FIONA M. JAMIESON - Clyde Valley · PDF fileFiona M. Jamieson, Cultural Landscapes and Heritage, as Sub-Consultant to Ironside Farrar Ltd. It provides an input into a Survey of

FIONA M. JAMIESON Cultural Landscapes & Heritage

JUNE 2001

CLYDE VALLEY ORCHARDS · HISTORICAL RESEARCH


CONTENTS

List of Illustrations ................... page iv

Preface ....................................... v

Acknowledgements .............................. v

1 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF

THE CLYDE VALLEY ORCHARDS ................. 1

1.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION: EXAMINATION OF THE DATA . 1

1.2 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT ...................... 2

1.2.1 Medieval Period to the end of the 18th

Century—

a Longstanding Tradition of Fruit Growing 2

1.2.2 Early to Mid-19th Century—

Apples, Pears, Plums, Gooseberries and

Currants ...................................... 4

1.2.3 Mid- to Late 19th century—

Soft Fruits and the Changing Emphasis in

Production .................................... 6

1.2.4 Early to Late 20th Century—

Orchard Decline and the Rise and Fall of the

Tomato ........................................ 8

1.3 SUMMARY .................................. 10

2 CHRONOLOGY .................................. 13

APPENDICES

I Newspaper and other Extracts ..... 29

II Photocopied Extracts from Literary

Sources,

Newspapers and Aerial Photographic

Coverage ................................. 33

iv CLYDE VALLEY ORCHARDS · HISTORICAL RESEARCH

III Maps and Plans ................... 35

IV Provisional Desk-based Orchard Survey

37

V Historical Associations:

Orchards and Mansion Houses ...... 41

VI Bibliographical and other Reference

Sources .................................. 45

VII Unresolved, and Areas for Future

Research ................................. 49

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Cover Extract from J. Blaeu, ‘The Nether Warde of

Clyds-dail and Baronie of Glasco’ (copied

from Blaeu’s Atlas), 1647

Map 1 Map showing location of Parishes ........ vi

Map 2 Extract from Timothy Pont’s Survey of

Clydesdale, 1596

Map 3 Extract from General Roy’s Military Survey

of Scotland, 1747–55

Maps 2 & 3 are included at the back of this report

The following are contained in a separate folder

accompanying this report:

Map 4 Extract from William Forrest, ‘The County of

Lanark’, 1818

Map 5a–c 1st edition Ordnance Survey (1858–59),

sheets XVIII, XXIV and XXV

Photocopied extracts from literary sources,

newspapers, and sheet numbers of aerial

photographs covering the study area. These are

listed in Appendix II.

v


PREFACE

This historical research report was written by

Fiona M. Jamieson, Cultural Landscapes and

Heritage, as Sub-Consultant to Ironside Farrar

Ltd. It provides an input into a Survey of

Orchards in the Clyde Valley by Ironside Farrar,

as part of the study commissioned by Scottish

Natural Heritage.

Maps 2–4, 5a–c and the cover illustration, J.

Blaeu, ‘The Nether Warde of Clyds-dail and Baronie

of Glasco’, are reproduced courtesy of The

Trustees of the National Library of Scotland.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks are due to Paul Archibald, Archivist,

Lanark Library; Bernard Wilson, Lanark Museum, and

to Peter Dudney, Denholm Reid and especially Tom

Jamieson.

Fiona Jamieson

Edinburgh, June 2001

CLYDE VALLEY ORCHARDS · HISTORICAL RESEARCH 1


1 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF

THE CLYDE VALLEY ORCHARDS

1.1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION: EXAMINATION OF THE DATA

The research is drawn from extensive written and

mapped sources and statistics as detailed in Parts

1 and 2 and in Appendices I–III and VI. The

history is complex given the time-depth of fruit

growing in the Clyde valley, the small-scale

nature of many orchards and the fact that so few

are now extant.

Fruit cultivation is of considerable antiquity in

the Clyde valley. The history of individual

orchards is not easily traced before the early

19th century, but a wealth of information exists

for periods before and after this date, much of

which could not be accessed within the project

time-scale (Appendix VII). There is considerable

scope for further historical research.

The New Statistical Account, 1845, indicates that

the Clyde valley has long been famed for its

orchard fruit. Commercial fruit production dates

back at least to the early 17th century, and this

may be affirmed from estate, burgh and other

records. The location of some orchards before the

mid-19th century can be surmised, and estate plans

held at the Scottish Record Office may prove

informative (Appendix VII). In the absence of the

opportunity to examine such material, General

Roy’s Military Survey of Scotland (1747–55) is the

first source to delineate orchard sites which may

still be identifiable on the ground today. It

should be stressed, however, that Roy’s map is not

always wholly reliable, and smaller orchards, of

which there were many, would have been omitted.

Certainly, Roy shows fewer sites than recorded by

Patrick Neill at the beginning of the 19th century

(Neill, On Scottish Gardens and Orchards, 1813,

f.p. 218).

2 CLYDE VALLEY ORCHARDS · HISTORICAL RESEARCH

The period from the mid-19th century into the

early 20th century, represents the zenith of

orchard development in the Clyde valley, when

orchards are then well recorded on both the 1st,

2nd and 3rd Ordnance Surveys, 1858–59, 1896 and

1910, respectively. A list of the more obvious

named sites and their apparent continuity into the

20th century is contained in Appendix IV. Scope

exists to refine this list further. The tracing of

orchard ownership remains difficult with many

named parcels of land. Ownership could only be

established from title deeds and other records. Of

assistance in confirming named sites, however, are

orchard fruit sales recorded in local newspapers

of the period, of which examples are given in

Appendices I and II.

Statistics from the Board/Department of

Agriculture for the 19th and 20th centuries are

helpful in defining the rise and fall of orchard

acreages—a gradual increase from the early 19th

century up and into the beginning of the 20th

century, with a similar but more severe decline

down to the present day. These figures cover

parishes only, and the individual site returns

remain confidential. It should be noted that after

1973, orchard acreages were no longer requested

and the Department of Agriculture census

concentrated on soft fruit cultivation, whether in

orchards or not. An exception was made in 1987,

for ‘apples, plums etc., for sale or manufacture’.

While a number of sites continue in use as

orchards today, particularly on the west or south

bank of the Clyde, it is evident that these are no

longer commercially viable. Since the 1950s, many

orchards have returned to grass or arable land, or

now operate as market gardens or plant nurseries

with only a little continuation in tomato

production. The economics, location, condition and

nature of surviving relic orchards will be dealt

with by others as part of this wider study.

1.2 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

1.2.1 Medieval Period to the end of the 18th

Century—

a Longstanding Tradition of Fruit Growing

3


The relic orchards of the Clyde valley are

testimony to a longstanding fruit-growing

tradition, which some sources suggest goes back to

the 5th century (New Statistical Account, p. 457).

Although charters, Estate and Burgh records could

not be examined within the project time-scale,

horticulture principles were well understood by

church and nobility in medieval times. From the

17th century onwards, Clydesdale’s prominence as a

fruit-growing area is recorded in written accounts

as well as map evidence. Of interest are Blaeu’s

maps of the Upper and Nether Wards of Clydesdale

(1654), based on Timothy Pont’s survey of 1596.

Each map displays a cherub or figure holding a

basket of apples highlighting the significance of

the produce to the county (front cover).

Initially, orchards were in the ownership of the

main landed proprietors, for example, at Coltness,

Dalziel, Mauldslie, Cambusnethan, Craignethan

etc., and appear to have remained thus into the

19th century (Neill, p. 133). In 1885, for

example, about twenty orchards were recorded on

the Coltness Estate, lying ‘chiefly on the slopes

of the basin of the river Clyde’ (Apple and Pear

Congress, 1885, p. 59). The New Statistical

Account, 1845, indicates that early orchards were

planted as gardens attached to houses ‘for the

accommodation of the resident families, but for

two centuries or more they have been cultivated as

a source of profit’. This suggests a fruit

‘industry’ dating back to at least the early part

of the 17th century.

In the early 19th century, the greater number of

proprietors did not sub-lease their orchards, but

merely sold the crop of the season, frequently

retaining the pasturage or undercrop in their own

hands, or letting these separately. The trees were

effectively rented, maintained and harvested by

others. New or young orchards were sometimes let

by the acre, or on lease (Neill, p. 146). This may

well have been the practice in earlier periods.

Orchard sites listed by Neill, which also appear

as place names on Pont’s map (1596) (Map 2), may

be associated with early orchard sites. These

include: Brouly (Brownlee), Dalserf, Dalpatrick,

Dalziel, Ghearin (Garrion Tower), Malds-ly

(Mauldslie), Mashok mil (Mashock Mill), Mill

(Milltoun or Milton Lockhart Mill), Threepwood and


Wickedshaw (Waygateshaw). Ruth Richens of

Cambridge deems Pont’s mapping of settlement on

the lower slopes of the Clyde to be highly

accurate (information courtesy of the National

Library of Scotland), but the hypothesis of

settlement names corresponding closely with

present-day orchards remains to be verified. Also,

one would expect orchards allied to the castles of

Craignethan and Cambusnethan, which also appear on

Pont. Further research coupled with archaeological

investigation may confirm this hypothesis, e.g.

‘Baron’s Orchard’ (1st OS (1858–59)), south-west

of Dalziel House, appears indicative of a medieval

orchard site.

By the mid-18th century, General Roy’s Military

Survey of Scotland (1747–55) (Map 3) shows

agricultural improvement along the Clyde valley

and a pattern of rectangular enclosures, ‘fields’

or orchards, which survives in several locations

down to the 1st edition Ordnance Survey (1858–59).

The remnants of this relic landscape may still be

traced on the ground today. Precise and regularly

spaced planting (parallel lines of dots) on Roy’s

map may be indicative of orchard ground, although

a degree of caution is advised and small orchards

could not be mapped. Of particular interest,

however, are potentially old orchard sites at

Cambusnethan, Dalserf, Dalziel and Mauldslie.

Cobbett in his Tour of Scotland, 1832, describes

venerable apple trees at Mauldslie which he saw

‘standing out in the Park as ornamental trees’,

with a canopy circumference of a hundred and

twenty feet (Cobbett, p. 212). In addition, Roy’s

map for the first time denotes ‘Orchard’ in the

area of Orchard House, near Crossford, although

there is no clear indication of orchard ground.

Orchard House reputedly contains the oldest

orchard in Carluke parish (Ordnance Survey Name

Book, 1858–59).

Little further is to be gleaned from map evidence

until the 1st edition Ordnance Survey (1858–59)

(Map 5a–c). Forrest’s map of 1818 (Map 4), like

Roy’s map, reveals few orchard sites, again

because the scale is small.

Thus, without more detailed research, there is

considerable uncertainty about the precise

history, extent and location of orchards in the

5


Clyde valley before the beginning of the 19th

century, although some locations can be surmised

from the 1st edition Ordnance Survey. Neill was

the first to record orchard acreages for 1808–12

(Appendix II(5)). Some orchards must already have

been in existence for many years, as hinted at by

Neill and indicated on Roy and Forrest. By 1855, a

more expansive list of orchard names associated

with soft fruit growing is evident in the Clyde

valley (Glasgow Herald, 10 August 1855) (Appendix

II(1)). The 1855 list could be cross-referred to

sites depicted on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey

(1858–59) (Map 5a–c) and the Desk-based Orchard

List, Appendix IV.

By the end of the 18th century, John Naismith

estimated that about 340 acres (137.6 ha) of

Lanarkshire were devoted to horticulture and of

that 250 acres (101.2ha) or 74% were on the steep

banks of the Clyde (General View of the

Agriculture of the County of Clydesdale, 1794,

p. 132).

1.2.2 Early to Mid-19th Century—Apples, Pears,

Plums, Gooseberries and Currants

Neill computed about 60 principal orchards between

1808–12, extending to about 132 acres (53.4ha),

and listed 26 orchards by name and proprietor

(Appendix II(5)). He stated that besides these

orchards there were many other small ones, ‘as

well as a considerable number of new made

orchards, which as yet, have produced nothing.’

The largest orchards were those of ‘Cambusnethan,

from twenty-five to thirty acres; Milton, twenty-

one acres; Dalziel, sixteen acres; Holmfoot,

fifteen acres; Waygateshaw and Brownlee, each

about twelve acres’. Apart from these, there were

about sixteen orchards of two to four acres in

extent, and a great number of smaller ones (Neill,

p. 134). As highlighted earlier, the small-scale

nature of individual orchards presumably explains

their absence from early maps before the 1st

edition Ordnance Survey (1858–59).

In the early 19th century, 210 to 220 acres (84.9–

90.0ha) were employed as orchards between Lanark

and Hamilton, of which rather more than one-half


consisted of braes, or land which was not arable.

This acreage compares favourably with Naismith

(1794). No notice was taken of the gooseberries or

currants ‘although the money drawn for these

fruits amounts to a very considerable sum; they

generally being reckoned an undercrop’ (Appendix

II, Neill, p. 218).

Neill’s acreage total provided the source for J.

C. Loudon’s Encyclopaedia of Gardening, 1826,

repeated in the 1830 edition, although by the time

of The New Statistical Account, 1845, the orchard

acreage had seemingly doubled.

For large orchards, the mode of cultivation

involved a crop rotation system: ‘Potatoes are

planted occasionally while the trees are young, or

when the ground requires to be cleaned. The

rotation of crops usually followed is, first,

potatoes or tares [a member of the vetch family];

second barley or tares; third hay; seldom more

than one crop of hay is taken, under wise

management, and it is generally cut down before

the seed ripens. When laid down with hay, a

quantity of dung is put to the roots, near the

trunk, when it can be obtained,—which, when the

ground is a sloping bank, is laid chiefly on the

upper side of the tree. In regard to manuring, the

same rule is followed as in regard to other land

designed for crop.’

(New Statistical Account, p. 462.)

At the end of the 18th/beginning of the 19th

century, the Napoleonic Wars acted as a stimulus

to fruit growing on Clydeside. Hamilton merchants

were keenly interested in any new horticultural

developments, establishing The Clydesdale Fruit

Merchants’ Corporation in 1809 (Wallace, MS1997–

001235, 1969). Further impetus was given by the

growing demands of the rising population in and

around Glasgow. According to one contributor to

The New Statistical Account, over sixty varieties

of apples and twenty-four of pears were grown in

the Clyde valley (Appendix II(3), p. 744). There

were very few varieties of plums, which to begin

with were grown on their root stocks, but with the

introduction of grafted trees the number of

varieties increased.

