Carnwath
Encyclopedia
Carnwath is a moorland
village on the southern edge of the Pentland Hills
of Lanarkshire
, Scotland
. The village lies about 30 mi (48.3 km) south of both Edinburgh
and Glasgow
. It is bounded by the North Medwyn
and South Medwyn watercourses.
Carnwath is a farming village set in rolling countryside, on the edge of open moorland and with views to the Pentland Hills. Its proximity to the A70 makes it popular with commuters to Edinburgh. Carnwath is a village with hanging baskets along the main street and considerable effort has gone into improving the local environment in recent years. Carnwath holds the oldest foot race in Scotland and probably Europe, the Red Hose, dating from 1508.
There are proposals for a large wind farm
nearby at Harrows Law.
Close to the village is the Little Sparta
garden at Dunsyre
and Ampherlaw House
, home of the Somervilles
.
road, now the A70, from Ayr to Edinburgh. This is the reason for its very prominent position, especially when seen when approaching on Main Street from the west, at right angles to the main road.
Rabbie Burns was reputed to have visited here, when asked to name the house, said : " Better a wee bush than nae build at 'a " When the pub was run by a Mrs Smith in the 1960's she had a small framed piece of paper behind the bar telling this story.
For many years the thatched roof
was covered by corrugated iron
sheeting. In the mid-1980s the then landlady Mrs Helen Wilson carried out a total renovation and upgrading including restoration of the thatched roof. Mrs Wilson installed a completely new thatched roof once again in the spring of 1999.
The Wee Bush was seriously damaged by fire on 28 September 2002.
Rebuilding started in May 2003 although, for insurance reasons, the roof was replaced with slate
rather than thatch. Prior to the fire of 2002, this was the last remaining thatched roof public house in Scotland.
ricky will always be happy to help with any thing you wish to know 07846478834 and he always knows best and has the most up to date info on carnwath
in July, 1516, in terms of the Charter granted by King James
in 1514, which ordered a Market Cross to be erected. It is thought that it may have been erected in front of the old Dower House or could have been erected where it stands today, in the Market Square.
The Cross was blown down in a gale on the night of 16 February 1962. It was redressed and re-erected with a small metal cross on top, but it never had the same appearance. However, in 1970 a Mr Aitken, a Carnwathian, who had died in America, left $100 to enable a new urn to be placed on top, and this was duly done by the 3rd District Council. The Cross stands on four ascending steps, with a base and cornice, a shaft square and large in comparison with others
's Statutory list. St Mary's Aisle is the mausoleum of the Lockhart family
, and previously of the Earls of Carnwath
and the Lords Somerville.
were driven from their homeland to settle in Carnwath. They later became Covenanter
s.
In 1630, the Carnwath estate, owned by the Earl of Mar
was purchased by Sir Robert Dalzell, later to become Lord Dalzell. In 1639, his son, the 2nd Lord Dalzell and also named Robert, was elevated to become the Earl of Carnwath
. The title was forfeit in 1716 when the 5th Lord, Robert Dalzell became attainted
due to his Jacobitism
support but was restored in 1826 and finally became extinct upon the death of the 13th Earl in 1941.
Writer, spy and politician, George Lockhart
, inherited the Carnwath estates from his father, George Lockhart
of the Lockharts of Lee
, who had purchased them in 1681.
The Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-1885) said of the village: "Long a dingy and disagreeable place, it has been greatly improved".
There is a Gothic
church that dates from 1798, directly abutting the former tiny church of 1424.
In 1845 the area became a civil parish
.
Carnwath railway station
, originally part of the Caledonian Railway
, later the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
and finally the Scottish Region of British Railways
, was closed as port of the Beeching Axe
in the 1960s.
Famous people from Carnwath include author and critic, Robert Anderson
, footballer, Tom Brownlee
and the Ordnance Gazetteer remarks that: "the minor poet, James Graeme
(1749-72)" was a resident of the locality.
, and is run by the South Lanarkshire Council
.
