Editing Beith (section)

==History==
[[File:Beith Auld Kirk and The Cross - geograph.org.uk - 34617.jpg|left|thumb|300px|upright|Beith Auld Kirk and The Cross]]

===Name===
Beith's name is thought to emanate from [[Ogham]], which is sometimes referred to as the "''Celtic Tree Alphabet''", ascribing names of trees to individual letters.  ''Beithe'' in [[Old Irish]] means ''Birch-tree'' (cognate to Latin ''betula''). There is reason to believe that the whole of the district was covered with woods. The town of Beith itself was once known as 'Hill of Beith' as this was the name of the feudal barony and was itself derived from the [[Moot hill|Court Hill]] near [[Hill of Beith Castle]].

Alternatively, Beith may be derived from [[Cumbric]] ''*baɣeδ'', 'boar' ([[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''baedd'').<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/BLITON2016ii_elements.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2016-12-14 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220193503/http://www.spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/BLITON2016ii_elements.pdf |archive-date=2016-12-20 }}></ref> The local pronunciation of the name would favour this theory.

The Wood of Beit, now the 'Moor of Beith', has been identified as an Arthurian site where according to [[Taliessin]] in a poem under the name of 'Canowan' it was the site of a ''battle in the wood of Beit at the close of the day.''<ref>Glennie, John S. Stuart (1869). ''Arthurian Locations''. Edinburgh : Edmonston & Douglas. P. 83</ref>

===Saint Inan===
Beith is said to have been the occasional residence of [[Saint Inan]], a confessor of some celebrity, whose principal place of abode was [[Irvine, North Ayrshire|Irvine]]. He flourished about 839. Although he is said to have been a [[hermit]],<ref name="Saints">{{Cite web|url=http://www.visitdunkeld.com/scottish-saints.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041227035110/http://visitdunkeld.com/scottish-saints.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=27 December 2004|title=Scottish Saints, Tour Scotland.|website=www.visitdunkeld.com}}</ref> according to tradition [[Saint Inan]] often visited Beith, frequenting Cuff Hill with its Rocking Stone and various other prehistoric monuments. A cleft in the west-front of Lochlands Hill is still known as "''St. Inan's Chair''" and said to have been used by the saint as a pulpit.<ref name="Smith83">Smith, John (1895). ''Prehistoric Man in Ayrshire.'' Pub. Elliot Stock. P. 83.</ref>  An unsuccessful search for the saint's writings which were said to be preserved in the library of Bonci, [[Archbishop of Pisa]], was made by Colonel Mure of Caldwell in the 19th century.<ref name="Dobie41">Dobie, James (1876) ''Cunninghame topographised by Timothy Pont'' Pub. John Tweed, Glasgow. P. 41.</ref>

[[Saint Inan]] is said to have preached to the assembled people from the chair on the hill. There was not a great population in the area at that time and the people were located not in Beith, but up on the top of the Bigholm near to the old Beith water [[dam]]s. The first settlements were in the heavily wooded areas around the dams where people were safe from attack and could get food from the land, and fish in the lochs. The Saints of old went where the people were, and they also tended to go where there had been worship of heathen gods. It has been suggested that High Bogside Farm, which used to be called Bellsgrove, was really "''Baalsgrove''", which fits in with the story of [[Saint Inan]] going to where the [[pagan]] gods were.<ref name="Jenny Kerr">{{cite web|url=http://www.beith.org/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=91|title=Beith Online. Jenny Kerr|url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218054955/http://www.beith.org/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=91|archive-date=2012-02-18}}</ref>

There is an annual civic fete held in the town bearing [[Saint Inan]]'s name.

