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OF 


THE 


OF 


UNIVERSITY 
CALIFORNIA 


LOS  ANGELES 


fr-t- 


THE  HISTORY  AND  TRADITIONS 

OF    THE 

LAND    OF    THE    LINDSAYS 

IN  ANGUS  AND  MEARNS. 


Edinburgh :  Printed  by  Thomas  and  Archibald  Constable, 

FOR 
DAVID    DOUGLAS. 

LONDON HAMILTON,  ADAMS,  AND  CO. 

CAMBRIDGE MACMILLAN  AND  BOWES. 

GLASGOW       .      .  .  '    .      .      .      JAMES  MACLEHOSE  AND  SONS. 


THE 

ana  Cratutiong 

OF    THE 

LAND    OF   THE    LINDSAYS 

IN  ANGUS  AND  MEARNS 
WITH  NOTICES  OF  ALYTH  AND  MEIGLE 


BY  THE  LATE 

ANDEEW  JERVISE,  F.S.A.  SCOT. 

DISTRICT   EXAMINER  OF   REGISTERS  ;   AUTHOR  OF    "  MEMORIALS   OF   ANGUS   AND   MEARNS, 
"  EPITAPHS   ANT)   INSCRIPTIONS,"   ETC. 


TO   WHICH  IS   ADDED 

AN    APPENDIX 

CONTAINING  EXTRACTS  FROM  AN  OLD  RENTAL-BOOK  OP  EDZELL  AND  LETHNOT 

NOTICES   OF  THE  RAVAGES   OF  THE  MARQUIS  OF  MONTROSE  IN 

FORFARSHIRE,    AND   OTHER   INTERESTING   DOCUMENTS. 

REWRITTEN  AND   CORRECTED   BY 

JAMES    GAMMACK,   M.A. 

INCUMBENT,  ST.  JOHN  BAPT. ,  DHUMLITHIE  ;  CORRESPONDING  MEMBER  OF  THE  SOCIETY  OF  ANTIQUARIES, 
SCOTLAND  ;   AND  MEMBF.R  OF  THE  CAMBRIAN  ARCH/EOLOGICAL  ASSOCIATION. 


(EMttott 


EDINBURGH:   DAVID   DOUGLAS 

1882 


DA 


tfje  fHemorg  of 


THE    LATE    RIGHT    HONOURABLE 

SEilltam    Cratoforfc 

TWENTY-FIFTH    EARL    OF    CRAWFORD,    EIGHTH    EARL    OP 
BALCARRES,  AND  SECOND  BARON  WIGAN, 

AUTHOR  OF  THE    "LIVES  OF  THE  LINDSAYS" 
AND    OTHER   VALUABLE   WORKS, 

BHjts  Seconti  ffltoitwn 

IS  MOST  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED. 


1C94S01 


EDITOR'S  PEEFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 

WHEN  asked  by  the  trustees  of  my  deceased  friend  Mr. 
Jervise  to  carry  out  his  latest  arrangements  regarding  a 
new  edition  of  the  Land  of  the  Lindsays,  I  felt  great  diffidence 
in  entering  upon  such  a  work,  while  at  the  same  time  I 
was  unwilling,  other  engagements  allowing  it,  to  decline  the 
confidence  that  he  had  shown  by  his  request.  Mr.  Jervise 
was  regarded  as  probably  the  foremost  local  antiquarian  of 
his  day,  and  the  book  itself  had  been  received  as  an  authority 
upon  the  district  of  which  it  treats.  Fortunately  Mr.  Jer- 
vise had  himself  made  some  jottings  upon  his  private  copy, 
and  these,  when  closely  examined  in  detail,  indicated  pretty 
clearly  the  plan  upon  which  he  would  have  prepared  the 
second  edition,  had  he  been  spared  to  see  it  through  the 
press.  The  plan  involved  a  thorough  revision  of  paragraph, 
phrase,  and  word,  as  well  as  a  careful  verification  of  date 
and  fact  on  every  page.  By  it  I  have  been  guided  through- 
out, conserving  the  form  and  spirit,  but  not  hesitating  to 
alter  freely,  where  I  thought  the  alteration  would  more 
clearly  express  his  mind,  or  to  correct  what  I  did  not  doubt 
that  he  himself  would  have  acknowledged  to  be  erroneous 
or  out  of  taste.  The  later  histories  of  the  district  have 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

been  largely  used  for  illustration  and  verification,  but  the 
authorities  most  relied  upon  have  been  charter  evidence, 
where  accessible,  regarding  the  earlier  periods,  and  family 
histories,  where  available,  for  both  earlier  and  later.  Where 
I  have  seen  occasion  to  differ  from  the  author,  I  have 
usually  given  my  reason  by  a  reference  in  the  notes.  I 
cannot  be  sufficiently  grateful  to  the  trustees  for  their  ready 
help  and  generous  confidence  in  the  undertaking,  to  Messrs. 
J.  Valentine  and  Sons,  Dundee,  for  the  use  of  their  photo- 
graphs in  preparing  the  lithographed  illustrations,  or  to  the 
numerous  gentlemen,  clerical  and  lay,  who  have  lent  me  every 
possible  assistance.  To  Mr.  James  Davidson,  Solicitor,  Kirrie- 
muir,  I  am  specially  indebted  for  his  most  painstaking  and 
judicious  revision  of  the  proof-sheets,  and  willing  counsel  in 
every  difficulty. 

JAMES  GAMMACK,  M.A. 

THE  PARSONAGE,  DRUMLITHIE, 
October  1882. 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIEST  EDITION. 

IT  may  be  proper  to  remark  that  this  volume  is  the  first 
which  the  author  has  published — a  fact  that  will  perhaps  account 
for  its  numerous  defects  in  composition  and  arrangement.  The 
writer  has  devoted  much  of  his  leisure  to  the  study  of  the 
history  and  antiquities  of  his  native  district — has  felt  the 
greatest  pleasure  in  doing  so — and  has  occasionally  published 
scraps  on  the  subject  in  provincial  newspapers.  These  notices 
(which  were  all  very  defective)  related  chiefly  to  churchyard 
matters,  and  to  descriptions  of  remarkable  antiquarian  and 
historical  peculiarities.  In  course  of  time,  these  not  only 
gained  provincial  favour,  and  the  good  opinion  of  several 
gentlemen  of  literary  note  at  a  distance,  but  were  proved  to  be 
so  far  useful,  from  the  fact,  that  greater  care  has  been  shown 
for  antiquarian  relics  since  their  publication,  and  a  marked 
improvement  has  taken  place  in  the  mode  of  keeping  many 
of  the  churchyards  and  tombstones  in  the  district.1  The 
present  volume  owes  its  origin  to  the  general  interest  that 
one  of  these  papers  created  at  the  time ;  and  from  the  kind- 
ness and  courtesy  of  the  Hon.  Lord  Lindsay,  who  was  pleased 
to  remark,  in  reference  to  the  notice  referred  to, — "  I  wish 
your  account  of  Glenesk  had  been  published  in  time  to  have 
enabled  me  to  avail  myself  of  it  in  the  '  Lives.' " 

No  apology  is  necessary,  it  is  presumed,  for  the  title  of  this 

1  From  the  favour  with  which  these  notices  were  received,  the  author  was  after- 
wards induced  to  publish  them  under  the  title  "  Epitaphs  and  Descriptions  from 
Burial-Grounds  and  Old  Buildings  in  the  North-East  of  Scotland,  with  Notes, 
Biographical,  Genealogical,  and  Antiquarian."  Two  volumes  have  been  published, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  MS.  Notes  and  Memoranda  have  been  handed  over  by 
his  trustees  to  the  custody  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland,  Edinburgh 
(Proceedings,  iii.  p.  237,  new  series). 


X  PREFACE. 

volume.  The  lands,  of  which  it  is  intended  to  preserve  the 
History  and  Traditions,  have  been  purposely  selected,  and  were, 
at  one  time  or  other,  under  the  sway  of  the  powerful  family  of 
Lindsay-Crawford.  Glenesk  was  the  birthplace  of  the  first 
Earl ;  Finhaven  and  Edzell  were  the  cherished  abodes  of  the 
family  so  long  as  its  power  survived  ;  and  its  various,  members 
were  proprietors  of  important  portions  of  the  Mearns  from  a 
remote  period.  Although  these  estates  have  long  since  passed 
to  other  hands,  and  the  family  is  merely  represented  in  its 
fatherland  by  a  collateral  branch,  it  is  pleasing  to  know  that 
the  ancient  title  is  still  enjoyed  by  a  lineal  descendant  of  the 
original  stock,  whose  son  and  heir-apparent  is  the  impartial 
and  elegant  biographer  of  his  illustrious  progenitors. 

Though  traditions  of  the  Lindsays  are  not  so  plentiful  in  the 
district  as  they  were  of  old,  when  the  hills  and  dales  and 
running  brooks  were  more  or  less  associated  with  stories  of 
their  daring  and  valour,  enough  remains  to  show  the  almost 
unlimited  sway  which  they  maintained  over  the  greater  portion 
of  Angus,  and  a  large  part  of  the  Mearns.  Like  the  doings  of 
other  families  of  antiquity,  those  of  the  Lindsays  are  mixed 
with  the  fables  of  an  illiterate  age  ;  and,  though  few  redeeming 
qualities  of  the  race  are  preserved  in  tradition,  popular  story 
ascribes  cruel  and  heartless  actions  to  many  of  them.  Still, 
extravagant  as  some  of  these  stories  are,  they  have  not  been 
omitted,  any  more  than  those  relating  to  other  persons  and 
families  who  fall  within  the  scope  of  this  volume ;  and,  where 
such  can  be  refuted,  either  by  reference  to  documentary  or  other 
substantial  authority,  the  opportunity  has  not  been  lost  sight  of. 

The  way  in  which  erroneous  ideas  have  been  reiterated 
regarding  old  families,  and  the  transmission  of  their  properties, 
etc.,  has  led  to  much  confusion,  the  evils  of  which  are  most 
apparent  to  those  who  attempt  to  frame  a  work  of  such  a 
nature  as  the  present.  From  the  author's  desire  to  correct 
these  errors,  the  book  will,  perhaps,  have  more  claim  to  the 
title  of  a  collection  of  facts  regarding  the  history  and  antiquities 


PJIEFACE.  xi 

of  the  Land  of  the  Lindsays  than  to  a  work  of  originality  and 
merit,  and  may  therefore  be  less  popular  in  its  style  than 
most  readers  would  desire ;  but  this,  it  is  hoped,  has  been  so 
far  obviated  by  the  introduction  of  snatches  regarding  popular 
superstitions,  and  a  sprinkling  of  anecdote.  Due  advantage 
has  been  taken  of  the  most  authentic  works  that  bear  on  the 
history  of  the  district,  for  the  use  of  the  greater  part  of  which, 
and  for  a  vast  deal  of  valuable  information,  the  writer  is 
particularly  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Patrick  Chalmers, 
Esq.  of  Aldbar.1  He  is  also  under  deep  obligation  to  the 
Hon.  Lord  Lindsay,2  not  only  for  many  important  particulars 
which  he  has  been  pleased  to  communicate  regarding  his 
family  history,  but  for  the  great  interest  he  has  taken  in 
otherwise  advancing  the  work. 

In  notices  of  prehistoric  remains  the  lover  of  antiquity 
may  find  the  volume  rather  meagre.  This,  the  writer  is  sorry 
to  remark,  has  arisen,  in  a  great  measure,  from  the  desire 
which  most  discoverers  have  of  retaining  or  breaking  any 
valuable  relics  with  which  they  meet.  Although  a  change  for 
the  better  has  recently  taken  place  regarding  antiquities,  still 
the  peasantry,  into  whose  hands  those  treasures  are  most  likely 
to  fall,  have  a  sadly  mistaken  view  of  their  value ;  and  in  the 
vain  hope  of  being  enriched  by  a  personal  possession,  they 
deprive  themselves  of  remuneration  altogether.  In  destroy- 
ing pieces  of  pottery-ware,  metals,  and  similar  articles,  they 
tear  so  many  leaves — so  to  speak — from  the  only  remaining 
volume  of  the  remote  and  unlettered  past,  thus  placing — 
perhaps  for  ever — the  attainment  of  some  important  particular 
regarding  the  history  of  our  forefathers  beyond  the  reach  of 
inquiry.  The  baneful  law  of  treasure-trove  has  much  to 
account  for  on  this  score ;  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
the  evil  might  be  so  far  modified  through  an  express  under- 

1  P.  Chalmers,  Esq.  of  Aldbar,  died  at  Rome,  June  23,  1854,  in  his  fifty-second 
year. 

2  Afterwards  Earl  of  Crawford  and  Balcarres.     His  Lordship  succeeded  in  1869, 
and  died  in  1880. 


Xll  PREFACE. 

standing    between   landlords   and   tenants,   and   tenants   and 
servants. 

The  Appendix  will  be  found  to  contain  many  interesting 
and  hitherto  unpublished  papers,  particularly  those  illustrative 
of  the  ravages  of  the  Marquis  of  Montrose  and  his  soldiers  in 
certain  parts  of  Angus.  The  old  Eental-Book  of  Edzell  and 
Lethnot,  from  which  copious  extracts  have  been  taken,  was 
lately  rescued  from  total  destruction  in  a  farm  "  bothie  "  in 
Lethnot.  Though  a  mere  fragment,  the  portion  preserved  is 
important,  not  only  from  its  showing  the  value  and  nature  of 
the  holdings  of  the  period,  but  from  its  handing  down  the 
names  of  many  families  who  are  still  represented  in  the 
district. 

In  thanking  his  numerous  friends  and  subscribers  for  their 
kind  support,  the  author  feels  that  some  apology  is  necessary 
for  the  delay  which  has  occurred  in  the  publication.  This  has 
arisen  from  two  causes — mainly  from  a  protracted  indisposi- 
tion with  which  the  writer  was  seized  soon  after  advertising 
the  volume ;  and  partly  from  including  in  it  the  history  of 
the  minor  Lindsay  properties  in  Angus,  and  of  those  in  Mearns, 
etc. — an  object  which  was  not  originally  contemplated.  From 
the  latter  cause  the  volume  has  necessarily  swelled  far  beyond 
the  limits  at  first  proposed ;  still,  the  author  does  not  feel  him- 
self justified  in  increasing  the  price  to  subscribers,  but  the  few 
remaining  copies  of  the  impression  will  be  sold  to  non-sub- 
scribers at  a  slight  advance.  He  begs  also  to  express  his 
deep  obligation  to  those  who  took  charge  of  subscription  lists, 
and  so  disinterestedly  and  successfully  exerted  themselves  in 
getting  these  filled  up,  as  well  as  to  various  Session-Clerks,  and 
numerous  correspondents,  for  their  kindness  in  forwarding  his 

inquiries. 

ANDEEW  JEKVISE. 

BRECHIN,  August  1853. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

EDZELL.— SECTION  I. 

PAGE 

Origin  of  name — Old  clergymen — Bell  of  St.  Lawrence — Ancient  use 
of  bells — Old  kirkyard — Drummore  Hill — Castle  of  Poolbrigs  — 
Old  kirk— Episcopal  riots — Bonnyman,  parish  teacher — Re- 
markable death  of  a  parish  minister,  ....  1 

EDZELL.— SECTION  II. 

Burial  aisle — Lady  Lindsay  raised  from  a  trance — Major  Wood — Tra- 
ditions of  his  death  and  burial — Rev.  George  Low  of  Birsay — 
Kirk  and  lands  of  Neudos — Story  of  St.  Drostan's  well— Chapelry 
and  castle  of  Dalbog,  ......  14 

EDZELL.— SECTION  III. 

Families  of  Adzell  and  Abbe — Knockquy  Hill — De  Gleneak  family — De 
Strivelyn  or  Stirling — Marriage  of  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  with 
Catherine  Stirling — Story  of  Jackie  Stirlin' — Origin  of  the  name 
and  family  of  Lindsay — David,  first  Earl  of  Crawford — Sir  Alexan- 
der Lindsay  of  Kinneff — Sir  Walter  Lindsay  of  Edzell — Sir  David, 
ninth  Earl  of  Crawford — The  "Wicked  Master  " — His  son,  .  26 

EDZELL.— SECTION  IV. 

Sir  David  Lindsay,  Lord  Edzell — His  taste  for  architecture,  etc. — His 
son's  murder  of  Lord  Spynie — "Offeris  "  for  the  same — Montrose 
in  Glenesk — Cromwell's  soldiers  at  Edzell — John  Lindsay  of 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Canterland's  succession  to  Edzell — His  son  and  grandson — 
David,  the  last  Lindsay  of  Edzell — The  fate  of  his  sisters, 
Margaret  and  Janet — Character  and  last  days  of  ' '  Edzell " — 
Story  of  a  "treasure-seeker,"  .....  42 

EDZELL.— SECTION  V. 

Edzell  Castle — Its  situation — General  description — Age  of  towers — 
Sculpturings — Visited  by  Queen  Mary  and  King  James — ' '  The 
kitchen  of  Angus" — Baths  discovered — Flower-garden — Dilapi- 
dations of  Edzell,  and  of  Auchmull,  .  .  .  .60 


CHAPTER  II. 

GLENESK.— SECTION  I. 

Glenesk — St.  Drostan — Neudos — Old  church  of  Lochlee — Origin  of 
parish — Its  ministers — Mr.  Ross,  as  session-clerk — Episcopacy 
in  the  parish — Rev.  David  Rose,  ' '  the  illegal  meeting-house 
keeper" — Hliberality  of  parish  ministers — Change  of  views — 
Chapel  built  on  the  Rowan— Rev.  Peter  Jolly — New  church  at 
Tarfside — Free  Church  at  the  Birks  of  Ardoch — Memorial 
windows — Description  of  old  parish  church — Ross,  the  author 
of  Helenore — His  abode,  biography,  and  poetry — Present  church 
and  manse — Drowning  of  the  brothers  Whyte — Benevolence 
of  Rev.  David  Inglis — Lines  on  a  stranger,  .  .  .72 


GLENESK. -SECTION  II. 

Invermark  Castle — Later  occupants — Dilapidation — Iron  yett — Age  of 
castle — To  check  the  Cateran — Unsettled  state  of  the  glen — A 
refuge  for  the  Bruce — Cairns  on  the  Rowan — Mines  of  Glenesk,  92 


GLENESK.— SECTION  III. 

Traditions  of  Glenmark — "Bonnymune's  Cave" — Petrifying  cave — 
Rocking-stones — Druidical  remains — Colmeallie — The  Circular 
in  ecclesiastical  architecture — Cairn  at  Fernybank  explored — 
Archaeological  remains — Querns  at  Edzell,  .  .  .100 


CONTENTS.  XV 

GLENESK.-SECTION  iv. 

PAGE 

View  of  Glenesk — Want  of  wood — Shooting  lodge  at  Invermark — • 
Depopulation — Migration  down  the  glen — North  Esk  and  its 
tributaries — Romantic  sites — Droustie — Bridges — Visited  by 
Royalty — The  Queen's  well — Sudden  floods  on  the  hill  streams — 
Tarfside — Maule's  cairn — Birks  of  Ardoch — The  Modlach — St. 
Andrew's  Tower — Death  of  Miss  Douglas — Anecdote  of  Lord 
Panmure — The  new  road — The  Burn  :  its  situation,  history,  and 
improvements— Gannochy  Bridge,  ....  109 


CHAPTEE   III. 
NAVAR  AND  LETHNOT.— SECTION  I. 

Navar  and  Lethnot — Lethnot  a  prebend  of  Brechin  Cathedral — Ministers 
— St.  Mary's  Well — Episcopacy  in  Navar — Rev.  John  Row, 
parish  minister — Monumental  inscriptions — "Dubrach" — His 
great  age — "His  Majesty's  oldest  enemy" — "Lady  Anne" — 
Navar  belfry  and  bell — Jonathan  Duncan,  Governor  of  Bombay,  125 

NAVAR  AND  LETHNOT.— SECTION  II. 

Navar  and  the  lordship  of  Brechin — David,  Earl  of  Huntingdon — 
Maison  Dieu  of  Brechin — Family  de  Brechin — Family  of  Maule 
— Erskines  of  Dun — Pedigree  of  the  Maules — Panmure  ennobled 
— Purchase  of  Edzell — Lord  Panmure — Fox  Maule — The  late 
Earl,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .138 

NAVAR  AND  LETHNOT.— SECTION  III. 

Aspect  of  Navar — The  Wirran — Story  of  the  melder-sifter — Archaeo- 
logy of  Lethnot — Dunnyferne — "Lady  Eagil's  chair" — Cobb's 
Heugh — Streams  of  the  district — Superstition  anent  the  white 
adder — Superstitions  of  Lethnot — The  Cateran,  .  .  .150 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

FINHAVEN  AND  OATHLAW.— SECTION  I. 

Finhaven — Etymologies — Church  and  prebend  of  Brechin  Cathedral — 
"The  nine  maidens  " — Old  church  of  Finhaven — The  "kirk  of 
Aikenhatt" — Ministers  of  Finhaven — Oathlaw  took  the  place 
of  Finhaven — Burial  aisle — Later  ministers — Female  rioters  do 
penance — Rev.  Harry  Stuart,  .  .  .  .  .161 


xvi  CONTENTS. 

FINHAVEN  AND  OATHLAW.— SECTION  II. 

PAGE 

Forest  of  Plater — Ancient  Scotch  forests — Keeper  of  the  forest — Ancient 
foresters  of  Plater — Succession  in  Finhaven— Accession  of  the 
Lindsays — Earl  Crawford's  lodging  in  Dundee — The  "Houff  "- 
Earls  Crawford  and  Douglas  watched  by  Bishop  Kennedy— 
The  battle  of  Arbroath — Origin  of  the  house  of  Clova — Earl 
David  dies  —  Arbroath  burned  —  Douglas's  conspiracy,  and 
death  at  Stirling — Crawford's  activity  for  revenge — Battle  of 
Brechin — Calder  and  Earl  Beardie's  cup — Assuanley  memorial 
cup — Site  and  remains  of  the  battle — Crawford's  violence,  re- 
pentance, and  royal  pardon,  .  .  .  .  .169 

FINHAVEN  AND  OATHLAW.—  SECTION  III. 

Earl  David  and  his  rewards  for  loyalty — Raised  to  the  Dukedom  of  Mon- 
trose — His  princely  splendour — Suffered  for  James  in. — Power 
curtailed — New  ducal  patent  granted — In  favour  with  James  iv. 
— Private  sorrows — Fell  at  Flodden— The  Wicked  Master  disin- 
herited— Sir  David  Lindsay  of  Edzell,  as  ninth  Earl  of  Crawford 
—Tenth  Earl  marries  Cardinal  Beaton's  daughter — ' '  The  Prodigal 
Earl " — Murder  of  Lord  Glamis — Education  of  an  Earl  and  fidelity 
of  the ' '  pedagogue  " — ' '  Comes  incarcerates  " — Earldom  passes  to 
the  Lindsays  of  Byres — Returns  to  the  Crawford  Lindsays — 
Earl  Ludovick's  military  genius  and  acts — True  to  the  royal 
cause — Dies  in  France — Owners  of  the  lands  and  barony  of 
Finhaven — In  the  hands  of  the  Carnegies — Song,  "He  winna 
be  guidit  by  me" — Death  of  Earl  of  Strathmore  at  Forfar 
by  misadventure — Trial  and  acquittal  of  Carnegie— Greenhill- 
Gardyne  of  Finavon — Lairds  of  Craigo,  .  .  .  .186 

FINHAVEN  AND  OATHLAW.— SECTION  IV. 

Finhaven  Castle — Story  of  its  fall — Its  situation — The  harper  hung — 
"Jock  Barefoot" — Inner  life  of  old  Finhaven — Surrounded  by 
retainers  and  allies — Markhouse — Blairiefeddan — Woodwrae — 
Balgavies  and  Sir  Walter  Lindsay — Estate  lost,  and  how  pre- 
viously acquired,  .  .  .  _  .  .  .  .  203 

FINHAVEN  AND  OATHLAW.— SECTION  V. 

Vitrifications  on  Finhaven  Hill — Site  described — Theories  of  the  Vitri- 
fication— Camp  at  Battle-dykes — Local  names — Archaeological 
remains,  ....  213 


CONTENTS.  XV11 


CHAPTER   V. 

FERN— SECTION  I. 

PAGE 

Etymology  and  old  condition  of  Fern — Early  ministers — The  post- 
Reformation  clergy — Parish  registers — The  Tytlers,  father  and 
sons — Kirks,  past  and  present — Kirkyard  and  its  monuments,  .  220 

FERN— SECTION  II. 

The  de  MonteaUos  of  Fern  and  Both — Their  other  possessions — Fern 
passed  to  the  Crawford  Lindsays — Estate  of  Deuchar — Deuchar 
at  the  battles  of  Barry  and  Harlaw — Family  and  influence  traced 
—Its  decline — Fern  under  the  Carnegies— Windsor — Waterstone 
— Commonty  of  Little  Brechin — Balmadity,  .  ,  .  226 

FERN— SECTION  III. 

Vayne — Fern  divided — Noranside — Greenhills  of  Fern — Carnegies  of 
Balinhard — Their  pedigree  and  history — Of  Kinnaird — Earls  of 
Sou thesk— Their  loyalty— Kinnaird  Castle— The  present  Earl,  .  236 

FERN.— SECTION  IV. 

Castle  of  Vayne — Ascribed  to  Cardinal  Beaton — A  word  for  the  Cardi- 
nal— View  of  the  castle — Superstitions — Kelpie's  footmark  and 
the  "De'il's  Hows" — The  Brownie — Brandyden — "  The  Ghaist 
o' Feme-den  "—The  ghost  laid,  ,  .  .  .  .249 

FERN.— SECTION  V. 

Battle  of  Saughs — Date  uncertain — "The  Hawkit  Stirk"— Bravery  of 
Mackintosh — Spoil  recovered — Ledenhendrie  in  danger,  and  his 
precautions — Winter's  monument — Archaeology  of  Fern — Primi- 
tive dwellings,  .......  258 


CHAPTER   VI. 
CARESTON.— SECTION  I. 

Careston— Origin  of  name—Keraldus  judex — Erection  of  parish — 
"Fyne  little  church"— Succession  of  ministers — Churchyard- 
Rev.  John  Gillies — Formation  of  kirk-session — Rev.  Dr.  Johu 


XV111  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Gillies  of  Glasgow — Mr.  Robert  Gillies  of  Brechin— Mr.  John 
Gillies,  Historiographer-Royal  of  Scotland — Lord  Gillies — Dr. 
Thomas  Gillies,  .......  268 

CARESTON.— SECTION  II. 

Office  of  Dempster — Dempsters  of  Careston — Of  Muiresk — Lindsays  of 
Careston — Of  Balnabreich — The  Carnegies  of  Careston — The 
Stewarts — "The  Douglas  Cause" — The  Earl  of  Home,  Baron 
Douglas — The  Skenes  of  Careston — Origin  of  family — Major 
George  Skene — Captain  Skene,  "  the  warlock  laird  " — Mr.  John 
Adamson — Mitchells  of  Nether  Careston,  .  .  .  279 

CARESTON.— SECTION  III, 

The  "Castle  of  Fuirdstone" — Careston  Castle  described — Ochterlony's 
account — Its  decorations — Thorough  repair— Traditions  of  Cares- 
ton — Retreat  of  Montrose  from  Dundee  to  Careston — Later  acts 
of  Montrose — His  execution,  ...  .  290 


CHAPTEE  VII. 
MENMUIR.— SECTION  I. 

Menmuir — Dedicated  to  St.  Aidan — Its  ministers — The  Covenant  sub- 
scribed— Danger  from  the  Cateran — Frightened  by  the  Royalists 
— Opposed  the  Prince — The  church  and  its  surroundings — 
Burial-place  of  the  Carnegies  of  Balnamoon — Notice  of  Adjutant- 
General  Sir  David  Leighton,  K.C.B. — The  Guthries  of  Menmuir 
and  Brechin— Tigerton,  .  .  .  .  ,  ,»  299 

MENMUIR.— SECTION  II. 

Lands  of  Menmuir — Royal  residence — Kilgery — Exploit  of  Peter  de 
Spalding — Hermitage  of  Kilgery  chapel — Balzeordie — The 
Somyrs  of  Balzeordie— Slaughter  of  Graham  of  Leuchland — 
Connection  of  the  Carnegies  in  Menmuir — Menmuir  thanage — 
Belonged  to  different  families— The  Collaces  became  reduced  : 
yet  known  to  literature — Leech  a  connection — Carnegies  of  Bal- 
namoon related  to  the  Arbuthnotts — Purchased  Balzeordie  and 
Balrownie — "The  rebel  laird,"  not  such  a  sot  or  Goth,  .  .  306 


CONTENTS.  XIX 

MENMUIR— SECTION  III. 

PAGE 

Balhall  and  the  family  of  Glen— Balhall  passed  to  the  Lindsays — 
Patronage  of  Menmuir  passed  to  Balhall — "  The  Parson  of  Men- 
muir" — Succession  in  Balhall — TheCramonds — The  Lyells — The 
Erskines  of  Dun — Moss  of  Balhall — Death  of  Lyon  of  Glamis — 
Expiation  of  perjury — Cairns— Murder  of  the  shoemaker  of 
Tigerton — Archaeological  remains — Stracathro — The  Caterthuns 
described — Origin  veiled  in  mystery,  and  a  field  for  superstition 
—Witchcraft— Fairy  child,  .  ....  318 


CHAPTEE   VIII. 

at  the 

SECTION  I. 

IN  NORTH-WESTERN  PARTS  OF  FORFARSHIRE  AND  IN 
EAST  OF  PERTHSHIRE. 

Miscellaneous  properties — Brechin — Forketacre — Brechin  and  Pitairlie 
— Keithock  passed  to  the  Edgars — Secretary  Edgar — Bishop 
Edgar — Keithock's  toast — Little  Pert — Glenqueich  held  by  the 
Lindsays — Preceded  by  the  Stuarts,  Earls  of  Buchan — Shielhill 
and  chapel  of  St.  Colm — The  water-kelpie — Inverquharity  and 
early  proprietors — Ogilvys  of  Airlie  and  Inverquharity — Baronets 
of  Inverquharity — Balinscho  or  Benshie— Scrymgeours  and 
Ogilvys — Lindsays  of  Balinscho — Two  chestnut-trees — The 
Fletchers — Chapel  of  St.  Ninian  and  burial-place — Clova — 
Feuds — The  old  Peel — Parochial  district  and  chapel — Glaslet, 
Rottall,  Easter  and  Wester  Lethnot,  Gella,  Braeminzeon — 
Bakie  Castle — Passed  to  the  Lyons — Chapel  of  Bakie — Kirk 
of  Airlie— Dunkeny — Ruthven,  Queich,  Alyth — Corb,  Inver- 
queich — Murder  of  Lord  Lindsay — Haunted  Lady — Meigle — Its 
early  proprietorship — Its  later — Church  and  burial-place,  .  334 

SECTION  II. 
IN  SOUTHERN  PARTS  OF  FORFARSHIRE. 

Kinblethmont — First  Lord  Spynie,  his  marriage  and  death — Second 
Lord  Spynie — Represented  by  Lindsay-Carnegie  of  Boysack — 
Early  proprietors  of  Kinblethmont — Inverkeillor — Guthrie  pro- 


xx  CONTENTS. 

PAOR 

prietary  and  ecclesiastical  history — Line  of  the  Guthries — Bishop 
Guthrie — Forfarshire  Guthries — Guthrie  Castle — Carbucldo — In- 
verarity — Its  lords — Fotheringhams  of  Powrie — Meathie  Lour — 
Kinnettles — Evelick — Arbroath  connection — Kinnell — Panbride 
— Boethius  family — Panmure  House — Monikie,  Downie,  Dun- 
find — Pitairlie — Cross  of  Camus — Ethiebeaton,  Broughty  Castle 
— Brichty,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .364 

SECTION  III. 
IN  KINCARDINESHIRE. 

Fasky  or  Fasque — Phesdo — Kinneff  and  its  old  castles — Barras — Cater - 
line  church  and  churchyard — Dunnottar,  its  church  and  castle — 
Present  church  and  traditions — Fetteresso — Uras — Lumgair — 
Benholm — Blackiemuir,  Balmakewan,  Morphie — Canterland,  .  392 


APPENDIX,  .  .  .         .  „  .  .  .  .      409 

INDEX,        .  .  .  .  .  .  .          .  .  .      441 


LIST  OF  AUTHORS. 


ABERCROMBY  (Pat.),  Martial  Achievements  of  the  Scots  Nation.      2  vols. 

Edinb.  1711. 
Acta  Auditorum. 

,,     Dominorum  Concilii  (1478-95,  and  1466-95),  2  vols.  Rec.  Comm.  1839. 
Acts  of  Parliament  of  Scotland.     1 1  vols.     1814. 
Anderson  (James),  Black  Book  of  Kincardine.     New  edition.     Aberd.  1879. 

,,         (Jos.),  Scotland  in  Early  Christian  Times.     Rhind  Lectures,  series 
i.  and  ii.     Edinb.  1881. 

,,         (William),  Scottish  Nation.  '  8  vols.     Edinb.  1863. 
Angus  and  Mearns,  Memorials  of.     See  Jervise. 
Angus  or  Forfarshire.     See  Warden. 
Antiquaries  of  Scotland,  Proceedings  of.     Old  and  new  series.     1855 — 

,,  Transactions  (Archaeologia  Scotica).     2  vols.     1792-1818. 

Arnot  (H.),  Celebrated  Criminal  Trials  in  Scotland,  1536-1784.     Edinb.  1785. 
Auchinleck  Chronicle,  MS. 

BALMERINACH,  Liber  S.  Maria?  de.     Ed.  Turnbull.     Edinb.  1841. 
Balfour  (Alex.),  Contemplation  and  other  Poems.     Edinb.  1820. 
,,       (Sir  James),  Historical  Works.     4  vols.     Edinb.  1824-5. 
Barbour  (John),  Life  and  Acts  of  King  Robert  Bruce.    Ed.  Pinkerton.    3  vols. 

Lond.  1790. 

Black  (D.  D.),  History  of  Brechin.     Edinb.  1867. 
Blair  (Rob.),  Autobiography,   1593-1636.     Suppl.  by  Row  and  Blair.     Ed. 

M'Crie.     Edinb.  1848. 

Book  of  the  Official  of  St.  Andrews,  Abbotsford  Club,  Edinb.,  1845. 
Book  of  the  Universal  Kirk  of  Scotland.     Bann.  Club.     3  vols.      Edinb. 

1839-45. 

Borthwick  (Wm.),  Remarks  on  British  Antiquities.     Edinb.  1776. 
Brechin,  Bailie  Court  Minutes.     MS. 
Brunton  and  Haig,   Historical    Account  of  the  Senators  of  the  College  of 

Justice.     Edinb.  1836. 

Buchanan  (George),  History  of  Scotland.     2  vols.    Edinb.  1766. 
Burke  (Sir  Bern.),  Peerage,  Baronage,  and  Knightage.    42d  ed.     Lond.  1880. 
Burnet  (Bp.  Gilb.),  History  of  His  Own  Time.     6  vols.     Oxf.  1823. 
Burton  (J.  H.),  History  of  Scotland.     7  vols.     Edinb.  1876. 
Butler  (Alb. ),  Lives  of  the  Saints.     2  vols.     Lond.  1863. 


LIST  OF  AUTHORS. 

CALENDAR  of  Documents  relating  to  Scotland.     Pub.  Rec.  OS.  London.     Ed. 

by  J.  Bain,  vol.  i.  A.D.  1108-1272.     Edinb.  1881. 
Camden  (Wm.),  Britannia.     Ed.  Gough.     Lond.  1789. 
Catalogue  of  the  Museum  of  the  Archaeological  Institute  of  Great  Britain 

and  Ireland,  held  in  Edinburgh  1856.     Edinb.  1859. 
Chalmers  (Geo.),  Caledonia.     3  vols.     Lond.  1807-24. 

,,         (Pat.),  Ancient  Sculptured  Monuments  of  the  County  of  Angus. 

Bann.  Club.     Edinb.  1849. 

Chamberlain  Rolls  of  Scotland.     Bann.  Club.     3  vols.    Edinb.  1817-45. 
Chambers  (R.),  History  of  the  Rebellion  of  1745-6.     Edinb.  1847. 

,,          (R-)>  Popular  Rhymes  of  Scotland,  and  Poems.     Edinb.  1847. 

,,         (W.  and  R.),  Edinburgh  Journal. 
Crawford  Case.     1845. 
Crawford  (Geo.),  Peerage  of  Scotland.     Edinb.  1716. 

,,         (Geo.),  Lives  of  the  Officers  of  the  Crown  and  of  the  State  of  Scot- 
land, vol.  i.     Edinb.  1726. 
Clemens  Alexandrinus,  Opera.     Ed.  Dindorf.     Oxon.  1869. 

DALRYMPLE  (Sir  D.)  [Lord  Hailes],  Annals  of  Scotland,  1057-1370.     3  vols. 

Edinb.  '1797. 
Davidson  (Rev.  Dr.  John),  Inverurie  and  the  Earldom  of  the  Garioch.    2  vols. 

Edinb.  1878. 
Deuchar  Vouchers.     MS. 
Don,  a  Poem.     Edinb.  1814. 
Douglas  (Francis),  General  Description  of  the  East  Coast  of  Scotland  in  1780. 

Aberd.  1826. 
,,        (Sir  Rob.),  The  Baronage  of  Scotland.     Edinb.  1798. 

(Sir  Rob.),  The  Peerage  of  Scotland.     Ed.  by  J.  P.  Wood.     2d  ed. 
2  vols.     Edinb.  1813. 

EDGAR,  Scottish  House  of.     Ed.  Committee  of  the  Grampian  Club.     Lond. 

1873. 

Edinburgh  Encyclopaedia.     Ed.  Brewster.     18  vols.     Edinb.  1830. 
Edward   (Rev.   Rob.),    Description  of   Angus  in   1678.      Trans,    by   Trail. 

Dund.  1793.     (Reprinted  in  Warden's  Angus,  ii.  p.  234  seq.). 
Exchequer  Rolls.     5  vols.     Lond.  1835-6. 
Extracta  e  variis  Cronicis  Scocie.     Abbotsford  Club.     Edinb.  1842. 

FASTI  Ecclesiae  Scoticanse.     [Scott.] 

Forbes  (Bp.  A.  P.),  Kalendars  of  the  Scottish  Saints.     Edinb.  1872. 

Eraser  (Wm.),  History  of  the  Carnegies,   Earls  of  Southesk,  and  of  their 

Kindred.     2  vols.     Edinb.  1867. 
,,       (Rev.  W.  R.),  History  of  the  Parish  and  Burgh  of  Laurencekirk. 

Edinb.  1880. 

GILLIES  (R.  P.),  Memoirs  of  a  Literary  Veteran.     3  vols.     Lond.  1851. 
Gordon  (Jas.),  History  of  Scots  Affairs,  1637-41.     Ed.  Robertson  and  Grub. 

3  vols.     Aberd.  1841. 

,,  (Wm.),  History  of  the  Family  of  Gordon.  2  vols.  Edinb.  1726. 
Grub  (George),  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Scotland.  4  vols.  Edinb.  1861. 
Guthrie(Wm.),  History  of  Scotland.  10  vols.  Lond.  1767-8. 


