Auchenbathie Tower

Very little is recorded of the Wallace family at Auchenbathie beyond the tradition that they held the tower, lying about five miles from Elderslie. Sir Malcolm Wallace, whom some believe to have been the father of Sir William Wallace, may have been Lord of Elderslie and Auchenbothie, although William's own seal gives his father's name as Alan Wallace. Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland described the barony as having belonged to the Wallaces of Elderslie and noted that Blind Harry names it among the places Malcolm Wallace "had in heritage".

Metcalfe records that in 1398 John Wallace of Elderslie passed the lands of Auchinbothie Wallace to his son Thomas, and the tower was owned by the Wallaces of Elderslie in that year. The Wallaces of Ferguslie and the Wallaces of Neilstonside were descended from this John Wallace. The family later parted with a portion of the barony of Auchenbathie to Blair of that Ilk, and that portion included the ruins of the old tower; the other barony was Auchenbothie Wallace. The line died out around 1650.

Wallace's Knowe was a small hill in the barony of Auchenbathie Wallace, close to Boghouse Farm and the tower, standing in the midst of a moorland that was a meadow in summer and a loch in winter. Tradition states that Sir William Wallace defended himself there with his attendants against a party of Englishmen. Paterson recorded that "there is much evidence of this tradition", and also that the farm of Nethertrees was the farm of the barony, with Wallace's Knowe standing within its lands. Metcalfe repeated the tradition in 1909, placing "a small eminence in the midst of a meadow called Wallace's Knowe" near the ruin of the old castle on the farm of Laightrees.

The knowe carried many large boulders and a few trees. Most of the hill now lies submerged beneath the Barcraigs and Rowbank Reservoir, and only its highest point still shows, as a small island.

The Semples of Eliotstoun and the MacDowalls held the lands of Auchenbothie at various times. In 1572 Cuthberto Sympill de Auchinbothie signed a charter, and his servitor William Wallace signed with him. In 1596 sasine of Auchinbothie was held by David Cunningham of Robertland, running on through 1597 and 1598. In 1603 John Montgomery of Achinbotthy held the lands of Waterlands at Lugton; his wife was Margaret and he had four children, John, Margaret, Anna and Christian. The son may have died before his father, since the three daughters each inherited a one third share, in 1616, 1617 and 1620.

The barony was later split into Auchenbathie Blair and Auchenbathie Wallace. The Stewarts of Blackhall purchased the barony of Auchenbathie Wallace and retained the superiority into the 19th century. The barony mill, known as the Newmiln of Auchengown, is shown on Blaeu's map of about 1654 as Neu Mil and on Thomson's map of 1832 as the New Mill, with a substantial pond marked "Mill Dam"; the family of King were in possession until around 1726. Rob Roy MacGregor is said to have used the mill as a hideout when times were difficult.

The Poll Tax Roll records Robert Cochrane as residing in the 'Tour of Auchenbathie'. He was a heritor who worked as a weaver and merchant, living with his wife Agnes and their children Ro, Jo, William and Margaret. Other residents within the tower site were the weaver William Wilson and his wife; John Kerr, weaver, and Jen Dunsmuire his wife; John Young, apprentice; and John Wilson, weaver, with Agnes Muir his wife. A carved stone retrieved from the chimney of the old cottage carries the date 1678 with the letters "I C R C N C", and may refer to the Cochrane family.

The Fultons of Auchenbathie were a cadet branch of the old Grangehill family, Fulton of that Ilk being said to have moved here after the loss of their lands in the parish of Kilbarchan. John Fulton was a staunch Jacobite who acquired considerable wealth through smuggling, the contraband carried inland on horseback because the roads were so bad. In 1748 he was killed near Pollockshaw by David Malloch, an excise officer, while smuggling spirits; his remains rest in the churchyard of Lochwinnoch with the bones of his ancestors. The jury found the officer guilty, and he was then given a pardon. Another account has the laird losing his inheritance through his support for the Jacobites, becoming a cadger or gatherer of eggs in the parish and dying in great poverty. The nearby farm of Birdiehouse is said to be named for the smuggled Bordeaux wine hidden there before it passed on to Paisley and beyond.

Saunders Wilson, a Paisley weaver who also made illicit whisky, moved to Auchenbathie Tower as a safer place to distil, Beith being at that time a centre of smuggling. In 1785 the parish register recorded the birth of his son Alan to his wife Katherine Brown. Another son, Sannie or Alexander, worked as a cow herd for Mr Stevenson of Threepwood and later as a silk weaver in Lochwinnoch; Alexander Wilson became a minor published poet in 1790. John Love of Threepwood, born in 1781, acquired the lands of the Tower of Auchenbathie and some of the lands of New Mill of Auchengown Stewart, and married Jean Fulton of Sproulston.

Timothy Pont's manuscript map of about 1583 to 1596 shows an apparently intact tower under the name Achinberthy, on a par with Caldwell Tower, with a dwelling beside it. Blaeu's map of about 1654 gives Inborthy, but not as a fortification. Roy's map of 1747 records the site simply as 'Tower', with an Achinbathy steading to the east, the clachan sitting at the junction of two early roads running from the Lugton area to Howwood and onwards to Paisley. In 1821 the Tower hamlet is shown as a group of three buildings, and Thomson's map of 1832 shows a single building at Tower west of the road. Tower was later recorded as a farm, and the nearby cottage appears as Auchenbathie Cottage until the farm was abandoned, after which it is recorded as Tower Cottage.

In 1828 the Paisley Magazine recorded that considerable ruins of the old castle remained. When measured in 1856 the tower ran 29 ft by 10 ft to 12 ft, with only part of the side walls left, standing to a maximum height of about 17 ft, and a small byre stood within the old walls as an outhouse for cattle. The walls are now continuous but in many places no more than 4 ft to 5 ft high, a small portion having been removed on the side next to the ruins of the farmhouse. The 1897 one inch map marks 'Tower' in gothic script at the site of that surviving elevated wall, west of the road. Behind the ruins lies one of the few sites in Renfrewshire where the remnants of an infield can still be seen, and the tower is today in the keeping of Clan Wallace.