Chapeltoun - Kirkmuir, Kirkhill, Gillmill, Righead and The Freezeland Plantation

Kirkmuir, Kirkhill, Gillmill, Righead and The Freezeland Plantation

Close to Kirkmuir (previously Laigh Kirkmuir), a farm occupied by William Mure in 1692, is the Freezeland plantation (previously Fold Park) on the turnpike as marked on the 1858 OS. Nowadays it is a smallholding without a dwelling house. The origin of the name is unclear, although 'furz' or furs' is old Scots for gorse or whin, however the existence of this small patch of fenced off land may be linked to the reference in Thomson's 1832 map to a fold, either for sheep or cattle. In 1799 the surrounding field is known as Fold Park. It could have been a pen for strayed stock or be connected with the tolls on the turnpike in some way or a 'stell', the Scot's word for a partial enclosure made by a wall or trees, to serve as a shelter for sheep or cattle. A building may have existed here. Kirkmuir was farmed by John Brown (died 21 August 1880, aged 54) and his wife Catherine Anderson (died 27 August 1895, aged 72). James Walker (died 11 December 1926, aged 86) and his wife Mary Woodburn (died 27 April 1899, aged 57) also farmed Kirkmuir. They were all buried in the Laigh Kirk graveyard.

The field between Kirkmuir & Righead was known as Lady Moss Meadow. Righead was a tollhouse at a later stage, however it was built as a 'butt and ben'. Skirmshaw is the name of some fields nearby in 1797, although no building appears to be present at that time. Picken's (formerly Padzean) Park was across the road from Righead, behind the estate tree boundary. Picken (Padzean) is a fairly common local name (see Kirkhill). Millstone Flat Park is the field above the chalybeate spring on its side of the Ha Ha.through Lady Moss Meadow Kirkmuir was originally a farm on the Longridge Plantation near Highcross Farm (Thomson 1832), later becoming Little Kirkmuir and being marked but not named by 1895, before ceasing to be recorded at all on the OS maps by 1921.

A 'Kirkhill' dwelling is last marked on the 1858 and 1895 0S, below Kirkhill and near to South Kilbride. Andrew Picken was the farmer here in 1867, when his spouse, Ann Blair died, aged 59; she was buried at the Laigh Kirk in Stewarton. It was close to a small burn running from Water Plantation, above Stewarton, in a sheltered glen, typical of early religious settlements and the Kirkhill itself, which was wooded in 1858, is an excellent viewpoint. A track led up to it from Gillmill Farm and it had an entrance near that of South Kilbride. Robert Stevenson farmed at Gillmill and died on 27 May 1810, aged 48.

The plethora of religious names in this area - the Kirkmuirs, Kirkhill, Lady Moss, High Cross, Canaan and the Kilbrides, suggest that at some point in the distant past a pre-Christian and Christian site was located here. No documentary evidence appears to survive and the earliest record is for Kirkry in 1654, now Kilbride. Bride, Brigit or St. Brigid was originally a Celtic Goddess linked with the festival of Imbolc, the eve of the first of February. She was the goddess of Spring and was associated with healing and sacred wells. Interestingly the Carlin Stone at Commoncrags in Dunlop is associated with the 'old winter hag', the antithesis of the goddess Bride. The name Canaan at Kirkmuir was in use as early as 1779. In 1922 James Martin and Mary Gilmour purchased Gillmill and Canaan from the Cunninghames of Lainshaw.

High Cross was occupied by the Harvies in 1951, who had purchased the farm from the Nairnshaw Estate in 1921. According to Strawhorn they had reconditioned the old thatched farmhouse in 1915 and added a gravitation water supply, bathroom, telephone and electricity. The farm buildings are now (2006) abandoned and the site awaits a new use.