LIST  OF  AUTHORS.  xxiii 

HARDYNG  (John),  Chronicle  in  Metre.     Ed.  Ellis.     Lond.  1812. 

Haydn  (Jos.),  Dictionary  of  Dates,  and  Universal  Index  of  Biography.    2  vols. 

Lond.  1870. 
Holinshed  (R.),  Scottish  Chronicle.     2  vols.     Arbroath,  1805. 

INQUISITIONUM   retornatarum    abbreviatio.       Inquis.    Spec.      Inquis.   Gen 

Inquis.  de  Tutela.     3  vols.     Lond.  1811. 
Irish  Academy  (Royal),  Proceedings  of.     Dubl.  1841— 
Irving  (David),  Lives  of  Scottish  Writers.     2  vols.     Edinb.  1851. 

JACOBITE  Minstrelsy,  with  Notes.     Glasg.  1829. 

Jamieson  (John),   Scottish   Dictionary.      Ed»   Johnstone.      4   vols,      Edinb. 

1840-41. 
Jervise  (And.),  Epitaphs  and  Inscriptions.     2  vols.     Edinb.  1875-79. 

,,  Memorials  of  Angus  and  Mearns.     Edinb.  1861. 

Johnston  (Arthur),  Musae  Aulicse,  Parerga,  etc.     2  vols.     Aberd.  1637. 

KINCARDINESHIRE,  Black  Book  of.     See  Anderson. 

LAING  (Alex.),  Wayside  Flowers.    Edinb.  1850.     (4th  Ed.  1878.) 
Leech  (John),  Epigrammata  and  Poems.     Lond.  1620. 
Lindsay  (Lord),  Lives  of  the  Lindsays.    3  vols.     Lond.  1849. 

,,        (R.,  of  Pitscottie),  Chronicles  of  Scotland.     Ed.  Dalzell.     2  vols. 

Edinb.  1814. 
Low  (Rev.  George),  Tour  through  the  Islands  of   Orkney  and  Shetland  in 

1774.    Ed.  Jas.  Anderson.    2  vols.     Edinb.  1879. 
Lunan  (Rev.  Al.),  MS.  Diary  in  Diocesan  Library,  Brechin. 
Lyon  (Rev.  C.  T.),  History  of  St.  Andrews.    2  vols.     Edinb.  1843. 

MACLAGAN   (Chr.),   Hill  Forts,    Stone   Circles,    etc.,   of   Ancient  Scotland. 

Edinb.  1875. 
Maitland  (Wm.),  History  and  Antiquities  of  Scotland  to  1603.    2  vols.    Lond. 

1757. 

Marshall  (Rev.  Wm.),  Historic  Scenes  in  Forfarshire.     Edinb.  1875. 
Mason  (Wm.),  Caractacus.     3d  Ed.  Lond.  1762. 
M'Crie  (Th.),  Life  of  John  Knox.    2  vols.     Edinb.  1831. 
„          „       Life  of  Andrew  Melville.     Edinb.  1856. 
„       (Th.,  jun.),  Sketches  of  Scottish  Church  History,  1528-1688.     Edinb. 

1841. 
Melvill  (Jas.),  Autobiography  and  Diary,  with  Continuation.     Ed.  Pitcairn. 

Ediub.  1842. 

Miller  (D.),  Arbroath  and  its  Abbey.     Edinb.  1860. 

Mitchell  (Dr.  Ar.),  The  Past  in  the  Present.    Rhind  Lectures.     Edinb.  1880. 
Monipennie  (John),  Abridgment  of  the  Scots  Chronicle.    Glasgow,  1818. 
Montrose,  Original  Dukedom  of,  Case.     Lond.  1855. 
Myles  (Jas.),  Rambles  in  Forfarshire.     Dundee,  1850. 

NAPIER  (Mark),  Life  and  Times  of  the  Marquis  of  Montrose.     Edinb.  1810. 
Nisbet  (Alex.),  System  of  Heraldry.     2  vols.     Edinb.  1804. 


XXIV  LIST  OF  AUTHORS. 

Nisbet  (Alex.),  Historical  and  Critical  Notes  on  the  Ragman  Roll  (Herald. 
vol.  ii.  App.  ii. ). 

OCHTERLONY  (John),  Account  of  the  Shire  of  Forfar,  1684-5.     (Reprinted  in 
Spottiswoode  Miscellany,  p.  317  i>eq.,  and  Warden's  Angus,  ii.  p.  252  scq.). 
Ord,  History  of  the  Antiquities  of  Cleveland. 

PENNANT  (Th.),  Tours  in  Scotland,    1769  and  1772.      3  vols.      Warn- and 

Chest.  1774-6. 

Peter  (D.  M'G.),  Baronage  of  Angus  and  Mearns.     Edinb.  1856. 
Pitcairn  (Rob.),  Criminal  Trials  in  Scotland,  1488-1624.      3  vols.      Edinb. 

1833. 

Pratt  (Rev.  John),  Buchan.     Aberd.  1870. 

Pulleyn  (Wm.),  Churchyard  Gleanings  and  Epigrammatic  Scraps.    Lond.  N.u. 
Presbytery  of  Brechin  from  1639  to  1660,  Extracts  from  the  Records  of. 
Dundee  1876. 

, ,  of  Brechin,  Current  Registers.     Ms. 

RAGMAN  Rolls,  1291-6.     Bann.  Club.     Edinb.  1834. 

Rambles  in  Forfarshire.     See  Myles. 

Records  (Presbytery)  of  Brechin.     MS. 

Register  of  Ministers,  Exhorters,  and  Readers,  and  of  their  Stipends,  1567. 

Maitl.  Club.     Edinb.  1830. 
,,        of  Ministers  and  Readers  in  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  1574.     Wodrow 

Society.     Edinb.  1844. 
,,        (Parochial)  of  Brechin,  Dunnottar,  Edzell,  Lethnot,  Lochlee,  Men 

muir,  Rescobie,  and  Stracathro.     MS. 
,,        of  Probative  Writs  of  Brechin.     MS. 
, ,        of  Services  of  Heirs  in  Chancery  Office. 

Registrum  Episcopatus  Aberdonensis.     Spald.  Club.     2  vols.     Edinb.  1845. 
,,          Episcopatus  Brechinensis.     Bann.  Club.     2  vols.     Aberd.  1856. 
,,          de  Panmure.     2  vols.     Edinb.  1874. 
,,          Magni  Sigilli  Regum  Scotorum,  1306-1424.     Lond.  1814. 
,,          Nigrum  de  Aberbrothoc.     Bann.  Club.     Edinb.  1856. 
,,          Prioratus  S.  Andree.     Bann.  Club.     Edinb.  1841. 

Vetus  de  Aberbrothoc.     Bann.  Club.     Edinb.  1848. 
Robertson  (Geo.),  Agricultural  Survey  of  Kincardineshire.     Lond.  N.D. 
,,         (Wm.),  Index  of  Missing  Scottish  Charters.     Edinb.  1798. 
,,  ,,        Peerage  Cases.     Edinb.  1790. 

Rogers  (Rev.  Ch.),  Monuments  and  Monumental  Inscriptions  in  Scotland. 

2  vols.     Lond.  1871. 
,,  ,,  Rental-Book  of  the  Cistercian  Abbey  of  Con  par- Angus. 

2  vols.     1879-80. 
Rolt  (Rich.),  Life  of  Right  Honble.  John  Lindsay,  Earl  of  Crawford.     Lond. 

1769. 
Ross  (Alex.),  Helenore,   or,   The  Fortunate  Shepherdess.     Ed.   Longmuir. 

Edinb.  1866. 
Rotuli  Scotife  in  Turri  Loud,  etc.,  1291-1516.    Ed.  Hardy.     2  vols.     Lond. 

1814-19. 

Roy  (Wm.),  Military  Antiquities  of  the  Romans  in  Britain.     Lond.  1793. 
Ruddiman's  Magazine. 


LIST  OF  AUTHORS.  XXV 

Rymer(Th.),  Fcedera,  etc.,  1101-1625.     19  vols.     Lond.  1704-32. 

SCOTS  Magazine.     Edinb.  1739. 

Scott  (H.),  Fasti  Ecclesiaj  Scoticanze.     3  vols.     Edinb.  1866-71. 

Scottish    Journal    of    Topography,    Antiquities,    Traditions,    etc.     2    vols. 

Edinb.  1848. 
Seton  (George),    Sketch  of  the  History  and  Imperfect  Condition  of  the 

Parochial  Records  of  Scotland.     Edinb.  1854. 
Simpson  (Sir  J.  Y. ),  Archaic  Sculptures  of  Cups,  etc. ,  on  Stones  and  Rocks. 

Edinb.  1867. 

Six  Old  English  Chronicles.     Ed.  Bohn's  Ant.  Library.     Lond.  1875. 
Smith  (Dr.  Win.)  and  Prof.  Cheetham,  Diet.  Christ.   Antiquities.     2   vols. 

Lond.  1876-80. 
Smith  (Dr.  Wm. )  and  Prof.   Wace,  Diet.  Christ.  Biography.      Vols.  i.    ii. 

Lond.  1877-80. 

Southesk  Rental- Book,  from  1691  to  1710  inclusive,  MS. 
Spalding  Club  Miscellany.     5  vols.     Aberd.  1841-52. 
Spottiswoode  Club  Miscellany.    2  vols.     Edinb.  1844-5. 
Statistical  (New)  Account  of  Scotland.     15  vols.     Edinb.  1845. 

„        (Old)  Account  of  Scotland.     21  vols.     Edinb.  1791-99. 
Struthers  (J.),  History  of  Scotland  from  the  Union.     2  vols.     Glasg.  1828. 
Stuart  (Dr.  John),  Notices  of  the  Spalding  Club,  etc.     Edinb.  1871. 
,,      (Prof.  John),  Essays  on  Scottish  Antiquities.     Aberd.  1846. 
,,      (And.),  Genealogical  History  of  the  Stewarts.     Lond.  1798. 

THOMSON  (Jajnes),  History  of  Dundee.     Dund.  1847. 

Toland  (John),  A  History  of  the  Druids.     Ed.  Huddleston.     Montrose,  1814. 

Tytler  (Pat.  F.),  History  of  Scotland.     9  vols.     2d  Ed.     Edinb.  1841-3. 

WALFORD  (E.),  County  Families  of  the  United  Kingdom.     Lond.  1881. 

Warden  (A.  J.),  Angus  or  Forfarshire.     Vols.  i.  ii.  iii.     Dund.  1880-2. 

White  (Rev.  Henry),  Natural  History  of  Selborne.     Lond.  1861. 

Wilson  (Prof.  Daniel),  Prehistoric  Annals  of  Scotland.     2  vols.     Lond.  1863. 

Windele  (       ),  Notices  of  Cork. 

Wodrow  (Rob.),  History  of  the  Sufferings  of  the  Church  of  Scotland.     Ed. 

Burns.     4  vols.     Glasg.  1829-30. 
Wyntoun  (Andrew  of),  The  Orygynale  Cronykil  of  Scotland.    Ed.    Laing. 

3  vols.     Edinb.  1872-9. 

YORK  Buildings  Company  Memorandum-Book,  MS. 


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LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 


LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


SECTION   I. 

My  travels  are  at  home  ; 

And  oft  in  spots  with  ruins  o'erspread, 
Like  Lysons,  use  the  antiquarian  spade. 

Origin  of  name  —  Old  clergymen  —  Bell  of  St.  Laurence  —  Ancient  use  of  bells  —  Old 
kirkyard  —  Drummore  Hill  —  Castle  of  Poolbrigs  —  Old  kirk  —  Episcopal  riots  — 
Bonnyman,  parish  teacher  —  Remarkable  death  of  a  parish  minister. 

THE  name  of  this  parish,  in  old  times,  had  a  different  ortho- 
graphy from  that  now  in  use.  At  the  beginning  of  the  thir- 
.  teenth  century  it  was  written  Adall  and  Edale  in  ancient 
charters,  and,  in  the  ancient  Taxatio  (1275),  which  was  rated 
at  a  slightly  subsequent  period,  it  is  spelled  "Adel."1  In 
Eolt's  Life  of  John  Lindesay,  (twentieth)  Earl  of  Crawford,  it  is 
written  "  Edgehill,"  and  so  pronounced  at  this  day  by  some  old 
people.  This  is  believed  by  many  to  be  the  true  etymon,  from 
the  fact  that  the  great  bulk  of  the  arable  land  lies  from  the 
edge  of  the  hill  southward.2  In  all  documents  posterior  to  the 

1  Registrum  Vet.  Aberbrothoc,  pp.  7,  48,  240;  Reg.  Prior.  S.  Andr.  p.  36. 

2  Perhaps  the  present  spelling  arose  from  z  being  otten  read,  if  not  actually  used, 
for  y  in  old  writings.    But  tracing  the  changes  upon  the  name  chronologically,  we 
find  a  curious  example  of  how  a  vocable  grows  :  Edale  (1204-11,  1238)  :  Adall  (1267)  ; 
Adel  (1275);  Addelle,  Adzell  (1435);  Edgall  (1495);  Edzell  (1509)  ;  Egzell  (1528); 
Eggel  (1552);   Eghill  (1571);  Adzell  (1579);  Egle  1(1653);  Edgill  (1654);  Edgell 
(1655);  Edzdel  (1678)  ;  Eggel  (1686);  Egell  (1687). 

A 


LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

date  of  the  two  first,  the  orthography  differs  little  from  the 
present,  and,  according  to  the  late  venerable  minister,  the  name 
implies  "the  cleft  or  dividing  of  the  waters," — a  rendering 
which  may  seem  to  be  favoured  by  the  physical  aspect  of  the 
parish,  in  so  far  as  it  is  bounded  on  the  south  and  west  by  the 
West  "Water,  and  on  the  east  by  the  North  Esk,  both  of  which 
rivers  unite  at  the  south-east  extremity  of  the  parish,  but  it  is 
otherwise  unsatisfactory. 

Etymologies  at  best  are  matter  of  conjecture,  and  although, 
in  many  cases,  conclusions  are  arrived  at  with  much  apparent 
reason,  they  are  constantly  subjects  of  doubt,  arising  from  the 
obvious  fact,  that  inferences  are  too  often  drawn  from  the 
corrupted  forms  now  in  use,  instead  of  from  the  original  and 
more  ancient.  It  is  agreed  on  all  hands  that  modern  names 
are  far  from  improvements  on  the  originals,  which  are  ever 
descriptive  of  the  situation,  or  other  physical  peculiarities  of 
the  soil ;  and,  what  is  perhaps  still  more  valuable,  the  names 
often  furnish  a  key  to  the  status  and  particular  nature  of  the 
holdings  and  occupations  of  the  tenants  in  the  remote  past. 
Near  the  site  of  the  old  castle  of  Dalbog,  for  instance,  we  have 
the  "  Serjan'  Hill,"  or  the  place  where  the  old  serjeant  of  the 
barony  resided ;  while  the  "  temple  lands,"  scattered  over 
almost  every  part  of  Scotland,  do  not  imply,  as  popularly  be- 
lieved-, that  the  places  were  the  sites  of  temples  in  early  times, 
but  that  the  lands  were  held  first  under  the  superiority  of  the 
old  fraternity  of  Knights  Templars,  and  afterwards  under  those 
of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  the  latter  of  whom  flourished  in 
Scotland  until  the  Beformation.  In  like  manner,  the  "  kiln" 
and  "sheeling"  hills  show  the  places  where  corn  was  dried 
and  unhusked  prior  to  the  introduction  of  machinery;  and 
"  the  sucken  lands "  are  still  well  known  in  some  districts 
(though  few  in  comparison  to  the  number  of  places  so  called 
in  former  days),  indicating  that,  even  in  comparatively  late 
times,  certain  payments  in  kind  were  made  from  them  to  meal 
and  barley  millers. 


EDZELL — ECCLESIASTICAL   POSITION.  3 

It  must,  therefore,  be  matter  of  regret  that  these  important 
aids  to  ancient  history  and  the  manners  of  our  forefathers  are 
so  generally  beyond  our  reach,  and  that  so  little  attention  has 
been  paid  to  their  preservation;  for  even  when  found  men- 
tioned in  family  charters  and  the  public  records,  the  exact 
localities  of  a  vast  number  of  them  are  altogether  unknown, 
either  through  their  utter  extinction,  or  from  the  orthographical 
change  which  the  names  have  undergone.  But  looking  at  the 
oldest  forms  of  the  name  belonging  to  the  parish  of  Edzell,  we 
can  easily  resolve  it  into  the  Gaelic  Ath-dail,  "  the  ford  of  the 
plain,"  which  topographically  seems  most  appropriate  and 
applicable. 

Before  the  Reformation  the  Church  of  Edzell  was  at- 
tached to  the  Archiepiscopal  see  of  St.  Andrews,  and  rated  at 
twelve  marks.  It  was  also  one  of  several  dependencies  the 
revenues  of  which  were  appropriated  for  the  repair  of  the 
parent  cathedral  in  1378,  after  its  conflagration  in  Bishop 
Landel's  time.1  Sir  David  Broun,  the  owner  and  granter  of  some 
property  in  Brechin  to  the  cathedral  of  that  city  in  1553,  was 
the  last  Eoman  Catholic  vicar  of  Edzell ;  but,  oddly  enough,  no 
mention  is  made  of  the  parish  in  the  Register  of  Ministers  for 
1567,  although  in  that  of  the  Headers  for  1572,  an  Andro 
Spens  appears  to  have  held  the  office  of  "  exhorter,"  with  a 
stipend  of  about  thirteen  shillings  and  fourpence  sterling.2 

Like  other  districts  that  have  never  been  dignified  as  the 
seat  of  a  cathedral,  abbey,  or  priory,  the  ecclesiastical  history 
of  Edzell  is  meagre  and  uninteresting ;  but  the  fragments  of  a 
sculptured  stone  found  at  the  churchyard  in  1870,  and  the 
frequency,  in  former  times,  of  the  name  Abbe,  would  point  to 
it  as  a  centre  of  some  ecclesiastical  importance,  though  the 
amount  is  not  fully  known.  Dr.  Joseph  Eobertson  thought  it 

1  (A.D.  1378)— Lyon,  History  of  St.  Andrews,  ii.  p.  312. 

2  On  the  10th  of  January  1552-3  Sir  David  Broun  (all  churchmen  being  called  .Sir 
in  those  days),  vicar  of  Edzell,  granted  a  charter  of  Claypots  and  Cobisland,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  city  of  Brechin,  to  the  altar  of  All  Saints,  within  that  cathedral.— 
(Reg.  Kpific.  Brech.  i.  p.  227.) 


4  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

the  most  probable  site  of  St.  Drostan's  Monastery.1  The  earliest 
parson  of  whom  any  trace  exists  bore  the  name  of  Elwynus, 
and  had  been,  doubtless,  a  man  of  consideration  in  his  day, 
since  he  witnessed  the  grant  of  Warnabalde,  ancestor  of  the 
Earls  of  Glencairn,  and  his  wife,  Rechenda,  the  daughter  and 
heiress  of  Humphrey  of  Berkeley,  when  they  gifted  their 
Mearns  estates  to  the  Abbey  of  Arbroath.2  Gilbert  was  parson 
in  1267,  and  Walter  de  Lychtoun  rector  in  1435.  David 
Broun  and  William  Clerk  were  respectively  vicar  and  chaplain 
in  1522,3  the  former  probably  residing  in  Brechin,  and  the 
latter  ministering  in  a  chapel  within  or  connected  with  the 
parish  church.  From  about  1571  there  is  preserved  a  traceable 
succession  of  ministers.4 

Beyond  the  instance  already  mentioned,  we  are  not  aware 
that  the  revenues  of  the  church  were  ever  applied  either  for 
the  support  of  monasteries  or  altarages.  The  church  was 
inscribed  to  St.  Laurence  the  martyr.  A  well  near  the  church- 
yard bore  his  name,  and  there  is  also  a  confused  tradition 
regarding  a  bell,  called  "the  bell  of  St.  Laurence."  This 
instrument  is  said  to  have  been  specially  rung  by  the  Durays 
of  Durayhill,  who,  as  will  be  shown  in  a  subsequent  part  of 
this  volume,  were  the  hereditary  doomsters  of  the  lairds  of 
Edzell.  Although  the  bell  was  only  brought  to  light,  after  a 
long  lapse  of  years,  by  being  accidentally  dragged  from  the 
bottom  of  the  old  well  of  Durayhill  in  the  early  part  of  the 
present  century,  and  placed  in  the  old  church,  where  it  lay 
down  to  the  period  of  its  demolition,  it  has  since  been  lost 
sight  of. 

The  loss  of  this,  which  was,  perhaps,  the  oldest  parochial 
relic,  is  the  more  to  be  regretted,  since  all  description  proves  it 
to  have  been  an  instrument  of  the  most  primitive  manufac- 

1  Reg.  de  Panmure,  i.  pp.  lii  sq. ;  Lives,  i.  pp.  103,  424. ,  In  this  and  all  subse- 
quent reference  to  the  delightful  work  entitled  Lives  of  the  Lindsays,  by  Lord 
Lindsay,  the  late  Earl  of  Crawford  and  Balcarres,  it  will  be  merely  noticed  as  Lives. 

3  (A.D.  1238)— Reg.  Vet.  Aberbrothoc,  p.  198. 

»  Crawf.  Case,  p.  158;  Reg.  Episc.  Br.  i.  pp.  8,  79,  227  ;  ii.  p.  301. 

4  Scott,  Fasti,  vi.  pp.  824  sq. 


EDZELL BELLS  AND  THEIR  USES.  5 

ture,  suggesting  a  comparison  with  some  of  those  described 
and  figured  in  Wilson's  Prehistoric  Annals  of  Scotland.1  It 
was  made  of  common  sheet  iron,  of  a  quadrangular  form, 
about  a  foot  high,  correspondingly  wide,  and  narrowing  a 
little  towards  the  top.  The  handle  was  placed  horizontally  on 
the  side,  passed  through  the  bell,  and  formed  the  axle  of  the 
clapper,  that  was  suspended  by  an  8.  The  clapper  was  of 
wrought  iron,  shaped  somewhat  like  a  purring-iron  or  poker, 
and  is  said  to  have  been  newer  than  the  bell. 

Bells  were  used  by  the  first  Christian  settlers,  and  were 
ever  objects  of  great  veneration,  being  as  duly  consecrated  as 
the  church  and  pastor.  St.  Columbkill  had  one  on  the  famous 
island  of  loua  (commonly,  but  erroneously,  written  lona) ; 
and  St.  Ternan  had  presented  to  him  by  Pope  Gregory  the 
Great  a  bell  that  was  deposited  beside  his  relics,  and  held  in 
high  veneration  at  the  kirk  of  Banchory-Ternan,  where  he 
was  buried.  Prior  to  the  fashion  of  administering  oaths  upon 
the  Holy  Bible,  bells  were  used  for  the  purpose ;  and  instances 
are  on  record  of  people  holding  them  as  evidences  of  right 
and  title  to  landed  property.  This  was  the  case  with  the  bell 
of  St.  Meddan  of  Airlie.  It  was  resigned  by  its  hereditary 
possessor,  the  Curate,  to  Sir  John  Ogilvy,  who  gifted  it  to  his 
lady,  and  in  virtue  of  this  she  had  possession  of  a  house  and 
toft  near  the  kirk  of  Lintrathen,  the  infeftment  being  com- 
pleted by  her  being  shut  up  in  a  house,  and  then  receiving  the 
feudal  symbols  of  earth  and  stone.2  Bells  were  also  popularly 
believed  to  work  miracles,  and,  among  other  wonders,  to 
frighten  away  the  devil  from  the  souls  of  departing  Christians. 
But  we  owe  to  a  truer  feeling  the  origin  of  the  "  warning  of 
the  passing  bell "  and  of  its  use  at  funerals — a  practice  which, 
though  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  revered  observances  of  the 

1  Vol.  ii.  c.  9. 

2  (A.D.  mi)—Spalding  Club  Miscel.  iv.  pp.  117-18.      On  the  probable  fate 
of  this  bell,  see  Jervise,  Epit.  i.  p.  280.    When  the  reservoir  for  the  water-supply  to 
Dundee  was  being  constructed,  the  fragment  of  a  sculptured  cross  was  found  at  Lin- 
trathen, and  this  in  all  probability  was  part  of  the  cross  of  St.  Meddan.  — (Jervise, 
ib.  i.  p.  364.) 


6  LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Koman  and  English  Churches,  is  yet  used  in  some  Presby- 
terian districts,  and  dealt  out  on  the  same  pecuniary  considera- 
tions as  in  the  days  of  our  forefathers.  We  do  not  infer, 
however,  although  the  "  toll  of  the  dead  bell "  may  still  be 
occasionally  heard  in  Edzell  and  many  neighbouring  parishes, 
that  the  inhabitants  place  any  faith  in  it  as  a  superstitious 
observance ;  but  most  of  them  simply  retain  the  custom  from 
an  idea  of  respect  to  the  worthy  people  who  have  gone,  or  are 
passing  away,  before  them.  Indeed,  the  practice  is  now  so  rare, 
that,  when  attempted  to  be  used,  the  sexton  frequently  rings 
"  a  merry  peal,"  instead  of  that  deep,  solemn,  and  imposing 
knell,  which  is  so  well  calculated  to  strike  fear  and  solemn 
thought  to  the  hearts  of  even  careless  listeners. 

The  old  kirkyard  of  Edzell— whither  it  was  customary  for 
the  sexton,  at  no  distant  date,  to  precede  almost  all  funeral  pro- 
cessions, tolling  this  unharmonious  badge — has  now  a  far  more 
solitary  situation  than  in  days  of  yore.  It  occupies  the  same 
site,  it  is  true,  by  the  side  of  the  West  Water,  but  the  church 
is  removed,  the  huge  castle  is  roofless  and  untenanted,  and  the 
thriving  village  is  fully  a  mile  distant.  The  abrupt  heights  of 
Dunlappie,1  and  the  isolated  hill  of  Drummore  still  rise  on 
the  north-east  and  south-west,  throwing  their  deep  shadows 
athwart  the  consecrated  spot,  and  giving  a  strangely  solemn 
hue  to  the  whole  locality ;  and,  barring  the  thoughtful  tread  of 
the  curious  pilgrim,  or  the  hasty  step  of  the  few  who  pass 
engrossed  in  business,  the  ancient  lords  of  the  district  and 
"  the  rude  forefathers  of  the  hamlet"  alike  enjoy  an  undis- 
turbed and  unvaried  repose,  well  befitting  the  solemnity  and 
awfulness  of  death.  But  it  was  different  in  old  times :  the 
clack  of  the  busy  mill,  and  the  undisguised  laugh  of  innocent 
childhood,  reverberated  within  a  few  paces  of  it ;  the  sweet- 
scented  honeysuckle  twined  around  the  door  of  the  miller's 
cottage ;  and  the  healthy  vegetable  was  fostered,  with  all  the 
skill  and  care  then  known,  near  the  south-west  corner  of 

1  Dun-leaba,  Fort  of  the  (a)  bed,  (b)  monument,  or  (c)  cromlech. 


EDZELL DRUMMORE  AND   DUNLAPPIE.  7 

Stopbridge,  where  the  foundations  of  long-since  inhabited  tene- 
ments, and  pieces  of  mill  gear,  are  frequently  found. 

The  now  cultivated  hill  of  Drummore  was  of  late  covered 
with  whins  and  broom,  but  in  former  days  had  also  contained 
cottages  with  smiling  gardens ;  and,  on  the  southern  extremity, 
upon  a  small  isolated  and  once  moated  hillock,  stood  the 
original  castle  of  Edzell.  The  spot  is  still  called  "  the  castle 
hillock,"  and  old  parishioners  have  been  told  by  their  fathers 
that  they  remembered  two  arched  chambers  being  erased,  and 
a  common  blue  bottle  of  antique  manufacture  found  in  the 
crevices  ;  it  was  full  of  wine  or  other  liquid. 

This  castle,  according  to  tradition,  was  demolished  by  the 
ancient  lords  of  Dunlappie,  who,  it  is  further  affirmed,  found 
on  returning  home  from  the  wars  of  the  Crusades,  that  the 
lords  of  Edzell  had  taken  forcible  possession  of  their  castle ; 
and  therefore  commencing  a  desperate  reprisal,  they  demolished 
the  castle,  and  pillaged  and  burned  the  lands  of  their  adver- 
saries. Such  is  the  story — but  it  is  much  more  certain  that  the 
lands  of  Dunlappie,  at  the  time  referred  to,  were  in  the  hands 
of  the  family  of  Abernethy,1  although,  so  far  as  known,  no 
trace  of  their  castle  of  Poolbrigs 2  (for  so  their  residence  was 
called)  has  been  discovered. 

It  is  therefore  apparent,  since  traces  of  so  many  old  dwell- 
ings have  been  found,  not  only  on  Drummore  Hill,  but  also  on 
that  of  Edzell,  and  in  the  still  more  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
burial-place,  that  the  kirk  had  then  been  rather  conveniently 
placed  for  the  mass  of  the  people — particularly  since  there 
was  a  chapel  at  Dalbog,  on  the  east  side  of  the  parish.  But 

1  Duncan,  the  fifth  Earl  of  Fife,  and  fourth  in  descent  from  the  murderer  of 
Macbeth,  excambed  Dunlappie,  and  Balmadethy  in  Fearn,  with  Orem,  the  son  of 
Hew  of  Abernethy,  for  the  lands  of  Balberny,  in  Fife,  in  Malcolm  iv.'s  time.— 
(Douglas1  Peerage,  ii.  p.  466.)    And  Anegus  de  Dunlopyn  was  a  charter  witness, 
1178-80.— (Reg.    Vet.  Aberbr.  p.  62.)    In  the  ancient  Taxatio  Dunlopin  was  rated  at 
four  marks  (Reg.  Prior.  S.  Andr.  p.  36 ;  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  p.  239) ;  and  in  1585  the 
Hepburns  of  Lufnes  held  a  third  of  the  lands  and  barony  of  Dunlappie  with  the 
alternate  presentation  to  the  benefice. — (Inquis.  Spec.,  Forfar.  No.  15.) 

2  This  castle  probably  stood  on  the  west  side  of  the  West  Water,  opposite  the 
oldest  castle  of  Edzell.      The  name  may  mean  "  the  Pool  of  the  Lie,"  or  the 
treacherous  pool. 


LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

as  the  feudal  importance  of  the  house  of  Edzell  declined,  the 
occupation  of  its  numerous  retainers,  who  inhabited  those 
dwellings,  necessarily  ceased,  and,  several  small  pendicles  being 
thrown  together,  the  bulk  of  the  population  naturally  sought  a 
place  more  convenient  for  mutual  labour,  and  more  accessible 
to  merchants  and  markets.  Thus,  the  hillside  becoming  de- 
serted, the  plain  was  peopled,  and  the  village  of  Slateford 
gradually  increased  until  it  assumed  its  present  important  and 
burgh-like  form.  Thither  the  church  was  removed  in  1818, 
when  the  old  one  was  pulled  down  to  furnish  materials  for 
the  erection  of  the  new. 

The  old  kirk  and  kirkyard  were  within  the  same  delta  as 
the  original  castle,  and,  down  to  a  late  period,  were  often  of 
difficult  and  dangerous  access.  Before  the  Stop-bridge  was 
thrown  over  the  so-called  old  channel  of  the  West  Water,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  eastern  parts  of  the  parish  had  to  ford  the 
den  on  stepping-stones  and  ladders,  and  this  mode  of  transit 
being  impracticable  when  the  river  was  swollen,  the  session 
records  frequently  mention  that  there  was  no  sermon,  because 
of  "  the  watters  being  in  spaitt." l  Latterly  the  kirk  assumed  a 
most  comfortless  aspect ;  the  snow  and  rain  found  easy  access 
through  the  roof,  and  the  floor  being  some  inches  lower  than 
the  surrounding  ground,  the  area  was  frequently  under  water. 

But  of  this  old  fane,  where  so  many  of  the  proud  lords  of 
Edzell  and  their  humble  retainers  bowed  the  knee,  the  aisle 
alone  remains.  The  not  inelegant  semicircular  arch,  that 
separated  the  kirk  from  the  aisle,  is  built  up,  the  old  area  is 
used  as  a  place  of  common  sepulture,  and,  within  the  last  half 
century,  the  bell  has  been  transferred  to  the  new  church,  while 
the  belfry,  being  allowed  to  fall  into  decay,  has  disappeared 
before  the  new  roof  with  its  projecting  hood.  Although  an 
object  of  no  great  antiquity,  the  presence  of  .the  bell  added 
considerably  to  the  romantic  aspect  of  the  place,  and  having, 
together  with  a  hand-bell,  been  made  from  a  mould  con- 

i  Edzell  Par.  Reg.  Nov.  12,  1648,  et  sq. 


EDZELL — OLD  KIRK  AND  MINISTERS. 

structed  by  an  ingenious  villager,  and  cast  in  the  woods  of 
Edzell  by  a  band  of  tinkers,  who  had  made  good  their  quarters 
there,  it  may  be  said  to  possess  a  more  than  ordinary  local 
interest.  It  now  lies  at  the  new  church,  but  we  hope  is  not, 
like  the  bell  of  St.  Laurence,  to  be  altogether  lost.1 

The  old  kirk  of  Edzell  was  perhaps  among  the  earliest 
slated  of  our  landward  churches  ;  for,  in  1641,  we  are  not  only 
informed  that  a  payment  in  Scotch  money  was  made  to  "  the 
sclaitter  for  poynting  the  kirke,"  but  we  have  a  glimpse  at  the 
extras  or  overpayments  of  the  time,  in  the  curious  item  of 
"  mair  of  drink  siluer  to  hys  boy,  6d."2 

Nothing  is  known  of  the  state  of  religion  here  prior  to  the 
date  of  the  parochial  register,  which  begins  on  the  3d  of 
January  1641,  in  the  time  of  Mr.  Togo ;  but  there  is  no  reason 
to  believe  that  "  the  new  doctrine"  was  introduced  earlier  than 
in  other  parts  of  the  shire.  It  might  be  curious  to  know, 
though  we  are  not  aware  if  it  could  be  ascertained,  whether 
Edzell  was  among  those  parishes  that  were  supplied  by  one 
of  the  "  manie  popishe  preistis,  unabill  and  of  wicked  life," 
whose  conduct  was  winked  at  by  the  Superintendent  Erskine  ;3 
but  it  is  certain  that  Sir  David  of  Edzell,  who  succeeded  his 
father  in  1558,  as  well  as  his  excellent  brother,  Lord  Menmuir, 
espoused  the  reformed  doctrines,  and  that  they  were  religiously 
cherished  by  all  their  successors.  Indeed,  so  attached,  was  the 
grandfather  of  the  last  laird  to  the  cause  of  the  Covenant,  that 
in  its  support  he  raised  a  regiment  that  was  known  by  his 
own  name;4  and  in  the  Parliament  of  1662,  the  Earl  of 
Middleton  fined  him  in  the  large  sum  of  £3000.  Kirk-sessions 
were  prohibited  from  being  held  in  the  parish  from  the  time  of 
"the  blessed  restoratioun"  until  1662,  and  on  being  resumed 

1  The   old   kirk   bell  bears  :— "THE  •  PARISH  •  OP  •  EDZELL  -  MR.  •  IAMES  . 

THOMSON   •  MINH.    •  MADE   •   AT   •   SOLAT   •   FORD    •   BY   •  IOHN   •  EASTON   •  1726."    Oil 

the  hand-bell : — "EDZELL  •  PARISH  •  IOA  •  EASTON  •  FECIT  •  1726."    The  bell  on 
the  new  kirk  bears  the  date  of  1819. 
*  Old  Slot.  Acct.  Scot.  x.  p.  112. 

3  Booke  of  the  Universall  Kirk  of  Scotland,  p.  25, 

4  Menmuir  Par.  Reg.  Aug.  11,  1050. 


10  LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

by  order  of  the  Bishop  and  Presbytery,  Mr.  Dempster  "  begood 
the  administration  of  discipline."  From  that  time  matters 
moved  smoothly  on,  till  the  overthrow  of  Episcopacy  at  the 
time  of  the  Kevohition.  But  so  strongly  were  the  ecclesiastical 
changes  then  made  felt,  that,  under  the  banner  of  "  the  last 
laird,"  the  opposition  there  was  carried  to  perhaps  a  higher 
pitch  than  in  any  neighbouring  district. 

It  is  true  that  the  Earl  of  Southesk's  factor  forced  the 
adjoining  parishioners  of  Stracathro,  under  pain  of  being 
carried  to  the  Pretender's  camp  at  Perth,  to  meet  him  "  at  the 
head  of  eighty  men  under  arms,  with  beating  drums,  and 
flying  colours,"  and  to  join  with  him  in  a  day  of  humiliation 
and  prayer  "  for  success  to  the  Pretender's  army,"1  but  it  does 
not  appear  that  so  forcible  means  were  employed  there  against 
the  introduction  of  the  Presbyterian  minister  as  at  Edzell. 
Both  by  fair  means  and  foul,  David  Lindsay,  lord  of  the 
manor,  exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  for  the  maintenance  and 
propagation  of  his  cause;  and,  although  prohibited  by  the 
Lords  of  Justiciary  from  the  use  of  the  church,  and  forbidden 
to  preach  in  the  parish,  the  minister,  who  was  a  namesake 
of  the  laird,  and  encouraged  and  protected  by  him  in  every 
possible  manner,  openly  taught  seditious  principles — "  prayed 
for  the  popish  pretender  as  King  of  those  realms,"  and 
"  preached  in  the  great  hall  of  Edzell"  to  assembled  multi- 
tudes. In  like  manner  they  also  managed  all  parochial 
business  as  "  the  Kirk-session  of  Edzell,"  relieved  the  poor  of 
the  parish,  elected  a  schoolmaster,  and,  until  active  measures 
were  taken  by  Government  for  the  minister's  removal,  they 
successfully  maintained  their  position  against  all  and  sundry. 

In  this  state  of  matters,  on  the  26th  of  August  1714,  the 
Presbytery  of  Brechin  ordained  the  Eev.  Mr.  Gray  as  Mr. 
Lindsay's  successor.  But  it  could  scarcely  be  supposed  that  one 
of  so  bold  and  impetuous  a  temperament  as  the  laird  would 
quietly  submit  to  have  his  power  thus  set  aside,  and  the 

1  Stracathro  Par.  Reg.  Nov.  2,  1715  ;  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies,  i.  p.  179. 


EDZELL MR.    GRAY'S   ORDINATION.  11 

important  adjunct  of  patron  of  the  parish  summarily  wrested 
out  of  his  hands.  It  was,  indeed,  a  fitting  opportunity  for  a 
display  of  his  determined  character ;  and,  although  aware  that 
ere  long  he  would  require  to  bid  the  lands  of  his  forefathers 
adieu  for  ever,  he  resolved  to  support  his  feudal  title  to  them, 
in  all  its  bearings,  so  long  as  he  held  possession.  Accordingly, 
on  the  Sunday  after  Mr.  Gray's  ordination,  which  the  Pres- 
bytery found  necessary  for  safety's  sake  to  conduct  at  Brechin, 
"  the  doors  of  the  church  were  shut  [against  him]  by  order  of 
the  laird  ;"  and,  for  want  of  better  accommodation,  he  preached 
his  first  sermon  in  the  open  air. 

