January 2009 edit Galloway Levellers

Before proceeding to the events of 1724, some consideration must be given to background research into the Galloway Levellers uprising. A major difficulty encountered in the course of this research project is the lack of analytical studies of regional history. Oram's The Lordship of Galloway 1 which studies the tenth to the thirteenth centuries in great detail, is the one exception. For example, Oram describes the medieval farming society of Galloway as evolving out of a diverse cultural mix which
produced a complex pattern, where systems of transhumance that supported a pastoral economy geared in some areas principally towards dairying were juxtaposed with zones of intensive arable cultivation. This was a pattern that survived down to the early nineteenth century, but has since been lost in the successive programmes of progressive enclosure of the Galloway landscape and commercial re-afforestation of the uplands.2

In broad outline, Oram's suggestion that this complex pattern of medieval farming practice survived in Galloway down to the early nineteenth century may be correct. Against this must be set the complex changes in land ownership which occurred from the fifteenth century onwards. Unless these changes in land ownership patterns can at least be outlined, it is is difficult to fully understand the events of 1724.

In addition to changes in land ownership patterns, the origins of Galloway's cattle trade in the Plantation of Ulster and its subsequent development through the seventeenth century need to be outlined, as do the political and religious conflicts of the same period. Finally, and in contrast to Oram's suggestion, the possibility that by the eighteenth century, Galloway's economy and society had developed to a 'proto-industrial' or 'proto-capitalist' stage of development needs to be considered in the light of evidence uncovered by this research project.

Each of these four themes could be expanded into dissertation length studies in their own right, but since the focus of this dissertation is on the immediate causes, events and consequences of the Galloway Levellers uprising of 1724, brief summaries will have to suffice for the present. It is hoped that the summaries will contain sufficient detail to at least indicate their relevance to the events of 1724.




Land use and land ownership

Relief map of Galloway and south-west Scotland.
As the above map shows, there is a distinct difference between west (Wigtownshire) and east (Stewartry of Kirkcudbright) Galloway. The Stewartry contains an extensive upland zone whilst Wigtownshire does not. This might suggest a land use division between a mainly arable Wigtownshire and a mainly pastoral Stewartry, however the situation is complicated by the problem of drainage. Until extensive drainage works were carried out in the early nineteenth century (and continued through the twentieth century) extensive areas of potentially good arable land were too wet to be used. Thus the complex pattern of land use described by Oram evolved, with extensive areas of pastoral farming surrounding patches of better drained land which were worked intensively to produce cereal crops.

Where labour intensive arable farming predominated, parishes were much smaller than those where livestock farming predominated. Before its seventeenth century division in to Old and New Luce, the largest parish in Wigtownshire was the upland parish of Glenluce which had an area of 107 square miles or 278 square kilometres. In comparison the lowland parish of Wigtown had an area of 15 square miles or 39 square kilometres. In the Stewartry, the largest parish was the upland parish of Minnigaff, with an area of 137 square miles or 356 square kilometres whilst the lowland parish of Kirkcudbright was 18 square miles or 46 square kilometres.

The origins of this pattern of land use and population distribution can be traced back at least 2000 years 3. Once established, the division of Galloway into blocks of territory by land use persisted through subsequent changes in land ownership and control. Brooke, for example, suggests that in the period of Northumbrian dominance (between the seventh and ninth centuries), direct Anglian control was exercised over lowland, arable estates whilst the pastoral uplands were retained (in exchange for tributes) by indigenous Brittonic rulers.4

One possible and significant change may have occurred in the tenth century, after the break-down of Northumbrian rule. As discussed by Oram, the place name element airigh

represents the adoption of a Gaelic Irish or Hebridean term by non-Gaelic settlers, and with it the adoption of the dairy-based pastoral economy of the Gaelic west. It has widespread distribution throughout Galloway, Mann and the English Lake District, where the common link has been identified as Norse and Norse Gaelic settlement after c.900 as part of the diaspora of colonists attendant on the expulsion of the Scandinavians from Dublin.5

Along with the more ambiguous evidence of the place name elements holm and dale6, the upland distribution of airigh place names [see photograph below] suggests that Norse Gaelic settlement may have helped integrate the upland and lowland economies.
Airie Hill from Grobdale, Stewartry of Kirkcudbright.
If the evidence provided by the list of lands forfeited by the 9th earl of Douglas in 1456 7 can be used to indicate the core of the lands which were part of the Lordship of Galloway, the outline of this integration is revealed. A significant cluster of these land holdings (27%) lay in the lowland arable zone of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, between the rivers Dee and Urr. An equally significant cluster (also 27%) lay in upland pastoral zone of the Stewartry, in the Glenkens district. The two areas are linked by the Dee/ Ken river system which is navigable for 15 miles (24 km) between Threave castle on the Dee and Kenmure castle at the north end of Loch Ken. Discussing the origin's (sometime between 1093 and 1112) of Fergus of Galloway's lordship or kingdom, Oram states that Burned Island on Loch Ken was the 'chief seat of the Lords of Galloway in the Glenkens', with 'an original core of power in the lower Dee valley, centred on Kirkcudbright' 8 A core of landholdings stretching up the Dee/Ken river system would allow an integrated system of land use, with the arable surplus of the grange lands of Threave and Kelton supporting an expansion of pastoral farming in the uplands of the Glenkens. Although such upland farms would have cultivated any suitable patches of arable land, these would have been highly marginal and unreliable sources of the staple crops of oats and bere (barley).

