The History of the Lands of Chapeltoun, East Ayrshire, Scotland

Templeton and the Chapel Hill

The name is of fairly recent origin as Pont's map (a topographer and cartographer of the 1600's) does not show such a placename, however it does show a Tempelton in approximately the right place between the river Annick and the river Glazert. Other Knight's Templar temple-lands were to be found at the Templehouse fortalice in the old village of Darlington near Stewarton, at the Templetoun estate on the outskirts of Crookedholm and at several other places in the area, such as Temple-Ryburn and Temple-Hapland.

In 1312 the order, who's headquarters had been at Torphichen was disbanded and its lands given to the Knights of St.John (of St John's Ambulance fame). Lord Torphichen as preceptor obtained the temple-land tenements and the Cunninghame lands passed through the hands of Montgomerie of Hessilhead to Wallace of Cairnhill (now Carnell) before passing out of the hands of the aristocracy.

The explanation may be that the name 'Tempelton' was changed to Chapelton and then finally to Chapeltoun (in 1911 and after). John Paterson in the 1835 edition of his History of Ayrshire he records that 'some time ago the remains of a chapel were found near the farm of Laigh Chapelton (the old Chapelton House/farm)- this discovery may have been the impetus for the name change. John Dobie in his additional notes to Pont's work, calls the site 'the chapletons'.

The topography of the area is typical of the sort of site chosen for early ecclesiastical establishments and the building of chapels or churches on pagan sites is a classic example of the way that christianity supplanted previous pagan beliefs. The chapel can never have been very large and was probably abandoned at the time of the protestant reformation in Scotland led by the ex Roman Catholic priest John Knox (1514 to 1572). No evidence remains to suggest where the priest lived, but the site of the old Templeton/Chapleton House suggest itself.

The history of the monastic settlement and the chapel of Saint Mary at the Thurgatstane/Thorgatstane/Field Spirit Stane/Ogrestane near Dunlop is a parallel example. The pagan stone is still there, but no sign of the christian sites is visible, apart from the inconspicuous holy well in the field bordered by the burn.

Bayne states that the stone may have been a 'rocking or logan' stone at one time and it is recorded that the farmer was not permitted to plough within a set distance of the stone, presumably because of a tradition of pagan burials around this monument, which is a 'glacial erratic' in origin.

Both adopted sites are in sheltered valleys, with amble running water and are hidden from view.

The 1775 Captain Armstrong maps of Ayrshire clearly shows a chapel marked on the Chapeltoun mound, so it was known to exist at this time. The remains were slowly mined/removed over the years by local farmers and used for building work, etc.

Smith describes the mound as being 22 paces in diameter, 20 feet high on the low side and 7 feet high on the high side. He states that it is well cared for and that a flight of steps, not visible today, run up from its base to the top. Smith also states that it was repaired in around 1845, which fits in with the dates for the likely construction of the old Chapleton house, possibly by James McAlister (Dobie 1876) who is given as the owner of Chapelton in 1874, and it is stated that the chapel ruins were found some 40 years before. i.e. around 1834. In 1829 a Colonel McAllisterer (now McAlister) is given by Aitken as being the owner of the nearby estate of Kennox house. This James may be a relation.

The name change from Templeton to Chapleton may have occured as a result of the discovery of the chapel ruins.

The repairs on the 'Chapel Hill' may have occured during the construction of Chapelton House at Laigh Chapleton. Alternative names for the mound are the 'Jockey's cap' or 'Monk's Graveyard', indeed the 1897 OS map states that human bones were found in the hill. The mound itself is one of the finest preserved bronze age burial mounds in Ayrshire (Smith 1895). A previous owner of the Chapel Hill carried out an unofficial excavation in recent years.

The name 'Jockey's Cap' originates from the days when the annual 'Stewarton Bonnet Guild Festival' included horse racing - like the 'Irvine Marymass' Celebrations still do. The mound was the perfect site for viewing the 'racecourse' set out on the field below 'Chapeltoun Mains'. The shape of the mound is reminiscent of a jockey's cap.

In the 1980's a group of 'wicca' chose the Chapel Hill top to hold a 'halloween' festival with a large bonfire, etc., much to the surprise of the locals.

Templeton becomes Chapleton and develops into an Estate

The OS maps show the increasing importance of Laigh Chapelton over the years, with the development of formal gardens (from 1850), the building of a home-farm (now Chapelhill House)as shown in the 1911 OS and new driveways, etc. The first track corresponding to the present main entrance appears in the OS of 1897.

