In the old Churchyard of Barony, Dysart, lying on the ground and broken into four pieces, is a broken mural tablet. This inscribed tablet was raised by Cumberland Watt to his daughter Agnes Mary who died as a bairn in 1854. The mural tablet would have been originally mounted in a fine architectural pedimented casement.
When I first saw this broken mural and the inscription I felt such sadness. I felt that Agnes Mary needed to be remembered, not as broken but as the beautiful daughter that she was to her parents, Cumberland and Julia Watt.
June 1847:
May 1854:
The Watt family lived in a house on East Quality Street, Dysart. It once led to the old burial ground:
Quality Street, the Ordnance Survey Book records, was so-called because “its houses were inhabited by a better class of person than adjacent streets”.
Cumberland Watt came from a farming family that had worked the farms of Balbarton for over 300 years:
Cumberland Watt did not continue this tradition as he became Manager of Dysart Colliery:
Cumberland Watt remained a fine horticulturalist:
Cumberland Watt was widely respected:
Cumberland Watt did all that he could for those less fortunate than himself:
Cumberland Watt was noted for his singing :
In my mind I can hear Cumberland Watt singing to his daughter Agnes Mary before she goes to sleep.
