The jougs, juggs, or joggs (Old French : joug, from Latin iugum, a yoke) is a metal collar formerly used as an instrument of punishment in Scotland, the Netherlands and other countries. When the soldiers of Oliver Cromwell's army occupied Scotland they were horrified at the church using such a punishment, and many were removed from church walls and destroyed. [1]
The jougs was an iron collar fastened by a short chain to a wall, often of the parish church, or to a tree or mercat cross. The collar was placed round the offender's neck and fastened by a padlock. [2] Time spent in the jougs was intended to shame an offender publicly. Jougs were used for ecclesiastical as well as civil offences. Some surviving examples can still be seen in their original locations in Scottish towns and villages. Jougs may be the origin of the later slang word "jug", meaning prison.
Sir Walter Scott rescued the jougs from Threave Castle in Kirkcudbrightshire and attached them to the castellated gateway he built at Abbotsford House. [3]
In Stewarton, East Ayrshire, the jougs were attached to the old bridge that crossed the burn and connected to the drive that ran up to Corsehill House.
The Sanquhar Tolbooth Museum in the Nith valley has jougs attached to the wall just outside the entrance to the old gaol.
The jougs at Sorn Kirk were stolen in the 1930s, but located and returned. Cuthbertson refers to the jougs as "symbols of the session's power against gossips and evil-doers". [4] [5]
The jougs at Kilallan Kirk near Kilmacolm were stolen and by chance retrieved and donated to the local museum. A story is told of a lady of short stature who was placed in the jougs; however, she fell off the box and was strangled, as the chain was too short for her. [6]
The jougs on the Isle of Cumbrae survive, attached to a gatepost at the entrance to the Millport Old Cemetery. [7]
The "Clachan Oak" is an ancient sessile oak near Balfron in Stirlingshire. It can still be seen bearing metal bands around its trunk to which jougs were once attached for the restraint and humiliation of petty criminals. [8]
Mr. Carse of the Shawhill Estate protected a fine old thorn tree that grew at the Hurlford Bridge end by attaching a pair of jougs to it, made by David Brown the local blacksmith. These were never used, but acted as a deterrent to local children who might have harmed the tree. [9]
Ayrshire is a historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety of the historic county as well as the island of Arran, formerly part of the historic county of Buteshire. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire to the north-east, Dumfriesshire to the south-east, and Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire to the south. Like many other counties of Scotland, it currently has no administrative function, instead being sub-divided into the council areas of East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire. It has a population of approximately 366,800.
East Ayrshire is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. The headquarters of the council are located on London Road, Kilmarnock. With South Ayrshire and the mainland areas of North Ayrshire, it formed the former county of Ayrshire.
Hurlford is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland, situated on the outskirts of Kilmarnock, the largest and administrative centre of East Ayrshire and East Ayrshire Council. It has a population of 4,968. Hurlford's former names include Whirlford and Hurdleford. The village was named Whirlford as a result of a ford crossing the River Irvine east of Hurlford Cross, near Shawhill. It shares its name in Gaelic, Baile Àtha Cliath with the Irish capital Dublin. The census locality is called Hurlford and Crookedholm.
Kilmaurs is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland which lies just outside of the largest settlement in East Ayrshire, Kilmarnock. It lies on the Carmel Water, 21 miles southwest of Glasgow. Population recorded for the village in the 2001 Census recorded 2,601 people resided in the village It was in the Civil Parish of Kilmaurs.
Lambroughton is a village in the old Barony of Kilmaurs, Scotland. This is a rural area famous for its milk and cheese production and the Ayrshire or Dunlop breed of cattle.
The River Irvine is a river that flows through southwest Scotland. Its watershed is on the Lanarkshire border of Ayrshire at an altitude of 810 feet (250 m) above sea-level, near Loudoun Hill, Drumclog, and 7 miles SW by W of Strathaven. It flows 29+1⁄2 mi (47.5 km) westward, dividing the old district of Cunninghame from that of Kyle, until it reaches the sea via Irvine Harbour in the form of the Firth of Clyde, and flows into Irvine Bay by the town of Irvine. It has many tributaries, some of which form parish, district and other boundaries.