McIntyre was recently banned from amateur boxing for steroid use.
Moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat, in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, found in upland areas, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils and heavy fog...
village on the southern edge of the Pentland Hills
Pentland Hills
The Pentland Hills are a range of hills to the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. The range is around 20 miles in length, and runs south west from Edinburgh towards Biggar and the upper Clydesdale.Some of the peaks include:* Scald Law...
of Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The village lies about 30 mi (48.3 km) south of both Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. It is bounded by the North Medwyn
North Medwyn River
North Medwyn is a river in the Lanarkshire region of Scotland. Along with the confluence of the South Medwyn River it forms the Medwyn water basin. The North Medwyn is a tributary of the River Clyde....
and South Medwyn watercourses.
Carnwath is a farming village set in rolling countryside, on the edge of open moorland and with views to the Pentland Hills. Its proximity to the A70 makes it popular with commuters to Edinburgh. Carnwath is a village with hanging baskets along the main street and considerable effort has gone into improving the local environment in recent years. Carnwath holds the oldest foot race in Scotland and probably Europe, the Red Hose, dating from 1508.
There are proposals for a large wind farm
Wind farm
A wind farm is a group of wind turbines in the same location used to produce electric power. A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines, and cover an extended area of hundreds of square miles, but the land between the turbines may be used for agricultural or other...
nearby at Harrows Law.
Close to the village is the Little Sparta
Little Sparta
Little Sparta is a garden at Dunsyre in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh, created by artist and poet Ian Hamilton Finlay and his wife Sue Finlay....
garden at Dunsyre
Dunsyre
Dunsyre is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is 6 miles from Carnwath . Dunsyre is associated with an ancient barony and parish church...
and Ampherlaw House
Ampherlaw House
Ampherlaw House is a manor house in Lanarkshire, Scotland, near the village of Carnwath and one of the former possessions of the Somerville family...
, home of the Somervilles
Lord Somerville
Lord Somerville was a title in the Peerage of Scotland which is subject to a number of ambiguities. The date of creation is not known with certainty but it was probably created about 1435 for Thomas Somerville, Justiciar of Scotland...
.
The Wee Bush Inn
The Wee Bush Inn dates from the 1750s, built in connection with the turnpikeToll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...
road, now the A70, from Ayr to Edinburgh. This is the reason for its very prominent position, especially when seen when approaching on Main Street from the west, at right angles to the main road.
Rabbie Burns was reputed to have visited here, when asked to name the house, said : " Better a wee bush than nae build at 'a " When the pub was run by a Mrs Smith in the 1960's she had a small framed piece of paper behind the bar telling this story.
For many years the thatched roof
Thatching
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge , rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates...
was covered by corrugated iron
Corrugated galvanised iron
Corrugated galvanised iron is a building material composed of sheets of hot-dip galvanised mild steel, cold-rolled to produce a linear corrugated pattern in them...
sheeting. In the mid-1980s the then landlady Mrs Helen Wilson carried out a total renovation and upgrading including restoration of the thatched roof. Mrs Wilson installed a completely new thatched roof once again in the spring of 1999.
The Wee Bush was seriously damaged by fire on 28 September 2002.
Rebuilding started in May 2003 although, for insurance reasons, the roof was replaced with slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
rather than thatch. Prior to the fire of 2002, this was the last remaining thatched roof public house in Scotland.
ricky will always be happy to help with any thing you wish to know 07846478834 and he always knows best and has the most up to date info on carnwath
Carnwath Cross
In the centre of the village is a cross built by Hugh Somerville, 5th Lord SomervilleHugh Somerville, 5th Lord Somerville
Hugh Somerville, 5th Lord Somerville was a lord of the Parliament of Scotland. He is sometimes reckoned to be the 4th Lord Somerville. He succeeded his brother, John Somerville, 4th Lord Somerville...
in July, 1516, in terms of the Charter granted by King James
James V of Scotland
James V was King of Scots from 9 September 1513 until his death, which followed the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss...
in 1514, which ordered a Market Cross to be erected. It is thought that it may have been erected in front of the old Dower House or could have been erected where it stands today, in the Market Square.