For  some  reason  or  other  not  specified — perhaps  through 
the  laird's  absence  from  the  parish — Mr.  Gray  had  admission 
to  the  church  on  the  two  Sundays  following,  but  on  the  third 
and  fourth  thereafter,  he  and  another  minister  were  not  only 
excluded,  together  with  their  followers,  "  whom  they  had 
brought  with  them  from  Brechin,"  but  were  all  "  most 
inhumanly  and  barbarously  treated  "  by  the  Jacobites.  None 
abashed,  however,  the  Presbyterians  persevered  in  maintaining 
their  ground,  and  on  the  3d  of  October  the  crisis  was  reached. 
Mr.  Gray  and  his  party  had  no  sooner  arrived  at  the  church  than, 
under  the  laird's  directions,  they  were  violently  assaulted  by 
a  band  of  men  and  women,  who  beat  and  maltreated  them  in 
every  conceivable  way,  by  cutting  their  clothes,  stabbing  and 
beating  them  with  "  durks,  and  stones,  and  rungs,"  and  forcing 
them  to  wade  to  and  fro  in  the  adjoining  river.1  It  was  only 
at  that  time  that  Mr.  Gray  abandoned  his  post.  He  then 
claimed  protection  from  the  civil  authorities,  and  until  the 
following  January  did  not  re-appear  in  the  parish.  Matters 
being  then  amicably  settled,  he  resumed  his  labours  in  peace, 
and  the  Episcopalians  delivered  over  to  him  the  "  communion 
vessells  and  vestments,"  which  they  had  all  along  retained  and 
made  use  of.  During  the  disturbances  of  the  "  forty-five " 
matters  were  otherwise  conducted,  for  then  the  kirk-session 

1  See  APPENDIX,  No.  I. 


12  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

were  declared  to  have  acted  an  exemplary  part  "  in  the  late 
unnatural  rebellion  ;"  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  formation 
of  a  Free  Church  congregation  which  occurred  here,  as  in  most 
other  parts  of  the  country,  in  1843,  the  parishioners  may  be 
said,  ever  since  the  notorious  "  rabble"  of  1714,  to  have  moved 
on  quietly  in  "  the  noiseless  tenor  of  their  way." 

None  of  the  succeeding  clergymen  or  schoolmasters,  so  far 
as  we  are  aware,  were  famous  for  anything  beyond  their 
immediate  sphere  of  duties,  except  that  Mr.  James  Murison, 
who  was  translated  to  Kinnell  in  1743,  became  Principal  of 
St.  Mary's  College,  St.  Andrews.  The  schoolmasters  seem  to 
have  been  good  useful  men  in  their  time,  with  the  exception 
of  one  "  heartless  pedagogue  who  belonged  to  the  town  of 
Cromarty."  When  scarcely  a  year  in  office  he  was  "  detected 
privately  in  the  night  tyme  treacherously  stealing  of  a  part 
of  our  Sessione  records  wherein  was  contained  baptisms  and 
marriges," l  and,  fearing  the  worst,  he  clandestinely  departed, 
and  was  never  again  seen  in  the  district.  But  of  all  his  suc- 
cessors, the  name  of  Mr.  Bonnyman,  who  nourished  towards 
the  close  of  last  century,  lives  most  vividly  in  the  minds  of 
the  parishioners. 

Though  best  remembered  in  the  rather  unenviable  character 
of  a  miser,  to  which,  if  tales  are  true,  he  had  too  legitimate 
a  claim,  he  had  also  the  reputation  of  being  an  eminent  scholar, 
and,  prior  to  his  settlement  at  Edzell,  was  tutor  in  the  noble 
family  of  Kintore.  Loath  to  expend  money  on  fire  to  cook  his 
food,  or  to  warm  himself  in  all  but  the  severest  frosts  of 
winter,  he  nightly  lurked  about  the  blazing  hearths  of  the 
villagers,  went  daily  from  house  to  house  with  his  "  brose  cap  " 
under  his  arm,  and  made  choice  of  the  "  broo  "  of  the  "  fattest 
kail  pot "  to  slake  his  scanty  supply  of  meal ! 2  He  was  a  big 
gruff  man,  and  when  in  full  Sunday  habit  sported  "  a  three- 


1  Edzell  Par.  Reg.  1706. 

2  Brose  is  "  a  kind  of  pottage  made  by  pouring  water  or  broth  on  meal,  which  is 
stirred  in  while  the  liquid  is  boiling." — (Jamieson,  Scot.  Diet,  in  voce.) 


EDZELL MR.   MILLAR,   THE  MINISTER.  13 

nookit  bus'ness,"  or  sort  of  cocked  hat;  but  when  on  his 
brose-making  excursions  he  wore  a  broad  blue  bonnet  with 
scarlet  brim,  an  old-fashioned  drab  great-coat  thrown  loosely 
over  his  shoulders,  and  fastened  at  the  neck  with  a  big  buckle 
— presenting  altogether  more  the  appearance  of  a  sturdy  beggar 
than  the  learned  instructor  of  the  parish,  or  the  possessor,  as 
he  was  in  reality,  of  some  hundreds  of  pounds. 

As  his  contemporary  David  Millar  the  minister  also 
gained  a  provincial  notoriety,  it  will  perhaps  excuse  our 
noticing  him  at  some  length.  This  arose,  however,  not  cer- 
tainly from  the  penuriousness  of  his  habits,  but  from  the 
lamentable  manner  in  which  he  is  reported  to  have  closed  his 
career.  It  is  admitted  by  all  that  his  learning  was  surpassed 
only  by  his  eloquence  as  a  preacher,  and  by  his  gentlemanly 
bearing  and  generosity  of  heart,  for  his  ear  was  ever  open  to 
the  tale  of  distress,  and  his  hand  ever  ready  to  afford  relief. 
Unlike  Mr.  Bonnyman,  he  was  an  enthusiastic  gambler,  and 
from  his  expertness  in  this  respect,  as  well  as  having  a  kindly 
disposition,  he  was  courted  by  surrounding  landlords,  and  pos- 
sessed more  influence  than  any  of  his  brethren.  But,  with  all 
these  accomplishments  and  many  admirable  mental  qualities, 
the  strange  infatuation  of  his  nature,  and  the  circumstances 
of  his  death,  teach  a  sad  lesson  of  human  frailty,  and  its 
certain  consequences.  He  had  been  fifteen  years  in  the  parish, 
when  his  death  occurred  in  1788. 

Dining  on  one  occasion  at  a  neighbouring  mansion  with 
a  large  party  of  gentlemen,  the  game  of  hazard  was,  as  usual, 
their  after-dinner  amusement.  The  stakes  being  heavy,  and 
the  minister  fortunate,  the  fairness  of  his  play  was  questioned, 
and  an  angry  altercation  ensuing,  one  of  the  losing  party,  in 
the  heat  of  passion,  lifted  a  candlestick  from  the  table  and 
felled  the  minister  to  the  floor.  From  the  injuries  thus 
inflicted,  he  is  said  to  have  almost  immediately  expired ;  but 
the  matter  being  quietly  managed,  the  circumstance  never  was 
publicly  noticed,  and  all  the  parties  concerned,  with  a  genera- 


U  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

tion  or  two  to  boot,  have  now  gone  to  their  reckoning.  Still, 
the  generous  character  of  the  minister,  and  the  sad  nature  of 
his  death,  live  in  the  memories  of  the  children  of  those  to 
whom  his  goodness  of  heart  and  other  amiable  qualities  were 
known. 


SECTION   II. 

See  yonder  hallow  d  fane  ! — the  pious  -work 
Of  names  once  famed,  now  dubious  or  forgot , 
And  buried  midst  the  wreck  of  things  which  were  ; 
There  lie  interr'd  the  more  illustrious  dead. 

Strange  things,  the  neighbours  say,  have  happen  d  here  : 
Wild  shrieks  have  issued  from  the  hollow  tombs  : 
Dead  men  have  come  again,  and  walk'd  about ; 
And  the  great  bell  has  toll' d,  unrung,  untouch'd. 

BLAIR'S  "GRAVE." 

Burial  aisle— Lady  Lindsay  raised  from  a  trance — Major  Wood— Traditions  of  his 
death  and  burial — Rev.  George  Low  of  Birsay — Kirk  and  lands  of  Neudos — 
Story  of  St.  Drostan's  well — Chapelry  and  castle  of  Dalbog. 

THE  place  of  burial  of  the  barons  of  Edzell,  which  was  attached 
to  the  south  side  of  the  kirk,  is  still  entire,  and  formed  the 
aisle  in  old  times.  It  is  a  plain,  unostentatious  mausoleum, 
rather  at  variance  with  the  wealth  and  power  of  its  noble 
founder,  but  in  good  keeping  with  his  solemn  and  benign  cha- 
racter. It  was  erected  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  by  David  Lindsay  of  Edzell,  who  became  the  ninth 
Earl  of  Crawford,  and  the  kirk  had,  perhaps,  been  rebuilt  and 
slated  at  the  same  time.  In  the  south  wall  there  is  a  recess 
five  feet  eight  inches  long,  not  unlike  to  that  in  St.  Palladius' 
chapel,  Fordoun,  but  with  mouldings  slightly  more  ornate, 
jambs  shortened,  and  arch  much  flattened.  In  the  east  wall 
there  is  an  ambry  with  pointed  top,  and  simple  moulding. 

The  roof  of  the  aisle  is  covered  with  grey  slates,  and  has 
recently  been  repaired  j1  and  the  large  window  on  the  south  is 
guarded  by  heavy  stanchions  of  iron,  which  had  probably  been 

•*  In  the  autumn  of  1881  the  Editor  was  intrusted  by  the  Dowager  Lady  Crawford 
with  the  work  of  having  a  thorough  and  substantial  repair  put  upon  the  whole  aisle. 
This  was  completed  in  the  end  of  January  following,  and  thanks  to  her  Ladyship 
were  expressed  by  the  kirk-session  of  Edzell  in  a  minute  of  date  March  3,  1882. 


EDZELL — LINDSAY   BURIAL   AISLE.  15 

dug  from  native  mines,  and  smelted  in  the  locality,  as,  it  is 
said,  was  the  fine  grated  door  at  Invermark  Castle.  Earl  David 
was  buried  here  at  his  own  request ;  so  were  his  first  spouse, 
Janet  Gray  (who  predeceased  him  in  1549),  and  the  most  of 
their  successors.  The  aisle  is  entered  by  a  small  door  on  the 
west,  and  a  flight  of  steps,  hewn  of  the  soft  red  sandstone  of 
the  locality,  leads  to  the  gloomy  chamber.  Internally,  the 
vault  is  only  nine  feet  five  inches  square,  and  six  feet  high, 
the  floor  being  evenly  paved  with  slabs  laid  in  a  soft  white 
clay.  The  sides  and  roof  are  of  solid  ashlar,  constructed  with 
great  care,  and  the  centre  of  the  groined  roof  terminates  in  the 
mortuary  semblance  of  four  skulls,  cut  by  a  bold  chisel.  An 
iron  ring  is  fixed  in  the  midst  of  these  for  suspending  the 
lamp,  which  was  believed  to  light  the  souls  of  the  departed 
through  the  unknown  maze  to  eternal  bliss.  But  of  all  the 
powerful  personages  here  interred,  no  memorial  exists  to  per- 
petuate their  individual  characters,  or  even  their  names.  It  is 
true  that  a  large  slab,  with  a  sculpture  of  the  Lindsay  and 
Abernethy  arms,  and  a  few  stray  words  and  letters  upon  it, 
was  thrown  from  the  aisle  at  the  destruction  of  the  old  kirk. 
But  it  now  lies  broken  in  several  pieces  in  the  grave-yard ; 
and,  so  far  as  can  be  judged  from  the  style  of  its  carving — for 
it  is  much  mutilated  and  effaced — it  had  belonged  to  about  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.1 

Only  one  tradition  is  known  regarding  the  family  of  Edzell 
and  this  vault ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  it  is  fraught  with 
much  of  the  romance  incident  to  the  dreamings  of  a  remote 
age,  but  it  is  also  told  of  other  families.  Divested,  however,  of 
its  accustomed  minuteness,  story  has  failed  to  preserve  the 


1  Besides  sculptures  of  the  family  arms, 
the  stone  bears  the  initials  "  A.  L."  on 
the  sinister  side,  and  "W.  .  .  ."on  the 
dexter.  A  perpendicular  line,  which  runs 
about  two-thirds  down  the  middle,  bears 
these  words  :— "  ....  VMINE  •  TVO 
.  LVMEN." — The  following  are  the  only 
other  words  and  letters  decipherable  : — 


IN   •  VITA   •  ET   •  IN 

CHRISTV8 

.    KV     . 


HJEC   •   IOANES    •   L 
ER   •   GERMANVS   •   0 
ORI8   •   ERGO   •   POSVI 


16  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

name  of  the  heroine,  but  it  is  uniformly  affirmed  that  she  was 
the  wife  of  one  of  the  lairds,  was  buried  in  a  trance,  and 
so  loaded  with  rich  and  valuable  jewelry  that  the  sexton's 
avariciousness  got  excited  to  the  highest  pitch.  Bent  on 
obtaining  the  treasure  at  all  hazards,  he  stole  under  night  to 
her  lonely  sanctuary,  and  soon  succeeded  in  putting  himself  in 
possession  of  the  whole,  except  the  massive  rings  which  girded 
her  swollen  fingers.  These  he  eyed  with  great  admiration,  and 
having  failed  to  gain  them  by  ordinary  means,  he  resolved  to 
amputate  the  fingers.  A  slight  movement  of  the  body,  and  the 
faint  exclamation  of  "  Alas !  "  staggered  his  valour — the  knife 
dropped  from  his  guilty  hand — he  trembled  from  head  to  foot, 
and  fell  senseless  on  the'  cold  damp  floor,  amidst  crazy  trestles 
and  musty  bones ! 

Meanwhile,  the  lady,  disentangling  herself  from  her  shroud, 
snatched  the  glimmering  taper  in  one  hand,  and,  raising  her 
unexpected  deliverer  with  the  other,  led  him  forth  from  the 
vault.  Restored  to  consciousness,  he  craved  mercy  on  bended 
knees ;  and,  although  the  lady  assured  him  of  a  handsome 
reward  from  her  husband  if  he  would  accompany  her  to  the 
castle,  he  begged  for  leave  to  flee  from  his  native  land ;  while 
she,  with  a  heart  grateful  for  the  restoration  of  life,  kindly 
permitted  him  to  retain  his  sacrilegious  spoil,  and  the  greedy 
sexton  was  never  heard  of  more  ! 

This  romantic  story  will  remind  the  reader  of  the  extra- 
ordinary case  of  the  lady's  kinsman,  Sir  William  Lindsay  of 
Covington,  who,  under  like  circumstances,  was  laid  out  for 
dead ;  and,  if  his  young  great-granddaughter  had  not  observed 
"  his  beard  to  wagg,"  he  might  also,  instead  of  personally  greet- 
ing the  assembly  of  relatives  and  friends  who  met  to  attend  his 
funeral,  have  undergone  the  same  ordeal  of  premature  burial.1 
It  may  be  worthy  of  notice,  that  cases  of  protracted  slumber 
were  not  confined  to  the  direct  members  of  the  great  family  of 
Lindsay,  but  were  also  common  to  some  oi  those  who  walked 

1  Lives,  ii.  p.  287- 


EDZELL MAJOK  WOOD.  17 

in  humble  life,  it  being  scarcely  fifty  years  since  the  grave 
closed  on  a  poor  female  of  the  same  name,  called  Euphemia, 
or,  more  familiarly,  "  Sleepin'  Effie  Lindsay."  This  singular 
creature  belonged  to  the  parish  of  Guthrie,  but  latterly  resided 
in  Cortachy,  and,  on  various  occasions,  lay  in  a  state  of  utter 
unconsciousness  for  a  fortnight  or  more  at  a  time.  These 
soporific  attacks  were  periodical  in  her  case :  all  attempts  to 
arouse  her  from  them  were  in  vain ;  and,  after  lying  in  that 
morbid  condition  for  the  long  and  almost  incredible  period 
of  six  weeks,  she  at  last  expired,  unconscious,  it  is  believed, 
of  her  approaching  end. 

The  ashes  of  Major  James  Wood  lie  within  the  bounds  of 
the  same  cemetery  with  those  of  the  great  lords  of  Edzell ;  and, 
as  his  history  is  intimately  associated  with  the  traditions  of 
the  locality,  some  notice  of  him  may  not  be  inaptly  classed 
under  this  head.  This  well-known  veteran  (a  cadet  of  the  old 
house  of  Balbegno)  resided  at  Invereskandy,  and  is  popularly 
said  to  have  been  factor  to  the  penultimate  laird  of  Edzell. 
His  old  dwelling,  latterly  converted  into  a  barn,  had  thick 
walls  and  small  windows,  with  cut  lintels  of  rather  superior 
workmanship ;  these  may  show  the  consequence  of  the  place 
and  the  status  of  its  old  occupant,  but  all  trace  of  the  building 
has  now  disappeared. 

The  Major  is  represented  as  a  tall,  robust  person,  equally 
hard  of  heart  and  of  feature,  and,  were  tradition  to  receive 
implicit  credit,  he  was  destitute  of  all  those  qualities  that 
render  one  fellow-creature  the  cherished  friend  of  another. 
Indeed,  the  factorship  has  been  characterised  as  more  the  pas- 
time, and  the  horrid  scenes  of  debauchery  and  seduction  really 
the  business,  of  his  every-day  life.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  he 
was  famed  in  the  district,  and  looked  upon  as  little  short  of  a 
demon  in  human  form,  so  that  the  fine  ford  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood  of  his  house  was  only  taken  advantage  of  during 
his  absence,  or  in  the  hours  of  his  repose.  One  sweet  and 
guileless  maiden,  who  unwarily  crossed  the  ford  when  inviting 

B 


18  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

some  friends  to  her  approaching  marriage,  was  pounced  upon 
by  him  in  a  lone  dreary  part  of  the  muir,  and  only  after  a 
severe  struggle,  succeeded  in  extricating  herself  from  his  grasp. 
Eunning  towards  the  river,  she  sprang  in  her  confusion  from 
the  high  banks  into  a  deep  pool,  and  fell  a  victim  to  the 
rolling  waters. 

Such  are  some  of  the  tales  still  told  of  the  Major,  who,  like 
other  mortals,  came  to  his  end.  Had  he  done  so  rashly,  or  by 
open  violence,  then  local  story  would  have  been  deprived  of  a 
favourite  subject  of  conversation  and  obloquy.  The  common 
belief  in  the  reputed  awfulness  of  his  deathbed,  which  is  now 
proverbial,  may  be  gathered  from  the  following,  which  is  the 
only  remembered  stanza  of  a  long  poem  composed  on  the 
occasion,  by  an  almost  unlettered  provincial  bard,  that  lived 
towards  the  close  of  last  century : — 

"  An'  when  the  Major  was  a-deein', 
The  de'il  cam  like  a  corbie  fleein' ; 
An'  o'er  his  bed-head  he  did  lour, 
Speerin  's  news,  ye  may  be  sure !  " 

In  truth,  it  is  popularly  believed  that  the  Major  did  not 
die,  as  implied  by  the  common  sense  of  the  •  term,  but  was 
suffocated  by  having  a  quantity  of  daich,  or  dough,  stuffed  into 
his  mouth  to  check  his  blasphemous  ravings  !  He  was  buried 
near  to  the  south-west  corner  of  the  Lindsay  vault,  under  a 
large  flag-stone,  on  which  are  seen  a  blank  shield  and  the 
illegible  remains  of  an  inscription. 

An  incident  equally  characteristic  of  the  credulity  of  the 
period  is  related  concerning  the  translation  of  his  body  to  the 
grave.  While  the  company  rested  on  their  way  to  the  church- 
yard, the  coffin  suddenly  became  so  heavy  that  it  could  not  be 
carried  farther.  In  this  singular  dilemma,  the  minister  had 
courage  to  crave  the  aid  of  Omnipotence,  and  fervently  ex- 
claimed :  "  Lord !  whoever  was  at  the  beginning  of  this,  let 
him  be  at  the  end  of  it,"  when  the  coffin  turned  as  marvellously 
light  as  before  it  was  heavy  !" 


EDZELL MAJOR  WOOD'S  REAL  CHARACTER.          19 

Still,  though  the  Major  and  his  evil  deeds  were  hid  from 
mortal  eyes,  the  parishioners  were  so  prejudiced  against  the  spot 
where  he  lay,  and  even  the  spokes  which  bore  him  thither, 
that  none  of  them  would  allow  their  relations  to  be  buried 
in  the  former,  or  carried  on  the  latter.  Mr.  Bonnyman,  the 
eccentric  schoolmaster  already  mentioned,  is  said  to  have  been 
the  first  to  break  down  this  barrier  of  superstition  and  credulity, 
by  giving  strict  orders,  on  his  own  approaching  dissolution, 
that  his  body  should  be  carried  on  the  rejected  bearers,  and 
laid  in  the  same  grave  with  that  of  the  Major.  Excited  by 
curiosity,  while  Mr.  Bonnyman's  grave  was  being  made,  many 
persons  went  to  view  the  spot,  and  some  believed  that  among 
the  remains  of  his  once  gigantic  frame  they  discovered  traces 
of  the  dough  with  which  he  is  said  to  have  been  hurried  out 
of  existence ! 

Such  are  a  few  of  the  traditions  regarding  this  dreaded  son 
of  Mars,  which,  if  but  half  as  true  as  reported,  are  enough  to 
satisfy  the  most  prurient  taste.  But  doubting  the  existence  of 
so  heartless  a  monster,  except  in  the  excitable  minds  of  the 
superstitious,  and  desiring  to  find  some  real  trace  of  his  life 
and  transactions,  we  set  inquiry  on  foot  in  the  records  within 
our  reach,  and  have  found  such  direct  and  conclusive  proofs 
of  his  engagements  and  doings,  during  a  long  period  of  his  life, 
as  to  show  that  the  demoniacal  actions  imputed  to  him  were 
merely  the  offspring  of  imagination,  and  were  most  probably 
suggested  by  the  well-known  deeds  of  another  and  more 
justly  notorious  Major,  the  celebrated  Weir  (who  was  contem- 
poraneous with  Wood),  the  account  of  whose  "  Damnable 
Historic"  has  been  circulated  among  the  peasantry  of  Scot- 
land ever  since  its  first  publication. 

Though  the  discipline  of  the  Church  was  lax  at  the  period, 
and  pecuniary  donations  had  vast  influence  with  her,  it  can 
scarcely  be  believed  that,  if  the  character  of  Wood  was  fraught 
even  with  a  tithe  of  the  ferocity  with  which  tradition  has 
clothed  it,  he  would  have  either  been  invested  with  the  respon- 


20  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

sible  office  of  an  elder  of  the  parish,  or  been  recognised  as  a 
witness  to  the  baptism  of  several  children  of  families  of  known 
respectability.  Nor  can  it  be  presumed  that  the  partner  of  his 
bosom  could  for  a  moment  have  tolerated  such  doings  ;  for  in 
her — to  whom,  by  the  way,  tradition  never  so  much  as  once 
alludes — we  find,  from  the  nature  of  her  gifts  to  "  halie  kirke," 
the  beau-idfal  of  a  religious  and  God-fearing  woman,  while 
the  Major's  provision  for  her  after  his  decease,  and  his  mortifi- 
cation to  the  poor,  show  a  spirit  of  charity,  as  well  as  of  con- 
jugal love  and  affection,  equal  at  least  to  that  of  most  men. 
These  traditions  may  therefore,  as  a  whole,  be  safely  set  down 
among  those  in  which  truth  and  fiction  are  strangely  and  un- 
accountably mingled.1 

The  old  kirkyard  of  Edzell  also  contains  the  ashes  of  the 
parents  and  other  near  relatives  of  one  who,  in  the  midst  of 
many  disadvantages,  rose  to  high  eminence  in  the  laborious 
study  of  natural  history,  and  could  number  among  his  intimate 
friends  the  celebrated  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  Dr.  Solander,  and  Mr. 
Pennant.  This  was  George  Low,  afterwards  minister  of  Birsay 
and  Harray,  the  industrious  author  of  Fauna  Orcadensis  and 
Flora  Orcadensis,  and  translator  of  Torfseus'  History  of 
Orkney.  He  was  born  in  the  village  of  Edzell,  in  March  1747.2 
His  mother's  name  was  Coupar ;  his  father,  a  small  crofter, 
held  the  humble  appointment  of  kirk-officer,  and  died  when 

1  In  May  and  June  1659,  Major  Wood  is  a  witness  cited  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Brechin  to  bear  testimony  to  the  good  character  of  Mr.  Andrew  Straiten,  afterwards 
minister  of  Oathlaw  (Br.  Presb.  Book).    It  appears  from  the  Parish  Register  of  Ed- 
zell, that  on  the  15th  of  January  1684,  Major  James  Wood  was  elected  an  elder,  and 
on  the  5th  of  January  1685,  he  was  present  at  the  baptism  of  a  son  of  John  Lyndsay 
in  Dalbog.     In  July  and  August  of  the  same  year,  his  wife  presented  a  mortcloth  to 
the  church,  and  a  table-cloth  for  the  communion-table  ;  and  on  the  6th  of  October 
1695,  ' '  a  band  was  given  in  by  Mr.  John  Lindsay,  factor  to  the  Laird  of  Edzell, 
for  two  hundred  and  fiftie  marks,  mortified  to  the  poore  of  Edzell,  by  Major  James 
Wood,  only  payable  after  the  decease  of  Margrat  Jackson,  his  relick,  by  whom  it  is 
presented,  and  ane  receipt  given  by  the  minister  and  session  to  the  said  Margrat 
Jackson,  acknowledging  hir  right  to  the  interest  yrof  for  the  forsaid  soume,  during 
hir  lyfetyme,  according  to  the  Letter  will  of  the  defunct." 

2  Erroneously  printed  1746  in  many  biographies. — "1747,  March  29;  George 
Low,  lawfull  son  of  John  Low,  kirk-officer,  and  Isabel  Coupar  his  spouse,  baptized. " 
—(Par.  Reg.  of  Edzell.) 


EDZELL REV.  GEORGE  LOW.  21 

George  was  only  thirteen  years  of  age,  leaving  the  son  and  two 
daughters.  The  daughters  were  married  to  respectable  villagers 
of  Edzell,  of  the  names  of  Thomson  and  Lindsay.  The  latter  was 
an  ingenious  self-taught  mechanic,  who  to  his  trade  of  general 
merchant  added  that  of  watch  and  clock  maker ;  and  having 
had  his  shop  robbed  on  an  Edzell  market  night,  the  peculiarity 
of  the  tools  with  which  he  wrought  led  to  the  discovery  of  the 
thief,  a  notorious  provincial  highwayman,  who,  for  a  similar 
crime,  was  hanged  on  Balmashanner  Hill,  at  Forfar,  in  1785, 
and  is  said  to  have  been  the  last  person  that  suffered  capital 
punishment  by  the  decree  of  any  Sheriff-depute  in  Scotland. 

Low  began  his  studies  at  Aberdeen,  and  afterwards  went 
to  St.  Andrews.  Being  taken  to  Orkney  in  1766,  by  Mr. 
Alison,  then  minister  at  Holm,  he  became  tutor  to  the  family 
of  Mr.  Grahame,  a  wealthy  merchant  in  Stromness,  with  whom 
he  remained  six  years.  While  there,  he  studied  assiduously  for 
the  ministry,  and,  his  divinity  studies  being  incomplete,  he 
received  "  lessons,"  as  was  then  usual  in  such  cases,  from  some 
of  the  ministers  in  the  Presbytery,  in  order  to  prepare  him 
for  examination  previous  to  licence  as  a  preacher. 

On  leaving  the  family  of  Mr.  Grahame,  he  went  to  Shetland, 
where  he  preached  in  various  parts  for  two  years,  and  during 
that  time  he  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  Pennant,  whom  he 
accompanied  on  his  tour  through  Shetland.  From  his  great 
botanical  knowledge,  he  was  of  much  service  to  Mr.  Pennant, 
through  whose  influence  Sir  Lawrence  Dundas,  then  patron  of 
most  of  the  churches  of  Orkney  and  Shetland,  presented  Mr. 
Low  to  that  of  Birsay  and  Harray,  where  he  was  settled  on  the 
14th  of  December  1774.  Two  years  afterwards  he  married 
Helen,  daughter  of  his  former  benefactor,  "  the  learned  Mr. 
Tyrie,  of  Sandwich,"  but  she  died  within  sixteen  months,  after 
giving  birth  to  a  still-born  child.  Her  husband  survived  until 
the  13th  of  March  1795,1  and  dying  at  Birsay,  was  buried  in 
the  church  below  the  pulpit.  A  correspondent  informs  us  that 

*  Presb.  Rec.  Cairston,  18th  March  1795. 


22  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

"  he  latterly  accustomed  himself  to  study  in  bed,  which,  on 
many  occasions,  was  more  like  the  dormitory  of  the  dead  than 
of  the  living." 

In  addition  to  the  works  above  noticed,  Mr.  Low  left  a 
History  of  Orkney  in  manuscript,  which  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Mr.  Alison  of  Holm,  who  gave  it  to  Dr.  Barry,  by  whom  "  it  was 
laid  under  heavy  obligations  in  compiling  his  work ; "  and 
although  he  was  indebted  to  it  for  the  greater  part  of  the 
Appendix,  in  which  he  treats  of  the  natural  history  of  Orkney, 
Barry  nowhere  acknowledges  his  obligations  to  Mr.  Low,  whose 
manuscript  is  still  in  existence.1 

As  a  preacher,  Mr.  Low  was  good,  plain,  and  practical,  and 
although  he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  his  eyesight  five  years 
before  his  death,  his  blindness,  so  far  from  disqualifying  him 
for  preaching,  made  his  addresses  all  the  more  effective.  He 
dispensed  the  sacrament  only  three  times  during  his  incum- 
bency, and  intended,  a  little  before  his  death,  to  dispense  it  a 
fourth  time.  Dissent  was  unknown  in  the  parish  in  his  day, 
and,  although  there  are  now  seven  or  eight  different  places 
of  worship,  the  standard  of  religious  knowledge  and  practice  is 
said  to  have  been  higher  then  than  at  any  subsequent  period.2 

Besides  the  old  parish  church,  the  district  of  Edzell  contains 
the  remains  of  three  other  ecclesiastical  establishments.  These 
are  at  Dalbog,  Colmeallie,  and  Neudos.  The  first  is  mentioned 
in  the  ancient  Taxatio  and  the  printed  Eetours ;  the  second  is 
merely  referred  to  as  a  so-called  Druidical  circle,  and  as  such 
will  be  noticed  in  a  subsequent  chapter ;  while  the  third  was 
a  well-known  separate  parish  down  to  a  comparatively  recent 
date.  Unlike  its  fellows,  Neudos  lies  in  the  county  of  Kin- 

1  Mr.  Low's  Tour  through  Orkney  and  Shetland,  in  1774,  was  published  at  Kirk- 
wall  in  1879,  with  an  introduction  by  Mr.  Joseph  Anderson,  in  which  is  given  an 
account  of  Mr.  Low,  and  of  the  fate  of  his  manuscripts,  so  far  as  known. 

2  The  public  are  indebted  for  many  of  these  interesting  particulars  regarding 
Mr.  Low  to  the  kindness  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Traill,  who  was  incumbent  of  Birsay 
and  Harray,  and  is  now  Professor  of  Systematic  Theology  in  the  University  of 
Aberdeen.     Of  his  informant,  the  late  Mr.  George  Louttit,  parochial  schoolmaster, 
Dr.  Traill  could  say  that  he,  when  in  his  eighty -fifth  year,  "bears  a  kindly  recollec* 
tion  of  Mr.  Low,  to  whom  he  was  greatly  indebted  for  the  education  he  received." 


EDZELL — NEUDOS.  23 

cardine,  immediately  north-east  of  the  estate  of  The  Burn,  and 
part  of  it  anciently  belonged  to  the  widespread  and  wealthy 
regality  of  Torphichen,  the  principal  preceptory  of  the  Knights 
of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  who  were  superiors  of  lands  through- 
out all  the  counties  of  Scotland,  with  the  exception  of  Argyll, 
Bute,  and  Orkney. 

The  date  of  the  first  grant  of  lands  in  the  parish  of  Neudos 
to  the  Knights  is  unknown,  but  the  parish  was  in  the  diocese 
of  St.  Andrews,  and  paid  an  annual  to  that  cathedral  of  four 
marks  Scots.  The  thick,  closely  cemented  foundations  of  the 
church  are  traceable  in  the  kirkyard,  which  is  still  used  for 
interments,  and  the  baptismal  font,  of  an  octagonal  shape,  is 
broken  in  two  pieces,  which  are  used  as  grave-marks. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  Bricius  was 
"  persona  de  Neudonase,"  l  and  in  that  of  the  sixteenth,  David 
Ogilvy  was  "  rector  de  Newdosk." 2  The  latest  notice  of  Neudos 
as  an  independent  cure  occurs  in  the  Register  of  Ministers  for 
1567,  when,  together  with  Fordoun  and  Fettercairn  (Fethir- 
kairne),  it  was  superintended  by  a  clergyman  named  Peter 
Bouncle,  who  had  twenty-two  pounds  Scots  for  his  labours, 
"  with  the  support  of  the  Priour  of  St.  Androis."  The  precise 
time  of  its  union  with  Edzell  has  not  been  ascertained,  but  it 
must  be  considerably  more  than  two  hundred  years  ago,  as 
prior  to  that  time  the  first  notice  occurs  of  the  inhabitants 
attending  the  kirk  of  Edzell,  in  this  quaint  but  satisfactory 
record : — "  Given  to  Androw,  the  minister's  man,  for  putting  ye 
people  of  Newdosk  over  the  watter  in  a  coble,  20s."  3 

In  a  field  called  "  Piper's-shade,"  nearly  a  mile  east  of  the 
site  of  the  old  kirk,  a  copious  fountain  still  bears  the  name  of 
"  St.  Dristan,"  or  St.  Drostan,  to  whom,  in  all  likelihood,  the 
kirk  had  been  dedicated.  Like  most  other  sacred  springs,  this 
is  said  to  have  wrought  many  miraculous  cures  ;  and,  from  the 

1  Misc.  Sp.  Club,  v.  p.  213.  2  Reg.  JSpisc.  Brech.  ii.  p.  165. 

8  Edzell  Par.  Reg.  Jan.  1662.     Scott,  Fasti,  vi.  p.  827,  says  it  was  united  to 
Edzell  before  5th  August  1658>  and  the  church  was  ruinous  in  1610. 


24  LAND  OF  THE   LINDSAYS. 

waters  proving  remedial  in  all  sorts  of  disease,  the  Esculapian 
craft  felt  their  occupation  so  much  endangered  that  a  few  of 
the  hardiest  of  them  went  to  poison  the  fountain;  but  the 
neighbours,  hearing  of  their  intention,  fell  upon  them  with 
sticks  and  stones,  and  killing  the  whole  of  them,  had  their 
carcases  buried  around  the  well ! 

The  farm  adjoining  the  graveyard  is  called  Kirktou,  and  on 
the  west  side  of  the  burn  lies  "  the  manse  field,"  within  which 
an  angular  patch  of  land,  of  an  acre  in  extent,  is  known  as 
"  the  glebe,"  and  was  perhaps  of  old  the  temple  lands.  It  is 
certain  that  this  isolated  acre  is  the  only  part  of  the  Panmure 
estates  that  lies  in  the  county  of  Kincardine,  and  it  is  let  to 
the  farmer  of  Auchmull  and  Dooly,  who  sublets  it  to  the  tenant 
of  Kirkton,  in  the  midst  of  whose  ground  it  is  situated.  At 
some  distance  to  the  eastward  from  the  kirk  there  was  a 
sheet  of  water  called  "  The  Cardinal's  Pool,"  and  on  the  farm 
of  Bonharry  there  stood  the  "Auld  Ha',"  while  one  of  the 
fields  is  stiU  called  the  "  Dookit  Park." 

Though  now  known  as  Balfour,1  the  whole  district  was 
anciently  designed  "  the  thanedome  of  Neudos,"  or,  as  more 
recently  written,  Newdoskis,  or  Newdosk,  holding  in  part,  as 
already  seen,  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John.  It  acquired  the  name 
of  "  thanage,"  or  "  thanedome,"  from  having  been  anciently 
under  the  management  of  thanes,  or  king's  stewards  ;  for, 
down  to  the  year  1365,  no  family  is  mentioned  in  a  proprietary 
relation  to  it,  though  Eonald  Cheyne  had  already  a  charter  for 
the  thanedom.  But,  of  that  date,  King  David  gave  two  charters 
with  a  grant  of  "  all  the  king's  lands  in  the  thanedom  of  New- 
dosk,"2to  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  of  Crawford,  father  of  the 
first  Lindsay  designated  "  of  Glenesk."  In  the  beginning  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  the  Lindsays  of  Edzell  held  the  office 
of  bailie  of  the  temple-lands  of  Newdosk  and  regality  of 
Torphichen  within  their  bounds.3 

1  Bal-fuar,  "  cold  town" — a  not  inapt  name  for  the  place. 
»  Robertson,  Ind.  pp.  33.  37 ;  34.  15 ;  79.  130. 
3  Inquis.  Spec.,  Forfar.  Nos.  71,  82. 


EDZELL — DALBOG FINELLA.  25 

The  Chapelry  of  Dalbog1  was  on  the  east  side  of  the  parish, 
due  west  of  Neudos,  and  in  the  ancient  Taxatio  "  Dulbdok  or 
Dulbrothoc"  was  rated  at  10s.  The  time  of  the  suppression 
of  the  chapel  is  unknown,  but  though  no  vestige  of  any 
house  remains,  the  site  of  the  place  of  worship  is  still  called 
the  "chapel  kirk  shade"  by  old  people ;  and  at  no  very  distant 
date,  a  fine  well,  and  hamlet  of  houses,  graced  the  spot.  The 
site  adjoins  the  hillock  of  Tornacloch,  or  "  the  knoll  of  stones," 
which  was  probably  so  named,  from  being  topt  in  old  times  by 
a  so-called  Druidical  circle,  the  last  of  the  stones  of  which 
were  removed  only  in  1 840.  Some  of  them  are  placed  on  a 
gravel  mound  behind  the  farm-house,  but,  on  levelling  the 
knoll  on  which  they  had  stood,  a  small  sepulchral  chamber  was 
discovered,  about  four  feet  below  the  surface.  The  sides,  ends, 
and  bottom  were  built  of  round  ordinary-sized  whinstones, 
cemented  with  clay,  and  the  top  composed  of  large  rude  flags. 
It  was  situated  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  knoll,  within  the 
range  of  the  circle,  but  was  so  filled  with  gravel,  that  although  it 
was  carefully  searched,  no  relics  were  found.  The  building  was 
about  eighteen  inches  broad,  a  foot  high,  and  nearly  five  feet 
long,  and,  at  the  south  end,  amidst  the  clammy  earth  that 
covered  the  bottom,  an  indentation  was  observed  resembling 
that  which  would  be  caused  by  the  pressure  of  a  human  head. 

