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THE PARISH OF DOUGLAS

Is the third in extent in the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire, Lesmahagow and Crawford only being larger; and the appearance of the parish is well outlined on the map engraved for this Work. From the junction of Ponfeigh-burn with the Douglas-water, the parish has that of Carmichael eastward to Mount-Stewart; when that of Wiston and Roberton form the march till near the Wildshaw lime-works, where the parish of Crawfordjohn comes in, and forms the boundary on the south and west till near Cairntable; Muirkirk taking it up there upon the west, to the Glenbuck-dam, whence Lesmahagow carries the line north and east to near Wolfcrooks, on the Douglas-water, and opposite to the Ponfeigh-burn; the length being a little more than twelve, and the breadth varying from three to seven miles.

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By recent Ordnance Survey measurements, the area of the parish appears to be-for villages 15 806, roads 89·165, water 180-666, land 34031-791 total 34317-428 acres. An analysis of the more important of these measurements, gives 9.609 meadow, 25423 289 moorland, 892 306 pasture, chiefly rough, 5405 771 arable, 2039 029 wood, 21 091 brushwood, 107-882 ornamental ground, 74 811 farm-steading, 79 916 the Douglaswater, 27-751 burns, 5·955 curling ponds, 15 971 lake, 28.159 reservoir, turnpike roads 25 916, parish roads 41 043, etc.

Cairntable, as shown on Ross' map of 1773, rises west of the Douglas march, but in the later and the better map of Forrest, the dividing line between Douglas, Muirkirk, and Crawfordjohn, converges on the summit of Cairntable; and the natives of Douglasdale do claim that hill as being in their parish. Little Cairntable, 1693 feet, Douglas-rig, 1454, Parishholm-hill, 1400, Hareshaw, 1527, Monkshead, 1594, Hagshaw, 1540, Common-hill, 1445, Windrow, 1297, are on west and north; and Northbottom, 1435 feet, Dryriggs, 1443, Auchendaff, 1399, Kennox,

1270, Hartwood, 1311, Auchensaugh, 1286, Wildshaw, 1136, on S. and E., indicate the hilly character of the parish.

The water-the Dhu-glas, dark green, which some topographers allege gave name to the district-rises from the Douglas-rig, comes down S. of Parishholm-hill, and thence eastward forms the strath of the district, the basin widening as it approaches the Clyde; and the length (56), given as 16 miles, is more than three-fourths in the parish of Douglas. On the N., the Monks-burn (53) comes into the Douglas, E. of Debog; the Cormacoup-burn from the W., below the mansion of that name; the Kennox, from the same quarter, but further S.; the Glespinburn (54), from the Crawfordjohn march; the Poniel-water (55) on the N., forms for some distance the boundary between Douglas and Lesmahagow; and besides these larger streams, the burns are many, which course down from the hills and "spouty" lands in the moorland districts of this large parish.

The highway formed in 1824, enters this parish at the Wildshaw, and goes north for Lesmahagow, by what was long known as the Douglas Mill Inn. At Douglas Mill, the Ayr road from Edinburgh and Lanark, by Douglas and Muirkirk, bisects the parish from the Carmichael march to that of Muirkirk, at the northern base of Cairntable; and the map of 1773 shows that a road then led N. of the Douglas-water, and through the policies of the castle of Douglas. The Statistical Accounts of 1791 and 1836, both credit the Douglas family with having made near 20 miles of the Carlisle and 30 of the Ayr road, which might be the equivalent for obliterating the old road to add to the amenity of their domain.

Of the 109911. valuation of 1858-9, 89321. were held by the noble family of Douglas, 7127. by Paterson of Cormacoup, and the balance in minor amounts. As to rent of farms, they read in 1858-9 as 724l., 659l., 4201., 3371., 2661., 225l., 2217., 2201., 212., 1987, 175l., 175l., 175l., 173l., 1517., 1427., 1427., 1107., 1107., 1087., 907., 901., 801., 801., 801., 781., 701., 601., and smaller amounts. Of the Douglas Castle estate, 1130l. was in hands of the owners, and 4721. in that of the Laird of Cormacoup.

A. M.

NAME.

Vallis de Duglas, Dunelglas, Duneglas, Duglax, Duglas, Dufglas, Doneglas, Dufgles, Dufeglas, Dowglace, Dowglas, Douglas.

From the first of these designations it is evident that this parish derived its appellation from the river which intersects it. The name of the latter, which it bears in common with several other streams situated not only in the districts occupied by the later, but also in those which continued in the possession of the descendants of the earlier Celtic immigration, undoubtedly originated in the colour of the water. It is not, however, easy to determine the tint indicated, as the word Duglas, or Duvglas, has been translated by lexicographers as dark grey, dark greenish black inclined to blue, black and blue mixed, sky colour.

HISTORY.

