Date unknown. A Scottish saint trained in Ireland and consecrated
bishop in Rome (Benedictines). St. Machan, who is commemorated in
Ecelesmachan in Linlithgowshire, is said to have been a disciple of St.
Cadoc of Llancarvan; if so, he was contemporary with Kentigern.
We know almost nothing about him. There was a fair formerly held at
Ballasalla on September 29th, which, though held on St. Michael the
Archangel's day, may have been previously dedicated to St. Machan.
In the Inquest of David I made about 1116 AD when he was Prince of
Cumbria, concerning the lands belonging to the Church of Glasgow a
number of old churches can be recognised.....Among them is the name
Mecheyn, i.e. Machan. 'When Cadoc quitted Scotland, on his way back to
Wales, he left behind him an earnests worker to develop his mission
among the Britons and the Picts. He was Machan , who had been trained in
Ireland, but who now devoted the rest of his life...to the Clyde Valley.
One of his centres was Dalserf, a parish formerly known as Machanshire.
In the north end of the parish there is a property still called Machan,
or Auld Machan, while t he whole of the higher and bleaker lands to the
south, between Auld Machan and Draffan in the parish of Lesmahagow, are
still entitled Machanshire or Machanmuir.