Lands of Lainshaw

As the original seat of the Stuarts or Stewarts it was considered of much value and was bestowed by the Scottish Kings only as a special mark of favour.[1] Mary Queen of Scots changed the spelling to 'Stuart' during her time in France to ensure that the French pronounced the name correctly. James, High Steward of Scotland, inherited Stewarton in 1283. Robert III granted it to Archibald the Grim, Earl of Douglas then took it back to bestow as a dowry on Elizabeth, the Earl's daughter, when she married John Stewart, Earl of Buchan. The lands reverted to the crown many times. Queen Mary presented the lands to Mary Livingstone, one of the famous 'four Marys', upon her marriage to John Sempill, son of Lord Sempill in 1565.[1] John Knox referred to them as "John the Dancer and Marie the Lusty".[4] The Montgomeries obtained the lands shortly after.

A view of the renovated Lainshaw House in 2007 from the Cunninghamhead road

One of the earliest references to Lainshaw [1] is the grant of land to Alexander Home of Holme by King James II in 1450.[1] Castleton, Gallowberry, Whitelee, Crennachbrare, Robertland and Magbiehill (Magby Hill in 1775) were also included in the grant. Thomas Home inherited, but he died without issue and it passed to the Eglinton family, namely Sir Neil or Nigel Montgomerie of Langshaw who was the third son of the first Earl of Eglinton.[1] He was killed at Irvine in 1547 through the feud with the Mowats of Busbie and Lord Boyd. His son, John, married Margaret, daughter of Lord Boyd. John Montgomerie died without issue and his brother Neil became the third laird.

Neil Montgomerie married the heiress of Lord Lyle and had a son, Neil, who died before 1621. The son, Neil, had married Elizabeth, daughter of John Cunningham and had four children, Neil of Lainshaw, William of Bridgend, James of Dunlop, and John of Cockilbie. Neil and his son John sold their estates in 1654 to John of Cockilbie.[5]

In 1745 the "Laird of Langshaw" died suddenly from drinking bad wine.[6] When the 9th Laird, James, died in 1767 his eldest sister, Elizabeth inherited. She had married Alexander Montgomerie-Cuninghame of Kirktonholme, son of Sir David Cuninghame of Corsehill. Her second husband was J. Beaumont Esq.

Lainshaw Castle in 1779.[7]

The Mausoleum of the Cunninghames of Lainshaw in the Laigh Kirk cemetery, Stewarton.

The 10th Laird was their son, Sir Walter Montgomerie-Cuninghame, who lost a fortune as result of the American War of Independence. William Cunninghame of Bridgehouse and (afterwards Lainshaw), the 'Tobacco Lord', had made a fortune in America between 1748 and 1762. In 1776 'Linshaw' is shown on road map as occupied by Bowman Esq.[8] In 1779 William Cunninghame purchased Lainshaw[9] from Sir Walter[1] and proceeded to improve the Estate under an agreement whereby the Montgomeries could reclaim the estate only if they could reimburse William for the cost of his improvements. They were never able to do so.

William married three times and had fourteen children. He disinherited his eldest sons Thomas and Alexander and it was his third son, William Cunninghame who inherited the estate in 1799,[10] but did not take up residence until 1804. During his time the house was remodelled extensively. He was a religious eccentric, which led to various court actions and his publishing a wide range of eccentric books, including one against swearing. He never married,[11] having heard his childhood sweetheart utter unacceptably bad language. On his death in 1849, the estate passed to his younger half brother, John Cuninghame of Duchrae,[1] who in turn was succeeded in 1864 by his son John William Herbert, a Captain in the 2nd Life Guards and married in 1867 to Emily, eldest daughter of Major George Graham.[12]

The Coach Road through the policies near the Lainshaw ha-ha

The house remained with the family until it was bought by the local authority in 1947 and became a care home for the elderly. Following a period as a ruin it was restored and converted into a number of apartments.[2] In 1691 the "place of Longshaw [sic] and office houses" had eleven hearths, and the associated dwellings of the "Lands of Longshaw" had over sixty, including Peacockbank.[13] The whale bone arch at the main lodges was constructed from the bones found at the confluence of the Annick Water and the Glazert Water at Water Meetings.[14]

The estate map of 1779 shows a band of woodland running around the estate curtilage. This strip had a carriage-way running through its middle and this links with the ha-ha at the chalybeate spring field. Wide wooden bridges with stone abutments close to the Annick Bridge in Stewarton and close to the walled gardens allowed a complete circuit of the estate curtilage to be made. Only the abutments of these bridges remain.

