Post by Waverley on Aug 5, 2007 14:50:34 GMT 1
The Borgie Dell (December 1937)
Any stranger going up Greenlees Road from the Main Street of Cambuslang would never suspect that behind the villas on the left there lies a deep and picturesque gorge with a burn running through it, and sandstone cliffs about 50 feet high. The entrance to this hidden glen might be easily missed, for it is just a narrow passage between two of the villas almost opposite the end of Cadzow Drive. It was a day in early spring when I first found my way down to the Borgie Stone in this little glen. It is the Kirkburn which flows in the bottom, and Hugh Macdonald's description of it is still quite applicable. He says :-" Although we have considerable difficulty in making our way by leaping from stone to stone, we are amply repaid for our labour by the wild beauty of the scenery. The sides of the ravine are of the most rugged and tangled description. In some places they are quite precipitous, and from 50 to 60 feet in height, being composed of stratified rocks, of sandstone and shale, which will be found well worthy the attention of the geological student." That was probably written in 1854, and the only difference to-day is that it is not necessary to leap from stone to stone to make way up the glen. There is a path on one side, though it is rough and broken in places, for little or no interest is now taken in keeping it in good condition. The particular point of interest that took me to the Borgie, however, did not exist in Macdonald's day. He makes mention of several wells in the ravine, and these were much used by the villagers of the neighbourhood. One of these wells appears to have outlived the others, and its waters were also considered to have special qualities. There is a rhyme which goes :
A drink 0' the Borgie, a taste 0' the weed,
Sets a' the Cam'slang folks wrang in the heid.
But why it should have been supposed to have this effect nobody seems to be sure. Anyhow, this particular well was considered worthy of commemoration, and a stone was erected on the spot by public subscription. It was to see this stone that I first went down into the gorge, and at that time I found the inscription so overgrown with moss that there was much of it I could not read. Thinking I would certainly be able to obtain particulars of this inscription in some book about Cambuslang, I did not take the time to clean the lettering; but I was mistaken, for the inscription does not appear to be recorded in any book I was able to consult.
I did find, however, in Brown's" Cambuslang," interesting descriptions of" The Cambuslang Wark, " the great religious revival in which over 30,000 people congregated on the adjacent "Preaching Braes" to hear the sermons of Mr. JMcCulloch, the minister of the parish, and Whitefield, the famous preacher. It was autumn before I could pay another visit, and I was prepared to climb over the railing and assume for the occasion the role of an "Old Mortality." However, I did not require to do this, for someone had already made a very good job of the cleaning, and I found the inscription quite readable, though slightly damaged where the stone is broken. The inscription begins with the couplet arranged as an ornamental heading :_
The Borgie Well here
Ran many a year.
Then comes the main verse :_
Wells wane away,
Brief, too, man's stay,
Our race alone abides.
A s burns purl on
With mirth or moan,
Old Ocean with its tides,
Each longest day
Join hands and say
(Here where once flowed the well)
We hold the grip
Friends don't let slip
The Bonny Borgie Dell.
1879.
Then along the base is carved the quaint appeal :_
Boys, guard this well, and guard this stone,
Because, because, both are your own.
I have been told on good authority that these lines were composed by the late Dr. Muirhead, of Cambuslang. It is because of the enthusiasm of a few public-spirited men that this lovely little glen is still available for the use of the Cambuslang people as a right-of-way. In order to preserve it as such the villagers held a meeting in 1878. It was after this meeting that the stone was erected, but by that time, unfortunately, the waters of the well had long ceased to flow, because of the mining operations in the neighbourhood. About 40 years ago the present Vicarland Road was carried across the Kirkburn Glen, and the burn now has to make a somewhat humiliating entry to the lower glen through a tunnel, and after it has traversed what remains of the ravine, it makes a no less ignominious exit through another tunnel, emerging on the other side of the gasworks, where for another half-mile or so, it meanders via the golf course to its junction with the Clyde.The road which now crosses the top of the little glen was made largely from a pit bing which stood near the spot, and this was found to be a convenient way of removing an eyesore, and at the same time achieving a useful purpose.
