A Short History of Tillicoultry c1750 - Present

by George MacLeod

Clackmannanshire is the smallest county in Scotland being only 10 miles long from East to West and no more than 8 miles in extreme width. It contains the four parishes of Alloa, Clackmannan, Dollar and Tillicoultry. The Tillicoultry estate was received on feudal tenure by Aleumus de Meser from King Alexander II. Aleumus de Meser the younger failed to render the feudal service due for his lands and they were consequently taken from him and granted to William Count of Mar in 1261 by King Alexander III in the 14th year of his reign. The estate was held by the the Earls of Mar till 1483 at which time it came into the possession of the ancestors of Lord Colvil of Culross who held the estate till 1634 when it was sold to William Alexander of Menstry (Menstrie), a noted poet who would later become the Earl of Stirling. The estate had a large number of owners over the next 200 years or so (see Table 1). The earliest map of Clackmannanshire which is still readily available is the manuscript produced by John Adair around 1681 (see Image 1, click on the image for a larger view). This map, whilst of interest shows very little detail and gives more of a general view of the county and depicts many of the grand houses of the time. On the other hand Roy's map of 1747-1755 (See Image 2) displays a much larger degree of detail. In this map the run-rig field systems can clearly be seen with the characteristic curves to the fields and the apparent random layout. The detailed section shown in image 2 also depicts three farm touns around Tillicoultry house, Easter Tillicoultry, Wester Tillicoultry and Bankhead.

Wester toun would later develop into the village of Tillicoultry itself. There is also some detail of the grounds around Tillicoultry house showing a clearly planned layout with avenues, squared fields and hedgerows. A great deal of information regarding the parish in the latter stages of the 18^th century can be gleaned from the first statistical account of Scotland which was conducted between 1791-1799. These records were usually written by the parish minister, in the case of Tillicoultry the Rev. Mr. William Osborne. Rev. Osborne writes that "the parish covers an area of approximately 6000 acres, 4000 of which lie in the Ochil hills and 2000 form the low arable ground at the foot of the hills." With regard to the soil and the surface of the land Rev. Osborne notes "the soil is generally rich in quality and quite fertile if properly take care of. The crofts appear to have an abundance of stones and great quantities have been gathered to make ploughing of the land easier. The land nearer the Dovan (Devon river) however, seems of much better quality, with a deep loam mixed with sand. The land south of the river is regarded as much poorer to that of the north with a considerable part of it covered with heath", which Rev. Osborne notes “could not easily be improved”. Rev. Osborne also comments with some degree of pride that the ploughs and ploughing methods used cannot be surpassed anywhere and in fact a ploughman from the parish was sent to Windsor to “give a proper specimen of plowing (sic) on his Majesty's farm”. Rev. Osborne goes on to point out that the farmers of the area do not pretend to lead in the field of agricultural improvement but rather profit by the observations and practice of others. Two horse ploughs are become more widely use in the parish which is regarded as a great improvement in husbandry. The major crops at this time appear to be oats and barley with wheat apparently only being grown by one farmer, Mr. Johnson, possibly on the Gutters farm and each acre producing 8 to 10 bolls. Turnips seem to be rarely grown and cabbages are never grown. It also appears at this time most of the farmers were unsure of the acreage of their farms thus making an estimate of crop yields difficult. However, Rev. Osborne estimates that an acre of the best land, well manured will produce from 7 to 10 bolls of oats, each weighing 14 – 15 stone and yielding about 1 boll of meal (see appendix i). The whole parish appears to be made up of small farms with only 5 having a rent above £50 per annum. A large part of the parish is enclosed and laid to grass which is let for summer grazing. Two farmers in particular are singled out for praise of their improvements, Mr. Barclay Maitland having created many enclosures and plantations and Mr. Tait of Harviestoun, which he has totally enclosed. Mr. Tait is noted to follow the practice of fallowing his fields, after which they are manured with dung, limed and then sown with barley and grass. By the time of the first statistical record much of the previous common hill land, some 300 acres were in the possession of Mr. Bruce. All of the feuers appear to have given up their rights to the common in exchange for more lower level land or a reduction in their feu duty.

According to the first statistical account coal is abundant in the parish south of the Ochil hills, although it had not been exploited to any great extent. There appears to have been 4 seams but only two having been worked. It is also noted that some of the coal is of high enough quality to export, especially to Holland, with some 3000 chalders (see appendix i) having been shipped annually from Alloa. The report also notes that the coal had not been worked for the last 4 years but there was clearly a great deal of profit to be had from it in the future. Rev. Osborne also makes quite a point of the Devon company having been the tacksmen (the middlemen between the laird and tenant) for the coal for over a year and a half but actually having produced no coal. Also pointing out that while coal reamains in the ground it is of no value to either the proprietor or the tacksmen. With regard to the transportation of the coal it is noted by Rev. Osborne that it is extraordinary that there is no public road from Tillicoultry to a public harbour , or to a market town in which there is a custom house (Alloa). In the year 1792 there were 853 people living in the parish (see Table 2), an increase of almost 150 since 1755, possibly attributable to the establishment of the Devon company in the area.

