Lurg

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Perthshire, Scotland, United Kingdom
Surnames/tags: Ferguson, Lednock, Comrie, Carroglen, Monzie, Wester Glentarken

This Profile features Lurg cottage & the 3 generations of Ferguson shepherd families who lived there. It’s not exhaustive but comprises a selection of research assembled by Ferguson descendants (see acknowledgements). The late Elizabeth Colvin Bain (ECB)^[1] (1905-1999) undertook extensive research ^[2] about Glen Lednock, from which extracts are taken for this profile.

Contents 1 OVERVIEW 2 1800s LIFE in the GLEN 3 THE FERGUSONS at LURG 4 SCHOOLING 5 THE END OF AN ERA 6 LINKS to PERSONS & PLACES OF INTEREST 7 OBSERVATIONS & RESEARCH NOTES 8 FAMILY RESEARCH 9 SOURCES 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

OVERVIEW

GLEN LEDNOCK :

The glen was on one of the main cattle routes from the west to Crieff in the heart of Strathearn. The Glen was chosen for one main reason namely its comparative isolation and enclosed nature with only one direct access, the old road….going up mainly by the left bank of the River Lednock and fording it in several places. A second route may have been in existence later, up the short glen of the Milton Burn leading to the habitations of Lurg, Carroglen and Balmuik.

Before the Highland clearances in the 18th century, this glen supported 21 different settlements comprising over 350 structures and 25 corn-drying kilns. Today, very little evidence is left of these once busy communities along the single track road that runs from Comrie, through the glen, up to Loch Lednock^[3]. Predominantly Gaelic was spoken throughout the Glen until the late 1800s when English became dominant yet it was not until the mid-20th century when the last Comrie resident who spoke only Gaelic died^[4].

1800s LIFE in the GLEN

ECB extract on Glen Lednock^[5] :

''By analysing the census returns from 1841 to 1891 we learn that the population of the Glen declined by one third over that period. The employment pattern is, as one would expect, related to the land with farmers, farm labourers or outdoor servants, ploughmen, gamekeepers and shepherds dominating with females and children as young as 12 years carrying out duties as dairymaids, housekeepers and servants.

On 14 sites there were small gardens or in some cases small fields . One site at Keplandie there was found a circular kail yard (cabbage patch) with a diameter of some 22 feet with no entrance thus preserving the produce from damage by invading stock. These small areas supplied the family with vegetables such as potatoes, turnips , kail, grain, oats, bere or barley. Examination of a number of the sites showed that nearly every site had a corn drying kiln even if located at a high altitude.”

A study of the 1783 map by James Stobie indicates Lurg fitted with this pattern. Stobie's illustration shows an outline of the cottage, its sheepfold and another outbuilding, perhaps one part covered and one part open but enclosed. The outbuilding has not survived. There also appears to be enclosed land in two separate areas close to the house. The rectangular shape shows diagonal lines representing cultivation, so used for growing subsistence crops? The 'D' shaped area appears bounded by trees, possibly to provide shelter for livestock such as a cow and/or a goat for dairy provisions.

Stobie's depiction of Lurg Cottage in 1783.

LURG - where does the name come from? :

Gaelic : Lurg

English translation : shank as in ‘a downward slope of a hill’ alternatively ‘Ridge of a hill extending gradually into a plain’.

Lurg Cottage sitting on a ridge on its own downward slope of a hill.

Lurg Cottage with circular drystane sheepfold behind. Hills around Carroglen in the distance. (double click to enlarge)

Lurg Cottage

LURG – its location :

Lurg was a shepherd's cottage in Glen Lednock in the parish of Monzievaird & Strowan, situated approximately 5 miles up the glen from Comrie^[6]. It was part of the Lawers Estate owned by the Williamson family from the late 1700s to the early 1900s . The Lurg Burn flowing by the cottage was the boundary between the Lawers estate and the neighbouring estate of Ochtertyre on which near-neighbour Carroglen Farmhouse & its outbuildings stood. There was no other habitation within a mile.