Chapeltoun Mains farm changes its name from simple Chapelton, which Laigh Chapelton now adopts, sometime between 1829 and 1858. A small building appears in the position of Chapelburn Cottage from 1858.

The old Chapelton house was demolished in around 1908, possibly following a fire as this is the local tradition. Some of the dressed stonework may have been used in the building of the new house, garden and drive walls, the sides of the Chapeltoun Burn and elsewhere. The walling around the field side of the Chapel Hill mound was brought in from elsewhere at a much later date by the owner of Chapeltoun Mains, Mr.A.Robertson.

The gate to the field below the mound has three sandstone gateposts laid horizontally, two of them are exceptionally large and could be the ornamented gateposts from the old entrance and driveway to Chapleton House. The actual drive is now represented by the curling pond behind the walled up entrance and the OS maps show an entrance here until at least 1911. Chapletoun Mains has only one gatepost and High Chapletoun has none. These changes probably reflect the requirement to have access for large modern farm machinery. The gateposts are machine cut sandstone and the same design is found elsewhere, such as opposite Peacockbank Farm near Stewarton.

During demolition it was noted that the stonework in the lower story of Chapelton House was noticeably older than the upper story as would be expected if Laigh Chapelton had developed into Chapelton as it acquired an owner with greater financial means (possibly Mr.James McAlister) who added an upper story, developed the ornamental gardens and probably built the bridge over the river with the associated 'ha-ha' (see the section on the estate gardens and landscape).

Michael Davis records that Hugh Neilsen, the owner of 'Summerlee Iron Company' had the present mansion house designed in 1908 by Alexander Cullen, an architect from Hamilton. The family moved into the house in 1910, however The gate-lodge was not built until around 1918, having been designed by Cullen, Lochhead and Brown. R.W.Schultz had proposed a terraced garden in 1911, but it is not known to what extent the existing terraces reflect this design. The pillars at the base of the main flight of steps incorporate old ornamental worked sandstone, presumably from 'old Chapelton'. The name 'Chapletoun', with the extra letter 'u' was presumably adopted for the new mansion house.

Hugh Nielsen was a keen player of the bagpipes and the music could be heard at many of the surrounding farms, drifting up from the estate gardens. He was also very fond of curling and as soon as the weather was cold enough he would invite all the locals down for a match and a dram at his curling pond. It is believed to have been restored when the house was a hotel, using concrete and tarmac.

The Chapeltoun Estate was never very large, incorporating Chapeltoun Mains, High Chapeltoun, the home farm (now Chapelhill House) and the cottage (now Chapelburn Cottage), Bogside cottage and Bogflat. 'Cankerton' and 'Bloomridge' were part of the 'Kennox Estate'.

A farm called Mosshead was situated in the fields of Bottoms Farm with its entrance just after the bridge over the Chapeltoun Burn. All trace of it has apparently vanished, whilst Bogside cottage is still represented by building debris at the edge of the field near the entrance to the Bogflat Farm, which has itself been lovelingly rebuilt in the last few years (circa 2004). Bogside cottage was lived in by Mr.Troup and his family. He was the Chapletoun House gardener. Mr.Thow (pronounced Thor) a forester, lived with his family at the Bogflat Farmhouse. The chauffeur, a Mr.McLean lived at Chapelburn cottage.

The Chapeltoun estate is not mentioned in the 'Rambles Round Kilmarnock' by Archibald R. Adamson who writes in some detail about the area in 1875,m but it must have been well established by that time.

The 'mansion' house of 1910 has had a number of changes of use, being the headquarters of an insurance company and a hotel under several different owners, before becoming a family home again around 2003.

Windwaird is the name given by Aitken in 1829 to a house on the Torranyard to Stewarton road, not far from the old entrance (with its demolished gatehouse) to Lainshaw House that runs through Anderson Plantation. This building is called Parkside on the OS maps, it is marked on the 1960, but not the 1974 OS.

High Chapletoun is marked on the 1858 OS, together with a limekiln and a ford over the Annick. An old track is seen running up river from the farm to the field containing the 'Miller's House' near Laigh Castleton, however despite ploughing in this field no building stones have been observed.

The Toll Road

This road was a turnpike as witnessed by the name Crossgates (Stewarton 3 and Irvine 5 1/4 miles), gateside and the check bars that are shown at Crossgates and at the Bickethall road end to prevent vehicles, horse riders, etc. turning off the turnpike and avoiding the toll charges.

The name 'Turnpike' originated from the original 'gate' used being just a simple wooden bar attached at one end to a hinge on the supporting post. The hinge allowed it to 'open' or 'turn' This bar looked like the 'pike' used as a weapon in the army at that time and therefore we get 'turnpike'.

