Beith (locally ) is a town in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately south-west of Glasgow. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the "Hill o' Beith" (hill of the birches) after its Court Hill.
History
Name Beith's name is thought to emanate from Ogham, which is sometimes referred to as the "Celtic Tree Alphabet", ascribing names of trees to individual letters. Beithe in Old Irish means Birch-tree (cognate to Latin betula). There is reason to believe that the whole of the district was covered with woods. The town of Beith itself was once known as 'Hill of Beith' as this was the name of the feudal barony and was itself derived from the Court Hill near Hill of Beith Castle.
Alternatively, Beith may be derived from Cumbric *baɣeδ, 'boar' (Welsh baedd).> The local pronunciation of the name would favour this theory.
The Wood of Beit, now the 'Moor of Beith', has been identified as an Arthurian site where according to Taliessin in a poem under the name of 'Canowan' it was the site of a battle in the wood of Beit at the close of the day.Glennie, John S. Stuart (1869). Arthurian Locations. Edinburgh : Edmonston & Douglas. P. 83
Saint Inan Beith is said to have been the occasional residence of Saint Inan, a confessor of some celebrity, whose principal place of abode was Irvine. He flourished about 839. Although he is said to have been a hermit, according to tradition Saint Inan often visited Beith, frequenting Cuff Hill with its Rocking Stone and various other prehistoric monuments. A cleft in the west-front of Lochlands Hill is still known as "St. Inan's Chair" and said to have been used by the saint as a pulpit.Smith, John (1895). Prehistoric Man in Ayrshire. Pub. Elliot Stock. P. 83. An unsuccessful search for the saint's writings which were said to be preserved in the library of Bonci, Archbishop of Pisa, was made by Colonel Mure of Caldwell in the 19th century.Dobie, James (1876) Cunninghame topographised by Timothy Pont Pub. John Tweed, Glasgow. P. 41.
Saint Inan is said to have preached to the assembled people from the chair on the hill. There was not a great population in the area at that time and the people were located not in Beith, but up on the top of the Bigholm near to the old Beith water dams. The first settlements were in the heavily wooded areas around the dams where people were safe from attack and could get food from the land, and fish in the lochs. The Saints of old went where the people were, and they also tended to go where there had been worship of heathen gods. It has been suggested that High Bogside Farm, which used to be called Bellsgrove, was really "Baalsgrove", which fits in with the story of Saint Inan going to where the pagan gods were.
There is an annual civic fete held in the town bearing Saint Inan's name.
Alexander Montgomerie The sixteenth century poet Alexander Montgomerie was probably born in Hazelhead (now Hessilhead) Castle, which is on the outskirts of Beith, beyond Gateside. Montgomerie is regarded as one of the finest of Middle Scots poets, and perhaps the greatest Scottish exponent of the sonnet form.Jack, R. D. S., Alexander Montgomerie (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1985)
Smugglers Beith has a historical connection to smuggling and built a reputation during the 18th century as being a town which harboured those whose intentions were not always lawful. In 1733 forty or fifty Beith smugglers sacked the Irvine Customs House, escaping with a rich booty of confiscated contraband goods and by 1789 a company of 76 soldiers were quartered in the town dealing with the continuing illicit trade in tea, tobacco, and spirits. This caused great inconvenience to the law-abiding citizens on whom the soldiers were billeted. The town was policed in this fashion for some time thereafter. Hence, the Main Street's popular public house is still called the Smugglers Tavern, recalling the days when Beith's location between the coast and Paisley and Glasgow, made it a convenient stopping off point for those involved in nefarious activities.
A possible relic of the smuggling days of Beith is the ley tunnel that is said to run from Eglinton Street to Kilbirnie Loch.
Morrishill and James Montgomery
Now a small housing estate, the house and land of Morrishill stood a short distance south of Beith. It commanded an excellent view and was well sheltered with trees. Owned by Robert Shedden, who purchased the land in 1748,History of the counties of Ayr & Wigton Scotland: Cunninghame, by James Paterson. it is notoriously linked to the case of James Montgomery.
James Montgomery, an enslaved African, was brought from Virginia to Beith by Shedden. He wanted Montgomery, then called "Shanker", apprenticed to a joiner so that he would learn a skill and could then be sold for a large profit back in Virginia. James was trained in carpentry by Robert Morrice, husband of Shedden's sister Elizabeth Montgomery. When Shanker was baptised in Beith Parish Church (by the Rev. John Witherspoon) with the name James Montgomery in April 1756, Shedden objected. Montgomery was dragged nearly to Port Glasgow behind horses to be taken back to Virginia but escaped to Edinburgh before the ship sailed. Montgomery sought justice but before a decision could be made by judges he died in Tolbooth Gaol.
