ROYAL LANARK

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 992, 7 June 1930, Page 5

ROYAL LANARK

SCENE OF WALLACE’S HOME TRAGEDY growing popularity Every man in some measure is a worshipper of the beautiful and the heroic, and that explains the unfailing attraction of Lanark to hosts of people whose emotions remain unstirred by towns more advertised and extolled (writes “D.C.C.,” in the Weekly Scotsman’*). The town may not be outstanding in architectural beauty, though in many ways it is a pleasant, homely place, but it is the stepping stone to the beautiful Falls of Clyde and the romantic country of the Covenanters, and, most of all, it is associated with a romantic and tragic episode in the life of Scotland’s cherished hero—valiant in the affairs of the heart as in the affairs of his country.

Lanark—the royal, municipal police burgh and county town —stands on an elevated piece of ground sloping to'sv?‘rd , the R- iver Clyde, about half a mile distant from this river’s east bank; it lies thirty-two miles south-west of the capital of Scotland and twentyfive miles south-east of Scotland’s most populous city—a veritable midway junction of east and west.

The derivation of the name Lanark has for long caused much research and animated discussion, several “theories” have been put forward, but the generally accepted derivation is that the word comes from the Cymric —-Llanerch —meaning a glade or clearing in a forest. This derivative is very ancient, as is the town itself, being undoubtedly one of the most ancient towns in Scotla,nd. It is supposed to have been the Colonia of Ptolemy, which tsupposition is strengthened by the fact that the renowned Roman road, Watling Street, was in near proximity, as were likewise several Roman camps, remains of which may still be traced.

Buchanan, the ancient Scottish historian informs us that In 97S Kenneth 111. held a “Parliament” for dispensing justice at Lanark, an assembly reckoned to be the very first of its kind in Scotland. While David I. was Prince of Cumbria (or Strathclyde) from 1107 to 1129, many municipal privileges were bestowed on the town by charters from him; as also in latter years by Alexander 11., Alexander 111., Robert 111., James V., and the English and Scottish King Charles I. This town, along with Edinburgh, Stirling and Linlithgow, took its place in the Court of the four Royal burghs, and to Lanark was entrusted the keeping of the stone weight. Anglo-Scot Struggles During the protracted wars between England and Scotland, which raged more or less fiercely from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, many a heroic struggle took place in or about Lanark; indeed, an historian states that it was sacked and burned to the ground, along with several other neighbouring towns, in the year 1244. The old bell removed from the ancient church of St. Kentigern to the more modern edifice which dates from 1777 bears witness to the Vicissitudes of the past in the record that it “three times phoenix-like passed through fiery furnaces” —1110, 1659, and 1740. Among the patriotic spirits who conducted these somewhat sanguinary struggles none figured more prominently than the brave Sir William Wallace, and history tells us that he began his Illustrious career within the very precincts of this town itself. The account of his first achievement is well worth narrating. While Wallace was secretly visiting his newly-wedded wife, Marion Braidfoot, .the Lady of Lamington, who was residing in the town, he one day was walking down the High Street, coming from the Church of St. Kentigern’s, with a few followers, when they met with a body of English soldiers, who at that time had possession of the castle. These soldiers taunted Wallace and his retinue; one of their number, in truth, touching the hero’s sword —a very base insult —and according to the metrical narratives of Wynton and Blind Harry, they made insulting reference to Wallace’s wife. This was more than he could stand. With one blow he killed the jester. A serious scuffle ensued, and, on more English soldiers coming up from the garrison. Wallace and his friends, hopelessly outnumbered and overpowered, were forced to make good their escape, Wallace escaping through the house of his wife at the head of the Castlegate, to the wellwooded Cartland cralgs. Murder of Wallace's Wife

Hezelrig, the English sheriff of the town, and Governor of the Castle, as an act of revenge, brutally murdered Wallace’s charming young wife, and burned his house to the ground, the master being in hiding. The news was carried to Wallace in retreat, and returning at once, he gathered together a number of friends, attacked and took possession of the castle by nigbt, slaying the governor in his very bedchamber. Ere dawn, the town, too, was in the possession of Sir William, nor was there an English soldier left alive. The story is not mere legend, as about sixty years later Sir Thomas de Gray, a Northumberland knight, while imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle, wrote a history, in which he described how his father, one of the men of the garrison when Hezelrig was slain, was wounded and left on the street as dead; and it was only the warmth from the blazing buildings that saved him from death from exposure during the cold night of May. Lanark is the centre of many Covenanting memories. In November, 1666, the army of the Pentland Rising, on its way from Dumfries, rested for a brief space here. The host, now having reached its greatest dimensions, renewed their sacred vows and Covenant with uplifted hands; one company stationed in the High Street, another at the Horse Market. Thereafter, pursued by Dalziel, they went to Bathgate, amid a deluge of rain •md sleet and were eventually scattered at the Pentland Hills. Twentytwo years later, Robert Baillie, of lervis Wood —an estate adjacent to the burgh— was executed at Edinburgh for alleged complicity in the Rye House Plot. His body was quartered and one cart was exposed on the Tolbooth of lanark; his unfair trial is a lasting blot, on the justice of that day. Many ether Lanark Covenanting suffered during the “Killing Time, ">id fine, imprisonment, banishment, and a cruel death were a few of the punishments meted out to those adhering to the Covenant. The Lanimer Day The Lanimers, or Birks, is a very o’d institution in Lanark and consists of a„ annual processional pageant held , ; , lv j . The Thursday on which I-:..’ e veul is carried out is called | Lanimer or .Dandmarch. Day* for on