7


In relation to plums, it is worth noting that the

plum district was not necessarily co-extensive

with the general fruit one: ‘Taking Dalserf as the

centre, the plum range, on both banks of the

river, does not extend beyond three or three-and-

a-half miles on either side. Within these limits,

several kinds of plums appear to be indigenous,

and thrive and yield a crop in hedgerows, and

without cultivation.’ (New Statistical Account,

Dalserf parish, p. 744.) (For full descriptions of

historic plum and orchard fruits see Appendix

II(2–10)).

‘Gooseberries were extensively grown and orchard

fruit was marketed by dealers who purchased the

season’s crop and undertook the picking and

marketing. Until the advent of steamboats the

fruit of the area found a profitable local market,

but with the introduction of regular steamer

services between Glasgow and English and Irish

ports, competition with fruit grown elsewhere had

to be faced, and lower prices ruled. Crops in

these days, we are also informed, often failed

because of “blights” or caterpillar damage.’ (J.

A. Symon, Scottish Farming Past and Present, 1959,

pp. 416–17.)

In 1845, The New Statistical Account provides

details for the parishes of Lanark, Lesmahagow,

Dalserf, Cambusnethan, Dalziel and Carluke—

covering both the core and wider study area. It is

of interest to note that the adjoining parishes of

Hamilton and Bothwell, although outwith our main

growing area and recorded as having orchards, were

not considered significant fruit-growing parishes

and no statistics were provided.

TABLE 1. ORCHARD ACREAGES FROM

‘THE NEW STATISTICAL ACCOUNT’, 1845

Parish Acreage

Bothwell no record

Cambusnethan 160

Carluke 110

Dalserf 50

Dalziel 45–50

Hamilton no record

Lanark 36

Lesmahagow 50 ‘in village gardens and orchards’


Total 401–406 (162.3–164.3ha); excludes Lesmahagow since it includes ‘gardens’

Table 1 suggests that, by the mid-19th century,

orchard acreages had doubled compared with the

earlier part of the century, despite the comment

(parish of Cambusnethan) that orchard ground was

‘less productive than formerly; and the spirit of

planting orchards is at present on the decline’

(New Statistical Account, p. 616).

1.2.3 Mid- to Late 19th century—Soft Fruits and

the Changing Emphasis in Production

Until 1870, the main crops were tree fruits

(mainly apples) and gooseberries. However, the

introduction of the strawberry as a commercial

crop from the late 1850s onwards gradually moved

the balance away from orchard towards soft fruit

growing. James Graham grew strawberries on a sunny

slope at the south end of Carluke in 1858; two

years later John Munro of Kirkfieldbank sent the

first consignment to market in Kent Street,

Glasgow (Wallace, 1969, p. 2).

Initially, the fruit was concentrated on the lower

levels of the valley as it was thought to be

hazardous 500 feet (152m) above sea level, but the

introduction of the new strawberry variety John

Ruskin extended the berry culture and other

branches of fruit growing to about 950 feet

(290m). The Victoria plum, first grown in Essex in

1840 and introduced to Clydesdale in the 1870s,

was to become the leading variety and the success

story of the 1880s. Pears did well but the

varieties were not popular (information courtesy

of Denholm Reid). The demand for gooseberries

continued as a source of pectin for setting

factory jam, but the range of varieties

diminished. Apple culture switched to cooking

varieties—Bramleys Seedling and Grenadier—to

combat competition from imported eating apples.

(‘Horticulture in Lanarkshire’, in Scottish

Agriculture, 1953, pp. 1–2.) (Appendix II(18)).

By 1888, W. J. Millar estimated that of Scotland’s

2000 acres devoted to orchards, about one third

was in Lanarkshire (The Clyde From Source to Sea,

9


1888). For the study area, this figure can be

compared with the Board of Agriculture Returns as

outlined in Table 2 below.

TABLE 2. LANARK COUNTY: ABSTRACT OF ORCHARD ACREAGE FROM

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE RETURNS 1875–98

Orchard Acreages for 1875–96

Parish 1875 1877 1879 1880 1895 1896

Bothwell 431/4 311/4 331/2 353/4 121/4 123/4 Cambusnethan 721/2 701/4 791/2 811/4 1271/4 1283/4 Carluke 1091/4 105 1291/4 122 1291/2 132 Dalserf 553/4 591/4 49 473/4 801/4 801/4 Dalziel 24 28 293/4 303/4 293/4 283/4 Hamilton 261/4 313/4 33 301/2 25 25 Lanark 44 581/4 691/2 591/4 991/2 983/4 Lesmahagow 671/2 661/2 751/2 721/4 1133/4 110

Total 4421/2 4501/4 499 4791/2 6171/4 6161/4

From 1870, strawberries and raspberries began to

be more extensively grown. Between 1880 and 1910,

the basic horticultural crop of Clydeside was

strawberries which were either disposed of as

fresh fruit or consigned in barrels to jam

manufacturers throughout the country. The opening

of Messrs. R. & W. Scott’s jam factory in Carluke,

in 1879, provided added impetus to fruit growers.

However, very low strawberry prices in the 1890s

saw the price falling one year to £8 per ton, i.e.

less than a penny per pound (Symon, pp. 416–17).

In 1891, it was estimated that strawberries

provided employment for 1,800 to 2,000 people, at

which time 877 tons were despatched from Braidwood

Station (Wallace, 1969, p. 2).

The following is indicative of soft fruit

production acreages in Orchards and Market Gardens

at the end of the 19th century. If the figures in

Table 3 (for 1895 and 1896) are subtracted from

the figures in Table 2, an indication is given of

orchard acreages not devoted to small fruit grown

between trees.

TABLE 3. LANARK COUNTY: ABSTRACT OF PARISH RETURNS OF

SMALL FRUIT AND ORCHARD ACREAGE FROM

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE RETURNS FOR 1895–96

Small Fruit: Gooseberries, Strawberries and other small fruit, including what is grown between trees in Orchards, and also in Market Gardens


In Orchards In Market Gardens

Parish 1895 1896 1895 1896

Bothwell 113/4 10 231/4 243/4 Cambusnethan 1011/4 96 131 1121/2 Carluke 1261/2 113 2991/2 2891/4 Dalserf 663/4 683/4 179 189 Dalziel 221/2 22 – – Hamilton 25 241/2 351/2 52 Lanark 983/4 981/4 2133/4 2401/2 Lesmahagow 1061/2 1011/2 430 4321/2

Total 559 534 1312 13401/2

Comparison of the 1st and 2nd edition Ordnance

Survey maps, 1858–59 and 1896, respectively,

suggests little change in orchard extent during

this period, whereas the Board of Agriculture

returns point to a expansion from about 400–450

acres (161.9–182.1ha) in the mid-19th century to

6161/4 acres (249.4ha) by 1896, an increase of

about one third.

1.2.4 Early to Late 20th Century—Orchard Decline

and the Rise and Fall of the Tomato

From the turn of the century, the consignment of

soft fruits in non-returnable baskets and cases,

enabled large quantities to be sold in the towns

in the north of England and in Scotland. Between

1908 and 1913, strawberry and apple growing in

Clydesdale reached its peak (‘Horticulture in

Lanarkshire’, in Scottish Agriculture, p. 2).

Thereafter, there was a decline, but gooseberries

and plums held their own. Apples became more

difficult to sell in competition with the more

attractively coloured and packed imported

varieties, and both the strawberry and raspberry

acreages fell. Further reductions took place

during the 1914–18 war but picked up again after

hostilities ceased. In 1920, a new strawberry

disease, red core root rot, was to devastate

plantations. Unjustly known as the Lanarkshire

disease, this was already widely prevalent

throughout the world, but for a long time no

practical remedy was known. Many Clydeside growers

were forced to give up strawberry production

(Symon, p. 417).

TABLE 4. ACREAGES OF SMALL FRUIT AND ORCHARD FRUIT IN

LANARKSHIRE

JUNE AGRICULTURAL RETURNS 1908–52

11


Acres

Small Fruit Orchard Fruit

Year

Straw

-

berri

es

Rasp-

berri

es

Curra

ntsan

d

Goose

-

berri

es

Other

s

inclu

ding

mixed

areas

Total

Apple

s

Pears

Plums

Other

s

inclu

ding

mixed

orcha

rds

Total

1908 14391/2 1291/4 5373/4 153 22591/2 138 65 1663/4 3911/2 7611/4 1913 13601/4 833/4 5551/2 1041/2 2104 1071/2 62 141 2201/4 5303/4 1918 11191/2 423/4 4371/4 2081/4 18073/4 923/4 473/4 771/2 2831/2 5011/2 1923 12951/2 43 4621/4 1383/4 19391/2 * * * * 574 1928 960 129 439 138 1666 451/4 403/4 59 2293/4 3743/4 1933 461 254 343 122 1180 571/2 561/4 1173/4 881/2 320 1938 389 357 356 112 1214 1261/2 411/2 2141/4 1101/2 4923/4 1943 248 156 330 103 837 95 31 183 200 509 1948 338 130 271 141 880 * * * * 577 1952 425 144 265 87 921 68 24 210 187 489

* Not separately distinguished

(Scottish Agriculture, 1953, vol. XXXIII, p. 2.)

With the decline in strawberry and tree fruit

growing on Clydeside, more growers switched to

glasshouses for tomato production. A common design

was adopted by the time of the First World War,

with heating usually on a low pressure hot water

system. By 1959, half the glasshouse area in

Lanarkshire was believed to have been devoted

exclusively to tomato culture. Off-season, many

tomato growers used their glasshouses to produce

late-flowering chrysanthemums, early daffodils and

tulips, pot plants, lettuce, etc. In 1959, the

amount spent annually by Lanarkshire men on Dutch

bulbs was estimated at £10,000 (Symon, p. 417).

The Lanarkshire tomato industry was always

handicapped—the area is colder than most tomato-

growing areas so that fuel costs were relatively

high. Nevertheless, the skill of the average

Lanarkshire tomato grower enabled him to withstand

competition from England, the Channel Islands and

Holland into the 1960s. (Symon, p. 417). Spanish

and other EC imports have reversed the situation

and tomato culture is now negligible.

TABLE 5. LANARK COUNTY: ABSTRACT OF ORCHARD ACREAGE FROM

BOARD/DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE RETURNS


Orchard Acreages for 1953–87

Parish *1953 1963 **1987

Bothwell 123/4 3 – Cambusnethan 77 65 131/3 Carluke 1053/4 77 – Dalserf 45 27 11/2 Dalziel 6 – – Hamilton 91/4 17 – Lanark 91 33 – Lesmahagow 172 180 581/2

Total 5183/4 402 731/3

* The figures for 1953 represent the combined acreages

for orchards with crops/grass/fallow below trees and

orchards with small fruit below trees.

** The figures for 1987 represent orchard fruit acreages—

apples, plums etc., for sale or manufacture. It includes

land planted with maiden trees but excludes fruit stocks.

Although statistics for the latter half of the

20th century are scanty, because of changed

Department of Agriculture census returns, it is

apparent from the above that the decline in

orchards set in between the 1st and 2nd World Wars

and, according to Denholm Reid, the ‘rot’ had

fully set in by the 1950s. Contributory factors

were higher yields from strawberries, the cost of

grubbing out old orchards and the fact that the

orchards did not lend themselves to mechanisation.

Underplanting added to the difficulties of

simplified maintenance and management. Many of the

orchards were on steep slopes where work could

only be done by hand. In the 1950s, factors such

as the scarcity of labour and the high minimum

wage meant that the orchard trees were not so well

looked after as formerly (Third Statistical

Account, p. 326). Grants for replanting were no

longer available.

In the hey-day of strawberry growing, the flat

alluvial holms were the most sought-after land and

are still utilised for market garden crops and as

sites for glasshouses. Plums are rarely grown with

success at more than 450 feet elevation, apples a

little higher (Scottish Agriculture, p. 4). In the

1950s, plums were the main tree, or top, fruit,

particularly the grafted Victoria plum, with only

a few other varieties such as the frost resistant

Czar. The predominant apple variety was the

Bramley Seedling. Some pears were grown, the main

13


variety being a small fruit known locally as the

‘Maggie’, and some others, such as Williams’ Bon

Chretien and the small Hazel (or Hessel) (Third

Statistical Account, p. 396). Of bush fruits,

currants, both red and black, gooseberries, and

raspberries still occupied a substantial area.

On the higher plateau land at 500 to 1,000 feet,

many strawberries, raspberries and bush fruits

were formerly grown, but as with all the other

fruit, the extent is considerably diminished.

1.3 Summary

‘In these orchards, which are in general extremely

well managed, the trees are planted in rows about

forty feet distant from one to another, and from

fifteen to twenty feet from plant to plant. Beside

large orchards, every kitchen garden is planted

with fruit trees; and almost every field is fenced

with “circling rows of goodliest trees loaden with

fairest fruit”’ (Beauties of Scotland, 1806).

There is a long history of fruit growing in the

Clyde valley which is believed to go back to the

5th century. The cultural significance of the area

is well documented over the past 300 years.

Tourist and statistical accounts are exceptional

in providing insight into historic fruit

varieties, the pattern of land management and the

operation of a commercial fruit growing industry

on Clydeside, the leading centre in Scotland for

much of this period. Although the orchard area has

declined dramatically over the past fifty years,

nevertheless, the surviving relic landscape has

high cultural value. It remains the best example

of its type still surviving in Scotland, albeit

degraded.

As a relic orchard landscape, the Clyde valley’s

significance is further enhanced by its

association with or proximity to a number of

Inventory historic gardens and designed

landscapes—Dalziel House, Lee Castle, Hamilton

Palace and Chatelherault. Orchard House, an

historic orchard site within the core study area,

and the Falls of Clyde designed landscape

(embracing the policies of Castlebank, Braxfield,


Core House and Bonnington), the latter part of a

World Heritage site, are proposed to be added to

the Inventory.