===Alexander Montgomerie===
The sixteenth century poet [[Alexander Montgomerie]] was probably born in Hazelhead (now [[Hessilhead]]) Castle, which is on the outskirts of Beith, beyond [[Gateside, North Ayrshire|Gateside]]. Montgomerie is regarded as one of the finest of [[Middle Scots]] poets, and perhaps the greatest [[Scotland|Scottish]] exponent of the [[sonnet]] form.<ref name="Jack, R.D.S.">Jack, R. D. S., ''Alexander Montgomerie'' (Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1985)</ref>

===Smugglers===
Beith has a historical connection to [[smuggling]] and built a reputation during the 18th century as being a town which harboured those whose intentions were not always lawful. In 1733 forty or fifty Beith smugglers sacked the [[Irvine, North Ayrshire|Irvine]] Customs House, escaping with a rich booty of confiscated contraband goods<ref name="S1_Beith_Witherspoon">{{cite web|url=http://www.s1beith.com/area/beith-bygones.html|title=Jobs in Scotland on s1jobs.com, the number 1 Scottish job site|url-status = usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090713040412/http://www.s1beith.com/area/beith-bygones.html|archive-date=2009-07-13}}</ref> and by 1789 a company of 76 soldiers were quartered in the town dealing with the continuing illicit trade in tea, tobacco, and spirits. This caused great inconvenience to the law-abiding citizens on whom the soldiers were billeted. The town was policed in this fashion for some time thereafter. Hence, the Main Street's popular public house is still called the Smugglers Tavern, recalling the days when Beith's location between the coast and [[Paisley, Renfrewshire|Paisley]] and [[Glasgow]], made it a convenient stopping off point for those involved in nefarious activities.

A possible relic of the smuggling days of Beith is the [[ley tunnel]] that is said to run from Eglinton Street to Kilbirnie Loch.

===Morrishill and James Montgomery===
{{Main|Lands of Morishill}}

Now a small housing estate, the house and land of Morrishill stood a short distance south of Beith.  It commanded an excellent view and was well sheltered with trees.  Owned by Robert Shedden, who purchased the land in 1748,<ref name="History of Cunninghame">''History of the counties of Ayr & Wigton Scotland'': Cunninghame, by [[James Paterson (journalist)|James Paterson]]. {{ISBN|0-7884-1791-6}}</ref> it is notoriously linked to the case of James Montgomery.

James Montgomery, an enslaved [[Ethnic groups of Africa|African]], was brought from [[Virginia]] to Beith by Shedden. He wanted Montgomery, then called "''Shanker''", apprenticed to a joiner so that he would learn a skill and could then be sold for a large profit back in [[Virginia]]. James was trained in carpentry by Robert Morrice, husband of Shedden's sister Elizabeth Montgomery.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Freedom Bound: Escaping Slavery in Scotland|last=Pleece|first=Warren|publisher=BHP Comics|year=2018|isbn=9781910775127|location=Glasgow|pages=126–127}}</ref> When ''Shanker'' was baptised in Beith Parish Church (by the [[#Rev. John Witherspoon|Rev. John Witherspoon]]<ref name=":0" />) with the name James Montgomery in April 1756, Shedden objected. Montgomery was dragged nearly {{convert|30|mi|abbr=off|sigfig=1}} to [[Port Glasgow]] behind horses to be taken back to [[Virginia]] but escaped to [[Edinburgh]] before the ship sailed. Montgomery sought justice but before a decision could be made by judges he died in Tolbooth Gaol.

