#borgue

During the “Killing Times” some Covenanters were captured by troops, sent to prison, tried and then banished to the Americas. Robert MacLellan was banished but returned to Scotland and this is his remarkable story.

ROBERT MACLELLAN

Robert MacLellan of Barmagachan in the parish of Borgue (house pictured) was a passionate Covenanter. He took part in the Pentland Rising and fled to England only returning to his home after four years away. He later took part in the Battle of Bothwell Bridge and again escaped to England. In 1684 he was captured, imprisoned and eventually sentenced to be banished to America as an indentured prisoner. Accompanied by three of his sons he sailed on the Henry and Francis from Leith in September 1685 and after a difficult voyage they arrived at Perth Amboy, New Jersey in December. Many died on the journey and Robert was so ill he had to be carried off the ship. They protested against their banishment and the prisoners were pardoned. He purchased land at Woodbridge and remained there until June 1689 when, hearing news that it was safe to return, he set out for Scotland with one of his sons.

They made good time on the return journey but then their fortunes changed for the worse. As the ship approached England it was engaged by a French man-o-war and they were taken as prisoners. First held in a prison in Nantes they were then made to walk to Toulon and on the way a guard lashed Robert in the face resulting in him losing his eye. After the six-week march they were then held in a prison ship where they remained for many months, his 12 year old son looking after him until they were released. Heading home again on a ship bound for Amsterdam a storm blew up and forced the ship to land in Ireland where they were once again taken prisoner. Robert was badly treated and fell ill again before they sailed to Dublin and eventually back to Scotland to their home, Barmagachan in Borgue. Robert appears to have died in the early 1690s soon after his return. Barmagachan was inherited by a son, also Robert, before being sold in the early 1700s.

Fields are often named after a distinguishing feature on the farm and the field named Tank (left of drystone dyke) is has a brick-built water reservoir within its boundaries. It is a common name with 5 other farms in the area having a Tank Field.

This field has a long stretch of level ground which is unusual in an area where the land is characterised by its undulating landscape. The field has been utilised as the home to “Borgue International Airport”. When racing driver Innes Ireland lived nearby the runway was used by some famous visitors.

It may seem strange to us now but 300 years ago there were no villages instead the landscape was scattered with small fermtouns, usually collections of only three of four humble dwellings, where the inhabitants farmed the surrounding open countryside. The parish church was usually erected in an easily accessible location usually in the centre of the parish and was a meeting place for many in the community. However, it still comes as a surprise to many that the parish church yard is where markets and fairs were held long before towns and villages appeared.

In Glenluce an act granted in 1669 identifies the Kirk of Glenluce as a good place for a market because of its location in the centre of Wigtownshire where people need to pass on their travels to and from Ireland and England. The king granted Sir James Dalrymple, his heirs and successors, a weekly mercat upon Saturdays, with two free fairs yearly, the one upon the last Tuesday in May, the other upon the first Tuesday in August, to be kept at the kirk of Glenluce upon the lands of Balcail.

Andrew Symson's work "A Large Description of Galloway" written in the late 1690s described a fair on the Borgue coast at Kirkandrews (pictured above).

In the kirkyard of Kirkanders, upon the ninth day of August, there is a fair kept, called St Lawernce Fair, where all sorts of merchant-wares are to be sold; but the fair lasts only three or four hours, and then the people, who flock hither in great companies, drink and debauch, and commonly great lewdness is committed here at this fair.

It would appear that fairs and markets provided opportunities for inhabitants to purchase and trade good as well as take part in a wide range of social activities.

The ruin of Kirkdominae in the Stinchar Valley near Barr is the remains of a pre-reformation chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity (the place-name Kirkdominae will be a topic of another blog). Although the surviving remains of the chapel cannot be easily dated it is recorded that it was partly deconstructed in the mid-1600s to help build a new parish church at Barr. An anonymous ballad celebratesthe annual fair that held at the site on the last Sunday of May that only ceased in 1837. The ballad reveals the fair as it is experienced by a young man and sets the scene of stalls, drinking, eating, music, brawls and pretty girls and suggests that it was an important social event for people from miles around.

Field-names in the parish of Borgue can be used to identify locations where wildlife was a notable feature and sometimes indicates changes in land use or landscape features.

This field encloses Drummore Hill, (a name derived from the Gaelic druim mòr meaning big ridge), but the field is known as Cushie Wood. A copse is marked on the hilltop on old maps and is an example of a field-name identifying a historic landscape feature. The woodland appears to have been felled about 100 years ago.

Cushat or cushie-doo is a Scots word for a wood pigeon and in this field-name has been reduced to Cushie. Presumably the woodland was the haunt of this common wild bird that no doubt was a valuable ingredient for the farm kitchen.