Weirs Of Carnwath Grave

Took another wee trip to our ancestral village of CARNWATH today and photographed the grave of James Weir, Blacksmith and his wife Catherine Brown in the Old Churchyard as you enter the village.

The stone is still upright and legible despite the passing decades and a transcription is below:

We also took a drive to the hamlet of Kaimend and stopped by the former home, now called 'The Old Smiddy' and delighted to see the heritage of the building and our family's connections to it are remembered in this way.

James & Catherine are my 4 x Great-Grandparents and the stone was erected by their Blacksmith son Robert. The family is listed below. Son John was my 3x G-Grandfather, but I am still searching for his grave.

The family eventually moved to Airdrie and then to West Maryston in Old Monkland, but the trade of Blacksmith continued through the generations.

A very enjoyable day out today and felt suddenly very close to my ancestors unsurprisingly as I walked the streets they would have and looked out onto the countryside which has remained unspoiled through the years.

Carnwath is an unusual place with a distinctive and attractive character. The functional and largely undecorated one and two storey buildings lining Main Street combine with a (near) absence of modern shop frontages to give a strong sense of stepping back into another century, and not the one recently departed. 

It is fascinating to read a description written by a visitor in 1820: "Formerly a curious old-fashioned place, now a double line of neat stone cottages, roofed with slate." In some ways little seems to have changed since then, with the result that Carnwath is once more a curious old-fashioned place: and all the better for it. 

(c/o UndiscoveredScotland) http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/carnwath/carnwath/index.html