Memorial to William McCartney
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Memorial to William McCartney by Lairich Rig as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk

Image: © Lairich Rig Taken: 26 May 2012
This structure is located to the north-east of Image; see that item for the references cited below. There is no longer any identifying text on the memorial itself. The tablet on the right, leaning against the wall, is from the memorial, but its inscription has largely flaked away; only fragments of text are legible ("respect ... [in]dependen[t] ... [t]he 6th day ... 66th [y]"). However, this is the memorial of William McCartney, who was a minister of this church (see [Bruce], pages 125-27, on which the following is based). He was born in 1762, and was the son of a farmer at Mains of Penninghame (Image). He was ordained on the 10th of April, 1794. He insisted that the previous church on this site (an ancient pre-Reformation edifice – see the link at the start of this item for more details) was no longer fit for use, and that a new church be built here (namely, the present church, which was completed in 1812). William McCartney died on the 6th of October, 1828, in his 66th year, and the 35th of his ministry (compare the fragmentary inscription quoted earlier). He had a keen interest in political affairs; in connection with this, he was accused of using "violent language in the pulpit". Bruce describes him as "somewhat eccentric", and recounts several anecdotes suggesting that he was a very pugnacious person. Bruce also mentions that "Mr McCartney was the means of closing up Messrs Edington's Ironworks at Dalnotter" (now spelled Dalnottar); Bruce does not offer any further comment on this topic, and the meaning of his terse statement is unclear. (For one thing, his comment could mean that the minister was involved in the legalities of winding up the company, or it could mean that he was the instigator of its demise. In addition, Bruce may not even be referring to the well-known Dalnottar Ironworks; it is possible that he was referring to some other, possibly short-lived, ironworks in the area. Thomas Edington's name is usually associated with the Cramond Iron Works at Falkirk, not those at Dalnottar, although, to pursue some projects elsewhere (Muirkirk), the Cramond works did form a partnership with those at Dalnottar and Smithfield. Therefore, without further information, I cannot determine what Bruce meant by his comment.)