According  to  popular  story,  Conquhare,  the  famous  thane 
of  Angus,  who  was  butchered  in  cold  blood  by  his  own  grand- 
son, Crathilinthus  the  son  of  Finella,  had  his  residence  here. 
But,  whatever  truth  may  be  in  the  story  of  his  murder  and 
Finella's  well-known  revenge  on  the  person  of  King  Kenneth, 
who  had  ordered  Crathilinthus  to  be  executed,  there  is  no 
reason  for  believing  that  the  unfortunate  Conquhare  abode  in 
this  quarter.  He  was  one  of  the  old  Maormors  of  Angus — a 
predecessor  of  the  great  Gilchrist — and  their  residence  and 

1  Gael.  Dail-bog,  "the  flat  or  plain  of  the  bog."  The  "Dulbdok"  in  the  Register 
of  St.  Andrews,  and  "Dulbrothoc,"  in  that  of  Arbroath,  are  one  and  the  same,  and 
supposed  to  be  Dalbog.  The  name  is  written  "  Devilbog,"  in  an  infeftment  of  1518. 
—{Crawford  Case,  p.  158  ;  Reg.  Prior.  S.  Andr.  p.  36 ;  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  p.  240.) 


26  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

heritage  were  in  another  and  more  southern  part  of  the  shire, 
near  Dundee ;  but,  of  the  existence  of  a  castle  at  Dalbog, 
there  is  not  the  least  shadow  of  doubt,  though,  perhaps,  it 
cannot  lay  claim  to  the  antiquity  popularly  assigned  to  it. 

A  building,  with  very  thick  walls,  lately  erased  at  the  east 
end  of  the  farm-house  of  the  Wood  of  Dalbog,  was  known  by 
the  name  of  "  the  castle."  The  "  Wicked  Master"  took  forcible 
possession  of  this  stronghold  in  the  time  of  Earl  David  of 
Edzell,  and  from  it  carried  on  his  predatory  raids  over  the 
district  and  tenantry  of  Glenesk  and  neighbourhood.  At  an 
earlier  period,  too,  the  lands  of  Dalbog  were  a  part  of  the  terce 
of  the  Duchess  of  Montrose,  of  which  Nicholas  Fothringham 
of  Powry  attempted  to  deprive  her.1  It  was  in  this  vicinity, 
also,  that  Sir  David  of  Edzell  had  smelting  furnaces  erected. 
Although  all  trace  of  these,  and  the  mineral  they  were  raised 
to  purify,  together  with  the  castle  and  mains  of  Dalbog,  are 
now  gone,  the  house  at  the  old  mill,  with  the  date  1681  (refer- 
ring to  the  occupancy  of  John  Lindsay,  who  was  long  factor  on 
the  estates),  still  bears  an  air  of  importance. 


SECTION  III. 

He  is  past,  he  is  gone,  like  the  blast  of  the  wind, 
And  has  left  but  the  fame  of  his  exploits  behind  ; 
And  now  wild  is  the  sorrow  and  deep  is  the  wail, 
As  it  sweeps  from  Glenesk  to  the  far  Wauchopdale. 

Bright  star  of  the  morning  that  beamed  on  the  brow 
Of  our  chief  of  ten  thousand,  O  where  art  thou  now  ? 
The  sword  of  our  fathers  is  cankered  with  rust, 
And  the  race  of  Clan  Lindsay  is  bowed  to  the  dust. 

EARL  CRAWFORD'S  CORONACH. 

Families  of  Adzell  and  Abbe— Knocquy  Hill — De  Glenesk  family — De  Strivelyn— 
Marriage  of  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  with  Catherine  Stirling— Story  of  Jackie 
Stir lin'— Origin  of  the  name  and  family  of  Lindsay — David,  first  Earl  of  Craw- 
ford— Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  of  Kinneff—  Sir  Walter  Lindsay  of  Edzell — Sir 
David,  ninth  Earl  of  Crawford — The  "  Wicked  Master" — His  son. 

THE    properties   of    Edzell    and    Glenesk  have  been  joined 
together,  as  they  are  at  present,  from  the  earliest  record ;  and 

1  Ada  Dom.  Cone.  Mar.  14,  1492,  sq. 


EDZELL FAMILY   "  DE  GLENESK."  27 

being  both  known  by  the  common  name  of  GlenesTc,  the  sur- 
name of  "  de  Glenesk"  was  not  only  assumed  by  the  most 
ancient  owners  of  these  lands,  but  also  gave  title  to  many 
of  their  followers,  and  now  perhaps  appears  under  the  name 
Glennie.  This  may  be  the  reason  why  the  former  district, 
which  ultimately  assumed  the  more  important  position  of  the 
two,  is  so  seldom  mentioned  in  comparison  with  the  latter. 

It  is  not,  however,  to  be  inferred,  although  the  ancient 
lords  of  Glenesk  had  their  name  from  thence,  that  the  family 
of  Adzell  also,  that  survived  in  the  lowland  district  till  past 
the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  were  lords  of  the  lands  from 
which  they  assumed  their  cognomen.  It  was  not  an  infrequent 
custom  for  the  vassal  to  take  his  surname  from  the  lands 
that  he  held  under  some  great  lord,  as  in  the  case  of  Eossy, 
of  which  the  Norman  family  of  Malherbe  were  lords  and 
granted  charters  to  their  vassal,  Eossy  of  that  ilk.1  In  like 
manner  the  Adzells  who  lived  at  Edzell  were  dependent  on 
the  lords  of  Glenesk — at  least  they  were  so  in  the  time  of  the 
Lindsays,  and  we  have  not  found  them  mentioned  as  holding 
of  the  Crown.  In  the  capacity  alluded  to,  Johannes  Adzell 
de  eodem  is  the  last  of  several  of  the  Crawford  vassals  of 
Eorfarshire,  who  witness  the  laird  of  Dun's  confirmation  of  the 
third  part  of  the  lands  of  Baluely  (Balwyllo),  which  he  granted 
to  Alexander,  the  Earl's  natural  son.2  The  latest,  and  only 
other  notice  of  them  with  which  we  have  met,  is  that  of 
Eichard  in  1467,3on  whose  resignation  the  Earl  of  Crawford 
granted  Edzell  to  his  uncle,  Sir  Walter  Lindsay  of  Beaufort, 
who,  as  will  be  shown  in  a  subsequent  page,  was  progenitor 
both  of  the  Lindsays  of  Edzell  and  of  the  present  noble  house 
of  Crawford  and  Balcarres. 

There  was,  however,  another  set  of  old  residenters,  who 
bore  the  odd  name  of  Abbe;  one  of  these,  John  the  son  of 
Malise,  with  consent  of  his  son  Morgund,  granted  to  the 

i  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  pp.  42,  163  sq.        2  (A.D.  1451)— Misc.  Sp.  Club,  iv.  pp.  4,  5. 
3  Crawford  Case,  pp.  149-50. 


28  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Abbots  of  Arbroath  a  right  to  cut  and  burn  charcoal  in  their 
wood  of  "  Edale,"  so  early  as  the  year  1204.1  Little  is  known 
of  the  Abbes,  and  some  believe  that  they  were  merely  here- 
ditary lay  Abbots.  Although  the  name  was  not  peculiar  to 
this  district,  it  seems  to  have  been  rare  ;  and  whether  assumed 
from  the  office  of  Abbot  or  otherwise,  the  family  were  of  con- 
siderable importance  in  their  time,  for,  contemporaneous  with 
those  of  Edzell,  a  Douenaldus  Abbe  de  Brechin  witnessed  a 
charter  by  Bishop  Turpin  of  Brechin  in  1178-80,  and  also 
gifted  the  davoch  of  Balligilleground  in  Bolshan  to  the 
Arbroath  Monastery ;  and  a  Maurice  Abbe,  who  lived  in  the 
time  of  Gilchrist,  the  great  Earl  of  Angus,  is  designed  "  de 
Abereloth,"  or  Arbirlot.2 

There  is  also  good  ground  for  believing  that  the  ancient 
lords  de  Brechin  had  an  interest  in  Glenesk,  since,  on  the 
execution  and  forfeiture  of  David  de  Brechin  for  his  connec- 
tion with  the  conspiracy  of  William  de  Soulis  against  the  life 
of  The  Bruce,  the  lands  of  "  Knocquy"3  were  among  those 
of  Brechin's  estates  that  were  given  by  the  King  to  his  trusty 
friend  Sir  David  Barclay,  the  future  lord  of  Brechin,  and 
brother-in-law  of  the  forfeited  noble.4  Knocquy,  now  known 
as  Knocknoy,  is  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Edzell  Castle,  and 
represented  by  the  large  hillock  beside  the  farm-yard  of  the 
Mains.  This  had,  in  all  probability,  been  the  moot-hill  of 
old,  or  the  site  of  the  baron's  court,  for,  within  these  fifty  years, 
a  large  rude  stone  lay  at  the  foot  of  it,  which  is  said  to  have 
tumbled  from  the  top,  and  had  doubtless  been  the  "  Stannin' 
Stane,"  that  in  the  early  ages  was  an  indispensable  object  at 
the  site  of  justice. 

But,  though  the  names  of  the  lords  de  Brechin  live  in  the 

1  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  pp.  48,  49 ;  see  ib.  Pref.  pp.  xviii,  xxv,  but  a  comparison 
of  the  entries  would  suggest  generally  an  official  title  rather  than  a  surname. 

2  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  p.  29  sq.  ;  Reg.  Ep.  Brech.  i.  p.  v,  and  269 ;  Reg.  de  Pan- 
mure,  i.  pp.  cxlix,  clii  sq. 

3  In  contrast  to  Drummore,  or  the  "  great  ridge,"  west  of  the  castle,  this  height 
on  the  east  is  called  Knocquy,  or  the  "  grandson's  or  maiden's  hill." 

4  Robertson,  Index,  p.  18.  79. 


EDZELL ADZELLS,   ABBES,   STERLINGS.  29 

imperishable  page  of  the  historian,  those  of  the  Adzells  and 
Abbes  are  now,  at  least  to  the  general  reader,  as  if  they  had 
never  been  known.  Even  the  credulous  tongue  of  tradition  is 
mute  concerning  them ;  and  if  their  deeds  had  ever  been 
worthy  of  being  preserved  in  the  measured  language  of  the 
rude  minstrel,  or  their  names  associated  with  the  hills  and 
dales  of  the  land  of  their  adoption — sources  not  to  be  despised 
in  the  solution  of  historical  and  genealogical  difficulties — they 
have  all  been  faithless  to  their  charge ;  and  but  for  the  slender 
records  of  the  grateful  monks,  the  connection  of  the  Abbes 
with  the  parish,  and  even  their  name,  would  have  been  lost 
for  ever. 

The  most  ancient  proprietors  hitherto  spoken  of  in  con- 
nection with  Glenesk  were  the  family  of  Stirling  ;l  and  Nisbet 
says  that  the  Johannes  de  Stryvelin,  miles,  who  swore  fealty 
to  Edward  in  1296,  was  then  lord  of  Glenesk.  There  is 
reason  to  believe,  however,  that  Nisbet  had  confounded  the 
name  with  that  de  Glenesk  which  was  the  surname  borne  by 
the  then  proprietor. 

Traces  of  the  old  family  de  Glenesk  are  also  limited ;  but 
such  as  remain  are  found  in  equally  authentic  muniments  as 
those  of  the  Abbes  and  Adzells,  and  point  to  a  knightly,  and, 
no  doubt,  warlike  race,  who  inhabited  the  banks  of  the  North 
Esk,  at  least  a  century  prior  to  the  clan  Lindsay.  Nay,  not  so 
much  from  the  fact  of  their  assuming  the  surname  de  Glenesk, 
as  from  the  independent  part  that  they  took  in  the  important 
transactions  of  the  times,  it  may  be  presumed  that  they  were 
the  original  landowners,  though  the  period  of  their  first  oc- 
cupancy, and  the  cause  of  their  receiving  the  lands,  are  both 
unknown.  The  first  appearance  of  John  de  Glenesch,  miles,  is 
in  the  trustworthy  capacity  of  witness  to  a  charter  to  Walter 

1  A  family  of  the  name  of  Stirling  were  proprietors  of  Lauriston  in  the  Mearns, 
in  1243,  as  at  that  date  Alexander  de  Strivelin  gave  to  the  Prior  and  Canons  of  St. 
Andrews  the  Chapel  of  Laurenston,  which  was  a  dependency  on  the  church  of 
Ecclesgreig,  and  also  bound  himself  and  heirs  to  pay  yearly  a  pound  of  wax, 
according  to  the  market  price  of  Montrose. — (Reg.  Prior.  S.  Andr.  p.  280.) 


30  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

de  Eossy,  about  1260  ; l  and  the  same  person,  or  his  son,  occurs 
in  the  interesting  year  1289,  as  subscribing  the  celebrated 
letter  of  the  community  of  Scotland  to  Edward,  consenting 
to  the  marriage  of  his  son  Prince  Henry  with  our  Princess 
Margaret.  Seven  years  later,  while  the  English  conqueror 
was  carrying  his  conquest  into  the  very  heart  of  the  kingdom, 
and  when  "  the  spirit  of  Scotland  had  sunk  into  despondency," 
Sir  John  de  Glenesk  passed  to  Aberdeen  on  the  15th  of  July 
1296,  and,  along  with  another  of  the  same  name,  who  is  desig- 
nated chevalitf,  swore  fealty  to  that  ambitious  monarch.  Again, 
in  the  parliament  held  at  Berwick-on-Tweed  on  the  28th  of 
August  of  the  same  year,  John  de  Glennysk,  and  Morgund  de 
Glennesk,  took  the  oaths,  with  others  of  the  county  of  Forfar.2 

These  are  the  only  notices  that  we  have  seen  respecting  the 
most  ancient  lords  of  Glenesk,  and  the  relationship,  if  any, 
between  Morgund  and  John  is  not  stated.  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  Morgund  was  John's  son,  and  from  his  bearing 
the  same  Christian  name  as  was  borne  by  the  last  recorded  of 
the  Abbes,  the  idea  of  supposing  some  kindred  between  the 
families  of  Abbe  and  de  Glenesk  may  not  be  altogether 
visionary.  Perhaps,  in  the  absence  of  better  record,  it  may 
be  taken  as  indicative  of  the  extinction  of  the  Abbes,  and 
an  alliance  with  the  lords  de  Glenesk. 

The  surname  of  Stirling,  or  Striuelyn  as  it  is  written  in  the 
oldest  deeds,  had,  in  all  probability,  a  territorial  origin,  and 
been  assumed  from  the  old  town  of  that  name.  The  family  is 
ancient  and  famous.  The  laird  of  Keir  is  reckoned  the  chief, 
.  and  supposed  to  have  descent  from  Walter  de  Striuelyn,  who 
is  a  witness  to  Prince  Henry's  charter  of  the  church  of  Sprow- 
istoun  (Sprouston)  to  the  Abbey  of  Kelso.  It  is  probable  that 
the  Stirlings  of  Glenesk  were  of  this  stock,  from  the  similarity 
of  their  armorial  bearings ;  and,  besides  being  lords  of  the 
extensive  properties  of  Glenesk,  they  possessed  large  estates  in 

1  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  p.  336.     See  also  Reg.  de  Panmure,  ii.  p.  141,  A.D.  1256, 
where  he  is  a  charter  witness.  *  Ragman  Rolls,  pp.  93,  94,  126. 


EDZELL — ACQUISITION  BY  THE  LINDSAYS.  31 

Inverness  and  Moray,  and  were  occasionally  designed  de 
Moravia.  They  are  so  titled  in  Bagman  Eolls,  from  which 
it  appears  that  several  of  the  name  swore  fealty  to  Edward 
at  the  same  time  with  de  G-lenesk — a  circumstance  which 
perhaps  had  led  Nisbet  to  commit  the  error  before  referred  to. 

The  date  of  the  death  of  the  last  Stirling  of  Glenesk  is 
unknown ;  but  he  left  two  daughters,  who  succeeded  as  co- 
heiresses. One  of  them,  Catherine,  became  the  wife  of  Sir 
Alexander,  third  son  of  Sir  David  Lindsay  of  Crawford,  about 
the  year  1357,  and  the  other  married  Robert  de  Atholia, 
grandson  of  Angus,  lord  of  the  Isles.  Lindsay  succeeded  to 
the  Forfarshire  portion  of  the  Stirling  estates,  which  consisted 
of  Edzell,  Glenesk,  and  Lethnot,  while  the  other  son-in-law 
inherited  the  Inverness  and  Moray  portion,  and,  by  a  second 
marriage,  was  ancestor  of  the  ancient  house  of  Struan- 
Robertson,  which  nourished  in  considerable  pomp  until  about 
a  century  ago.1 

This  mode  of  Lindsay's  succession  to  Glenesk,  though 
borne  out  by  substantial  evidence,  is  too  much  matter  of 
fact,  and  partakes  so  little  of  the  wonderful,  that  the  insati- 
able craving  for  romance  that  characterised  the  minds  of  our 
ancestors,  is  exhibited  in  relation  to  it  in  one  of  its  most 
striking  features.  Co-heiresses  are  unknown  to  tradition,  and 
a  son  and  only  daughter  are  the  substitutes.  They  were  left 
orphans  (it  is  said),  and  the  former,  small  of  stature  and  greatly 
deformed  in  body,  was  familiarly  known  as  Jackie  Stirlin'. 
Although  physically  defective,  he  enjoyed  good  health,  and 
was  neither  impervious  to  the  softer  feelings  of  humanity,  nor 
too  unseemly  for  the  kindly  eyes  of  women.  By  one  of  these, 
the  daughter  of  a  neighbouring  baron,  his  offer  of  marriage 
was  accepted.  This  was  altogether  contrary  to  the  wishes  and 
expectations  of  both  his  sister  and  her  lover,  the  gallant  Sir 
Alexander  Lindsay.  All  remonstrance  having  failed  to  prevent 
the  nuptials,  they  laid  a  deep  and  heartless  scheme  for  his 

i  Robertson,  Index,  p.  61.  16. 


32  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

overthrow.  One  evening,  while  taking  an  airing  alone  in  the 
wooded  defile  to  the  north  of  the  castle,  "  Jackie  "  was  pounced 
upon  by  a  masked  assailant,  and  summarily  despatched  at  a 
place  still  pointed  out.  He  was  buried  in  the  family  sepulchre, 
and  many  old  people  believe,  that  amongst  the  broken  bones 
with  which  the  vault  in  former  days  was  so  profusely  strewn, 
they  have  seen  the  crooked  remains  of  this  luckless  knight ! 

It  was  under  these  circumstances,  according  to  local  story, 
that  Lindsay  married  the  daughter  of  Sir  John  Stirling,  and 
fell  heir  to  one  of  the  largest  districts  in  Angus,  which,  together 
with  the  importance  of  his  own  family  connection,  made  him 
so  courted  by  his  brother  barons  that  he  had  little  leisure  to 
reflect  on  the  enormity  of  his  crime.  It  is  unquestioned 
fact  that  his  second  wife  was  Marjory  Stuart,  cousin  of  Robert, 
Duke  of  Albany,  the  marriage  having  taken  place  in  1378.1 
But,  as  a  day  of  retribution  comes  sooner  or  later,  his  heart 
began  latterly  to  fail,  and,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
period,  he  determined  to  atone  for  the  foul  deed  of  his  youth 
by  large  gifts  to  the  church  and  a  pilgrimage  to  Palestine. 
With  a  view  to  his  safety,  he  rebuilt  the  church  of  Finhaven,2 
and  gifted  it  to  the  cathedral  of  Brechin,  where  the  Prebendary 
had  a  stall  in  the  choir,  and  said  mass  daily  for  his  safe 
conduct.  These  precautions,  however,  were  of  little  avail ; 
the  avenging  angel  pursued  him  wherever  he  went,  and  he 
breathed  his  last  in  a  distant  country  in  the  year  1382,3  long 
ere  he  reached  Jerusalem,  the  haven  of  his  penitential  sojourn. 

Of  the  genealogy  of  the  great  Scottish  family  of  LINDSAY, 
Wyntown  remarks  with  much  caution — 

"  Off  Ingland  come  the  Lyndysay, 
Mare  off  thame  I  can  nocht  say."  4 

Notwithstanding  this  guarded  remark  by  a  well-informed 
historian,  later  writers  have  invested  the  origin  of  the  Lindsays 
with  all  the  romance  and  improbability  with  which  the  early 

1  Crawford  Case,  p.  148.  2  Lives,  i.  p.  73. 

3  Exir.  e  Cron.  Scoc.  p.  194.  4  Wyntown,  Cronykil,  ii.  p.  321. 


EDZELL ORIGIN  OF  THE  LINDSAYS.  33 

genealogies  of  other  old  families  abound.  These  need  not 
be  dwelt  upon,  but  suffice  it  to  say,  that  recent  investigation 
shows  them  to  have  been  a  branch  of  the  Norman  house 
of  Limesay,  and  the  first  known  in  England,  Eandolph  de 
Limesay,  to  have  come  over  with  the  Conqueror,  to  whom 
he  was  nephew;  on  the  extinction  of  his  male  line,  the 
head  of  the  Scottish  Lindsays  was  selected  to  marry  one  of 
the  co-heiresses.  The  name  is  not  of  territorial  origin,  as  popu- 
larly believed,  but  is  assumed  from  the  Norman  "  lindes- 
eye,"  or  "  Limes-eye,"  both  implying  "  Isle  of  Limetrees  ; " 
and,  as  shown  in  the  Lives  of  the  Lindsays,  it  has  had  from 
earliest  record  to  latest  no  fewer  than  eighty-six  different 
spellings.1 

But  it  was  Walter  de  Lindsay,  an  Anglo-Norman,  and 
witness  and  juror  in  the  Inquest  of  Prince  David  into  the 
possessions  and  rights  of  the  see  of  Glasgow  in  1116,  that  was 
the  earliest  of  the  name  in  Scotland.  He  is  supposed  to  have 
settled  in  Cumbria ;  but  it  is  not  until  the  time  of  his  great- 
great-grandson  William,  who  was  designed  of  Ercildun  and 
Luffness,  and  the  first  of  the  family  that  possessed  the  old 
property  of  Crawford-Lindsay  in  Clydesdale,  that  anything 
positive  is  known  of  them  as  Scottish  landowners.  As  one  of 
the  great  magnates  of  the  kingdom,  he  was  a  hostage  for  the 
redemption  of  William  the  Lion  after  his  capture  by  Henry  II. 
of  England,  High  Justiciary  of  Lothian,  and  otherwise  bore 
a  prominent  part  in  the  leading  transactions  of  the  period. 
From  this  Walter,  Sir  Alexander  (who  married  Catherine 
Stirling,  the  heiress  of  Glenesk,  and  was  the  third  son  of  Sir 
David  Lindsay  of  Crawford)  was  the  tenth  in  lineal  descent. 
By  the  heiress  of  Glenesk,  Lindsay  had  Sir  David  his  suc- 
cessor, and  Sir'  Alexander  of  Kinneff.  The  former  succeeded 
his  father  when  only  sixteen  years  of  age ;  and  on  the  death  of 
his  uncle,  Sir  James  de  Lindsay  of  Crawford,  in  1397  without 
male  issue,  he  became  chief  of  the  family,  and  heir  to  their 

1  Lives,  i.  pp.  2  sq.,  and  p.  413. 
C 


34  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

extensive  inheritances  in  Clydesdale  and  other  places.  He 
married  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Robert  n.,  had  his 
estates  augmented  by  his  royal  father-in-law,  who  bestowed 
on  him  the  barony  of  Strathnairn  in  Inverness-shire,  and  on 
the  21st  of  April  1398  "was  created  Earl  of  Crawford,  by 
solemn  belting  and  investiture,  in  the  parliament  held  at 
Perth  that  year — the  Earldom  of  Crawford  being  the  third 
created  since  the  extinction  of  the  Celtic  dynasty,  that  of 
Douglas  having  been  the  second,  and  Moray  the  first."  l 

It  is  not  our  intention  to  dwell  upon  the  valiant  actions 
that  characterised  the  life  of  this  nobleman — his  overthrow 
of  Lord  Welles  at  the  famous  tournament  at  London  Bridge, 
which  took  place  on  the  Feast  of  St.  George  in  1395,  in 
presence  of  King  Eichard  and  "  Good "  Queen  Anne — and 
his  dreadful  onset  with  the  natural  son  of  the  Wolf  of  Bade- 
noch  (his  own  near  relative,  through  his  aunt's  marriage  with 
Eobert  de  Atholia)  at  Glenbrierachan  in  the  Stormont,  when 
Ogilvy  the  Sheriff  of  Angus,  with  his  uterine  brother,  Leigh- 
ton  of  Ulishaven,  and  many  other  Angus  barons,  was  slain, 
Sir  David  Lindsay  and  Sir  Patrick  Gray  narrowly  escaping 
with  their  lives.2  These  incidents  are  so  beautifully  and 
effectively  described  by  his  noble  kinsman  that  the  reader 
is  referred  to  Lord  Lindsay's  Lives  for  the  full  details,  as 
well  as  for  more  important  notices  of  the  many  great  achieve- 
ments of  the  other  illustrious  members  of  the  family,  that 
can  only  be  briefly  noticed  in  the  following  pages. 

The  brother  of  Sir  David,  first  Earl  of  Crawford,  was  that 
"  Yhowng  Alysawndyr  the  Lyndyssay,"  who,  along  with  his 
cousin,  Sir  Thomas  Erskine,  and  several  others,  attacked  the 
English,  under  the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  near  Queensferry  in 
the  year  1384.  Though  greatly  inferior  in  numbers,  yet  by 
surprising  them  almost  immediately  on  their  leaving  the  ships, 

1  Lives,  i.  p.  97. 

2  Extract,  ex  Cron.  Scoc.,  p.  203,  calls  the  place  Glenbroch :  Ads  of  Parl.  i. 
p.  217. 


EDZELL ALEXANDER  LINDSAY  OF  KINNEFF.        35 

they   completely  routed    the  English  in  the    manner    thus 
quaintly  described  by  Wyntown : — 

"  Bot  thai,  that  had  his  cummyn  sene, 
Tuk  on  thame  the  flycht  bedene, 
And  til  the  se  thame  sped  in  hy. 
Bot  Schyr  Thomas  sa  hastyly 
Come  on,  and  saw  thaim  turnyd  agayne, 
That  a  gret  part  of  thame  war  slayne. 
Sum  tane,  and  sum  drownyd  ware  : 
Few  gat  till  thare  schyppis  thare. 
Welle  fourty  hangyd  on  a  rape, 
Swa  yharnyd  thai  for  ethchape  ; 
Bot  ane,  that  wes  in  til  a  bate, 
Sa  dowtand  wes  in  that  debate, 
The  cabill  rape  he  strak  in  twa, 
And  gert  them  till  the  grownd  than  ga, 
And  qwhen  the  find  wes  owt,  men  fand 
Bathe  men  and  armowris  wndyr  sand 
And  thai,  that  than  ethchapyd  war, 
Til  thare  schyppis  made  thaim  to  fare, 
And  pressyd  noucht  mar  for  to  tak  land, 
Qwhill  that  the  Duk  wes  thare  bydand."1 

Sir  Alexander  was  designed  from  the  lands  of  Kinneff  in 
the  Mearns,  and  had  perhaps  resided  in  one  of  the  numerous 
strongholds  with  which  that  romantic  coast  was  at  one  time 
studded.  With  his  brother,  the  future  Earl,  he  also  swelled 
the  camp  of  "  the  lichtsorne  Lindsays,"  who  joined  their  chief, 
Sir  James,  at  the  engagement  of  Otterburn,  against  the  com- 
bined forces  of  the  Percies  and  the  Mowbrays ;  and,  although 
their  chief  unwarily  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  was 
held  prisoner  for  a  time,  Sir  David  of  Glenesk  and  his  brother 
returned  in  safety,  and  the  latter,  many  years  afterwards,  fell 
at  the  battle  of  Verneuil. 

Prior  to  his  death  in  1407,  the  first  Earl  gave  the  lands  or 
thanedom  of  Neudos,  together  with  an  annual  pension  of  forty 
marks  out  of  the  customs  of  the  burgh  of  Montrose,2  to  his 
second  son  David,  who  also  held  the  baronies  of  the  Aird  and 
Strathnairn,  in  Inverness-shire,  which,  at  a  later  period,  were 

1  Wyntown,  Cron.  vol.  iii.  pp.  21-2.  2  Robertson,  Index,  p.  162.  8. 


36  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

possessed  by  Walter  Lindsay  of  Beaufort,  younger  brother  of 
Earl  Beardie.  Beyond  all  others  of  his  clan,  this  Sir  Walter 
was  perhaps  the  most  avaricious,  while  at  the  same  time  he 
lacked  nothing  of  the  tyrannical  spirit  that  characterised  some 
of  his  more  notorious  relatives.  Having  had  the  sole  manage- 
ment of  his  nephew,  Earl  David,  from  boyhood,  he  succeeded 
in  carrying  out  his  long-cherished  desire  of  changing  his 
residence  in  Inverness  for  one  in  his  native  county,  by 
excambing  his  northern  estates  with  the  Earl  for  the  barony 
of  Fearn.  To  Fearn  were  afterwards  added,  first,  the  mill  and 
lands  of  Invereskandy,1  and  next  the  lands  of  Edzell  and 
Knocknoy ; 2  the  former  of  these  were  possessed  by  vassals  of 
the  names  of  Annandale  and  Nuthrie,  and  the  latter,  as  pre- 
viously mentioned,  by  the  Adzells.  The  properties  of  Fasky  or 
Fasque,  and  Balfour  lying  close  to  Edzell,  were  added  to  these 
by  Walter  Lindsay,  who  purchased  them  from  George  Lesley, 
Lord  Eothes,  in  the  year  1471.3 

The  danger  to  which  Walter  was  exposed  in  a  quarter  so 
remote  from  the  rest  of  his  clansmen  was  the  real  or  feigned 
plea  that  incited  him  to  the  change  of  his  abode — a  possible 
state  of  matters  that  his  own  obdurate  and  aggrandising  spirit 
tended  little  to  improve ;  but  ere  he  had  resided  long  in  Angus 
the  true  features  of  his  character  were  prominently  displayed. 
Once  in  possession  of  the  favour  and  confidence  of  his  illustrious 
nephew,  and  backed  in  all  by  his  own  mother,  the  well-known 
Countess  Marjory,  he  was  soon  an  extensive  and  influential 
landowner;  and  gaining  the  ascendency  over  the  person  and 
power  of  his  cousin,  the  chief  of  the  Ogilvys,  he  found  ample 
opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  his  acquisitive  talents.  The 
Sheriffship  of  Angus,  of  which  Ogilvy  was  hereditary  holder, 
was  on  some  pretext  obtained  from  him  and  made  the  most  of 

1  Dye  is  said  to  be  the  old  name  of  the  West  Water,  and  is  synonymous  with  the 
Gaelic  dubh,  "black;"  but  the  full  name  is  evidently  Inver-uisgan-dubh,   "the 
mouth  (or  confluence)  of  the  little  black  water. " 

2  (A.D.  1466-67)— Crawford  Case,  pp.  149  sq. 
8  Crawford  Case,  p.  150. 


EDZELL— WALTER  LINDSAY  OF  BEAUFORT.  37 

by  Walter  Lindsay,  who,  in  addition  to  the  large  possessions 
already  noticed,  was  at  the  same  time  lord  of  Panbride  and 
Kinblethmont.  Over  the  former  of  these  his  summary  exact- 
ments  of  cattle  and  horses  for  unpaid  teinds,  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  fishings  belonging  to  one  Eamsay,  gave  rise  to  some 
discussion,  and  although  he  was  found  to  be  legally  warranted 
in  the  spoliation  of  these,  yet  the  matter  is  little  calculated 
to  give  us  a  more  favourable  view  of  Walter's  nature.1 

It  is  indeed  often  difficult  to  say  which  party,  in  those 
days  when  "  might  was  right,"  was  the  real  aggressor ;  but 
Walter's  whole  character  displays  a  mind  so  prone  to  oppres- 
sion and  lording,  that  one  is  forced,  in  the  absence  of  specified 
reasons,  to  believe  that  all  attacks  that  were  made  upon  him 
were  done  to  resent  some  previous  injuries.  It  was,  perhaps, 
the  remembrance  of  some  serious  wrong  that  caused  the 
laird  of  Drum  (who  was  a  match  for  him  both  in  daring  and 
cruelty,  seeing  that  he  not  only  basely  mutilated  his  own 
chaplain,  but  also  murdered  the  young  laird  of  Philorth),  to 
attack  him  in  his  castle  "vnder  the  silence  of  nycht"  at  the 
head  of  sixty  men  "  in  fere  of  were  with  bows  and  vther 
fensable  wapins,  on  horse  and  fute."  But  Walter,  who,  pro- 
bably from  no  leniency  on  Drum's  part,  appears  to  have 
received  no  special  amount  of  damage  on  this  occasion,  suc- 
ceeded in  having  him  deprived  of  the  hereditary  Sheriffship 
of  Aberdeenshire.2 

Walter  Lindsay  of  Beaufort's  reign  however  drew  to  a 
close,  and  in  due  course  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Sir 
David,  who  was  the  first  of  the  family  to  assume  the  style  and 
designation  "  of  Edzell."  Like  his  father,  Sir  David  was  also 
known  at  the  bar  of  the  Lords  of  Council,  where,  for  sundry 
misdemeanours,  he  was  frequently  arraigned.  Two  of  these 

1  Ada  Auditorum,  Nov.  29,  1469,  Mar.  3, 1471. 

2  Ibid.  Mar.   2,   1471.      This  laird  of  Drum's  second  wife  was  the  daughter 
of  a  Fife  gentleman,  named  Lindsay,  who  fled  to  the  north  in  consequence  of 
a  slaughter  he  had  committed.—  (Inf.  kindly  communicated  by  A.  F.  Irvine,  Esq. 
of  Drum.) 


38  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

offences  consisted  in  his  having  lifted  fourteen  "nolt"  from 
the  "  bischop  of  Aberdeneis  tennentis  of  the  Birse "  l — and 
his  withholding  a  certain  sum  of  money,  and  "  a  cop  and 
a  couer  of  siluer  our  gilt,  and  a  salt  fut  of  siluer,"  that 
Fothringham  of  Powry  "  laid  in  wed "  for  Sir  David  to 
Bishop  Thomas  of  Aberdeen.  He  was  prosecuted  at  the  same 
time  by  his  mother,  Isabel  of  Levinston,  for  the  "widow's 
terce,"  or  her  share  out  of  the  lands  of  Fasky,  of  which,  there 
is  reason  to  believe,  he  had  attempted  to  deprive  her.2 

Sir  David's  only  son,  Walter,  a  brave  and  courageous 
youth,  died  before  his  father,  having  fallen  along  with  his 
kinsman  John,  the  sixth  Earl  of  Crawford,  on  the  fatal  field 
of  Flodden.  This  Walter  was  previously  married,  and  left 
four  sons,  yet  Sir  David,  with  a  degree  of  injustice  not  alto- 
gether at  variance  with  the  doings  of  his  early  life,  attempted  to 
change  the  succession  from  them  to  the  sons  of  his  own  second 
marriage.  James  v.,  however,  with  that  love  of  justice  and 
impartiality  that  so  endeared  him  to  his'  subjects,  treated 
this  attempt  at  disinheritance  with  just  indignation,  and 
declared  Walter's  eldest  son  "  the  rychteous  heritour,"  add- 
ing— in  reference  to  the  part  that  his  father  bore  at  Flodden 
— "we  havand  in  mynd  to  helpe  and  favour  thame  that 
dyd  gude  service  to  our  maist  noble  father."  Sir  David  of 
Beaufort  and  Edzell  died  an  aged  man  in  1528,  and  his  sons, 
Alexander  and  David,  by  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth  Spens, 
were  respectively  lairds  of  Vayne  in  Fearn,  and  Keithock 
near  Brechin ; 3  while,  in  virtue  of  the  decision  of  Royalty, 
he  was  succeeded  in  the  estate  of  Edzell  and  Glenesk  by  his 
eldest  grandson,  who  ultimately  became  the  ninth  Earl  of 
Crawford. 

The  elevation  of  Edzell  to  the  peerage  did  not  arise  from 
any  failure  in  the  male  succession,  for  the  eighth  Earl  had  both 

1  Acta  Auditorum,  Feb.  17,  1489. 

2  Acta  Dom.  Condi.  July  12,  1480.     Fasky  was  alienated  from  Edzell  in  Sir 
David's  time,  and  given  by  James  IV. ,  in  1510,  to  the  ex-Lord  Bothwell,  founder 
of  the  knightly  house  of  Balmain.  3  Lives,  i.  pp.  438,  445. 


EDZELL — THE  WICKED  MASTER.  39 

a  son  and  grandson ;  but  it  arose  from  the  unnatural  conduct 
of  the  former  towards  his  venerable  parent,  to  whom  he  acted 
the  part  of  all  but  an  absolute  parricide.  In  possession  of  the 
fee  of  the  Earldom  of  Crawford  as  future  Earl,  the  Master  had 
the  barony  of  Glenesk  assigned  to  him,  and  having  all  but 
independent  sway,  he  exercised  his  power  with  the  most  un- 
scrupulous cruelty.  He  seized  the  castle  of  Dalbog  by  force — 
scoured  the  lands  of  his  relatives  and  neighbours  in  much  the 
same  manner  as  did  the  Eob  Eoy  of  a  later  period — nay,  it  was 
even  found  necessary  to  cite  him  before  the  King  as  the  heart- 
less besieger  of  his  father's  castles,  as  having  imprisoned  him  in 
his  own  wards  at  Finhaven  for  the  space  of  twelve  successive 
weeks,  and  carried  him  to  Brechin,  and  there  confined  him  for 
fifteen  days,  during  which  he  pillaged  his  coffers  and  seized  his 
rents. 

This  was  the  second  time  the  old  Earl  had  to  appeal  to  the 
Crown  for  protection  against  his  own  son ;  and  as  "  the  Wicked 
Master  "  (for  so  he  has  been  emphatically  dubbed  by  tradition) 
pleaded  guilty  to  the  charges  preferred  against  him,  his  life  was 
graciously  spared,  but  "he  and  his  posterity  were  solemnly 
excluded  from  the  succession  to  the  estates  and  honours  of  the 
house  of  Crawford,  and  were  blotted  out  as  if  they  had  never 
existed." l  Of  the  future  career  of  this  desperate  and  unfor- 
tunate person  little  has  been  preserved.  His  sad  end,  however, 
favours  the  idea,  that  though  his  penitence  seemed  great  at  the 
time  of  his  merited  deprivation,  he  had  still  persisted  in  his 
reckless  and  unprincipled  conduct,  for  the  ungarnished  record 
of  his  death  bears  that  "  he  was  sticked  by  a  souter  of  Dundee 
for  taking  a  stoup  of  drink  from  him."  2 

This  occurred  in  the  year  1542,  and  his  father  had  pre- 
deceased him,  a  broken-hearted,  disappointed  man.  It  was  in 
this  peculiar  state  of  matters  that  David  of  Edzell  unexpectedly 
became  heir  to  the  estates  and  titles  of  Crawford,  which  could 
only  otherwise  have  occurred  in  default  of  male  issue.  As 

i  (A.D.  1530-31)— Lives,  i.  pp.  184  sq.  2  Ibid.  i.  p.  197. 