Other than providing better roads, the turnpikes settled the confusion of the different lengths given to miles (Thompson 1999), which varied from 4,854 to nearly 7000 feet. Long miles, short miles, scotch or scot's miles (5,928 feet), irish miles (6,720 feet), etc. all existed. 5280 seems to have been an average!

None of the toll road milestones survive because they were buried during the Second World War to prevent them from being used by invading troops, agents, etc.!

Features of the Estate Gardens and Landscape

In the woodland policies of Chapeltoun House is the Monk's Well (OS 1974), fountain or spring as indicated on the OS maps going back as far as 1858. Its present appearance is probably as a Victorian or Edwardian 'whimsy' or 'folly' with a large, thick sandstone 'tombstone appearance' with a slightly damaged cross carved in relief upon it and a spout through which the spring water once passed into a cast iron 'bowl'.

It seems unlikely from the workmanship that this stone and cross have anything to do with the old chapel, but one slight possibility is that it came from over the entrance door to Laigh Chapelton as the custom was for a Templar property to have the cross' symbol of the order displayed in such a fashion (Pont 1775). It is probably more likely that it was made for the old Chapelton House to asssociate the building with the christian history of the site. The stone is unusually thick and has been clearly reworked to pass a spout through it.

A well is marked near the old Chapelton House (previously Laigh Chapelton) which became a pump later and may now be represented by a surving stone lined well with steps leading down to it. The water from this well was used to fill the Curling Pond which was built by the Neilsen's on the site of the original driveway into the old house/farm.

At the top edge of riverside meadow are to be found a couple of sizeable glacial erratics, no historical recollections are attached to them.

The remains of the abutments of a footbridge across the river are visible where the garden boundary hedge meets the Annick. This presumably Victorian or Edwardian feature would take people across to the area now thick with rhododendrons (R.ponticum), typically planted by estate owners and hated by conservationists due to the invasive nature of the plants growth habit.

On the Lambroughton side of the river is a substantial wall with a wide ditch in front, built with considerable labour and of no drainage function. This structure was probably a 'ha-ha' (sometimes spelt har har) or sunken fence which is a type of boundary to a garden, pleasure-ground, or park so designed as not to interrupt the view and to not be seen until closely approached. The ha-ha consists of a trench, the inner side of which is perpendicular and faced with stone, with the outer slope face sloped and turfed - making it in effect a sunken fence. The ha-ha is a feature in the landscape gardens laid out by Charles Bridgeman, the originator of the ha-ha (according to Horace Walpole) and was an essential component of the "swept" views of 'Capability Brown'.

"The contiguous ground of the park without the sunk fence was to be harmonized with the lawn within; and the garden in its turn was to be set free from its prim regularity, that it might assort with the wilder country without. Most typically they are found in the grounds of grand country houses and estates and acted as a means of keeping the cattle and sheep out of the formal gardens, without the need for obtrusive fencing. They vary in depth from about 4 feet (Chapeltoun House) to 9 feet (Petworth).

The name 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.

No doubt a seat was 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.

The Chapeltoun Bridge over the Annick is a specially designed sandstone structure complementing the scene and probably matching the architecture of the old Chapelton House. 'Stepping stones' are marked on the 1897 OS map as being located just downstream from here. Immense labour has been expended building walls on either side of the river and even the Chapletoun Burn bed is 'cobbled'.

Linear bands of stone deposition in this 'boundary' field suggest that the old 'rig and furrow' system was used, however extensive modern ploughing has hidden the 'tell tale' signs. The amount of stone clearance dumped in the 'Lambroughton Woods' bearing plough scoring illustrates the extent of the ploughing. Other fields in the area do still show these unmistakable signs of cultivation and place names such as Lochrig (now Lochridge) preserve the history of the practice.

Natural History of the Chapeltoun Estate

The area of 'wild-wood' with its 'sheets of bluebells', the wood rushes, wood sorrel, dog's mercury, snowdrops, celandine, broad buckler, lady and male-shield ferns, helleborine orchids and other species typical of long established woodlands, abruptly ends at the 'march'(estate boundary), indicated by a large earth bund and a boundary coppiced beech. A significant historic survival in an Ayrshire context. The 1858 OS shows the wood as confined to the area of the ha-ha, however by 1897 the OS shows woodland as far up as the march. The Lambroughton woods beyond (until recently the property of the Montgomery/Southanan Estate) are not shown on the older maps including the 1911 OS, they are shown in the 1960 OS map and are a pine plantations amongst what was scrub or partial woodland cover containing elder, gean, ash, etc. before this the area above the river was not even fenced off at the top where it becomes 'level' with the field.