The Cross was blown down in a gale on the night of 16 February 1962. It was redressed and re-erected with a small metal cross on top, but it never had the same appearance. However, in 1970 a Mr Aitken, a Carnwathian, who had died in America, left $100 to enable a new urn to be placed on top, and this was duly done by the 3rd District Council. The Cross stands on four ascending steps, with a base and cornice, a shaft square and large in comparison with others
St Mary's Aisle
At the west entrance to Carnwath, adjacent to Carnwath Parish Church (1867), is St Mary's Aisle, the only remaining part of the Collegiate Church built in 1386. It is recognised as a Category A Listed Building on the Secretary of State for ScotlandSecretary of State for Scotland
The Secretary of State for Scotland is the principal minister of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Scotland. He heads the Scotland Office , a government department based in London and Edinburgh. The post was created soon after the Union of the Crowns, but was...
's Statutory list. St Mary's Aisle is the mausoleum of the Lockhart family
Lockharts of Lee
The Lockharts of Lee are a Lanarkshire family that trace their descent from Sir Simon Locard...
, and previously of the Earls of Carnwath
Earl of Carnwath
The title Earl of Carnwath was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1639 for the 2nd Lord Dalzell. His father, Sir Robert Dalzell, had been created Lord Dalzell in 1628. The 5th Earl was attainted and the peerage forfeit in 1716, due to the Lord Carnwath's Jacobitism and support for the Fifteen,...
and the Lords Somerville.
History
The Clan LamontClan Lamont
Clan Lamont is a Highland Scottish clan. Clan Lamont claim descent from Lauman who lived in Cowal in 1238. Tradition gives this Lauman a descent from an Irish prince of the O'Neill dynasty, Ánrothán Ua Néill, son of Áed, son of Flaithbertach Ua Néill, King of Ailech and Cenél nEógain, died 1036...
were driven from their homeland to settle in Carnwath. They later became Covenanter
Covenanter
The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century...
s.
In 1630, the Carnwath estate, owned by the Earl of Mar
Earl of Mar
The Mormaer or Earl of Mar is a title that has been created seven times, all in the Peerage of Scotland. The first creation of the earldom was originally the provincial ruler of the province of Mar in north-eastern Scotland...
was purchased by Sir Robert Dalzell, later to become Lord Dalzell. In 1639, his son, the 2nd Lord Dalzell and also named Robert, was elevated to become the Earl of Carnwath
Earl of Carnwath
The title Earl of Carnwath was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1639 for the 2nd Lord Dalzell. His father, Sir Robert Dalzell, had been created Lord Dalzell in 1628. The 5th Earl was attainted and the peerage forfeit in 1716, due to the Lord Carnwath's Jacobitism and support for the Fifteen,...
. The title was forfeit in 1716 when the 5th Lord, Robert Dalzell became attainted
Attainder
In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura is the metaphorical 'stain' or 'corruption of blood' which arises from being condemned for a serious capital crime . It entails losing not only one's property and hereditary titles, but typically also the right to pass them on to one's heirs...
due to his Jacobitism
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
support but was restored in 1826 and finally became extinct upon the death of the 13th Earl in 1941.
Writer, spy and politician, George Lockhart
George Lockhart
Sir George Lockhart of Lee , of Carnwath, South Lanarkshire, also known as Lockhart of Carnwath, was a Scottish writer, spy and politician.He was the son of Sir George Lockhart of Lee....
, inherited the Carnwath estates from his father, George Lockhart
George Lockhart (advocate)
Sir George Lockhart of Carnwath was a Scottish lawyer.The son of Sir James Lockhart of Lee, laird of Lee, he was admitted as an advocate in 1656. He was knighted in 1663, and was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Advocates in 1672. He was celebrated for his persuasive eloquence...
of the Lockharts of Lee
Lockharts of Lee
The Lockharts of Lee are a Lanarkshire family that trace their descent from Sir Simon Locard...