In addition, a number of designed landscapes, some

formerly closely associated with the fruit-growing

tradition of the Clyde valley, were identified

during this brief historical study but could not

be examined on the ground within the research

time-scale. These are Mauldslie, Milton Lockhart,

Stonebyres, Braidwood House, Dalserf House,

Garrion Tower, Craignethan Castle. These are

likely to be sites of more regional significance,

given that some have lost their mansion house or

the policy planting is much degraded, but this

remains to be verified.

The Clyde river slopes have always accommodated

most of the tree fruit orchards and much of the

bush fruit. There were also strawberry

plantations, as well as glasshouses, but there was

no major concentration of orchards outwith the

core area, apart from a few acres along the banks

of the Avon and Nethan and at individual country

residences or farm steadings. Grass orchards

appear to have been much less common than orchards

with an undercrop.

In the 19th century, the orchards chiefly

prevailed and were most extensive and productive

on the north (or east) bank of the Clyde, having a

southern exposure, although there were also a

considerable number on the south (or west) bank,

some of them very fruitful. This situation is

reversed today, with orchards greatly depleted on

the northern (or eastern) banks of the Clyde.

Plant nurseries with their glasshouses are now the

leading commercial enterprises in the Clyde

valley. R. & W. Scott Ltd. of Carluke (now Renshaw

Scott) stopped growing their own fruit 15 years

ago and instead buy in fruit from outwith the

area; other fruit processing firms on which the

Clyde valley was once dependant have closed. Scott

of Carluke’s archive records could not be accessed

within the project time-scale, given the wealth of

other historical material, but items of potential

interest are listed in Appendix VII. The firm’s

emphasis on soft fruit rather than tree fruit,

however, suggests that their records may be of

15


only limited value, although this is by no means

certain.

The research has highlighted both the complexity

and wealth of information on the Clyde valley

orchards. Considerable opportunity exists for

further historical research which may add to our

knowledge of individual sites and assist in the

interpretation of the Clyde valley orchard

landscape as a remarkable cultural and natural

resource.



2 CHRONOLOGY

1456

In The Memorie of the Somervilles is given

an account of a very unfortunate accident,

produced by a too great indulgence in the

favourite fruit of Clydesdale. ‘Of the second Lord

Somerville it is said that “he died suddenly upon

the twentieth of August 1456, of a surfith of

fruit that came from Cambusnethan to Cowthally, as

was supposed; for, haveing eaten plentifully of

thir fruit at dinner, he dyed before sex at night,

being then but in the fyftieth or fourtieth and

nynth year of his age.”’

(‘The Memorie of the Somervilles’, vol. I, p. 209, in

Beauties of the Clyde, c. 1830)

1632

‘In his “Travels”, William Lithgow, the

celebrated traveller, describes “the bounds of

Clyde or Cliddisdale […] All of which being the

best-mixed countrey for Cornes, Meeds, Pastorage,

Woods, Parks, Orchards, Castles, Pallaces, divers

kinds of Coale and earth-fewell, that our included

Albion produceth: And may justly be surnamed the

Paradise of Scotland.”’

(William Lithgow, ‘The Totall Discourse of the Rare Adventures and Painefull Peregrinations of Long Nineteen

Yeares Travayles, from Scotland to the most Famous Kingdomes

in Europe, Asia and Africa’, 1632, in Hugh Quigley,

Lanarkshire in Prose and Verse, 1929)

17th century

‘“Woods and orchyairds wherein you have the

choicest of fruits […] from the trees you can eat

of some kind or other, there being few years but

the chestnuts and walnuts comes to perfection, the

apprecocks, peaches and other outlandish fruits

allways, the wine berrie and figgs to a great

lengthe.”’


(‘The Memorie of the Somervilles’, in County Council of the

County of Lanark, The County of Lanark: A Book of Industrial

and Historical Interest to Manufacturers etc., 1935)

1774

‘Remount our horses and pass for some miles

along a rich vale, with the Clyde passing along

the bottom; all parts are rich in corn, meadows,

orchards and groves. Cross the Nethan at Nethan

foot; gain the heights which are far less fertile;

and, after going over the river Avon, reach the

town of Hamilton.’

(Thomas Pennant, A Tour in Scotland: And Voyage to the

Hebrides, 1774)

1783

‘The estate of Cambusnethan is as highly

improved as any in Lanarkshire […] This part of

the country adjacent to Clyde has a soil well

adapted to fruit trees. Orchards, accordingly, of

apples and pears, abound here, the rent of which,

as I am credibly informed, reaches £700 yearly.

The City of Glasgow is a ready market. I must

observe bye the bye, that apples no where in

Scotland are in such plenty as to be made into

cyder. When demanded for food, they give a higher

price than they do cyder.’

(Andrew Wight, Present State of Husbandry in Scotland, 1793,

vol. III, part 2)

1792–98

Dalserf Parish (1792): ‘The cultivation of

apples, pears and plumbs, &c. has perhaps been

carried to as great an extent, and with as much

success here, as in any part of Scotland. All

round the village of Dalserf, extensive orchards

are planted, and every hedge and fence is filled

with plum trees; even the tenants along the sides

of the Clyde, have all large orchards near their

houses. The fruit generally come to great

perfection, and are exceedingly well flavoured.

The whole are, some years, worth almost £400

sterling, and are mostly sold at Glasgow and

Paisley at which markets a great deal of smaller

fruit, such as gooseberries and currants are also

sent.’

19


Hamilton Parish (1792): ‘The cultivation of the

orchard has not been carried on to such a length,

nor, perhaps so successful, as in some of the

neighbouring parishes. […] However, there are a

good many little orchards in the lower parts,

producing apples, pears, plumbs and cherries. In

good seasons, they bear very good and well-

flavoured fruit; but upon the whole, this is a

very precarious article of produce, subject to

many injuries from spring-frosts, the depredations

of caterpillars, summer’s blights, &c. so that

there is scarcely one year in three, in which the

orchards turn to good account. The seasons, of

late have been particularly unfavourable.

Considerable quantities of goose-berries and

currants, produced here, are sent to the Glasgow

market.’

Carluke Parish (1793): ‘Fruit abounds more in this

parish, than any other upon the Clyde, or perhaps

even in Scotland. The orchards in this district,

extend about 5 miles, and are the property of many

different proprietors. They comprehend in all,

upwards of 80 acres of land […].’ (For full text

with list of apples and pears grown refer to

Appendix II(2).)

Cambusnethan Parish (1794): ‘The strongest clay is

preferred for orchard ground. On average, the

annual value of the fruit raised on an acre of

land, is supposed to amount to £10 Sterling. When

we reckon, along with this sum, the value of the

undergrowth, which is little short of what the

land would yield, if cultivated in the ordinary

way, still more, when we consider that fruit-trees

thrive best on those inaccessible spots which

could not be employed advantageously in raising

any other produce, we shall be sensible of the

great profit to be derived from this way of

employing land, where the soil and climate are

favourable. A profitable orchard has a large

proportion of pear-trees.’

Lanark Parish (1795): ‘There are no Orchards of

any consequence excepting about Holmfoot, in the

lower part of the parish. Small ones have been

lately planted at Castlebank, and at Baronald in

the neighbourhood of the town, which thrive

tolerably well; but in general the fruit does not

succeed so well in the higher parts of this


parish, owing to the great elevation. Small fruit,

however, such as gooseberries, yield considerable

returns, and I have known some cultivators of them

draw from £20 to £25 for a crop, independent of

other vegetables growing among them.’

(The Statistical Account of Scotland, 1792–98)

1794

Naismith on Orchards: ‘The Clydesdale

Orchards lie mostly between the bottom of the

lowest fall of the river and the mouth of the

south Calder. They are chiefly of apple trees,

with a mixture of pear ones, and of some plums.

Few of them are large, but many small ones are

planted up and down the country, amounting

altogether, exclusive of some very small gardens

which cannot easily be computed, to upwards of 200

acres. The produce is very precarious, the fruit

being frequently destroyed in the blossom, by

spring frosts and caterpillars. Some years the

whole value has amounted to upwards of £2000. The

value of the fruit is not always in proportion to

the number and size of the trees. Those who

cultivate the ground around the trees, taking care

not to injure the roots, and giving manure from

time to time, have finer fruit and a much greater

quantity in proportion, than those who do not.

Much also depends on adapting the trees to the

soil and exposure. Though the different kinds of

apples, &c. are generally engrafted on the same

kinds of stocks, each assumes the habits peculiar

to the Scion. Those who have been attentive in

observing this, and choosing the kinds best

adapted to their situation, have found their

account in it.’

(John Naismith, General View of the Agriculture of the

County of Clydesdale, 1794)

1799

‘The castle and mills of Maudslie were, in

former times, royal property. In this vicinity

stand the rising villages of Braidwood and

Carluke, and numerous orchards, well stocked with

fruit; chiefly apples, pears and plumbs. Of apples

and pears they have a great variety of kinds. The

orchards of a single parish have been known to

produce upwards of five hundred pounds in a

season. […] Larkhall is another thriving village.

21


The banks of the Clyde about Dalserf and

Cambusnethan, are exceedingly rich and beautiful,

abounding with corn-fields, orchards and villas.’

(R. Heron, Scotland Delineated, 1799)

1803

‘It [Clyde valley below Stonebyres Linn] is

very populous, with villages, hamlets, single

cottages, or farm-houses embosomed in orchards,

and scattered over with gentlemen’s houses […] We

seemed now to have got into a country where

poverty and riches were shaking hands together;

pears and apples, of which the crop was abundant,

hung over the road, often growing in orchards

unfenced […] Bordering on these fruitful orchards

perhaps would be a patch, its chief produce being

gorse or broom. There was nothing like a common

anywhere; but small plots of uncultivated ground

were left high and low, among potatoes, corn,

cabbages, which grew intermingled, now among

trees, now bare. The Trough [Vale] of the Clyde

is, indeed, a singular and very interesting

region.’

(Dorothy Wordsworth, Recollections of a Tour Made in

Scotland A.D. 1803, ed. by J. C. Sharp, 1981)

1806

‘The soil of the Middle Ward, though much

diversified, is generally of a clayey nature.

Towards the river, for twelve miles in length, and

perhaps six miles in breadth, a more beautiful

country can scarcely be seen. It lies sloping on

all sides towards the Clyde. It abounds in

orchards and country seats, with numerous villages

and hamlets; and the whole is adorned with

beautiful plantations […]. The labours of a number

of husbandmen employed in the improvement of the

fields, have produced a verdure which smiles

almost perpetually in different corners, to

whatever quarter the eye is turned. Orchards

embosomed in woods stand all along the Clyde by

the foot of the rising slopes. Thus that beautiful

variety, which the face of the country has

received from the hand of nature, is everywhere

heightened and improved.’

(The Beauties of Scotland, 1806, vol. III)


1808–12

‘The Clydesdale orchards are extensive and

valuable. Considerably more than 200 acres,

chiefly on the immediate banks of the Clyde, are

occupied in this way; rather more than half being

steep banks or braes, not arable. The fruit here

often sells, as it hangs on the tree, for from

£1500 to £3000 Sterling, beside the value of the

undercrops. The orchards are chiefly situated

between the waterfall of Stonebyres and the mouth

of the South Calder, and they may be reckoned

about sixty in number. The trees are principally

apple; but there are also a good many pears, and

not a few plums. The last often placed in rows

around the verges of the orchards, next the

fences; […] Cherries are little cultivated […] Mr

Naismith calculates, that the whole ground

occupied by orchards in Lanarkshire, must exceed

340 acres [Clydesdale Report, 1806, p. 132] […]

The orchards are generally in the ownership of the

proprietors […] The proprietor shall receive one

half of the annual produce in name of rent. The

leases are generally granted for twenty five

years. […] A few of the Clydesdale orchards are

very extensive. The largest are those of

Cambusnethan, from twenty-five to thirty acres;

Milton, twenty one acres; Dalziel, sixteen acres;

Holmfoot, fifteen acres; Waygateshaw and Brownlee,

each about twelve acres. Besides these, there are

about sixteen orchards from two to four acres in

extent, and a great number of smaller ones.’

(Note: Appendix II(5) contains a full extract from

this report; list of the principal Clydesdale

orchards, prices of fruit sold 1808–12; principal

sorts of apples, pears and plums cultivated;

undercrops and description of the ‘proper forming

of an orchard’.)

(Patrick Neill, On Scottish Gardens and Orchards, 1813)

1826

Some 60 Orchards which ‘occupy from 210 to

220 acres between Glasgow and Lanark. The largest

contains about 30 acres. The fruits produced are

apples, pears, plums, gooseberries and currants.

Many of them occupy steep banks and are never

cultivated. The others are chiefly ploughed,

unless where the small fruits are grown in the

intervals of the trees. The produce finds a ready

sale in Glasgow and the sea ports; and the demand

23


seems increasing’. (Note: this statement is also

repeated in the 1830 edition.)

(J. C. Loudon, An Encyclopaedia of Gardening, 1826)

1830

‘The Middle Ward [of Lanarkshire], however,

which commences at the junction of the Nethan with

the Clyde, is a district of the most splendidly

and beautiful fertile character. The several miles

of which it consists, along the banks of the

river, are one uninterrupted series of grove,

garden, and orchard. […] The people of the less

genial Upper Ward […] call this magnificent region

the, “the Fruit Lands;” and well is it worthy of

that appellation. Fruit is here produced on a

scale of profusion, of which strangers can have no

idea. It overhangs the roads and the waters, bobs

against the head of the passing traveller, and

dips the rushing stream. Instances have been known

of the product of single orchards being let,

growing, to the retailers of such wares at

Glasgow, for £800!’

(Robert Chambers, The Picture of Scotland, 3rd edn, 1830,

vol. I)

1832

‘From Glasgow to Hamilton […] the road runs

along not far from the Clyde, and we enter, in

fact, into what is called “the vale of the Clyde,”

which has in it everything that can be imagined

that is beautiful. Cornfields, pastures, orchards,

woods, beautiful in their own form as well as in

the variety and fine growth of the trees. […] How

surprised my readers will be to hear of Scotch

orchards, one single orchard being worth from five

hundred to a thousand pounds a year; and that,

too, an orchard not exceeding ten or twelve

English acres, in extent; […] I have never seen,

at one time, a more beautiful show and variety of

apples, than I saw on the table of Mr Hamilton of

Dalzell-House [Dalziel House], on the 29 October.