So long as the Lordship of Galloway existed as a coherent territorial unit, embracing both upland and lowland zones, an integrated feudal economy could function across the region. But when this coherence was disrupted, as it was during the Bruce/ Balliol struggles of the fourteenth century, the internal economy broke down. In her study of the Glenkens, Brooke draws attention to a letter written to the Pope in 1428 by the Archdeacon and rector of St. John's church, Dalry complaining that his church was in a state of advanced decay Brooke doubts that this was due to 'the direct effects of war or epidemic seventy years before', but rather 'suggests a village which had become isolated by the shrinkage of others around it', implying economic depression. Brooke hypothesises that a group of Gaelic speakers (Clenconnon) was planted as a colony in the Balmacellan area of the Glenkens to ' replenish a depleted population', from whom the Maclellans and Cannons of Galloway are descended.9

Although the Lordship of Galloway was revived as a territorial unit by the earls of Douglas after 1369, this addition to the already extensive land holdings of the Douglas earldom led to rivalry with the Stewarts. In 1455, James II besieged Threave castle and in 1456 all of the Douglas lands in Galloway were forfeited to the Crown. These lands were then progressively sold (feued) off.10 This process had several consequences. One consequence was the fragmentation of land ownership, a process which increased as Galloway's great monastic estates were broken up in the later sixteenth century. The largest single transfer of land ownership occurred in the case of Glenluce Abbey, when the whole of their lands (66 named farms) were transferred by Feu Charter to Gilbert Kennedy, Earl of Cassilis in November 1560, re-confirmed in July 1572.11 However the Kennedy family were unable to retain these lands, which broke up into 18 smaller, individually owned estates estates. One of these smaller estates, Balneil, was acquired by James Ross sometime before 1633. James' daughter Margaret married James Dalrymple (later 1st Viscount of Stair) in 1644. James Ross died in 1655, and James Dalrymple had sasine of Balneil in April of that year. 12 James Dalrymple, his son John (1st earl of Stair) and their descendants built up extensive land holdings in Wigtownshire, but the 66 farms originally feued by Glenluce Abbey to Gilbert Kennedy were never re-assembled into a single estate. A similar pattern can be traced with other monastic estates and church lands in Galloway. Even where the lands of a whole church-owned parish initially passed into the ownership of one family -the Gordon's in the case of the lands of Lincluden Collegiate Church in Crossmichael parish 13, the Maxwell's in the case of Dundrennan Abbey's lands in Rerrick parish 14– progressive fragmentation of land ownership occurred. For Dundrennan Abbey's lands, Torrance gives details of 133 charters and tacks, the bulk of which (114) relate to the period 1510 to 1612.15 One of the early charters, from October 1305, mentions 'Netherlathe'. As Netherlaw, this was the first cattle park to be levelled in 1724 16and had been a cattle park (belonging to Sir Robert Maxwell of Orchardton) since 1688.17

Unlike the monastic estates, the Crown lands (those forfeited by the 9th earl of Douglas in 1456) in Galloway passed into private ownership as individual farms rather than as parish scale units. An example which has direct significance for this study is Baldoon in Kirkinner parish. As Ballydonne, Baldoon and the neighbouring Lybrack were amongst the five grange lands in the Machars district of Wigtownshire belonging to the Lordship of Galloway. In February 1533, Archibald Dunbar (brother of Archbishop Gavin Dunbar) was granted a charter to Baldoon by James V. The Dunbars had been landowners in the neighbouring parish of Mochrum since 1368. In 1627, David Dunbar (elder) inherited Baldoon where he lived until his death in December 1686. In 1674, David Dunbar added Lybrack to his Baldoon estate. His son, David Dunbar (younger) having died in 1682, his grand-daughter Mary Dunbar became heiress. Born in 1677, Mary was the daughter of David Dunbar (younger)'s second marriage.18 Since Mary Dunbar was only nine on her grand-father's death, Baldoon reverted (was escheat) to the Crown and was 'donated' to William Douglas, Duke of Hamilton. The duke appointed Thomas Alexander in Cumstoun (Kirkcudbright) as his factor for the Dunbar lands on 26 February 1687. 19

Mary Dunbar's mother (Lady Eleanor Mongomerie, daughter of the 7th earl of Eglinton) died in 1687 and so mary became a ward of the duke and duchess of Hamilton and lived as a member of their household at Hamilton Palace. In 1691, Mary Dunbar married Basil Hamilton, the sixth son of the duke and duchess of Hamilton. Mary and Basil Hamilton had four children, all of whom were born at Hamilton Palace. After the death of the duke in 1694, Basil helped his mother manage the Hamilton estates until his death in 1701.20 In addition to managing the Hamilton estates, in 1699 Basil Hamilton became an active supporter of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies – the ill-fated Darien scheme.21

By 1715, Mary and her son Basil had moved back to Galloway, but not to Baldoon. They lived at St. Mary's Isle near Kirkcudbright. Basil Hamilton was only 18 in 1715 when he joined the Dumfries and Galloway Jacobites, acting as lieutenant to William Gordon,Viscount Kenmure. After his capture at Preston, Basil Hamilton family, including his grandmother, duchess Anne of Hamilton petitioned for clemency, securing his release from the Tower of London. Although technically forfeit, Basil Hamilton's lands (including Baldoon) were retained by his mother who argued that she, rather than her son, owned the Dunbar lands. 22 As a result, in 1724, when Basil Hamilton pursued a group of Galloway Levellers for damages to his cattle parks, he had to do so on behalf of his mother. During the second half of the eighteenth century, Basil Hamilton's son and grandson (both earls of Selkirk) increased and improved the family's lands in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Baldoon itself was sold for £125 000 to the earl of Galloway in 1793, 260 years after it had first been acquired by Archibald Dunbar.23

In May 1702, a charter listing the Dunbar lands which would have been inherited by William Hamilton (died 1703) was drawn up.24 This listed 95 farms/ lands of which 21 were in Wigtownshire and the remainder in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright.
Kirkinner 16
Sorbie 3
Wigtown 2
Balmaclellan 2
Borgue 8
Kells 1
Kelton 5
Kirkcudbright 27
Kirkmabreck 2
Kirkpatrick Irongray 10
Rerrick 5
Twynholm 14