Riccarton is a village and parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It lies across the River Irvine from Kilmarnock, this river forming the boundary between Riccarton and Kilmarnock parishes, and also between the historical districts of Kyle and Cunningham. The name is a corruption of 'Richard's town', traditionally said to refer to Richard Wallace, the uncle of Sir William Wallace. The parish also contains the village of Hurlford.
Kilmaurs Place, The Place or Kilmaurs House, is an old mansion house and the ruins of Kilmaurs Tower grid reference NS41234112 are partly incorporated, Kilmaurs, East Ayrshire, Scotland. The house stands on a prominence above the Carmel Water and has a commanding view of the surrounding area. Once the seat of the Cunningham Earls of Glencairn, it ceased to be the main residence after 1484 when Finlaystone became the family seat. Not to be confused with Kilmaurs Castle that stood on the lands of Jocksthorn Farm.
Kilmaurs Castle was located on the lands of Jocksthorn Farm, near Kilmaurs in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is described by Timothy Pont in the early 17th century as "Ye castell is ane ancient ftronge building belonging to ye Earls of Glencairne environed with a fair park called Carmell wod from ye vatter of Carmell yat runs by it." Dobie goes on to state that "The old baronial manor place is supposed to have been situated about a mile south-east of Kilmaurs, where some ruins can still be pointed out on the farm of Jakisthorn or Jock's-thorn, probably the original Villam de Cuninghame - the first possession of the family." The castle is not to be confused with the later Cunninghame family possession known as Kilmaurs Place which Dobie calls "..comparatively modern" in 1876.
Little Cumbrae Castle sits on Castle Island or Allin Tuirail from the Scottish Gaelic: eilean tùr nan uaislean meaning "islet of the nobles' tower", a small tidal island situated off the east coast of Little Cumbrae, in the Firth of Clyde. It is designated as a scheduled monument.
A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scottish burgh, from medieval times until the 19th century. The tolbooth usually provided a council meeting chamber, a court house and a jail. The tolbooth was one of three essential features in a Scottish burgh, along with the mercat cross and the kirk (church).
The Lands of Tour and Kirkland (NS416406) formed a small estate close to the old Kirktoun and St Maurs-Glencairn collegiate church about 1 km south-east of Kilmaurs, East Ayrshire, Parish of Kilmaurs, Scotland. The word 'Tour' in Scots refers to a 'tower' and 'kirk' to a parish church.
St Fillan's Kirk, Seat and Well are located in the hamlet of Kilallan, once the main religious centre of the ancient parish of Kilallan or Killellan, close to Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire, Scotland. The old parish was united with Houston in 1760 although the church saw occasional use until 1771. The ruins of the kirk are a scheduled monument and the surrounding graveyard is a Listed Building. The ruins stand some 4 miles (6 km) west of the centre of Houston, just off the Kilallan Road.
St Peter's Well is a rare surviving example of a holy well house or covered well that was built over the waters of a spring in a field below Greenhill Farm, located off Chapel Road near Houston in Renfrewshire, parish of Houston and Kilellan, south-west Scotland.
Craigie is a small village and parish of 6,579 acres in the old district of Kyle, now South Ayrshire, four miles south of Kilmarnock, Scotland. This is mainly a farming district, lacking in woodland, with a low population density, and only one village. In the 19th century, high quality lime was quarried here with at least three sites in use in 1832.
Lawthorn is a hamlet near Perceton in Strathannick, Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland. The settlement lies on the old Irvine to Stewarton toll road.
The Glencairn Aisle or Glencairn Vault at Kilmaurs, East Ayrshire is a Category B Listed vaulted sepulchral chapel. Built as a place for private contemplation and prayer, it also contains a large memorial monument, as well as the burial crypt of the Cunningham Earls of Glencairn and their family members. An 'aisle' is defined as a structure normally attached to a church, which may have burial crypt below, a family pew above, and sometimes a retiring room, as at the Glencairn Aisle.
The Kennedy Aisle or Bargany Aisle at Ballantrae, South Ayrshire is a vaulted burial chamber and crypt containing a large mural memorial, the Kennedy Monument, an ornately carved stone monument dated to between 1602 and 1605 that commemorates Gilbert Kennedy of Bargany and Ardstinchar, his wife, Janet or Jean Stewart, who died in 1605 and three of their children.
The Kilmaurs Tolbooth, also known as The Jougs, is a municipal building on Main Street in Kilmaurs in Scotland. The building, which is local landmark, is a Category A listed building.