The apples, pears and plums were gathered in; but

there were the trees, and the leaves still upon

them; and more thriving trees I never saw; and I

believe that some of them surpassed, in point of

size, any that I have ever seen in my life. At the

exquisitely beautiful place of Mr Archibald

Douglas, called Mauldslie Castle […] at this place


I saw, standing out in the Park as ornamental

trees, apple-trees, which I thought extended their

lateral branches to twenty feet in every direction

from the trunk of the tree, which observe, is a

circumference of a hundred and twenty feet […].

These trees were straight in the trunks, and their

top shoots, perfectly vigorous and clean.’

At Mr Hamilton of Dalzell’s [Dalziel] Cobbett

describes: ‘the orchards, and fruit trees mixed

among forest trees, seen from the windows of other

parts of the house; the fine low lands and meadows

(at the end of pleasant walks through the

orchards), down upon the banks of the Clyde […] Mr

Hamilton [of Dalziel?] told me with regard to

hops, that their growing upon the banks of the

Clyde, was by no means a new discovery; for that,

his father had a whole piece of ground in hops

sixty years ago; that this piece of ground is now

an orchard, and is called the “hop-garden

orchard.”’ (Note: Appendix II(8) contains the full

text.)

(William Cobbett, Tour in Scotland: In the Autumn of the

Year 1832, republished 1984)

1834–45

Lanark (1834): ‘planted as orchards—36

acres. […] The land of orchards is generally

cropped in a similar manner [as arable], but is

dug instead of being ploughed; and, instead of its

being pastured, a hay crop is taken. […] The

average value of the gross produce can only be

given in a very vague approximation: Orchards—

£300. […] Fifteen years ago, the orchards would

have brought double the sum; but of late the value

of fruit has been gradually falling, partly owing

to the larger quantities produced, and partly to

its being brought from other districts to Glasgow

by means of steam vessels, with greater safety and

expedition than formerly.’

Lesmahagow (1834): ‘450 acres are in coppice-wood,

and 50 in village gardens and orchards.’

Hamilton Parish (1835): ‘the cultivation of the

orchards, although not carried to such a length,

nor perhaps so well understood as in some of the

neighbouring parishes, is still not entirely

neglected. A great proportion of the houses both

in the town and country have gardens or orchards

25


attached to them; and when the fruit sold better

than at present, these sometimes brought

considerable sums. Pears thrive better than

apples. The jargonelle, when on the wall, arrives

here at great perfection. Some very large crops

have been gathered of late. Currants,

gooseberries, and other small fruit are also

cultivated in large quantities, and mostly

disposed of at Glasgow. The gooseberries, however,

have been greatly deteriorated of late in quality,

by the injudicious practice of introducing new

sorts from England, which is naturally not so good

a climate for gooseberries as Scotland.’

Dalziel Parish (1836): ‘orchards are of

considerable antiquity on the Clyde. Merlin, the

poet, who wrote about the middle of the fifth

century, celebrates Clydesdale for its fruit. The

soil and climate being inland, and consequently

free from the blasting influence of mildews and

fogs, may account for its being so favourable for

the cultivation of orchards. At first, they were

planted in the shape of gardens, attached to

houses for the accommodation of the resident

families. For two centuries or more, they have

been cultivated as a source of profit; they

chiefly prevail, and are most extensive and

productive, on the north bank of the Clyde, having

a southern exposure, though on the south bank,

there are also a considerable number, and some of

them very fruitful. Those of Cambusnethan, the

property of Robert Lockhart, Esq. of Castlehill,

and of John G. C. Hamilton, Esq. of Dalziel, are

the most extensive, and among the most productive.

The fruit in the former has some years brought

£800, and in the latter £600. […] In consequence

of them being found profitable during the late

wars [Napoleonic] […] a considerable quantity of

ground was planted with fruit trees, which was

well adapted for any species of husbandry. […] The

finest fruit is in general to be found on the

poorest land, provided due attention has been paid

to the cultivation of the orchard. In this parish,

there are from forty-five to fifty acres in

orchards. […] The value of the orchards has of

late years decreased. This is owing to the ease

with which foreign fruit is now imported […].

There is no situation on the Clyde more favourable

for the cultivation of orchards than this parish

[…]. Large fruit of all kinds thrives well here,


which is not the case in all orchards on the

Clyde. […] The excellence, I apprehend, is greatly

owing to the nature of the soil, for it is a fact

well established, that all kinds of crops grown

upon a clay soil, and in a favourable situation,

and in a good season, are superior to those

produced on other soils, whether what is called

dry-field or haugh-land. […]

Kinds of Fruit.—Gooseberries and currants are

cultivated in some parts of the orchards, chiefly

as an undercrop, but not to a great extent, the

nature of the soil here not being favourable to

their growth. The kinds of fruit chiefly

propagated are apples, pears and plums. They are

numerous, in regards to kinds; some of them late

others early. To mention the names of all is

unnecessary, as the same kinds have received

different names in different parts of the country.

The kinds propagated in greatest numbers are those

which are esteemed the best in quality, or in

greatest demand in the market. With a few

exceptions, large baking apples are now found to

be most valuable. The plums grown are either

common, i.e. are propagated from the sucker, and

are planted about two feet from the hedges,

inclosing the orchards, or they are grafted ones,

such as are usually grown on garden walls. There

are magnums and Orleans here as standards, fifty

years old, which, when planted by the writer’s

father, were only known in this country as wall

fruit.’ (Note: for list of fruit propagated and

remainder of article see Appendix II(3), pp. 457–

64.)

Cambusnethan Parish (1839): ‘the present

proprietor [of Cambusnethan House] has added much

to the beauty of the place, and to the extent of

the orchards. He has upwards of 25 acres planted

with apple, pear, and plum trees of the best

descriptions; and owing to the natural fertility

of the soil, and the warm and sheltered situation,

his is the most productive orchard upon the Clyde.

[…] There are in the parish upwards of 160 acres

in orchard ground. It is, however, less productive

than formerly; and the spirit of planting orchards

is at present on the decline. A cyder press,

however, has been lately established, and, if

properly conducted, may tend to cause a reaction.

In 1827, upwards of £2,300 was received for the

27


orchards, in this parish, besides £400 for

gooseberries and currants.’

Carluke Parish (1839): ‘of the fruit, for which

Clydesdale is famed, a large proportion, nearly

one-third, it is said, of all raised between

Hamilton and Lanark, is produced by the Parish of

Carluke. The land devoted to this purpose is

computed to be 110 Scotch acres in extent; the

greater part of it being the steep banks of

ravines, not well adapted for any other produce.

Orchard ground lets at from £6 to £10 per acre,

especially if properly stocked with gooseberries;

and in favourable years the returns procured have

been very great. The extreme precariousness of the

crop, however, and the expense of labour, as well

as the reduction of price occasioned by the

introduction of Irish and foreign fruit, has of

late years rendered the cultivation of orchards by

no means a favourite object of industry. […] The

largest fruit-tree in Clydesdale grows in our

parish on the Estate of Samuel Steel, Esq. of

Waygateshaw. A respectable fruit-merchant mentions

that, about thirty years ago, he gathered from it

sixty sleeks of pears at 50lbs per sleek [Chambers

Scots Dictionary: sleek—a measure of fruit

containing 40lbs], the whole produce being thus

3000lbs. The largest quantity of fruit procured in

recent times from one tree was obtained in 1822

from a Wheeler’s Russet, or Lady Lemon apple-tree,

in Maudslie haugh, the property of A. Nisbet, Esq.

The produce was estimated at 35 sleeks, but, when

measured, amounted to no less than 44 sleeks. The

fruit tree reputed to be the oldest in Clydesdale

also belongs to our parish, being a Longueville

pear tree, in the Park of Captain Lockhart of

Milton Lockhart. Tradition stated it to be 300

years old [1545].’ (Note: for full text see

Appendix II(3), p. 589.)

Dalserf Parish (1840): ‘rye is sometimes sowed in

orchards and other places shaded by trees, from

its not being liable to be eaten by birds. […]

Fruit cultivation is of great antiquity in the

district. The fruit district of Clydesdale may be

said to extend from near Lanark on the one hand,

to the extremity of the parish of Bothwell towards

Glasgow on the other, comprising a distance of

about twenty miles. The banks of the Clyde at

Dalserf are nearly in the centre of this favoured


range. The orchards are chiefly planted on the

declevities which overlook the river, or on the

sides of the ravines which run into it, and very

few of which could be cultivated by the plough. A

few acres are planted on the holms and banks along

the side of the river Avon, on the western

boundary of the parish, but not with the same

success as in the Vale of Clyde. The plum district

is not co-extensive with the general fruit one.

Taking Dalserf as the centre, the plum range, on

both banks of the river, does not extend beyond

three or three-and-a-half miles on either side.

Within these limits, several kinds of plums appear

to be indigenous […] Of apples, about sixty

varieties are now cultivated, viz, sixteen sorts

of summer, twenty of harvest, and twenty-four of

winter apples. Of pears there are about twenty-

four kinds. […] Some of the old orchards are very

irregularly planted. The system pursued at present

is to set out the young trees in rows, at from ten

to thirty feet distant from each other, with a

space of from ten to twenty feet between the

trees. Regular and careful cultivation is

required, especially when the trees are young. The

expense of this is covered by the under-crops,

such as potatoes, oats, beans, barley, rye, &c.

[…] When the soil admits of it, gooseberry bushes

are planted along with the young fruit trees, so

as to prevent any regular undercrop. For a good

many years the two thrive well together, and the

gooseberries soon yield more than defrays the

expense of cultivation. […] Gooseberries, in the

way above-mentioned, and sometimes in plantations

by themselves, are cultivated to a considerable

extent. […] The extent of ground occupied by

orchards within the bounds of the parish is about

50 acres; 6 or 7 of which lie on the banks of the

Avon [see Appendix II(3)]. The recent reduction of

the duty on foreign apples to a mere trifle, bids

fair to put to a stop, ere long, to the

cultivation of this kind of fruit altogether. […]

The experiment [for converting apples into cider]

was checked by the total failure of the fruit crop

in 1839, and the result in better years is yet to

be seen. Gooseberries, plums, and pears being less

liable to be affected by competition, still yield

an encouraging return to the cultivator and dealer

[…].’ (Note: for full text and plum varieties see

Appendix II(3), pp. 743–46.)

(The New Statistical Account, 1845, vol. VI)

29


1855

‘Clydesdale Orchards (From the [Glasgow?]

Chronicle): The gooseberries and currants in the

above orchards have been sold by public roup and

private bargain by Mr Shirlaw, auctioneer, &c.,

&c., Carluke, as under:—[there follows a long list

of the orchards and owners—see Appendix II(1)].

The gooseberries and currants have brought a fair

price this season, for although the crop is not so

abundant as last year, still the gross sum is

nearly the same. The large fruit will not turn out

so abundantly as the orchardman at one time

expected—the long continual drought and frost in

the spring made the trees cast off almost half a

crop. Plums are rather deficient; pears, however,

are plentiful; apples not near a plentiful crop.

It may here be mentioned that the whole of the

agricultural crops are very promising in this

district […].’

(The Glasgow Herald, August 10, 1855)

1858

‘The Apple, as a fruit, when properly

matured, is well known to be exceedingly wholesome

and nutritious, and if more extensively and more

successfully cultivated in this country, would, I

have every reason to believe, become no

inconsiderable item in our domestic preparations

for food, and many varieties in their raw state

are much sought after and esteemed as desert

fruit. Such being the case, one would very

naturally suppose that the culture of the Apple

tree in this country would be carried on with

energy and perseverance, even in a commercial view

point; of this, however, we have proof positive

that the very reverse is the case. In what state

do we now find the once famous orchards of

“Clydesdale” and the “Carse of Gowrie”, which, at

one time, were a credit to our country, producing

quantities of fruit of superior quality, and I

believe, highly remunerative to the proprietors,

and at the same time, to a great extent supplied

the demands of the public for fruit. Has our

climate changed? or, what is the reason that these

orchards have become unfruitful; and at the same

time, the fruit so degenerated in quality? Is it

not from a laxity in culture, a want of


enterprising energy in using the proper means—such

as root-pruning, top-pruning, and manuring the

soil—whereby the trees constituting our orchards

might have been maintained in fruitful health and

vigour, producing their fruit in quantity and

quality as heretofore. Instead of which the

majority of our orchards are only living memorials

of unsuccessful cultivation, or more properly

speaking, utterly neglected, both as to pruning

and general management.’

(The Scottish Gardener: A Magazine of Horticulture and

Floriculture, 1858, vol. VII)

1884

‘Of the 551 acres which in 1882 were

occupied by orchards within the County

[Lanarkshire], the greatest proportion is in this

ward [Middle Ward].’

Carluke Parish: ‘about 600 acres are under wood,

about 110 are disposed in orchards, and about 400

are entirely waste.’

Dalserf Parish: ‘the soil along the Clyde is rich

alluvium; on the banks rising steeply from the

Clyde, is of various quality […] The tract lying

adjacent to the Clyde lies almost in the heart of

the luxuriant range of the Clydesdale orchards,

and was famed for its fruit from very early times,

but owing to frequent failure of crops and

increasing importation of fruit from England,

Ireland and foreign countries, has ceased to be

exclusively devoted orchard purposes.’

Lanark Parish: ‘about 1220 acres are under wood,

291/2 are in orchards, 7053 are in tillage, and the

rest is either pastoral or waste.’

Lesmahagow Parish: ‘fruit-growing is carried on to

an extent which almost raises it to an industry.

Large fields are covered with strawberry plants

and in the summer and autumn the pear and apple

harvest demands the whole labour of the villagers

to secure it.’

Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish

Topography, Statistical, Biographical, and Historical, ed.

by Francis H. Groome, 1884)

31


1888

‘The area of ground set apart for orchards

in Scotland appears to be nearly 2000 acres, of

which Lanarkshire possesses nearly one-third. The

fruits cultivated in the Clyde orchards are

apples, pears, plums, strawberries, and

gooseberries. Apples are not cultivated now to the

same extent as formerly, owing to the importation

of American varieties. The culture of strawberries

has very much increased of late years, arising in

part from the extensive manufacture of this and

other fruits into jams and jellies, owing to the

cheap price of sugar.’