The parishes around Comrie have a fragmented geography. In 1701 Comrie Kirk Session, supported by the Session at Monzievard, met to agree to a ‘disjoination’ from Monzievaird of several outlying farms & farm cottages & their ‘annexation’ into the parish of Comrie. The properties affected were situated in Glen Lednock & included Lurg. Presumably the 8 miles or so round-trip to Comrie church was preferable to the alternative to Monzievaird church! This agreement can be seen to apply in church matters eg the Comrie parish registers record the Ferguson BMDs, yet an element of local government appears to continue in Monzievaird parish whose Valuation Rolls in the 1800s account for Lurg & other historical dwellings.

LURG – its age :

Research has not revealed when the current ruined cottage, which still survives in 2022, was built. The circular remains of its sheepfold also stand resolutely close by. Lurg is depicted on the 1783 map by James Stobie^[7] and, although it fails to appear on Roy’s Military map of 1746, it’s recorded continuously throughout baptism parish records from 1693 onwards until they are superseded by civil registration. Like many Scottish parishes, BMD records in Comrie are absent within the turbulent times of the 1600s so this period cannot be studied. However, this may be the first reference to it in private hands: dated 1525, a transfer was recorded^[8] as follows: ‘Crown charter of feuferme by King James V to John Drummond, son of Mr John Drummond of the lands of Lurg in the Stewarty of Strathern’.

LURG – its description in records :

Lurg: ‘A cothouse^[9], one storey. Slated & in good repair. Property of D R Williamson, Esqr, Lawers.’^[10]

ECB reveals an unexpected approach in her ‘Analysis of Types of House Structures’^[11] - she subdivided Lurg into 4 buildings. As well as Lurg itself & its sheepfold, there’s a ‘Lurg Lower’ & a ‘Lurg Older’. Noted from Stobie’s 1783 map is another property further down the Glen named ‘Lurg’ but the layout of ECB’s tabulation implies these 4 all belong to the same one cluster of buildings as they’re listed between ‘Lurg’ and ‘Lurg Sh. Fold’. Stobie's map shows more than one structure at both locations, which could well represent longhouses. Both these lost structures are listed only as ‘long houses’. (Typically longhouses are shared accommodation with humans at one end and livestock sheltered at the other.) Whether this was the case at Lurg is not stated - little additional description is offered. ECB did note what could be determined from the outlines: they were most commonly 14-18 metres long and a number were as much as 20-25 metres.

Lower Lurg receives special mention in the text on the topic of age as it ‘appeared to be very old’. There are no buildings to be seen & it much depends on season, weather and light whether even an outline can be discerned. After seeing nothing on a first inspection, some weeks later on a second visit ECB was able to write that ‘the outline of 3 long houses and a small house was plainly visible from the top of the slope’.

Further research would be required to bring resolution.

(Extract from) Analysis of Types of House Structures

SITE	LONG HOUSE	HIP-ENDED	OPEN-ENDED	NON_DOMESTIC	PLATFORM	DITCH
LURG	-	-	1	2	-	1
LURG Lower	3	-	-	-	-	-
LURG Older	2	-	-	-	-	1
LURG SH. FOLD	-	-	-	-	-	-

It’s interesting that Lurg, assumed to be the cottage, is ‘open-ended’ and Lurg ‘lower’ & ‘older’ comprise 3 & 2 longhouses respectively? The existence & recording of ditches presumably indicates waste disposal into the Lurg Burn so these are the structures for habitation – human or animal.

LURG – its history :

The places throughout Glen Lednock where infants were born is tabulated in ECB’s book. The period covered is from the first surviving record in 1693 until 1855 civil registration. The list of placenames makes for an informative trail of the various farms & associated labourers’ & shepherds’ cottages. This is a difficult period in Scotland’s history & some places didn’t survive as late as civil registration. Unfortunately family names were not included in the research, with only aggregated & anonymised information tabulated into 5-year windows. In the period studied ECB concluded that 108 children were born into 45 families while at Lurg, the last baptism occurred in the 5-year period 1825-1829. This suggests a surprisingly high turnover of families. Given the Fergusons were there for the last 25 years of the study period the previous 44 families were there for a total of 109 years, or an average of a mere 2.5 years each. Does this stat point to more than one house/family^[A] living simultaneously at Lurg?

