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65-401: He was born about 1787, the son of Rev. Joseph Robertson and Isobel Mathieson of Stewarton , Scotland. Rev. Joseph Robertson was Minister of Leith Wynd Chapel, Edinburgh, Scotland, but banished from Scotland for performing illegal marriages. Robertson founded The Mechanics' Magazine in 1823, and edited and largely wrote it until the year of his death. It was a low-priced scientific weekly, and

130-511: A bluffer's guide to appearing well read. Lord Byron called them indispensable. The two collaborators began a series of Percy Histories, or interesting Memorials of the Capitals of Europe , but this got no further than London , 1823, in 3 vols. Robertson also started in 1828, as Sholto Percy, an abridgment of the Waverley Novels . [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from

195-464: A crossroads between the traditional routes from Kilmarnock, Irvine and Ayr to the city of Glasgow . However, in recent times, the M77 motorway has bypassed the town. The old road is known as the "Auld Glesga Road" (Or the "Old Glasgow Road") and the former name is still used by locals. Historical records show that Stewarton has existed since at least the 12th century with various non-historical references to

260-586: A further profession. In the 1830s Robertson was a railway company promoter, initially working in 1833–4 for the London & Greenwich Railway with George Landmann and George Walter . They also employed John Herapath , a contributor to the Mechanics' Magazine , as an engineer. The subscription list was padded, and, Herapath later alleged, Robertson was responsible. Walter founded the Railway Magazine , having seen

325-456: A general dealer in the village. William Jack was born here in 1834. International women's footballer Rose Reilly grew up in Stewarton, before being forced to leave to pursue a career in professional football. but returned in later years and now resides in the area. The sports centre located in the town has since been renamed in honour of her. The ground of Stewarton's cricket club

390-644: A group based in Liverpool gained control over the company, defeating his supporters the Cobbolds. The land deal with Lord Petre hit legal obstacles in 1839, and Robertson resigned from the company on 26 February of that year. He was also caught up in a financial scandal involving his brother, Thomas Duncan Robertson. Robertson ran the Mining, Railway, and Steam Navigation Gazette of the late 1830s, in parallel with his two other publications, as covert moonlighting. His editorship of

455-530: A grudge. The required Act of Parliament of 1836 nearly missed its chance. Herapath then acquired the Railway Magazine from Walter, and attacked Robertson in it; Robertson took legal action against Herapath for libel, via his publisher James Wyld . The founding of the Railway Times in 1837 by Braithwaite and Robertson, who began as editor, was self-defence. Robertson was undermined as Secretary in 1839, as

520-608: A man of letters, Robertson is known for The Percy Anecdotes , 20 vols. London, 1821–3 (subsequent editions 1830, 1868, 1869, and various American editions). The volumes, which came out in forty-four monthly parts, were supposedly written by Sholto and Reuben Percy: Reuben was Thomas Byerley , and Sholto was Robertson. The so-called "Brothers Percy" had met to discuss the work at the Percy coffee-house in Rathbone Place in Fitzrovia , from which

585-400: A more ancient building belonging to the same family", he is also probably referring to "Reuincraig", the "small remains" being those of "Corsehill". (Grose 1791); (MacGibbon) and (Ross 1889). General Roy's Military Survey of Scotland (1745–55) marks 'Ravenscraig' as 'Old Corsehill' and also marks the 'new' Corsehill on the other side of the burn, thereby apparently confirming that they both had

650-456: A pardon by King James upon his marriage to Anne of Denmark . Lady Montgomery, who was alleged to have signaled the murderers by placing a white 'napkin' on a window sill, is said to have escaped and lived with her retainer Robert Kerr at Pearce Bank (now High Peacockbank) for several years until the 'hue and cry' died down at which point she returned to the castle and was not molested on the understanding that she did not 'show her face' outside of

715-494: A publication now in the public domain :  Lee, Sidney , ed. (1896). " Robertson, Joseph Clinton ". Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 48. London: Smith, Elder & Co. Stewarton Stewarton ( Scots : Stewartoun , Scottish Gaelic : Baile nan Stiùbhartach ) is a town in East Ayrshire , Scotland . In comparison to the neighbouring towns of Kilmaurs , Fenwick , Dunlop and Lugton , it

