges, or 'Elbo and Chael' as they were known locally.Scottish National Archive. RHP 2043. Fergushill was at its most prosperous around 1560;Ness, J. A. (1969 - 70). Landmarks of Kilwynnyng. Privately produced. In 1799, the 12th Earl of Eglinton acquired the house, estate and coal pits, which were joined to Eglinton as a 'pendicle,' a Scots legal term for a subsidiary part of a larger estate. Robin Cummell or Campbell, who worked at Eglinton Castle, states that the Fergushill miners were sold with the land, normal practice for the time.Service, John (1913), The Memorables of Robin Cummell Paisley : Alexander Gardner. pp. 190–191.

The house was described as ''Dobie, James (1876). Pont's Cunninghame topographized 1604-1608 with continuations and illustrative notices (1876). Pub. John Tweed. p. 140. After 1803, it was used by George Reid of Barquharry, Factor to the Earl of Eglinton and a friend of Robert Burns.Reid of Barquharry

Cummell records Reid was fond of entertaining at Fergushill.Boyle, A. M. (1996), The Ayrshire Book of Burns-Lore. Darvel : Alloway Publishing. p. 67. One of his most interesting guests was Byla Greenshields, who habitually wore yellow buckskin trousers and white shoes to his dinners at Fergushill; the usual invitation was - Dear Byla, The leather breeks and taps buits on Thursday.Service, John (1913), The Memorables of Robin Cummell Paisley : Alexander Gardner. pp. 191–192.

Fergushill is described in 1823 as 'a commodious farm house, covered with thatch: but its ancient gardens, pretty well stored with plum and other fruit trees, indicate its former rank.'Robertson, George (1823). A Genealogical Account of the Principal Families in Ayrshire, more particularly in Cunninghame. Pub. Cunninghame Press. Irvine. p. 212. By 1991, all that remained of the old house were a few low walls near South Fergushill Farm and present day Fergushill cottage, a disused driveway and demolished gate-lodge.Davis, Michael (1991), The Castles and Mansions of Ayrshire. Pub. Privately by M.Davis. p. 261.

Aerial photographs and observations on the ground show the Chapelholms woodlands still contain the ditch, dyke and coppiced trees that may have formed the boundary between the two baronies of Fergushill and Eglinton.Eglinton Country Park archive.

Townhead of Fulwood belonged to James Fergushill, disposed to him by Alexander Dunlop of that Ilk in 1687; this remained within the family until about 1750, when it was acquired by William Mackie of Mosside.Dobie, James (1876). Pont's Cunninghame topographized 1604-1608 with continuations and illustrative notices (1876). Pub. John Tweed. p. 138.

The Darien Affair The Darien Company was an attempt by the Scots to set up a trading colony in America in the late 1690s, however the opposition from England and elsewhere was so great that the attempt failed with huge losses and great financial implications for the country and for individuals. Half of the whole circulating capital of Scotland was subscribed and mostly lost. In Cunninghame some examples of losses are John Craufurd of Fergushill (£1000), Hugh Stevenson of Mongtreenan (£1000), and Sir William Cunninghame of Cunninghamhead (£1000). In modern terms a thousand pounds loss in the 17th century must have been a devastating blow even to the finances of great landowning families.Dobie, James (1876). Pont's Cunninghame topographized 1604-1608 with continuations and illustrative notices (1876). Pub. John Tweed. p. 150.

Fergushill church Fergushill church in Benslie was built to serve the local rural and mining communities of Doura, Fergushill, and Montgreenan.Fergushill Church It was consecrated on Sunday, 3 November 1879 and the first minister was then Rev. William McAlpine.Ker, Rev. William Lee (1900) Kilwinnning. Pub. A.W.Cross, Kilwinning. p. 153. It got its name from the Fergushill Mission which was based at Fergushill school, which was closed in 1950.Ker, Rev. William Lee (1900) Kilwinnning. Pub. A.W.Cross, Kilwinning. p. 151. The church had its spire blown down in a gale in 1968, also damaging the roof; the building was repaired in 1969. By the mid-1970s, the church was linked to the Erskine Church of Scotland in Kilwinning, and services were led by Erskine's minister, the Rev. Rudolf Dehn, who had been a nuclear scientist at Dounreay before going into the ministry; several young people from the Fergushill area joined Erskine Church's youth group at this time.Back, Phil, joint leader Erskine Church Youth Group. The Church of Scotland Presbytery of Ardrossan decided to close the church in June 2009; over a hundred people attended the final Sunday service.Kilwinning Advertiser, Irvine Times, June 2009

Views of Fergushill church and manse

The rural community

Fergushill Cottage faced the Lugton Water just below the point at which the Fergushill Burn joins the river. Nothing much remains, however a Mrs. Miller once lived here and she recollected collecting water from the well which still exists as a circular low brick wall near to the site. In 1881 the Census records that a Minister, Mr. William McAnespin lived here, together with his sister Jannette McAnespin and a servant Marion Mackay. A weir still exists on the Lugton Water near here and this was the site of a drowning in the 1990s. Saughtrees on the Eglinton estate side of the road was a gamekeepers cottage in 1837.Scottish National Archive. RHP 47762.

In 1814 a flour mill was located on the Eglinton Castle side of the Lugton Water upstream of the bridge and a miller's house was situated on the other side of the river. The building of the waggonway and bridge seems to have resulted in the demolition of this house. A path ran from it to a plantation next to the river.Scottish National Archive. RHP 2038.

Sevenacres Mill is fairly close by. It is known by the locals as 'Snakers Mill.' A small estate existed near here in the 1560s, held by William Montgomery, said to be descended from the Montgomerys of Smithstone.Ness, John (1990). Kilwinning Encyclopedia. Kilwinning and District Preservation Society. p. 64

Saugh Trees cottage sits close to the old waggonway bridge and a cottage by the unusual name of 'Redboiler' used to sit road junction up to Seven Acres. Red Boiler had a number of large metal boiler vessels, used for steam generation at the coal mines, that were brought down from the mines for cleaning and scouring at this site.Thomson (2009), oral communication. Local resident.