40  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

may  be  supposed,  he  entered  on  these  with  much  opposition. 
David  Lindsay,  the  son  of  the  "  Wicked  Master,"  was  yet  a 
minor,  and,  the  chief  of  the  clan  Ogilvy  having  married  his 
aunt,  the  castle  of  Finhaven  was  forcibly  seized  by  them  in 
name  of  the  minor  whom  they  had  taken  under  their  charge, 
declaring  him  the  rightful  heir  to  the  titles  and  estates.  But 
the  Eegent,  Mary  of  Guise,  being  apprised  of  this,  demanded 
the  restoration  of  the  castle  to  Edzell  under  the  pain  of  treason, 
and  the  mandate  being  ultimately  complied  with,  the  orphan 
son  of  the  "  Wicked  Master  "  was  taken  from  his  aunt,  and 
reared,  for  a  time  at  least,  under  the  eye  of  the  worthy  old 
Earl,  who  now  resided  betwixt  his  castles  of  Finhaven,  Edzell, 
and  Invermark. 

Notwithstanding  that  he  had  a  numerous  family  of  his 
own,  the  ninth  Earl  desired  that  the  titles  and  honours  in  due 
course  of  succession  should  be  restored  to  the  rightful  heir, 
whom  he  still  recognised  in  the  son  of  the  "  Wicked  Master." 
He  accordingly  applied  to  Parliament,  and  having  had  his 
wishes  confirmed  by  royal  consent,  he  generously  adopted  him 
as  his  heir  to  the  titles  and  estates  of  the  Earldom  of  Crawford. 
This  however  was  done  with  a  fear,  on  the  part  of  the  Earl, 
that  will  be  better  imagined  than  expressed,  when  it  is  known 
that  the  wayward  disposition  of  the  "Wicked  Master"  had 
already  evinced  itself  in  the  person  of  his  son.  It  may  have  been 
perhaps  in  the  hope  of  subduing  this  erratic  and  violent  spirit, 
that  Earl  David  selected  him  as  his  successor,  to  the  exclusion 
of  his  own  family ;  and,  if  so,  it  was  a  high  and  holy  aim.  At 
all  events  it  is  certain,  that  the  young  Master  bound  himself 
to  resign  all  claim  to  the  estates  and  honours,  and  pay  a 
penalty  of  two  thousand  pounds,  "  gif,"  as  the  deed  bears,  he 
"  put  violent  hands  on  the  said  Earl  to  his  slaughter,  dishonour, 
or  down-putting,  or  commit  exorbitant  reif  or  spulzie  of  his 
landis-tenants,  to  the  maist  pairt  of  the  rents  thereof." l 

Such  a  voluntary  and  disinterested  display  of  kindliness  as 

1  Lives,  i.  pp.  200,  and  463-4,  where  the  bond  is  printed  in  full. 


EDZELL — GENEROSITY  OF  EARL  DAVID.  41 

that  exhibited  by  the  Earl  towards  the  son  of  the  "  Wicked 
Master"  has  had  few  parallels,  and  to  a  mind  possessed  of 
ordinary  feeling  the  act  would  have  been  cherished  with  a 
life-long  gratitude.  The  Master's  marriage  with  Margaret 
Beaton  in  April,  and  the  circumstances  attending  the  murder 
of  her  father  in  the  following  month,  had  perhaps  impressed 
the  Earl  with  the  notion,  that  the  latter  awful  event  might 
tend  to  soften  the  asperities  of  his  disposition,  and  make 
him  settle  quietly  down  in  life,  to  become  an  honourable  and 
exemplary  citizen  of  the  world.  But  the  ink  with  which  he 
signed  the  above  deed  of  submission  was  scarcely  dry,  when, 
instead  of  retrieving  the  evils  he  had  already  committed,  or 
showing  signs  of  gratitude  for  the  high  position  that  he  had 
now  attained  through  the  Earl's  generosity,  the  Master  joined 
with  his  old  friends  the  Ogilvys  in  "  the  spuilzie "  of  the 
castle  of  his  venerable  benefactor  at  Finhaven.1  As  already 
hinted,  his  father's  nature  had  shown  itself  in  him  some 
years  before,  when  he  harried  the  lands  of  Glenesk,  but  this 
the  good  Earl  had  forgiven  and  forgotten,  and  was  pleased 
to  rely  on  his  promises  for  future  obedience.  In  these,  how- 
ever, he  was  wofully  disappointed,  and  although  the  young 
Master  was  declared  to  have  forfeited  all  claim  to  the  privileges 
conferred  upon  him,  he  nevertheless  succeeded  in  1558,  as 
the  tenth  Earl  of  Crawford,  to  all  the  possessions  of  his  bene- 
factor, excepting  those  of  Edzell,  Glenesk,  and  Fearn :  and  thus 
for  nearly  three  centuries  the  Earldom  of  Crawford  passed, 
by  a  most  generous  act  of  self-sacrifice,  from  the  house  and 
family  of  Edzell.2 

David  of  Edzell,  or  the  ninth  Earl,  was  twice  married — 
first  to  the  Dowager  Lady  Lovat,  a  daughter  of  the  house  of 
Gray,  and  secondly  to  Catherine,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Camp- 
bell of  Lorn  or  Calder,  and  niece  of  the  second  Earl  of  Argyll. 

1  Misc.  Sp.  Club,  iv.  p.  119  (1543-4),  for  the  instrument  of  discharge. 

2  It  was  only  after  1546  that  Gleuesk  was  fully  vested  in  the  Edzell  Lindsays. 
— (Crawford  Case,  p.  74.) 


42  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

His  first  wife  died  without  issue,  but  his  second,  who  survived 
him  for  the  space  of  twenty  years,  had  a  family  of  five  sons 
and  two  daughters.  These  were  Sir  David,  his  successor  in 
Edzell ;  the  next,  John,  afterwards  Lord  Menmuir,  founder 
of  the  noble  and  illustrious  line  of  Balcarres ;  the  third,  Sir 
Walter  of  Balgavies,  whose  remarkable  career  and  death  will 
afterwards  be  noticed;  the  fourth,  James,  the  amiable  Pro- 
testant rector  of  Fettercairn,  who  died  while  on  a  mission  to 
Geneva,  and  was  celebrated  by  Andrew  Melville  in  a  beautiful 
elegy  written  to  his  memory ;  and  the  fifth  and  last,  Eobert, 
proprietor  of  Balhall,  in  Menmuir.  The  daughters,  Margaret 
and  Elizabeth,  were  the  wives  respectively  of  the  Earl  of 
Athole,  and  of  Patrick,  third  Lord  Drummond.1 


SECTION   IV. 

NlNiAN. — How?  know  you  the  towers  of  Edzell? 
WALDAVE.  — /  've  heard  of  them. 
NINIAN. — Then  have  you  heard  a  tale, 
Which  when  he  tells  the  peasant  shakes  his  head, 
And  shuns  the  mouldering  and  deserted  walls. 

'  MACDUFF'S  CROSS,'  BY  SIR  W.  SCOTT. 

Sir  David  Liudsay,  Lord  Edzell — His  taste  for  architecture,  etc. — His  son's  murder 
of  Lord  Spynie — "Offeris"  for  the  same — Montrose  in  Glenesk — Cromwell's 
soldiers  at  Edzell — John  Lindsay  of  Canterland's  succession  to  Edzell — His  son 
and  grandson— David,  the  last  Lindsay  of  Edzell— The  fate  of  his  sisters,  Mar- 
garet and  Janet — Character  and  last  days  of  "  Edzell " — Story  of  a  "  treasure- 
seeker." 

THE  early  life  of  Sir  David  of  Edzell  is  a  striking  contrast  to 
that  of  his  later  years.  Like  the  erratic  spirits  already  noticed, 
he  displayed  much  of  the  hot-headed  character  of  feudal  times. 
It  is  not  believed,  however,  that  he  ever  condescended  to  harry 
the  fold  or  to  extort  black-mail  either  from  his  vassals  or  from 
the  less  powerful  of  his  brother  barons  ;  but  his  resentment  of 
insult  offered  to  either  himself  or  his  clan  seems,  in  some 
instances,  to  have  been  satisfied  only  by  the  blood  of  the 

i  Lives,  i.  pp.  327-28. 


EDZELL SIR  DAVID'S  CLANSHIP.  43 

offender.  This  was  pre-eminently  the  case  in  regard  to  the 
slaughter  of  the  laird  of  Lundie,  in  which  his  brother  of  Balhall, 
and  his  kinsmen  of  Balquhadlie  and  Keithock  were  concerned, 
and  for  which  they  all  had  a  remission  in  1583  through 
the  good  offices  and  legal  advice  of  Lord  Menmuir.  This 
affray,  which  ended  so  fatally,  was  not  caused  by  the  memory 
of  any  injury  that  Lundie  had  inflicted  on  Edzell  personally, 
but  arose  from  his  assisting  in  the  revenge  of  a  real  or  supposed 
insult  that  Lundie  had  offered  to  his  chief,  the  Earl  of  Craw- 
ford. It  was  so  also  in  the  quarrel  between  his  cousin  of  the 
Vayne  and  the  Bishop  of  the  Isles,  in  which,  from  the  sheer 
love  of  clanship,  Sir  David,  rightly  or  wrongly,  took  a  leading 
part,  as  he  did  at  the  destruction  of  the  Earl  of  Montrose's 
cruives  at  Morphie.1 

The  aggrieved  parties  were  all  men  of  considerable  in- 
fluence, and  combined  as  one  to  curb  the  power  of  their 
haughty  rival.  Had  Edzell  been  guided  entirely  by  the  bent 
of  his  own  wishes,  his  interference  in  these  matters  might 
have  proved  exceedingly  prejudicial,  if  not  wholly  disastrous, 
to  the  interests  of  his  house.  Submission,  even  in  its  most 
modified  form,  could  be  ill  brooked  by  him,  and  none,  save  his 
excellent  brother  Lord  Menmuir,  dared  to  suggest  the  aban- 
donment of  his  reckless  purposes.  While  residing  at  the 
Vayne,  in  the  autumn  of  1582,  this  great  man  and  affectionate 
brother  apprised  Edzell  by  letter  of  the  danger  that  was  fast 
encircling  him  ;  and  although,  as  already  seen,  a  mere  follower, 
and  one  who  had  done  nothing  more  than  his  opponents  would 
have  done  if  placed  in  the  same  position,  Sir  David  was  sup- 
posed, as  is  often  the  case  in  such  circumstances,  to  have  been 
a  prime  mover  in  each  and  all  of  these  affrays.  "  I  would  request 
you  to  be  better  avisit,"  said  Lord  Menmuir,  in  the  admirable 
letter  alluded  to,  "  and  to  use  counsel  of  your  best  friends.  Con- 
sider how  troublesome  is  the  warld,  how  easily  ony  man  who  is 
stronger  nor  ye  at  ane  time  may  do  you  ane  wrang,  and  how 

1  Lives,  i.  pp.  339  sq. 


44  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

little  justice  there  is  in  the  country  for  repairing  thereof. 
Therefore,  I  wald  desire  you  above  all  things,  to  travail  to  live 
in  peace  and  concord  with  all  men,  otherways  your  life  and 
pairt  of  the  warld  shall  be  very  unpleasant,  ever  in  fear,  danger, 
aiid  trouble,  whereof  the  maist  pairt  of  them  who  calls  them- 
selves your  friends  wald  be  glad." l 

This  and  a  few  similar  admonitions  had  the  salutary  effect 
that  Lord  Menmuir  so  much  desired ;  and,  on  being  once  con- 
vinced of  the  unenviable  position  that  he  held  in  other  than  the 
eyes  of  his  own  clansmen  and  relatives,  it  was  easy  to  effect  a 
reformation  in  the  mind  of  one  whose  failing  lay  in  the  resent- 
ment of  the  insults  offered  to  his  friends  rather  than  to  himself — 
particularly  in  a  mind  so  expansive  and  generally  well  assorted 
as  Edzell's.  For,  with  all  the  asperities  that  characterised  his 
nature,  "  he  had  tastes  and  pursuits,"  as  beautifully  said  by  his 
biographer,  "which  mingled  with  his  more  feudal  character- 
istics in  strange  association  ;  he  was  learned  and  accomplished 
— the  sword,  the  pen,  and  the  pruning-hook  were  equally  fami- 
liar to  his  hand ;  he  even  anticipated  the  geologist's  hammer, 
and  had  at  least  a  taste  for  architecture  and  design."2 

Examples  of  his  qualifications  in  these  varied  acquirements 
still  exist  in  many  different  forms.  Enough  has  been  said  to 
prove  his  expertness  as  a  swordsman ;  and  his  proficiency  in 
literature  is  alluded  to  in  so  unmistakeable  language  by  the 
King  on  presenting  him  to  the  vacant  office  of  a  Lord  of 
Session  on  his  brother's  resignation,  as  to  sufficiently  guarantee 
the  certainty  of  his  acquirements  in  that  respect.  His  corre- 
spondence regarding  the  mines  of  Glenesk,  which  is  fully 
brought  under  notice  in  Lord  Lindsay's  Lives,3  shows  his  apti- 
tude in  the  study  of  mineralogy ;  while  the  extensive  additions 
that  he  made  to  the  work  begun  by  his  father,  in  the  exten- 
sion of  his  old  paternal  messuage,  is  still  apparent  in  the  ruins 
of  those  gigantic  and  tasteful  labours.  It  was  he  who  "re- 
built the  garden-wall  at  Edzell  in  a  style  of  architectural 

1  See  letter  in  Lives,  i.  p.  339  sq.          2  Ibid.  i.  p.  339.          »  Ibid.  i.  p.  342  sq. 


EDZELL — SIR  DAVID  AS  A  LANDLORD.  45 

decoration  unparalleled  in  those  days  in  Scotland, — the  walls 
presenting  the  Lindsay  fesse-chequee  and  stars  of  Glenesk, 
flanked  by  small  brackets  for  statues  alternately  with  sculp- 
tures in  alto-relievo,  representing  the  Theological  and  Cardinal 
Virtues,  the  Seven  Sciences,  the  planets,  etc.,  in  the  allegori- 
cal style  and  manner  of  the  followers  of  Niccola  and  Andrea 
Pisano  in  the  fourteenth  century."1 

Nor  were  Sir  David's  energies  wholly  centred  in  the  deco- 
ration of  his  own  mansion.  It  was  also  his  aim  to  advance 
the  importance  and  interests  of  his  tenantry  to  the  utmost  of 
his  power,  and  with  this  view  he  planned  a  town  at  Edzell, 
with  cross  and  market-place.2  At  a  later  period  it  was  erected 
into  a  burgh  of  barony,  and  thither  the  tenantry  of  Edzell, 
Glenesk,  and  Lethnot,  were  bound  to  bring  their  dairy  and 
other  marketable  produce  on  the  monthly  fair-day.  Certain 
arrangements  were  also  entered  into  betwixt  Edzell  and  the 
magistrates  of  Brechin,  by  which  the  stock  reared  by  and 
belonging  to  the  tenantry  of  Edzell  and  Glenesk  were  admitted, 
custom  free,  to  the  great  Trinity  Muir  Fair,  of  which  the  magis- 
trates of  Brechin  are  superiors.  It  was  perhaps  on  the  occasion 
of  this  amicable  arrangement  that  the  laird  of  Edzell  was  ad- 
mitted a  freeman  of  that  burgh.3  Weighing  apparatus,  stances, 
and  other  requisites  for  carrying  out  the  object  to  its  full 
extent,  were  erected  at  Edzell  at  the  laird's  expense,  and  the 
market  nourished  with  considerable  success  long  after  the  body 
of  its  spirited  projector  was  laid  beside  his  kindred.  "  Auld 
Eagle's  Market,"  as  the  August  fair  is  locally  called,  is  perhaps 
the  fair  that  Lord  Edzell  established,  for  it  is  the  oldest  of  any 
now  held  at  Edzell. 

Such  were  the  peaceful  and  praiseworthy  labours  that 
occupied  the  later  years  of  Lord  Edzell,  by  which  title  he  had 

1  Lives,  i.  p.  346  ;  Reg.  de  Panmure,  i.  pp.  clviii  sq. 

2  Lives,  i.  p.  348. 

3  (July  26,  1580)— Minutes  of  Bailie  Court  of  Brechin,  bound  up  with  those  of 
the  Hammerman  Incorporation,  and  in  possession  of  that  body.     These  are  the 
oldest  records  belonging  to  the  city  of  Brechin,  and  date  from  2d  February  1579. 


46  LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

been  known  from  his  appointment  as  a  Lord  of  Session ;  and 
being  honoured  with  knighthood  in  1581,  he  was  further  digni- 
fied in  the  memorable  1603,  when  James  ascended  the  throne 
of  England,  by  being  chosen  a  privy  councillor.  In  the  enjoy- 
ment of  all  the  blessings  that  extensive  learning  and  judi- 
ciously exercised  power  could  impart,  and  in  the  confidence  of 
an  enlightened  Sovereign,  the  sun  of  prosperity  seemed  to  shine 
upon  him  from  all  quarters,  and  he  could  anticipate  nothing 
that  would  in  any  way  disturb  his  quiet.  Unfortunately 
however,  in  the  midst  of  this  tranquillity,  his  hopes  were 
rudely  blighted,  and  the  evening  of  his  life  harassed,  by 
the  occurrence  of  riot  and  murder  committed  by  his  eldest 
son. 

Much  of  the  daring  and  reckless  character  that  marked 
the  career  of  his  ancestors  on  both  sides  unhappily  fell  to  the 
lot  of  "  Young  Edzell,"  and  almost  the  only  points  recorded 
of  him  have  reference  to  some  lawless  transaction.1  The  first 
outbreak  in  which  he  was  concerned  occurred  in  1605,  when 
he  and  young  Wishart  of  Pitarrow,  with  their  followers,  met 
in  the  Saltron  of  Edinburgh,  and  fought  a  desperate  battle.  It 
continued  from  nine  to  eleven  o'clock  in  the  evening.  "  Thair 
wer  sundrie  hurt  one  both  sydes,  and  ane  Guthrie  slaine, 
which  was  Pitarrow's  man,"  and  who,  continues  the  quaint 
diarist  Birrel,  was  "  ane  very  prettie  young  man."2  For  these 
disturbances  the  participators  and,  as  was  the  custom  of  the 
period,  their  fathers  also,  had  to  stand  trial,  when  they  were  all 
fined,  and  warded  to  certain  of  the  State  castles.  But  the 
most  unfortunate  circumstance  of  young  Edzell's  life  was  his 
inadvertent  slaughter  of  Lord  Spynie  on  the  same  ill-fated 
street.  This  affair  ever  preyed  heavily  on  his  mind,  and,  as  in 
the  Pitarrow  case,  was  the  source  of  much  vexation  and  annoy- 
ance to  his  aged  father.  The  circumstances  relating  to  this 
luckless  affair  are  interesting,  and  may  be  briefly  told. 

1  For  young  Edzell's  matrimonial  connection,  see  below,  p.  71. 

2  Pitcairn,  Criminal  Trials,  iii.  p.  61. 


EDZELL DEATH  OF  LOBD  SPYNIE.  47 

David,  Master  of  Crawford,  and  eldest  son  of  the  eleventh 
Earl,  was,  in  every  respect,  a  worthy  disciple  of  his  turbulent 
clansmen.  Like  the  "  Wicked  Master"  and  his  son,  he  scoured 
the  country  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  armed  desperadoes,  at 
whose  hands  the  life  and  property  of  even  their  own  imme- 
diate relatives  met  with  no  feeling  of  regard ;  and  in  one  of 
these  broils  he  attacked  and  slew  his  kinsman,  Sir  Walter  of 
Balgavies,  on  the  25th  of  October  1605.  The  house  of  Edzell, 
of  which  Sir  Walter  was  an  immediate  relative,  determined  on 
avenging  the  murder,  and  the  "  young  laird,"  with  his  brother 
of  Canterland,  watched  an  opportunity  for  effecting  that  pur- 
pose. Accordingly,  the  brothers,  with  several  of  their  clans- 
men, assembled  in  Edinburgh,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  5th 
of  July  1607,  attacked  the  Master  on  his  way  up  the  High 
Street,  while  accompanied  only  by  his  uncle  Lord  Spynie,  and  by 
Sir  James  Douglas  of  Drumlanrig.  It  was  dark,  so  that  "  they 
could  not  know  ane  be  (from)  the  other,"  and,  in  the  rapid 
exchange  of  shots  and  sword-strokes,  the  three  friends  were  all 
wounded,  the  Master  and  Lord  Spynie  so  desperately,  that 
though  the  former  eventually  recovered,  "  Lord  Spynie  expired 
of  his  wounds  eleven  days  afterwards."1 

Young  Edzell  fled  from  justice,  and  took  up  his  abode  in 
the  castles  of  Auchmull,  Invermark,  and  Shanno, — all  situated 
in  Glenesk,  and  in  points  so  difficult  of  access,  particularly  the 
last  mentioned,  that  he  contrived  to  evade  his  pursuers  for  a 
considerable  time.  His  father  was  prohibited  from  sheltering 
him  under  heavy  penalties,  and  it  was  on  account  of  his  being 
hunted  from  Auchmull  and  Invermark,  that  he  erected  the  c+*>iu  4  st+n. 
fortalice  at  Shanno  which  is  known  synonymously  as  the 
"  Castle  "  and  "  Auldha',"  of  which  some  foundations  still  re- 
main on  the  hill- side  to  the  west  of  the  farm-house.2 

Accountable  for  the  misdeeds  of  his  son,  Lord  Edzell  was 

1  Lives,  i.  p.  386. 

2  The  ruins  do  not  indicate  a  building  of  more  than  about  twenty  feet  square, 
and  are  about  four  feet  thick  and  nearly  the  same  height.     A  large  old-fashioned 
brander  or  gridiron  was  found  there  about  sixty  years  ago. 


48  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

so  greatly  harassed  by  the  Earl  of  Crawford,  on  account  of  this 
quarrel  and  the  unfortunate  death  of  Lord  Spynie,  that  he 
found  peace  neither  at  home  nor  abroad.  No  less  than  five  of 
his  servants  were  "shot  with  pistols  and  hurt,"  and  himself 
"  not  wardit  only,"  as  he  quaintly  observes,  "  but  banishit 
from  my  virtue."  It  was  under  these  painful  circumstances 
that  Lord  Edzell  found  himself  compelled  to  write  the  King, 
"craving  ever  to  be  tryit  of  the  unhappy  slaughter  of  my 
umquhill  lord  of  Spynie;"  but  it  was  not  until  a  second 
appeal  was  made  to  his  Majesty,  setting  forth  the  insecure 
state  in  which  his  person  and  property  stood  with  his  over- 
bearing chief,  that  the  trial  of  Edzell  and  his  son  of  Canter- 
land,  "as  suspected  connivers  at  the  death  of  Lord  Spynie," 
was  permitted.  The  trial  was  fixed  for  the  6th  of  Septem- 
ber 1607,  but  the  accusers  failing  to  appear,  the  matter  lay 
dormant  for  many  years,  during  which  Lord  Edzell  died, 
and  his  son  was  so  far  restored  to  favour  as  to  be  again 
received  into  the  Church,  from  which  he  had  been  excommuni- 
cated.1 

The  murder  of  Spynie,  however,  was  not  allowed  to  rest. 
In  the  year  1616  the  matter  was  agitated  anew  by  Spynie's 
eldest  son  and  heir,  who,  acting  for  his  sisters  and  other 
kindred,  demanded  a  compensation  for  "the  said  slaughter." 
"  Offeris  "  were  accordingly  made  by  Edzell  "  for  himself  and 
in  name  of  his  followeris  "  to  Lord  Spynie,  for  the  purpose  of 
"  removing  of  all  grudge,  haitred,  and  malice  conceavit  and 
borne  be  them  against  him  and  his  followeris,  for  the  onhappie 
and  negligent  and  accidentarie  slaughter "  of  the  late  Lord. 

1  Lord  Edzell  died  on  the  14th  of  December  1610  (Lives,  i.  p.  392),  and  his  first 
wife,  a  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Crawford,  and  mother  of  all  his  family,  predeceased 
him  in  1579.  In  1588,  he  took  as  his  second  wife,  Dame  Isabella  Forbes,  daughter 
and  heiress  of  Arthur  Forbes  of  Balfour,  and  widow  of  Alex.  Innes  of  Crombie, 
direct  male  ancestor  of  the  present  Duke  of  Roxburghe.  .  A  shield,  bearing  the 
Lindsay  and  Forbes  arms  impaled,  still  ornaments  the  canopy  of  a  door  in  the 
flower  garden  at  Edzell  : — "  1-4  gules,  a  fesse-chequy  argent  and  azure,  for  Lindsay  ; 
2-3,  or,  a  lion  rampant,  gules,  surmounted  by  a  bendlet,  sable,  for  Abernethy ; 
impaling,  azure,  three  bears'  heads,  couped  argent,  muzzled  gules,  for  Forbes." — 
"  S.  D.  L."  on  dexter,  and  "  D.  I.  F."  on  sinister  side  of  shield,  with  date  "  1604." 


EDZELL — AMENDS  FOR  SLAUGHTER.  49 

As  this  document  of  "  offeris  "  is  in  itself  curious,  and  not  only 
shows  young  EdzelTs  innocence  in  the  matter,  but  the  com- 
plete want  of  intention  on  the  part  of  both  him  and  his 
accomplices  to  murder  Spynie,  it  is  here  given  entire,  and  in 
its  original  orthography  : — 

"  In  the  first,  I  attest  the  grytt  god,  quha  knawis  the  secrettis 
of  all  hairtis  that  it  was  never  my  intentione  to  hairm  that 
Noble  man,  moire  nor  I  wald  have  done  my  awin  hairt,  Quhom 
at  that  tym  and  all  tymis  preceding  I  ever  lovit  and  respeckit 
as  my  Wncle,  and  wald  ever  have  rather  hazsard  my  lyff,  then 
have  knawin  him  in  any  sik  danger. 

"  Forder,  I  shall  declair  for  myself  and  all  thaie  quha  ar 
alyiff  that  war  present  thereat,  that  We  are  innocent  in  thocht, 
word,  and  dead  of  that  fact,  and  it  is  off  veritie  that  the  com- 
mitter  thairoff  died,  for  that  evil  dead  quhilk  fell  in  his  hand, 
wiolentlye,  quhom  I  cold  never  patientlie  behold,  efter  triall 
and  confessione  of  sik  onhappie  creueltie,  quhilk  sail  be  maid 
manifest  and  confirmed,  be  all  testimonies  requisit,  under  all 
hiest  paynis. 

"  Secondlie,  for  declaratione  of  my  penitencie  and  the  sor- 
rowe  of  my  hairt  for  that  onnaturall  and  onhappie  fact,  I  offer 
to  the  said  Noble  Lord,  my  Lord  of  Spynie,  and  to  his  twa 
sisteris,  the  sowme  of  Ten  Thowsand  Merks,  and  forder  at 
the  discretione  of  freindis,  to  be  chosin  equalie  betuixt  ws. 

"  Thridlie,  Becaus  the  rwinit  and  rent  estait  of  my  Hous 
may  permit  no  forder  offer  off  grytter  sowmes,  I  offer  to  do  sik 
Honour  and  Homage  to  the  said  Noble  Lord  of  Spynie  his 
sisteris  curators  and  freindis  as  thaye  shall  crawe. 

"D.   LYNDESAY."1 

A  contract  was  therefore  entered  into,  by  which  Edzell  agreed 
to  give  the  heirs  of  the  late  Spynie  the  lands  of  Garlobank,2  in 
the  parish  of  Kirriemuir,  in  addition  to  the  large  sum  of  ten 

1  From  a  paper  in  the  handwriting  of  David  Lyndesay,  from  the  charter-room  at 
Glamis,  hitherto  impublished,  and  kindly  communicated  by  the  late  Earl  of  Craw- 
ford. 2  Crawford  Case,  p.  134. 

D 


50  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

thousand  marks,  mentioned  in  the  "  offeris,"  and  the  affair  was 
finally  set  at  rest  in  1617,  by  the  royal  grant  of  a  remission  for 
the  murder,  by  "  letters  of  Slains,"  under  the  Great  Seal. 

This  unfortunate  affair,  as  already  noticed,  constantly 
haunted  poor  Edzell,  and  the  payment  of  the  ten  thousand 
marks  in  the  "  rwinit  and  rent  estait "  of  his  house,  to  which  he 
so  feelingly  alludes,  had  doubtless  been  a  barrier  to  any  exten- 
sive improvements  that  he  might  have  wished  to  make  on  his 
property,  if  he  had  ever  inclined  to  follow  in  the  wake  of  his 
gifted  parent.  But  he  lived  to  an  old  age,  and,  besides  being 
harassed  by  heartless  kinsmen,  had  the  misfortune  to  see  his 
son  and  heir-apparent  laid  in  the  tomb  before  him.1  He  him- 
self died  in  1648,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew,  John 
of  Canterland,  who  had  retours  of  the  lordship  of  Edzell  and 
Glenesk  in  June  of  that  year.2 

Soon  after  this  John  was  elected  an  elder  of  the  church  and 
parish  of  Edzell ;  and,  as  noticed  in  the  first  Section,  he  was  a 
staunch  supporter  of  the  Covenant.  He  also  held  the  important 
office  of  Sheriff  of  Forfarshire,  which,  together  with  his  influence 
as  a  landholder,  rendered  both  himself  and  the  district  objects 
of  notoriety  in  those  disturbed  times.  Montrose,  having  entered 
Angus  in  his  flight  before  the  Parliamentary  faction, '  took 
refuge  in  Glenesk,  which  he  harried  and  destroyed  so  much, 
that  the  house  of  Edzell,  that  had  partially  recovered  from  the 
extravagances  of  previous  lairds,  received  a  blow  from  which  it 
never  rallied.  Indeed,  the  laird  found  himself  so  embarrassed, 
that,  although  the  estate  was  worth  ten  thousand  pounds  a  year 
in  1 630,  yet,  in  less  than  twenty  years  thereafter,  he  was  obliged 
even  to  petition  Parliament  "  for  exemption  to  contributing  to 
the  new  levies  then  raised, — '  the  rebel  army,'  he  says, '  having 
been  for  a  long  time  encamped  and  quartered  upon  the  lands 
of  Edzell  and  Glenesk,  to  the  utter  ruin  and  destruction  of  my 

1  In  1638  he  is  served  heir-male  to  his  son  Alexander,  feudatory  of  Edzell,  and 
the  inventory  of  the  heirship  is  interesting  as  being  within  a  few  generations  of  the 
final  loss  of  all.    See  below,  p.  57,  note. 

2  Inquis.  Spec.,  Forfar.  Nos.  303,  304. 


EDZELL  —  ESTATE  ON  THE  DECLINE.  51 

lands  and  tenants,  the  whole  corns  being  burned  in  the  barn- 
yards, and  the  whole  store  of  cattle  and  goods  killed  or  driven 
away,  whereby  the  haill  lands  of  Glenesk,1  were  worth  of  yearly 
revenue  nine  thousand  merks,  have  ever  since  been  lying  waste 
be  reason  the  tenants  have  not  been  able  to  labour  the  same, 
in  so  much  that  the  particular  amount  of  my  losses  which  was 
clearly  instructit  to  the  Committee  of  Common  Burdens,  did 
amount  to  the  sum  of  fourscore  thousand  merks  or  thereby  ; 
besides  great  charges  and  expenses  which  I  have  hitherto  been 
forced  to  sustain  for  maintaining  three  several  garrisons  for  a 
longtime  to  defend  my  tenants,  whereof  many,  in  their 


defence,  were  most  cruelly  and  barbarously  killed,  as  likewise, 
ever  since,  a  constant  guard  of  forty  men  for  defending  my 
lands  and  tenants  from  the  daily  incursions  of  enemies  and 
robbers.'  "  2 

This  spirited  remonstrance  had  so  far  an  effect  that  the 
laird  was  exempted  from  contributing  to  the  assessment  com- 
plained against  ;  but  he  neither  received  any  part  of  a  previous 
award  of  twenty  thousand  pounds,  nor  was  protected  against 
further  inroads.  For,  although  the  great  Montrose  had  crowned 
his  manifold  ingenious  and  daring  enterprises  by  a  heroic  death 
on  the  gibbet,  there  was  still  much,  perhaps  even  more,  cause 
for  fear,  since  those  high  principles  of  loyalty  that  animated 
his  conduct  were  spurned  by  his  successors,  and  the  government 
and  army  were  ruled  by  the  baneful  sceptre  of  selfishness  and 
hypocrisy.  The  establishment  of  Episcopacy  had  been  insisted 
on  without  success  ;  Naseby  had  been  fought  and  won  by 
Cromwell  ;  the  King  had  been  basely  sold  by  his  faithless 
countrymen,  and  died  on  the  scaffold  ;  the  rightful  heir  to  the 
throne  had  been  defeated  at  Worcester  ;  and,  fearing  that  the 
ancient  symbols  of  the  nation's  independence  might  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  invaders,  the  Eoyalists  had  the  regalia  and 

1  Not  including  Edzell  and  other  property. 

2  Cited  in  Lives,  ii.  p.  255-6.    See  also  the  Testification  from  the  parishioners 
in  1646,  given  in  Jervise,  Epit.  \.  p.  389. 


52  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

sword  of  state  secretly  transferred  to  the  well-defended  strong- 
hold of  Dunnottar.  It  was  accordingly  in  the  year  1651,  when 
the  soldiers  of  the  Commonwealth  were  despatched  in  search 
of  those  important  symbols,  that  they  made  the  parish  of 
Edzell  their  rendezvous,  and  laid  the  district  so  completely 
under  their  ban,  that,  for  the  space  of  three  or  four  weeks, 
the  glad  tidings  of  the  blessed  Gospel  were  not  allowed  to  be 
heard.1  Of  the  circumstances  attending  their  last  visit  the 
brief  but  unmistakeable  record  of  the  period  affords  a  remark- 
able instance,  showing  alike  the  harassing  state  of  the  times 
and  the  abandoned  nature  of  those  godless  soldiery,  who,  on 
their  arrival  one  Sunday,  went  straightway  to  the  church,  and, 
in  the  midst  of  the  sermon,  "  scattered  all  ye  people  to  goe  and 
provyd  corn  and  strae." 2 

John  of  Edzell,  who,  in  all  those  ravages  and  exactments 
over  his  lands  (for  we  have  already  seen  that  he  was  heavily 
fined  by  the  Earl  of  Middleton),  beheld  with  regret  the  irre- 
mediable ruin  of  his  house,  died  in  1671,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  son  David,  who  (since  the  third  and  last  Lord  Spynie,  the 
chief  of  the  Lindsays,  had  just  died  without  male  issue) 
became  the  head  of  his  important  clan.  But,  unfortunately, 
his  disposition  was  of  so  extravagant  a  character,  that  he 
tended  rather  to  increase  than  to  dispel  the  cloud  that  en- 
shrouded the  family  fortunes.  He  in  turn  closed  his  vain- 
glorious career  in  1698,3  and  was  succeeded  by  his  still  more 
reckless  and  improvident  son  David,  the  last  of  the  Lindsays 
of  Edzell 

This  laird  had  two  sisters,  Margaret  and  Janet,  and  their 
mother,  only  daughter  of  James  Grahame  of  Monorgund 
brother  to  the  laird  of  Fintry,  died  while  they  were  all  young. 

i  Edeett  Par.  Reg.  Mar.  9, 1662.  2  Ibid.  Sept.  25,  1664. 

3  Inguis.  Spec.,  Forfar.  No.  553.— 1698.  "  Upon  this  fyftiend  day  of  Febervarij, 
the  Eight  Noble  Laird  of  Edzeel  died  and  was  buried  vpon  the  fyftaind  day  of 
March,  and  the  minister  [of]  Edzeell,  Mr.  John  Balvaird,  preached  his  funerall 
sermon  the  sam  sd  day."— {Parish  Reg.)  See  APPENDIX  No.  II.,  for  excerpts  from 
the  rental-book  of  this  laird. 


EDZELL THE  LADY'S  LAST  VISIT.  53 

The  elder  daughter  married  Watson  of  Aitherny  in  Fife,  and 
had  the  large  dowry  of  seven  thousand  marks.1  The  younger 
(the  lovelier  of  the  twain,  whose  melancholy  history  has  formed 
the  theme  of  more  poets  than  one),  became  a  victim  to  the 
arts  of  a  young  Scottish  nobleman,  who  afterwards  fell  at  the 
battle  of  Almanza,  in  Spain,  in  1707.2 

The  fate  of  Lady  Janet  need  not  be  dwelt  upon.  Indeed, 
beyond  this  sad  incident,  and  the  rather  striking  tradition,  that 
while  she  lived  at  Edzell  she  was  followed  to  the  church  and 
in  all  her  walks  by  a  pretty  white  lamb — the  emblem  of 
innocence  and  purity — nothing  whatever  is  preserved  of  her 
history,  at  least  in  the  locality;  but  the  last  visit  of  Lady 
Aitherny  to  the  house  of  her  birth  and  her  sires  is  so  beauti- 
fully and  touchingly  told  by  Lord  Lindsay,  and  so  true  to 
current  tradition,  that  we  shall  give  it  entire : — "  Year  after 
year  passed  away,  and  the  castle  fell  to  ruin, — the  banner 
rotted  on  the  keep — the  roofs  fell  in — the  pleasance  became  a 
wilderness — the  summer-house  fell  to  decay — the  woods  grew 
wild  and  tangled — the  dogs  died  about  the  place,  and  the  name 
of  the  old  proprietors  was  seldom  mentioned,  when  a  lady  one 
day  arrived  at  Edzell,  as  it  is  still  related,  in  her  own  coach, 
and  drove  to  the  castle.  She  was  tall  and  beautiful,  and 
dressed  in  deep  mourning.  '  When  she  came  near  the  ancient 
burying-place,'  says  the  same  faint  voice  of  the  past,  '  she 
alighted,  and  went  into  the  chapel,  for  it  was  then  open, — the 
doors  had  been  driven  down,  the  stone  figures  and  carved  work 
was  all  broken,  and  bones  lay  scattered  about.  The  poor  lady 

1  Crawford  Case,  p.  201.      The  marriage  of  this  lady  is  thus  noticed :—"  The 
Laird  of  Edernie  and  his  Ladie  were  laufullie  proclaimed  att  particullar  dyets: 
and  was  maryed  vpon  the  8th  day  of  Debr.  jai  vic,  and  nyntie  two  zears."— (Edzell 
Par.  Register.) 

2  The  following  is  the  baptismal  entry  of  this  unfortunate  lady  :— "  1684 ;  David 
Lindsay  off  Edzell  hade  a  daughter  baptized  upon  ye  2d  off  October,  named  Jannett, 
befor  Mr.  John  Lyndsay  in  Dallbog  Mill,  and  Alexander  Wishart  in  Scleetford." — 
(Par.  Register.)  See  below,  APPENDIX  III.,  on  the  fortune  and  descendants  of  Janet 
Lindsay,  as  detailed  in  a  letter  from  the  late  John  Kiddell,  Esq.,  Advocate,  Edin- 
burgh.    Lord  Edzell  also  had  a  daughter  named  Jannett,  who,  according  to  a 
monument  in  Inverkeillor  churchyard,  was  married  to  Gardyne  of  Lawton  in  1603. 


