Craigengillan and the McAdams

by
Hugh Johnstone MBE

Although Craigengillan is situated in the Parish of Straiton the McAdam family have always been identified with Dalmellington. The original family surname was MacGregor; they came from a farmstead on the banks of the River Ken 5 miles from Carsphairn on the road to Dalry.  On arrival here at the Lands of Berbeth they changed the name to Craigengillan, which had been the Name of their former homestead on the River Ken.  Further to this they changed the family surname from MacGregor to McAdam, meaning “Sons or Kinsmen of Adam – The First Man.”

Their acquisition of the lands here came about because of their contribution to the land barons“Raid of the Isles” which in South West of Scotland was purged by Lord Ochiltree a tyrant supporter of this English Government.

Licence and Crown Charter granted the lands to them in 1611.  The head of the family at this
time was William McAdam he was followed by a son Quintin McAdam in 1677 and he was followed
by his son also Quintin McAdam in 1714.

From their arrival here in 1611 until 1714 they had kept a low profile, as most of their association was with the village of Straiton.  Over the next 100 years of their dynasty much land had been acquired and Quintin McAdam had inherited an estate entailing most of the Parish of Dalmellington and much of Straiton Parish.

Craigengillan House

Contrary to the first hundred years the Lairds of Craigengillan from 1714 now began to take more interest in the community of Dalmellington.  Quintin McAdam was followed by his son James who was mentioned as one of the foremost landowners in Ayrshire, this was recorded in the Ayr Presbytery record books 27 January 1725.

James McAdam was followed by his son John in 1757 and this John McAdam of Craigengillan was the great engineer and innovator of the family and along with his kinsman John Louden, McAdam became a road engineer and inventor of Tar-Mac.  John McAdam, the road engineer, became a popular figure in Dalmellington, providing much needed employment and he was a generous benefactor who did much for the good of the Doon Valley.  He further expanded his estate when he acquired the Lands of Auchenroy, Nether and High Laight also Camlarg and the Land of Lochmaharle in the Parish of New Cumnock.

In 1765 he re-designed the original house at Craigengillan and added the first extension.  He also built a substantial stone bridge over the river near the house and made the private approach road as a more direct way to Dalmellington.  The road prior to this was from Straiton, along the road to Dalcairney Farm and over the hill to Craigengillan. In 1773 because of the difficult terrain his next feat, to inspire anyones imagination, he built the road from Dalmellington to New Cumnock. In 1780 through his engineering skills he had devised a novel and excellent method of constructing dry stone dykes.  In the process he had taught one of his key workers, one John McKenzie, his new method of dry dyking.  He granted a long-term lease of one of his properties to John McKenzie and set up a school of dry stone dyking at Craigengillan.  Fellow dykers came from all over to learn the McAdam method, which proved to be the best in the country.

 

Stone Bridge

Until now there was no dam at Loch Doon and in the winter with the heavy snowfalls and persistent rain the Doon Valley from the Bogton Meadow to Patna was constantly underwater.  Locally perhaps the most ambitious engineering project of John McAdam, who in conjunction with his fellow landowner, The Earl of Cassillis, who owned the castle in the middle of the loch, was the construction of the first dam and sluice gate at the foot of Loch Doon in 1787 (with this construction future flooding could be curtailed).

John McAdam, the road engineer, was well known to his future generation as a shrewd gentleman with skills probably much ahead of his time.  He was a sponsor to The Arts and donated subscriptions to the works of Robert Burns, which was rewarded when Burns sent him a copy of his first edition of poems.

In 1794 his only son Quintin who was later to become Colonel Quintin McAdam of Craigengillan followed John McAdam.  He, like his predecessors, maintained and improved the estate throughout his lifetime until his untimely death by his own hand 1806.  In 1800, as a bachelor of 46 years, he took a local girl Elizabeth Walker 18 years old of Knockdown Straiton into his keeping.  He had his lawyers draw up legal deeds to pay her an allowance of 60 guineas per year during her lifetime.  Miss Walker’s parents were both deceased and she was under the guardianship of her elder brother James Walker of Knockdown.  Quintin McAdam then wrote the following letter to James Walker.


Dear James

You will perhaps be surprised and may not be well pleased when I tell you that your sister Elizabeth has come to live with me.  I hope you will not be angry when I tell you that I mean to behave to Elizabeth in the most honourable manner.  I have already settled 60 guineas on her yearly during her life; I have made her no promise of marriage, but it is possible it will come to that.  She and I would be very happy, you are welcome to come over to Craigengillan and if there is further explanation you wish, I shall be glad to make it.

Yours sincerely
Quintin McAdam

Five and a half years later with two daughters born of Elizabeth and another child expected soon, Quintin decided it was time to marry her and he wrote to his Edinburgh lawyer Mr. Smith.

