Small sketch by the famous 19/20th century Etcher Sir Muirhead Bone’ found in the church archives Read more?
(Revised 2014 with fresh information)
"….he should be punctual in the beating of the drum or blowing of the horn at six o' clock in the morning
during the three dead months of the winter and at five o'clock during the rest of the year and also perform the duty at 9 o'clock of the evening throughout the year.!"
A Bit of Witchcraft in Gargunnock?
"…..She was then to take some of the cow's milk and put it out at a hole of the house where no light came in……"
Imagine the scenario… It's the year 1631, a bitterly cold winter's morning and the cow's sick yet again….no milk for the porridge!
So how do you make it well again? Easy, you pop round to the neighbours and borrow their cat, but without actually saying its name, then carry it three times round the cow and throw it out the door…..!
Daft, I hear you say? Well this actually happened and there’s even more to it as the Kirk Session minutes of that year show.
This copy of the Edinburgh Evening Courant dated Nov. 16th 1797 was sent to the Rev R Stevenson (here 1888 to 1927) in the early 20th century by an unknown English minister in France, simply addressed to “the Incumbent of Gargunnock”
It carries a story of the rejoicings in the village following news of Admiral Duncan’s victory over the Dutch fleet at Camperdown.
It is now in the church archives
Bonnie Prince Charlie dines in Old Leckie....
....while his men have their way with the Beild’s sheep!
The Leckie Broch
What’s the connection between the Leckie Broch,and this wee girl? Well she’s my daughter and she’s sitting on an unusual rock near the broch many years ago
A couple of gems from the church archives are a booklet and a hard-
The booklet is “The Lairds of Leckie” which traces the ownership of Leckie from Robert the Bruce down to modern times. Anyone strong enough to read its 17 closely typed pages, some of which are in old Scots legal language will learn, amongst other things, about the decline of the family, Leckie after the Laird was murdered, and how his son, at the time an infant, pursued the perpetrators in the cause of justice for decades thereafter.
The second is a hard-
Click here to download the Lairds of Leckie booklet
Click here for a shortened version which appeared in the Gargunnock News with modern additions
History Bytes -
Gargunnock Railway Station on the Forth & Clyde Junction Railway was in its heyday exceedingly neat and tidy as seen here. Its full story makes for an interesting read as in this recent magazine article.
Roman fragments found by archaeologists on top of Keir Hill
Keir Hill, that conical hill to the south of the Rest Garden, off the Square, is reputed to be the place where William Wallace camped prior to the sacking of the “Peel Tower of Gargowno” Excavations on its summit revealed that it had indeed been an occupied site long before Wallce arrived.
A little bit of industrial archaeology came to the fore when Mrs Donaldson at Belton Cottage, Main Street, produced these jacket buttons from long gone railwaymen’s jackets found in her garden.
Now, it’s a fact that one of my grandfathers worked as a railway surfaceman both from here and further east down Falkirk direction. It’s also a fact that he lived out his final days in Belton Cottage in the 1940s
So, 2 plus 2 makes....?
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