Part 5

These letters, in the Saxon character, and arranged in a peculiar way, form a common ornament on the corners of the gothic pillars, and on other parts, of our principal old churches throughout the country. They seem to have escaped the pious fury of the Reformers, by virtue of their unintelligibility.

NOTE 8. p. 21.

In Herbertshire House, the seat of William Morehead, Esquire, is an old painting, representing the Gardens and King’s Park in their original state. A lady is seen walking in the gardens; and a deer is poking its head over the wall which divided them from the park.

NOTE 9. p. 23.

This wall is of greater antiquity than that around the King’s Park at Edinburgh, which was built by James V. It appears to have existed so early as 1505; and, in all probability, it was built many years earlier than even that remote date. It is thus alluded to in a charter granted by James IV. to the magistrates of Stirling in 1505:

‘Quia, pro singulari favore quo gerimus erga dilectos nostros burgenses et communitatem burgi nostri de Striveling, et in recompensatione pro terris suis communibus de _Gallohillis_, dicto nostro burgo per ipsos nobis concess., et nunc wallo per nos. castro et peke [_q. d. park_] de Striveling inclusis; dedimus et concessimus hereditarie dictis burgensibus et communitati, totas et integras acras nostras terrarum quae olim fuerunt de le _auld park_ prope Striveling, jacen. INTER MURUM LAPIDEUM nove peke nostre antedict. ex parte occidentali, et terras nuncupatas _Bennies Croft_,[B] ac croftam leprosorum, ex parte orientali, et terras nuncupatas le _Southfield_ pertinen. abbati et conventui monasterii nostri de Dumfermling ex parte australi, et terras nuncupatas le _Rudecroft_ ex parte boreali; una cum jure patronatûs et donatione capillanie altaris Sancti Michaelis,[C] per quondam Magistrum Thomam Carmichaell vicarium de Striveling, intra ecclesiam parochialem fundat. ad nostram dispositionem et donationem quotiens vacaverit nunc spectan.’

[B] _Bennies Croft_ is now the well known field of _Allan Park_.

[C] The parish Church of Stirling, prior to the Reformation in 1559, was attached to the Monastery of Dominicans or Black Friars, near the foot of Friar’s Wynd. This Monastery, again, was dependent upon the Monastery of Benedictines or Black Monks at Dunfermline. Hence the circumstance of the lands of Southfield having belonged to the Abbot and Convent of Dunfermline; and hence, too, the circumstance of the first minister of Stirling’s glebe having been originally situated in Southfield, and of Southfield being still in the parish of Stirling, and not in the parish of St. Ninians.

NOTE 10. p. 35.

Immediately behind Mar’s work, is a garden surrounded by an old wall, in the west part of which there appears to have been an arched gate; but, besides this garden, the Mar family had other pleasure grounds in the vicinity, to which the gate alluded to led. Annabella, the widow of the Regent, obtained from the crown, a charter of the ‘Parkhill of Stirling,’ on the 16th April 1582, and a charter ‘_de rupe lie Heugh et Brae de Parkhill de Stirling, &c._’ on the 29th of August 1588. These grounds appear to be those now known by the name of the Ladies’ Hill, Crandy Hill, and the Haining, still belonging to the family; and, at this time, they were undoubtedly connected with the Royal Gardens, and the King’s Park, which are immediately adjacent to them. In that part of them, beside the Butt-well, may still be seen the remains of a garden in a very warm and delightful spot; part of the beautiful public walk, lately formed there, runs upon the very terrace; and, in various parts of the hill above, were decayed fruit trees within the memory of old people still living. At the south corner of the Crandy Hill, now so tastefully enclosed by Dr Patrick Doig, stood a small house [depicted in Slezer’s views of the castle,] which was inhabited by the Earl of Mar’s gardener, previous to 1715. This gardener, probably, had charge not only of the Earl of Mar’s grounds, but of the Royal Gardens and King’s Park, beyond them; for the Mar family were generally captains or constables of the castle of Stirling, and keepers of his Majesty’s Gardens and Park, down till the union of the two kingdoms; and even appear to have retained their connexion with Stirling Castle, from 1705 till 1714; Colonel John Erskine having been, during that period, deputy governor.

In Mar’s Work, while in the possession of Annabella, James the Sixth and his Queen took up their abode in December 1593, while the castle was preparing for their reception, a fact which we state on the authority of Moyse’s Memoires of the affairs of Scotland; and here, according to Sir Robert Sibbald, the Earl who headed the first Rebellion lived, in 1710, in great splendour. This Earl first introduced the wilderness mode of planting into Scotland; and his gardens at Alloa, in that style, were much visited and admired. It may reasonably be supposed, that he gave some share of his attention to his grounds in the Parkhill of Stirling; but the splendour of this residence sunk with the catastrophe of 1715; and from that æra, so fatal to his name, do we date the utter neglect into which the Parkhill, the Royal Gardens, and King’s Park, still so beautiful amidst all their desolation, have fallen.

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[Transcriber’s note—the following changes have been made to this text.

Page 32: harguebussiers to harquebusiers.

1751 to 1571.

Page 39: govenor to governor—“governor of the castle”.

Page 43: Missisippi to Mississippi—“Mississippi Scheme”.

garrrison to garrison—“established a regular garrison”.

batallions to battalions—“substitute veteran battalions”.]