54  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

went  in,  and  sat  down  amang  it  a',  and  wept  sore  at  the  ruin 
of  the  house  and  the  fate  of  her  family,  for  no  one  doubted  of 
her  being  one  of  them,  though  no  one  knew  who  she  was  or 
where  she  came  from.  After  a  while  she  came  out,  and  was 
driven  in  the  coach  up  to  the  castle;  she  went  through  as 
much  of  it  as  she  could,  for  stairs  had  fallen  down  and  roofs 
had  fallen  in, — and  in  one  room  in  particular  she  stayed  a  long 
while,  weeping  sadly.  She  said  the  place  was  very  dear  to 
her,  though  she  had  now  no  right  to  it,  and  she  carried  some  of 
the  earth  away  with  her.' — It  was  Margaret  of  Edzell,  the 
Lady  of  Aitherny,  as  ascertained  by  an  independent  tradition 
derived  from  a  venerable  lady  of  the  house  of  Aitherny,  who 
lived  to  a  great  age,  and  always  spoke  of  her  with  bitterness  as 
'  the  proud  bird  out  of  the  eagle's  nest '  who  had  ruined  her 
family.  '  She  came  once  to  my  father's  house,'  said  she  to  my 
informant, '  with  two  of  her  children.  She  was  on  her  way  to 
Edzell  Castle.  It  was  years  since  it  had  passed  away  from  her 
family.  My  father  did  all  he  could  to  persuade  her  from  so 
waefu'  a  journey,  but  go  she  would  ;  and  one  morning  she  set 
off  alone,  leaving  her  children  with  us,  to  await  her  return. 
She  was  a  sair  changed  woman  when  she  came  back, — her 
haughty  manner  was  gone,  and  her  proud  look  turned  into 
sadness.  She  had  found  everything  changed  at  Edzell  since 
she  left  it,  a  gay  lady,  the  bride  of  Aitherny.  For  the  noise 
and  merriment  of  those  days,  she  found  silence  and  sadness, — 
for  the  many  going  to  and  fro,  solitude  and  mouldering  walls, — 
for  the  plentiful  board  of  her  father,  his  house  only,  roofless  and 
deserted.  When  she  looked  out  from  the  windows,  it  was  the 
same  gay  and  smiling  landscape,  but  all  within  was  ruin  and 
desolation.  She  found  her  way  to  what  had  been  in  former 
days  her  own  room,  and  there,  overcome  with  the  weight  of 
sorrow,  she  sat  down  and  wept  for  a  long  time, — she  felt 
herself  the  last  of  all  her  race,  for  her  only  brother  was  gone, 
no  one  could  tell  where.  She  came  back  to  Gardrum  the  next 
day,  and  she  just  lived  to  see  the  ruin  of  Aitherny,  which  her 


EDZELL — THE  LAST  LAIRD.  55 

extravagance  and  folly  had  brought  on,  for  the  Laird  was  a 
good-natured  man  and  could  deny  her  nothing.  They  both 
died,  leaving  their  family  in  penury.' — And  such  was  the  end 
of  the  'proud  house  of  Edzell.' "  l 

Like  the  history  of  those  unfortunate  ladies,  that  of  their 
only  brother,  the  last  laird,  is  one  of  painful  melancholy.  It  is 
true  that  between  the  large  dowry  to  Mrs.  Watson  and  other 
liabilities  the  estate  was  greatly  burdened;  still  by  prudent 
management  it  might  have  been  soon  redeemed,  and  Edzell 
restored  to  the  independence  and  influence  of  his  ancestors. 
But  having  been  thwarted  in  love  by  his  cousin,  Jean  Maria 
Lindsay,2  he  cared  not  to  set  his  affections  upon  another,  and 
losing  all  respect  for  himself  and  the  dignity  of  his  house, 
he  soon  effected  its  overthrow.  Down  to  the  time  of  his 
leaving  the  parish,  however,  he  was  preceded  to  the  kirk  on 
Sundays  by  a  guard  of  strong  hardy  retainers,  armed  and 
clothed  in  the  family  tartan.3  Like  his  father  and  grandfather, 
David  Lindsay  also  enjoyed  an  eldership,  in  which  capacity  he 
assumed  those  extraordinary  powers,  and  had  recourse  to  those 
arbitrary  measures,  that  have  already  been  alluded  to.  Not 
content  with  designing  himself  in  the  ordinary  form  of  a  mere 
member  of  session,  when  attesting  the  minutes,  he  appears  in 
the  dignified  character  of  "  principall  and  chief  elder ;"  and,  in 
the  spirit  of  true  feudalism,  the  kirk-session  is  recorded  on 
more  than  one  occasion,  to  have  "  mett  at  the  hous  of  Edzell 
as  the  Laird  appointed  them" 

Having  this  important  body  so  thoroughly  under  his 
command,  he  had  no  difficulty  in  subjecting  the  people  to 
his  will ;  his  power  was  never  questioned  for  an  instant,  and, 
considering  his  opinion  as  that  of  the  nation,  most  of  his 
tenantry  believed  that  neither  sovereign  nor  parliament  could 
rule  without  his  concurrence.  Still,  though  haughty  to 

1  Lives,  ii.  pp.  264-5.  2  jud.  ii.  p.  259. 

3  The  last  survivor  of  that  train  was  the  grandfather  of  the  late  tenant  of 
Meikle  Tullo,  who,  it  is  said,  used  to  boast  of  having  carried  a  halbert  before  the 
laird  to  church.  One  of  the  halberts  is  in  the  summer-house  at  Edzell  Castle. 


56  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

strangers  and  to  those  who  offended  him,  his  heart  was  full 
of  the  milk  of  human  kindness,  and  so  warmly  attached  was 
he  to  his  domestics  and  vassals,  that  he  often  devoted  his 
best  interests  towards  the  soothing  of  their  misfortunes,  and 
the  bettering  of  their  condition.  The  last  Jcitchie  or  "  hall-boy," 
who  died  towards  the  close  of  last  century  at  the  great  age  of 
nearly  a  hundred  years,  had  a  vivid  recollection  of  the  last 
laird,  and  although  he  loved  to  speak  of  his  many  daring 
exploits,  he  ever  bore  willing  testimony  to  his  warm-hearted- 
ness and  generosity.  And  it  is  a  remarkable  coincidence, 
that  like  the  latter  days  of  poor  Edzell  those  of  the  "  kitchie 
boy"  were  sadly  darkened  and  ended  in  utter  misery.  Edzell 
may  be  said  to  have  died  in  a  common  stable,  and  the  other, 
through  intemperance  and  dissipation,  closed  his  patriarchal 
life  in  the  kennel  of  the  village  with  which  he  had  been 
familiar  from  childhood ! 

Edzell's  opposition  to  Presbyterianism  was  his  last  pro- 
minent act  in  the  district.  As  a  proud-spirited  and  determined 
baron,  he  scorned  all  manner  of  advice  and  the  aid  of  his 
kinsmen.  Some  of  these  offered  to  discharge  his  liabilities  on 
the  most  friendly  terms,  and  to  restore  him  in  the  course  of  a 
few  years  to  the  full  and  free  possession  of  the  extensive 
domains  of  his  ancestors,  but  all  remonstrance  was  in  vain. 
He  had  resolved  to  follow  in  defence  of  the  luckless  house  of 
Stuart,  and,  with  the  view  of  raising  a  company  of  followers, 
sold  his  patrimony,  which  found  a  ready  purchaser  in  James, 
the  fourth  Earl  of  Panmure.1  He  accordingly  left  the  district 
— the  place  of  his  birth,  and  the  property  which  his  forefathers 
had  held  for  nearly  four  hundred  years.  But  the  tragedy  does 
not  terminate  here :  after  spending  a  few  years  on  the  small 
property  of  Newgate  in  Arbroath,  "  he  removed  to  Kirkwall  in 
the  Orkney  Islands,  where  he  died  in  the  capacity  of  an 
hostler  at  an  inn  about  the  middle  of  last  century;  or,  as 
more  definitely  stated  by  Earl  James  in  his  Memoirs,  in  1744 

1  Reg.  de  Panmure,  i.  p.  xlviii ;  ii.  p.  348. 


EDZELL — DE  JURE  LORD  DE  LYNDESAY.  57 

aged  about  eighty  years — a  landless  outcast,  yet  unquestionably 
de  jure  '  Lord  de  Lyndesay.'  " l 

The  life  of  this  remarkable  man  is  certainly  not  without  a 
moral ;  and  any  description  of  his  chequered  career  cannot  be 
more  appropriately  closed  than  by  a  brief  narration  of  the  ac- 
count of  his  "  flittin',"  which  is  thus  given  in  the  simple  but 
impressive  language  of  local  tradition  : — "  The  Laird,  like  his 
father,"  as  quoted  in  the  Lives  of  the  Lindsays  so  often  referred 
to,  "had  been  a  wild  and  wasteful  man,  and  had  been  lang 
awa' ;  he  was  deeply  engaged  with  the  unsuccessful  party  of  the 
Stuarts,  and  the  rumours  of  their  defeat  were  still  occupying 
the  minds  of  all  the  country  side.  One  afternoon  the  poor 
Baron,  with  a  sad  and  sorrowful  countenance  and  heavy  heart, 
and  followed  by  only  one  of  a'  his  company,  both  on  horseback, 
came  to  the  castle,  almost  unnoticed  by  any.  Everything  was 
silent — he  ga'ed  into  his  great  big  house,  a  solitary  man — there 
was  no  wife  or  child  to  gi'e  him  welcome,  for  he  had  never 
been  married.  The  castle  was  almost  deserted ;  a  few  old 
servants  had  been  the  only  inhabitants  for  many  months. 
Neither  the  Laird  nor  his  faithful  follower  took  any  rest  that 
night.  Lindsay,  the  broken-hearted  ruined  man,  sat  all  that 
night  in  the  large  hall,  sadly  occupied — destroying  papers 
sometimes,  reading  papers  sometimes,  sometimes  writing,  some- 

1  Lives,  ii.  p.  260.  The  sale  of  the  property  of  Edzell  and  Glenesk  was  com- 
pleted in  the  spring  of  1715  ;  and  the  purchase-money  amounted  to  the  then  large 
sum  of  £192,502  Scots,  or  nearly  £16,042  stg.  In  the  Reg.  de  Panmure,  ii.  pp. 
347-50,  the  Submission  and  Decreet  Arbitral  of  Ranking  and  Sale,  the  Disposition, 
and  the  Instrument  of  Sasine  on  this  Disposition  are  given  ;  the  Sasine  contains  a 
most  valuable  and  interesting  list  of  the  towns,  lands,  towers,  patronages,  offices, 
and  privileges  which  belonged  to  the  Lindsays  of  Edzell.  The  present  rental  of  the 
Panmure  estates  in  Edzell,  Lethnot,  and  Glenesk,  amounts  to  £11,975, 14s.  8d.  stg. 
The  laird's  feelings  regarding  the  Stuart  interest  may  be  inferred  from  the  following 
extract  from  a  letter  addressed  by  him  to  Colin,  Earl  of  Balcarres,  on  the  13th  of 
May  1712,  in  which  the  daring  and  luckless  transaction  is  hinted  at  in  obscure  but 
unmistakeable  terms  : — "  I  spoke  to  my  Lord  Dun  [David  Erskine  of  Dun],  who  told 
me  he  would  write  immediately,  but  thought  it  better  to  delay  it  till  he  went  to 
Edinburgh,  and  procured  a  letter  from  ye  Justice  Clerk  [James  Erskine  of  Grange] 
to  his  brother,  the  Earl  of  Marr,  to  go  along  wyth  his  oun  ;  he  is  very  frank  for  ye 
•  project,  and  says  he  will  write  wyt  all  concern  and  care  of  it." — (Crawford  Case, 
pp.  201  sq.) 


58  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

times  sitting  mournfully  silent — unable  to  fix  his  thoughts  on 
the  present  or  to  contemplate  the  future.  In  the  course  of  the 
following  day  he  left  the  castle  in  the  same  manner  in  which 
he  had  come ;  he  saw  none  of  his  people  or  tenants :  his  one 
attendant  only  accompanied  him  :  they  rode  away,  taking  with 
them  as  much  of  what  was  valuable  or  useful  as  they  could 
conveniently  carry.  And,  turning  round  to  take  a  last  look  of 
the  old  towers,  he  drew  a  last  long  sigh,  and  wept.  He  was 
never  seen  here  again."  l 

Although  the  fact  of  "Edzell's  "  embarrassment  was  generally 
known,  and  but  "  ower  true  a  tale,"  some  thought  otherwise, 
and  gave  credence  to  the  local  story  of  a  treasure  being  hid 
about  the  castle  walls;  indeed  so  convinced  was  a  deceased 
worthy  of  this,  that  he  set  out  one  dark  Saturday  evening  for 
the  purpose  of  seizing  the  pose,  the  precise  locality  of  which  his 
knowing  had  placed  beyond  a  doubt.  With  mattock  over  his 
shoulder,  he  issued  in  haste  and  solitary  majesty  from  his 
clay-built  tenement  in  the  moss  of  Arnhall,  and,  with  hardy 
step  and  unquivering  lip,  bade  defiance  to  all  the  ghaists  that 
hovered  around  the  Chapelton  burying-ground,  and  to  the  fiery 
spirits  that  now  and  then  lent  their  blue  or  scarlet  gleam  to 
guide  his  path  over  the  marshy  grounds  that  he  had  un- 
avoidably to  cross.  He  stayed  not  at  the  heartrending  cries 
of  mercy  that  fell  upon  his  ear,  as  the  phantom  of  the  courage- 
ous bride  plunged  into  the  river  to  avert  a  "  fate  worse  than 
death  itself  "  at  the  hands  of  Major  Wood ;  nor  did  he  listen  to 
the  loud  victorious  laugh  of  the  spirit  of  Linmartin,  as  it  rose 
on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Esk  and  grinned  across  to  this 
hapless  aspirant  to  untold  wealth.  But  on  he  hied  along  the 
narrow  plank  that  crossed  the  deep  gully  at  the  Snecks,  and 
held  on,  as  he  thought,  to  the  California  of  Edzell. 

The  round  tower  on  the  north  side  of  the  building  was  the 
"gold-seeker's"  haven;  and  a  small  triangular  stone  of  a 
different  colour  from  the  rest,  near  the  extremity  of  the  tower, 

*  Lives,  ii.  p.  264. 


EDZELL — SEAECH  FOR  TREASURE.  59 

was  supposed  to  cover  the  store  of  riches.  To  this  elevated 
part  he  had  to  worm  his  way  over  heaps  of  mouldered  turrets, 
through  bat-inhabited  chambers,  riven  and  slimy  archways,  to  a 
flight  of  irregular  steps,  many  of  which  were  so  much  worn  as 
scarcely  to  afford  a  footing  for  a  crow.  Still,  to  our  hero — who 
felt  assured  of  finding  the  long-hidden  treasure — these,  even 
at  the  dark  hour  of  midnight,  were  no  obstacles.  On  the 
contrary,  step  by  step  he  groped  on  to  the  pinnacle  of  his 
ambition ;  and  having  satisfied  himself  as  to  where  he  should 
direct  the  blows  of  his  mattock,  he  commenced  operations. 
The  rain  fell  apace  and  the  heavens  seemed  to  frown  in  wrathful 
indignation  upon  his  unhallowed  searches ;  while  the  feathery 
inhabitants  of  the  ruins — the  wild  warning  notes  from  the 
murdered  minstrel's  pibroch,  which  echoed  from  the  arch  of 
the  Piper's  Brig — and  the  branches  of  the  neighbouring  giant 
trees,  all  joined  in  the  spirit  of  nature's  discontent.  Still,  these 
fell  as  nothing  on  his  ear :  sparks  of  fire  followed  the  successive 
and  increasing  strokes  of  the  mattock,  and  his  anxiety  and  joy 
kindled  as  at  last  he  felt  the  "  keystane "  shake  under  his 
determined  aims.  Another  stroke,  and  he  believed  that  the 
mine  of  gold  would  be  disclosed  and  made  wholly  his  own ;  but 
alas  !  on  the  blow  being  given,  down  fell  the  luckless  whin  or 
ragstone ;  so  also  did  a  neighbouring  part  of  the  wall,  carrying 
with  it  half  the  rickety  stair  of  the  turret;  and  on  the  top 
landing,  which  was  the  only  secure  part  of  the  lofty  wall,  the 
old  farmer  of  the  Mains,  when  he  looked  from  his  window  on 
the  Sunday  morning,  beheld  the  sorry  "  gold-seeker  "  standing 
drenched  with  rain,  and  weeping,  as  the  hero  of  old,  over  the 
ruins  of  his  ambition ! 


60  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 


SECTION  V. 

A  spectre  of  departed  days, 
Yon  castle  gleams  upon  the  gaze, 
And  saddens  o'er  the  scene  so  fair, 
And  tells  that  ruin  hath  been  there  ; 
And  wheresoe'er  my  glance  is  cast, 
It  meets  pale  footprints  of  the  past ; 
And  from  these  high  and  hoary  -walls, 
All  mournftilly,  the  shadow  falls, 
Dark'ning,  amidst  the  garden  bowers, 
The  farewell  of  the  fading  flowers. 
Which  seem  for  gentle  hands  to  sigh, 
That  tended  them  in  days  gone  by. 

J.  MALCOLM. 

Edzell  Castle — Its  situation — General  description — Age  of  towers — Sculpturings — 
Visited  by  Queen  Mary  and  King  James — The  kitchen  of  Angus — Baths  dis- 
covered— Flower-garden — Dilapidations  of  Edzell,  and  of  Auchmull. 

THE  castle  of  Edzell  lies  in  a  hollow  about  a  mile  west  of  the 
village,  and  within  a  gun-shot  of  the  West  Water.  In  old 
times  this  river  was  augmented  by  a  considerable  stream 
that  flowed  through  the  little  den  in  front  of  the  castle,  and 
although  this  channel  is  now  partly  under  tillage,  perhaps  the 
most  romantic  portion  yet  remains  in  the  shape  of  an  irre- 
claimable marsh.  Towards  the  northern  extremity  of  this, 
Tinder  an  arid  and  almost  perpendicular  point  of  Drummore 
hill,  was  situated  the  fatal  "  pit "  or  draw-well  of  the  ancient 
lords,  while  its  twin-brother  the  "  gallows  "  stood  about  a  mile 
south-east,  in  the  muir  or  wood  of  Edzell. 

Both  those  feudal  appendages  are  still  represented,  although 
from  natural  deposit  and  the  exuberance  of  brushwood  the 
former  is  barely  traceable ;  but  the  site  of  the  latter  rises  con- 
siderably above  the  adjacent  ground,  and  forms  a  prominent 
object  in  the  landscape.  The  "  pit  and  gallows  "  were  used  for 
the  punishment  of  felons  in  almost  all  countries  from  remote 
antiquity,  and  were  not  only  employed  for  avenging  the  mis- 
demeanours of  vassals,  but  for  the  execution  of  even  princes 
and  kings.  They  appear  to  have  been  first  used  in  Scotland  in 
Malcolm  Canmore's  time;  for  his  council  ordained  "that  fre 
baronis  sail  mak  jebbattis  and  draw  wellis  for  punition  of 


EDZELL — POWER  OF  THE  BARONS.  61 

criminabyl  personis."  In  old  writings  they  are  respectively 
known  by  the  names  of  f urea  and.  fossa — the  former  was  com- 
monly used  for  the  execution  of  men,  and  the  latter  for  the 
drowning  of  women  convicted  of  theft.1 

Like  a  few  other  great  barons,  those  of  Edzell  vied  with 
Parliament  in  the  possession  of  an  hereditary  dempster  or 
doomster,  whose  duty  lay  in  repeating  the  doom  or  sentence 
awarded  by  the  judge ;  and,  from  time  immemorial,  the  office 
was  held  by  a  family  of  the  name  of  Duray,  who  had  certain 
emoluments  from  the  proprietor  and  his  tenants.2  From  each 
principal  tenant  the  dempster  had  two  pecks,  and  from  each 
sub-tenant  a  bassyful,  of  oatmeal  annually,3  while  the  laird 
gave  him  the  free  grant  of  eleven  acres  of  fertile  land  on  the 
banks  of  the  North  Esk,  called  Duray  Hill,  and  from  that  place 
the  family  designed  themselves  of  that  Ilk.  To  these  per- 
quisites, according  to  tradition,  were  added  the  farcical  privi- 
leges of  fishing  in  the  adjoining  and  almost  waterless  burn  of 
Whishop,  and  of  hunting  on  the  hill  of  Wirran  with  a  hawk 
blind  of  an  eye  and  a  hound  crippled  of  a  leg !  Besides,  as 
they  had  four  pennies  Scots  for  ringing  the  bell  of  St.  Lawrence 
on  high  occasions — such  as  at  the  births  and  funerals  of  the 
lords  and  ladies  of  Edzell — they  may  be  supposed,  in  addition  to 
the  office  of  dempster,  to  have  enjoyed  that  of  master  beadle.4 

Some  are  of  opinion — indeed,  it  is  not  unfrequently  be- 
lieved— that  the  den  in  which  the  "  pit "  lay  was  the  original 
channel  of  the  West  Water.  It  appears  to  us,  however,  that  i 
the  north-west  part  of  the  den  had  been  formed  by  being  made 
a  quarry ;  and  perhaps,  as  already  hinted,  the  remainder  of  the 
channel  had  been  a  natural  fosse,  and  the  course  towards  the 
main  stream  for  the  accumulated  waters  of  the  marshes  on  the 
hill  of  Edzell.  For  the  purpose  of  forming  a  pond  or  moat 
round  the  original  castle  (which  stood  on  an  isolated  mound  in 

1  See  Dr.  Jamieson's  Scottish  Dictionary,  in  voce. 

2  Lives,  ii.  p.  258. 

3  The  Bossy,  or  wooden  bowl,  for  lifting  meal  from  the  girnal,  is  of  various 
sizes,  but  rarely  holds  more  than  half  a  peck. 

4  See  APPENDIX  No.  IV.,  for  some  notice  of  the  Durays. 


62  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

the  broadest  part  of  the  den),  it  is  highly  probable  that  this 
streamlet  was  dammed  up  or  confined  on  the  southern  parts. 
This  theory  has  at  least  plausibility  in  its  favour ;  and,  waiving 
the  consideration  of  the  many  thousands  of  years  that  the 
West  Water  would  have  taken  to  form  its  present  rugged 
course,  the  circumstance  that  the  "  castle  hillock  "  has  all  the 
appearance  of  having  been  moated — that  the  level  of  the  den 
at  the  northern  extremity  is  twenty  or  thirty  feet  above  that  of 
the  West  Water,  and  that  the  remains  of  a  great  natural  fosse 
or  ditch  may  still  be  traced  running  from  the  hill  of  Edzell  to 
near  the  top  of  the  den — contributes  to  favour  this  notion. 

As  already  mentioned,  no  trace  of  the  oldest  castle  exists ; 
but  the  ruins  of  its  successor,  or  perhaps  rather  those  now  stand- 
ing, are  the  largest,  and,  taken  as  a  whole,  the  most  magnificent 
of  any  in  the  counties  of  Angus  and  Mearns.  Even  those 
of  Dunnottar  cannot  rival  them  in  grandeur  of  conception  or 
strength  of  building,  although  they  may  do  so  in  point  of  extent 
and  natural  position.  The  donjon,  or  "  Stirling  Tower,"  as  it  is 
called,  is  yet  an  imposing  and,  so  far  as  relates  to  the  outer  wall 
and  ground  floor,  a  pretty  entire  structure.  It  stands  about 
sixty  feet  high,  is  the  most  carefully  executed  part  of  the  whole 
building,  and,  for  beauty  and  solidity  of  workmanship,  will 
bear  comparison  with  any  of  modern  times.  It  is  popularly 
believed  to  have  been  erected  by  the  old  family  of  Stirling,  but 
beyond  its  bearing  their  name,  no  other  evidence  exists ;  and, 
although  "  mason-marks "  are  discernible  on  most  of  the 
principal  stones,  it  is  not  supposed  that  they  afford  a  sufficient 
criterion  for  fixing  its  date. 

Down  to  the  great  hurricane  of  llth  October  1838,  the 
battlements  could  be  reached  and  walked  upon  with  safety ; 
but  on  that  awful  night,  when  many  of  the  thatched  cottages 
in  the  village  and  in  other  parts  of  the  district,  were  almost 
instantaneously  unroofed,  the  upper  part  of  the  stair  was  so 
much  injured  that  the  top  cannot  now  be  reached  without 
danger.  The  walls  of  the  Keep  are  from  four  to  six  feet  thick, 
and,  apart  from  the  regular  window  lights,  are  here  and  there 


EDZELL — THE  OLD  CASTLE  RUINS.  63 

perforated  by  circular  and  oblong  loopholes.  A  cluster  of  these 
guard  the  main  entrance  at  all  points,  affording  a  striking  proof 
of  the  sad  insecurity  of  life  and  property,  and  of  the  intestine 
commotions  which  then  rent  the  nation  asunder,  retarded  the 
progress  of  the  peaceful  arts,  and  destroyed  the  soothing  in- 
fluence of  domestic  harmony. 

The  basement  floor  of  the  Tower  consists  of  two  damp 
gloomy  vaults,  to  which  a  faint  glimmer  of  light  is  admitted 
through  small  apertures.  These  are  popularly  believed  to  have 
been  wards  or  prisons  for  holding  condemned  criminals  in  days 
of  old,  but  in  reality  they  were  merely  cellars  used  for  the 
preservation  of  choice  liquors  and  viands,  which,  we  have  the 
best  of  all  authority  for  knowing,  were  far  from  strangers  at 
the  boards  of  ancient  lords  and  barons.  Apart  from  the 
entrance-doors  in  the  main  lobby,  these  cellars  communicate 
with  each  other,  and  also  with  the  dining-room  by  a  narrow 
stair.  Their  arched  roofs  form  the  floor  of  that  room  (which 
is  the  only  remaining  floor  in  the  Keep),  and,  occupying  nearly 
the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  the  tower,  it  had  indeed  been 
a  spacious  apartment,  quite  commensurate  with  the  reputed 
power  and  influence  of  its  owners,  while  the  elevated  roof  and 
large  windows  may  be  considered  as  anticipations  of  our 
recently  improved  household  ventilation.  Seats  of  polished 
freestone  are  raised  on  the  inside  of  the  windows  that  over- 
looked the  flower-garden  and  the  fine  old  castle  green,  where, 
in  the  hey-day  of  the  family  of  Edzell — 

"  The  deer  and  the  roe  bounded  lightly  together." 

The  old  castle  is  not  presumed  to  have  been  of  much  greater 
extent  than  as  now  indicated  by  the  Stirling  Tower ;  but  of 
this,  as  of  its  date,  no  positive  evidence  has  been  obtained.  The 
new  part,  or  the  long  range  of  building  that  stretches  from  the 
Keep  northward,  was  the  work  of  David  of  Edzell  before  his 
succession  as  ninth  Earl  of  Crawford.  Though  comparatively 
recent,  it  is  the  most  ruinous  part  of  the  whole,  and,  with  the 
exception  of  a  solitary  base  stone  of  the  entrance-door  of  the 


64  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

great  hall  (where  the  Episcopalians  met  in  the  last  laird's 
time),  no  trace  of  the  ornamental  part  of  this  section  of  the 
castle  is  supposed  to  exist ;  but  from  the  beauty  of  this  frag- 
ment— which  consists  of  two  pilasters  and  a  fine  cable  orna- 
ment on  the  inner  margin,  all  beautifully  proportioned — some 
idea  may  be  had  of  the  former  elegance  of  the  place,  and  the 
advanced  state  of  native  sculpture.  At  the  same  time,  some- 
thing of  the  internal  decoration  of  the  great  hall  may  be  seen 
in  the  eight  panels  of  oak,  about  10  inches  by  18  in  size,  and 
delicately  carved,  that  were  found  about  1855  in  a  carpenter's 
shop  at  Edzell,1  and  which  Lord  Panmure  at  once  had  fitted  up 
for  exhibition  and  preservation  in  the  lodge  at  Edzell  Castle.2 

Although  niches  for  three  various  coats  armorial  are  still 
over  the  front  of  the  outer  entrance,  the  sculptures  are  all  gone, 
except  the  one,  bearing  the  impaled  arms  of  the  ninth  Earl 
and  those  of  his  lady  of  Lorn,  that  was  found  some  years 
ago  built  into  the  old  wall  of  the  garden.  It  ought  to  have 
been  mentioned  before,  that  during  the  widowhood  of  that 
amiable  lady,  and  while  her  family  were  all  young,  the  castle 
of  Edzell  was  honoured  with  the  presence  of  the  unfortunate 
Queen  Mary.  This  occurred  on  the  25th  of  August  1562, 
while  her  Majesty  was  on  her  well-known  northern  expedi- 
tion to  "quell  the  Huntly  rebellion,  on  returning  from  which, 
accompanied  by  Lords  Murray,  Maitland,  and  Lindsay  (the 
last  of  whom  afterwards  forced  her  to  resign  the  crown  at 
Lochleven),  she  held  a  council  here,  and  remained  for  the 
night ;  from  that  time  the  room  in  which  she  slept  was  called 
the  Queen's  Chamber.  Her  son,  King  James,  also  paid  a  visit 
to  "Egaill"  when  returning  from  the  north  in  1580.3 

The  outer  walls  of  the  castle,  however,  so  far  as  they  had 
been  completed,  are  still  pretty  entire,  but  the  inner  are  ruinous, 
as  are  also  most  of  the  vaults,  which  had  been  carried  round 
the  whole  fabric ;  and,  instead  of  the  rooms  being  strewed  with 
rushes  or  decorated  with  tapestry  and  oak  carvings,  as  in  the 

1  By  our  author,  Mr.  Jervise. 

2  Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Scot.  ii.  pp.  63,  70.  »  Misc.  Sp.  Club,  ii.  p.  53. 


EDZELL — SITUATION  AND  AMENITIES.  65 

olden  time,  the  acrid  nettle  and  other  indigenous  weeds  luxu- 
riate now  on  the  floors  and  crumbling  walls,  and  the  screech- 
owl  and  raven  nestle  in  the  crevices.  The  outer  court  was 
equally  spacious  as  the  castle,  measuring,  as  may  yet  be  traced 
from  the  foundations  of  the  walls,  about  one  hundred  feet  by 
seventy.  Ochterlony,  writing  from  personal  observation  (about 
1682),  says  that  "it  was  so  large  and  levell,  that  of  old  when 
they  used  that  sport,  they  used  to  play  at  the  football  there,  and 
there  are  still  four  great  growing  trees  which  were  the  dobts."1 
But,  as  is  the  case  with  most  of  the  monuments  of  its  social 
and  domestic  grandeur,  the  "  dobts  "  too  have  all  disappeared, 
and,  together  with  the  chapel  and  great  kitchen,  fell,  as  did 
that  portion  in  which  the  Queen's  Chamber  was  situated,  with 
much  else  that  is  now  only  known  to  tradition,  at  the  reckless 
hands  of  despoiling  utilitarians.  As  some  rubbish,  however, 
was  being  removed  from  a  field  beside  the  castle  in  1855,  the 
ruins  of  the  bath-rooms  were  found  at  the  south-west  corner 
of  the  flower-garden.  They  show  a  late  and  superior  style  of 
workmanship,  and  probably  belong  to  the  time  of  David  Lind- 
say of  Edzell,  the  ninth  Earl  of  Crawford.  In  plan  they  must 
have  been  very  complete,  but  bath-rooms  and  well  had  been 
wholly  lost,  except  for  a  faint  tradition  in  the  district,  till  they 
were  accidentally  discovered.  According  to  the  original  design, 
the  exterior  of  the  building  had  corresponded  to  that  of  the 
summer-house  at  the  south-east  corner  of  the  garden.2 

From  the  magnificent  style  in  which  cookery  was  conducted 
at  Edzell,  and  the  liberality  of  its  owners  to  the  poor,  it  was 
familiarly  known  by  the  enviable  title  of  "the  kitchen  of 
Angus."  Oxen  were  roasted  whole,  and  everything  conducted 
in  a  correspondingly  sumptuous  style;  and  daily,  after  the 
family  had  dined,  the  poor  of  the  parish  congregated  in  the 
court-yard,  and  taking  their  seats  on  the  stone  benches  (which 

1  Spottiswoode  Miscellany,  i.  p.  336. 

2  Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Scot.  ii.   pp.  226-9 ;  Reg.  de  Panmure,  i.  p.  clxi ;  Brechin  \ 
Advertiser,  June  12,  1855. 

E 


66  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

still  remain  on  both  sides  of  the  outer  entrance  passage),  they 
received  their  dole  of  beef  and  beer  from  the  fair  hands  of  the 
lady  or  daughters  of  "  the  proud  house  of  Edzell." 

Such  is  one  of  the  pleasing  among  the  many  painful  tradi- 
tions that  still  live  regarding  this  truly  great  race,  whose 
character,  if  taken  into  account  with  the  chivalric  period 
in  which  they  flourished,  and  their  all  but  princely  power 
and  influence,  presents,  as  a  whole,  some  of  the  holiest  and 
happiest  traits  of  human  kindness.  He  who  could  exercise 
but  a  tithe  of  forbearance  in  the  unlettered  past,  overlook 
a  single  inadvertent  insult  to  his  lordly  dignity,  or  treat 
his  menials  with  condescension  and  affability,  exhibited  a 
degree  of  wisdom  and  charity  that,  even  in  our  own  enlight- 
ened age,  would  add  laurels  to  the  brow  of  many  of  the  nobly 
born  and  the  religiously  educated;  and,  even  in  the  last 
laird,  who  was  proverbial  for  extravagance  and  haughtiness 
of  disposition,  traits  of  those  admirable  qualities  were  happily 
to  be  found. 

It  is  however  in  the  embellishments  of  what  is  usually 
known  as  the  flower-garden  that  the  classical  taste  of  the 
family,  and  the  proficiency  to  which  native  sculpture  had  then 
attained,  are  most  apparent.  It  contains  nearly  half  a  Scotch 
acre,  and  is  now  laid  out  in  a  permanent  sward  and  a  gravelled 
walk,  with  the  carved  stones  that  have  been  accidentally 
met  with  set  neatly  round  along  the  walls.  Here,  on  2d  October 
1856,  Lord  Panmure  was  entertained  by  his  tenantry  of  the 
northern  district  to  dinner,  and  about  two  hundred  made  the 
welkin  ring  again,  as  in  former  days  when  the  Lindsays  were 
prosperous  and  powerful.1  The  magnificent  wall,  the  fine 
sculpture  with  which  it  is  profusely  decorated,2  and  the  viri- 
darium,  or  summer-house,  with  beautiful  turrets  and  ceiling 

1  The  space  occupied  by  the  castle,  including  the  flower  and  kitchen  gardens,  is 
fully  two  acres  Scotch.     The  kitchen-garden  also  contained  some  fine  old  fruit-trees, 
and  had  for  some  years  been  partly  ploughed.    These  fruit-trees,  together  with  goose- 
berry and  other  bushes,  were  removed  by  order  of  Lord  Panmure  in  1853-4,  and 
the  whole  space  laid  out  in  grass,  with  a  neat  walk  running  through  it. 

2  For  detail  of  these,  see  APPENDIX  No.  V. 


EDZELL — DECAY  OF  THE  FAMILY.  67 

of  hewn  freestone,  together  with  the  old  part  of  the  house  of  the ' 
Mains  (which  bore  the  date  1602),  were,  as  already  shown,  the 
work  of  the  later  years  of  Lord  Edzell,  with  whom,  it  may  be 
said,  the  true  mental  energy  and  superior  taste  of  the  main 
line  of  this  great  house  failed.  But  it  certainly  was  not  so 
with  that  of  Balcarres :  as  the  paternal  house  degenerated,  the 
fraternal  branch  advanced,  until  by  the  achievements  of  many 
successive  members,  both  in  the  senate  and  on  the  battle-field, 
it  has  now  attained  to  that  ancient  dignity  from  which  it  was 
so  long  and  wrongfully  excluded ;  and  many  of  its  members 
have  been,  and  some  of  them  still  are,  as  famous  in  the  quiet 
instructive  walks  of  literature  and  science,  as  the  majority  of 
their  old  representatives  were  in  the  exciting  arenas  of  chivalry 
and  warfare. 

While  the  forfeited  estates  of  Panmure  were  possessed  by  the 
York  Buildings  Company,  the  venerable  house  and  plantation 
of  Edzell  received  the  first  great  dilapidating  blow.1  In  1 746  the 
Argyll  Highlanders,  who  were  then  sent  to  purge  the  country 
of  Jacobites,  took  up  their  quarters  there,  and  contributed 
greatly,  by  all  manner  of  extravagance  and  outrage,  to  pollute 
its  time-honoured  walls,  and  despoil  it  of  its  princely  grandeur. 

1  The  York  Buildings  Company  was  first  a  private  speculation,  but  incorporated 
by  Koyal  Charter  in  1690,  for  the  purpose  of  raising  water  from  the  Thames  to  York 
Buildings  to  supply  the  inhabitants  of  London.  Its  objects  were  extended  in  1719, 
and  £1,200,000  were  raised  as  a  joint-stock  subscription  for  the  purchase  of  the 
forfeited  and  other  estates,  and  for  granting  annuities  and  life  assurances.  These 
speculations  proved  unfortunate ;  and,  instead  of  having  the  free  rental  of  £14,000, 
on  which  annuities  were  secured  by  infeftment,  the  Parliamentary  inquiry  of  1733 
showed  that  the  receipts  were  only  £10,500.  The  Company  was  therefore  declared 
insolvent,  and  from  1732  the  forfeited  estates  were  held  by  trustees  for  behoof  of 
annuitants  ;  and  being  exposed  for  sale  at  Edinburgh,  on  the  20th  of  February  1764, 
most  of  the  lands  were  purchased  by  the  disinherited  families.  Among  these  were  the 
estates  of  Panmure,  which  were  sold  to  the  last  Earl  for  the  gross  sum  of  £49,157, 
18s.  4d.  sterling.  Of  this  sum  £6,245, 13s.  4d.  were  paid  for  the  lordships  of  Brechin 
and  Navar,  and  £11,951,  8s.  9d.  for  Glenesk,  Edzell,  and  Lethnot.  The  present 
yearly  rental  of  the  three  estates  last  named  is  £11,975,  14s.  8d.  The  Company 
purchased  the  Panmure  estates  from  Government  in  1719  for  £52,324,  15s.  8£d. 
sterling. — (See  Registrum  de  Panmure,  ii.  pp.  347  sq.)  On  2d  November  1728  the  said 
Company  set  in  tack  and  lease  the  estates  of  Panmure,  and  those  of  Pitcairn,  South- 
esk,  and  Mar,  to  Sir  Archibald  Grant  of  Monimusk,  Bart.,  and  Mr.  Alexander 
Garden  of  Troup. — (MS.  Inventory  of  the  Estates  of  Panmure,  Southesk,  Marischa.ll, 
etc.,  A.D.  1729,  p.  2.) 


68  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Common  report  says  that  those  soldiers  were  brought  thither 
at  the  solicitations  of  the  minister  of  Glenesk,  who  was  a  stern 
enemy  to  Episcopacy.  It  may  have 'been  so,  but  it  is  more 
probable  that  they  had  been  despatched  to  check  an  old  Jaco- 
bite of  the  name  of  David  Terrier,  who  was  ever  and  anon  per- 
forming some  daring  exploit  in  the  district.  This  bold  individual 
mustered  upwards  of  three  hundred  men  in  the  rebel  cause 
from  Glenesk  and  Glenprosen  alone,  and  taking  up  his  abode  at 
the  mouth  of  the  former  pass,  carried  off  horses  and  arms  with 
impunity  from  the  country  betwixt  it  and  Brechin.1  His 
influence  was  so  great  that  he  had  become  captain  in  Lord 
Ogilvy's  regiment,  and  deputy-governor  of  Brechin.  He  also 
took  part  in  many  of  the  engagements  between  the  royal  troops 
and  the  rebels.  After  Culloden  he  returned  to  Glenesk,  but 
eventually  escaped,  and  not  being  included  in  the  Amnesty 
Act,  is  believed  to  have  died  in  Spain. 