There has been much controversy as to how the Borgie Well came to get its name. As is usual in such cases different origins have been suggested. In Brown's" Cambuslang " Gaelic derivations are given, the most pleasing of the translations among them being " The Trysting Glen," As for the other suggestions, the best way might be just to quote the final remarks of the above-mentioned writer, and let the reader choose to please himself. The author of "Cambuslang" writes;
" In searching for the root of a place name it is always easy to multiply guesses, and so another meaning may be found in the common word' bore' (Ang.-Sax. bor-ian, to pierce). The Bore Well at Gourock I have myself heard called' The Borgie: and there is another Borgie, I am told, near Cupar. The Gourockian double name suggests what is very common in Scotland-the use of diminutive substantives in familiar language. There is, indeed, a tendency to multiply diminutives, and we can understand how Bore might become in time Borie or Borgie. May our own Borgie not have been a Bore well originally-hence the name? "
Then Mr. Brown continues:"While one or other of these derivatives may be .correct as regards the word, the name will require to be rejected from the ancient nomenclature of the parish, if the facts communicated to me by Dr. Muirhead are well founded. He writes :_ < About a hundred years ago a Mr. Wm. Kirkland was appointed parish schoolmaster of Cambuslang. He came from Borgue in the Stewartry. Borgue was pronounced by the common people as Borgie. He, observing a fine spring at a spot where the Borgie Stone now is, had a well dug or scooped out to prevent water (then' very scarce) running to, waste. It got the name of " Borgie's Well," and children went to the Borgie for water. \Vhen the well failed on account of mining operations, others were successfully dug near, and inherited the name. All are now dry.'
" Still another opinion regarding the origin of the name is given by Dr. J. A. Wilson. In his" History of Cambuslang " he writes :_ " Right in the north of Scotland, in Sutherlandshire, there is a . little stream called .the Borgie. This word is of Norse or Scandi- .. navian origin, thus < borg,' a: fort or shelter, and ' ie~' a teiminal denoting a stream. It is almost certain that our Borgie has the same origin; that is, the fort or shelter by the stream."
So there we have most of what seems to be known about how the Borgie Well got its name; and one may take one's choice.
Though the Borgie Dell is far less known than it should be by the general public, even in Cambuslang, I soon discovered that there are generous men who have done much work, and spent much money, in ungrudging efforts to preserve its beauty for the people. Band' performances were given down in the depths of the ravine from 1924 till 1929; and from time to time these enthusiasts have, with their own hands, repaired the broken path. A jubilee demonstration took place in the latter year-1929-to commemorate the erection of the Borgie Stone, and preservation of the right-of-way. The Borgie Dell has not been without its share of accidents, and even tragedies, upon its precipitous sides. It should be possible, however, to guard against any dangers, and it is to be hoped that the day shall yet come when this picturesque little gorge may be rid of the rubbish which now disfigures it, and allowed to regain its rightful place as a beauty spot worthy of the full appreciation of the Cambuslang people.
Any stranger going up Greenlees Road from the Main Street of Cambuslang would never suspect that behind the villas on the left there lies a deep and picturesque gorge with a burn running through it, and sandstone cliffs about 50 feet high. The entrance to this hidden glen might be easily missed, for it is just a narrow passage between two of the villas almost opposite the end of Cadzow Drive. It was a day in early spring when I first found my way down to the Borgie Stone in this little glen. It is the Kirkburn which flows in the bottom, and Hugh Macdonald's description of it is still quite applicable. He says :-" Although we have considerable difficulty in making our way by leaping from stone to stone, we are amply repaid for our labour by the wild beauty of the scenery. The sides of the ravine are of the most rugged and tangled description. In some places they are quite precipitous, and from 50 to 60 feet in height, being composed of stratified rocks, of sandstone and shale, which will be found well worthy the attention of the geological student." That was probably written in 1854, and the only difference to-day is that it is not necessary to leap from stone to stone to make way up the glen. There is a path on one side, though it is rough and broken in places, for little or no interest is now taken in keeping it in good condition. The particular point of interest that took me to the Borgie, however, did not exist in Macdonald's day. He makes mention of several wells in the ravine, and these were much used by the villagers of the neighbourhood. One of these wells appears to have outlived the others, and its waters were also considered to have special qualities. There is a rhyme which goes :
A drink 0' the Borgie, a taste 0' the weed,
Sets a' the Cam'slang folks wrang in the heid.
But why it should have been supposed to have this effect nobody seems to be sure. Anyhow, this particular well was considered worthy of commemoration, and a stone was erected on the spot by public subscription. It was to see this stone that I first went down into the gorge, and at that time I found the inscription so overgrown with moss that there was much of it I could not read. Thinking I would certainly be able to obtain particulars of this inscription in some book about Cambuslang, I did not take the time to clean the lettering; but I was mistaken, for the inscription does not appear to be recorded in any book I was able to consult.
I did find, however, in Brown's" Cambuslang," interesting descriptions of" The Cambuslang Wark, " the great religious revival in which over 30,000 people congregated on the adjacent "Preaching Braes" to hear the sermons of Mr. JMcCulloch, the minister of the parish, and Whitefield, the famous preacher. It was autumn before I could pay another visit, and I was prepared to climb over the railing and assume for the occasion the role of an "Old Mortality." However, I did not require to do this, for someone had already made a very good job of the cleaning, and I found the inscription quite readable, though slightly damaged where the stone is broken. The inscription begins with the couplet arranged as an ornamental heading :_
The Borgie Well here
Ran many a year.