Of these lands, only two were upland farms, Corriedow and Garcrogo in Balmaclellan parish. Polmaddy in Kells parish was in the uplands, but was a small settlement based around an inn and a mill next to a ford on an old pack road between the Glenkens and Ayrshire.25 Confusingly, for Corriedow and Garcrogo (and likewise Polmaddy) McKerlie does not give any connection to the Dunbar/ Hamilton family. Corriedow had belonged to Robert McLellan of Barscobe, but was forfeit after his participation in the Dalry (Pentland) Uprising of 1666. By 1684 it had been acquired by Robert Gordon of Troquhane from McLellan's widow.26 In 1697 Esther McCormack of Barlay owned both Garcrogo and Polmaddy, which had passed to Robert Gordon of Troquhane by 1704. In 1693 Alexander Gordon, Viscount Kenmure, owed Robert Gordon 'several sums of money'. After Alexander Gordon's death in 1698, Robert Gordon was infeft in the lands and barony of Balmaclellan previously belonging to Alexander Gordon.27 It therefore seems more likely that Robert Gordon of Troquhane rather than the Dunbar/Hamilton family owned these upland farms in 1702.

If so, then the Dunbar/ Hamilton family never owned any upland farms. Their original lands in Wigtownshire and those later acquired in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright were all in Galloway's lowland, arable zone. Thus, although the family were amongst the largest landowners in Galloway, they did not re-create the integration of upland and lowland land use which had been a feature of the medieval lordship of Galloway's land holdings. Instead, what seems to have happened is that the upland and lowland farming zones were linked through a market economy. In his Large Description of Galloway, which was probably written for Sir Robert Sibbald in 1682, Symson states that the small town of Minnigaff

hath a very considerable market every Saturday, frequented by the moormen of Carrick, Monnygaffe, and other moor places, who buy there great quantities of meal and malt, brought thither out of the parishes of Whitherne, Glaston, Sorbie, Mochrum, Kirkinner &c 28

In his description of Wigtown burgh, Symson says that four annual markets are held there; two where woollen cloth is sold to merchants from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Ayr and 'other places', a horse fair which attracts 'Borderers from Annadale and thereabouts' and a cattle market 'frequented by butchers fropm Dumfries and thereabouts'. 29 Unfortunately, although Symson does note the existence of other markets and fairs, he does not give details of the goods traded. Nor is it clear how long these markets had been in operation. Some, like the St Lawrence Fair held in Kirkandrew's church yard in Borgue on the ninth of August, must have been pre-Reformation, but the weekly markets in Minnigaff are likely to have developed after Galloway's medieval or feudal economy was disrupted the forfeiture of the lordship of Galloway's landholdings in 1456.

The suggestion is that the integration of upland and lowland land use through regional scale land ownership ( probably first established by Fergus of Galloway in the early twelfth century) broke down in the later fifteenth century. The fragmented pattern of land ownership which then emerged had to re-integrated upland and lowland zones through the development of a market economy.

To illustrate: sometime before 1358, when it is first mentioned in a charter by David II, an ill-defined area of hunting forest existed between the rivers Cree and Ken.30 This mountainous upland area of over 100 square miles (259 square kilometres) included the Forest of Buchan, centred on Glentrool. In 1456 the Forest of Buchan was amongst the lands forfeited to the Crown by the 9th earl of Douglas. By 1580, the lands were owned by the Kennedys of Cassillis, passing to John Gordon of Lochinvar in 1628 before reverting to the Kennedys in 1668.31 In 1684, the Forest of Buchan contained eleven farms occupied by 46 people over the age of 12.32 Although these upland farms would have had patches of cultivated land, they would not have been self-sufficient in oats and bere. Before 1456, supplying these farms with extra 'meal and malt' would have been a straightforward management process. Some of the surplus of grain produced by the lowland grange lands would have been deployed to maintain production of cattle, sheep and horses from the upland farms. After 1456, when this 'vertically integrated' system of land use management began to break-down as land ownership became fragmented, another form of integration developed. In this 'privatised' system, there was still an exchange of production between lowland and upland zones. Grain from the lowland zone was still exchanged for cattle, horses and wool from the upland zone, but, as Symson shows, these exchanges were now part of a market economy. This market economy operated at alocal level through weekly markets, like Minnigaff's, and at a regional and national level, as with Wigtown's annual fairs.

From the perspective of land use, the pattern was still (as Oram suggested) 'medieval'. The arable surplus of the Wigtownshire Machars' grange lands still supported farms in the pastoral uplands of the Forest of Buchan, which in turn still sent their cattle, horses and wool down to Wigtown. But, to use the phrase Karl Marx took from Thomas Carlyle, it is clear from Symson's report that the relationship between upland and lowland farmers was already mediated by a post-medieval 'cash nexus'. Indeed, as documented by McKerlie's History of the Lands and their Owners in Galloway and confirmed by the Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court Deeds 1623-1700, by the seventeenth century the land and its produce had become commodified in Galloway. Farms and their crops were bought, sold, leased and mortgaged (wadset) in bewildering confusion.

If an analysis of the bonds, dispositions and assignments which make up approximately 90% (over 5000) of the entries in the Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court Deeds 1623-1700 was carried out, a comprehensive understanding of the Stewartry's internal economy would be possible. Such an analysis is beyond the scope of this present study, so the following is a generalisation. The impression created by the sheer volume of bonds, dispositions and assignments recorded in the Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court Deeds 1623-1700 is that very little actual cash was in circulation. Instead of cash, promissory notes were exchanged between individuals. These could be passed on to third parties or even inherited. The ultimate foundation of this cashless economy was agricultural produce and land. Where the continuation of debt through further bonds was refused, payment would be made through the 'assignation' of crops, livestock and rent from a farm or through the mortgaging (wadsetting) of a farm. The fragmentation of land ownership, where the Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court Deeds 1623-1700 indicate that were some 400 owner-occupied farms in the Stewartry, must have been a factor in the development of this economic system. If land ownership had been concentrated in a few large estates, this complex system of interlocking ( mainly small scale) debts could not have arisen since tenant-farmers could not accumulate debts on the security of their crops and livestock or their farms.