(W. J. Millar, The Clyde: From Source to Sea, 1888)

1907

‘As you follow the road, then, up to

Rosebank and Crossford, with its Cosy Glen,

passing between an interminable succession of

orchards, it is but natural to think that fruit-

farming must be the ideal industry. […] Years come

now and then when the plums of Clydesdale are left

to rot upon the trees, as it will not pay their

owners to engage labour for their picking. […] It

is Economics; it is entangled with problems of

transit and labour and middlemen, whereof the

wanderer through Clydesdale in May is blissfully

ignorant. And there are, too, the men who

manufacture preserves; ‘tis said they combine at

times, and come to an understanding that so much,

and so much only, shall be the prevalent price for

strawberries, and yet again the, the fruit grower

is in a cleft stick. […] Only the owner of many

acres, luckier if he be rent free, and with some

skill in commerce, can achieve the respectability

of a gig to drive him over the red roads of the

neighbourhood. One crop only, and that of modern

introduction, the Clydesdale fruit-farmer can

depend on to return him a comparatively consistent

reward for his time and labour—the tomato. Glass

houses for the culture of the tomato are

considerably increasing in numbers.’

(Neil Munro, The Clyde: River and Firth, 1907)

1910

‘From Lanark to Bothwell both banks of the

Clyde are devoted to fruit growing. […]


Gooseberries and currants claim a fair proportion

of the area, but in recent years strawberry

cultivation has increased enormously. Even

Perthshire, the other great fruit-district of

Scotland, has less than half the acreage of

Lanarkshire devoted to this fruit. […] A common

practice is to grow strawberries for three or four

years. The land is then ploughed and a corn crop

is taken. Next year potatoes are grown for the

purpose of cleaning and enriching the soil, when

the ground is heavily manured and is ready again

for strawberries. Over four tons of strawberries

per acre can be gathered from the fields bordering

the river. Higher up the banks, the yield is not

so heavy, but the fruit is considered of finer

quality. The tomato is quite the newest incomer to

the district, but its cultivation has spread with

remarkable rapidity. […] Of the area under

orchards proper, most is claimed by plum trees

[…]. Apple trees are almost as common, and both

these species are grown over twice the area given

to pears. Cherry cultivation is relatively

unimportant. The total area under different kinds

of small fruit in 1908 was 2259 acres, and under

orchards was 765.’

(Frederick Mort, Lanarkshire, 1910)

1913

‘The bulk of fruit is grown in the counties

of Fife, Midlothian, Haddington, Aberdeen, Forfar,

Lanark, and Perth. The following figures show the

movement up and down of the industry in these

counties since 1897:—

1897 1910

County Small Fruit.

Acres. Orchard Fruit.

Acres. Small Fruit.

Acres. Orchard Fruit.

Acres.

Fife 161 54 206 34 Midlothian 268 62 227 66 Haddington 392 143 337 94 Aberdeen 354 10 335 20 Forfar 197 33 396 23 Lanark 1967 722 2102 736 Perth 852 528 2477 560

[…] Lanarkshire has been a fruit-growing county

from time immemorial. The fruit lands extend 14

ml. along the Clyde valley from Motherwell to the

33


Town of Lanark. The valley is narrow and the hills

on either side rise rapidly to the ridge. The low-

lying land is subject to frost; the higher lands

are wind-swept. Many of the orchards are several

miles from a railway station. The roads from the

valley to the stations are so steep as to be well

nigh impassable. The Clyde valley, however, has

its advantages. It is well wooded. The wood

provides abundant shelter for the orchard trees.

It is also in proximity to Glasgow, the great

fruit depot of Scotland. If Lanarkshire is now the

biggest fruit-growing centre of Scotland, it is

the most diversified. All kinds of fruit are

grown—Apples, Pears, Cherries, Plums and bush

fruit. Raspberries were once grown extensively,

but the climate or the soil, or both, seemed

unsuitable for their commercial production, and

this crop is now a diminishing quantity.

Strawberries, on the other hand, seem to be a

native of the district. It has been said that 7

tons have been taken off a single acre. The

circumstances must either have been very

exceptional or the facts must have been

exaggerated. There can be no doubt, however, that

heavier crops are grown in the Clyde valley than

in any other part of Scotland. Some years ago,

Tomato growing was almost a rage in Clydesdale.

Tomato houses sprang up like mushrooms. Enormous

profits were reported. Bad crops and bad prices

have had a sobering effect and the industry will

possibly now develop more naturally.’

(Commercial Gardening: A Practical & Scientific Treatise for

Market Gardeners, Market Growers, Fruit Flower & Vegetable

Growers, Nurserymen etc., ed. by John Weathers, vol. III,

1913) 1933

‘Along the hillsides and the ground between,

the raspberry canes and the rows of strawberry

plants had been cleared and dug up, and on one

hillside just before Garrion Bridge, the diagonal

lines of the strawberry plants stood out on the

grey-brown slope like the ribs of some skeleton

[…]. Then just beyond the English architecture and

colouring of the Popinjay Inn and of the cottages

at Rosebank we came upon a small plum-orchard that

straggled right across a level patch of ground to

the low stone wall that flanked the highway […].

The road makes a long slant down the hillside, and

brings one out close to the little church at

Dalserf. Beyond the river rise the symmetrically


disposed orchards and strawberry-fields of

Garrion— they spread out to the right and left of

the channel of the little stream that comes down

through the Gill—and to the right of these runs a

grassy hill barred with long slender plantations.

Behind the grassy braes, the plantations and the

orchards, start up the chimneys and the engine-

houses and the spoil-heaps that mark the Black

Country. […] If your time is limited, however, you

will not linger at Crossford, which nowadays, with

the spread of tomato-houses, looks like a reef of

grey rocks emerging from the sharp smooth billows

of a sea of glass […] Your road mounts steeply to

the west of Fiddler Gill […] and beyond the burn

you see the hillside set with the long regular

rows of small, demure, patient, prim apple-trees:

their time will come. As you climb the hillside

the grey-brown carpet of the strawberry fields,

embroidered with the long runners of the plants,

sweeps down on your right, and plum-trees and

cherry-trees stretch their dazzling blossoms above

you under a softly gleaming sky of blue. Soon

orchards and fruit-fields give place to pastures

and cropland […]. For the apple-blossom the best

starting point is Carluke: […] From the huddled

grey streets of Carluke one drops down to the

railway station, and when one has passed beneath

the railway bridge one has crossed the frontier.

[…] Along this valley […] On the left of the

roadway, however, the apple-trees sweep up in

great delicate clusters of pink foam […]. And so

the great crowding masses of delicate pink, so

light and shell-like, so exquisitely tinted, sweep

along in apparently endless succession. The

hillside recedes into shallow rounded dells; the

apple blossom, like some fairy flood, steals up

into these green recesses. The hillside curves

down towards the Fiddler Burn, and the faint pink

conflagration of the apple-blossom dies away, only

to break out again in one great delicate blaze of

colour on the farther side of Fiddler Gill.’

(George Pratt Insh, The Elusive River, 1933)

1950–60

Dalserf Parish (1950): ‘fruit has been grown

in this parish for many centuries. Soil,

situation, and climate seem especially favourable

to its growth, although this is true only of the

valley land and the hillsides, very little fruit

35


being grown on the high ground. The orchards are

thickly planted with trees, and these, in most

cases, are interplanted with bush fruits, the

whole being hand dug and weeded. Plums are the

main tree, or top, fruit; not the small native

‘plums’ mentioned in the Old Statistical Account,

but for many years now, the grafted Victoria,

which grows here to a perfection of flavour and

quality. A few other varieties such as the frost

resistant Czar, are also grown. Of apples, the

predominant variety is the Bramley Seedling […] A

few other varieties, such as Cox’s Orange Pippin

do not fruit very well. Pears are also grown. The

main variety is a small fruit known locally as the

“Maggie”, but some others, such as Williams’ Bon

Chretien and the small Hazel (or Hessel) grow

well. Of bush fruits, currants, both red and

black, gooseberries, and raspberries occupy a

substantial area. […] A notable innovation in

horticulture, during the past fifty years, has

been the development of tomato growing under

glass. There are now within the parish between

thirty and forty tomato houses, of varying sizes,

some as part of a general market garden, and

others solely for tomato growing. A few new market

gardens with glass have been established within

the past year.’ (Note: for full text see Appendix

II(4), pp. 396–397.)

Wishaw and Cambusnethan Parishes (1951): ‘until

after the first World War strawberries were grown

extensively, but about that time the plants were

attacked by a disease (called red-core), and many

of the growers suffered severe loss. Some turned

their land over to mixed farming, growing

vegetables and flowers for their local market. A

few went in for growing tomatoes under glass, but

not on the same scale as further south between

Garrion and Lanark. The main crops at present are,

first Victoria plums, then cooking apples and

strawberries. […] Also raspberries, gooseberries,

currants and rhubarb are grown in fair quantities.

Many of the orchards are on steep slopes where

work can only be done by hand, and because of the

scarcity of labour and the high minimum wage these

trees are not so well looked after as formerly.’

Lanark Parish (1951): ‘the valley of the Clyde has

been from very ancient days a fruit growing area.

It is so today. Some years ago strawberries were


one of the main crops. About the year 1922,

however, a virulent blight struck the valley with

the result that in less than ten years strawberry

growing had almost ceased to be. To-day the fruit

industry is largely confined to soft fruit such as

raspberries, gooseberries, currants, and to apples

and more especially plums. It is a very

considerable industry, and it employs in the

season many thousands of workers. By far the most

outstanding crop, however, is tomatoes, of which

there are many tons grown in the parish. […] Two

thirds of the tomato crop of Scotland is grown in

the Clyde valley. In the off season many tomato

growers specialise in the growing of flowers for

the winter market. Several million bulbs of tulips

and daffodils are planted every year in the parish

and neighbouring area, and cultivation of

carnations, chrysanthemums and early roses is

popular and lucrative.’

Carluke Parish (1952): ‘about 1872, the brothers

Robert and William Scott introduced the growing of

strawberries in Carluke parish and this venture

has had a very material bearing on the development

of horticulture therein. […] By about 1945 the

strawberry acreage in this parish had dropped to

roughly a quarter of its one-time peak. New

varieties resulting from the Auchincruive breeding

experiments began to be released and these, from

their initial vigour, did much to check the

continual drop in acreage. […] [for full text on

strawberry and raspberry growing see Appendix

II(4), pp. 505–09] Other bush fruits which receive

cultural attention are gooseberries, black

currants and red currants, and new varieties which

show improved qualities are being introduced by

progressive growers to replace outworn stocks. The

chief varieties of gooseberry grown are the old

Sulphur variety, White Lyon, Careless, Whinham’s

Industry and Leveller. The red currant most in

favour is Victoria, whilst black currants are

Seabrock’s Black, Baldwin, Wellington, Westwick

Choice, and Westwick Triumph. The orchards proper,

with their tree fruits, apples, pears and plums,

are to be found on the lower slopes at

Waygateshaw, Orchard, Crossford, Mashock, Howgate,

Braehead, Milton Lockhart and Brownlee, where they

have long been a prominent feature of the

landscape. In blossom time many visitors are

attracted to view the seeming snow-clad slopes

37


from suitable vantage points. The most outstanding

crop from these orchards is plums, especially the

variety Victoria. […] [for varieties of plum,

apple and pear recorded see the full text Appendix

II(4)] One old variety [of apple] is still being

grown and, through the enterprise of an English

commercial fruit tree nursery, this variety is now

being brought back into cultivation, grafted on

modern stocks. Young trees from this source have

been planted recently in an orchard near Braehead.

[…] Pear trees are often planted to form wind-

breaks, and in many seasons the crop is not

completely harvested, since the revenue from it is

insufficient to offset the high labour costs of

picking, packing and transport. […] From a few

modest establishments, there has grown a huge

increase in the acreage under glass over the past

20 years. At the present time, in Carluke parish,

the area under glass is 32.7 acres. The chief

places where large glass-house establishments are

to be found are in the valley near Crossford,

Orchard and Carfin House; […] The

horticulturalists within the parish are skilled

and progressive in their outlook, keeping abreast

of all new developments and techniques in their

trade. In 1943 an association called the Scottish

Fruitgrowers’ Research Association was formed in

Carluke, where its headquarters still are. It is

the only association of its kind in Scotland and

that it should have been founded in Carluke is

ample evidence of the calibre of local growers.

This association was formed for the furtherance of

research in fruit growing and horticulture. […].

Fruit preserving was begun in Law more than 60

years ago; Mauldslie preserve works were in

operation in 1884 and since then have greatly

developed, both in man-power and output. […] In

the factory, 120 men and women are employed

[Closed in 1956]. A new industry which has grown

to considerable proportions within recent years is

that of tomato-growing. There are 20 tomato

growers and 195,200 square feet of soil under

glass used for this purpose. […] The fruit is

reckoned to be of the finest quality in the

country.’ (Note: for full details of the

Fruitgrowers’ Association and horticultural

activities, see full text Appendix II(4), pp. 505–

09.)


Lesmahagow Parish (1952): ‘glass-houses for the

growing of tomatoes are dotted here and there in

the Nethan valley, where strawberries are

beginning to be grown again, but the chief fruit-

growing district is the sheltered Clyde valley. On

the left bank of the river, from Crossford to

Kirkfieldbank, there are extensive fruit farms,

producing tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, and

gooseberries, with orchards of plums, apples and

pears. For the fruit-picking in summer two

thousand children and women come in special buses

from places as far away as Burnbank and Blantyre.

[…] In Crossford there is a canning plant for soft

fruits, such as those already mentioned, and for

rhubarb […].’

(Third Statistical Account: County of Lanark, 1960)

39


APPENDIX I Newspaper and other

Extracts

Lanark: The Burgh and its Councils 1469–1880, A.