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780-651: A result, and he overreached himself by printing maps and guides of the London rail network which included stations and connections that were planned but subsequently not built. He helped start both the Association of Surveyors and the Surveyors' Institution to lobby against the Ordnance Survey , as he felt its activities threatened his business, but when these associations failed, he pragmatically got his company appointed as one of

845-577: Is a relatively large town, with a population estimated at over 7,400. It is 300 feet (90 metres) above sea level. The town is served by Stewarton railway station . Stewarton lies within Strathannick, with the Annick Water flowing through the town. The community is in a rural part of East Ayrshire, about 6 miles (10 kilometres) north of Kilmarnock and to the East of Irvine . In the past, Stewarton served as

910-489: Is a seriously destructive alien invader which should not be transplanted to other sites. Stewarton railway station was opened in 1871 by the Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Railway. The station closed in 1966, reopening in 1967. In 2009-2010 the line was partly re-doubled and the train frequency increased to two trains an hour in each direction. The station was rebuilt and a second platform brought into use. Thomas Oliver

975-609: Is derived from 'Ruin Crag', i.e. ruined castle. Godfrey de Ross and his family of Corsehill Castle were Lords of Liddesdale in the Borders and later on the Cunninghames became the holders. Corsehill (also Crosshill) castle is said to have been on the east side of the Corsehill Burn. The 1860 OS map does record the site of Templehouse which had a small fortalice associated with it and its site

1040-711: Is that one Wernebald was given the Cunninghame lands by his superior, Hugh de Morville , the builder of Kilwinning Abbey who lived at this time in Tour near Kirkland in Kilmaurs. The family were originally from Morville in Normandy (Wernebald was from Flanders ) and had been established in Scotland for at least twenty years when one of the family was involved in the murder of Thomas Becket . Dervorguilla of Galloway , mother of John Balliol ,

1105-504: Is the site of the remnants of a Bronze Age burial cairn inside of which three urns or beakers were found in the 19th century containing bones and relicts. In 1847 the old Barony Court House still stood near the Avenue running up towards Corsehill. The War Memorial used to stand outside the front of the library in the avenue square and was moved to provide a more suitable setting near Standalane house above Lainshaw primary school. Dunlop cheese

1170-612: The Annick Water escaped major contamination. The Stewarton Flower, so named due to its local abundance and recorded as such by the Kilmarnock Glenfield Ramblers, is otherwise known as Pink Purslane ( Claytonia sibirica ) is found in damp areas. This plant was introduced from North America in Victorian times, quite possibly at the Robertland Estate. In 1915 it was stated to have been in the area for over 60 years and

1235-577: The London Mechanics' Institution . The idea was shortly taken out of his hands and those of Hodgskin, by a group around George Birkbeck . Robertson became a long term critic of the Institution. Robertson's publishers John Knight and Henry Lacey attempted in 1826 to remove him from the editorship of the Magazine on the pretext of his quarrel with Birkbeck over the Institution; but Robertson had recourse to

1300-481: The Railway Times came to an end in 1844, in a row with the owners over the highly critical anonymous contributor "Veritas Vincit", whose identity is not known; Peter Lecount or Robertson himself have been suggested as candidates, but the most likely was the unrelated contributor John Robertson MA . Some of the offending material appeared in the book Railway Locomotive Management, in a Series of Letters (1847) under

1365-549: The 'action' took place in the Avenue Square. James Wyld James Wyld (1812–1887) was a British geographer and map-seller, best known for Wyld's Great Globe . He was the eldest son of James Wyld the Elder (1790–1836) and Eliza (née Legg). In 1838, he married Anne, the daughter of John Hester, and had two children, one of whom, James John Cooper Wyld also became a map publisher. On his father's death in 1836, Wyld became

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1430-401: The 1820s wore on, and by the end of the decade had become a partisan of the railroad lobby who were arguing against the steam carriage , which ran on the road. Drawn into the railway world, Robertson conducted the defence for John Braithwaite and John Ericsson in their patent case, on boilers, brought by Lord Cochrane and Alexander Galloway . Buoyed by the experience, he took up patents as

