Burial plot beside Renton Trinity Church

Image: © Lairich Rig Taken: 29 Aug 2016

The area as a whole is shown in Image, and the church, just to the south of here, is shown in Image and Image The present view focuses on the small burial ground. The gravestone is that of Mr Alexander Wylie of the Cordale and Dillichip Works, and resident of Cordale House (now long gone), and of two of his sisters and a brother. The inscription is as follows: "Sacred to the memory of Alexander Wylie of Cordale died 13th February 1921; and of his sisters and brother: Agnes Wylie died 1st September 1909; Hugh Wylie died 30th June 1914; Mary Fulton Wylie died 3rd December 1924." Amongst the cuttings in Dumbarton Library is a page written by Hugh McColl (it is not apparent whether it is an extract from a longer work or not), which provides more information about the circumstances of their burial here; my own comments are in square brackets: in July 1909, Alexander Wylie had approached the church's minister Gordon Quigg [elsewhere spelled Quig and Cuig] and the Trustees of Renton Parish Church stating that he would like to have the special privilege of having a burial ground for his family in the church grounds, on the north side. They in turn contacted the Procurator of the Church of Scotland, the County Council of Dunbarton, Col. Telfer-Smollett (the Ground Superior), and neighbouring proprietors. None of them had objections to Mr Wylie's proposal. McColl's account also records a curious detail about the gravestone itself: when it was later being cleaned, the monumental sculptor noticed a mistake ("Febuary"), but was able to correct it. The library also has, among its cuttings, a family tree of the Wylies of Cordale. Alexander's parents were John Wylie, a colour-mixer who was born in Balfron, and who came to this area in about 1835, and Marion Kinloch, born in Bonhill in 1817/18. They were married in Bonhill in 1839. An account of Alexander Wylie's life can be found on pages 20–24 of Donald MacLeod's "Historic Families, Notable People, and Memorabilia of the Lennox" (1891), and I refer readers to that work for more details. See also Image - - • - - In 1880, he married Annie Mylrea, who was born in Waterloo, near Liverpool, and who died after only three years of marriage, aged just 27, on the 16th of November 1883. She is not buried here (this churchyard did not yet exist): her gravestone is, instead, in the churchyard of Image; she was an attached member of the congregation there. A few hours after taking the present picture, I paid a very quick visit to the kirkyard of Cardross Old Parish Church, while passing through the village; as it turned out, I came across that gravestone almost immediately, without having to look for it. Its inscription is as follows: "In memory of Annie Mylrea Wylie wife of Alex. Wylie of Cordale who died 16th Nov 1883 aged 27 years. To relieve the poor and needy, to minister by the beds of the sick and suffering, to gladden and elevate Renton. 'She hath done what she could' –Mark xiv.8" A summary of her life and her charitable works is given by Donald MacLeod on pages 104-109 of his "Dumbarton, Vale of Leven, and Loch Lomond" (1884). In her brief life, she had done much for the people of Renton. Her gravestone (which I photographed, although I have elected not to use the pictures for this site) is described on page 63 of MacLeod's "Historic Families ..." (1891), a work that I have already cited above; the stone is about seven feet high, and is of Gothic design, shaped as a pointed arch, made of white Sicilian marble upon a step of grey granite. The memorial sculptors are Messrs J & G Mossman, Glasgow. Annie Mylrea was born on the 14th of January 1856; she was the daughter of the Liverpool merchant Philip Mylrea. For anyone who wishes to more about her genealogy, a good resource is http://www.mylrea.com.au/ (the Mylrea Resources website), where (as of September 2016) the relevant PDF document, written by Diana Banks, is in the "Mylrea Stories" section, and has the title "Edward Mylrea snr (Lonan) 1743-1784". Annie Mylrea is also commemorated, in a different way, not far from the spot where this picture was taken: Alexander Street (Image), running south from Renton Trinity Church, has, on its western side, opposite a Masonic Hall (Image), a red sandstone building upon which is inscribed the name "Mylrea Place": Image - - • - - An aside: as noted above, the small burial plot shown in the present picture, which was for the Wylie family, is the only one in the churchyard of Renton Trinity Church; however, outside the churchyard, but only about 150 metres to the south-east of this spot, was an even more exclusive plot: as J Agnew observed in "The Story of the Vale of Leven" (1976), "like the Island of Bute, Renton possesses a one-man burial ground, but unlike Bute, shows no public interest in it". The reference is to the tomb of George Scott (now broken up), which was shown on early OS maps, and for which, see Image

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