The tomb (NS 8177 7728) is 155m south of Lochgreen House.
In 1738 William Spiers was one of the leading dissenting Elders in the Parish of Falkirk responsible for creating the first secession church in that parish. In this he was supported by his brother Robert and many of the other Elders, with a number of the congregation. The first record of the new congregation is the minute of the meeting on 23 February 1739 at Lochgreen:
“Which day and place the Associate Session of Falkirk met: were present the Revd. Ebenezer Erskine, Minr. of the Gospell at Stirling, Modr., Michael Muirhead, John Callendar, Thos. Kater, Walter Scot, William Spears, Robert Spears, Robert Ruchat, Thos. Henderson and James Arthur, Elders.”
In June of the same year a public sermon and baptism by Ebenezer Erskine took place at Lochgreen, and other meetings were then held at Woodend not far from Lochgreen, and Randyford, Falkirk. The congregation came from a wide area including Cumbernauld, Monklands and Slamannan, making Lochgreen a convenient meeting place. The Elders therefore looked for a site for their new church near Bonnybridge in the parish of Denny. However in 1742 land was acquired in Horsemarket Lane in Falkirk and a meeting house built there. In 1746 the congregation at Dennyloanhead became a separate charge and members of the Spiers family served as Elders there for many years.
On the 4th June 1750 William Spiers junior died, unmarried, at the age of 21 years. He used to study at a favourite spot near Loch Green and according to his desire was buried there. It lies at the bottom of a wooded escarpment which faces northwards across marshy ground in a pleasant valley. A simple stone tablet is inscribed “Here lyse the body of William Spiers/ Who Died … 4 June 1750/ Aged 21 YEARS.” The inscription is placed on the inside of the north wall of a walled enclosure measuring 7.8m west-east by 6.45m north/south. The walls are of random rubble, 0.6m in width, surmounted by dressed sandstone ridge stones with a low two way pitch. At the four corners these give way to square blocks which presumably once supported finials. The entrance doorway and quoins are also dressed with backset margins 0.15m wide. The wall is 2.7m tall on the south increasing to 2.5m on the north due to the hill slope.
Illus: Detail of the south-west corner showing the finial base.
The doorway is slightly east of the centre and is 0.9m wide. The lintel above the entrance records William Spiers’ parents with the initials WS and AMcV for William Spiers and Anne McVey. Between these is the date 1751, being that of construction of “the Tomb” (see Bailey 1993).
A fallen headstone with a cavetto and ogee moulded top lying in the south-east corner reads: Sacred/ to the memory of/ Agnes Spiers…/ of Robert Dic… …./ who died 5th … …/ Aged 56 years/ …/ The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken/ blessed be the name of the Lord.”
LIST OF BURIALS IN “THE TOMB”
| 1750 | William Spiers | son of | William Spiers | Lochgreen |
| 1810 | Archibald Spiers | son of | David Spiers | Burnhouse |
| 1818 | David Spiers | son of | David Spiers | Burnhouse |
| 1820 | Andrew Spiers | son of | David Spiers | Burnhouse |
| 1824 | Robert Spiers | son of | David Spiers | Burnhouse |
| 1825 | Robert Spiers | son of | Andrew Spiers | Lochgreen |
| 1845 | Andrew Spiers | son of | Robert Spiers | Lochgreen |
| 1859 | Margaret Thomson Spiers | daughter of | Andrew Spiers | Lochgreen |
| 1863 | Agnes Russell Spiers | daughter of | Andrew Spiers | Lochgreen |
| 1881 | John Spiers | son of | David Spiers | Burnhouse |
Lochgreen Tomb SMR 528 NS 8177 7727
Falkirk Local History Society 