THE BLACK BULL INN

Recently a set of accounts was discovered for the erection of this house, fixing its date as 1679. When Cumbernauld house was built in 1731, the town house became the Black bull Inn, encouraged in this respect by the Wigtons, who saw in it a place to cater for the odd guest who could not be accommodated in Cumbernauld house. As an Inn it achieved a mention in the history books as the place in which Lord George Murray spent a night during the Jacobite army's march from Glasgow to Stirling, and was well known as a superior class of hostelry in later years.

For long its exact position in the village had been lost sight of until, a few years ago, it was unexpectedly re-discovered. In the summer of 1966, Messrs Peter Johnston (Builders) Ltd, were pulling down a mid 19th century house at number 61 Main Street (see above picture) to make way for a new building when, at ground floor level, they discovered the head of what was apparently a flight of stairs. The Historical society obtained a stand still order for a week from the proprietors, the Cumbernauld Development Corporation, and the site was investigated, Messrs Johnston's staff Co operating fully.

The stairs as they proved to be, descended a full storey into a cellar which had been filled with rammed Earth in the mid 19th century to allow for the houses being built above. Coins of that period were found in the fill.

The cellar was 4.6m square and had arched recesses in the side of walls from which well constructed drainage channels led to another doorway, blocked up and previously admitting to another house further down the long Riggs at the rear.

18th and early 19th century coins were found in the drains and on the cellar's beaten earth floor. The hinge pins of the cellar door were of 17th century type. The recesses were, in fact, ice boxes, indicating that the cellar was of considerable pretensions and well able to cater for a Nobleman's needs.

Its later usage was demonstrated by a large quantity of broken wine bottles in one corner, left there when the earth was piled on top. The cellar, clearly, was none other than that of the long forgotten Inn. This site has now been back filled and the new house erected on top.