At this time most of the inhabitants of the parish lived in the three villages of Westertown, Earlstown (sometimes referred to as Eastertown) and Coalsnaughton with only 36 families residing outside the villages with 3 in the Ochils. Rev. Osborne expressed concern that in future years the number of inhabitants of the parish may decrease due to the division of the common in the hills, the sale of many of the feus, which maintained families, the neglect of the coal and the lack of encouragement and attention given to the weaving of the famous 'Tillicoultry serge'. Although he also stated the establishment of the Devon company may in some way offset these disadvantages.

In conclusion Rev. Osborne offers some suggestions for improvements in the parish. He suggests a more centrally located school, or one at Coalsnaughton, a bridge over the Dovan at WesterTown, a wagon way to carry coals to Alloa harbour and a canal by means of the Dovan to join the Forth. In fact in 1776 the famous engineer James Watt surveyed the river and reported that it might be made navigable as far up as Dollar. With regard to industry he suggests there should be more coal mining, encouragement given to weaving and some public works such as a woollen or cotton mill or printing field at Westertown. In respect of agriculture he suggests farmers should lay more of their land fallow and pay more attention to the sowing of wheat.

By the time of the second statistical account in 1841, compiled by Rev. Henry Anderson, only some 50 years after the first there had been considerable changes in the parish, not least of which was the large increase in population to some 3213 persons in this year (treble that of 1792). This large increase is in part attributable to the increased manufacture of shawls, tartans and other woven fabrics in the area and the labour intensive nature of the trade.

With regard to agriculture it is noted that a considerable part of the parish has been adapted to agriculture and many of the improved methods of farming are being used. Field drains have been installed on both sides of the Devon river, these are mainly built of stone but in some cases of tile. The land is well fenced either with stone walls or hedges. The four shift method of field rotation is mainly used but in some cases a five shift mode is used namely, oats, green crop, barley with grass seed, and hay or oats, green crop, barley or wheat and hay. Landowners who contributed to the landscape improvements of the 18^th and 19^th centuries included General Abercromby of Tullibody, and the Erskines of Mar. These individuals were responsible for ditching and draining the land and for planting hedges. Landowners' prosperity was also related to the development of industry in the area, resulting from new technological advancements .

By this time there had certainly been a large amount of industrialisation in the area with the enlargement of existing factories and the building of new ones for the weaving of shawls and tartans, employing some 300 men, 120 women and 140 children, besides those employed at home or in many of the smaller factories which had anything from one to four looms. The second statistical account mentions the parish having 2 main villages, Tillicoultry (formerly Westertown having grown whilst Eastertown having all but vanished) and Coalsnaughton with another, Devonside (see image 7) having sprung up in the last few years where a brick and tile works had been erected. More evidence for the rapid industrialisation of the area can be seen in the increasing smiths, wrights and masons and in the extensive work for making machinery. The call by Rev. Osborne some fifty years earlier for better roads and a bridge seem to have come to pass and in fact the roads are reported in good order and well maintained. Rev. Anderson also notes that there is an abundance of coal to be had at no great distance from the villages, evidence perhaps that Rev. Osborne's call for more coal mining had been embarked upon. The availability of cheap coal certainly encouraged the establishment of energy-consuming industries in the area.

Rev. Anderson notes that the parish school is not well attended but there were also 2 subscription schools in Tillicoultry, and an academy, all taught by clergymen. A Mr. Wardlaw Ramsay had also built a school in Coalsnaghton, also connected with the church. Due to the working hours of the children in the factories they attend evening school in both villages.

During the 18^th and 19^th centuries perceptions of the Scottish landscape began to change, as artists, writers and travellers began to take an interest in local scenery. One of the earliest artists to treat landscape naturalistically was David Allan of Alloa, who painted many views of Clackmannanshire and Stirlingshire during the latter part of the 18^th century. Horatio McCulloch, the Victorian artist painted one of his rare lowland scenes in the Ochils, and nearby Sheriffmuir was recalled in the verses of the author Robert Louis Stevenson, who was a frequent visitor to the area. The River Devon, this was celebrated by Robert Burns in his poem of 1787, 'The Banks of the Devon'. Burns was also impressed by the spectacular gorges and chasms along the river, which attracted many visitors.