Dear Sir,

I intend to marry Elizabeth Walker immediately.  Come as soon as possible, bring stamped deed papers to write a contract, everything is requisite to have a legal deeds drawn up, to have the whole of my landed property, I now have, or may later acquire, strictly detailed.
21st March 1805

Yours sincerely
Quintin McAdam  (Colonel)

However, Quintin McAdam was very impatient and on the very afternoon that he had sent the letter, with Miss Walker by his side in the drawing room at Craigengillan, in front of four senior members of his staff, he announced that he took Elizabeth Walker as his lawful wife.  Therefore, Elizabeth and his two daughters Jane and Catherine and his unborn child were his legal heirs.  To this Elizabeth Walker gave her consent and so the marriage was legally binding according to Scot’s law at the time.  The four witnesses to the marriage were George Ramsey (Butler) Robert Gault (Cattle Stockman) James Richardson (Woodcutter) and Margaret Wylie (Housekeeper).

In the late afternoon that day he had his usual weekly business dinner with his estate factor.  All affairs of the estate were in order and the financial position of the family was extremely healthy.  At 8.30 in the evening after Elizabeth and Miss Wylie had put the two young daughters to bed, Elizabeth went to speak to her husband in his study, where she found he had shot himself.  No explanation could be found for this deed and for years it remained a mysterious act of morality.

After the suicide of Quintin McAdam a boy was born to Elizabeth.  He was also named Quintin and he inherited the estate.  The affairs of Craigengillan, during his minor years, were the responsibility of his lawyers and tutors and guidance from an elder cousin John McWhirter resident at the Grimmet.

When the young Quintin became age to manage estate affairs, his notable achievement was the making of the footpath along side the river and up through the length of the magnificent Ness Glenn to the dam at Loch Doon.  Sadly he never enjoyed good health, he and his sister Catherine died in their early twenties.  Two years after their death their mother Elizabeth also died.  The surviving daughter Jane married The Hon Colonel Frederick McAdam Cathcart, who was the second son of William Schaw, Earl of Cathcart, whose family were Barons of the Burgh of Dalmellington.  They took over the estate in 1825 and during their time took avid interest in the affairs of the people of Dalmellington Parish and the lands of which they owned.

Among other things they kept up the local school by providing the building, the headmaster’s house and garden plus his salary for ten years.  They also kept up the library in Dalmellington with generous donations of books and annually donated £40 to parochial funds for the poor.  Like all their forbearers before them the McAdams Cathcarts were religious and every Sunday went to the Parish Church, which was, then at Knowhead where 36 spaces reserved for their family friends and workers.

1840 Mail and Stage Coach Service

In 1846 the present Kirk was built and donated to the Parish of Dalmellington by Mrs Adam Cathcart.  At this time the extent of Craigengillan Estate was considerable.  It covered the Parish of Dalmellington a quarter of the large Parish of Straiton and also part of the Parishes of New Cumnock, Carsphairn and Coylton.

1851 Lamloch Church      Garry Horn    Feb – Sept    1st Minister   (Edward Hayman)

Next in line to own Craigengillan was Alexander Frederick McAdam and he was to be the last of the McAdams to inherit the estate.  He was a generous man keen on sports and himself an excellent horseman.  With the innovation of Dalmellington Iron Company at Dunaskin and the prospect of ironstone and coal mining he persuaded the farmers of the lower lying lands in the valley to change from sheep rearing to dairy farming.  By changing this way they would be able to supply the new villages of Craigmark, Benquat, Pennyvennie and Beoch, which were springing up, with their daily need of butter, milk and potatoes, etc.

The McAdam family had a holiday home in the Isle of Wight and in his teen years Alexander would winter there.  On one of his visits to the Isle of Wight he and some friends made a visit to Dijon in France (Dijon home of the mustard people) there he met a girl called Charlotte Tilke.  Eventually they married and settled in the family home at Craigengillan.

The young married McAdams became notable socialite entertainers.   From the years 1890 to 1900 an annual two-day event was held in the Bogton Meadow or locally known as the Promised Land.  This comprised with the first day being a horse-riding gymkhana and on the second day an athletic sports meeting.  Stands were erected for the viewing public; competitors came from far afield to compete. Dalmellington Band provided entertainment the band funds rewarded and the droothy palates of the bandsmen quenched with ample refreshment.  With Alexander McAdam’s equestrian interests, breeding of horses became an industry at Craigengillan and these were trained and supplied to the British military.   In 1899 a contingent of 40 of these horses were dispatched to South Africa to support Baden Powell’s army during the Boer War.  Local Vet Frederick Gavin took charge of these horses on their journey.  He was the son of Alexander Gavin, General Manager of Dalmellington Iron Company
(Gavin Memorial Prize, school prize.   In all 15 Dalmellingtonians were involved in the South African Boer War including Doctor Thomas Bell of the Mill Dalmellington and his two sisters Bessie and Jean who were nurses in the field hospital at Ladysmith.

Find Me Out, 19th Century

On one of Alexander McAdams visits to the holiday home at the Isle of Wight he fell ill and died at the age of 36 years.  There was no family; only his wife Honourable Mrs McAdam, “known as Lady McAdam to the locals”, survived him.