D. Robertson, 1974

p. 279

Town Council Records:

‘10. 3. 09 [1809] A Petition to plant fruit trees

at Mousemiln.’ -------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------

The Hamilton Advertiser, August 13, 1864

Sale of Fruit at Dalziel

1. There will be a Public Roup on Thursday, 18

August

The Large Fruit Growing in the Orchards at Dalziel

House

2. The Large Fruit growing at Dalziel Manse

The Roup will begin at the Fruit House at Twelve

o’Clock

J. Shirlaw , Auctioneers

Dalziel, 11 August, 1864 —————————————————————————------------------------------

---

Sale of Fruit at Carbarns Wood Orchard,

Wishaw

To be exposed to sale by Public Roup, as above, on

Thursday, 18 August, at One o’Clock

The Apples, Pears and Plums,

Growing in

Carbarns Wood Orchard

Carbarns "

Ranolds [Randalls?] "

Kirkhill "

Lower Carbarns "

Cam’nethan Manse "


Durhambank Orchard, A. Prentice’s

Lucinda Bank "

Pathead "

Gertrudebank "

Erskinebank "

Garrionhaugh "

Intending Offerers are requested to examine the

Fruit previous to the day of Sale and to apply to

the Proprietors or Keepers, who will point out the

Lots and grant liberty for inspection.

J. Shirlaw & Son, Auctioneers

Wishaw, 11 August, 1864 —————————————————————————------------------------------

---

Sale of Fruit at Cambusnethan

The Large Fruit in Cambusnethan Orchards will be

sold, by Public Roup on the Premises, on Thursday,

18th current, at Three O’Clock

J. Shirlaw & Sons, Auctioneers, Wishaw, 11 August,

1864 ———————————————————------------------------------------

----------------------

Sale of Fruit at Crossford Inn


Friday 19th August, at Twelve o’Clock

The Large Fruit growing in the Orchards at

Orchardville

Underbank

Clydegrove (Mr Tennant’s)

Crossford (Mr Lang’s)

" (Mr Baxter’s)

" (A. Russell’s)

" (Mr Lees’)

Thripwood [Threepwood?] (Mr Templeton’s)

Waygateshaw

Gillfoot

Braehead

Gladenhill [Garrionhill?] and Tower

Birkhill

Howiesonhall

Carfin and

Holmfoot

41




the Proprietors or Keepers for leave to do so,

otherwise they will be regarded as Trespassers.


Wishaw, 11 August, 1864 ——————————————————————————-----------------------------

Sale of Fruit at Dalserf Inn


Friday 19th August, at Four o’Clock

The Large Fruit growing in the Orchards at

Maudslie [Mauldslie] Castle

Both Brownlees

Skellytown

Dalserf

Auldton

Woodside

Netherburn, A. Flemmings

North Netherburn, J. Thomson’s

Rosebank, Mr Hastie’s

Dalpatrick

Overton



the Proprietors or Keepers for leave to do so,

otherwise they will be regarded as Trespassers.


Wishaw, 11 August, 1864 -------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------

The Hamilton Advertiser, September 10, 1864

(Note: the newsprint was not clearly discernible and there

may be some errors in the figures.)

Large Fruit Sales

We have been favoured by James Shirlaw & Son,

Auctioneers, with the following list of large

fruit sales on the Clyde this season. The

different lots were keenly competed for, and

brought fair prices although the rate per boll is

not up to the mark of the last few years:—


Dalserf, J. G. C. Hamilton Esq. £51.

0. 0.

Dalserf Manse, Rev. J. Loudon 48.

0. 0.

Cam’nethan, J. S. Lockhart Esq. 34.

0. 0.

Carbarns Wood Orchard, Mr Thomas George 33.

0. 0.

Carbarns Orchard, Mr James Hendry 34.

0. 0.

Ranolds [Randalls?] Orchard, Mrs Frood 27.

0. 0.

Kirkhill Orchard, Mr W. Renwick 48.

0. 0.

Lower Carbarns Farm, Rt. Hon Lord Belhaven 9.

10. 0.

Cam’nethan Manse, Rev. R. B. Hutton 2.

0. 0.

Durhambank Orchard, Mr A. Prentice 7.

0. 0.

Lucindabank, Mr James Loudon 11. 10.

0.

Gertudebank, Mr Andrew Millar 38.

0. 0.

Kirkhillbank and Garionhaugh, Mr Jn Dobbie 10. 10.

0.

Crossford, Mr John Baxter 6.

0. 0.

Kirkhill, Mr James Frame Esq. 10.

0. 0.

Gillfoot, Mr James Gilchrist Esq. 46.

0. 0.

Orchardville, Dr Waugh 56.

0. 0.

Carfin, J. Wilson Esq. 22.

0. 0.

Sunnyside, R. Leishman Esq. 25.

0. 0.

Thripwood [Threepwood], Mr D. Templeton 36.

0. 0.

Holmfoot, Col. Harrison 6.

10. 0.

Braehead House, Col. Orr 19. 10.

0.

Crossford, Thos. Lang Esq. 42. 10.

0.

Howiesonhall, Mr J. Lockhart 10.

0. 0.

43


Clydegrove, Mr J. Tennant 4.

5. 0.

Underbank, Mr G. Scott 48.

0. 0.

Waygateshaw, Mrs Steel 29.

5. 0.

Maudslie [Mauldslie] Castle, J. Hozier Esq. 18.

5. 0.

Brounlee, W. Harvie Esq. 78.

0. 0.

Do R. Steuart Esq. 100.

0. 0.

Garrion, A. Rowley Esq. 21.

0. 0.

Dalserf, J. C. Hamilton Esq. 12.

0. 0.

Auldton, Mr R. Forrest 12. 10.

0.

Woodside, Archbd M. Burrel Esq. 14.

0. 0.

Netherburn, Mr A. Flemming 1.

15. 0.

North Netherburn, Mr J. Thomson 2.

17. 0.

Dalpatrick, Mr D. Templeton 15.

0. 0.

Overton, A. J. Frame Esq. 76.

0. 0.

Burnetholm, Colin Dunlop Esq. 8.

0. 0.

Rosebank, Mr Hastie 13.

0. 0. ——————————————————————————————-------------

45


APPENDIX II Photocopied Extracts from

Literary Sources,

Newspapers

and Aerial Photographic

Coverage

(The photocopies are held in a separate

accompanying folder to this report.)

1. Glasgow Herald, 10 August, 1855.

2. The Statistical Account of Scotland, 1792–98,

vol. II, pp. 372–73, vol. VIII, pp. 120–27,

vol. XII, pp. 570–71.

3. The New Statistical Account of Scotland,

1845, vol. VI, pp. 456–64, 589, 743–46, 753.

4. The Third Statistical Account of Scotland,

1960, pp. 396–97, 505–09.

5. Patrick Neill, On Scottish Gardens &

Orchards, 1813, pp.131–36, 145–58, appendix K,

f.p. 218, 219–22.

6. John Naismith, General View of the

Agriculture of the County of Clydesdale, 1806,

pp. 130–37.

7. Memoirs of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural

Society, 1819, vol. II, pp. 306–09.

8. Cobbett’s Tour in Scotland, 1833, pp. 210–21.

9. Apples and Pears—1885: Report of the Apple

and Pear Congress, 1887, pp. 54–61.

10. Plums—1889: Report of the Plum Congress, 1890,

pp. 22–29, 54–57.

11. Dorothy Haynes, ‘Andrew Walker—Fruitgrower:

Portrait of a Happy Pessimist’ (n.d., printed

article).

12. Hamilton Advertiser, 27 March 1981—‘A Century

of Growing Fruit on Clydeside’.

13. Hamilton Advertiser, 25 December 1961—‘How

Strawberry Growing Began in the Clyde Valley’,

p. 14.

14. Five general views associated with Clyde

Valley fruit growing.


15. Dudley V. Howells, ‘The Clyde Valley Fruit

Growing Area’, in The Scottish Gardener, June

19, 1924.

16. Robert D. Reid, ‘Soft Fruits in Scotland’, in

The Fruit Year Book, n.d.

17. William Wallace, Aspects of Strawberry Culture

with Special Reference to Clydesdale, 1969,

pp. 1–4.

18. R. D. Reid, ‘Horticulture in Lanarkshire’, in

Scottish Agriculture, 1953, vol. XXXIII, no. 2,

pp. 1–8.

19. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical

Monuments of Scotland: Air Photographs

Collection—list of frames at 1:24,000–1:60,000

(Hamilton–Lanark). Note: 1:10,000 scale sheets

are available for the early series. For the

core study area, for the 1946 series,

particular reference should be made to sheets

6208–09, 6053, 6055, 6086–89.



APPENDIX III Maps and Plans

The following is a list of maps and plans

examined; those emboldened have been reproduced

and accompany this report:

1596 Extract from Timothy Pont’s Survey of

Clydesdale (Map 2).

1647 Extract from J. Blaeu, ‘The Upper Ward of

Clyds-dayl’ (copied from Blaeu’s Atlas).

1647 Extract from J. Blaeu, ‘The Nether Warde of

Clyds-dail and Baronie of Glasco’ (copied

from Blaeu’s Atlas)

(Front Cover).

1747–55 Extract from General Roy’s Military

Survey of Scotland, 1747–55 (Map 3).

1773 Extract from Charles Ross, ‘A map of the

shire of Lanark’ (copied from EMS.S.358);

sheets A3 NW and NE.

1818 Extract from William Forrest, ‘The County

of Lanark’; sheets 3/4 and 4/4 (Map 4).

1822 Extract from John Thomson, ‘Northern part

of Lanarkshire’ (copied from J. Thomson

Atlas of Scotland (1832), Reading Room

copy).

1822 Extract from John Thomson, ‘Southern part

of Lanarkshire’ (copied from J. Thomson

Atlas of Scotland (1832), Reading Room

copy).

1858–59 1st edition Ordnance Survey. Surveyed

1858–59, published 1864; 1:10,560 (6 inches

to 1 mile); sheets XVIII, XXIV and XXV (Map

5a–c).

1896 2nd edition Ordnance Survey. Revised 1896,

published 1898; 1:10,560 (6 inches to 1

mile); Lanarkshire, sheets XVIII. SE, SW,

NE and NW; XXIV. NE; XXV. SE, SW and NW.


1909–10 3rd edition Ordnance Survey. Revised

1909–10, published 1913–14; 1:10,560

(6 inches to 1 mile); Lanarkshire, sheets

XVIII. SE, SW, NE and NW; XXIV. NE; XXV.

SE, SW and NW.

1938–40 Provisional (4th edition) Ordnance

Survey. Revision of 1909–10 with additions

in 1938 and 1940–41. Boundaries revised to

1940. 1:10,560 (6 inches to 1 mile);

Lanarkshire, sheets XVIII. NE and NW.

1948 Provisional (4th edition) Ordnance Survey.

Re-levelled in 1943. Boundaries revised to

1–11–1948. 1:10,560 (6 inches to 1 mile);

Lanarkshire, sheets XXV. SE and SW.

1957–58 Provisional (5th edition) Ordnance

Survey. Sheet revised 1954. Boundaries

revised 1957. Published 1957–58. 1:10,560

(6 inches to 1 mile); Lanarkshire, sheets

NS 75 SE (reprinted with addition of new

roads 1968), NS 84 SE, SW and NW, and NS 85

SE and SW.

1967 5th edition Ordnance Survey. Boundaries

revised to 1–5–64. Major Roads revised

1965. Published 1967. 1:10,560 (6 inches to

1 mile); Lanarkshire, sheet NS 85 SW.




1 mile); Lanarkshire, sheet NS 85 SE.




1 mile); Lanarkshire, sheet NS 84 SE.


revised to 1–1–71. Revised for significant

changes from subsequent unpublished 1:2,500

scale survey dated 1970. Published 1971.

1:10,560 (6 inches to 1 mile); Lanarkshire,

sheet NS 84 SW.

1976 5th edition Ordnance Survey. Surveyed at

1:2,500 scale 1963–69. Revised for

significant changes 1975. Contours surveyed

1971. Crown Copyright 1976. 1:10,000

49


(6inches to 1 mile); Strathclyde, sheet NS

84 NE.

1978 5th edition Ordnance Survey. Surveyed at

1:2,500 scale 1962–74. Revised for

significant changes 1976. Contours surveyed

1971. Crown Copyright 1978. 1:10,000

(6inches to 1 mile); Strathclyde, sheet NS

75 SE.

51


APPENDIX IV Provisional

Desk-based Orchard Survey

Notes:

1. The survey is based on the 1st edition Ordnance

Survey. A number of small orchards and

orchards-cum-gardens may be omitted, but the

presence of an orchard has been recorded where

there is an obvious system of grid planting at

1:10,560 (6 inch to 1 mile) scale. In cases

where uncertainty exists about whether an

orchard was present at a particular date (?)

has been used. The table contains a degree of

supposition which can only be resolved by more

detailed survey and research. Several orchards

may have been in single ownership, hence the

table does not reflect the pattern of land

ownership. Rather, it highlights 19th-century

orchard field names.

2. The table could be further refined by adding in

orchard names from the Glasgow Herald, 10

August 1855 (Appendix II) and Hamilton

Advertiser, 13 August 1864 (Appendix I).

3. Neill’s orchard names excluded what he called

‘smaller orchards’ or ‘new made’ orchards and

may more closely reflect the land ownership

pattern. Gillgovan named by Neill (On Scottish

Gardens & Orchards, 1813) was not located on OS

maps but appears to have been in the vicinity

of Garrion. The nearest equivalent map for

Neill would be Forrest’s map (1818).

4. R = reduced in size;

G = glasshouse(s) i.e. tomatoes/flowers/plants

under glass;

N = nursery.

Orchard Name

Neill

Ist OS (1858–

59)

2nd OS (1896)

3rd OS (1910)

Provisional 5th OS

(1958–68) National Grid

Series

Sheet XVIII Sheet XVIII NW Sheet XVIII NW Dalziel (various plots)

• Dalziel • Glebe of

Dalziel

• R

Muirhouse (by Dalziel)

•

Kirkhill Orchard • • • ?


Randalls Orchard • • • ? Carbarns Orchard • Carbarns • • • ? Carbarnwood Orchard

• • •

Upper Carbarns • • • Lower Carbarns • • • Cambusnethan • • • Sheet XVIII NE Sheet XVIII NE Hopefield • • • Durhambank • • • R/G? Lucindabank • reformed? • R/G?