Some of the debts recorded are very small. On 10 August 1697, Anna Campbell 'late servatrix to John Johnstoun, merchant in Drumfries' assigned the £5 4 shillings owing to her by James Morrison, a tenant farmer, as 'harvest fee for the last harvest and the price of ane heuk (sickle)' to John Johnstoun, the sum of £5 4 shillings being equivalent to her debt to him.33 Larger debts could lead to changes in farm ownership. In November 1683, James Cannan of Killochie farm borrowed £24 sterling (£288 Scots) to John Irving who was a merchant in Dumfries. As security, James Cannan used his farm of Armannoch in Lochrutton parish. John Irving then assigned the debt to John Houstoune and his son who were tenants in Beltanehill farm. In January 1688 the Houstounes then paid James Cannan 1000 merks (£333 Scots) to cover his debt to John Irving. James Cannan then promised to pay the 1000 merks back to the Houstounes by Martinmas 1688, in security promising 'to infeft them, heritably under reversion, in the 20 shilling lands of Armannoch... redeemable on payment of the forsaid sum... promising to remove himself, wife, children, servants goods and gear from the said lands.'. 34 As this example shows, it was therefore possible for efficient tenant farmers to become owner-occupiers. In other cases, owner-occupiers could extend their land holdings at the expense of debt-ridden neighbours.

In the case of the Herons of Kirroughtree (Minnigaff parish) it was their involvement in Galloway's cattle trade which enabled to extend their land holdings in the parish. The Irish (Ulster) origins of the Galloway trade will be discussed below, since the Wigtownshire cattle parks described by Symson are likely to have been associated with this trade. Of these cattle parks, “the Parke of Baldone is the cheife,yea I may say, the first, and as it were the mother of all the rest...”

Sir David Dunbar of Baldoon hath a park, about two miles and an halfe in length and a mile and an halfe in breadth; the greatest part whereof is rich and deep valley ground, and yeelds excellent grass; upon the north side it is separated from the parish of Wigtown, by the river of Blaidnoch, which at low water will be about two miles betwixt the bank of the said park, and the chanel of the River of Cree, which divides it from the parish of Kirkmabreck in the Stewartry. This park can keep in it, winter and summer, about a thousand bestial, part whereof he buys from the country, and grazeth there all winter, the other part whereof is his own breed; for he hath neer two hundred miclh kine, which for the most have calves yearly. He buys also in the summer time from the countrey many bestiall, oxen for the most part which he keeps till August or September; so that yearly he ether sells at home to drovers, or sends to Saint Faiths, Satch, or other fairs in England about eighteen or twentie score of bestiall. Those of his owne breed, are very large, yea, so large, that in August or September 1682 nine and fifty of that sort , which would have yielded betwixt five and six pound sterling the peece were seized upon in England for Irish cattell; and because the person to whom they were entrusted had not witnesses that there ready at the precise hour, to swear that they were seen calved in Scotland (although the witness offered to depone that he liv’d in Scotland, within a mile of the park where they were calved and bred) , they were, by the sentence of Sir J.L., and some others who knew well enough that they were bred in Scotland, knockt on the head and kill’d; which was, to say no more, very hard measure, and an act unworthy of persons of that quality and station who ordered it to be done.35

In March 1682, Sir David Dunbar's son David died. Possibly as a result of this and now being in his seventies, Dunbar leased out the parks of Baldoon to Hugh Blair McGuffog of Rusco (died 1706) and Patrick Heron of Kirroughtrie (1642-1721). This partnership did not last and the resulting 'differences' between Hugh McGuffog and Patrick Heron were not settled until 1691.36 The nature and origin of the 'differences' between Hugh Blair McGuffog and Patrick Heron are unknown, but following the death of Sir David Dunbar in 1686, both became cattle breeders and traders in their own right and both had sons who were directly affected by the Galloway Levellers uprising.

To begin with, Hugh Blair McGuffog had an advantage over Patrick Heron, having acquired through marriage eleven upland farms in Anwoth and Girthon parishes (including Grobdale – see photograph above) 37 and eight lowland farms in neighbouring Borgue parish in 1680. Two of the farms in Borgue (Dunrod and Nether Senwick) had been grange lands, forfeited in 1456. One of the upland farms in Girthon (Pulcree) had also been forfeited in 1456. Hugh Blair McGuffog would therefore have been able to graze cattle on the upland farms in the summer and then keep them over winter on his lowland farms. That there were cattle parks on two of the Borgue farms (Laigh Borgue and Dunrod) is confirmed by entries in the Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court Deeds concerning the 'herding' of the parks and the upkeep of the park dykes.38 After the death of his first wife, in 1688 Hugh Blair McGuffog married Margaret Dunbar, second daughter of Sir David Dunbar (elder) of Baldoon. Their son Hugh Blair inherited in 1704. In 1724 the cattle park at Laigh Borgue built for his father was levelled. The Blair family retained ownership of their farms in Borgue until the end of the eighteenth century, by which time their lands in Anwoth and Girthon parishes had been sold to James Murray of Cally. Thus, although involvement in the cattle trade may have contributed to the wealth of Hugh Blair McGuffog, neither he nor his successors added any lands to those he had gained through marriage in 1680 to Elizabeth McGuffog.
When Sir David Dunbar set the parks of Baldoon in tack to Hugh Blair McGuffog and Patrick Heron, Hugh Blair McGuffog already owned nineteen farms, including a fortified tower house at Rusco in Anwoth parish. In contrast, Patrick Heron did not own any land. His father Andrew Heron owned a third share of Kirroughtrie and the small hill farm of Dallashcairne. Andrew Heron's other lands, nine hill farms, were held through wadsets. Patrick also had an elder brother, John, and so could not expect to inherit any of the farms. However, according to McKerlie,39 upon whom this account is based, when Andrew Heron died in February 1695, John Heron 'being of a tender constitution, he did not assume charge over any of the property...In fact the management was left by their father to Patrick, who at that time was greatly employed in managing the parks at Baldoon....'.