The old driveway to Lainshaw House off the Stewarton to Torranyard road also has a 'ha-ha' on the side facing the home farm before it reaches the woods. The name ha-ha may be derived from the response of ordinary folk on encountering them and that they were, "...then deemed so astonishing, that the common people called them Ha! Ha's! to express their surprise at finding a sudden and unperceived check to their walk." An alternative theory is that it describes the laughter of those who see a walker fall down the unexpected hole. A seat may have been situated by the ha-ha and the woodland view would have been, and indeed still is, very attractive as this area is clearly an ancient woodland remnant. The stone boundary wall stops in line with the ha-ha.

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  The lime tree avenue in Anderson's Plantation on the old carriage route.
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  A view of the abutment of the old carriageway bridge over the Annick Water near the old walled gardens.
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  A view of the abutment of the old carriageway bridge over the Annick Water near the Annick Road bridge at Stewarton.
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  The remains of an old footbridge across the Annick Water.

Near the main entrance is marked a building or buildings called 'Castle-salt', the reason for the name is not known, however salt houses were associated with baronial dwellings and these were used for the storage of salted and preserved foods.[15] It could be that the name 'salt' is a corruption of another word, such as 'soiled' or 'soil', as in the 'night soil', i.e, the midden where the night soil was placed before being taken away for use as fertilizer. A document held in the Scottish National Archive mentions a 'Cattle salt' in Stewarton. In the Laigh Kirk graveyard there is a memorial to Robert Cunningham, erected by James Cunningham of Castle-Salt in 1827. A Mrs. Bracket lived at Castle-salt in 1820, the valued rent being £16.[16] The land around Lainshaw Primary school was known as 'Picken's Park' (originally 'Padzean')[17] and its trees were felled circa 1950, the trees being taken to Bickethall Farm for sawing, etc. Picken was a common local name at the time. Robertson records in 1820 that fields had been drained at considerable expense by filling ditches with stones.

Marble bust of William Cunninghame of Lainshaw d.1879.

In 1779 the estate farms included Gilmill, Kirkmuir, Righead, Parkside, Irvinehill, the Kilbryde Farms, Gouknest, Magbie-hill, Gaimes-hill, Bankend of Bollingshaw, Sandyland of Bollingshaw, Canaan and Clerkland. The rental income from the estate was £1628 per year, a considerable sum (Lainshaw 1779). James Kerr was the 'Baron Officer' at Lainshaw until his death on 4 July 1880. His wife was Barbara Barclay and they were buried at the Laigh Kirk.

The estate wall running from near Freezeland to near the Law Mount was built by unemployed labourers in the early 19th century.

James Forrest of Mid Lambroughton recorded the rare Bird's Nest Orchids and the Lesser Wintergreen plants as growing in the estate woodlands in the 1930s. Locally the woodlands, marked as Anderson's Plantation on some maps, are known as the 'Wendy woods' for some forgotten reason.

Dobie states that two pre-reformation chapels existed locally, one at Lainshaw and one at Chapeltoun. In 1616 the Earl of Eglinton transferred the patronage of Lainshaw Chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary, to Sir Neil Montgomerie of Lainshaw,[18] but by 1661 it was back with the Earl.[19] After the Reformation the chapel's endowment was appropriated by the patron and the chapel allowed to fall into ruins. No remains of the chapel now exist. Paterson suggests that only one chapel existed and this was at Chapeltoun or Chapel. Sanderson states the chapel of the Virgin Mary at Lainshaw was under the patronage of the earls of Eglinton.[20]

A lectern style sundial was located at Lainshaw, similar to the lectern at Ladyland but with two steps and hemi-cylinders towards the South rather than one; it is now at Hensol House near Castle Douglas. The sundial plinth has the Cuninghame coat of arms and the initials SAC DMS, for Sir Alexander Cuninghame (d. 1685) and his wife, Dame Margaret Stewart (m. 1665) who lived at Corsehill Castle; the dial may have been taken to Lainshaw when the family moved in 1779. The date of construction may have been 1672, when Sir Alexander was created Baronet or in 1673, when he became a freemason.[21]

The Stewarton Woodland Action Trust have created a network of public access paths, some of which run through the old Lainshaw Estate lands.

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  The entrance to the cycle and pedestrian path off the Stewarton to Torranyard road near Gill Mill farm.
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  A portion of the path looking up from the Chapelburn at the Anderson Plantation.
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  The Ha-ha at Lainshaw near the Chalybeate spring and the Chapelburn.
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  The same 'Coach Road' through the policies near the Lainshaw Ha-ha in 2006.