The Fergushills of that Ilk 'Fergushill' as a surname is a sept of the
Clan Fergusson; the area is either named after the family, i.e. Fergushill
of that Ilk, or more likely, took the name of the area as their patronym, as with the
Cunninghame clan. Robert de Fergushill de Eodem had an extensive estate here in 1417; 'de Eodem' refers to the patronym being the same name as the barony. In 1577, A. Fergushill, burgess of Ayr, sold the lands of Gallisholmes to
John Wallace of Craigie. Patrick Lowrie was convicted in 1605 of being a
warlock and sentenced to be first strangled, then burned at the stake in Edinburgh. One of his crimes was stated as being
John Fergushill (1592–1644) was a
Covenanter minister, who in 1618 refused to conform with the decision of the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to accept the
Five Articles of Perth; these included religious practices retained in England but largely abolished in Scotland and were widely resented. He was imprisoned in 1620 but later released and closely associated with the 1638
National Covenant, objecting to liturgical 'innovations.' He was a leader in the kirk's rejection of bishops that led to the 1638-1639
Bishop's Wars and an associate of Presbyterian fundamentalists, including
James Guthrie, executed in 1661 and
Archibald Johnson. In 1671 David Fergushill went to the
Corsehill Barony Court to obtain payment for a
boill bear from one Thomas Wylie of Little Corsehill. In the 17th-century it was the custom in respectable families for the names of the principal friends present to be entered into the baptismal register. Mr. Baillie of Monkton's register had the names Fergushill, Ashinyards and Muncardine entered. Robert Fergushill, who died in the late 17th-century, was the last of the family to be local lairds; he is listed in a charter from Robert Hunter of Hunterston as owning a share in the 46s 8d land of Annanhill-Hunter, but William Henry Dunlop remained the proprietor. Alexander Crauford of Fergushill is named as a
Commissioner of Supply for Ayrshire in the 1685 records of the
Parliament of Scotland. In 1691 the 'House of Fergushill' itself had seven hearths listed in the Hearth Tax records and eighteen other properties within the barony. The Laird of Fergushill in the early 18th century was one of the local landowners who ordered the bailies of Kilmarnock to 'causeway' the streets, an early example of road improvements in Ayrshire.
Fergushill House and other properties of that name A number of properties in the surrounding area bear the name 'Fergushill,' including
Knockentiber, North & South Fergushills near
Eglinton and Fergushill in
Auchentiber. In 1596, Fergushill and Middle
Auchentiber were inherited by Robert Fergushill, whose wife Elizabeth was the daughter of John Craufurd of Craufurdland; when he died in 1625, it passed to his son, also named Robert. Sometime after 1660, it passed first to Robert's relative Alexander Craufurd, then to his eldest son
John Crawfurd in the 1690s. This was a time of hardship and famine in Scotland, known as the
Seven ill years; in December 1696, the city of
Edinburgh set up a refugee camp in
Greyfriars kirkyard to house starving rural migrants. John was already under financial pressure in 1696 when he purchased
Kersland, near
Kilbirnie from his wife's elder sister, Jean Ker. He assumed the name and title of John Ker of Kersland and spent the next 30 years avoiding bankruptcy, including a period as a government spy. He sold Fergushill in 1718 to John Asgill and Robert Hackett for £3600, who mortgaged it back to him for £2,600; John died in 1726 in the
King's Bench Debtors Prison, London. At this point, legal ownership becomes complex but court records from February 1749 show it had been sold by 'Thomas Craufurd of Fergushill, to Neil Macvicar, writer in Edinburgh.' This seems to have taken place in 1728 and it stayed in the Macvicar family until 1802, when it passed to Robert Glasgow of
Montgreenan. Andrew Armstrong's 1775 publication 'A new map of Ayrshire,' shows Fergushill House located on the north side of
Lugton Water, around east of the old horse tramway and road bridges, or 'Elbo and Chael' as they were known locally. Fergushill was at its most prosperous around 1560; In 1799, the
12th Earl of Eglinton acquired the house, estate and coal pits, which were joined to Eglinton as a 'pendicle,' a Scots legal term for a subsidiary part of a larger estate. Robin Cummell or Campbell, who worked at
Eglinton Castle, states that the Fergushill miners were sold with the land, normal practice for the time. , modern day. The house was described as '' After 1803, it was used by George Reid of Barquharry,
Factor to the Earl of Eglinton and a friend of
Robert Burns. Cummell records Reid was fond of entertaining at Fergushill. One of his most interesting guests was Byla Greenshields, who habitually wore yellow buckskin trousers and white shoes to his dinners at Fergushill; the usual invitation was -
Dear Byla, The leather breeks and taps buits on Thursday. Fergushill is described in 1823 as 'a commodious farm house, covered with thatch: but its ancient gardens, pretty well stored with plum and other fruit trees, indicate its former rank.' By 1991, all that remained of the old house were a few low walls near South Fergushill Farm and present day Fergushill cottage, a disused driveway and demolished gate-lodge. Aerial photographs and observations on the ground show the Chapelholms woodlands still contain the ditch, dyke and coppiced trees that may have formed the boundary between the two baronies of Fergushill and Eglinton. Townhead of Fulwood belonged to James Fergushill, disposed to him by Alexander Dunlop of that Ilk in 1687; this remained within the family until about 1750, when it was acquired by William Mackie of Mosside. ==The Darien Affair==