This suggests that Patrick Heron was still managing the parks of Baldoon in 1695, but conflicts with the 1691 'settlement of differences' between Patrick and Hugh Blair McGuffog 40 and with Woodward's finding that Patrick Heron of Littlepark 'sent 1000 or more cattle to England via Dumfries in each of the years 1689-91' 41 Assuming that Patrick Heron's partnership with Hugh Blair McGuffog ended soon after the death of Sir David Dunbar of Baldoon in 1686, where did Patrick Heron find the 3000 cattle sent to England between 1689 and 1691? Quoting a Heron family history, McKerlie states that by the time of Andrew Heron's death, Patrick Heron “had stock upon Glenshalloch, Garlarg, Lomashan, Draighmorn, Poldenbuy, Tonderghie, Craigdews, Kirouchtrie, the Lessons, Torwhinock, and Torrshinerack”. Apart from Kiroughtrie and the Lessons, these were all upland farms, originally part of the Forest of Buchan42 and covered an area of approximately 40 square miles (100 square kilometres) – three times larger than Hugh Blair McGuffog's upland farms. Significantly, the account quoted by McKelrie continues

Soon after his settlement there [Kirroughtrie] he had a law plea with John M'Kie of Palgown, who wished to have all the Larg estate, as transacted with the heirs of the line. At last they came to an arrangement to divide the land, by which Palgown got the title and residence. Patrick Heron afterwards divided the green of Machermore, with his cousin of Machermore; got his right to the third of Kirrouchtrie, and moss of Carsnaw secured by charter, etc.; as also the other third of Kirrouchtrie, that (Patrick) Murdoch of Cumloden claimed, with Craigdews, which he secured to himself and his posterity, by paying the said laird of Cumloden a sum of money to ratify his right...43

The Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court Deeds date Patrick Heron's acquisition of the lands (but not the tower house) of Larg to February 1695, but the daughters of the deceased Patrick McKie of Larg were already worried that they might be 'put from possession' in November 1690.44 Larg lies between Kirroughtrie and Minnigaff. Patrick's connection with Machermore, which is on arable merse land next to the river Cree below Minnigaff, came through his mother Jean, daughter of John Dunbar of Machermore. As McKerlie puts it “Patrick Heron had made a great deal of money in the cattle trade already mentioned and was thus enabled to buy up all claims.”

Thus by re-investing the 'English gold' he gained through the cattle trade by extending his land holdings – in both upland and lowland zones of Minnigaff parish- Patrick Heron was able to create an integrated system of land management geared up to cattle production. His efforts were continued by his son Patrick (1672- 1761), grandson Patrick ( 1701-1761) and great-grandson, the Patrick Heron (1736-1803) of Robert Burns Election Ballads. This last Patrick Heron unfortunately attempted to diversify into banking, co-founding the Ayr, or Heron, Douglas and Company, Bank in 1769. Its collapse in 1773 was financial disaster for south west Scotland. Amongst the consequences of its collapse was the loss by John Syme's father of Barncaillie and the sale in 1789 of Carlingwark by Sir Alexander Gordon of Greenlaw to William Douglas, founder of Castle Douglas.

To return to our first Patrick Heron, despite his success in the cattle trade, Woodward in his comparative study of the 17th century Scottish and Irish livestock trade, whilst unable to draw firm conclusions due to lack of sufficient data, considered that “ Scottish livestock exports did not expand significantly during the second half of the seventeenth century.”. This was despite the passing of an act of the English parliament banning the import of Irish cattle which came into force in January 1667 and a similar Scottish act of March 1667. The English ban was lifted between 1679 and 1681, allowing 24 116 Irish cattle into England in 1680.

The brief interlude of 1670-81 during which Irish stock once again found a ready sale in England gives us an illuminating insight into the development of the two economies. It has often been suggested that the Irish reacted to the 1667 ban by developing the provisioning trade. However the redevelopment of the livestock trade during 1679-81 suggests that provisioning had taken up only part of the slack…The Irish performance of 1679-81 also suggests that English demand for meat was not totally satisfied by home production together with additional supplies from Wales and Scotland. Thus it seems that Scottish producers failed to take advantage of favourable market conditions created by the 1667 ban on Irish stock. 45

Unfortunately, although both Woodward and Whyte provide figures (where available) for the cross-border Scotland/ England cattle trade between 1680 and 1691 these do not agree -Whyte uses the ‘Customs Year’ 1 November to 31 October, Woodward the calendar year. Thus for cattle exports from the Dumfries Customs Precinct ( Scottish totals / Dumfries % in brackets) Whyte 46 gives :

1680/1 - 1 273 ( 4 346/ 29. %)
1681/2 - 9 053 (16 336 / 55 %)
1682/3 - 10 500 (27 863/ 38 %)
1683/4 - 4 865 (12 564/ 39 %)
1684/5 - 9 090 (21 065/ 43%)
1685/6 - No data (24 082/ 0%)
1686/7 - No data
1687/8 - No data
1688/9 - 7 258 (16 226/ 45%)
1689/90 - 4 569 (10 3910/ 44%)
1690/1 - 801 (5 745/ 14%)

So from Whyte, between 1680/1 and 1690/1, Galloway (via Dumfries) provided 34% of Scotland cattle exports to England. Whereas Woodward47 gives

1681 - 6 204 (10 042/ 62%)
1682 - 8 747 (16 491/ 53%)
1683 - 10 763 ( 27 294/ 39 %)
1684 - 4 863 (14 015/ 35 %)
1685 - 9 148 (20 564/ 46 %)
1686 - No data
1687 - No data
1688 - No data
1689 - 7 709 (16 278/ 47 %)
1690 - 5 436 (12 367/ 43 %)
1691 - 7 846 (11 591/ 68 %)

So from Woodward, between 1681 and 1691 Galloway (via Dumfries) provided 49% of Scotland’s cattle exports to England. Averaging the figures gives 42% of Scotland’s cattle exports to England as originating in Galloway (via Dumfries) between 1681 and 1691.