LURG – its working relationships :

The series of local Valuation Rolls (VR) give an insight, certainly for the 1800s, but no doubt considerably longer as the Lurg Burn provides a natural boundary. Lurg had two separate parts to it: the ‘House of Lurg’, which is the Ferguson cottage, & ‘the grazing farm of Lurg’. The grazing land was situated on the west side of the Lurg Burn with the Carroglen farmland to its east side. Although ownership was common to both Lurg House & Lurg Grazing (proprietorship lay with the Lawers Estate), the tenancy usually differed. The Fergusons were never recorded as tenants of their cottage, but as ‘inhabitant/occupier’. In those censuses viewed which show employment status the shepherd is recorded as 'employed'. This combination of information indicates that the Fergusons may have been employed by the tenant of the grazing farm – but only if the tenant owned the flock which is very unlikely due to the financial complications that would create on tenancy changes. The more likely alternative is that the landowner owned the flocks on his land and paid the grazing tenant to maintain the land in good order (such as boundary walls, tracks, drainage, flooding, sheepfolds etc) and the shepherding inhabitant/occupier to tend the flock. There is no evidence of any formal working relationship with the nearby Carroglen Farm which belonged to the neighbouring Ochtertyre estate.

THE FERGUSONS at LURG

FIRST FERGUSON ARRIVALS :

Daniel (Donald) Ferguson & Janet McDougal married in 1801 in Monzie parish. The Monzie parish record states they were ‘both in this parish’ despite neither being native there. Their first child, John, was born at Lurg in 1802 suggesting the newly married couple secured immediate employment with the provision of accommodation at Lurg.

FERGUSONS THROUGH THE YEARS :

Donald & Janet lived their complete married lives at Lurg, with 10 children born between 1802 & 1823. There are no records found which can reveal how many, if any, of the older children left home before the youngest, Janet, was born. No marriage of siblings is documented before Janet’s birth in 1823; whatever the comings & goings, cottage life would have been cramped. The 10 children all born at Lurg are:

• John

• Margaret

• Hugh

• Christian

• Elizabeth/Betty/Betsy

• John

• Ann

• Duncan

• Catherine

• Janet/Jannet

The profiles listed above were imported by family GEDCOM and have not been amended to smooth out the resulting presentation of data. It is believed the next generation living at Lurg were also born there (son Donald’s children). However this conflicts with ECB’s numerical summary of baptisms so a check on their original baptism records will be made before displaying them here as Lurg births if correct^[A].

The 1841 census records Donald still working as the shepherd at aged 65. By then the only family living at home was Hugh who is recorded as aged 30 but ages were rounded down to the nearest 5 in that first census. He was actually 34, still single & working as a mason. Hugh eventually emigrated to Australia late in life only to die there a mere two years later. Donald retired between the 1841 & 1851 censuses.

Son, Donald b 1812, follows in his father’s footsteps as the Lurg shepherd but Donald Sr and Janet continue to live there too. Also part of the elder Donald’s household is daughter Janet and her son James Neil who is 5 in the 1851 census. James’ father, also a James Neil, lives down the Glen at nearby Balmuick Farm. Janet & Neil never married. On paper at least there seems to be no drama over the birth out of wedlock as the child is able to take his father’s name and Janet’s parents are supportive of her & her child in that she is taken back into the family home at Lurg.

No death record is evident for Janet McDougall. She died sometime after her entry in the 1851 census and Donald’s death in 1858 when he’s reported to be a widower. The lack of a post-civil registration in 1855 onwards places Janet’s death between 1851 & 1854.

Son Donald continued as Lurg shepherd until his death there in 1880 meaning he spent his entire life there (subject to the possibility that he left home for work as a young man before the Lurg vacancy arose on his father's retirement).

Donald’s son, Hugh, followed in the developing family tradition as he had been shepherding since at least 1871, living with his parents & working at Lurg. Hugh took over the cottage shepherd tenancy on the death of his father. The 1881 census records him as head of the Lurg household. His widowed mother Margaret McIntyre is living with him, as is his brother Donald (a school teacher who later moved to Glasgow). In that same census John Ferguson is recorded as a shepherd further down Glen Lednock. He’s at Balmuick Cottage, with his wife Catherine & 6 children aged from 11 down to 1. [WIP – confirm which John this is – he’s aged 36, Catherine 43].

