City of Stirling

As a Charitable Institution Cowane's Hospital is one of the oldest charities in Stirling if not in Scotland. In Stirling Cowane's is pre-dated by some 87 years by Spittal's Hospital.

Our benefactor John Cowane was born around 1570 and was a contemporary of Guy Fawkes. The Cowane family were one of the best known merchant families in the Stirling area.

Several interesting notelets and books have been written about the life of John Cowane and all available evidence suggests that John Cowane started his apprenticeship in his fathers booth on Broad Street. After some time as a merchant John Cowane decided that life would be more advantageous to him if he became a money lender. This activity brought our benefactor great wealth and he then invested in several shipping ventures which it is understood gave him the opportunity to travel abroad. Some unkind persons have stated that our benefactor was a pirate or at best a privateer but there appears to be little evidence to support this suggestion which no doubt was put forward by those who were obviously jealous of his position and wealth.

Not only was John Cowane a successful and wealthy merchant he was a Town Councillor for some time, became a member of Parliament for Stirling in the Scots Parliament and was also elected Dean of Guild in October of 1624.

Although John Cowane did not marry he fathered a son. This fact can be ascertained from the records of the Kirk Session of the Holy Rude Kirk in Stirling who fined John Cowane the sum of £6.00 for his offence. The poor woman who not only suffered the indignity of being an unmarried mother in 1611 was fined by the Kirk Session for her indiscretion and ordered to do public penance. It would appear that John Cowane was able to "buy out" his penance as there is no record of him being required to make any public demonstration of his repentance.

Apart from this official record in the Kirk Session very little is known about John Cowane's life other than the fact that he remained a bachelor throughout his life, and resided with his sister Agnes in the property which is now known as John Cowane's House. This property having been built in 1603 the property is now a ruin, however, it was saved from the ravages of town improvement when it was purchased by the Hospital in 1924.

Apart from his money lending and shipping activities John Cowane was also a substantial landlord in Stirling and records shown that he was an extremely cruel landlord and often evicted widows and their families for non payment of rent upon the death of the bread winner. This would seem to be at odds with his extremely generous bequest to the town, however, as the bequest was made on his death bed it may be that while he was dying John Cowane was suffering pangs of conscience and wished to make amends before he met his maker. John Cowane passed away in 1633 and in terms of his death bed will he appointed his brother, Alexander Cowane, as his heir and executor. One of the terms of his death bed will was to bequest 40,000 merks to be invested in land or in annual rent for the building of a Hospital or Almshouse within the Burgh of Stirling.

Cowane's Hospital was formally constituted by a Deed of Foundation signed on 13th February, 1637 between Alexander Cowane, and The Provost, Magistrates and Councillors of the Burgh of Stirling and the First Minister of Stirling. In terms of the Deed of Foundation the Almshouse to be constructed in terms thereof "is to be known at all times as Cowane's Hospital".

In terms of the Deed of Foundation Alexander Cowane conveyed certain lands and gifted the additional sum of 3,400 merks to the Provost, Magistrates and Councillors of the Burgh of Stirling and the Minister of the Holy Rude and their successors in office in order that they demolish certain houses on part of the land conveyed to them and build a sufficient almshouse thereon for sustaining a certain number of decayed Guild Brethern - an exclusive Almshouse which differed from Spittal's Hospital which was established in 1550 for the construction of an Almshouse to cater not only for members of the Guildry but also members of the Seven Incorporate Trades.

Work to construct the Hospital began shortly after the Deed of Foundation was signed. The year 1637 found Scotland in the middle of the Wars of the Covenant. The initial works in 1637 consisted of the demolition of certain old houses on the Hospital site and the laying of the foundations of the Hospital. The Patrons Minutes for 1637 detail that the work to demolish the property began on the 8th May, 1637 and that £4.00 in wages was paid to a Mr James Rynd to cover him for the work he carried out between the 7th and 14th May.