Whyte, but not Woodward, provides a figure for the number of Irish cattle passing through the south west en route for England immediately prior to the 1667 ban. In 1665/6 under the Alisonbank Customs Precinct heading, Whyte gives 7292 Irish cattle and 1045 Scots cattle. Assuming that the cattle recorded at Dumfries Customs Precinct were from Galloway (since cattle from east of Dumfries would have been driven direct to Alisonbank 48), then annual exports of Galloway cattle peaked at 10 500 (Woodward) or 10 763 (Whyte) in 1683/4. But, as Woodward points out, since 24 116 Irish cattle were exported to England in 1680 following the temporary lifting of the 1667 ban, “it seems that Scottish producers failed to take advantage of favourable market conditions created by the 1667 ban on Irish stock.”.

To take up Woodward's point, from the perspective of Galloway's seventeenth century cattle trade, why did it not expand rapidly to 20 000 cattle per year after 1667? One answer could be that Galloway lacked the physical 'carrying capacity' to produce 20 000 cattle per year for export. This seems unlikely. The Old Statistical Accounts for Wigtownshire and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright were written at at time (circa 1791) when the process of agricultural improvement was still under way. When the numbers of cattle in each parish (where given) are added up, the total for Galloway is 39 759 (29 745 Stewartry, 10 014 Wigtownshire). This gives an average of 1693 cattle per parish in the Stewartry and 1342 cattle per parish for Wigtownshire, giving an estimated 71 911 for total cattle numbers in Galloway circa 1790.

This suggests that had post -1667 land use in Galloway been reorganised to maximise cattle production for export to England, Galloway could have supplied the English market with 20 000 cattle per year, twice as many as actually produced. This could have been achieved if more land owners had followed Patrick Heron's example and used the profits (paid in hard currency, i.e. English money) to build up estates containing both upland and lowland farms thus vertically integrating cattle production. This would not have required any advance in agricultural knowledge, but would have required the large scale conversion of arable land to pasture. It was this last process and the resulting eviction of families from arable farms which was to trigger the Galloway Levellers' uprising in 1724. Amongst the land owners criticised by the Galloway Levellers were Patrick Heron's son and grandson, who were accused of depopulating Minnigaff parish.49

If land capacity constraints were not a limiting factor on expanding cattle production in Galloway post-1667, what other factors may have been involved? One factor not considered by Woodward was that opposition to the imposition of Episcopalianism following the restoration of Charles II in 1660 was particularly strong in south west Scotland, and especially strong in Galloway. Another significant factor was the close relationship between Galloway and Ulster following the Plantation of Ulster in 1609.

The Ulster connection is important since there is evidence that within twenty years of the Plantation of Ulster cattle from Donegal were being exported to England via Galloway. “As early as 1627 the Earl of Annandale had obtained from the privy council permission to land at Portpatrick and take to England cattle belong to his tenants, to enable them to pay their rents.”50 This Earl of Annandale was John Murray, a relative of the Murrays of Broughton in Wigtownshire. It was George Murray of Broughton who had originally been granted the lands in Donegal as part of the Plantation of Ulster, along with six other Undertakers.51 With the exception of Sir Robert McLellan of Bombie (later lord Kirkcudbright), these Undertakers all came from the Machars district of Wigtownshire:

George Murray of Broughton in Whithorn parish
James McCulloch of Dummorell in Whithorn parish
William Stewart of Mains in Sorbie parish
Alexander Dunbar of Eggerness in Sorbie parish
Alexander Cunnignham of Powton in Sorbie parish
Patrick Vaus of Lybrack in Kirkinner parish
Sir Robert McLellan of Bombie (later Lord Kirkcudbright)

John Murray' son James Murray, 2nd Earl of Annandale, died in 1658 without an heir and Richard Murray (George Murray's grandson) of Broughton claimed the Plantation lands around Killybegs in Donegal. By this time the Donegal lands had been consolidated into an estate of 60 000 acres. Richard Murray's claim was disputed but he was ultimately successful. Richard Murray married Anna Lennox of Cally in Girthon parish, Stewartry of Kirkcudbright and after Richard Murray's death in 1690, Alexander Murray of Broughton and Cally succeeded. By 1723, Alexander Murray had a large cattle park at Cally “which feeds a thousand bullocks, which he sends each year to England”.52 This cattle park was levelled in 1724.

Amongst the other Undertakers listed, William Stewart became an Irish baronet and was privy councillor during the reigns of James VI and Charles I “having served as a military officer during the troubles in Ireland”. Although he inherited the family lands in Wigtownshire, he passed most to his brother Robert and sold the remainder in 1643. William Stewart's son Alexander was killed at the battle of Dunbar in September 1653. In 1682 Alexander Stewart's son William was made Baron Ramulton and Viscount Mountjoy. Initially loyal to James VII and II in 1689, as a protestant William Stewart was mistrusted by the Irish Jacobites who removed William Stewart and his troops from the siege of Londonderry and denounced him as a traitor. As a result William Stewart transferred his allegiance to William of Orange. William Stewart was killed fighting for William of Orange at the battle of Steinkirk in 1692.53 The Stewart lands in Ulster were centred around Newtownstewart in County Tyrone.