Continued

Orchard Name

Neill

Ist OS (1858–

59)

2nd OS (1896)

3rd OS (1910)

Provisional 5th OS

(1958–68)

Sheet XVIII Sheet XVIII SW Sheet XVIII SW Broomelton • • • • Gordonbank • • • Mafflat Orchard • • • ? Corslet • • • ? Fairholm Orchard • • • R Woodside (Woodfoot?)

• Woodside • • • •

Burnfoot • • • ? Sheet XVIII SE Sheet XVIII SE Pathhead Orchard • • • ? Wemysshill Orchard

• • • ?

West Belmont • • • ? East Belmont • • • ? Den • • • site moved

north? R/G

Trotterbank • • • ? Gertrudebank • • • ? Stewartbank • • • ? Erskinebank • • • Nursery Garrionhaugh • • site moved

west to east • ?

Garrion Tower • Garrion • • • R/G Garrionbridge Cottages?

• •

Aliciabank • R Lower Callender • R • R/G Upper Callender • R • R/G Blair’s Orchard • R • R/G

overtaken by Horsley Head

Nurseries? Weymssbank • • • • Rosebank (near Overton)

• • • •

Castlehill • • • some reworking

Bog • Highlees • Skellyton • • • Cornsilloch • • • • Castlehill • • • Nursery Torland? • • • • Nursery Dalserf Manse? • • • ? Millburn House? • • new site? Dalserf House • Dalserf • • • some

reworking ?

Rosebank (village orchards)

• ? • •

53


Dalpatrick • • • • • West Brownlee • Brownlee • • • R East Brownlee • Brownlee • • • • Bowmanhirst • • • • Harleys • • absorbed by

Bowmanhirst? •

Mauldslie (kitchen garden?)

• • • • ?

Continued

Orchard Name

Neill

Ist OS (1858–

59)

2nd OS (1896)

3rd OS (1910)

Provisional 5th OS

(1958–68)

Sheet XXIV Sheet XXIV NE Sheet XXIV NE Milton Lockhart (by the Bridge?)

• Milton? • • • ?

Overton • • • • Threepwood • • • • • Cannonholm (Connelholm?)

• Connelholm? • ? ? R

Craignethan (Braehead one and the same?)

• • ? • G

Nethanfoot/ Crossford (various)

• • • •

Waygateshaw • • • expansion or may be

developments by Townhead

and Whinbank?

R

Gills • • • • Sheet XXV Sheet XXV NW Sheet XXV NW Waygate-shawhead • • Southbank • • • now part of

Gills? Burnside • R? ? ? Gillfoot • • ? ? ?/G Hill of Orchard • • • ? Gowanglen • • • • Orchard farm • • • •/G Northbank • • • • Orchard House • Orchard? • • • • Linnside • • ? ? Cosieglen • • • ? Braehead • • • • Holmfoot • • • • ? Mashock Mill • • • • • Tuphole • Braefoot?

(Tuphole disappears)

Tuphole ?

Halbar (Tower of)

• • • •

Dales • appears to expand as

Dalville House

• •

Woodhall • • expansion of • Howieson Hall • • • • Applebank • may be

amalgamated into/part of

Howieson Hall

Birkhill • • • • Carfin • expansion of

site • •

Sheet XXV SW Sheet XXV SW Oakbank • •


Old Schoolhouse ? • • • Brodiehill • •? • Underbank • • • •/G Stanhope • • • • Hazelbank • • • •

Continued

Orchard Name

Neill

Ist OS (1858–

59)

2nd OS (1896)

3rd OS (1910)

Provisional 5th OS

(1958–68)

Sheet XXV Sheet XXV SW Sheet XXV SW Clydebrae • • • • Alderbank • • • • Hurleywell • • • • Broomhouse • • • • Arthur’s Craigs • • • •/G Poplar Bank Chapelknowe • • • Arnmore Cottage • • • •/G Woodhead • • • •/G Orchardville • • • Cairniepark • • •/G High Cairniepark • • •/G Oak Orchard • • • Stonebyres? ? ? ? ? Cairniepark • • ? Kilbank? • • • • Linnville • • • • expansion of

site Sunnyside • • • • Orchard Dell • • • • Hakiespie Hill or Linnbank?

• • •

W. Milltown of Nemphlar

• • •

Mousemill • • • • Castlehill or Castlebank

• • R ?

Patrick Cottage (part of Castlebank?)

• • • ?

Pleasants Nursery (data to be entered)

55


APPENDIX V Historical Associations:

Orchards and Mansion

Houses

According to Neill in Scottish Gardens and

Orchards, 1813, the largest orchards were those of

‘Cambusnethan, from twenty-five to thirty acres;

Milton, twenty-one acres; Dalziel, sixteen acres;

Holmfoot, fifteen acres; Waygateshaw and Brownlee,

each about twelve acres. Apart from these, there

were about sixteen orchards of two to four acres

in extent, and a great number of smaller ones

[Neill, p. 134]’. Neill’s list of orchards and

owners is contained in Appendix II(5). Mid-19th-

century orchards and owners are listed in

Appendices I and II(1).

Braidwood House: small- to medium-sized Victorian

house with mature wooded landscaped grounds on the

edge of the village of the same name. The house

replaced the ancient fortalice of Hallbar (or

Braidwood) Tower which was the power base for the

ancient barony of Braidwood, originally a Douglas

stronghold but latterly a possession of the

Lockhart family. It was the seat of Nathaniel

Stevenson Esq.

Brownlee: ‘Mr Harvie of Brownlee was one of the

most experienced orchardists in Clydesdale [Neill,

p. 154].’

Cambusnethan Priory: The Barony of Cambusnethan

belonged for many centuries to the Somervilles.

‘Cambusnethan House stands near the Clyde amid

charming grounds, at the ravine of Hall Gill […]

Built in 1819, after designs by Gillespie Graham,

it is an elegant gothic edifice in imitation of a

priory [Ordnance Gazetteer, 1884].’ The condition

of the house, built for Robert Lockhart of

Castlehill, has been of concern in recent years.

The New Statistical Account, 1845, notes that the

orchards of Cambusnethan and Dalziel were amongst

the most extensive and productive.


Craignethan Castle: conserved ruined castle-cum-

sophisticated fortified manor house. An

architectural showpiece in the care of Historic

Scotland and commonly known as ‘Tillietudlem

Castle’ (Sir Walter Scott created a number of

episodes around Craignethan in Old Mortality). The

commanding structure overlooks the picturesque

Nethan River valley gorge. It was built between

1530 and 1540 by royal architect and illegitimate

grandson of James II, Sir James Hamilton of

Fynnart. A property of considerable architectural

and historic interest, it is deserving of a full

cultural landscape assessment. An early garden and

orchard would have been associated with the

property, the latter most likely on the flatter

holm south of the castle.

The Manse (Dalserf): ‘The glebe consists of about

ten Scots acres of which about four acres are in

orchard [New Statistical Account, p. 753].’

Dalzell House: a late-15th- or 16th-century tower

house, substantially enlarged in later periods,

most notably in 1857 by the architect William

Billings (eminent architectural historian and

author of The Baronial and Ecclesiastical

Antiquities of Scotland (1848–52)). The house lies

a quarter of a mile from the right bank of the

Clyde in Dalzell Parish. The landscape is included

in An Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes

in Scotland, 1987.

‘The only improvements recently made were effected

by the late Archibald Hamilton Esq. of Dalziel. He

embanked the river, planted a great part of the

waste lands, enlarged and improved the orchards

[…] Those of Cambusnethan, the property of Robert

Lockhart, Esq. of Castlehill, and of John G. C.

Hamilton, Esq. of Dalziel, are the most extensive,

and among the most productive [New Statistical

Account, p. 456–57].’

‘The principal orchards on the estate of Dalziel

were planted by the great grand-father of the

present proprietor who was quite an enthusiast in

growing trees of all kinds […] [New Statistical

Account, p. 461].’

57


‘the orchards, and fruit trees mixed among forest

trees, seen from the windows of other parts of the

house; the fine low lands and meadows (at the end

of pleasant walks through the orchards), down upon

the banks of the Clyde […] [Cobbett, p. 216].’

The Manse, Dalziel (Dalzell): ‘The glebe consists

of 7 acres of good land; nearly 51/2 acres are in

orchard [New Statistical Account, p. 465].’

Garrion: Scottish Record Office—RHP. 3241: Plan of

the farms of Garrionhaugh and Garrion Mill and

Orchards of Gillgoven and Garriongill (n.d., but

probably early to mid-19th century).

Gillfoot: Scottish Record Office—RHP. 49664: Plan

of Gillfoot the property of Mr James Gilchrist

with the table of contents (1810).

Hopefield and Durhambank Orchards: ‘Trees, all

standards, chiefly on grass and from ten to sixty

years old. This orchardist is reputed to have the

largest collection of varieties of apples in the

district [Apple and Pear Congress, p. 58].’

Lee Castle: the Barony of Lee was acquired by

William Loccard in 1272. One of the most famous

family members was Sir Simon Loccard who brought

the heart of Sir Robert the Bruce back from the

Holy Land. Lee Castle was erected in 1822 to

designs by James Gillespie Graham (architect of

Cambusnethan Priory) for Sir Norman McDonald

Lockhart of Lee and Carnwarth. The estate was sold

in 1948 and the policies divided into several

ownerships. The landscape is included in An

Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in

Scotland, 1987.

Mauldslie Castle: the late-18th-century Mauldslie

Castle was designed by the architect Robert Adam

and built for the 5th Earl of Hyndford. The

building for long stood in ‘an extensive and

richly-wooded park [Ordnance Gazetteer, 1884]’,


but was demolished in 1935. The Barony of

Mauldslie was at one time a royal forest. Rosebank

was developed as the estate village.

‘The largest quantity of fruit procured in recent

times from one tree was obtained in 1822 from a

Wheeler’s Russet, or Lady Lemon apple-tree, in

Mauldslie haugh, the property of A. Nisbet, Esq.

[New Statistical Account, p. 589].’

‘At the exquisitely beautiful place of Mr

Archibald Douglas, called Mauldslie Castle […] at

this place I saw, standing out in the Park as

ornamental trees, apple-trees, which I thought

extended their lateral branches to twenty feet in

every direction from the trunk of the tree, which

observe, is a circumference of a hundred and

twenty feet […]. These trees were straight in the

trunks, and their top shoots, perfectly vigorous

and clean [Cobbett, p. 211].’

Scottish Record Office—RHP. 43232: Plan of lands

of Mauldslie and Rosebank showing field names and

sizes (1825).

Milton Lockhart: Milton Lockhart House stood above

a deep ravine west of Miltonhead (birthplace of

Major General William Roy, famed military and

civil engineer and initiator of the military

mapping of Scotland, 1747–55). The site was

selected by Sir Walter Scott as a suitable

location for his son-in-law, John Gibson Lockhart.

The Victorian house, designed by one of Scotland’s

foremost country house architects, William Burn,

was dismantled and shipped to Japan in 1987, where

it was re-erected as part of a children’s fantasy

world on Hokkaido Island (Macleod and Gilroy,

1991, p. 90). The building has been described as

‘Burn’s finest example of Scots Baronial [James

Macauley, The Gothic Revival: 1745–1845, 1975]’,

and must be deemed a loss to the Clyde valley. The

Ordnance Gazetteer, 1884, described the grounds as

being ‘of singular beauty, backed by deep ravines

and wooded hills’. The 19th-century Milton Bridge

over the Clyde was modelled on the historic old

Bridge of Bothwell.

‘The fruit tree reputed the oldest in Clydesdale

[…] being a Longueville pear tree, in the park of

59


Captain Lockhart of Milton-Lockhart. Tradition

stated it to be 300 years old [New Statistical

Account, p. 589].’

Orchard House: the landscape is proposed by

Historic Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage

for inclusion in An Inventory of Gardens and

Designed Landscapes in Scotland.

In 1879/80, the Scott Brothers, Robert and

William, set up the Clydesdale Preserve Works in

Carluke originally to preserve the excess fruit

produced by their Orchard Estate within the Clyde

valley (Scottish Record Office, NRAS 2968).

Orchard House reputedly contained the oldest

orchard in Carluke Parish (Ordnance Survey Name

Book).

Stewartbank Orchard: ‘Trees mostly old—fifty to a

hundred years—and all on crab stock. Many of the

trees in this orchard have been headed down and

regrafted during the past twelve years [Apple and

Pear Congress, p. 58].’

Stonebyres: Stonebyres Linn is the bottom

waterfall of the famous Falls of Clyde. The latter

is part of a World Heritage site embracing the

designed landscapes of Core House, Bonnington,

Castlebank and Braxfield, which as a group are

proposed for inclusion in An Inventory of Gardens

and Designed Landscapes by Historic Scotland and

Scottish Natural Heritage. Stonebyres Linn was

much visited and frequented by 18th- and 19th-

century tourists and artists. It was part of the

adjacent Stonebyres estate which belonged to the

ancient family of Vere from the 15th until the

mid-19th century. ‘It [Stonebyres Linn] has great

similarity in many of its features to the Corra

Linn, and it is sufficient to say, that, in the

opinion of many it is even superior in beauty [New

Statistical Account, p. 6].’ Stonebyres mansion

was demolished in the mid-1930s and the landscape

divided thereafter into small holdings. Some small

holders were fruit growers. Most of the policy

woodland has gone and the pattern of land


distribution is visible from the vantage point of

Black Hill.

Waygateshaw: ‘The largest fruit-tree in Clydesdale

grows in our parish on the estate of Samuel Steel,

Esq. of Waygateshaw [New Statistical Account, p.

589].’

West Belmont Orchard: ‘Trees all standards,

planted seventy years ago, partly on grass and

partly on cultivated ground, with small fruit

grown in between [Apple and Pear Congress, p.

58].’