The Chapeltoun Burn rises near the Anderson Plantation woods and is marked as being a chalybeate or mineral spring. Bore holes nearby suggest that the water was to be put to a more formal use, supplying cattle troughs or possibly even for bottling as mineral water was popular for its supposed curative properties and, according to opinion of the day, could cure ‘the colic, the melancholy, and the vapours; it made the lean fat, the fat lean; it killed flat worms in the belly, loosened the clammy humours of the body, and dried the over-moist brain’.

Although giant hogweed is taking hold along the Annick, the riparian (water side) flora is atill indicative of long established and undisturbed habitats. The rare crosswort, (a relative of the goosegrass or cleavers) is found nearby. The river contains, amongst others, brown trout, sea trout, salmon, eels, minnows, and stickleback. The water quality is much improved since the Stewarton cloth mills closed and the river no longer carries their dyes and preservative pollutants.

Kingfishers have been seen just downstream and the estates woodland policies and river contain, amongst others, tawny and barn owls,herons, mallard, ravens, rooks, treecreepers, buzzards, roe deer, mink, moles, grey squirrels, hares, hedgehogs,foxes, badgers and probably otters. Migrating Canada and Graylag Geese frequent the nearby fields on their way up from the Solway Firth/Caerlaverock or coming down from Spitsbergen in the winter.

The estate woodlands contains typical species, such as copper beech, horse-chestnut, yew, bay-laurel, oaks, ornamental pines, and a fine walnut. Several very large beeches and sycamores are also present.

Hedgerow trees were not planted by farmers for 'visual effect', they were crops and the wood was used for building, fencing and millers needed beech or hornbeam wood for mill machinery, in particular the cogs on the drive gears.

Notes on other Sites in the Locality

Kennox house has a very unusual survival, a saw pit is marked on the 6 1858 OS, used for producing sawn planks. It is still visible today. The Glazert burn has otters and the rare freshwater mussel (source of freshwater pearls). At Gallowayford is the site of the discovery in 1880 (Smith 1895) of stone lined graves in which were found two urns containing flint arrowheads and some 'druid's glass'.

Bankend farm near the Annick is marked as a ruin as far back as 1858, however its name was transfered to the farm of Sandilands sometime after 1960 and the name Sandilands dropped.

Crivoch, recently rebuilt as a family home, was the site of Crivoch Mill and associated miller's dwelling, byre, etc. A track led from Crivoch up to Bottoms and this gave access through to Chapeltoun. The Dusky Cranesbill, a rare garden escape, was recorded by the Glenfield Ramblers society of Kilmarnock at Crivoch in the 1850's and was still growing at the site in 2004.

Bonshaw was a small estate, however the house has been long demolished and all that remains are the entrance gateposts and an ice house. Near to the existing farm is Hutt Knowe, also known as Bonshaw or Bollingshaw Mound, 17m in diameter and 2.7 m high, variously described as a mounded corn-kiln or lime kiln (Linge 1987). It has large integral basal stones and was described in 1890 (Smith 1895) as having culverts or 'penns' in its sides, although these are not visible today.

Near Stacklawhill is the site of the discovery (Smith 1895) of celts (axe heads) and earthenware in 1875.

References

• Aitken, John (1829). Survey of the parishes of Cunningham. Pub. Beith

• Adamson, Archibald R. (1875). Rambles Round Kilmarnock. Pub. T.Stevenson, pps.168-170

• Armstrong and Son. Engraved by S.Pyle (1775). A New Map of Ayr Shire comprehending Kyle, Cunningham and Carrick

• Bayne, John F. (1935). Dunlop Parish - A History of Church, Parish, and Nobility. Pub. T.& A. Constable, pps.10-16

• Dobie, James (1876). Cunninghame topographized 1604-1608 with continuations and illustrative notices (1876). Pub. John Tweed

• Davis, Michael C. (1991). The Castles and Mansions of Ayrshire. Pub. Spindrift Press, Ardrishaig, pps.206 & 207

• Linge, John (1987). Re-discovering a landscape: the barrow and motte in north Ayrshire. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquities of Scotland. V.117. p.28

• Paterson, James (1886). History of the Counties of Ayr and Wigton. p.452

• Smith, John (1895). Prehistoric Man in Ayrshire. Pub. Elliot Stock. p.85

• Thompson, Ruth & Alan (1999). The Milestones of Arran