Ecclesiastical Affairs.-From the period of its erection, the church of this parish was a free benefice in the advowson of the lords of the manor. The first notice of it occurs early in the thirteenth century-Fretheskin, parson of Dufgles, being one of the witnesses to a charter in favour of the Abbey of Kelso (Lib. de Cal., 296, 371). He also, about the same time, attested a grant by Sir Reginald de Chen to the monks of Newbattle (Chart. Newbattle, 161, 202). From his name, it is most probable that he was a younger son of the house of Douglas, and there is little doubt that he is identical with Friskynus, dean of Moray, to which office he was promoted by his brother, Bricius, Bishop of that See. In this latter capacity he appears as witness to several charters; and was sent to Lincoln, intra 1208-23, for the purpose of ascertaining the rules of that cathedral (Reg. Morav., 17, 23-44, 48). Dunecanus, parson of Duneglas, was a witness, along with Sir William de Duneglas, to a decreet arbitral between Daniel and Robert of Douane and the Abbey of Kelso, about the year 1240 (Lib. Cal., 162, 194). Aylmer de

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Softlaw, rector of the church of Douglas, attested, circa 1290, a grant by the Abbot of Kelso (Lib. Cal., 164, 197). It would appear that he attached himself to the patriotic party, and that he was in consequence deprived of his living by the English. In 1292, King Edward commanded William de Dumfres, chancellor of Scotland, to direct letters to Robert, bishop of Glasgow, requiring him to present "our beloved Master Eustachius de Bikerton to the church of Douglas, in the diocese of Glasgow, now vacant, and in (spectantem) our gift, by reason the lands of William of Douglas, for certain transgression which he has made, are now in our hands" (Rot. Scot., I., 7). In 1296, however, Aylmer made his submission and swore fealty to the English monarch, whereupon he had letters for the restoration of the temporalities of his benefice directed to the Sheriff of Lanark (Rag Roll, 159; Rot. Scot., I., 25). He does not appear to have remained long faithful to his new engagements, for we find by the following passage in a letter addressed to King Edward by Osbert de Spaldington, on 24th of July in the following year, that, before that date, he had been again ousted from his rectory:-"And the church of Douglas is void, and is well worth 200 merks, as I have heard; and if you please to give it to your treasurer for Scotland (Hugh de Cressingham), I think you will have put it to a good use, for, on the faith I owe you, he has spent much for the success of your affairs" (Chron. Lanercost, 494, 5). In 1301, Aylmer was again reinstated in the rectory of Douglas, and attested a deed of excambion between the Abbey of Kelso and Adam, younger of Douane (Lib. Cal., 161, 193).

Magister Richard de Fogou, canon of Glasgow and rector of Douglas, appears as a witness in several deeds, granted between 1329 and 1371, which are preserved in the chartulary of Melrose (Lib. Mel., pp. 428, 430, 431, 433). In the former of these years he attended Sir William Douglas, then a prisoner in England, and had a safe-conduct for his return to Scotland, with a man and a horse (Rot. Scot., I., 752).

Early in the fifteenth century, the benefice was erected into a

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prebend of the cathedral of Glasgow. This prebend is not mentioned in the regulations of Bishop Mathew, drawn up in. 1401, but in the statutes of Bishop John, issued in 1432, it is provided that the canon holding the prebend of Douglas shall pay £5 towards the expenses of the Divine worship in the choir of the cathedral; and that he shall have a vicarius or stallarius, to whom he shall allow an annual salary of 11 merks (Reg. Glas., 298, 320-345, 342).

Among the documents belonging to the Priory of Coldingham, published by the Surtees Society (236), there is a list of missing evidents, from which it appears that, about the middle of this century, a petition for erecting the rectory of Douglas into a collegiate church, was presented to the Apostolic See, and the consent of the Pope obtained. The learned author of the "Origines Parochiales" states that this purpose was never fulfilled. In this he is probably correct, although, about the time of the Reformation, there are faint indications of the church possessing a collegiate character. Master John of Railston held the benefice in 1439-40 (Chalmers), James Lyndesay in 1447 (Hay's Vind. Eliz. More, p. 78), and John Frissel in 1482-3 (Reg. Mag. Sig., v. 44).

In a charter granted 1460, Alexander English, parish chaplain of Douglas, appears as a witness (Shieldhill Chart.) This indicates the existence of subordinate chantries within the parish church; a fact which we find established by deeds almost contemporaneous. In 1483-4, Archibald, Earl of Angus, granted a charter, which was confirmed by the King, conveying two oxgates of land in the Scrogtoune of Douglas, for the support of a chaplain, serving at the Marie altar, in Saint Bridget's Church of Douglas; and, in 1506, the same nobleman added to this endowment "that oxgate of the land of Scrogtoune which Ninian Gow had in ferme" (Reg. Mag. Sig., xi., 69; xiv., 233). In the year 1535-6, King James V. presented Sir John Purvis, chaplain to the chantry of the altar of St Thomas, in the church of Douglas, then vacant by the decease of Sir John Inglis, and in the gift of the Crown, by reason that the lordship of Douglas, to which the right of presentation belonged, was in

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