Series 3 > Court book of the Burgh of Kirkintilloch 1658-1694

Ixxx KIRKINTILLOCH BURGH COURT BOOK
istics for the previous periods, can best be set forth in
tabular form :
Creations of Burghs of Barony and Regality
Formal
Viable
1450-1560
1561-1660
1661-1707
erections Burghs
115 95
125 75
110 40
Burghs ’
20
50
70
Totals
350
210
140
While these figures are, because of the many marginal
cases, doubts and obscurities, mere approximations, they
do show the broad trends of the times. With the Restora¬
tion the number of burgh erections increased sharply, to
reach a rate well above two a year. But alas ! for the
visions of the planners : most of these new towns were
‘ ghost burghs ’, unknown in the districts which they were
supposed to grace and to serve.
The Citadels of Leith (1662) and of Ayr (1663) were
among these nominal burghs of the Restoration period, as
were Caringtoun in Midlothian (1664) and Rutherford,
alias Capehope (1666) 1; later we hear of Clerkington, or
Nicolson, or Rosebery, or Ancrum (1669), of Wester
Duddingston (1673), of Redford (1683), of Melfort (1688),
of Covesea, Deskford and Heron (all in 1698), and of at
least a dozen other non-corporeal burghs between that date
and the Union.2 Once again, it is true, we must be on
guard against an excessively cavalier attitude to these
chartered municipalities, for some that we might be dis¬
posed to dismiss as ‘ unlikely ’ did in fact come into being.
For example, we have unchallengeable evidence about the
bailie of the Hilltown of Dundee, or Rottenraw, in 1672,
about the fairs, markets and courts of Tarbolton in 1673,
1 R.M.S., xi, 239, 506, 671, 929. For a further comment on ‘ Mont-
gomeriestoun ’, or Citadel of Ayr, see Collections of Ayrshire Archaeol. and
Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. 4 (1958), p. 34.
2 For these and many other detaUs, see Bute, Baronial Burghs, sub voc.