When  Terrier  was  oppressing  the  country,  Major  de  Voisel 
was  at  the  head  of  the  Argyll  Highlanders.  These  were  about 
equal  in  number  to  Terrier's  followers,  and  through  Voisel's 
superior  leadership  and  training,  the  soldiers  soon  succeeded  in 
checking  the  ravages  of  their  opponents.2  But  it  is  painful  to 
know,  that  even  during  the  most  rigid  stage  of  feudalism,  the 
inhabitants  of  those  parts  never  experienced  so  much  tyranny 
and  oppression — not  to  speak  of  the  utter  laxity  of  all  sorts  of 
moral  rectitude — as  were  then  exhibited  towards  them,  under 
the  guise  of  royal  authority,  by  those  legalised  marauders.  As 
the  common  attendant  upon  a  selfish  general  and  a  reckless 
army,  infamy  and  crime  fell  for  a  time  as  a  blight  upon  the 
land.  The  Episcopal  churches  were  burned  indiscriminately, 

1  Struthers,  Hist,  of  Scot,  from  the  Union,  ii.  p.  359. 

2  In  June  1876  the- copy  of  an  order  by  Mr.  John  Garden,  factor  of  Glenesk,  but 
then  residing  in  Brechin,  for  the  inhabitants  of  Edzell  and  lordship  of  Navar,  who 
were  well  affected  to  the  Government,  to  have  their  arms  in  readiness  to  repel  "  these 
rebellious  villains"  the  Jacobites,  was  presented  to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries. 
— (Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Scot.  xi.  pp.  540,  542.)    Mr.  Garden  signed  the  call  at  the  ordina- 
tion of  both  Mr.  Blair  in  1729,  and  Mr.  Scott  in  1734 :  he  may  possibly  have  been  a 
near  relative  of  the  laird  of  Troup.     See  below,  p.  87,  note. 


EDZELL — DILAPIDATIONS  AT  THE  CASTLE.  69 

and,  in  some  cases,  the  flames  were  prolonged  by  the  scanty 
furniture  of  the  worthy  pastor  and  his  faithful  adherents,  while 
the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  inhabitants  became  the  hapless 
victims  of  the  base  and  vitiated  habits  of  their  persecutors. 

Although  much  of  the  fine  carved  oak-work  of  the  castle 
was  burned  or  otherwise  destroyed  at  that  time,  the  roof  and 
the  gilded  vane  on  the  tower  were  entire  for  a  considerable 
period  after  the  din  and  noise  of  the  soldiers  had  passed  away  ; 
but  all  were  ultimately,  in  1764,  brought  to  the  hammer  and 
sold  for  behoof  of  the  Company's  creditors.  Most  of  the  oaken 
rafters  were  purchased  by  Dundee  manufacturers,  who  had 
them  converted  into  lays  for  weavers'  looms ;  and  ere  long,  by 
the  sales  for  the  payment  of  debts  and  by  wholesale  pillaging, 
every  vestige  of  human  comfort  and  affluence  disappeared. 
$bt  only  the  vaults,  but  the  dining  and  drawing  rooms,  became 
dens  of  thieves  and  robbers,  and  a  common  rendezvous  and 
protection  to  traffickers  in  all  sorts  of  illicit  goods.  Even  the 
iron  stanchions  of  the  windows  were  forcibly  wrested  from  their 
sockets,  and  carried  off  by  the  blacksmiths  of  the  district.  It 
is  said  that  one  of  these,  a  muscular  fugitive  of  the  "  forty -five," 
lifted  the  immense  grated  door  off  its  hinges,  but,  being  unable 
to  transport  it  further  than  the  so-called  old  water  track  at  one 
attempt,  he  hid  it  amongst  the  brushwood,  when  an  envious 
brother  Vulcan  tumbled  it  into  a  deep  pool,  where  it  is  believed 
to  be  still  lying. 

Such  was  the  barbarous  manner  in  which  the  castle  of 
Edzell  was  denuded  of  its  ancient  grandeur.  The  fine 
approach  of  majestic  trees,  that  stretched  southward  from  the 
castle  to  the  old  church,  forming  a  beautiful  arboreal  vault, 
and  indeed  the  whole  mass  of  growing  timber — that  had 
doubtless  been  more  valuable  for  decorative  than  useful  pur- 
poses— was  brought  under  the  axe  at  nearly  the  same  time ; 
and  by  a  series  of  wanton  acts,  rather  than  by  anything  that 
the  iron  tooth  of  Time  could  have  effected,  this  once  magnificent 
place,  the  cherished  abode  of  a  long  race  of  the  most  potent 


70  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

barons  of  the  kingdom,  was  reduced  to  its  present  lowly,  and 
it  may  be  said,  inglorious  position. 

"  "Tis  now  the  raven's  bleak  abode  : 
'Tis  now  the  apartment  of  the  toad  ; 
And  there  the  fox  securely  feeds  ; 
And  there  the  pois'nous  adder  breeds, 
Concealed  in  ruins,  moss,  and  weeds  ; 
While,  ever  and  anon,  there  falls 
Huge  heaps  of  hoary  moulder'd  walls." 

Nor  did  a  better  fate  await  the  castle  of  Auchmull,  but  its 
destruction  is  not  to  be  ascribed  to  the  same  party  as  that  of 
Edzell.  So  far  indeed  from  its  being  so,  the  York  Buildings 
Company  declared  that  the  tenant  should  "  have  no  concern 
with  the  stone  house,  commonly  called  the  Castle  of  Auchmull, 
except  in  so  far  as  he  shall  damage  it  by  his  use  or  neglect  of 
it,"  in  which  case  he  was  bound  to  repair  all  injury  to  the  same 
as  if  it  had  been  a  part  of  the  mill  or  farm-steading.1  It  was 
occupied  by  the  farmer  down  to  1772-3,  about  which  time  he 
found  it  so  inconvenient,  that  he  offered  to  bear  the  cost  of  a 
new  house,  provided  the  proprietor  would  allow  him  the  wood, 
iron,  and  other  materials  of  the  castle  with  which  to  erect  it. 
This  was  unfortunately  acceded  to,  and  the  famous  refuge  of 
the  murderer  of  Lord  Spynie  was  soon  unroofed,  and  otherwise 
destroyed.  But  the  work  of  destruction,  once  begun,  did  not 
terminate  here,  having  its  limit  only  in  the  complete  anni- 
hilation of  the  stronghold.  For  although,  after  the  building  of 
the  farm-house  originally  stipulated  for,  a  goodly  fabric  in  the 
form  of  a  square  tower,  similar  to  that  of  Invermark,  graced 
the  banks  of  the  romantic  rivulet  where  it  stood ;  yet  that  too 
was  demolished  for  the  purpose  of  building  fences  and  filling 
drains.  Thus  all  that  now  exists  is  only  a  small  part  of  the 
foundations,  and  the  comparatively  entire  and  interesting- 
carving  of  the  Lindsay  and  Wishart  arms,  with  the  initials  and 
date,  "D.  L. :  M.  W.,  1601."  These  refer  to  "  young  Edzell," 
and  his  wife  Margaret  Wishart,  daughter  of  the  laird  of  Pit- 

1  Tack— Mr.  Francis  Grant  to  David  Lindsay,  17th  Feb.  1756,  in  possession  of 
his  descendant,  the  present  tenant. 


EDZELL — CASTLE  OF    AUCHMULL. 


71 


arrow,  to  whom  he  was  married  sometime  before  November 
1597,  and  who  died  in  1646,  having  survived  her  unfortunate 
husband  for  the  space  of  three  years.1  So  late  as  1854,  a  gold 
finger-ring,  with  a  blue  precious  stone,  was  found  in  the  digging 
of  a  garden  at  Auchmull.  It  is  said  to  have  been  given  to  a 
Martha  Gall,  his  paramour,  by  the  last  Lindsay  of  Edzell ;  and 
on  its  recovery,  after  being  lost,  it  was  purchased  by  the  late 
Lord  Panmure.  Truly,  it  may  be  said,  that  "  heartless  man," 
together  with 

"  [Old]  Time,  hath  done  his  work  of  ill 

On  statues,  fount,  and  hall ; 
Ruin'd,  and  lone,  they  year  by  year, 
Fragment  by  fragment,  fall." 

1  Crawford  Case,  pp.  181,  187.  This  stone  had  been  built  into  the  wall  of  a  neigh- 
bouring cottage,  and  was  found  in  the  summer  of  1854,  when  the  cottage  was 
demolished.  It  is  now  placed  within  the  flower  garden  at  Edzell  Castle. 


Sculptured  Stone  at  EdzelL 


CHAPTER  II. 


SECTION  I. 

The  little  churchyard  by  the  lonely  lake, 
All  shaded  round  by  heath-clad  mountains  hoar  ; 

With  ruined  fane  in  which  the  pious  met, 
And  raised  the  supplicating  prayer  of  yore. 

There  sleeps  the  Poet  who  tuned  his  magic  lyre 
And  sung  the  curious  freaks  of  days  gone  by  ; 

There,  too,  lie  those  who  tilled  the  lazy  soil, 
And  held  the  cots  that  now  in  ruins  lie. 

Glenesk  —  St.  Drostan  —  Neudos  —  Old  church  of  Lochlee  —  Origin  of  parish  —  Its 
ministers—  Mr.  Ross  as  session-clerk  —  Episcopacy  in  the  parish  —  Rev.  David 
Rose,  the  illegal  meeting-house  keeper  —  Illiberality  of  parish  ministers  —  Change 
of  views  —Chapel  built  on  the  Rowan  —  Rev.  Peter  Jolly  —  New  churches  at 
Tarfside  —  Free  church  at  the  Birks  of  Ardoch  —  Memorial  windows  —  Description 
of  old  parish  church  —  Ross  the  author  of  Helenore  —  His  abode,  biography,  and 
poetry  —  Present  church  and  manse  —  Drowning  of  the  brothers  Whyte—  Bene- 
volence of  Rev.  David  Inglis  —  Lines  on  a  stranger. 

THOUGH  the  church  of  Glenesk,  or  Lochlee,1  as  this  fine  pas- 
toral district  is  indiscriminately  termed,  is  one  of  the  oldest 
established  in  the  county,  little  is  known  of  its  history  beyond 
the  name  of  its  founder,  and  the  period  of  his  settlement.  St. 
Drostan,  a  saint  of  the  blood  royal  of  Scotland,  was  Abbot  of 
Donegall  in  Ireland  and  Holywood  in  Wigtonshire.  On  return- 
ing from  the  sister  country  in  the  sixth  century,  he  took  up 
his  abode  in  Glenesk,  and  proclaimed  the  glad  tidings  of  salva- 
tion there,  during  the  remainder  of  his  long  life.  He  flourished 
about  the  year  600,  and  his  feast  is  held  on  the  llth  of  July.2 

1  Gleann-uisge,  "the  glen  of  water."  —  Loch-le,  "the  smooth  lake." 

2  The  saint  has  a  double  tradition  :  the  Breviary  of  Aberdeen  counts  him  a  con- 
temporary of  St.  Columba  in  the  sixth  century,  while  the  Scotch  annalists  place  him 
in  the  eighth  and  ninth.     His  feast  is  unfixed,  but  perhaps  most  frequently  on  July 
11  and  December  14.—  (Dr.  Wm.  Smith  and  Prof.  Wace,  Diet.  Christ.  Biog.,  i.  p.  907.) 


GLENESK — TRACES  OF  ST.    DROSTAN.  73 

Though  St.  Drostan's  relics,  like  those  of  most  of  the  saints, 
survived  his  decease  for  many  ages,  and  may  perhaps  survive 
and  work  miracles  in  some  obscure  corner  to  this  day,  it  is  not 
to  be  supposed  that  the  church,  of  which  the  ruins  still  remain, 
though  said  to  be  of  unknown  antiquity,  was  the  theatre  of  his 
ministry.  The  little  wooden  cell  in  which  he  dwelt,  and  every 
fragment  of  the  rude  cross  that  he  raised,  have  long  since  passed 
away,  even  their  exact  sites  having  become  unknown.  And  this 
is  no  great  wonder,  for  it  is  only  remarkable  that  St.  Drostan's 
name  should  at  all  exist  in  the  district,  as  it  will  be  perceived 
that  it  is  more  than  a  thousand  years  since  his  fervent  prayers 
resounded  in  this  glen,  and  since  the  mournful  train  of  grateful 
converts  and  holy  brethren  bore  his  relics  across  the  hills,  and 
had  them  deposited  in  a  stone  chest,  that  was  prepared  for 
them  at  the  church  of  Aberdour  in  Aberdeenshire,  of  which 
he  was  patron.1 

From  the  site  of  the  present  manse  of  Glenesk  being  called 
"Droustie,"  and  an  adjoining  fountain  "Droustie's  Well,"  it 
may  be  inferred  that  these  are  corruptions  of  the  name  of 
St.  Drostan,  and  point  out  the  sites  of  his  residence  and 
church.  "  Droustie's  Meadow "  is  also  the  name  of  a  piece 
of  ground  near  the  Parsonage  at  Tarfside,  and  these,  with 
St.  Drostan's  well  at  Neudos,  are  the  only  places  in  the  district 
bearing  similar  designations.  But  it  seems  probable  that  the 
district  of  Cairncross,  lying  between  the  Tarf  and  Turret, 
formed  more  or  less  of  the  monastic  lands  of  St.  Drostan's 
foundation,  and  followed  the  usual  course  of  such  lands  by 
falling  into  the  hands  of  lay  abbots,  and  then  becoming 
wholly  alienated  and  secularised.2  Though  now  annexed  to 
Edzell,  the  parish  of  Neudos  was,  from  early  times,  a  separate 
cure,  and,  so  far  as  known,  had  never  any  connection  with 
Glenesk.  In  fact  the  situation  of  the  old  kirk  of  Neudos,  and 
more  particularly  that  of  the  well  (both  of  which  lie  consider- 

1  Collections  on  Aberdeenshire,  p.  442;  Butler,  Lives  nfthe  Saints,  July  11. 

2  Reg.  de  Panmure,  i.  p.  cliii. 


74  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

ably  east  of  the  glen)  favour  this  idea ;  arid,  as  previously 
hinted,  the  presence  of  the  fountain  is  only  to  be  taken  as 
implying  that  the  church  was  dedicated  to  St.  Drostan,  while 
Droustie  in  Glenesk  may  be  considered  as  having  been  the 
principal  place  of  his  residence  and  ministry.1 

The  old  kirk  of  Lochlee,  which  stands  at  the  lower  end  of 
the  Loch,  is  also  sometimes  called  the  "  kirk  of  Droustie ; " 
and  a  deep  pool  in  the  river  Lee,  immediately  south  of  the 
farm-house  of  Kirkton,  now  used  principally  for  sheep-washing, 
has,  time  out  of  memory,  borne  the  significant  appellation  of  the 
"  Monks'  Pool," — so  termed,  it  is  said,  because  the  monks  had 
right  to  fish  in  it  for  salmon  during  the  flesh-proscribed  season 
of  Lent.  Fine  large  fish  are  taken  out  of  it  to  the  present 
day. 

From  the  time  of  St.  Drostan,  down  to  the  year  1723,  when 
the  district  was  erected  into  an  independent  parish,  little  is 
known  of  its  ecclesiastical  history  ;  before  that  date,  the  most 
we  know  is  that  in  1384  it  was  merely  a  chaplainry  of  the 
adjoining  parish  of  Lethnot,2  and  Sir  Andrew  Joly  is  designed 
"curate  of  Lochlie"  in  1558.3  About  the  time  of  the 
Eeformation,  a  Mr.  Hay  was  appointed  reader  with  the  scanty 
salary  of  twenty-four  merks  a  year,  or  about  twenty-six 
shillings  and  ninepence  sterling,  for  which  he  prayed  and 
read  portions  of  Scripture  to  the  people  in  the  absence  of  the 
minister,  while  the  latter  preached  there  only  once  every  three 
weeks,  "  weather  permitting."  In  a  district  so  large  (for  the 
parish  embraces  an  area  of  more  than  a  hundred  square  miles) 
and  so  far  removed  from  the  residence  of  the  clergyman,  the 
office  of  reader,  if  we  are  to  suppose  that  matters  stood  then 
as  they  did  at  a  later  period,  had  been  onerous  in  the  extreme. 
But  an  augmentation  extending  to  100  merks  Scots,  six  bolls 
of  oatmeal,  two  crofts  of  land  adjoining  the  church  with  pasture 

1  The  late  Dr.  Joseph  Robertson,  Register  House,  Edinburgh,  has  given  reasons 
for  thinking  that  St.  Drostan's  monastery  was  at  Edzell.     See  above,  page  4,  and 
Lives,  i.  pp.  103,  n.,  424,  App.  No.  x. 

2  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.,  i.  p.  22.  3  Crawford  Case,  pp.  174-187. 


GLENESK SUCCESSION  OF  MINISTERS.  75 

for  a  horse  and  cow  and  twenty  sheep,1  was  afterwards  in  1659 
made  to  the  reader's  salary  by  the  laird  of  Edzell — items  that 
the  teacher  of  Glenesk  still  enjoys  (but  now  in  part  converted 
into  a  money  payment,  and  the  croft  lands  locally  changed),  as 
a  partial  recompence  for  his  secluded  abode  and  comparatively 
small  attendance  of  pupils. 

By  decreet  of  1717,  the  gross  amount  of  the  minister's 
stipend  was  one  thousand  merks  Scots,  with  fifty  pounds  Scots 
for  communion  elements;  but  in  1723,  when  the  parish  was 
erected,  and  Navar  annexed  to  Lethnot  in  its  stead,  an  addi- 
tional nine  hundred  merks  Scots,  with  other  fifty  pounds  Scots, 
were  given,  together  with  a  large  arable  and  pasture  glebe,  and 
commodious  manse.2 

Erected  into  a  separate  parish  in  1723,  the  first  clergyman 
was  Mr.  Eobert  Ker,  who  removed  from  Lethnot,  and,  as  there 
was  no  manse  until  the  year  1 750,  he  and  his  successors  occupied 
a  part  of  the  castle  of  Invermark  down  to  that  time,  along  with 
Mr.  Garden,  factor  of  the  York  Buildings  Company,  and  his 
family.  Mr.  Garden  died  there  in  1745,  as  his  wife  had  in 
1738,  and  was  buried  at  Lochlee.  Mr.  Ker,  who  demitted  the 
charge  in  1728,  was  succeeded  by  the  Eev.  David  Blair  in  1729, 
who  remained  only  four  years,  when  he  was  translated  to  the  first 
charge  of  the  parish  of  Brechin,  and  there,  in  1760,  he  estab- 
lished a  Sunday-evening  school,  that  is  said  to  have  been  the 
first  opened  in  Scotland.  Mr.  Blair's  successor,  the  Rev.  John 
Scott,  as  will  be  immediately  shown,  bore  a  prominent  part  in 
the  Episcopal  persecutions  that  followed  the  great  political 
movements  of  the  rebellion  of  1745.  Betwixt  his  death  in 
1749  and  Mr.  Inglis's  appointment  in  1806,  the  cure  was  filled 
by  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Ross  and  Pirie,  the  latter  of  whom  wrote 
the  first  (or  Old)  Statistical  Account  of  the  parish. 

Registers  of  the  various   parochial  incidents  were  com- 

1  Settlement  by  John  Lindsay  of  Edzell,  Aug.  22,  1669— Copy  of,  in  the  school- 
master's possession.  The  grant  was  originally  made  by  David  Lindsay  of  Edzell, 
under  his  settlement  dated  6th  March  1639.— (Crawford  Case,  p.  187.) 

-  Old  Statistical  Account,  v.  pp.  365-6. 


76  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

menced  in  1730,  and,  while  in  the  keeping  of  the  painstaking 
and  ingenuous  Mr.  Alexander  Eoss  (who  was  settled  as  teacher 
herein  1732),  they  are  most  interesting  and  ample  regarding 
all  matters  touched  upon.  The  inestimable  value  of  baptismal 
and  other  registrations  was  so  apparent  to  him,  and  the  pains 
that  he  took  to  ascertain  particulars  so  assiduous,  as  to  be 
worthy  the  imitation  of  many  of  his  brethren  of  the  present 
day ;  while  the  manner  in  which  he  deplores  the  little  regard 
that  was  paid  to  his  efforts  in  these  respects  by  those  whom 
they  were  most  calculated  to  benefit,  shows  the  simplicity  of 
his  character  and  the  superiority  of  his  mind,  in  one  of  its 
most  benign  and  disinterested  aspects.  "  I  designed,"  he 
writes,  evidently  in  a  tone  of  unmingled  regret,  "  to  have  kept 
a  regular  accompt  of  the  baptisms  in  this  parish  during  my 
incumbency  as  Session-Clerk  and  Precentor;  but  no  man, 
whether  attending  kirk  or  meeting-house  (i.e.  Episcopal 
chapel),  ever  once  desired  me  to  do  that  office  for  him,  or  ever 
gave  me  the  dues  for  enrolling  their  children,  except  David 
Christison  in  Auchrony,  that  paid  me  for  recording  his  eldest 
son,  John ;  and  even  the  few  that  are  recorded  were  done  by 
informing  myself  of  their  names  and  the  time  of  their  baptism 
the  best  way  I  could,  so  that  I  hope  the  world  will  excuse  me 
when  the  register  is  found  deficient  as  to  this  particular."1 

When  erected  into  a  separate  parish,  most  of  the  inhabitants 
here,  as  in  Edzell  and  Lethnot,  were  either  Episcopalians  or 
Roman  Catholics,  but  mainly  the  former;  and  owing  to  the  favour 
with  which  Episcopacy  has  always  been  received  in  the  dis- 
trict, it  has  flourished  here,  so  far  as  the  fluctuations  of  the 
population  would  allow,  ever  since  the  Reformation  in  Scotland. 
Perhaps  as  a  matter  of  course,  Jacobitism  ran  high  during  the 
rebellion ;  but  the  Hanoverian  interest  also  had  at  the  same 
time  its  friends.  The  thanksgiving  for  "  the  late  victory  obtained 

1  Lochlee  Par.  Reg.  Sept.  21,  1745.  A  study  of  the  Sketch  of  the  History  and 
Imperfect  Condition  of  the  Parochial  Records  of  Births,  Marriages,  and  Deaths  in 
Scotland,  by  George  Seton,  Esq.,  Advocate  (Edin.  1854),  will  best  show  the  value  of 
Mr.  Ross's  design. 


GLENESK — EPISCOPACY.  77 

at  Culloden  against  the  rebels  "  was  religiously  observed  in  the 
parish  church;  and,  when  the  elders  and  kirk-session  were 
examined  by  the  committee  appointed  for  investigating  these 
matters,  it  was  found  that  they  "  had  behaved  themselves  very 
well  during  the  unnatural  rebellion,"  and  that  they  were  well 
affected  to  the  reigning  king  and  government. 

The  first  Episcopal  clergyman  of  whom  any  record  exists 
was  David  Eose,  father  of  the  late  Eight  Honourable  George 
Eose,  that  figured  so  prominently  in  political  controversy 
during  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century  and  the  beginning  of 
the  present.  Little  is  known  of  Mr.  Eose  or  his  family ;  his 
wife's  name  was  also  Eose,  and  both  are  supposed  to  have 
been  natives  of  the  parish  of  Birse.  Preaching  on  alternate 
Sundays  at  Glenesk  and  Lethnot,  and  in  various  neighbouring 
districts  during  the  week,  he  was  equally  remarkable  for  his 
zeal  in  the  cause  of  Episcopacy,  and  for  the  forbearance  and 
judgment  that  he  displayed  in  one  of  the  most  trying  and 
critical  periods  of  his  Church's  history.  Mr.  Eose  was  settled 
in  the  district  of  Glenesk  and  Lethnot  in  the  year  1723;  and 
in  1728  he  gifted  to  the  chapel  a  hand-bell,  which,  although 
now  rarely  rung  at  kirk  or  burial,  is  worthily  preserved  at  the 
Parsonage.1  His  principal  residence  was  at  Woodside  in  the 
Dunlappie  part  of  the  parish  of  Stracathro,  where  his  distin- 
guished sou,  George,  was  born  on  the  17th  January  1744.2 
Mr.  Eose  died  on  the  31st  day  of  October  1758,  aged  sixty- 
three,  and  was  buried  within  the  parish  church  of  Lethnot.3 
His  widow,  Margaret  Eose,  spent  her  latter  years  in  Montrose, 
and  dying  in  1785,  aged  eighty,  was  buried  beside  her  husband. 

In  the  parochial  records,  Mr.  Eose  is  always  spoken  of  in 
the  derogatory  capacity  of  "the  illegal  meeting-house  keeper;" 

1  This  bell  bears  :  "  MR.  DAVID  ROSE  GIFT  TO  GLENESK,  1728." 

2  In  all  biographies,  Rose  is  erroneously  stated  to  have  been  born  at  Brechin, 
and  on  the  llth  of  June.    The  baptismal  register  of  Stracathro  says  : — "George, 
lawful  son  to  Mr.  David  Rose,  Episcopal  minister  in  Woodside,  was  born  on  17th 
and  baptized  on  18th  January  1744." 

8  "To  grave  room  in  the  kirk,  to  Mr.  Da.  Rose,  £2." — (Lethnot  Parish  Reg., 
Dec.  18,  1758.) 


78  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

• 

but  from  the  success  that  attended  his  laborious  and  exem- 
plary ministry,  his  contemporary,  Mr.  Scott,  of  the  parish 
church,  seems  to  have  felt  his  cause  so  endangered  that  he  tried 
in  every  possible  manner  to  render  Mr.  Rose  and  his  doctrine 
obnoxious.  He  demanded  the  "  marriage  pledges  "  of  Episco- 
palians, but  never  returned  them,  except  to  such  as  apostatised 
and  became  members  of  his  own  church.  He  also  got  the  credit 
of  informing  against  the  rebel  laird  of  Balnamoon,  who  long 
skulked  among  the  fastnesses  of  Glenesk  after  the  defeat  of  his 
party  at  Culloden,  as  well  as  of  having  been  the  means  of 
causing  Mr.  Eose  to  be  apprehended  and  put  on  board  a  frigate 
that  was  lying  off  Montrose,  and  in  which  he  was  some  time 
confined  as  a  prisoner.  He  is  further  said  to  have  been  instru- 
mental in  bringing  the  Argyll  Highlanders  to  the  district,  and 
in  having  the  first  attempt  made  to  prohibit  the  wearing  of  the 
Highland  garb.1  These,  however,  were  Government  orders,  and 
are  thus  perhaps  wrongfully  ascribed  to  him;  but  it  is  cer- 
tain that  soon  after  these  occurrences,  Mr.  Scott  came  suddenly 
by  his  death,  for,  when  he  was  passing  near  the  ruins  of  the 
Episcopal  chapel  on  the  Rowan  (which  had  been  burned  to  the 
ground  by  the  army),  he  was  thrown  from  his  horse  and  killed 
on  the  spot  on  January  23d,  1749.2 

This  fatal  accident,  perhaps  from  the  peculiar  place  of  its 
occurrence,  was  viewed  by  the  Jacobite  party  in  the  light  of 
retributive  justice,  and,  notwithstanding  that  Mr.  Rose  was 
long  obliged  to  preach  to  his  adherents  at  the  Faulds  of 
Milton  and  in  the  open  air  after  the  burning  of  his  chapel, 
the  cause  of  Episcopacy  was  rather  increased  than  diminished. 
But  death  interrupted  Mr.  Rose's  labours,  and  several  years 
elapsed  before  the  appointment  of  a  successor.  With  the 

1  "  1748.  Dec.  24  ;  This  day  read  an  order  prohibiting  the  wearing  that  part  of 
the  highland  dress  called  the  plaid,  filibeg,  or  little,  kilt,  after  the  25th  curt."— 
"  1749,  July  30  ;  This  day  read  from  the  Latron  an  order  from  the  Sherriff  of  Forfar 
discharging  every  part  of  the  highland  dress  from  being  worn  after  the  1st  of  August 
next." — (Lochlee  Par.  Reg.) 

2  "  Mr.  John  Scott,  minr.  here,  died  suddenly,  near  Tarfside,  on  his  way  to  the 
presbyterie  in  Brechine." — (Lochlee  Par.  Reg.  Jan.  24, 1749.) 


GLENESK — EPISCOPACY.  79 

decease  of  Mr.  Eose,  the  parochial  clergyman,  who  seems  to 
have  had  as  intolerant  a  spirit  as  his  predecessor,  expected  the 
Episcopal  cause  also  to  die  away;  but,  instead  of  that,  the 
feeling  of  antagonism  went  from  bad  to  worse,  and,  the  Episco- 
palians, having  little  faith  to  place  in  the  ministry  of  those  from 
whom  they  had  experienced  so  much  unmitigated  oppression, 
rather  inclined  to  cherish  the  Eoman  Catholic  belief,  which 
appeared  to  some  of  them,  under  the  circumstances,  as  the  least 
of  two  evils.  Accordingly,  a  "  popish  priest "  was  invited  from 
Deeside,  and  he  planted  his  chapel  almost  at  the  very  door  of 
the  parish  church.1  This  decided  movement  on  the  part  of  the 
Episcopalians  was  probably  hastened  by  the  tyranny  of  the 
parish  minister,  who  tried  to  lord  it  over  the  people  and 
strengthen  his  own  congregation  in  many  extraordinary  ways, 
one  of  which  was  his  absolute  refusal  to  allow  the  marriage 
banns  of  a  worthy  couple  to  be  proclaimed,  and  that  for  no 
other  reason  than  that  the  woman  was  "  a  papist,"  and  would 
not  apostatise  and  become  a  member  of  his  church.2 

Ultimately,  however,  another  Episcopal  clergyman  came 
to  the  district,  and  soon  succeeded,  by  persuasive  words  and 
winning  manners,  to  effect  that  peace  which  his  Presbyterian 
neighbour  had  failed  to  accomplish  by  intolerant  enmity.  A 
humble  chapel  was  in  a  short  time  raised,  Phcenix-like,  from 
the  ashes  of  its  predecessor.  It  was  in  it  that  Mr.  Brown, 
father  of  the  learned  President  of  the  Linnean  Society  in 
London,  conducted  worship  during  the  three  years  of  his 
residence  in  Glenesk,  and  there  also  the  services  continued  to 
be  performed  by  his  successors,  Mr.  Davidson  and  Mr.  Jolly ; 
the  last  named  was  the  first  resident  Episcopal  minister  in 
Glenesk  from  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  Thenceforward 
matters  rolled  on  smoothly  ;  and  when  the  Eev.  David  Inglis 
was  inducted  to  the  parish  church,  the  banner  of  toleration  was 
freely  unfurled.  Instead  of  the  bickerings  and  heartburnings 
that  marked  the  times  of  his  illiberal  predecessors,  he  and 

^Lochlec  Par.  Reg.  July  16,  1760.  2  Ibid.  September  17  and  23,  1759. 


SO  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Mr.  Jolly  met  as  brethren,  resolved  everything  for  the  best 
where  the  affairs  of  individual  members  of  their  congregations 
were  concerned — and  exchanged  visits  on  the  most  friendly  and 
conciliatory  terms,  living  here  below  as  they  hoped  to  live 
hereafter.  It  will  show  the  strength  of  Episcopacy  in  the  glen 
at  that  period,  to  remark  that  we  read  in  the  Eev.  Alexander 
Lunan's  diary,  how  Bishop  Eait  confirmed  about  seventy 
persons  in  the  chapel  on  the  Eowan  on  16th  August  1745, 
as  on  the  preceding  day  he  had  confirmed  about  twenty-five 
in  Mr.  Eose's  dwelling-house  at  Woodside  of  Dunlappie.1 

Thus  the  aspect  of  Christianity  may  be  said  to  have  been 
totally  changed  in  the  district,  and  two  years  after  Mr.  Inglis' 
settlement,  the  Episcopalians,  who  had  long  found  the  comfort- 
less state  of  the  chapel  on  the  Eowan  to  be  most  inconvenient 
and  indecorous,  set  on  foot  a  subscription  for  erecting  a  new 
edifice.  This  desire  had  hitherto  been  frustrated  by  the  opposi- 
tion of  contemporary  parish  ministers.  But  an  appeal  to  the 
public  was  now  made  for  the  purpose,  and,  being  descriptive  of 
the  state  of  the  old  church,  and  of  the  peculiar  manner  of  its 
erection  (not  to  speak  of  the  document's  bearing  the  full  stamp 
of  the  characteristic  simplicity  of  the  worthy  pastor  who  issued 
it),  it  is  here  printed  in  full : — "  In  appealing  to  the  benevolence 
of  the  public  for  aid  to  rebuild  the  chapel  in  Glenesk,"  writes 
Mr.  Jolly,  "  it  may  not  be  improper  to  remark  that  the  walls  of 
'  the  present  one,  which  is  upwards  of  seventy  feet  by  fourteen 
feet,  were  built  by  the  hands  of  the  congregation,  in  the  course 
of  one  week,  nearly  fifty  years  ago.  Of  consequence,  it  cannot  be 
supposed  that  a  house  so  hastily  built  can  be  now  comfortable ; 
indeed,  it  is  so  much  the  reverse,  that  the  congregation  are 
obliged  literally  to  stand  amongst  the  snow  that  finds  its  way 
at  times  through  the  wall  during  the  time  of  public  worship  ; 
besides,  the  roof  does  not  now  defend  from  rain : — it's  of  heath, 
and  has  lasted  about  thirty  years." 2 

1  See  Mr.  Lunan's  Diary,  MS.  preserved  in  the  Diocesan  Library,  Brecliin. 

2  Kindly  communicated  by  the  late  Rev.  Alex.  Simpson,  Mr.  Jolly's  successor  in 
the  charge. 


GLENESK — EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.  81 

Issued  in  October  1809,  this  "appeal"  had  the  desired 
effect.  In  the  course  of  the  following  year  another  chapel 
was  erected,  but  at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  The  neat  parsonage 
was  built  during  the  next  season,  and  towards  it  the  late 
Eight  Honourable  Mr.  George  Eose  contributed  the  handsome 
sum  of  fifty  pounds.  Matters  now  progressed  to  the  best  of 
Mr.  Jolly's  wishes ;  the  fortnightly  meeting  at  Lethnot  was 
abolished,  the  Episcopalians  of  that  district  and  of  Fearn, 
with  many  from  the  parishes  of  Clova  and  Birse,  making 
the  chapel  of  Glenesk  their  regular  place  of  worship;  and, 
after  the  long  period  of  fifty-seven  years'  service,  their  pastor 
was  gathered  to  his  fathers  in  1845,1  aged  eighty -two  years, 
leaving  the  congregation  in  a  most  flourishing  state.  Within 
the  last  fifty  years  the  population  of  the  glen  has  rapidly 
diminished,  and  the  recent  census  proves  that  the  decrease 
is  still  going  on.  The  parish  church  is  now  on  the  western 
verge  of  the  inhabited  district,  and,  to  be  useful  to  the  people, 
must  in  course  of  time  be  moved  eastward.  The  same  in- 
fluences have  also  told  upon  the  Episcopal  congregation  at 
Tarfside,  and  in  the  course  of  his  incumbency  of  thirty-three 
years,  as  successor  of  Mr.  Jolly,  the  Eev.  Alexander  Simpson 
saw  his  congregation  leaving  the  homes  of  their  fathers  for 
town-life  and  distant  lands.  He  passed  to  his  rest  in  the 
spring  of  1871,  and  was  laid  in  the  parish  churchyard.  The 
Eev.  William  Presslie  entered  upon  the  charge  of  a  sadly 
diminished  flock,  which,  from  the  scanty  population,  can 
scarcely  increase.  As  a  memorial,  however,  of  his  friend  and 
kinsman,  the  late  Eight  Eeverend  Alexander  Penrose  Forbes, 
D.C.L.,  Bishop  of  Brechin,  who  died  in  Dundee,  October  8, 1875, 
Lord  Forbes  built  a  neat  and  very  handsome  church  near  the 
site  of  the  former  one,  upon  a  feu  given  by  the  Earl  of  Dalhousie, 
and  had  it  formally  consecrated  by  Bishop  Jermyn  of  Brechin 
on  September  9,  1880. 

1  Mr.  Jolly  died  in  Brechin,  having  removed  from  Tarfside  to  the  house  of  his 
son-in-law,  Bishop  Moir. 

F 


82  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Such  is  a  brief  view  of  the  history  and  progress  of  Epis- 
copacy in  Glenesk.  The  circumstances  attending  the  founda- 
tion of  the  parish  have  already  been  alluded  to,  and  nothing 
of  further  note  is  recorded  in  connection  with  it  from  that 
time  to  the  present,  except  at  the  memorable  Disruption 
of  1843,  when,  as  in  other  parishes,  a  number  of  the  mem- 
bers seceded  and  joined  the  Free  Church.  A  church  and 
manse  were  built  at  the  Birks  of  Ardoch  in  1857,  and  to 
the  memory  of  the  late  Fox  Maule-Eamsay,  eleventh  Earl  of 
Dalhousie,  by  whose  kindness  and  liberality  the  buildings 
were  in  great  measure  erected,  a  stained  glass  window  was 
in  the  spring  of  1881  placed  in  the  church,  along  with  another 
to  the  memory  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Guthrie,  who  was  a 
frequent  worshipper  and  preacher  there  during  the  last  twenty 
years  of  his  life. 

The  old  parish  kirk  is  situated  at  the  north-east  corner  of 
the  Loch,  and  was  thatched  with  heath  down  to  the  year  1784^ 
when  it  was  covered  with  grey  slates.  The  walls  are  thick 
and  strongly  built,  and  a  loft  graced  the  east  or  oriel  end, 
which  had  a  special  entrance  from  the  graveyard.  Although 
said  to  be  of  "  unknown  antiquity,"  it  is  not  likely  that  these 
walls  are  older  than,  if  so  old  as,  the  days  of  the  Marquis  of 
Montrose,  for  all  history  agrees  that,  while  he  and  his  soldiers 
took  refuge  in  Glenesk  in  1645,  they  burned  the  church  to 
the  ground.  In  all  probability,  these  are  the  remains  of  the 
building  that  was  erected  after  that  event. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  design  of  the  old  kirk  to  recommend 
it  to  notice,  and  no  trace  of  Gothic  mouldings,  if  any  had  ever 
existed ;  but  its  peculiar  situation  gives  it  a  picturesqueness 
beyond  most  other  churches.  It  lies  so  close  to  the  Loch  of 
Lee  that  in  stormy  weather  the  ruins  and  graveyard  are  washed 
by  its  waters,  and  covered  by  the  foaming  spray ;  while,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  ash-trees  that  break  the  sad,  but  in  this 
case  not  unpleasant  monotony  of  desolation  and  solitude,  the 


GLENESK ROSS  THE  SCHOOLMASTER.  83 

neighbourhood,  like  the  whole  expanse  of  the  glen  northward, 
is  solely  decorated  by 

"  The  desert  mountains  and  lone  sky." 