Later that same year Hugh married Agnes McMillan in Sanquhar, where she was born. Agnes was one of four kitchen maids at what is now Crieff Hydro, then named Strathearn House, built in 1867 for a mighty £30,000. Unfortunately Hugh & Agnes only had a short 10 years of married life together, without a family. In December 1894 Hugh then married Ann McIntyre but this marriage was also childless.

By referring to censuses it's seen that Hugh & Ann occupy Lurg in 1901 together with Hugh’s mother Margaret McIntyre but by 1911 the Ferguson connection to Lurg has been broken, never to be recovered. The couple are now at Mid Tullybannocher in Comrie parish where Hugh is a ‘crofter & grazier’. This steading is on the shore of Loch Earn offering a much easier climate. In fact they'd moved there sometime before 1905 as the VR had recorded them there in that year. It also describes the property as a smithy but as the census doesn't mention this as part of Hugh's occupation, it's likely he wasn't active. Hugh saw out the rest of his life here, dying in 1922. It's interesting to think that the written records of the Fergusons' occupancy at Lurg tell of exactly 100 years of life & work from 1802 to 1901 inclusively. Of course the actual period will be slightly longer as Hugh & Ann no doubt lived there beyond the written record of the 1901 census.

SCHOOLING

ECB summed up local schooling as follows: “ It is often assumed that every community, every town and indeed every small village in Scotland had its school from an early date. Glenlednock seems however to have missed out from what can be deduced from archival evidence. Between 1693 and the first census in 1841 there appears a mention of the occupation of schoolmaster only once and that is in 1804/1805. There is no evidence held to indicate the presence of a school in the Glen prior to 1838 and no log book or register has been located. The Statistical Account of 1844 ( a record of every Parish in Scotland) mentions that “endowments are lacking in this glen where the people can only afford a teacher in the wintertime”. It is possible that any master in the type of small school for which a fee was paid would only continue if remuneration was forthcoming . It seems clear that schooling did not play much of a part in the life of the children in the Glen. Life was hard and work even for the young was essential if they were to survive. “

ECB’s reference to 1838 suggests that the school came too late for the children of Donald & Janet, the youngest of whom (Janet) was born in 1823, so beyond school age in 1838. But surely his grandchildren, including Donald a future schoolmaster, were some of its first pupils?

The Schoolmasters House. The map reference indicates this is not much more than a mile or so from Lurg, just beyond Funtulich on the track leading to Coishavachan[12]

THE END OF AN ERA

In 1915 the tenant at Lurg is Allan Cameron^[13] which confirms the Fergusons left before then. This appears to be the last official record of the house. It fell empty and into disuse some time between then and the next valuation in 1920. Hugh Ferguson lived until 1922 so from a distance he would be aware of its demise. Was it only in hindsight it could be seen to be the end of an era or, given the depopulation trend throughout the 1800s, was it seen as inevitable? Incidentally, Dugal Ferguson (b 1860, another son of Donald F & Margaret McIntyre), who arrived further up the Glen at Invergeldie sometime between 1881 & 1885, was still in one of the Invergeldie farm cottages, at Coishavachan, until at least 1925 (but not in 1930). So it looks like Dugal was ‘the last Ferguson standing’ in Glen Lednock. Later he moved to a house in Crieff where he died in 1934.

The demise of Lurg as shepherd accommodation occurs sometime after the death in 1913 of the colourful landlord of many years standing, Colonel Charles Robertson Williamson^[B]. There followed two brief periods of proprietorship of Lawers, those of his son Rev Charles David Robertson Williamson & then of W W Hood. It is a matter of record that Lurg Cottage was occupied in 1915 under the ownership of Williamson & empty on Hood’s watch in 1920. But those are merely two snapshots in time and it can’t be said precisely when ownership changed or indeed whether the cottage was lived in or even habitable at the time of sale to Hood.

Williamson Obelisk (double click to enlarge photo)

A comment from the photographer Anthony O'Neil : This memorial is dedicated to Colonel Williamson - a former owner of the Lawers Estate (about 2km east of Comrie, off the A85). When his son changed his faith, the Colonel is said to have stated that he would beggar the estate rather than leave it to him, which indeed he did. He and his wife then moved here, to adjacent Tomperron House. The monument was erected by the people of Comrie, in honour of the Colonel and his wife, on the occasion of their Diamond Anniversary.

