Old Beliefs

There is plenty of folk-lore to confirm that fairies and urisks (brownies) were recognised natives of Kenmore parish, and a number of place-names still speak of this belief. Superstitions of all kinds were rife and most
troublesome was the continuing belief in witchcraft. There were many cases of libel dealt with by the Kirk Session,and it would appear that most of those related to accusations by one party that another was causing them some distress by practising charms or witchcraft of one form or another. If the cow did not give enough milk,or the butter didn’t churn,the blame was put on some ill-disposed neighbour’s charms or enchantments. With the advance of education these superstitions gradually died away, but beliefs in charms and “cures” persisted. A “cure” for sick animals was “to take water in God’s name from a stream over which the living passed and the dead were carried”. The water was put into a pail along with a silver coin and the water then sprinkled on the affected animal. It was the custom at funerals coming from the Acharn districts, for the mourners to walk behind the cortege until the hearse had crossed the
Remony burn. Within living memory, a mother was advised by an old woman to take water from beneath that bridge at midnight to give to a child with a deep and persistent cough. The old beliefs and superstitions die hard.

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