Glenlair Today
In Maxwell's day, Glenlair was the home farm of the old estate of Middlebie, but is now a self-contained 128-acre farm of which 80 acres are under grassland, and the remaining 40 or so acres in amenity and semi-natural woodland, which provides shelter from almost all directions. Two watercourses, the larger river Urr and its tributary, the Lair burn, occur on the farm forming valuable wildlife corridors. The River Urr is a noted Trout and Salmon River.
Despite the passage of time, many of the features, which so appealed to James Clerk Maxwell in his childhood, are still evident today. Sadly, the largest and most imposing of these, Glenlair House, badly damaged by fire in 1929 has suffered severely from weather and neglect. Its crumbling walls and leaning chimneys are a prominent landmark for people as they pass by on the B794 road from Dalbeattie to Corsock in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright.
Whilst the main house has suffered from the fire and the ravages of time, the servants' quarters which occupy the small two-storey double-pile house, the work of Walter Newall, at the East end of the substantial 19th century mansion house, was completely modernised and renovated in 1993.
The gardener's cottage, in which the Maxwell family camped for two whole summers whilst the main house was being constructed, is now the home of the present owner Captain Duncan Ferguson and his family. It too has been extensively enlarged and modernised since Maxwell's day, once in 1950 and again more recently in 1996.
There are two small coincidences between today and Maxwell's era, in that Duncan Ferguson is an Electrical Engineer (Fellow of the Institute of Electrical Engineers) and a naval Captain like Maxwell's maternal grandfather (Robert Hodshon Cay)
The house and cottage face southeast towards the hill to Kirkpatrick Durham, which is now laid out in pasture and trees rather than the heather reportedly present in the mid 19th Century.
All lands lying on the western bank of the Urr remain in the parish of Parton where Maxwell was an elder of the Kirk and a regular churchgoer. Parton Churchyard contains the gravestone marking James Clerk Maxwell's resting-place and in 1989 a memorial stone was erected beside the entrance to the Kirk to mark his contribution to science and draw attention to his grave therein.
To the north of Glenlair lies the farm of Nether Corsock, and further to the north can be seen the hills of Meikle Mochrum which formed the northern perimeter of the old estate of Middlebie. To the west of Glenlair are the farms of Nether Glenlair then Higher Glenlair and finally Upper Glenlair. On the left or eastern bank of the river Urr, lie the farms of Margley, Little Park and Walton Park.
Duncan Ferguson's parents. Colonel and Mrs Ferguson moved to Glenlair on 2nd February 1950, bringing with them a pedigree herd of black Galloway cattle, which they had acquired from the famous poet and essayist Thomas Carlyle, a native of Ecclefechan in Dumfriesshire.
Initially, they moved into the Gardener's Cottage whilst they considered renovating the burnt out ruin of Glenlair House. At that time a corrugated iron roof protected the centre section. The servants' quarters and South Wing were reasonably wind and watertight. However advice received from local surveyors suggested that renovation would involve replacing all the stonework in the centre section of the building. This was such an enormous task, and so far beyond their means, that it was decided to enlarge and modernise the gardener's cottage instead.
It transpired that quite a lot of the building materials for the extension to the cottage were obtained from the south wing of Glenlair House. Good timber for beams and floors being difficult to acquire so soon after the war. Fireplaces and mantelpieces were also utilised, as was a coloured glass door, which now welcomes visitors to the lounge in the cottage. Meanwhile, Duncan when home from boarding school in Edinburgh spent many happy hours exploring the nooks and crannies of the old house. He used to climb regularly on to the corrugated roof searching for crows' eggs in the old chimneys. Like Maxwell 120 years before him, the bell wires that still ran somewhat haphazardly from the control panel in the burnt-out kitchen to the far extremities of the house were a source of fascination. Unfortunately he was too young to have heard of Maxwell or appreciate just how famous a man he was, or he might have been more careful to preserve some of the many artefacts lying amidst the ruins. As it was he derived most pleasure from exploring the cellars and the chimneys, and shooting the pigeons that had made their home within the ruin. Over the years the corrugated iron roof has blown away, the chimneys have collapsed and the walls begun to crumble so that any artefacts, which may remain, are now buried deep in rubble and overgrown with grass and weeds.
Away from the house, there are more features to remind us of Maxwell's time at Glenlair - for example, the pool his father made in the Lair Burn just below Glenlair House is still evident today, although recently a rustic wooden bridge has been constructed over it.
The garden so carefully laid out below the house would be unrecognisable to James, but he would be heartened to see the size and maturity of the trees he planted. There are particularly fine specimens of beech, both copper and common, of horse chestnut, of yew, of pine, of ash, of oak and even a rare tulip tree, which stands just behind the House itself. The wall surrounding the walled garden remains, but the fine Victorian glasshouses collapsed in the early Sixties.
The farmyard completed in 1843 is still in excellent condition and at its southern end includes part of the older yard in the form of a 3-storey building, which housed carriages for the horses and provided accommodation above for the grooms. In the cellar were pens for farm animals with provision to feed them from the floor above. The animals of course provided the central heating for the building and saved on fuel. This arrangement was also utilised in the oldest part of Glenlair House and came to light during the renovations carried out on the servant's quarters in 1993 where it was discovered that there were byres for cattle on the ground floor with living accommodation above.
The duck pond, which James is reputed to have enjoyed immensely, has been reinstated and is again home to a few domestic ducks. The outflow from the pond, which so fascinated James, still exists and runs underground in a stone drain, presumably constructed by his father, to the River Urr (and thence to the sea!). The river is really the dominant feature of the farm, serving as the boundary on its south and east sides for the best part of a mile.
It is to hoped that this has given the reader some idea of what Glenlair has to offer today. Of course the aim is to improve the farm still further - with plans to reinstate all the walks around the river edge which were there in Maxwell's time and to declare it a wildlife reserve. Shooting is not allowed and all manner of creatures are actively encouraged to set up home within the grounds. It is already home to Red Squirrels, Barn Owls, Otters, Roe Deer, Dippers, an abundance of hares and pheasants, buzzards, woodpeckers, song thrushes and herons to name but a few. The farm is in a Conservation Scheme, which has helped to rebuild most of the dry stonewalls, dig a flighting pond and conserve areas that are species rich in flora. The riverbanks in particular are protected from grazing animals.