===Rev. John Witherspoon===
A signatory of the [[American Declaration of Independence]], [[John Witherspoon|the Rev. John Witherspoon]], was a former minister of one its [[Church of Scotland]] parishes between 1745 and 1757.<ref name="S1_Beith_Witherspoon"/><ref name="Declaration of Independence">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/witherspoon.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150607151155/http://www.ushistory.org/Declaration/signers/witherspoon.htm|url-status=dead|title=Signers of the Declaration of Independence: John Witherspoon|archivedate=7 June 2015|website=www.ushistory.org}}</ref> In 1745 he led the men of Beith to Glasgow to defend King George III against the Young Pretender in the '45 rebellion. Despite receiving orders to return to Beith, Witherspoon carried on, was captured at the [[Battle of Falkirk (1746)|Battle of Falkirk]] and imprisoned for a time in [[Doune Castle]].<ref name="S1_Beith_Witherspoon"/> He later emigrated and became a member of the [[US congress]] and in July 1776 he voted for the ''Resolution for Independence''. In answer to an objection that the country was not yet ready for independence, according to tradition, he replied that it "''was not only ripe for the measure, but in danger of rotting for the want of it.''"{{citation needed|date=April 2012}} Witherspoon was also the sixth president of [[Princeton University]] and showed great commitment to liberal education and republican government.<ref name="Witherspoon Institute">{{cite web|url=http://www.winst.org/index.php|title=The Witherspoon Institute|url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100410182134/http://www.winst.org/index.php|archive-date=2010-04-10}}</ref> He died in 1794 on his farm that he had built"''Tusculum,''" just outside [[Princeton, New Jersey|Princeton]], and is buried in the [[Princeton Cemetery]]. –His direct descendants include actress [[Reese Witherspoon]],<ref>Registrar-General, DSDI (www.dsdi1776.com)– confirms that Reese is NOT a descendant of John Witherspoon, the Signer</ref> and he is commemorated by statues in [[Washington D.C.]], [http://www.dcmemorials.com/index_indiv0001640.htm] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141202025835/http://dcmemorials.com/index_indiv0001640.htm |date=2 December 2014 }} at the [[University of the West of Scotland]] in [[Paisley, Renfrewshire|Paisley]], and a plaque, placed by DSDI in 2009 in Beith town centre.

===Robert Tannahill===
The Scottish Poet [[Robert Tannahill]]'s relatives lived at [[Loch Brand|Boghall Farm]] near [[Gateside, North Ayrshire|Gateside]]. His mother, Janet Pollock, came from Boghall although she spent much of her life at the home of her uncle, Hugh Brodie, who farmed at Langcroft at the foot of Calder Glen, near [[Lochwinnoch]].<ref name="LVW">[http://www.lochwinnoch.info/tales/hilltop-cairn.php Lochwinnoch Village Website]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Retrieved 2010-11-24</ref> [[Robert Tannahill]] (3 June 1774 - 17 May 1810), was known as the 'Weaver Poet', his music and poetry is contemporaneous with that of [[Robert Burns]] and they both died when relatively young.

===Henry Faulds===
[[Henry Faulds]], the originator of the concept of forensic use of [[fingerprint]]ing, was born in Beith in 1843. A well-travelled man, he explained the suitability of [[fingerprint]]ing for the identification of criminals and also wrote to [[Charles Darwin]] to forward his ideas. The letter was never published and he died in 1930, aged 86, bitter at the lack of recognition he had received for his work. His work in [[Japan]] is remembered by a memorial stone in [[Tokyo]].<ref name="Faulds Tokyo Memorial">{{cite web|url=http://www.oninonin.com/fp/faulds_memorial.html|title=Henry Faulds' Memorial in Japan|first=Ed|last=German|access-date=10 April 2010|archive-date=7 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207064654/http://www.oninonin.com/fp/faulds_memorial.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2007 a memorial was also placed in view in ''Woolstanton'' near to St Margaret's churchyard, where he was laid to rest.<ref name=Faulds>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/faulds_henry.shtml|title=BBC - History - Henry Faulds|website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

On 12 November 2004 a substantial memorial stone with interpretation plaques were dedicated to his memory in Beith town centre close to the site of the house in New Street where he was born.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Garnock Valley Family History Group|year=2015|title=Henry Faulds. Pioneer of Fingerprinting 1843-1930|publisher=Beith Cultural & Historical society|page= 10}}</ref>

===Robert Aitken===
[[Robert Aitken's new Parish Atlas of Ayrshire. 1829.|Aitken]] was a land surveyor and cartographer who published in Beith a New Parish Atlas of Ayrshire in 1829.