The Lady of Craigengillan carried on running the estate and in her own right was reputed to be an excellent businesswoman.  She took approximately £13,000 profit on land owned and sixpence per ton for every ton of coal raised from each pit in the Parish.  Sixpence per ton was mineral rights

With the advent of the 1st World War 1914 – 18 one of Mrs McAdam’s sister sent her daughter Lavinette out of harms way from the war in France, to reside with her aunt at Craigengillan.  The relationship between Mrs McAdam and her niece Lavinette was destined not to be a happy one. 

1914 – 1918 War

The story of the Bogton Airfield and the aerial gunnery range and seaplanes at Loch Doon.

Sir William Beardsmore 1856 – 1936

Local girl Sadie Limond married Londoner Arthur Frure

Soon after the First World War, by 1919 Mrs McAdam decided to off - load some parts of the estate, the leases of Bellsbank House and Camlarg were about to expire.  Mrs Woodburn at Camlarg had died with no surviving family, husband John Woodburn was retiring.  The lease of Bellsbank House also expired with the death of William Walker.  There were two survivors of the Walker family Miss Walker and her brother John, on their father’s death a bitter feud existed between them.  To outdo her brother Miss Walker bought Camlarg and was the owner until the Government in 1940 requisitioned the property.   John Walker bought Bellsbank House also until it to was requisitioned in 1940.  With the sale of these parts and some further afield the Craigengillan Estate decreased, becoming more easily managed.

By 1929 Dalmellington Iron Company was being taken over by the Lanarkshire Mining Company of William Baird and the name was changed to Bairds and Dalmellington.  This change over was taken on condition that B & D were to sink new pits No 7 Chalmerston, No 5 Beoch, No 7 Pennyvennie and the Bogton mine.  (1st Manager Tom Hill)

Mrs McAdam strongly objected to the sinking of the Bogton mine stating it would be an eye sore to her V.I.P.  summer guests.  She fought tooth and nail with the local District Council and Ayrshire County Council to reverse the decision to sink, but eventually lost.  The Bogton mine was sunk by William Murphy, coaled in 17 May 1931, production ceased July 1956.  The aerial was dismantled in 1957 and rebuilt as the chair lift at Butlins Holiday Camp, Ayr.

The plantation from Ayr Road up past the approach road.

The plantation from the main road up the approach to the lodge and beyond was planted by Wull Robb, of Milton Cottage, Camlarg.   Assisted by the boy William Murphy (father of John Murphy, Broomknowe), in conjunction with the sinking of the Bogton mine. (Mrs McAdam did not want her summer friends to see the pit).

Mrs McAdam’s last visible appearance in Dalmellington was at the opening of the Golf Course at the Manse Glebe, from 1929 she rarely if ever visited the village again.  Mrs McAdam was renowned in noble circles as a socialite, entertaining hosts of V.I.P.  guests (at Craigengillan).  House guests in August 1931 were the distinguished stage actor and racehorse owner Mr Tom Walls.  His racehorse  ‘April the Fifth’ won the Derby in 1932.   My older brother William, who at the time of writing, is 94 years old, was Tom Walls’s beater at the grouse shooting in August 1931.  For five days beating Monday – Friday he gave my brother a crown (5/-) and told him to remember April the Fifth for the 1932 Derby.

Every year from 1930 during the months of December, January and February she would visit her relatives in Dijon and spend six weeks at Monte Carlo in the South of France.  While at Monte Carlo she was often a guest at the Palace of Monaco owned by Prince and Princess Rainer.  During the summers of the 1930’s the Rainers and their son were regular guests at Craigengillan.  (Prince Rainer III married film star Grace Kelly).  After the Second World War Prince Rainer III made two visits.

King Gustav and Queen Helena of Sweden twice visited.

Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister 1937-1940, was married to Mrs McAdam’s second cousin and related to Colmans the mustard people of Dijon.

Lord Halifax, who had been a former Viceroy of India and was leader of the House of Lords 1937-1940, was related through marriage to Lord Mitford.  Lord Mitford had three daughters who spent most of their teen and twenty years in Adolph Hitler’s entourage in Germany in the 1930’s.  Unity Mitford the eldest of the three daughters was Hitler’s girlfriend.   In 1940 she was stricken with tuberculosis, and although we were at war with Germany a Red Cross hospital ship brought the very ill Unity Mitford from the Hook of Holland to Harwich, and back to the family home at Horton, North Hamptonshire, where she died some six weeks later.

When she was 89 Mrs McAdam married bachelor Dr. Bulkeley Gavin.  He had been a Harley Street doctor specializing in the treatment of skin diseases.  He was the second son of Alexander Gavin Dalmellington Iron Coy General Manager and younger brother of Vet Frederick who had taken the horses to South Africa (Boer War).

Mrs McAdam died at Craigengillan April 1959, aged 92.