Hi carol
I was reading your bit about the Boglestane,.....remember years and years ago when you were a wee lassie,the car park in front of your mam's house in Mid Auchenleck was totally flooded?
Well the burn that comes doon the far side of the farm at the corner of Montrose Avenue,was pushing up the manholes ,that burn flowed doon past the Boglestane rock ,when I was a boy,or so Peter Dunn tells me,and being as the houses are built on the site of the old Auchenleck farm,that might be why the poem ,goes" by Auchenleck restored " meaning you might be feeling better by the time you got up this far.
Not a lot of people know this...the start of the cycle track at the farm gate and parts of the road on the way up,if you remember the cycle path route at the bottom of the fields was always there,and the reason for this was ,in older times that was a road used by travellers ,to avoid paying taxes when they reached Kilmacolm,,.......so instead of taking the more direct route ,up past where St Stephen's is now ,they went for the Auchenleck route,unless it was snowing,in which case ,they stayed at home
I can remember seeing the old Auchenleck farm when I was a wee boy,before the houses went up,it was where that big mound is ,up the path from the phone exchange ,that's why we have the big trees at the top,....Peter told me that too........which means it must be true!

I have no details of who wrote this rhyme or when it was wrote. It suggest a well at the stane at some point and considering you have 'Burnside' in the street names of surrounding houses I think this might be true.
The water may well be the small burn that runs out now at Highcarnagie Road, beside the cemetery, I will attempt to find out!
Travellers coming from Kilmacolm and Paisley would have passed that way to enter Port Glasgow and I would imagine the view from the stane would have been every bit as good as it is today.

BOGALSTANE

The ' Bogal Stane' or as it is now known Boglestone used to be on the outer limits of Port Glasgow.

It is believed to be "black granite" which was deposited there during the ice age.

The name comes from the large rock that can be found there.

The stone in it's present form is very much smaller than it's original state. What now stands at the top of the Clune Brae is only a small section.

It has long been associated with local myth and mainly stories of the occult and haunting.

At one point the Minister of the Church of Newark had the stone blasted through, although it is unknown if this was to quash superstition or stop people having picnics at the 'stane'.

The only story that I can recall from my childhood is that they tried to move the stone at one time. Without benefit of heavy machinery it was of course unsuccessful.

A workmans axe was lodged in between the stones and broke. I do remember something being stuck between the stones when I was little!.

The story is that the workman was cursed and shortly afterwards he died.

Other tales include the witches and the goblins on Halloween night of course dancing round the stone.

The rock was broken down and it is rumored that parts of rock with a very similar 'make up' have been found at Edinburgh Castle. Locally parts of the stone was used to build dykes (walls) and it is said that many a good curling stone was fashioned from bits of it.

The house itself was built by Hamilton around 1846. It continued to be inhabited all be it split into four flats with no gas and electricity until the late 1960's.

Two local primary schools now stand on the site of the former house, Boglestone and St Michael's primary.

The area around the stone has recently been landscaped and is an attractive place to sit on a good day.

I would love to hear from anyone who has more information on the stone and its past! If you can shed anymore light on the subject or tell me another local story please get in touch!......

Boglestone House

This account of the tale tells us that it was the people of Port Glasgow who 'assembled' at the Clune Brae and proceeded to mould the left over piece of stone into what we see today. Using 'adhesive materials' they acquired from local farms and factories.
It goes on to state that they "placed on the rock and inscription which read....

The Haunted Stane

There is of course the other version of the Stane story. In this the stane is said to be haunted by a spirt that would take the form of a medieval warrior, shipwrecked sailor, long dead pirate and fearsome ugly-looking leprechaun would be seen sitting on it's stoney perch that bears it's name mocking and terrorizing late night travellers.

Many people put this down to too much alcohol. But unfortunately for the stone as we already know one minister took it seriously enough to have it blasted.

I am the far-famed Bogle Stane
By Wordly priest abhorr'd
But now I am myself again
By Auchenleck restored.

M. Mc C

This page prompted one person to get in touch...........

To the best of my knowledge there is nothing wrote on the stone.
Maybe 'far famed' should be far flung referring back to the blasting.
The worldly priest of course refers to the minister of Newark Parish Church who had it blasted. 'Abhorred' of course means to detest and I am sure that is true of the minister, he disliked it and the interest that the stone caused among the people.

Auchenleck could refer to one of two places that is close by, indicating more
its location than anything else.Auchenleck Terrace sits at the upper end of the
Clune Brae and has done for many years. Mid Auchenleck is the collective
term given to the houses that surround the Boglestone area
(Methil and Markinch Road and Montrose Avenue).
Behind this, further up the hill but present for many years is High Auchenleck Farm.
Might this have been the farm from which the adhesives were collected?
In 1931 it is listed as Dubbs Farm.

This page last modified on Tuesday, March 04, 2003

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