that day the inspection of the burgh boundary stones, begun earlier in the week, Is completed. It is known as “The Birks,” from the birch branches carried in the procession. At dawn on this “day of days” for Lanark and her people, the statue of Sir William Wallace is decorated with floral wreaths, w-hile all the streets are made gay with flags. The actors In the pageant early assemble into their order, the provost and magistrates lead the way, followed by the birchen bearers and by a long and varied stream of “living tableaux” of a symbolical, artistic, historical or grotesque character. A Lanimer queen, chosen from the public schools, and attended by her young maids of honour, court officials, and gailydressed schoolmates, rides In state in the pageant, the strains of music, martial and stirring, fill the air, for numerous bands march in this Lanimer procession. This is but the first procession of the day. Two more follow. The one at midday, when the new cornet proceeds to his predecessor’s dwelling and takes into his keeping the burgh flag, of which he Is now custodian for the ensuing year; the other, headed by the cornet, proceeds to the moor “on fuit or hors,” where all kinds of athletic contests are keenly fought. The day’s proceedings and celebrations end at the Cross by the town clerk assuring the townsfolk that the March stones are still intact. In the evening “her Majesty the Lanimer Queen” holds a reception for her “loyal citizens.”

The High Street of Lanark is wide and spacious. At Its western extremity stands the parish of St. Nicholas. The space In front is known as the Cross. In a niche above the church door is a more-than-life-size statue of Sir William Wallace, a gift to the town of its sculptor, one Robert Forrest. Opposite the kirk, and adjoining the Clydesdale Bank, is the site of Wallace’s house. At the foot of the Castlegate Is the mound on which Lanark Castle was once situated, but of this very ancient pile no vestige now remains, as is also the case with the old monastery of Greyfriars, on the site of which now stands the Clydesdale Inn. Eastward, beyond the auction mart, stand the ruins of St. Kentigern’s, within their own ancient burying-ground. These are the remains of the second structure, the first church dating from 1,110 to 1,250. The second building was discontinued as a place of worship in 1668, the Church of St. Nicholas taking Its place. Here it was-, in this Church of St. Kentigern, that Wallace first saw his Lady of Lamington. The church, of a peculiar architecture, consists of two aisles with dividing rows of pillars, with a particularly fine chancel arch, which still exists. Recently these ruins have been put into a much better state of preservation, which greatly enhances their interest. Further principal, though more modern, buildings worthy of note are the town hall, the county building, three hospitals, a convalescent home, the Lindsay Institute, the Queen Victoria Jubilee fountain, and a handsome, well designed, useful memorial hall, in undying memory of those men of Lanark and district who paid the supreme sacrifice in the Great War. Over and above these buildings there are many business premises well worthy of note.

About a mile north-west lies Martland Craigs, where Mouse Water runs through a precipitous red sandstone ravine, the sides of which are about 400 feet high. The stream Is crossed by a single-span bridge, designed by Thomas Telford, and erected in 1823. On the right bank of the river, near this bridge, is the cave in which Wallace concealed himself on his fleeing from the English soldiers he encountered in the town. The cave still bears his name.

A mile south of Lanark lies the village of New Lanark, famous in connection with the Socialist experiments of Robert Owen, who. erected mills here, which, under an "equality” regime, ran successfully for many years, but ultimately friction arose, and Owen retired. The mills are still in use. A Busy Burgh Lanark is undoubtedly a market town, accordingly it possesses a very fine, large, and modern auction mart. Here frequent horse, sheep and cattle sales are held, for the benefit of the many farmers residing In the surrounding important agricultural districts. Tomato growing is no mean “industry” in and around Lanark. The many acres of efficient-looking hothouses to be seen In the immediate vicinity bear ample witness to the importance of this trade. The fruit finds a ready market in the city. Yearly Lanark is becoming more and more an industrial town. Here are factories —up-to-date and flourishing—for cotton spinning, weaving, and knitting, while for her hosiery Lanark is especially well known. The manufacture of nails and the refining, etc., of oil are also industries of this county town.

Though Lanark cannot boast any notable statesman among her children, she has nevertheless "reared” many worthy Scottish men and women. To our forefathers the following sons were tnrly eminent: William Lithgow (1582-1645), an extensive, renowned traveller and writer; Robert Macqueen—Lord Braxfield —who acquired on the Scottish Bench the character of a Scottish Jeffries; Dr. Smellie, a famous professor of midwifery; Gavin Hamilton (1730-1797), the painter; and General William Roy, a man still remembered for his pioneer work in the ordnance survey of the British Isles; were all closely connected with Lanark, either by birth or education.