Marshalland. What's in a name?
9 August
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Barrmill Road with Spier'son the left and the site of Marshalland on the right
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The entrance to Spier's Old School Grounds
Just across the road from Spier's Old Shool Grounds on Barrmill Road is the site of the old Marshalland Farm. A map from 1747 refers to the site as originally being 'Marchland', suggesting that the farms lands lay on the boundary or march between the Barony of Broadstone within the feudal Lordship of Giffen, and the Barony of Beith. The physical boundary between these baronies was the Powgree Burn, also recorded as the Powgreen, Marshyland or Geilsland Burn.
An early map of the Marshalland fields on which Spier's school was built only shows the presence of hedgerows and a track leading to the well (it's still there). The last people to live at the Marshalland were David and Mary Kerr, and sadly the farmhouse and outbuildings buildings were demolished in the early 1960s.
A John Shedden of Marshalland, born in 1756, was locally known as 'Jack the Marshalland'; so notorious a poacher that he had to leave the area for a while, becoming a game-keeper, his local nickname adapting itself to become 'Jack the Gem-Keeper.' When he died he had a friend fire a shotgun over his grave, much to the surprise and consternation of the minister.
In around 1820 Marshalland was held by Robert Spier and his wife, Margaret Gibson of The Cuff Farm. It was Margaret who built Spier's School as a memorial to her son John.
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