Clearly the estates and mansion houses of the 18^th and 19^th centuries have had a profound and lasting effect on the landscape of the area, resulting in the planting of beech and hawthorn hedgerows and lines of avenue trees, exotic arboreta, parkland trees, swathes of mixed woodland, and the building of distinctive stone walls and lodge houses on the periphery of the estate grounds.

The first mills in Tillicoultry were erected in the late 18^th century and William Gibson (p.171) suggests the first to have been erected by Thomas Harrower, although the exact location is unknown. At about this time three brothers named Christie built the first spinning mill in Tillicoultry which can be seen in image 6. to the rear of the larger Castle mill building, the name of which is derived from the old pictish fort or 'castle' reported to have existed in Tillicoultry glen at castle craig. In all eight mills were established by the Tillicoultry burn all powered by water supplied by a lade taken from a dam built further up the glen the water power being superseded by steam engines in the 1830's. The high peak of textile mills in Tillicoultry was around 1900 from when it went into decline but in image 8 taken in 1917 six mill stacks can still be seen, although there were probably more. The extension of the rail network into Clackmannanshire in about 1848 and a branch line from Alloa to Tillicoultry in 1851 to serve the growing woollen mills would have have been of great benefit to both the coal mining industry in the area as well as the mills.

In the parish of Tillicoultry we see in the mid to late 18^th century a largely rural economy with most of the inhabitants employed on the land. Most of the land being owned by wealth families and feued to farmers. In the late 18^th century the common land is incorporated into a large estate and the farmers begin to adopt the new improved farming methods of laying fields fallow, sowing grass and and later wheat and the draining of the land with stone and tile drains. Other industries such as weaving become more important and the presence of coal in the parish leads to even more industrialisation. By the middle of the 19^th century the growing importance of the woollen mills begin to dominate the economy of the area, leading to a rapid industrialisation of the parish and huge rise in population. By 1870 there were 12 mills employing over 2000 people on 230 power looms and 340 hand looms in Tillicoultry. In addition there were some 200 hand loom weavers making shawls and napkins in the town. Much of the layout of Tillicoultry itself is directly attributable to the mill trade. This rapid growth brought its associated problems of overcrowding, poor housing, high infant mortality, poor water supply and drainage. Tillicoultry Burgh was created in 1871. The Burgh commissioners, councillors and Provost worked to transform the general conditions and appearance of the Burgh. However, by the start of the 20^th century the mills were in decline but production remained in some degree up till the 1960's when the last mills were closed. Despite this level of expansion and prosperity, Tillicoultry was not immune to the consequent unemployment associated with the depression in the 1920's and 1930's. To help alleviate the poverty and deprivation which accompanied unemployment in the 1920's, the Council decided in December 1925 "to purchase, rent, or otherwise acquire a right of access to Tillicoultry Glen…...to be used as a pleasure ground or place of public resort or recreation".

In 1973 the rail line through Tillicoultry itself was finally closed bringing to an end the industrial heyday of the area.

From the late 18^th century to the 20^th century we have seen Tillicoultry develop from a mainly rural farming community, with agricultural improvements employed by the lairds and estates becoming much larger and the draining of more of the land. We see the development of woollen mill and coal industries coming to dominate the area in the 19^th century, along with the general change in attitudes towards the landscape. By the 20^th century the mills and coal are in decline and tourism and ecology begin to play a more important role.

References:

• National Library of Scotland on line digital map service URL (accessed July 05): http://www.nls.uk/digitallibrary/map/early/counties.html#clackmannanshire
• Clackmannan District Libraries (1987) The first and second statistical accounts for Tillicoultry.
• Gibson, W. (1882) Reminiscences of Dollar & Tillicoultry. Strong Oak Press, Stevenage, Herts.
• Swan, A. (1987) Clackmannan and the Ochils, an Illustrated Architechtural Guide. Rutland Press Edinburgh.
• URL: (accessed July 05) http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/tillicoultry/tillicoultry/
• URL: (accessed July 05) http://website.lineone.net/~grltilly/Tilli2003/main.htm
• URL: (accessed July 05) SCRAN,http://www.scran.ac.uk/
• URL: (accessed July 05) http://www.chartingthenation.lib.ed.ac.uk/
• URL: (accessed July 05) Royal Commission for Archaeological and Historic Monuments of Scotland: http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/
• URL: (accessed July 05) Clackmannanshire Council Archives http://www.clacksweb.org.uk/culture/archives/
• ASH Consulting Group (1998) . Clackmannanshire landscape character assessment. Scottish Natural Heritage Review No 96. Scottish Natural Heritage Publications Section Battleby, Redgorton, Perth

Appendix (i) Weights and Measures Conversion:

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