The other undertakers disposed of their land grants firstly to Sir Robert Gordon of Lochinvar (Dalry parish, Stewartry of Kirkcudbright) before they passed to John Murray and then to Richard Murray. Although Sir Robert McLellan of Bombie did not develop his Donegal land grants, he did become a significant Ulster landowner. In Making Ireland British 1580-1650, Canny discusses the growth of McLellan's land holdings in detail.54 The bulk of these lands lay between Coleraine and Londonderry and had originally been granted to the London Haberdashers and Clothmakers companies. A condition of the land grants was that they should be settled with British (English or Scots) tenants. Neither of the London companies were able to meet this condition, but, using tenants (including family members) from his lands around Kirkcudbright, Sir Robert McLellan was able to. He also built a castle at Ballycastle on the north Antrim coast, thus meeting another of the Plantation conditions. In 1614 Robert McLellan married Mary Montgomery, eldest daughter of Sir Hugh Montgomery. Along with James Hamilton, Hugh Montgomery was involved in settling many Scots families in Counties Antrim and Down in an initiative separate from the Plantation of Ulster. Through his (second) marriage to Mary Montgomery, Sir Robert McLellan gained additional lands in County Down. Sir Robert McLellan spent considerable time in Ireland. In 1625 he was commissioned to raise a troop of 50 horse and 100 footsoldiers for service in Ireland and as a reward for his services, Charles I made him Lord Kirkcudbright in 1633. Sir Robert died in 1639.55

The title of Lord Kirkcudbright then passed to his nephew Thomas McLellan. After the death of John McLellan, the third lord Kirkcudbright in 1664, Sir David Dunbar of Baldoon gained possession of McLellan lands of Bombie in Kirkcudbright parish. The McLellan's Irish lands passed to Sir Robert Maxwell of Orchardton, husband of Sir Robert McLellan's only legitimate heir, his daughter Margaret. They had four children- Robert, Hugh, Thomas and Anne.56 Robert inherited in 1671. In 1688 he was at Killyleagh (on Strangford Loch) in Ireland from where he wrote to his nephew concerning the management of his cattle park at Netherlaw (Dundrennan parish). 57 After Robert's death in 1693, his brother Thomas (who was a lawyer) seems to have inherited the Irish lands. After Thomas Maxwell died, his widow Isabel Neilson (a niece of Robert Neilson of Barncallie) married Patrick Heron (1672- 1761) of Kirroughtrie in 1721. McKerlie gives the details:
On the 5th August 1715 Thomas Maxwell had sasine [of Cuil, Buittle parish]. He was a lawyer, and his actions tarnished his reputation. He married Isabel, daughter of [William] Neilson, merchant, Dumfries, brother to the laird of Barncalzie. He had no family, and at his death his widow married Patrick Heron of Kirouchtrie, parish of Minnigaff. Among other things he had the estate of Ballycastle, Londonderry, Ireland, conveyed to him in trust by his cousin Sir George Maxwell of Orchardtoun, parish of Rerwick, giving a bond that he would convey it back to Sir George in liferent; to his wife, Lady Mary, Dowager Viscountess Montague, if she survived him ; then to the Earl of Nithsdale and his heirs male; and failing them, to the third son of the Earl of Traquair. However, instead of adhering to this, along with Cuil he conveyed the lands not his own to his wife Isobel Neilson on the 14th October 1720. "The Laird of Cool’s Ghost" was the subject of a small chap-book.58

It has not been possible to trace the subsequent history of these Irish lands. For the purposes of this study, it is sufficient to show that during the seventeenth century there were Galloway landowners who also owned lands in Ulster. Although direct evidence that cattle from these particular Irish lands continued to pass through Galloway to England after the prohibition of such imports in 1667 is lacking, there is evidence that Irish cattle continued to pass through Galloway en route to England. As Whyte explains
In 1697, Sir George Campbell of Cessnock in Ayrshire was gven permission to mport 60 cows and bulls..from Ireland for breeding. About the same time Lord Basil Hamilton was allowed to bring in 120 Irish cattle to help stock the great park of baldon near Wigtown. Other licences had been granted at earlier dates, with the provision that the propietors concerned did not sell the animals direct to England. The restrictions imposed by the Privy Council were sufficient to encourage some people in the South-West to smuggle Irish animals into the country, although it is probable that this was done for direct sale rather than breeding.59

Whyte supports the smuggling allegation by noting that in 1669, the Privy Council fined Sir David Dunbar of Baldoon £200 sterling for importing 1300 Irish cattle with an additional fine of £130 sterling for selling some of these cattle in England.60 In January 1669, Sir Robert Maxwell of Orchardton seized 36 Irish nolte (cattle) from Archibald Little, an Irish drover. In November 1669, 75 Irish cattle belonging to Cuthbert Graham were seized by Samuel Maxwell of Newlaw (Dundrennan parish).61 In 1698, Arthur Fergussone, an Irish drover from Pillshaskie in County Derry was pursued for damage done to the crops of William Clerk, tenant of Strahanna farm in Dalry parish.62

It is possible that after the three smuggling incidents recorded in 1669, smuggling became less prevalent. Alternatively, political factors may have been an influence. Symson lists the Earl of Galloway, Sir William Maxwell, Sir Godfrey McCulloch, Sir James Dalrymple and the Laird of Logan as landowners who followed Sir David Dunbar's example and built cattle parks.63 All of these landowners were Stuart loyalists and /or Episcopalians. The title 'Earl of Galloway' was created for Alexander Stewart by James VI and I in 1623. In 1654 James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Galloway, was fined £5000 sterling under Cromwell's Act of Grace and Pardon for his support of the Stuarts.64 James married Nicolas Grierson, sister of the anti-Covenanter Sir Robert Grierson of Lag. Their son, Alexander, 3rd Earl of Galloway( who inherited in 1671) was therefore Lag's nephew. Alexander Stewart was an Episcopalian who, along with Sir David Dunbar and his son, gave refuge to Andrew Symson when he had to take refuge from his Presbyterian parishioners in a 'quiet lurking place'.65 Sir William Maxwell of Monreith was also an Episcopalian. William's elder brother John Maxwell was a Presbyterian and Covenanter who was one of the instigators of the Dalry (Pentland) Uprising of 1666. After the defeat of the uprising at Rullion Green, John Maxwell fled to Ireland where he died in 1668. After the death of his father in 1670 and his nephew (John Maxwell's son) in 1671, William Maxwell the Episcopalian inherited Monreith. In 1668 he married Johanna, daughter of Patrick McDowall of Logan (Symson's Laird of Logan). In 1681 Charles II made him a baronet of Nova Scotia.66