, who had purchased them in 1681.
The Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-1885) said of the village: "Long a dingy and disagreeable place, it has been greatly improved".
There is a Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
church that dates from 1798, directly abutting the former tiny church of 1424.
In 1845 the area became a civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
.
Carnwath railway station
Carnwath railway station
Carnwath railway station was located just west of the village of Carnwath, on the Caledonian Railway line between Carstairs railway station and Edinburgh.It was closed by the Beeching Axe....
, originally part of the Caledonian Railway
Caledonian Railway
The Caledonian Railway was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century and it was absorbed almost a century later into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, in the 1923 railway grouping, by means of the Railways Act 1921...
, later the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...
and finally the Scottish Region of British Railways
Scottish Region of British Railways
The Scottish Region was one of the six regions created on British Railways and consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway and ex-London and North Eastern Railway lines in Scotland...
, was closed as port of the Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
in the 1960s.
Famous people from Carnwath include author and critic, Robert Anderson
Robert Anderson (author)
Robert Anderson was a Scottish author and critic.He was born at Carnwath, Lanarkshire. He studied first divinity and then medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and subsequently, after some experience as a surgeon, took his M.D. at the University of St Andrews in 1778...
, footballer, Tom Brownlee
Tom Brownlee
Thomas C 'Tom' Brownlee was a Scottish professional footballer. He was a centre forward.Brownlee's career started at Broxburn Athletic before he moved to England, with Walsall...
and the Ordnance Gazetteer remarks that: "the minor poet, James Graeme
James Graeme
James Graeme is a British actor and singer who trained at the Royal Manchester College of Music.In the West End, Graeme has appeared as the title character in The Phantom of the Opera, created the role of Boone in Whistle Down the Wind, and portrayed Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar...
(1749-72)" was a resident of the locality.
Education
There is a primary school in the village which is part of the Biggar Learning Community, that includes the Biggar High SchoolBiggar High School
Biggar High School is a secondary school located in the town of Biggar, South Lanarkshire. It is a mixed secondary school of non-denominational religion. The current headteacher is Mr David J. Chalmers. The school was most recently inspected by HMIe in November 2007, and generally performed well...
, and is run by the South Lanarkshire Council
South Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of the former county of Lanarkshire. It borders the south-east of the city of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns and smaller villages....
.
Notable people
Scott William McIntyre, born in Lanark in 1987, a local amateur boxer & athlete. Four time winner of the historic Red Hose race.McIntyre was recently banned from amateur boxing for steroid use.
See also
- Caledonian Amateur Football LeagueCaledonian Amateur Football LeagueThe Caledonian Amateur Football League is a football league competition for amateur clubs in Scotland. It was formed in 1983 as an attempt to improve facilities for amateur teams, with high standards being set for admittance to the competition...
, Balmore who form part of the league play at Carnwath Village Park - Lanark BlueLanark BlueLanark Blue is a sheep milk cheese produced in Lanarkshire, Scotland.Produced at Ogcastle near to the village of Carnwath by Humphrey Errington since 1985, it is a rich blue-veined artisan cheese...
, a locally made sheep's milkSheep milkSheep's milk is the milk of domestic sheep. Though not widely drunk in any modern culture, sheep's milk is commonly used to make cultured dairy products. Well-known cheeses made from sheep milk include the Feta of Greece, Roquefort of France, Manchego from Spain, the Pecorino Romano , the Pecorino...
cheese - Cobbinshaw ReservoirCobbinshaw ReservoirCobbinshaw Reservoir is a reservoir in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is situated near the Pentland Hills, between West Calder and Carnwath. The site is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is popular with wildfowl.-History:...
, a Site of Special Scientific InterestSite of Special Scientific InterestA Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSI)
External links
- Aa local man's page of maps and photos
- Carnwath at Undiscovered Scotland
- Dunsyre.com and Dunsyre.net Information about Dunsyre and links to local pages.
- Dunysre Holiday Camp
- Carnwath Primary School