1495-399: The Cunninghame clan and shot dead by John Cunninghame of Clonbeith. Hugh is said to have been on his way to attend the court of King James VI at Stirling when he decided to stop off at Langshaw House (now Lainshaw house which was for a long time a home for the elderly) to dine with his associates. The lady of the house Lady Montgomery - told several of her Cunninghame associates who lived in

1560-557: The Cunninghame family. In the 16th century Ayrshire was divided into three regions or bailiaries - Kyle , Carrick and Cunninghame. The two powerful families residing in Cunninghame - the Cunninghame's and the Montgomeries - had been involved in a dispute over landholdings which came to a head in 1586 when Hugh, the 4th Earl of Eglinton was attacked at the ford on the Annick Water (which flows through Stewarton) by 30 or so members of

1625-507: The Irvine populated for a space of 3 or 4 miles (5 or 6 kilometres) " that well traveled men in divers parts of Europe (affirm) that they have seen walled cities not so well or near planted with houses so near each other as they are here, wherethrough it is so populous that, at the ringing of a bell in the night for a few hours, there have seen convene 3000 able men, well-horsed and armed." Another significant event from Stewarton's history involves

1690-500: The W bank of the burn. Macgibbon and Ross, describing "Corsehill Castle" at the end of the 19th century as a very ruinous mansion, evidently of late date and apparently of the L-plan, and ascribe it to the period 1542-1700, must be referring to "Reuincraig". Grose, in 1791, published an illustration of "Corshill House", but does not give it a close siting. As, however, he mentions that "at a small distance from this ruin are some small remains of

1755-568: The area of the Earl's planned visit. As a response to the killing the Montgomery family declared they would kill every Cunninghame who had been at the river that day and a series of 'tit for tat' killings were carried out between the two families. John Cunninghame of Clonbeith was eventually slain in Hamilton, Scotland , but several of those responsible for the murder fled to Denmark and were eventually granted

1820-477: The bulk of detailed criticism where John Taylor and Marc Brunel showed little knowledge of the system. Lennard's resulting bill ran out of time in the next session of parliament. One of the grievances taken up, which reflected Robertson's own status as a patent agent in private practice, was that officials within the Patent Office also acted as agents. The Mechanics Magazine favoured prison for them. In fact

1885-487: The business and was a prolific publisher of maps and guides (so much so that Punch claimed that if a country were discovered in the interior of the Earth Wyld would produce a map of it "as soon as it is discovered, if not before" ), but his projects were not always successful; although he profited from the " Railway Mania " of the later 1830s, he became entangled in a number of court cases with unsuccessful railway companies as

1950-483: The debate to Birkbeck and others including Francis Place , John Martineau and Richard Taylor . Robertson and Hodgskin conceded defeat by not contesting the vice-president places in the election of 15 December that set up the Institution, though McWilliam took one place. Robertson's reputation was damaged when subscription money was unaccounted for in November 1824, with the radical James Flather most deeply implicated. At

2015-528: The end of 1824, as the Institution's foundation stone was laid, Hodgskin was distancing himself from Robertson and becoming reconciled to Birkbeck. The breach was never healed, with Robertson attacking Birkbeck in print in 1835 as having the main responsibility for the "ruined" Institution. He also took aim at the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge , which Birkbeck had scruples about joining. Robertson used

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2080-426: The existence of the castle or fortalice here (Hewitt 2006). Archibald Adamson in his 'Rambles Round Kilmarnock' of 1875 only records three castles, these being Robertland, Auchenharvie and Corsehill. He makes no mention of the name Ravenscraig, calling the site he visited Corsehill. Aitken only marks Crosshill Castle in 1829 on the west side of the Corsehill Burn. The first OS maps show only the existing castle site, so

2145-404: The farmer who had saved his life 17 years earlier. The Cunninghame family logo now features a Y-shaped fork with the words "over fork over" underneath - a logo which appears in various places in Stewarton, notably as the logo of the two primary schools in the area - Lainshaw primary school and Nether Robertland primary school. Another reference to Stewarton, this time a historical recorded version,

