Headswood Cottage, Denny...a little history.

[Anne H]

Hi All,
I've just discovered a nice little bit of history surrounding the residence of some of my Ellis lot and have spent the last couple of hours trying to find the location on a map, and as usual, I have had no luck finding it.

Here's the little bit of history just incase anyone can help locate it.

Taken from the New Statistical Account for Scotland
http://books.google.com/books?id=rRsvAA ... -PA122&lpg
"The only other antiquity in the parish is that mentioned in the history of Stirlingshire. "In digging at Woodgate, (Woodyet), on the Carron, for the foundation of the newly built house, there, (now called Headswood Cottage,) a rude stone coffin, made of flags, about two-thirds of the ordinary length, placed nearly perpendicular, and containing the bones of an adult person, was found. It is dated, as we have learned, 1301." The stone is placed in the lobby of the cottage, and is seen by every one who enters it. Some of the bones found were, for a while, in the manse of Denny. They are supposed to be the bones of some distinguished person, who fell in connection with the invasion of Edward I in 1298."

From here... http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report ... =43431#s51
"The ecclesiastical affairs are under the superintendence of the presbytery of Stirling and synod of Perth and Stirling. The minister's stipend is £250, with a manse, and a glebe valued at £10 per annum; patron, the Crown. The church, erected in 1813, was internally beautified in 1838, and lighted with gas; it is a neat structure in the Grecian style, and contains 767 sittings. There are places of worship for members of the United Secession and Free Church. The parochial school is well conducted; the master has a salary of £34, with a house and garden, and the fees average £24: a handsome building has recently been erected for the school. The only antiquities are some remains of a Roman station at Castle-Carie, near the southern confines of the parish. A rude stone coffin was discovered in digging the foundation for Headswood Cottage, at Woodgate, and found to contain the ashes of an adult supposed to have been killed near the spot, at the time of the wars with Edward I. of England. A circular hollow now under cultivation, in the south of the parish, near the river Bonny, is said to have been the site of a Caledonian encampment during the occupation of Castle-Carie by the Romans.

Can anyone send me in the right direction to locate it on a map?

Regards,
Anne H

[nelmit]

Hi Anne,

Look at the south east quadrent of this map and sure enough you will see Castle Carie at the south part of the Denny Parish.

Headswood is just to the east of Denny village on the Carron Water.

Regards,
Annette

[Anne H]

Hi Annette,

Found it, and printed it off...many thanks!

I also recognize a few other place names this family lived and as usual I get sidetracked and found this interesting little web site http://www.castle-cary.org/history_of_castle_cary.html with a little map of Castle Cary from around 1600. No wonder I'm so far behind with entering everything into my database.

Regards,
Anne H

[Currie]

Hello Anne,

I had a look around for any other old references to the cottage but all I came up with were a couple of things on FreeCen. http://freecen.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl

If you search for Headswood Cottage in the Street box in 1841 and 1851 you’ll find the occupants there in those years.

All the best,
Alan

[Anne H]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for looking! I didn't think to look on freecen but did look on my BIVRI discs for 1881 census. The paper manufacturer and Shanks' Farm were there from at least 1841 and both are up for sale presently. Headswood Cottage likely belonged to one of them in the past, possibly the farm since a Thomas Shanks was witness at one of the Ellis' weddings, but alas the cottage must be long gone since I can't find any other references to it. At least two of my lot died at Headswood Cottage, the latest I could find died there in 1945, so the cottage lasted a good long while.

Cheers,
Anne H

[apanderson]

Hi Anne,

I suspect 'Headswood Cottage' might be (or have been) one of the cottages on Denovan Road which runs 'sort of' along the River Carron from Dunipace towards Larbert. (Map ref: NS818832)

There's lots of little cottages along this road (at the Dunipace end) but obviously their names may have changed. I'll have a wee look some day soon and see of any of them have names.

'Headswood' now, is an industrial site (Map ref: NS829827)

Anne

P.S. If you change the co-ordinates to NS829827, you'll see how close Larbert Old Parish Churchyard is.

[Anne H]

Hi Anne,

Many thanks. I'm no good with maps/co-ordinates so I just clicked over to the right and found Larbert Kirk and Manse, I expect that's the churchyard. All very close indeed!

It's amazing how many of the place names I recognize that are so close to each other...seems to have been relatively easy for them to end up living and working not too far from where they originated.

Regards,
Anne H

[apanderson]

Glad to be of help.

Denny, Dunipace, Bonnybridge, Camelon, Larbert ...... they're all only two minutes from each other. (By car of course!!)

Anne

[Anne H]

Yes...thank goodness for the cars!

Regards,
Anne H

[Currie]

Hello Anne,

On the old map Annette posted you can see Woodyett (Woodgate) immediately above Headswood and there’s a kink in the river course immediately above.

You can see Headswood House on this modern map and there’s the river kink again. http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=28 ... &A=Y&Z=115

On Google Maps, satellite view, there are a couple, or more, of oldish looking buildings on the southern side of the river, near or within the kink, that haven’t been disturbed by all the industrial activity on the northern side. Zoom in to those. http://tinyurl.com/dzeoqx

Hope it’s still there,
Alan