LANARK LANIMER DAY
An ancient celebration held within the Royal Burgh of Lanark on the Thursday between the Sixth and Twelfth days of June annually since the year 1140.
 

The Foundations of Lanark

The origins of Lanark lie deeply enshrouded in the mists of legend. Yet the living past of Lanark is all around. For those who are prepared to look for it, it appears in many different guises. It lurks in vennels and closes, in streets and wynds, in kirkyard and castle. It survives in ancient festivals, like Whuppity Scoorie, the Riding of the Marches and Lanimers.

If we seek evidence of Lanark before the twelfth century we find that we are confronted with legends of the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde, - tales of St. Kentigern, Rydderch Hael or even Merlin. Although unfounded on fact, these quaint romances are an integral part of the atmosphere of Lanark's past.

Early Lanark as we know it today grew uphill from the early Norman motte - now called Castlehill. Another focal point of the burgh was the kirk of St. Nicholas, which stood at the Cross on the site of present parish church. The church on the crown of the hill and the castle beneath afforded the spiritual and physical protection so much sought by the Medieval mind. Beyond this nucleus lay another ecclesiastical foundation, St. Kentigern's kirk, whose lands were given to the monks of Dryburgh.

The pattern of Medieval Lanark is very much reflected in the modern town. Street names like 'Castlegait', 'Wellgait', and 'West-port' testify the nature of the old street plan. Even the topography of the early burgh is well preserved and can be seen in many places. The former landholdings or tofts of the Medieval towndwellers are retained in gardens and lands lying between the High Street and the vennels. The ports or gates which guarded the entrances to the town have long since disappeared, along with the infamous town burn, which now runs unseen under High Street and Castlegate.

The High Street grew up in a phase of prosperity in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. From this time onwards the Burgh records provide us with a more complete picture of Lanark life than that afforded us by Medieval land charters.

To understand the nature of the Medieval town we must first appreciate the role of the burgh in Scotland. Certainly towns did exist in Scotland long before the twelfth century, but it is only around this time that literary evidence becomes available. The Medieval burgh was an act of royal creation which gave certain privileges to chosen towns. These were embodied in a charter from the king. Lanark then as now was an important market town, serving a wide area of the surrounding countryside. A Royal Burgh had essentially economic functions: trade and the collection of revenue.

Lanark probably became a Royal Burgh in the time of Malcolm IV, sometime between 1153 and 1159, though it is possible that it was made a burgh by David I. The date of 1140 which has now become traditional seems to have first been suggested in the late nineteenth century. Certainly it was a burgh by the time of William the Lion, for at the end of the twelfth century he gave a toft of land to Melrose Abbey 'in burgo meo de Lanarc'.

Lanark played a more active part in the Wars of Independence than the majority of Scottish burghs. The story of Wallace's connection with Lanark is of course well known - he fell in love with Marion Braidfute whom he encountered going to St. Kentigern's Church, and it was in St. Kentigern's that they were married. The story of how he slew the Sheriff of Lanark and thereby struck the first blow for Scottish liberty is also well known.

Edward I stayed in Lanark on a number of occasions, and silver pennies of his reign have been found at Castlehill, though this is no real proof of English occupation since English pennies were widely used in Scotland at this time. There had been a mint in Lanark in the time of Alexander III.

The other great Scottish patriot, Robert de Brus, was Sheriff of Lanark for a while, which is not quite so surprising when one remembers that he was originally an adherent of Edward I. In 1303 Edward I sent a document to the Chamberlain in Scotland 'wishing that his liege, Robert de Brus, earl of Carrick, should account for the time when he had in his custody of the castle of Ayr and the sheriffdoms of Ayr and Lanark'.

The Castle witnessed one particularly stirring event during the reign of Robert the Bruce. It had remained in the control of the English garrison until Bruce returned from exile. On his return it was captured by a typical trick of Sir James Douglas (the Black Douglas). He put men in ambush near the Castle, and saw to it that another party of men with horses laden with corn should pass the Castle in full view of the Commander of the Garrison. The Commander made a sortie, only to find the peasants he intended to rob were ready for him, and the garrison was attacked from the rear by the ambushing party. The Castle fell to the Black Douglas.

In 1314 a Friary was founded in Lanark, and the traditional site for it is where the Clydesdale Hotel now stands. There is good reason to suppose that it, or another establishment, stood in what is now the High Street, near Bernard's Wynd. The ghost of a friar is reputed to haunt the Clydesdale Hotel still, but fortunately has the good sense not to trouble guests. Skeletons found in the neighbourhood come from St. Nicholas' Cemetery, not from the Friary. Another interesting Medieval foundation was the Hospital of St. Leonard.

In the fifteenth century there were a number of important visitors to Lanark, including James I, James III and James IV, and Lanark also played host to Henry VI of England in 1461. James IV stayed here when he was only eighteen, and the local accounts show that a horse was bought for him for ten merks, and amusement was provided at the cost of 26/-, 'to dansaris and gysaris' as the accounts tell us.

The burghs of Scotland came under the general administration of the Four Burghs, which until the time of David II consisted of Edinburgh, Berwick, Stirling, and Roxburgh. They formed the Curia Quattuor Burgorum - the Court of the Four Burghs - and were presided over by the High Chamberlain. Early in David's reign however Berwick and Roxburgh fell into English hands, and parliament elected Lanark and Linlithgow to take their place until Berwick and Roxburgh became free again. But Berwick and Roxburgh never regained their old status.

The Four Burghs were entrusted with the four standard measures - the ell, the stoup, the firlot and the stone.

Lanark and Linlithgow are closely related, and share a very similar history. Even today it is customary for a Lanarkian to go to Linlithgow's equivalent of our Riding of the Marches, and for Linlithgow to send a representative here.

The story of Lanark is the story of a typical Scottish burgh.

L.R.L.
I.L.D.