2210-557: The first publication of its kind. To begin with he was in close alliance with Thomas Hodgskin : they had met in Edinburgh. It took advantage of a stamp tax exemption for technical weeklies not dealing in news. Robertson also devised a way of generating cheap content by an early crowdsourcing technique: letters to the editor were used without payment in continuing threads. In the Mechanics Magazine Robertson first proposed

2275-543: The grounds. A path known as the 'Weeping or Mourning Path' runs upstream from the Annick (previously Annack or Annock Water) Ford and this is where the Earl's widow is said to have wept as she later followed the trail of blood left behind as his panicked horse took him away from Bridgend. The Earl's body was placed in Lainshaw Castle until arrangements were made to remove it to Eglintoun Castle. The name Ravenscraig or Reuincraig

2340-576: The high road; they knocked down and wounded those who complained; they stole, and wantonly destroyed, cattle; they subjected people to the torture of fire to discover to them where their money was hidden; they threatened to burn down houses if their demands were not at once complied with; besides free quarters they demanded money every day; they compelled even poor families to buy brandy and tobacco for them; they cut and wounded people from sheer devilment. " The cost of all this amounted to £6062 12s 8d in Stewarton parish. Cairnduff Hill overlooks Stewarton and

2405-553: The lack of suitable materials locally. Buses run regularly to Kilmarnock from the Robertland Bus Terminus. Stewarton, like many other Scottish towns, holds an annual gala festival at the beginning of summer. Dating back to the days when Stewarton had a prosperous trade in bonnet-making, the 'Bonnet Guild' organises activities for the local residents and proclaims a 'Corsehill Queen', the most academically successful girl in 2nd year at Stewarton Academy . The Cadgers’ Fair

2470-525: The law and his ownership of the title. In fact Robertson had been fraudulently passing letters of credit , claiming to a partner of "Knight, Lacey & Robertson", and successfully blackmailed his publishers, whose other publication the Pulpit had an evangelical readership, by threats to their reputation. Knight & Lacey became bankrupt that year, and in a complex series of events the Mechanics Magazine

2535-469: The new survey has not perpetuate the error. To sum up, the map in Pont's 'Cuninghame' of 1604-8 shows two buildings, "Reuincraige" and "Corshill", at approximately NS 417 467 and NS 422 465 respectively, and Dobie (1876) comments that the two have often been confused, but that "Reuincraig" stood on the W of the Corsehill Burn and "Corsehill Mansion" on its E. "Reuincraig", he says, was so modernised about 1840 that it

2600-549: The pages of the Mechanics Magazine to campaign for intellectual property law reform. Starting in 1826, he tried to get a meeting on the topic at the London Mechanics' Institution, which flopped. In 1829 a parliamentary committee on patent reform was set up, after Thomas Barrett Lennard had pushed for an enquiry: Robertson lowered expectations in advance, and was partly justified by a lacklustre and scanty representation of manufacturing interests, with John Farey Jr. providing

2665-604: The potential in the Mechanics' Magazine and its railway promotion; he brought in John Yonge Akerman as its editor. From 1834 Robertson was working with Braithwaite promoting the Eastern Counties Railway . He had married Sophia Brooman, related to the Cobbold family of Ipswich , and the Cobbolds came in strongly to bring a railway to their part of East Anglia . Charles Blacker Vignoles as consultant engineer gave

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2730-586: The profession was close to a closed shop in the 1820s, with the insiders Moses Poole and William Carpmael virtually cornering the business, and Robertson the only newcomer. Another bill by Richard Godson and Benjamin Rotch , of 1833, was disliked by Robertson. He himself gave evidence before the Ewart Committee of 1835 on industrial design , and the House of Commons committee on patent law in 1849. In 1825 John Limbird

2795-449: The project credibility. Matters went downhill, however, after Robertson wrote an expansive prospectus in 1834. The land deals were slow and at high premiums, with Lord Petre presenting a particular obstacle. Herapath was brought into the company, did not fit in well, and in October 1835 quarrelled spectacularly with Robertson, who exacerbated the position with Lord Petre on what appeared to be

2860-488: The same name and one replaced the other, although only 'Old Corsehill' is still in any way visible, just the foundations of 'new' Coresehill being apparent in 2007. The same map shows buildings named 'Temple' in the area of 'Templehouse'. To prevent the Covenanters holding 'Conventicles', King Charles II moved highland troops, the 'Highland Host' into the west-land of Ayrshire. " They took free quarters; they robbed people on