Rev. John Witherspoon A signatory of the American Declaration of Independence, the Rev. John Witherspoon, was a former minister of one its Church of Scotland parishes between 1745 and 1757. In 1745 he led the men of Beith to Glasgow to defend King George III against the Young Pretender in the '45 rebellion. Despite receiving orders to return to Beith, Witherspoon carried on, was captured at the Battle of Falkirk and imprisoned for a time in Doune Castle. He later emigrated and became a member of the US congress and in July 1776 he voted for the Resolution for Independence. In answer to an objection that the country was not yet ready for independence, according to tradition, he replied that it "was not only ripe for the measure, but in danger of rotting for the want of it." Witherspoon was also the sixth president of Princeton University and showed great commitment to liberal education and republican government. He died in 1794 on his farm that he had built"Tusculum," just outside Princeton, and is buried in the Princeton Cemetery. –His direct descendants include actress Reese Witherspoon,Registrar-General, DSDI (www.dsdi1776.com)– confirms that Reese is NOT a descendant of John Witherspoon, the Signer and he is commemorated by statues in Washington D.C., at the University of the West of Scotland in Paisley, and a plaque, placed by DSDI in 2009 in Beith town centre.
Robert Tannahill The Scottish Poet Robert Tannahill's relatives lived at Boghall Farm near Gateside. His mother, Janet Pollock, came from Boghall although she spent much of her life at the home of her uncle, Hugh Brodie, who farmed at Langcroft at the foot of Calder Glen, near Lochwinnoch.Lochwinnoch Village Website Retrieved 2010-11-24 Robert Tannahill (3 June 1774 - 17 May 1810), was known as the 'Weaver Poet', his music and poetry is contemporaneous with that of Robert Burns and they both died when relatively young.
Henry Faulds Henry Faulds, the originator of the concept of forensic use of fingerprinting, was born in Beith in 1843. A well-travelled man, he explained the suitability of fingerprinting for the identification of criminals and also wrote to Charles Darwin to forward his ideas. The letter was never published and he died in 1930, aged 86, bitter at the lack of recognition he had received for his work. His work in Japan is remembered by a memorial stone in Tokyo. In 2007 a memorial was also placed in view in Woolstanton near to St Margaret's churchyard, where he was laid to rest.
On 12 November 2004 a substantial memorial stone with interpretation plaques were dedicated to his memory in Beith town centre close to the site of the house in New Street where he was born.
Robert Aitken Aitken was a land surveyor and cartographer who published in Beith a New Parish Atlas of Ayrshire in 1829.
Industry Textiles About the time of the Act of Union, trade in linen cloth was introduced to Beith, which became so considerable, that the Beith markets were frequented by merchants from the neighbouring towns every week. By the 1730s, the declining linen cloth business was being succeeded by considerable trade in linen yarn. Crawford Brothers, flax spinners and makers of linen thread and shoe thread opened in Crummock in 1775 and moved to a factory at Barr Farm, Barrmill in 1836. The factory changed hands, continuing in production as the English Sewing Company until 1946. Beith merchants purchased the yarn made in the local area, and sold it to Paisley and Glasgow manufacturers. The demand for the commodity encouraged local farmers to raise great quantities of flax, and the linen yarn trade peaked around 1760. The manufacture of silk gauze superseded both trades and, from 1777 to 1789, the number of looms in the town producing the gauze peaked at approximately 170.
Furniture making From 1845 until the 1980s, Beith had the honour of being the most important furniture-manufacturing town in Scotland with a reputation for high-quality furniture. The origins of the industry can be traced back to Mathew Dale who started by making hand-built furniture for local people in 1845. A former employee of Dale, Matthew Pollock progressed the manufacturing by introducing machinery in a factory setting outside of the town at Beith North railway station. After approximately twelve years, Pollock and his brothers sold the factory to Robert Balfour, and moved into the town to expand their business. Balfour suffered the same problems as the Pollock Brothers in being unable to attract employees from the town willing to walk the to work. In 1872, he built a factory near the Beith Town railway station and persuaded the railway company to build a siding to allow easy transportation of raw materials and finished products.
The industry expanded across the local area making it a centre of excellence in furniture manufacturing, and building its reputation throughout the world. In the late-1920s, transportation switched away from the railway but the industry continued to burgeon with many companies producing high-quality furniture: Macneill Bros, specialised in board room and library fittings, Stevenson and Higgins made lift cages, which were fitted in many hotels and department stores, Balfours were for a number of years the main manufacturers of mantlepieces in Scotland, some were designed in the elegant style, and required the skill of expert woodcarvers. Matthew Pollock Ltd supplied furniture to both the and the . I am from beith and believe it was beithcraft who supplied furniture for the RMS Queen Elizabeth II
Furniture is no longer produced in Beith due to the closure of the various manufacturing firms. The closures were caused by a multitude of problems such as the economic downturn, and an inability to compete with self-assembly furniture firms and their increase in popularity. The last major furniture manufacturer to close was Beithcraft (formerly Balfours) which finished in 1983 (after a major fire a few years earlier, which destroyed large sections of the plant) with the loss of 420 jobs. With this final closure came the end of Beith's reputation for being one of the main furniture manufacturers in the country.
This history of carpentry is remembered in the nickname of the local football team, Beith Juniors, who are commonly referred to as "The Cabes" (Cabinet Makers).
DM Beith A large Defence Munitions (DM) centre is located between Beith and Barrmill. The site was originally developed in 1943 as a conventional Royal Naval Armaments Depot, munitions store, for the Royal Navy, the Ministry of Defence continues to maintain the armament depot, DM Beith, in the area.