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F - Friskin
In 1040 King Duncan led a force against Macbeth, but was killed and buried at Elgin (later buried on Iona.)
Duncan's son was Malcolm Canmore (great chief - or even 'big head' in Gaelic!) Malcolm then tried to reach temporary safe refuge in southern Scotland. This is where history becomes legend. Local tales say that he owned the castle of Corsehill (also Crosshill) outside Stewarton, but evidence is sadly lacking on this.
Malcolm Canmore
King Harthacanute
The story then goes that MacBeth's men were almost upon Malcolm when he saw a peasant called Friskin (or Friskine), turning hay in a field nearby. Friskin was persuaded to hide Malcolm Canmore by covering him with hay until the danger passed.
Malcolm then escaped to England with Friskin as a retainer. King Harthacanute of England (and Norway) gave them protection. When Harthacanute died, his successor King Edward the Confessor gave Malcolm an army which permitted him to conquer Scotland and kill King Macbeth in 1057
The grateful King Malcolm III then gave Friskin the Thanedom, or Bailliery, of Cuninghame and the family took this name, together with the motto of 'Over Fork Over' which they retain to this day.
So this explains why we have a Canmore Place in Stewarton, whether the story be true or not, but
no-one seems to have remembered Friskin - that is the way it goes in History!
Another version of the story stated by Frederick van Bassen, a learned Norwegian,is that the saviour of Malcolm was actually a Malcolm, son of Friskin, however in other respects the story is the same.
The first recorded Freskin in Scotland was granted lands in Morayshire and is supposed to be the founder of Friskin or Freskin which is a Flemish name and many Flemings were granted lands in Scotland in the early days of feudalism.
If you really want a legend, visit Glamis Castle where the Guild informed us that Shakespeare got his idea for Macbeth when he visited Glamis on his way to Aberdeen!!
Corsehill Today
Old Print of Corsehill Castle
F - John Fulton 1800 to 1853
Another innovator from this area was a cobbler from Fenwick, John Fulton who was largely self-taught and experimented in several areas. He successfully assembled and a working model of the solar system which was purchased by the philosophical Society of Kilmarnock and exhibited in towns around Scotland and England. The creation of the Orrery won him a medal awarded by the Scottish Society of Arts along with a prize of 10 sovereigns. His technical skills brought him employment in London where he worked for a film which produced scientific instruments for the King William IV. Ill health forced John to abandon his professional activities and return to Fenwick where he died in 1853. Largely self taught he studied botany, learned several foreign languages and constructed a velocipede or early bicycle. He also experimented with the production of Coal Gas but astronomy held a particular fascination for him. He followed his father in the trade as a cobbler. Fulton was typical of a breed of technical innovators whose imagination and skill drove forward the Industrial Revolution.
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