2925-636: The same pseudonym. Robertson was a patent agent in Fleet Street , where his firm carried on until 1892 as Robertson & Brooman. He died at Brompton on 22 September 1852 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. Reading about Birkbeck's initial (1821) Mechanics' Institute in the Glasgow Free Press , Robertson early in the life of the Mechanics' Magazine put forward the idea that London should have something similar. In initial discussions he

2990-549: The six official outlets for the new OS maps. He had an account at the Royal British Bank , which collapsed in 1856, wiping out the savings of many of the depositors, but the extent of his losses is not recorded. Wyld was the chairman of the depositors committee which managed to negotiate a favourable return of 15 shillings in the pound from the shareholders. He was also the Liberal MP for Bodmin , though his political career

3055-589: The sole owner of the thriving family mapmaking business based in Charing Cross. His maps, which covered regions as diverse as London and the gold fields of California, were regarded highly, and Wyld himself had an excellent reputation as a mapmaker; he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1839, and he was appointed Geographer to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (as had been his father before him). He had an opportunistic approach to

3120-447: The throne). When Máel Coluim learned of his father's death and Mac Bethad's intentions to murder him, he fled for the relative safety of England . Unfortunately for Máel Coluim, Mac Bethad and his associates had tracked him down and were gaining on him as he entered the estate of Corsehill on the edge of Stewarton. In panic Máel Coluim pleaded for the assistance of a nearby farmer named either Friskine or Máel Coluim (accounts differ) who

3185-542: The town dating to the early 11th century. The most famous of these non-historical references concerns the legend of Máel Coluim III the son of Donnchad I of Scotland who appears as a character in William Shakespeare 's play Macbeth . As the legend goes, Mac Bethad had slain Donnchad to enable himself to become king of Scotland and immediately turned his attention towards Donnchad's son Máel Coluim (the next in line to

3250-507: The work took its name. Sir Richard Phillips later claimed that the original idea arose from his suggestion, made to John Mayne and Alexander Tilloch , to file the anecdotes which had appeared in The Star newspaper over the years. The Percys compiled a collection of anecdotes , on a similar plan. Their success, which was a publishing phenomenon, was as a collection of "gobbets" suitable for social small-talk, or what in modern parlance would be

3315-505: Was a daughter of the Morvilles on her mother's side, and when Robert the Bruce won the crown the family of Balliol lost their lands in Cunninghame. The Red Comyn , whom Bruce murdered, was a nephew of Balliol. William Cunninghame de Lamberton was Archbishop of St. Andrews and a supporter of Bruce. Pont in 1604 - 08 records that so thickly was the district about Stewarton and along the banks of

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3380-465: Was abundant on the Corsehill Burn below Robertland in 1915. As far away as Dalgarven Mill the white flowered variety still dominates. The plant is very adept at reproducing by asexual plantlets and this maintains the white gene pool around Stewarton. The pink variety has not been able to predominate here, unlike almost everywhere else in the lowlands of Scotland, England and Wales. Claytonia sibirica

3445-399: Was an annual event unique to Stewarton in the 18th Century. "Our annual fair took place on Monday last. In the morning there was a large turnout of cattle. . . . Our Cadgers’ procession was a slight improvement on some former occasions, and headed by a brass band they marched through the town, thence to a field on the farm of Robertland where the races took place". Horses were traded and much of

3510-579: Was at Darlington, the village which lay just beyond Stewarton on the Kingsford road before the East Burn. Corsehill castle is shown in one old print of 1691 by Gross as Corsehill House and substantial remains existed until the railway was constructed and most of the ruins were used to build the embankment. It is recorded that an avenue of trees ran down from the well planted Corsehill into Stewarton. The single tower that remains today (2006) of Ravenscraig / Corsehill

3575-543: Was conciliatory about differences between Glasgow, where the Institute had the Andersonian University to support it, and London, which would need a free-standing Institute. But on 22 November 1823 he and Hodgskin made a matter of principle of the point that accepting outside subscriptions to support the Institute would diminish the autonomy of the mechanics for which it was intended. Backed by Robert McWilliam, they lost