It's a fact the son had no interest in estate matters and there was a serious friction between father & son. If the photographer's comment is correct (that Williamson & his wife moved out of Lawers House to Tomperron House) then the downward direction for the whole estate was set in motion by the father. How sad. Under the proprietorship of Mrs Constance Molyneux, which followed those two, there looks to be a form of regeneration demonstrated by an increased number of employees at Invergeldie as there are 10 people (including 'our' Dugal Ferguson) living in estate houses according to the 1925 VR, up from the 4 previously. So shepherd accommodation probably continued on the estate but as part of a more compact cluster of farm cottages. One wonders how much the changed environment influenced Dugal's decision to move out some time after 1925.

LINKS to PERSONS & PLACES OF INTEREST

| 'Lednock' photos on Geograph website.

| 'Lurg' photos on Geograph website.

[WIP Possibilities to be added in due course:

eg

• Colonel Williamson

• Lawers Estate

• Glen Lednock

• Wester Glentarken, birthplace of first Lurg shepherd, Daniel/Donald Ferguson

etc]

OBSERVATIONS & RESEARCH NOTES

[A] For Later Research:

This birth rate points to more than one family sharing the cottage at times or even that a 2nd house existed on the land? Perhaps evidence of life in the ‘small house’ ECB noted at ‘Lurg Lower’. Further research of the OPRs in the high birth periods should reveal the parent couples & how many are recorded there simultaneously. It’s a daunting exercise not to be undertaken lightly as it would require examining every baptism record in Comrie parish as residence locations are not set up as a searchable filter in the database.

[B] Of the landlords with whom the Fergusons held tenancies Colonel David Robertson Williamson was the most ‘colourful’. A ‘Gentlemen of Honour’ written by Bernard Byrom, published in 2010, was reviewed as follows;

"…tells the fascinating story, most of it never told before, of the Robertson and Williamson families who owned both the Balgray estate in Dumfriesshire and the Lawers estate near Comrie in Perthshire. Their history begins in triumph in the eighteenth century and ends in tragedy with the break-up of the Lawers estate in the twentieth, and sheds new light on the well-known feud between Colonel Williamson and his only son Charles.

The story of the families begins at the time when General Archibald Robertson, a veteran of the American War of Independence, purchased the 35,000 acre Lawers estate in 1784 from the Campbells who had been driven from their home on Loch Tayside during the Marquis of Montrose's uprising in 1645. After the General's death the estate was inherited by his niece who married David Williamson, Lord Balgray, who was a respected judge of the Court of Session. David's father Alexander had started out in life as an estate factor at Balgray in Dumfriesshire and rose to become Lord Hopetoun's Private Secretary, spending most of his time working at the earl's mansions at Hopetoun House near Edinburgh and at Moffat. On one occasion he crossed swords with the great Robert Burns over the dismissal of a Moffat schoolmaster for alleged cruelty to a pupil because it appears that the schoolmaster had literally tried to knock a modicum of education into a dim-witted boy!

David's elder brother, Charles Williamson, led an exciting life and his activities ranged from being a British spy to developing much of New York State in the 1790s on behalf of the Pulteney Associated. He died of Yellow Fever on board a Royal Navy ship in 1804 whilst returning from a secret government mission to the West Indies.

Charles's own son, Charles Alexander Williamson, lived somewhat in his father's shadow but had ambitions of becoming a millionaire when gold was discovered in California in 1848. Unfortunately, he died of cholera at Fort Leavenworth whilst on his way out west to make his fortune. This left his 19-year-old son as heir to the Lawers estates.