Then comes the main verse :_
Wells wane away,
Brief, too, man's stay,
Our race alone abides.
A s burns purl on
With mirth or moan,
Old Ocean with its tides,
Each longest day
Join hands and say
(Here where once flowed the well)
We hold the grip
Friends don't let slip
The Bonny Borgie Dell.
1879.
Then along the base is carved the quaint appeal :_
Boys, guard this well, and guard this stone,
Because, because, both are your own.
I have been told on good authority that these lines were composed by the late Dr. Muirhead, of Cambuslang. It is because of the enthusiasm of a few public-spirited men that this lovely little glen is still available for the use of the Cambuslang people as a right-of-way. In order to preserve it as such the villagers held a meeting in 1878. It was after this meeting that the stone was erected, but by that time, unfortunately, the waters of the well had long ceased to flow, because of the mining operations in the neighbourhood. About 40 years ago the present Vicarland Road was carried across the Kirkburn Glen, and the burn now has to make a somewhat humiliating entry to the lower glen through a tunnel, and after it has traversed what remains of the ravine, it makes a no less ignominious exit through another tunnel, emerging on the other side of the gasworks, where for another half-mile or so, it meanders via the golf course to its junction with the Clyde.The road which now crosses the top of the little glen was made largely from a pit bing which stood near the spot, and this was found to be a convenient way of removing an eyesore, and at the same time achieving a useful purpose.
There has been much controversy as to how the Borgie Well came to get its name. As is usual in such cases different origins have been suggested. In Brown's" Cambuslang " Gaelic derivations are given, the most pleasing of the translations among them being " The Trysting Glen," As for the other suggestions, the best way might be just to quote the final remarks of the above-mentioned writer, and let the reader choose to please himself. The author of "Cambuslang" writes;
" In searching for the root of a place name it is always easy to multiply guesses, and so another meaning may be found in the common word' bore' (Ang.-Sax. bor-ian, to pierce). The Bore Well at Gourock I have myself heard called' The Borgie: and there is another Borgie, I am told, near Cupar. The Gourockian double name suggests what is very common in Scotland-the use of diminutive substantives in familiar language. There is, indeed, a tendency to multiply diminutives, and we can understand how Bore might become in time Borie or Borgie. May our own Borgie not have been a Bore well originally-hence the name? "
Then Mr. Brown continues:"While one or other of these derivatives may be .correct as regards the word, the name will require to be rejected from the ancient nomenclature of the parish, if the facts communicated to me by Dr. Muirhead are well founded. He writes :_ < About a hundred years ago a Mr. Wm. Kirkland was appointed parish schoolmaster of Cambuslang. He came from Borgue in the Stewartry. Borgue was pronounced by the common people as Borgie. He, observing a fine spring at a spot where the Borgie Stone now is, had a well dug or scooped out to prevent water (then' very scarce) running to, waste. It got the name of " Borgie's Well," and children went to the Borgie for water. \Vhen the well failed on account of mining operations, others were successfully dug near, and inherited the name. All are now dry.'
" Still another opinion regarding the origin of the name is given by Dr. J. A. Wilson. In his" History of Cambuslang " he writes :_ " Right in the north of Scotland, in Sutherlandshire, there is a . little stream called .the Borgie. This word is of Norse or Scandi- .. navian origin, thus < borg,' a: fort or shelter, and ' ie~' a teiminal denoting a stream. It is almost certain that our Borgie has the same origin; that is, the fort or shelter by the stream."
So there we have most of what seems to be known about how the Borgie Well got its name; and one may take one's choice.
Though the Borgie Dell is far less known than it should be by the general public, even in Cambuslang, I soon discovered that there are generous men who have done much work, and spent much money, in ungrudging efforts to preserve its beauty for the people. Band' performances were given down in the depths of the ravine from 1924 till 1929; and from time to time these enthusiasts have, with their own hands, repaired the broken path. A jubilee demonstration took place in the latter year-1929-to commemorate the erection of the Borgie Stone, and preservation of the right-of-way. The Borgie Dell has not been without its share of accidents, and even tragedies, upon its precipitous sides. It should be possible, however, to guard against any dangers, and it is to be hoped that the day shall yet come when this picturesque little gorge may be rid of the rubbish which now disfigures it, and allowed to regain its rightful place as a beauty spot worthy of the full appreciation of the Cambuslang people.