61


APPENDIX VI Bibliographical

and other Reference

Sources

Bibliography

Apples and Pears—1885: Report of the Apple and

Pear Congress (Edinburgh: Maclachlan and Stewart,

1887)

Carluke Parish Historical Society, Carluke in Old

Picture Postcards (Zaltbomnel [Netherlands]:

European Library, 1986)

Chambers, Robert, The Picture of Scotland, 3rd

edn, 2 vols, (Edinburgh: Tait, 1830)

County Council of the County of Lanark, The County

of Lanark: A Book of Industrial and Historical

Interest to Manufacturers etc. (County Council of

the County of Lanark, 1935)

Green, Daniel, ed., Cobbett’s Tour in Scotland: By

William Cobbett (1763–1835), (Aberdeen: Aberdeen

University Press, 1984)

Groome, Francis H., ed., Ordnance Gazetteer of

Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography,

Statistical, Biographical, and Historical

(Edinburgh: Grange Publishing Works, 1884)

Heron, R., Scotland Delineated: Or A Geographical

Description of Every Shire in Scotland […],

facsimile of the Edinburgh edition of 1799

(Edinburgh: Thin, 1975)

Inch, George Pratt, The Elusive River: A Roving

Survey of the Clyde from Daerhead to the Tail of

the Bank (Edinburgh & London: The Moray Press,

1933)

Irving, George Vere, and Alexander Murray, The

Upper Ward of Lanarkshire Described and

Delineated, (Glasgow: Murray, 1864) vol. II

Leighton, John M., Strath-Clutha or the Beauties

of the Clyde […] (Glasgow: Swan, [c. 1830])


Lesmahagow Parish Historical Association,

Clydesdale in Old Photographs (Stroud: Sutton

Publishing Company, 1991)

Loudon, J. C., An Encyclopaedia of Gardening […]

(London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green,

1826 and 1830 edns)

Macleod, Innes, and Margaret Gilroy, Discovering

the River Clyde (Edinburgh: Donald, 1991)

Memoirs of the Royal Caledonian Horticultural

Society (Edinburgh: Archibald, 1819) vol. II

Millar, W. J., The Clyde From Source to Sea: Its

Development […] Historical, Geological and

Meteorological Features of the Clyde Valley

(London: Blackie & Son, 1888)

Mort, Frederick, Lanarkshire (Cambridge:

University Press, 1910)

Munro, Neil, The Clyde: River and Firth (London:

Adam and Charles Black, 1907)

Naismith, John, General View of the Agriculture of

the County of Clydesdale: With Observations on the

Means of its Improvement (Brentford: [n. pub.],

1794)

Naismith, John, General View of the Agriculture of

the County of Clydesdale: With Observations on the

Means of its Improvement (London: Phillips, 1806)

Neill, Patrick, On Scottish Gardens & Orchards:

Drawn up, by Desire of the Board of Agriculture

([Edinburgh]: [n. pub.], [1813])

Pennant, Thomas, A Tour in Scotland: And Voyage to

the Hebrides (Chester: [n. pub.], 1774)

Peter McGowan Associates for Scottish Natural

Heritage, The Falls of Clyde: Designed Landscape

Management Study (February, 1997)

Plums—1889: Report of the Plum Congress

(Edinburgh: Neill and Company, 1890)

63


Quigley, Hugh, Lanarkshire in Prose and Verse

(London: Mathews and Marrot, 1929)

Robertson, A. D., Lanark: The Burgh and its

Councils 1469–1880 (Glasgow: Lanark Town Council,

1974)

Symon, J. A., Scottish Farming Past and Present

(Edinburgh and London: Oliver & Boyd, 1959)

The Beauties of Scotland: Containing A Clear and

Full Account of the Agriculture, Commerce, Mines

and Manufactures […] (London: Vernor & Hood, 1806)

vol. III

The Countryside Commission for Scotland and the

Historic Buildings and Monuments Directorate of

the Scottish Development Department, An Inventory

of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland

(1987)

The New Statistical Account of Scotland (Edinburgh

and London: Blackwood, 1845) vol. VI

The Scottish Gardener: A Magazine of Horticulture

and Floriculture, (Edinburgh: Guthrie and Menzies,

1858) vol. VII

The Statistical Account of Scotland (Edinburgh:

1792–98) vols II, VIII, XV, XVI, XII, XX

The Third Statistical Account of Scotland: The

County of Lanark (Glasgow: Collins, 1960)

Weathers, John, ed., Commercial Gardening: A

Practical & Scientific Treatise for Market

Gardeners, Market Growers, Fruit Flower &

Vegetable Growers, Nurserymen etc. (London: The

Gresham Publishing Company, 1913) vol. III

Wight, Andrew, Present State of Husbandry in

Scotland: Extracted from Reports made to the

Commissioners of the Annexed Estates, and

Published by Their Authority, (Edinburgh: Creech,

1783) vol. III, part 2

Wordsworth, Dorothy, Recollections of a Tour Made

in Scotland A.D. 1803, ed. by J. C. Sharp,

facsimile of the 1894 edition published by David

Douglas (Edinburgh: Thin, 1981)


Newspaper Articles/Manuscripts etc., Lanark

Library

Glasgow Herald, 6 September 1813—‘Clydesdale

Orchards: Prices obtained during the last three

years (1811–13)’.

The Hamilton Advertiser, 13 August 1864—‘Sales of

Orchard Fruit’.

The Hamilton Advertiser, 10 September 1864—‘Large

Fruit Sales’.

Hamilton Advertiser, 27 March 1981—‘A Century of

Growing Fruit on Clydeside’.

Hamilton Advertiser, 25 December 1961—‘How

Strawberry Growing Began in the Clyde Valley’.

MIS 1997–001237: Dudley V. Howells, ‘The Clyde

Valley Fruit Growing Area’, in The Scottish

Gardener, 19 June 1924.

MIS 1997–001236: Dorothy Haynes, Andrew Walker,

‘Fruitgrower: Portrait of a Happy Pessimist’,

title of publication unknown, n.d.

MIS 1997–001234: Robert D. Reid, ‘Soft Fruits in

Scotland’, in The Fruit Year Book, n.d.

MIS 1997–001233: R. D. Reid, ‘Horticulture in

Lanarkshire’, in Scottish Agriculture, vol. XXXIII,

no. 2, Autumn 1953.

MIS 1997–001235: William Wallace, Aspects of

Strawberry Culture with Special Reference to

Clydesdale, 1969.

‘Clydesdale blossom’—various photographs;

locations unspecified and of a general nature (no

reference).

National Library of Scotland

Glasgow Herald, 10 August 1855—‘Clydesdale

orchards: public roup of gooseberries and

currants’.

65


Scottish Record Office

Board of Agriculture Returns:

Series AF:

AF.39/20/1 (1866–80)

AF.39/20/4 (1895–98)

AF.40/42 (1953)

AF.40/52/2 (1963)

AF.40/56/2 (1967)

AF.40/60/3 (1973)

AF.40/72/5 (1983)

AF.40/76/5 (1987)

AF.40/82/5 (1993)

Lanark Museum

Plate Glass Negatives:

The following belong to a collection of 32 plate-

glass negatives donated by a Mr. Scott of

Flatfarm, Crossford, showing both farming and

fruit farming:

1259.19—3 women and a man on fruit farm (location

unknown).

1259.0708—2 glass negatives of fruit spraying

(location unknown).

1259.06—strawberry picking (location unknown).

1259.22—man on horse with fruit trees (location

unknown).

67


APPENDIX VII Unresolved,

and Areas for Future

Research

Unresolved

� The Auctioneers J. Shirlaw & Son, Wishaw, were

for a time responsible for fruit sales in the

Clyde Valley—recorded in 1855 and 1864. It is

not known whether the firm still exists or

whether their records survive.

Areas for future research

� The Hamilton Advertiser and Glasgow Herald

record Fruit Sales by site in the Clyde Valley

every year/few years.

It was impossible to undertake a detailed

appraisal of this material which would chart

the rise and fall of specific sites, the value

of produce and hence the productivity. The

Hamilton Advertiser is on microfilm at Lanark

Library from 1862 onwards; earlier editions

would have to be studied at the National

Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, or Hamilton

Library. The Glasgow Herald is held at The

National Library of Scotland.

� Lanark Library Scrapbooks (1884–1954)

These contain newspaper extracts (on microfilm)

of interest primarily from the 1920s onwards,

covering fruit growing and the Jam Industry of

the Clyde Valley. There was insufficient time

to examine this material.

� Contact with Local History Societies and

individuals with specialist knowledge of the

Clyde valley orchards. The following contacts

have been identified:

- Frank Rankine, South Lanarkshire Archivist

(HQ, East Kilbride);

- Lanark and District Archaeological Society;


- Mr Denholm Reid (formerly Fruit Inspector

with Auchincruive College) has researched the

Clyde valley orchards over a number of years;

son of R. D. Reid—‘Horticuture in Scotland’,

1953; family involvement with Waygateshaw and

Gills orchards;

- Mr Warnock, Senior, of Sandyholm, between

Crossford and Garrion Bridge;

- Morton’s of Arnmore, beyond Kirkfieldbank;

- Dr Kenneth Liddle, 10 Staikhill, Lanark 117

PW; knowledgeable about local history; is

understood to hold a good postcard

collection;

- Peter Dudney (formerly Auchincruive College)

has offered advice to Gilchrists for re-

establishing orchards at Hazelbank and

Garrion Bridge.

It was only possible to speak very briefly to

Denholm Reid and Peter Dudney within the 3.5 days

allowed for the historical research.

� Aerial Photographic Collection at the National

Monuments Record of Scotland, Edinburgh

A comparison of the 1946/1960/1988 aerial

flyovers provides a valuable visual record of

extant Orchards for this period, which can be

compared with the Ordnance Survey mapping. The

1946 aerial photographs are available at

1:10,000 scale. A sheet list for the Clyde

valley is contained in Appendix II(19).

� Ordnance Survey Name Books

These have only been dipped into. A

comprehensive study may reveal more about the

nature of individual orchards, e.g. ‘Woodside:

a superior dwellinghouse […] proprietor

J. Hutchison Esq. […] There are large orchards

around the houses; which are kept as vegetable

gardens’.

� Jam Manufacturers—the records of Scott of

Carluke, preserve manufacturers, are held in

the archives at the factory premises, Carluke.

The following is extracted from the hand-list

held at the Scottish Record Office, National

Register of Archives (NRAS):

69


NRAS 2968—R. & W. Scott Ltd., Marmalade and

Preserve Maufacturers, Carluke

In 1879/80, the Scott Brothers, Robert and

William, set up the Clydesdale Preserve Works

in Carluke originally to preserve the excess

fruit produced by their Orchard Estate within

the Clyde valley. The firm no longer grow their

own fruit for factory processing and the focus

of production and ownership has changed.

The following is extracted from the NRAS 2968

hand-list held at the Scottish Record Office.

Records which may be worth examining (of

particular interest may be items 7–10) are

listed below:

1. Minute Books

1/1 1905–1961

3. Annual State of Affairs

2/1 1904–1914 Annual Statements of Affairs,

Assets and Liabilities

2/2 1915–1923 ditto

2/3 1924–1932 ditto

2/4 1932–1941 ditto

2/5 1941–1953 ditto

2/6 1954–1958 ditto

4. Cost Books

4/1 1899–1935 Cost book: Cost of Manufacture

4/2 1936–1960 ditto

4/3 1961-1962 ditto

5. Sales and Purchase

5/1 1933–1956 Purchase Book 1933–47

5/3 1895–1901 Invoice Book


6. Wages Records

6/1 1899–1894 Workers Time and Pay Books

7. Farm Accounts

7/1 1933–1944 Orchard Farm Cash Book

7/2 1944–1960 ditto

7/3 1935–1942 File: Stock at the Farm; Farm

Accounts

7/4 1933–1949 ditto ditto

8. Company Records

8/3 1794–1799 Box of miscellaneous deeds,

mainly assignations made on behalf of the

Hamilton family

9. Ledgers

9/1 c. 1924–1961 Inward Ledger

9/2 c. 1924–1962 ditto

9/5 1908–1934 General Ledger of Accounts

9/6 1945–1958 ditto

9/7 1943–1962 Details Book: Cash sales,

discounts given and received, debtors and

creditors, expenses, wages

10. Day Books

10/1 Oct. 1965–July 1966

10/6 Oct. 1965–Feb–Dec. 1969

� Scottish Record Office: Register House Plans

No comprehensive study of plans held at the

Scottish Record Office was possible within the

historical research budget or time-scale. The

following is a superficial and incomplete

‘trawl’:

RHP. 38: Plan of Lands of Hallcraig [Hallcrag

or Halcrag]

71


Date: 1766

Surveyor: no surveyor

FMJ’s comment: Halcrag bounded with Milton and

Mauldslie. The plan records Greenbank and

another small orchard. Of interest because of

early date.

RHP. 3241: Plan of the farms of Garrionhaugh

and Garrion Mill and Orchards of Gillgoven and

Garriongill

Date: n.d.

Surveyor: no surveyor

FMJ’s comment: stylistically the plan is early-

mid 19th century; ex Coltness House collection;

of interest in delineating various named

orchards—Lucia Bank, Pathhead Orchard, Den,

Belmont, Garriongill Lower, Garriongill Upper,

Blair Orchard.

RHP. 49664: Plan of Gillfoot the property of Mr

James Gilchrist with the table of contents

Date: 1810

Surveyor: James Whiteford

FMJ’s comment: not seen; likely to be of

considerable interest.

RHP. 43232: Plan of lands of Mauldslie and

Rosebank showing field names and sizes

Date: 1825

Surveyor: William Kempt

FMJ’s comment: not seen; likely to be of

considerable interest.

� Literary References

Within the research time-scale it was not

possible to examine all 19th-century tourist

guides and other literature covering the Clyde

valley. There is scope for further work to

include amongst others: A. MacCullum Scott’s

Clydesdale (1924); Robert McLellan’s Linmill

Stories (1990); Scottish Agricultural

Improvement Council, Report on Fruit Trials in

Scotland 1949–56 (1957); J. M. Dunn, Scotland’s

Orchards (c. 1970); Scottish Geographical

Magazine, vol. XCI (2), pp. 79–80; Scottish

Fruit Growers Research Association, The Case

for Horticultural Research in Scotland (1946).


Documents

FIONA M. JAMIESON - Clyde Valley · PDF fileFiona M. Jamieson, Cultural Landscapes and Heritage, as Sub-Consultant to Ironside Farrar Ltd. It provides an input into a Survey of