Work to construct the Hospital progressed slowly and the building was not completed until 1643. The Patrons Minutes are very unclear as to why there was such a delay, however, the fact that the Bishops War and the Civil War were ongoing at that time may account for the shortage not only of building materials but of labour. Most of the stone used to construct the Hospital was quarried locally and some (as with the Earl of Mar in the construction of Mars Wauk) were taken from the now ruined Abbey at Cambuskenneth. After completion in 1643 the three storeyed building which contained seven twin bedrooms was not put to its initial charitable uses. For some reason it appears that the property may have remained empty until at least 1661 when the Master of Cowane's was ordered by the Patrons to repair the Hospital. The busiest period of use for the Hospital as an almshouse was between the years 1671 and 1700. By 1720 the reluctance of pensioners to enter the Hospital is detailed in the Minutes. The strict rules in force at the Hospital may have had some adverse affect upon the willingness of pensioners to reside within the Hospital. In addition the receipt of out pensions ensured that pensioners could reside within their own houses and remain with their families.

Some of the rules of the Hospital are as detailed below:

(1)    For failing to attend the Church on the Lords Day in the morning and in the afternoon and failing to attend on week days a fine of some 4s.

(2)    Any swearing, abuse, scolding or any other uncivil conduct towards to the overseer of the Hospital resulted in a fine of 5s8d for each individual transgression.

(3)    Any inmate found abusing or damaging bedclothes or other furnishings in the rooms was to be punished by the Magistrate, the Dean of Guild and the Minister!!!!

(4)    No hospital inmate was permitted to marry in fear of eviction. Inmates would also be evicted if they committed the offence of fornication.

(5)    Any inmate who was outwith the Hospital after 9pm at night in the summer months would be fined the sum of 2s for each transgression or if they remained our for the whole of the night a fine of 6s would be imposed.

(6)    Drink was completely banned and on a first offence a defaulter would be fined 6s8d for a second offence 10s and for a third offence 13s4d and if they continued to commit further offences then the penalty would be at the discretion of the Magistrates.

These rules do indeed seem somewhat harsh and the penalties imposed out of all proportion to any offences that may have been caused in some instances, particularly when one keeps in mind the fact that the pensioners had come to the Almshouse for assistance because they were penniless and destitute.

Some other entries in the Patrons records are quite fascinating as they not only evidence the fact that the Patrons were keen to help as many people as possible in the early days but they also provide an insight in to the culture that existed in the late 1600's and 1700's. For example in 1661 a rather curious entry in the Minutes shows that a Jean Stoddart, spouse to Walter Dixon, was given £48.00 Scots, to enable her to carry her child up to London to be touched by His Majesty for curing the King's Evil!

Returning once more to the harsh rules that existed in relation to the pensioners certain entries in the Minutes show that on occasions allowances/pensions were stopped for some rather curious reasons. In 1715 during the first Jacobite Rising a pensioner had his allowance stopped as he refused to keep guard on the town at night. One wonders if the poor pensioner was concerned that if he was out to after 9 o'clock he would have been fined for not being in the Hospital, and if he had stayed out all night guarding the town he would have incurred a further fine! In 1724 a pensioner was advised that he would receive a pension from the Hospital provided he sent his two daughters out of the Burgh boundaries in the first place. If the daughters ever returned then the pension would stop. This rather curious restriction was lifted at a later Patrons meeting when common sense prevailed.

By 1869 Cowane's had a total of 142 pensioners on its books. At present Cowane's Pensioners number only 7.

The Hospital has been put to many uses since the last pensioners resided therein in the early part of the 1700's. In 1724 partitions were removed from the two upper floors and the Hospital has been used since that time as a meeting place for the Guildry (hence sometimes the Hospital is referred as being the Guildhall). In 1832 Stirling suffered from a Cholera epidemic that was sweeping the land and the epidemic claimed approximately one third of the population of Stirling Burgh. The Hospital was used during the epidemic as an isolation ward for chronic cases. In 1852 the original ceiling of the Hospital was removed and conversions put in place which made the Hospital in to a large single hall which is still in use to the present day. Until recent times the Hospital was used as a museum until security problems necessitated the removal of the items on display. Presently the only items of merit contained within the Hall (apart from the Hall itself and its furnishings and fittings) are the portraits of many of the past Deans of the Guildry.

By the late 1800's the Patrons had purchased large areas of ground in and around Stirling and the prudence of these Patrons has reaped benefits in passing years. The contract to dispose of Muirton Farm will ensure that the Patrons 355 years of good work will continue for many years to come.