This son was Colonel (as he became) David Robertson Williamson who was one of the most colourful characters that Perthshire has ever known. He married the Honourable Selina Maria Morgan who was a daughter of the first Baron Tredegar and from the time he inherited the Lawers estates in 1852 he devoted his life to managing his estates and fulfilling his responsibilities as one of the principal heritors of the Comrie area whilst simultaneously enjoying life as a daring horseman and foxhunter. The book also reveals, for the first time ever, the true reason why he was sent to prison in 1853 for assaulting the minister of Monzievaird church. Whilst the Colonel always had the Comrie villagers' best interests at heart and tried to do what he thought was best for them over the years, it wasn't always seen that way by the villagers themselves and his increasingly autocratic methods of running things weren't always appreciated locally. Some of the frequent and amusing 'spats' between him and the villagers are described, along with the many benefits he brought to the area such as almost single-handedly getting the railway built from Crieff to Comrie in 1893.

The last part of the story deals with the bitter relationship between the Colonel and his only son Charles who he disowned for becoming a Roman Catholic priest and against whom he waged a vendetta that ended with the break-up of the estates in the twentieth century. Charles became dependant on the loyal support of his old schoolfriend Reginald Brett who, after he became the second Lord Esher, saved Charles on numerous occasions from mental and financial ruin. The book contains extracts from many of Lord Esher's letters that not only show their close personal relationship but also demonstrate the lengths to which he went to protect Charles."

Notice the Colonel married the Honourable Selina Maria Morgan. 3 Ferguson descendants are named Selina - it's an uncommon name, but apparently this is just a co-incidence. The first Ferguson daughter named Selina was baptised in 1848 whereas the Hon Selina was not married & ensconced as Lady of the estate until 1853 when she was 19 or 20. It seems Selina Ferguson was born too early for her name to be influenced by the Morgan family, at that time outside the landlord’s family, but perhaps there’s a missing piece to the story?

FAMILY RESEARCH

Research on the earlier generations of the Fergusons at Lurg is eventually curtailed by the absence of church records before 1700. It can be said with certainty that ancestry is proven back to John Ferguson & Elizabeth McDiarmid as they are named as parents of the first Lurg shepherd Donald/Daniel who died in 1858, by which time civil registration prevailed. The marriage of this John & Elizabeth is recorded in Stirling in 1772.

Parish records for Comrie survive from 1693 while the earliest surviving record for Monzievaird parish is a solitary baptism in 1714. A smattering continue until 1729 when some momentum gathers thereafter. So credible baptisms can be identified back to c 1700 but to draw conclusions earlier than then based on incomplete extant records is an unreliable exercise given that the most likely source (Comrie) is absent.

SOURCES

1. ↑ Excerpts from a Survey of Deserted Settlements in Glen Lednock, Strathern by Elizabeth Colvin Bain, Paperback, 53 Pages, Published 1988 ISBN-10: 0-907692-47-8 / 0907692478 ISBN-13: 978-0-907692-47-8 / 9780907692478
2. ↑ An extract of her research is given at https://perthshirecrieffstrathearnlocalhistor.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-ancient-secrets-of-glenlednock.html
3. ↑ https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/glen-lednock-p2569111
4. ↑ Local knowledge provided by Joyce Kelly ms Sutherland
5. ↑ Extracted from https://perthshirecrieffstrathearnlocalhistor.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-ancient-secrets-of-glenlednock.html
6. ↑ Details of the photo shown of Lurg Cottage are : OSGB36: NN 765 258 [100m precision] WGS84: 56:24.5278N 4:0.1059W Camera Location OSGB36: NN 767 251 View Direction North-northwest (about 337 degrees)
7. ↑ https://perthshirecrieffstrathearnlocalhistor.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-ancient-secrets-of-glenlednock.html
8. ↑ National Records of Scotland/Repository Code 252 (Perth & Kinross Council Archives) Reference GD279/12
9. ↑ a farm-workers cottage, often with land attached for keeping an animal/growing subsistence crops
10. ↑ Ordnance Survey notes on mapped properties circa 1860
11. ↑ ‘Survey of Deserted Settlements in Glen Lednock’
12. ↑ NN 747 264 [100m precision]
13. ↑ VR011300061

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Research which contributed to an understanding of this Ferguson branch of the tree and/or this narrative was provided by Margaret Anderson, Euan Cameron, Deborah Crate, Rachel Kelly, Alan Runciman, Heather Spunner & Stephen West. Extracts from the work of the late Elizabeth Colvin Bain provided the majority of the wider history & statistics and credited to her where appropriate. Should you be able to contribute you are invited to contact the Profile Manager(s).