With
most of the gang in foreign climes and others otherwise engaged, it was a
severely depleted band of three that gathered in Catrine for an all too
familiar yet not so familiar walk.
We started off in very familiar
territory, taking the River Ayr way from Catrine. Crossing the river by the
‘Timmer Brig’, we turned downstream past the sewage works examining the visible
remains of Catrine’s industrial past on the way. But then a came the first
deviation from our regular route, our first adventure of the day. Where the
path leaves the river to climb away, at a fishing hole Peter called The Grey Mare,
we decided that we should stick to the riverside. This involved scrambling round
a rocky outcrop, a thing that Paul is unsure of. While Peter and the writer
scrambled on round, Paul thought discretion to be the order of the day and
retreated to the official path. We came together a few minutes later as the two
of us climbed away from the pool known as Jock Miller’s Hole to join Paul back
on the path.
First
adventure over, we continued on ‘The Way’ under the Howford Brig and on to the
old Howford road. An ancient estate wall, crumbling now and well robbed out in
places, borders the road as it climbs towards Catrine House entrance. Jimmy and
Peter remember this being much more intact and it would seem from the freshly
exposed stonework that the robbing is still going on. We would find out shortly.
At
Catrine House entrance we turned right to follow the road for Auchinleck House.
At the first cottage by the roadside we found out the reason for the freshly
exposed stonework on the old wall; the owner of the cottage was building a new
garden wall and was recycling the stones of the old estate wall. We will return
this way to see the results of his labours some other day but for now we pressed
on.
So
far our walk had been in the valley and when the week sun broke through, the
air was as mild as it has been all year; that’s not to say that it was warm,
just tolerable. But here in the top of the valley we were exposed to the biting
easterly that had been with us for the best part of a month and it was
chilling. The pace was upped to fend off the cold. We left tarmac for a while
and came on to the drive for Auchinleck House. A lot of work has been carried
out on the equestrian cross-country course since the last time we were here and
new fences and jumps have been constructed. But we didn’t linger long to
examine the new work but hied on to get out of the cold breeze. And at the
Dippol Burn we did just that, turning off on a freshly surfaced estate road
beside the burn and coming into the shelter of some scrubby trees.
This
road took us across the burn by a bridge few hundred metres downstream form the
grotto and ice-house. And it continued to take us downstream towards the Auld
Place of Auchinleck. Peter remembered a short-cut to the old place so we left
the road and followed a pathway in the process of being constructed. Then came
our second adventure of the day. The new construction stopped and the path
continued as a trod. Then it disappeared altogether and we found ourselves in an
overgrown grove of thick rhododendrons and tall Douglas firs with no apparent
exit. Peter recognised this as part of the garden of the old place so we couldn’t
be too far away. So crunching through fallen rhodi leaves and rotting twigs, we
came through the bushes and found the Old Place of Auchinleck, the house
abandoned when the new one was built in the mid seventeen-hundreds. As we were
now sheltered from the easterly, we spent some time exploring the old place and
speculating on various aspects of its construction and use.
Paul
had never seen the original Auchinleck Castle, the one that was abandoned when James
Boswell had the Auld Place constructed in the early seventeenth century (1612,
according to Dane Love) Guess where we went then! The snowdrops were still in
bloom in the valley and a few primroses flowered beside the track as it dropped
down toward the Lugar Water and the rocky promontory on which stood Auchinleck
Castle. Not a lot is known of the history of Auchinleck Castle and not a lot of
it is extant, much less now than is shown in Francis Grose’s engraving of the
late eighteenth century. Still there is enough to tell us that there once was a
considerable building here. And there was enough room on the top for us to sit,
speculate and have a cuppa. Down in the gorge below the Dippol met with the Lugar
and just downstream of this is Wallace’s cave. Today, with the foliage yet to
come on the trees, we had a good view of this cave. It appeared to us as
man-made and there is no evidence that Wallace ever used a cave in this area.
We surmised that it was probably excavated as part of Alexander Boswell’s plans
for the new estate in the seventeen-hundreds, another folly like the grotto
further up the Dippol.
After
coffee we made our way back to the Auld Place and on past Garden Cottage to the
stables. A lot of work is going on here converting, as Peter has heard, the old
stables into a café and visitor centre and forming car parking. We stopped for
a word with the brickies restoring the brickwork of the old doocot. They
confirmed Peter’s café story so we set off for a look at the renovation work.
What a superb job these guys a doing and we must return to examine the finished
article some other day. However, today we must move on.
We
came along Alexander Boswell’s Via Sacra, the road Boswell had constructed from
Auchileck House to the parish church in the village, at least as far a
Langlands. It was here that Jimmy suggested a third deviation. A shelter-belt
of trees ran down toward Ochiltree and, though Jimmy was unsure, he thought
that it might be a way of keeping us off tarmac. So we left road of any
description and came through the trees. They ended in a sharp drop into the
Lugar. We turned left and scrambled down the bank through the briars and over
the quagmire at the bottom into a field. The old Ochiltree bridge was just over
the field and we made directly for this. Crossing the bridge we came into the
old cemetery where we found a convenient seat on the wall for lunch.
After
lunch we followed the Lugar Water pathway towards Cumnock and Dumfries House
for there was something there that Peter and Jimmy wanted to investigate. Along
the waterside we came, past Mill Affleck wheel, up and over Barony bing and
down towards the walled garden of Dumfries House. But we never made the walled
garden.
Over a field beside the path stood a ruinous structure that had
fascinated the Peter and Jimmy for years, ever since we started to explore this
area. Getting there proved a slight problem; not getting over the field but
getting over the barbed wire fence into the field. Great care was exercised to
preserve good walking trousers and skin on parts of the body that are best not
mentioned. And great care was needed for the barbs were new and sharp. Still
all three made it without mishap and we crossed the field towards the ruin.
As
we hadn’t a clue what it was at the time suggestions and counter-suggestions
were offered. Then Jimmy remembered from his researches that the was a proposal
to build a road from Dumfries House to join with the Via Sacra from Auchinleck
House but due to a dispute between Lords Dumfries and Auchinleck, this was
never built. Perhaps this was a gatehouse built with this in mind. (Further
research shows this to have been the case and the structure is now known as The
Temple from its ecclesiastical construction. See Dane Love’s History of
Auchinleck and http://www.buildingsatrisk.org.uk/details/910077)
The Temple was designed and built by John Adam who designed and built the
bridge over the Lugar at Dumfries house and the houses attached were occupied
until 1933. Now we know.
Having clambered over, walked round and speculated enough, we walked on. Not
far, twenty metres or so, into the woods
we came upon the remains of the old Nissen huts that was Pennylands Camp. Further
research by Paul produced the following link which shows the archaeology of the
camp from the air.
http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/search_item/index.phpservice=RCAHMS&id=158790)
It would be interesting to find some old photos of the place in its hayday.
Now we
were nearing the end of our walk for the day. We had just to come up on to the
Barony Road, turn into Auchinleck and get the bus back to Catrine. We arrived at
the bus stop at four minutes past three and the bus arrived at five past. Great
timing and a perfect end to a good day’s exploring.
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