Chapeltoun - The March Dyke and A Dispute Between Neighbours

The March Dyke and A Dispute Between Neighbours

The Chapeltoun march is a significant historic survival in an Ayrshire context and in addition we have some information about its construction. Defence for James Wilson Sued by John Miller 7th. August 1820. Manuscript and personal communications. We are told in 1820 that "the march dyke was "built some many years ago when such boundaries were quite a new thing and thought by some to be rather an incovenience". Ditchers were employed to build it and thorns and trees were purchased to plant on it. The word fence is used as well as dyke in regards of the construction method. Part of the march dyke is still clearly indicated by a large coppiced beech and we know that this coppicing or pollarding was done because such 'marker' trees will live considerably longer than trees which have been left untouched.

James Wilson of High Chapelton and John Miller of Laigh Chapelton went to court over the matter of the march dyke built between their lands by the father of James. The document makes it clear that such inclosures were unusual at the time and although John's father very reluctantly agreed to the march dyke being built with a straightening of the old boundary, he did not pay anything towards its construction or for its maintenance, despite the march being of a level of construction which required skilled ditchers to be employed for the task.

The ill-feeling seems to have spread into the next generation for James records that John has cut 'march' trees down in the past and has thrown thorns and brambles from the march into the High Chapeltoun's hayfields. The irony is that John of Laigh Chapelton is suing James for cutting down trees from the march dyke and requires money to plant new trees and to compensate for the inconvenience he has been put through. We do not know the outcome, however the action is described as "trifling and frivolous". The clue to the ill-feeling may be in the term 'straightening' which may imply that John's father agreed to a new march which may have resulted in some small loss of his lands.

The rental value of High Chapelton was £137 in 1820 and Laigh Chapelton was £180. The memorial stone to the Miller family of Chapelton (Chapelton is the spelling on the tombstone) is very well preserved at the Laigh Kirk, Stewarton. John Miller died on 3 December 1734, aged 30, and his spouse, Jean Gilmour died on 24 November 1747, aged 42. Their son James died on 1 November 1793, aged 60, and his spouse, Margaret Gilmour, died on 1 April 1802, aged 61. Their son John is the one involved in the dispute; he died on 25 December 1825, aged 59. His spouse was Grizel Gray, who died on 7 January 1855.

The march dyke is clearly marked on the 1885 OS map, following the course of the bank above the water meadow from the riverside and then running up as a 'v' shape towards High Chapeltoun before coming back down to join the lane near the Chapel mound. It doesn't follow the line of the natural ridge above the waterside meadow.

Aiton in 1811 mentions "a curious notion that has long prevailed in the County of Ayr, and elsewhere, that the wool of sheep was pernicious to the growth of thorns" (hawthorn or whitethorn and blackthorn or sloe).