In 1683, along with Sir Robert Grierson of Lag, Sir David Dunbar of Baldoon and Hugh McGuffog of Rusco (Patrick Heron's cattle trading partner),Sir Godfrey McCulloch of Myreton was appointed to administer the Test Act of 1681 .67 The Test Act was essentially an oath of loyalty to the Stuarts designed to isolate Presbyterian supporters of the Covenants, or, as McKenzie put it, the Test Act:

ordained that all individuals filling public situations, or those whom the Government suspected of disaffection, should be required to take an oath (somewhat contradictory in itself) which virtually obliged them to submit to oppression - implicitly to acquiesce, even in the overthrow of the Protestant faith, - and cordially sanction any measure the sovereign might wish to accomplish. This oath was viewed as the evidence of loyalty - the open avowal of passive obedience...The Earl of Argyll refused to take the oath, without a qualification, and would have suffered death on that account, had he not escaped: he joined the Earl of Stair and Fletcher of Saltoun in Holland – to which country they had fled from the deplorable despotism which existed in their own land.68

Thus, with the later exception of James Dalrymple, (McKenzie's 'Earl of Stair'), all of the landowners Symson noted as having cattle parks were Stuart loyalists. Furthermore, in April 1684, Sir Robert Grierson of Lag was appointed to 'search for, seize and apprehend all Irish victuall and cattle...as shall be imported from Ireland.”.69 But where the Irish cattle in question belonged to a fellow Stuart loyalist, for example Richard Murray of Broughton and Donegal – who had been “appointed Commissioner to execute the laws against nonconformists in August, 1677”70 - or were in a cattle park belonging to William Maxwell of Monreith or David Dunbar of Baldoon; how would Sir Robert Greirson of Lag have responded? Could he have been persuaded that these were Scottish rather than Irish cattle? Under the circumstances, where Charles II and his brother James were convinced that Galloway was a hotbed of armed insurrectionists who had to be forcibly suppressed, keeping the illegal import of Irish cattle by otherwise loyal landowners was unlikely to have been a priority. Turning a blind -eye to such illicit imports may even have been accepted as a 'sweetener' or pay-off which helped to keep important landowners loyal to the Stuarts.

Before proceeding to the religious and political background to the Galloway Levellers Uprising of 1724, the following is a summary of the land use and land ownership questions discussed above. The central question is posed by Woodward 's finding “that Scottish [cattle] producers failed to take advantage of favourable market conditions created by the 1667 ban on Irish stock.” 71 Given that Woodward goes on to note the importance of Galloway in the seventeenth century Scottish cattle trade, the question becomes - why did Galloway's cattle producers fail to take advantage of the 1667 English ban on the import of Irish cattle?

Part of the answer may be provided by Oram's observation that medieval farming in Galloway was “a complex pattern, where systems of transhumance that supported a pastoral economy geared in some areas principally towards dairying were juxtaposed with zones of intensive arable cultivation..[which]survived down to the early nineteenth century.” 72 This might suggest that such a subsistence/ self-sufficient method of farming could not be easily transformed into an agricultural system geared up to producing a surplus of cattle for export. On the other hand:
English proprietors [in Ulster] had such a poor opinion of the economic prowess of Scots tenants that they preferred to retain existing Irish cultivators...since the agrarian expertise of the farming population of lowland Scotland was not significantly more advanced than that of native Irish cultivators....Both people were expert in pastoral farming, which was concentrated on the upland, and cultivated significant quantities of grain, especially oats, on the more fertile lowland...73
This suggests that there was very little to distinguish seventeenth century farming practice in Ulster from seventeenth century farming practice in Galloway. The Plantation of Ulster did not bring about a radical change in land use, but it did transform land ownership and land management, creating a system geared towards profitability rather than subsistence. The export of cattle to England was a significant aspect of this change. If the economies of Ulster and Galloway had been separate, and if Galloway had been free from religious and political conflict between 1660 and 1688, then a greater expansion of Galloway's cattle trade could have been achieved. But, as a direct consequence of the Plantation, Galloway's economy was closely linked to that of Ulster and, partly as an unintended consequence of the Plantation, Galloway and Ulster's religious and political tensions and conflicts were no less intimately connected.

The combined impact of these factors produced the 'under-development' of Galloway's seventeenth century cattle trade. The English ban on the import of Irish cattle had a direct impact on Galloway landowners, like Richard Murray of Broughton, who also had estates in Ulster. It also had an indirect impact on landowners, like Sir David Dunbar of Baldoon and Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, through whose cattle parks the Irish herds had passed. Significantly, these landowners were also Stuart loyalists with Episcopalian rather than Presbyterian sympathies. Although indisputable evidence is lacking, it is plausible that in 1684, when Sir Robert Grierson of Lag was tasked with suppressing the Irish cattle trade at the same time as he was engaged in suppressing field conventicles, he pursued the latter more vigorously than the former.

If this was so, then the economic impetus towards expanding Galloway's indigenous production of cattle would have been lessened. Even if some landowners had decided to adopt such a policy, the unsettled condition of Galloway in this period would have created practical obstacles. When, after 1688, the Herons of Kirroughtrie did expand indigenous cattle production in Minnigaff parish, the process had (according to the Galloway Levellers) a depopulating effect. If Stuart supporting Episcopalian landowners had attempted to replace Presbyterian tenants and owner -occupiers with cattle after 1667, whereas effective opposition to the Stuarts had, by 1687, been reduced to that of James Renwick and the Cameronians' “poor, wasted, misrepresented, remnant” 74, given the situation of the time, any resulting Galloway Levellers style response would probably have been more like the mass insurrection of the Catholic population of Ulster in 1641 rather than the more limited uprisings which actually occurred in Galloway in 1666 and 1724.