3640-536: Was difficult to realise that it had been ruined in 1608, while the ruins of "Corsehill" were removed about the beginning of the 19th century and only foundations could be traced when he wrote. He also thought that "Reuincraig" (i.e. Ruin Craig) was not an original name. If Dobie is correct, the ruins published as "Corsehill Castle" on the OS 6", must be those of "Reuincraig", both because they are standing remains, and because they are on

3705-548: Was forking hay on the estate. Friskine/Máel Coluim covered Máel Coluim in hay, allowing him to escape Mac Bethad and his associates. He later found refuge with King Harthacanute , who reigned as Canute II, King of England and Norway and in 1057, after returning to Scotland and defeating Mac Bethad in the Battle of Lumphanan in 1057 to become King of Scots , he rewarded Friskine's family with the Baillie of Cunninghame to show his gratitude to

3770-541: Was interested in founding a Mechanics' Newspaper with Robertson. The project was diverted by the intervention of John Gast 's committee, becoming the Trades Newspaper of 1825 to 1827. Robertson was squared by being made editor, a decision unacceptable to Francis Place, who thought Robertson was not to be trusted, and wanted Edward Baines . In radical politics, Robertson and Hodgskin actually differed in their analysis. When Labour Defended , Hodgskin's landmark pamphlet,

3835-426: Was located between Lochridge and Ward Park house. Stewarton Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1912. The club disappeared following WW2. On 27 January 2009, a BP tanker train carrying liquid fuels (diesel and heating oil) from Mossend to Riccarton was derailed at the bridge over the Stewarton to Kilmaurs road at Peacockbank Farm. Several wagons subsequently caught fire. The Lochrig Burn was badly polluted, however

3900-531: Was made in Stewarton as well as many other Ayrshire localities, such as Beith . Robert Burns 's uncle, Robert Burnes , is known to have helped guard the Stewarton Laigh Church graveyard against the activities of body snatchers. David Dale , industrialist, merchant, philanthropist and founder of the world famous cotton mills in New Lanark , was born in Stewarton in 1739. He was the son of William Dale,

3965-482: Was on hiatus for much of the time that he managed the Great Globe. On his first election in 1848 there were charges of bribery at the polling stations, although it was decided that these accusations could not be substantiated, and he was allowed to take up his seat. His idea for the Great Globe had been many years in the formulation: a correspondent of Notes and Queries mentioned that as early as 1839, Wyld had broached

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4030-477: Was published dually for a period, two versions of the same title being produced weekly. Lacey left for the US, and Henry Kelly was brought in by Knight as a new partner. The Bankruptcy Court dealt with the matter by requiring Robertson to work on as editor, but upheld his claim to the title. By 1829, with just one more dual issue, the legal dust had settled. The Mechanics' Magazine covered railway inventions increasingly as

4095-511: Was repaired to stabilise it. It seems that Ravenscraig and Corsehill Castles were separate entities, and that a vague memory of Templehouse and its fortalice at Darlington on the lands of Corsehill farm, may have caused some extra confusion as in the King’s Kitchen tale of the location of the Baronial residence. An area opposite the site of Templehouses was known as 'The Castle' and this may reflect

4160-432: Was reviewed in the Newspaper in 1825, there was a note of dissent from Robertson on fixed capital . This attitude diminished the ground on which Hodgskin was innovative. On the other hand, his ideas were quickly spread through the paper. Place attacked Robertson in consequence, in the Artizan . Robertson wrote Lives of Eminent Scotsmen (1821). Lives of the Scottish Poets (1821–22) has also been attributed to him. As

4225-572: Was titled "roadmaker in Stewarton", being employed by the Kilmarnock to Irvine road committee. He worked with the specifications of a road 24 feet (7.3 metres) wide, 14 inches (36 centimetres) thick in the middle to 10 in (25 cm) in the sides, the understratum to be made of stones not exceeding 6 lb (2.5 kg) tron weight and 6 in (15 cm) thick, etc. Very precise requirements which would cost seven shilling per fall from Annick Bridge to Gareer Burn, but ten shillings per fall from Gareer Burn to Corsehouse bridge (Crosshouse) because of

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