Glasgow, and elsewhere, buried their dead, the last interment taking place on 11th December, 1857. Curious to say, the first interment was that of Margaret Simpson, wife of the John Purdon who gifted the ground to the Society of Friends. Mrs. Simpson was well known in the old village of Partick as "Quaker Meg." Quaker Meg." The record of her marriage to John Purdon is among the register of marriages in the possession of the Society of Friends, and is dated 28th October, 1688. The name "Purdon" is an old Partick family name, and though it does not occur in the charter of James VI., 1587, of the rentallers to the Crown in Partick, it appears in the Burgh Records of Glasgow in 1589, when a William Purdon and John Scott of Partick were "fund in the wrang" for troubling the town under cloud of night. In 1687 the name Purdon appears as the owner of houses and lands in and around Partick, a great part of their property being near the end of the old Partick Bridge, the family being known as the "Lairds of Bri'gend." They had also ground in Kelvin Street, then familiarly known as the "Goat." John Purdon, the Laird of the "Goat," was known as "Strawny" or "Straine," and indeed is mentioned as such in the title deeds conveying the burial ground to the Quakers. He was said to be a most eccentric old gentleman, and was known as the "Riding Beggar," from the fact that he rode throughout the country on horseback, in order to attend funerals and weddings, and enjoy the hospitality then being distributed, and he was even known to ask for alms by the wayside. It would appear that although the Society of Friends in Glasgow had used this burial-place from the year 1711, they had no sufficient title to it, hence we note that in 1733 it was the mind of the meeting that "Friends amongst themselves contribute for the getting of a sufficient right to the graveyard at Partick, from William Purdon, and that Alexander Cook, George Purdon, and Alexander Christie shall get done to the dyke of the said yard what reparation the said dyke wanteth, which shall be disbursed out of the collections belonging to the said meeting." The aforesaid William Purdon was a son of the John Purdon who gave the burial-place to the Friends, while William Purdon's son, again, John Purdon, a "Laird of Bri'gend," along with two other Partick men, granted the ground in Kelvin Street for the erection of the first school which the old village

of Partick had. The original title deed of the Quaker burial-place at Partick was drawn up in favour of the Society of Friends in Glasgow, "commonly called Quakers," by James Bowman, Writer and Notary Public, Glasgow, and was recorded by John M'Ure, the first historian of the city of Glasgow. There is a note on the deed, to the effect, that it had gone astray for many years, but was discovered in Cumberland in 1847, and returned to the Friends in Glasgow.

A Quaker funeral in Partick in these olden days was not such a quiet affair as might take place at Shawtonhill or Gartshore; it was a kind of show for the villagers. For the time being work was suspended, and the walls surrounding the burial-place were crowded by men, women, and children, whose conduct while the interment took place was anything but edifying and respectful. There are no grave stones or other monuments of any kind in this particular burial-place where the Friends are laid to rest.

By a joint minute of agreement between the Town Council of Partick and the Society of Friends in Glasgow, dated 11th June, 1894, the Society granted to the burgh the right to as much of the ground of the burial-place as projects beyond the building line of Kelvin Street, on condition that the Council maintain and uphold, in good condition, to all time coming, the remainder of the burial-place, and pay the Society of Friends the sum of one shilling annually. The original extent of this burial-place was 308 square yards, but, now that the alteration has been effected, it is 220 square yards.

During the year 1903 the old front wall has been taken down and the ground taken in within the building line of the street, and a new wall, with iron railing and gateway, has been erected in accordance with the above agreement, while the interior has been adorned with plants and shrubs.

Antiquarians and archaeologists will be pleased to know that, while nearly every old historical landmark of Partick has passed away, this at least has been preserved as one connecting link between the past and the present.

It only remains to be added that the Friends in Glasgow now inter their dead in any convenient cemetery in or around the city.

No. IX.

CARSLUITH CASTLE.

BY

J. S. FLEMING, F.S.A. SCOT.

(Read before the Society at a Meeting held on 16th April, 1903.)

(With Drawings by the Author.)

PRIOR to but especially during the fifteenth century-few specimens of an earlier date are preserved unaltered-the castellated houses of the barons or county lairds exhibit an architectural peculiarity which is not found in the architecture of the sixteenth century, and both classes of buildings show the characteristics of distinct types and ages.

The type of the fifteenth century, which is common also to England, consisted of a square massive-built tower or keep, seldom containing more than three floors or exceeding 34 feet by 28 feet in outside measurement while its walls were four feet thick. Its battlements had usually a pepper-box turret at each angle and a low-pitched flagged roof; between roof and battlement ran a passage, two feet in width, by which a warder might make his rounds. For his shelter there was provided a small stone turret, which formed the termination of the stair on the roof.

The ground and first floors contained single apartments, each with a spacious fireplace; the latter apartment had jambs and lintel of a highly ornamental character, and the former, with an open draw-well and windows,