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a very early painting of unknown origin

Welcome to Woodside

Woodside has been our family home since 1957. 

It was purchased from the Duchess of Hamilton by our late grandfather- Air Vice Marshal Ronald Graham (1) - upon his retirement as first Commandant of the Scottish Police at Tulliallan Castle- a position that afforded him great sway in shaping the training that Scottish police experience today.  Why he even designed their insignia himself!

 (1a)

Upon taking residence here he was appointed Lord Lieutenant for the County of Bute (of which Arran was a part at that time) by the Queen, a position he held until his death in 1967.  His gravestone is situated in the nearby Sannox Graveyard - a huge engraved granite boulder facing the sea rather than to the hills – a trend-setter even in these matters!

It was he and his devoted wife Nancy (known as “Grancy” to us) who were responsible for the lay out of the informal gardens that survive to this day.  You will find many items in the cottage from their time spent stationed abroad during his long and distinguished military career. Add to these those gifted to us by our own parents who also travelled widely, and the result is a unique and facinating home in which to reside.

Prior to 1956 the cottage was home to the Estate Gamekeeper Mr.Fraser whose love of the countryside resulted in some notable contributions to local natural history records.  And in the very early part of the last century the cottage served as a home for the butler (and family) who served in Sannox House - the large property on the hill behind -  - that a Mr. Coates (of Paisely thread making fame) leased from the Estate along with this cottage. You may descern many echoing features in their construction. To this day, some folk can just recall Woodside being renamed "The Butler's Cottage" during this time.    

Mr. Coates was extremely rich and owned perhaps the very first private steam pleasure yacht on the Clyde. He was not only a very enterprising businessman, but also responsible for the earliest scientific expeditions to the Antarctic sponsoring the steamship "SCOTIA".  We believe he was responsible for the stone steps leading up from the beach at the bottom of the garden - constructed so that his well-to-do retinue could be suitably welcomed ashore (taking some fortifying beverage at the cottage no doubt!) before making their way across the fields and up to Sannox House itself.

At this time Woodside was thatched and sat in an open field backed by the then mighty Sannox Wood consisting of cultivated Oaks and Scots Pine interspersed with glades of self-seeded Hazel, Alder, Birch and teeming with wildlife.  The still significant remnants of this woodland provides the backdrop for the cottage today.  

Not long after the completion of Sannox  Church in 1828 it is thought the cottage (or at least one part of it) may have been built by a crofter and local boat builder by the name of John McKillop who was great uncle to Alasdair McKillop who gifted our mother the old black and white photos of Woodside thatched and who later came here to celebrate his 100th birthday in 2004!).  You will pass the church on the way up the drive to Woodside. (2)

   Sannox Congregational Church

Please visit it.  There you’ll find a window commissioned by our late mother Jane (Graham) Williams in memory of our father John Heathcote Williams -  whose own father had been a Congregational Minister. 

Footnotes

(1) If you find yourself visiting Edinburgh Castle, in the armoury museum is to be found the bullet-ridden mahogany propeller from one of his WW1 planes .  He was downed on more than one occasion during the conflict due to enemy fire or engine failure (or both!) - of particular interest is when he came down into the Channel in his Sopwith Baby bi-plane in 1916.  Scribbling a message as to where he could be found, he attached it to the leg of his carrier pidgeon (pilots had with them for just such a contigency - the equivalent to a mobile in those days!) he released it to fly back to base and subsequently rescued.  So, without the valiant efforts of this wonderful bird, none of us might exist today!

A sepia photograph of this remarkable bird hangs in the cottage beneaath the portrait of "The AVM" (as grandpa was known locally)

(1a)  In 1957 Lord Lyon, King of Arms, assigned a Coat of Arms to the Scottish Police College at the request of the Secretary of State for Scotland.  The design incorporates a thistle, surmounted by a crown on a diced saltire cross, accompanied by two open books on a black background and supported by two oystercatchers.  The motto is 'Bi-Glic Bi-Glic' which represents the cry of the oystercatchers and may be translated from the Gaelic as "Be wise-Be circumspect!"

This is the original sketch by Grandpa from which the signia was derived.  He chose oystercatchers for the coat of arms for two reasons: firstly, to continue the tradition of service colleges incorporating a bird into their coat of arms (the Royal Navy had adopted a pelican for this purpose, the Army had used an owl and the Royal Air Force a hawk.) and because these Scottish birds have a legendary reputation for compassion.

It is said that Saint Bride, fleeing during a period of Christian persecution, fell exhausted on the seashore.  The oystercatchers, seeing her predicament, covered her with seaweed so that her pursuers passed by without finding her. Saint Bride blessed the birds because they had saved her life and the sign of the cross appeared on their backs. Thereafter, oystercatchers became known as Saint Bride's Birds.

(We also know more whimsically, that grandpa secretly felt an oystercatcher resembled a bobby on the beat strolling forward hands behind its back!)

   If you are reading this on-line, you can visit a military biography of "Grandpa" at:
http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Graham_R.htm#Top

(2)  It is more than poignant that these Sannox folk were, shortly after completing it, “persuaded” to leave for Canada by the then Estate in what is referred to as “The Clearances” – an emotive general push throughout the Highlands and Islands to replace an old communal crofting way of life with a more intensive competitive (and thereby profitable) practice in response to the temptations of a new market to feed the increasing hungry mouths of growing cities at the start of the Industrial Revolution.  It has also been referred to in some circles as "agricultural reform".

(3) It was claimed in "former times", that if someone dared to shout at the Blue Rock Cliff in English, the echo came back in Gaelic!

        Some maps show the remnants of what is called “Viking Fort” or even “Vitrified Fort” on top of this promontory, but there is nothing to be seen today.  It may have been the site for a much earlier stone and timber laced lookout fortification built by Pictish Iron Age peoples perhaps between 500BC and 500AD.

"Vitrification" is the partial melting of rock under intense heat and some vitrified material was discovered on this site.  One theory is that it resulted from the original timber laced structure collapsing after being set alight - and it is certainly feasible that attackers could have been marauding vikings.  Certainly the Norsemen are known to have had a significant turbulent presence in this area (and may also have settled) over many centuries from around 700AD until the Battle of Largs (just across the water) in 1260.  Had you been gasing out from this part of Arran then you would have beheld a fleet of over 200 longboats passing the headland! 

"Sannox" like so many other place names on the island is of Norse origin and is derived from "Sandvik" meaning a sandy bay - probably to discribe a good place to safely beach and draw up their longboats.