But,  apart  from  its  romantic  situation,  to  the  lover  of  Scot- 
tish poetry  the  "  auld  kirkyard  of  Lochlee  "  must  ever  be  dear, 
as  containing  the  ashes  of  Eoss,  the  accomplished  author  of 
Helenore,  or  the  Fortunate  Shepherdess,  and  as  having  in  its 
immediate  vicinity  the  place  where  he  spent  the  greater  part 
of  his  valuable  and  unostentatious  life.  The  humble  head-stone 
that  he  placed  at  the  grave  of  his  wife,  Jean  Catanach,  faces 
the  pilgrim  as  he  enters  the  hallowed  spot ;  and  there,  too,  the 
body  of  her  eminent  husband,  who  taught  the  "  noisy  mansion  " 
of  the  parish  for  the  long  period  of  fifty-two  years,  was  laid  on 
the  26th  of  May  1784,  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-five.1  He 
died  at  Buskhead,  in  the  house  of  his  second  daughter,  where 
he  resided  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  whom  he  survived  for  the 
space  of  five  years.  During  this  time  he  had  the  tombstone 
raised  to  her  memory,  with  these  lines  engraved  upon  it : — 

"  What 's  mortal  here  Death  in  his  right  would  have  it ; 
The  spiritual  part  returns  to  God  that  gave  it ; 
While  both  at  parting  did  their  hopes  retain 
That  they  in  glory  would  unite  again, 
To  reap  the  harvest  of  their  Faith  and  Love, 
And  join  the  song  of  the  Redeem'd  above." 

Near  his  own  resting-place,  beside  the  gate  of  the  old 
churchyard,  a  handsome  monument  is  erected  to  the  memory 
of  the  poet  who  has  so  kindly  sung  of  the  life  of  bygone  days 
in  the  glen.  The  funds  for  its  erection  were  obtained  by  public 
subscription,  but  at  first,  by  some  sad  error  of  judgment,  it  was 
placed  in  the  new  churchyard.  This  mistake,  however,  was 
rectified  by  Lord  Panmure  in  the  autumn  of  1856,  during  his 
sojourn  at  Invermark  Lodge ;  the  stone  was  removed  to  its 
present  position,  and  forms  a  fitting  tribute  to  Eoss's  genius  and 
worth,  though  the  reason  for  giving  upon  it  a  name  to  his 

1  "  26th  May  1784  ;  Mr.  Alexander  Ross,  Schoolmaster  at  Lochlee,  was  hurried. " — 
(Lochlee  Par.  Reg.) 


84  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

poem  which  he  never  gave,  it  may  be  difficult  to  understand. 
The  inscription  upon  it  is  : — 

ERECTED 
TO   THE   MEMORY 
OF 

ALEXANDER  ROSS,    A.M., 

SCHOOLMASTER  OF  LOCHLEE, 
AUTHOR  OF  "LINDY  AND  NORY:  OR 

THE  FORTUNATE  SHEPHERDESS," 

AND  OTHER  POEMS  IN  THE  SCOTTISH  DIALECT. 

BORN,  APRIL  1699. 

DIED,  MAY  1784. 

HOW  FINELY  NATURE  AYE  HE  PAINTIT, 

O'  SENSE  IN  RHYME  HE  NE*ER  WAS  STENTIT, 

AN*  TO  THE  HEART  HE  ALWAYS  SENT  IT 

"  Wl'  MIGHT  AN*  MAIN  ;" 
AN  NO  AE  LINE  HE  E*ER  INVENTIT 

NEED  ANE  OFFEN'  ! 

The  place  of  the  poet's  residence  is  still  represented  by  the 
rude  walls  of  his  cottage  and  school-house,  which  are  preserved, 
or  at  least  allowed  to  remain,  with  a  commendable  reverence 
for  genius  and  worth.  They  are  a  narrow  park-breadth  north 
of  the  kirkyard ;  and  in  their  present  roofless  condition  have 
more  the  appearance  of  "  sheep  bughts  "  than  of  once  inhabited 
tenements.  The  little  west  window,  from  which  an  excellent 
view  of  the  loch  and  its  rugged  scenery  had  been  obtained,  is 
now  built  up ;  but  the  narrow  door  by  which  he  passed  and 
repassed  times  out  of  number,  and  the  hearth  of  the  east  or 
school-room  end,  where  he  sat  so  many  dreary  winters  hearing 
the  lessons  of  his  youthful  charge,  are  still  in  existence, 
as  is  also  the  garden  plot  behind  the  house,  which,  though 
now  uncultivated,  still  bears  a  fertile  aspect,  and  had  been 
small,  like  the  bard's  own  residence. 

Still,  though  his  accommodation  was  limited  and  his  abode 
dreary  (there  being  thirty  days  in  winter  that  the  neighbouring 
mountains  kept  the  sun  from  enlivening  his  dwelling),  he  has 
certainly  achieved  an  imperishable  fame  in  Scottish  literature. 
He  also  reared  a  large  family,  and  his  daughter,  Helen,  was 


GLENESK — ROSS  AS  THE  POET.  85 

mother  of  the  late  Eev.  Mr.  Thomson  of  Lintrathen,  who  wrote 
the  best  biography  of  his  grandfather,  and  published  the  best 
edition  of  Helenore  at  Dundee,  in  1812.1  Apart  from  the 
romantic  description  of  the  rural  life  and  manners  of  the  early 
part  of  last  century,  with  which  that  poem  abounds,  and  which 
are  familiar  to  all  lovers  of  national  poetry,  Mr.  Thomson's  life 
of  the  author,  though  less  generally  known,  also  preserves 
some  of  the  still  later  peculiarities  of  "  the  leal  and  ae-fauld 
herding  life,"  particularly  as  relates  to  Lochlee,  in  a  manner 
little  short  of  that  given  in  the  poem.  Contemporary  with 
Koss  the  poet  there  was  also  the  Eev.  Alexander  Eoss. 
minister  of  the  parish  from  1749  to  1773.  The  fame  of 
the  poet  had  spread  considerably,  and  several  people  made 
pilgrimages  to  see  him.  Among  these  there  is  said  to  have 
been  a  gentleman  who  mistook  the  manse  for  the  school-house, 
and  introduced  himself  to  the  owner,  but  the  minister  frankly 
observed — "  It  11  be  the  schoolmaister  ye  're  wantin' — I  'm  only 
the  minister ! " 

As  the  biography  of  Eoss  is  familiar  to  most  readers,  and 
little  can  be  added  to  that  written  by  his  grandson,  supple- 
mented by  that  of  Dr.  Longmuir,  we  shall  simply  remark  that 
he  was  born  in  the  parish  of  Kincardine  O'Neil,  in  Aberdeen- 
shire,  and  was  nearly  seventy  years  of  age  before  he  made  his 
appearance  in  public  as  an  author.  Besides  his  long  poem  of 
"  Helenore,"  he  wrote  the  popular  songs  of  "  The  rock  an'  the 
wee  pickle  tow,"  "  To  the  beggin'  we  will  go,"  "  Woo'd  and 
married  an'  a',"  and  many  others,  all  of  which  are  remarkable 
for  their  natural  humour,  force  of  language,  and  the  striking 
pictures  they  convey  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  past : 
on  this  account  they  are  frequently  quoted  by  Dr.  Jamieson, 

1  These  entries  from  the  Lochlee  register  may  be  interesting  : — "1734,  Sept.  9  ; 
Mr.  Alexander  Ross,  schoolmaster  here,  had  a  daughter  baptized  by  Mr.  John  Scott, 
minister  here  [named]  Helen."  And  on  28th  October  1753,  "  George  Thomson,  school- 
master in  Glenmuick,  and  Helen  Ross,  eldest  daughter  to  Mr.  Alexander  Ross,  school 
master  here,  proclaimed  in  order  to  marriage  1°  ; "  and  on  8th  November  following, 
they  were  "married  in  the  church  of  Lochlee  by  William  M'Kenzie,  min*.  of  Glen- 
muick." The  latest  edition  of  Helenore  is  by  Dr.  John  Longmuir,  1866. 


86  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

in  illustration  of  many  obscure  terms  in  our  Scotch  language. 
As  these  poems  have  long  been  a  valuable  part  of  the  classics 
of  the  Scottish  peasantry,  and  are  nearly  as  familiar,  to  those 
at  least  between  the  Tay  and  the  Spey,  as  are  the  works  of 
Burns,  none  of  them  require  to  be  quoted  here ;  but  a  tran- 
script of  the  mortuary  poetry,  from  some  of  the  old  gravestones 
at  Lochlee,  reputed  to  be  of  Ross's  composition,  may  not  be 
unacceptable.  The  first  of  these  was  erected  in  1751,  to  the 
memory  of  a  youth  who  perished  among  some  heather  that 
accidentally  took  fire  around  him  ;  and  the  conclusions  drawn 
from  that  melancholy  circumstance  are  certainly  as  quaint  in 
conception  as  in  expression : — 

"  From  what  befalls  us  here  below, 
Let  none  from  thence  conclude, 
Our  lot  shall  aftertime  be  so — 
The  young  man's  life  was  good. 
Yet,  heavenly  wisdom  thought  it  fit, 
In  its  all-sovereign  way, 
The  flames  to  kill  him  to  permit, 
And  so  to  close  his  day." 

The  next  was  written  on  Mr.  Charles  Garden  of  Bellas- 
treen,  in  Aboyne,  a  relative  of  the  family  of  Garden  of  Troup, 
who  were  tacksmen  or  factors  for  the  Panmure,  Southesk,  and 
Marischall  portions  of  the  forfeited  estates.1  This  gentleman, 
who  was  taken  prisoner  at  Sheriffmuir  in  1715,  and  appears  to 
have  been  everything  that  could  be  wished,  died  at  the  patri- 
archal age  of  ninety  in  1760,  and  the  epitaph  is  decidedly  the 
best  specimen  of  the  author's  powers  in  this  way  that  we 
have  seen : — 

"  Entomb'd  here  lies  what 's  mortal  of  the  man, 
Who  fill'd  with  honour  Life's  extended  span  ; 
Of  stature  handsome,  front  erect  and  fair, 
Of  dauntless  brow,  yet  mild  and  debonair. 
The  camp  engaged  his  youth,  and  would  his  age, 
Had  cares  domestic  not  recall'd  his  stage, 
By  claim  of  blood,  to  represent  a  line, 
That  but  for  him  was  ready  to  decline. 

1  "1760,  Nov.  29 ;  From  Mi's.  Margt.  Garden  in  Invermark,  for  the  use  of  the 
mortcloth  to  Bellastreen,  her  father,  18s.  6d. "— (Lochlee  Par.  Records.) 


GLENESK — EPITAPHS  BY  ROSS.  87 

He  was  the  Husband,  Father,  Neighbour,  Friend, 

And  all  their  special  properties  sustain' d. 

Of  pmdent  conduct,  and  of  morals  sound, 

And  who,  at  last,  with  length  of  days  was  crown'd." 

Another,  which  is  ascribed  to  Eoss,  and  bears  the  same 
date  as  Mr.  Garden's,  is  so  unworthy  of  his  mind,  and  so  unlike 
his  style  of  composition,  that  we  forbear  giving  it,  being  con- 
vinced that  it  is  the  work  of  some  worthless  rhymster.  The 
two  epitaphs  now  cited,  with  that  written  on  the  ,tomb 
of  his  wife,  and  one  printed  in  his  grandson's  edition  of  his 
poem,  are,  so  far  as  we  know,  the  amount  of  Eoss's  work  in 
that  line,  though  we  cannot  help  thinking  that  Garden's 
epitaph  savours  more  of  Dr.  Beattie's  manner  than  of  Eoss's. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  we  have  also  in  this  lonely  churchyard, 
engraved  upon  a  stone  of  date  1801,  this  couplet  from  the 
Earl  of  Orford's  quaint  epitaph  on  the  tomb  of  Theodore,  the 
unfortunate  King  of  Corsica : — 

"  The  Grave,  great  Teacher,  to  one  level  brings, 
Heroes  and  Beggars,  Galley  slaves  and  Kings." l 

Although  the  period  of  the  erection  of  the  old  church 
is  matter  of  uncertainty,  the  age  of  the  bell  is  well  authen- 
ticated, for,  towards  the  close  of  the  year  1752,  the  parochial 
records  state  "  that  there  never  was  a  bell  upon  the  church 
of  Lochlee,  but  an  old  hand-bell  without  a  tongue,"  and 
the  session  accordingly  resolved  to  purchase  one  at  the  least 
possible  expense.  A  collection  was  made  throughout  the 
parish  for  that  purpose ;  but  as  it  fell  short  of  the  required 
amount,  "  some  of  the  old  ash  timber  that  was  growing  about 
the  church,"  and  "  an  old  stithy "  or  smith's  anvil,  that 
belonged  to  the  poor  of  the  parish,  with  the  tongueless  bell 

1  Pulleyn's  Churchyard  Gleanings,  p.  43.  The  oldest  monument  in  Lochlee  is 
a  mural  tablet  with  Latin  motto,  also  said  to  be  the  composition  of  Ross,  and  as 
such  printed  at  p.  lii  of  the  Dundee  edition  of  his  poem.  The  inscription  is  con- 
siderably effaced,  and  the  stone  was  erected  some  years  before  the  oldest  above 
quoted,  by  the  Rev.  Robert  Garden  of  St.  Fergus,  in  memory  of  his  parents,  John 
Garden  of  Midstrath,  in  the  parish  of  Birse,  and  Catherine  Farquharson,  both  of 
whom  died  at  Invermark,  the  former  in  the  year  1745,  and  the  latter  in  1735 
(or  1738). 


88  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

to  boot,  were  sold  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  the  present 
bell,  which  at  the  erection  of  the  new  kirk  in  1803  was 
translated  thither. 

The  present  church  and  manse  were  both  erected  in  the 
same  year,  and  the  late  Rev.  Mr.  Inglis's  mother,  who  died  in 
1808,  was  the  first  interred  in  the  new  burial-place.  Since 
then,  with  the  exception  of  old  residenters  who  still  have 
a  natural  desire  to  be  laid  beside  their  kindred,  the  new  kirk- 
yard  has  become  the  common  place  of  sepulture. 

But  some  of  the  tablets  in  this  graveyard  bear  more  than 
an  ordinary  interest,  arising  from  the  painful  circumstances 
that  attended  the  death  of  those  to  whom  they  are  erected. 
One  marks  the  grave  of  a  youth  from  Aberdeen  who  perished 
among  the  snow  in  1810  ;  and  another  records  the  melancholy 
death  of  two  brothers  who  fell  over  the  wild  precipice  of 
Gripdyke  in  Glenmark,  while  collecting  their  father's  sheep. 
This  last  occurrence  is  told  on  their  tombstone  in  elegant  Latin, 
which  was  written  under  the  direction  of  their  brother,  the 
late  Rev.  John  Whyte,  minister  of  Lethnot,  by  whom  the 
following  observations  and  accompanying  translation  were 
kindly  communicated : — 

"  I  have  little  to  remark  regarding  the  sad  accident,"  says 
Mr.  Whyte,  who  died  at  the  manse  of  Lethnot  on  1st  of  August 
1853.  "The  two  brothers  had,  but  a  few  days  before,  left 
their  usual  residence  in  Glenbervie,  for  the  purpose  of  assisting 
in  collecting  and  assorting  the  flock  of  sheep  intended  for  sale 
at  the  ensuing  Cullew  Market,1  purposing  to  return  after 
accomplishing  that  object.  The  fatal  spot  has  from  time  im- 
memorial been  known  under  the  name  of  the  Gripdyke,  from 
the  circumstance  of  a  dyke,  or  wall,  having  in  former  times 
been  reared  there,  with  a  view  to  prevent  the  flocks  of  Highland 
black  cattle,  then  customarily  grazed  in  the  glen  during  the 
summer  and  autumnal  months,  from  coming  down  upon  the 
inland  pastures  and  cultivated  lands.  The  place  where  they 

1  Cullew  Fair  is  held  in  the  parish  of  Cortachy,  in  the  middle  of  October. 


GLENESK — THE  BROTHERS  WHYTE.  89 

intended  to  cross  the  Mark  is  so  narrow  that  almost  any  person 
might  easily  effect  the  leap ;  but  the  rocks  are  sloping  on  the 
opposite  side,  and  when  wet  with  the  spray  of  the  swollen  stream 
are  extremely  slippery,  and  demand  some  care  and  dexterity 
on  the  part  of  the  pedestrian.  The  shepherds  were  quite  in 
the  habit  of  crossing  there,  and  Archibald,  being  agile  and  good 
at  leaping,  could  have  had  no  difficulty  in  clearing  the  dis- 
tance; but.it  is  said  that,  from  over-confidence  perhaps,  he 
made  the  effort  carelessly,  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets  ;  and 
thus  losing  his  equilibrium,  he  fell  back  into  the  rapid  torrent, 
and  was  speedily  carried  over  the  fall  into  the  gulf  below — 
a  black  boiling  abyss,  or  pot,  where  the  chafed  waters  wheel  in 
circling  eddies  round  the  sides  of  their  rocky  barriers.  The 
distance  from  the  spot  where  he  fell  in  to  the  edge  of  the 
precipice  is  so  short,  that  David,  had  he  reflected,  could  have 
had  no  hope  of  saving  his  life ;  but,  the  impulse  of  affection 
disdaining  cold  calculation,  he  flung  himself  into  the  foaming 
stream,  and  shared  the  fate  of  his  beloved  brother!"  The 
following  is  the  translation  of  the  epitaph  : — 

"  In  memory  of  DAVID  WHYTE,  aged  27  years,  and  of  his  younger  brother, 
ARCHIBALD  WHYTE,  aged  18. 

"  As  the  two  brothers  were  proceeding  to  leap  across  at  a  spot  where 
the  Mark,  contracted  by  craggy  rocks  on  either  side  into  a  narrow  and  rapid 
torrent,  anon  pours  headlong  over  a  high  precipice  into  a  deep  eddying 
abyss,  when  the  elder,  having  already  crossed  with  facility,  perceived  that 
his  brother  had  fallen  into  the  impetuous  stream,  urged  by  the  impulse  of 
holy  affection  and  by  the  vain  hope  of  saving  his  life,  rushed  in  heedlessly 
after  him,  and  both  lamentably  perished  together,  on  the  27th  of  October 
1820,  in  the  glen  (or  valley)  of  Mark,  parish  of  Lochlee,  and  county  of 
Forfar. 

"To  commemorate  the  premature  death,  as  well  as  the  illustrious  ex- 
ample of  mutual  affection,  the  talents,  the  piety,  and  other  excellent  endow- 
ments which  adorned  the  hapless  brothers — alas !  so  suddenly  snatched 
away  from  their  weeping  relatives  ! — this  monument  was  erected  by  their 
bereaved  and  disconsolate  father,  JAMES  WHYTE." 

The  ashes  of  the  late  Mr.  Inglis,  already  referred  to,  also 
repose  here,  marked  by  a  tablet  and  suitable  inscription.  To 
a  benign  and  conciliatory  disposition  he  added  those  of  charity 


90  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

and  benevolence ;  and,  when  the  wanderings  of  the  disciples  of 
Edie  Ochiltree  were  rather  encouraged  than  prohibited,  his  house 
was  a  welcome  resting-place  "  to  all  the  vagrant  train,"  being 
situated  at  the  south  side  of  the  great  Highland  pass  by  Mount 
Keen  to  Deeside.1  Perhaps  no  minister  ever  approached  closer 
than  the  late  Mr.  Inglis  to  the  beautiful  description  that 
Goldsmith  has  left  of  his  father  in  The  Deserted  Village ;  and, 
although  he  enjoyed,  in  reality,  more  than  "forty  pounds  a 
year,"  it  is  questionable,  when  his  many  charities  are  taken 
into  account,  whether  he  had  much  more  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses of  a  large  family.  But  like  the  village  preacher  in 
that  inimitable  poem — 

"  Remote  from  towns  he  ran  his  godly  race, 
Nor  e'er  had  changed,  nor  wished  to  change,  his  place. 
Unpractised  he  to  fawn,  or  seek  for  power, 
By  doctrines  fashioned  to  the  varying  hour : 
Far  other  aims  his  heart  had  learned  to  prize, 
More  skilled  to  raise  the  wretched  than  to  rise." 

Nor  was  it  alone  the  homeless  wanderer,  or  "  ruined  spend- 
thrift," that  had  his  claims  so  often  and  so  liberally  allowed 
by  the  good  man,  whose  kindness  was  so  great  that  his  manse 
has  been  likened  more  to  an  inn  than  to  a  private  residence — 
but  there  the  stranger,  whether  in  search  of  health  or  pleasure, 
also  found  a  ready  and  comfortable  asylum.  An  amusing  story 
is  told  of  a  gentleman  who  came  over  the  hill  one  day  on 
horseback,  when  several  pleasure  parties  were  in  the  Glen. 
Their  vehicles  were,  as  usual,  ensconced  around  the  manse,  and 
the  minister  was  amusing  himself  alone  in  the  garden.  Believ- 
ing it  to  be  a  lona  fide  inn,  and  Mr.  Inglis  the  landlord,  the 
traveller  leapt  from  his  nag,  and  called  on  his  reverence  to 
stable  it  up  !  No  sooner  said  than  done ;  Mr.  Inglis,  who  was 
as  fond  of  a  joke  as  he  was  generous  of  heart,  led  the  animal 
to  the  stable ;  and  the  rider  having  seen  his  horse  "  all  right," 
entered  the  house  and  called  for  a  dram.  The  minister,  still 
acting  as  "  mine  host,"  brought  "  the  glass  and  big-bellied 

1  See  below,  p.  94,  note. 


GLENESK — HIGHLAND  HOSPITALITY.  91 

bottle,"  and  good-humouredly  supplied  the  demand ;  nor  was 
it  until  the  hour  of  his  departure,  when  the  bill  was  asked  for, 
that  the  stranger  discovered  his  mistake,  and  then  his  surprise 
may  be  better  conceived  than  expressed  !  Many  similar  traits 
are  told  of  the  hospitality  of  Mr.  Inglis,  but  he  died  in  January 
1837,  and,  in  the  emphatic  language  of  many  of  his  parishioners, 
"  the  Glen  has  never  been  like  the  same  place  since." 

Mr.  Inglis's  tomb  also  records  the  death  of  a  youth  who 
resided  with  him  for  some  time,  after  having  spent  a  few  of  his 
earlier  years  in  the  Royal  Navy.  He  was  a  son  of  the  late 
General  Hart  of  Doe-castle,  Kilderry,  county  Donegal,  and 
died  in  1836,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-five.  His  brother  and 
sister  made  a  journey  to  visit  him  in  Glenesk,  but  while  resting 
at  the  Gannochy  Bridge  on  their  way  thither,  they  accidentally 
received  the  melancholy  intelligence  of  his  death.  On  that  sad 
visit  to  Scotland,  his  brother  wrote  the  subjoined  verses,  and 
the  first  of  them  is  engraved  on  the  tomb.  Since  then,  the 
affectionate  friend  that  wrote  the  monody  has  also  been  gathered 
to  his  fathers;  and,  excepting  the  kindly  recollection  that  many 
of  the  mountaineers  have  of  the  person  here  lamented,  little, 
if  anything,  is  known  of  the  family  in  the  district : — 

"  Far  from  his  Father's  home  he  rests, 

Cut  off  in  early  bloom  ; 
Trusting  to  God,  and  his  behests, 
He  sank  into  the  Tomb. 

Rest  thee,  my  Brother,  death  is  sweet, 

When  hope  to  us  may  be, 
That  friends  on  earth,  in  Heaven  meet, 

For  blest  eternity. 

Thy  earth  to  mother  earth  is  gone, 

Rest  then,  my  Brother  dear  ; 
Thy  soul  to  blest  abodes  is  flown, 

And  left  us  weeping  here. 

Farewell !  farewell !  ye  mountains  wild, 

Which  compass  him  around  ; 
Farewell,  each  spot  on  which  he  smiled  ; 

Farewell,  yon  streamlet's  sound  !  " 


92  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 


SECTION  II. 

The  high  wa's  o'  Lord  Lindsay's  tower 

Are  sadly  ruin'd  an'  lane  ; 
An'  the  birks  that  twined  his  lady's  bower 

For  ever  too  are  gane. 
But,  though  his  power  has  left  tkae  glens, 

An'  it  her  lords  dwell  there, 
The  Lindsays'  warlike  deeds  an'  name 

Will  live  for  evermair. 

OLD  BALLAD. 

Invermark  Castle— Later  occupants — Dilapidation — Iron  yett — Age  of  castle — To 
check  the  cateran — Unsettled  state  of  the  glen — A  refuge  for  the  Bruce — 
Cairns  on  the  Rowan — Mines  of  Glenesk. 

DOWN  to  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  the  fine 
baronial  remain  of  Invermark  Castle  was  in  much  the  same 
state  of  preservation  as  during  the  palmy  days  of  the  Lindsays, 
being  entered  by  a  huge  dra\vbridge,  one  end  of  which  rested 
on  the  door-sill  of  the  first  floor  of  the  castle,  and  the  other  on 
the  top  of  a  strong  isolated  erection  of  freestone  that  stood  about 
twelve  feet  south  of  the  front  of  the  tower.  This  was 
ascended  on  the  east  and  west  by  a  flight  of  steps,  and  the 
bridge  being  moved  by  machinery,  the  house  was  rendered 
inaccessible,  or  otherwise,  at  the  will  of  the  occupant. 

At  the  time  alluded  to,  it  was  surrounded  by  the  old 
offices,  which  were  tenanted  by  shepherds,  while  the  main 
building  was  occupied  by  two  maiden  ladies,  daughters  of  the 
last  of  the  Gardens  mentioned  above.1  It  had  been  repaired 
and  put  into  a  habitable  state  soon  after  1729,  when  it  was 
valued  at  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  pounds,  and  the  neces- 
sary repairs  to  be  done  "  in  all  haste  to  prevent  its  going  to 
ruin  "  were  estimated  at  upwards  of  one  hundred  and  ninety 
pounds.  As  before  said,  it  was  jointly  occupied  thereafter 
by  Mr.  Garden  and  the  parish  minister  until  a  manse  was 

1  See  above,  p.  75. 


GLENESK — IN  VERM  ARK  CASTLE.  93 

erected,  after  which  time,  the  former  and  his  heirs  were  the 
sole  tenants ;  but  when  the  present  church  and  manse  were 
reared  in-  1803,  the  offices  were  torn  down  and  the  tower 
completely  gutted  to  assist  in  their  erection. 

The  foundations  of  some  of  the  outhouses  are  yet  traceable ; 
and,  however  much  the  dilapidations  of  1803  must  be  deplored, 
the  main  tower,  though  roofless  and  otherwise  spoiled,  is  still 
a  massive  and  imposing  square  structure  of  four  stories  in 
height.  It  stands  on  a  rising  ground  on  the  banks  of  the  Lee, 
distant  from  any  tree  or  other  protective  feature,  and,  with 
the  exception  of  the  lintels  of  the  door  and  windows,  it  is 
wholly  built  of  rough  native  granite,  having  the  monotony  of 
its  architecture  relieved  by  a  few  well-proportioned  windows 
of  various  sizes,  together  with  a  circular  doorway,  and  a  small 
turret,  which  projects  from  the  south-east  corner.  It  is  now 
enclosed  by  a  low  dyke  which  the  late  Lord  Panmure  caused 
to  be  built  for  its  protection,  and  its  tall  grey  walls  are 
streaked  with  the  green  ivy  that  the  same  nobleman  took 
care  to  have  planted  round  the  base. 

The  heavy  door  of  grated  iron,  remarkable  for  strength  and 
simplicity  of  workmanship,  still  graces  the  entrance,  which  is 
now  reached  by  a  flight  of  crazy  stones.  This  gate  is  of  the 
same  construction  as  that  of  Inverquharity  (which  Alexander 
Ogilvy  had  special  licence  from  James  II.  or  in.  to  erect  about 
the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century),  and,  together  with  the 
remaining  iron-work,  is  said  to  have  been  dug  from  the  mines 
in  the  neighbourhood,  and  smelted  at  a  place  on  the  farm  of 
Tarfside,  known  by  the  name  of  Bonny  Katie,  where  Lord 
Edzell  had  a  smelting  furnace.  The  only  floor  in  the  building 
is  that  formed  by  the  roof  of  the  vault ;  and  the  hearth  of  the 
drawing-room,  and  some  of  the  lesser  fireplaces,  with  pieces 
of  joists  projecting  here  and  there  from  the  walls,  are  the  only 
traces  of  old  furnishings.  The  damp,  comfortless  dungeon 
below,  enlivened  only  by  a  faint  glimmer  of  light  which  peers 
through  a  few  of  those  loop-holes  common  to  the  baronial 


94  LAND  OP  THE  LINDSAYS. 

houses  of  the  period,  is  reached  by  a  shattered  stair,  but 
presents  nothing  worthy  of  note. 

The  tower  derives  its  name  from  its  proximity  to  the 
mouth  of  the  river  Mark,  to  which,  by  existing  traces  of  an 
old  water  track,  it  had  once  been  closer ;  and  as  there  are  still 
the  remains  of  a  fosse  on  the  west  side  of  the  hillock  on 
which  the  castle  stands,  it  is  probable  that  it  had  once  been 
moated. 

The  real  era  of  its  erection  is  as  much  a  matter  of  doubt 
as  is  that  of  the  Stirling  Tower  of  Edzell,  and  nothing  can  be 
gathered  from  the  style  of  its  architecture  that  tends  in  any 
way  to  unravel  the  mystery.  Some  suppose  it  to  have  been 
built  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  late  minister  fixes  the 
year  1526  as  the  most  probable  date,  but  cites  no  authority. 
Perhaps,  however,  this  was  the  very  building  in  which  the  ninth 
Earl  of  Crawford  died  in  1558  :  it  certainly,  at  a  later  period"; 
was  one  of  the  resorts  of  his  unfortunate  grandson,  when  skulk- 
ing from  the  pursuit  of  justice  for  his  inadvertent  slaughter  of 
Lord  Spynie.  It  is  also  probable  that  its  site  had  been  that  of 
previous  strongholds,  as  the  position  commands  the  important 
pass  by  Mount  Keen  to  Deeside.1  Although  unsuitable  for 
wheeled  conveyances,  this  pass  and  narrow  glen  formed  a 
pretty  safe  and  convenient  route  for  the  pillaging  cateran, 
who,  as  is  well  known,  subsisted  by  the  adoption  of 

"  The  good  old  rule,  the  simple  plan — 
That  they  should  take  who  have  the  power, 
And  they  should  keep  who  can." 

Although  the  garrison  of  Invermark  had  greatly  tended  to 
dimmish  the  number  of  these  desperate  invasions,  it  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  altogether  effectual,  as  is  attested  both 
by  record  and  tradition.  In  one  of  those  inroads  the  cateran 

1  "  The  cheiffe  passages  from  the  river  Tay  to  the  river  Dee  through  the 
mountans,  also  from  Aberdeine  to  the  heade  of  Dee,  are  elewin.  .  .  .  The  nynthe  is 
Mounthe  Keine,  wich  layes  from  Innermarkie  to  Canakyle,  on  Deeside,  and  con- 
taines  ten  myles  of  monthe."—  (Sir  James  Balf out's  MS.,  1630-57,  Adv.  Lib.;  Coll. 
Aberd.  and  Ban/,  p.  77.) 


GLENESK. — THE  CATERAN  AT  WORK.  95 

is  said  to  have  carried  off  in  triumph  about  one-half  of  the 
cattle  and  sheep  in  the  glen ;  and,  in  attempting  to  regain 
them,  no  fewer  than  five  of  the  Glenesk  men  fell  in  the 
struggle,  while  about  a  dozen  were  taken  prisoners  and  carried 
to  the  distant  home  of  the  reaver,  from  whose  power  they  were 
only  restored  to  their  friends  on  the  payment  of  heavy 
ransoms. 

The  lawless  outrages  of  the  son  of  the  "  Wicked  Master " 
and  of  the  Marquis  of  Montrose  in  these  glens,  and  the  evils 
arising  therefrom,  have  already  been  noticed.  And  it  may  be 
observed  that  although  the  inhabitants,  according  to  two 
credible  writers  of  the  seventeenth  century,1  were  a  set  of 
"weill  armed  pretty  men,"  who  mustered  so  strongly,  and 
fought  so  bravely,  when  the  cateran  came  upon  them,  that 
"they  seldom  suffered  any  prey  to  goe  out  of  their  bounds 
unrecovered  " — this  does  not  appear  to  have  been  always  the 
case,  for  when  the  Laird  of  Edzell  mortified  a  grant  to  the 
reader  or  schoolmaster  in  1659,  he  bound  himself  "that  if  it 
shall  come  to  pass  that  ther  be  a  general  vastation  of  the  said 
paroche  of  Loghlie  be  Hielanders  or  otherwise,  that  then,  and 
in  that  case,"  the  Laird  and  his  heirs  shall  be  "  obligst  to  pay 
to  the  said  reader  the  whole  stipend  year  or  yeares  as  the  sam 
vastatione  sail  endure."  2 

Some  of  these  disasters  were  recorded  in  rhyme,  but  all 
recollection  of  the  verses  has  long  since  died  away,  and  the 
following  was  written  by  a  modern  poet  on  hearing  one  of 
these  traditions  related : — 

"  Mountbattock,  how  dark  is  the  cloud  on  thy  brow, 
How  grateful  its  gloom  to  the  valley  below  ; 


1  Edward's  Description  of  Angus  in  1678,  and   Ochterlony's  Acct.,  c.  1682. 
"The  Angusians,"  says  Edward,  "especially  those  who  inhabit  the  Grampians,  are, 
even  at  this  day  (1678),  fond  of  going  abroad  armed ;  insomuch  that  they  seldom  go 
out  without  the  ornament,  or  rather  burden,  of  a  bow,  quiver,  shield,  sword,  or  pistol ; 
and  they  always  have  with  them  a  kind  of  hook  to  knock  down  or  catch  wild  beasts 
or  birds,  as  occasion  may  offer." 

2  Document,  quoted  ut  sup.  p.  75. 


96  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

For  the  hand  of  the  reaver  has  smitten  so  sore, 
The  days  of  our  mourning  will  never  be  o'er. 
He  came  in  the  night — he  has  taken  and  slain 
The  wale  of  our  flocks,  and  the  flower  of  our  men  ; 
The  maidens,  the  widows,  and  orphans  deplore, 
And  the  hollow  wind  murmurs — Lochaber  no  more. 

The  fold  now  is  silent,  the  shieling  is  still, 

No  herd  in  the  valley,  no  flock  on  the  hill ; 

No  gay  singing  maiden  a-milking  the  cows, 

No  blithe  whistling  shepherd  a-bughting  the  ewes. 

The  sward  of  Gleneffock  is  shining  in  red  ; 

The  down  of  the  thistle  with  crimson  is  dyed  ; 

The  bloom  of  the  heather  is  steeping  in  gore, 

And  the  wild  bee  is  humming — Lochaber  no  more  !"1 

But,  according  to  the  best  historians,  this  district  was 
associated  with  other  and  more  creditable  transactions  than 
the  forays  of  Montrose  and  the  cateran.  During  the  wars  of  the 
Scottish  Independence,  while  Bruce  was  retiring  southward 
with  his  army,  after  the  capture  of  the  castle  of  Inverness  and 
other  northern  fortresses,  his  progress  was  intercepted  here 
by  Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan,  on  the  25th  of  December  1307. 
Tytler  takes  no  notice  of  this  circumstance,  beyond  the  fact 
of  Comyn's  being  aided  in  his  rising  by  the  king's  nephew, 
Sir  David  de  Brechin,  and  Sir  John  Mowbray ;  but  Buchanan 
says  that  "  when  Bruce  was  come  to  the  forest  through  which 
the  river  Esk  falls  down  into  the  plains  of  Merns,  Comyn  over- 
took him  at  a  place  called  Glenesk.  Bruce,  perceiving  that 
the  narrowness  of  the  passages  was  advantageous  to  his  men, 
being  few  in  number,  stood  ready  to  fight,  expecting  his  enemy. 
Comyn  drew  out  his  army  at  length,  imagining  that  Bruce 
would  be  astonished  at  the  sight  of  such  a  multitude;  but 
seeing  that  he  stirred  not  from  the  place,  and  being  also 
conscious  of  the  weakness  of  his  own  men,  he  durst  not  draw 
them  forth  into  a  place  of  greater  disadvantage."  Comyn, 
accordingly,  found  it  advisable  to  sue  for  a  truce,  which  was 
granted  to  him  on  the  faith  of  his  retiring  from  the  contest 
and  becoming  an  obedient  subject ;  others  however  affirm,  that 

1  Laing,  Wayside  Flowers,  p.  52,  second  edition. 


GLENESK — REMAINS  ON   THE  ROWAN.  97 

on  the  approach  of  Bruce,  Buchan's  troops  immediately 
fled.1 

These  warriors  are  locally  said  to  have  fought  a  bloody  battle 
here,  and  the  artificial-looking  cairns  that  lie  scattered  along 
the  south-east  side  of  the  Eowan  are  called  the  graves  of  the 
slain,  while  the  name  of  that  hill  is  said  to  have  had  its  origin 
in  the  adventure  of  that  day,  when,  as  the  local  tradition  runs, 
the  King  rallied  his  forces  by  calling  out  Row-in  !  2  In  the 
midst  of  these  cairns,  by  the  side  of  the  old  road  across  the 
hill,  a  large  whinstone,  with  the  rudely  incised  figure  of  a 
cross,  is  pointed  out,  as  that  on  which  Bruce  planted  his 
standard,  and  another  stone,  among  the  birks  at  Ardoch, 
bearing  a  few  oblique  lines,  as  that  on  which  he  sharpened  his 
sword  after  the  engagement ! 

It  is  not  improbable  that  the  stone  bearing  a  cross  upon  it 
had  been  in  Lochlee  long  before  even  the  days  of  Bruce.  It  was 
perhaps  connected  with  St.  Drostan's  religious  establishment, 
for  "  Droustie's  Meadow "  is  at  no  great  distance  from  the 
spot,  and  as  the  stone  has  been  removed  from  another  part  of 
the  hill  and  placed  in  its  present  position  within  the  memory 
of  old  inhabitants,  it  may  have  been  brought  originally  from 
the  "  Meadow,"  or  perhaps  from  the  more  distant  site  of  the 
supposed  primitive  church  at  Droustie.  About  the  time,  how- 
ever, of  Bruce  and  Comyn's  alleged  meeting  here,  the  former  was 
so  seriously  indisposed  that  his  life  was  despaired  of,  and  on 
all  occasions  he  was  avoiding  battle.  Instead,  indeed,  of  being 
able  to  mount  a  prancing  charger,  he  was  so  weak  that  his 
soldiers  had  to  carry  him  on  a  litter,  and  he  continued  in  that 
state  down  to  the  battle  of  Barra$  near  Old  Meldrum  (which 
was  fought  on  the  22d  of  May  in  the  following  year),  when  he 
defeated  Buchan  with  great  slaughter,  and  harried  his  posses- 

•  *  Dalrymple,  Annals  of  Scot.  ii.  p.  26 ;  Tytler,  Hist,  of  Scot.  i.  p.  232  ; 
Buchanan,  Hist.  Scot.  i.  p.  225  ;  Holinshed,  Chronicle,  i.  p.  433. 

2  i.e.  "Fall  in."  The  Rowan  is  probably  "the  red-coloured  hill,"  most  of  the 
others  being  grey  with  gneissic  fragments  and  boulders.  On  remains  found  upon 
the  Rowan,  and  speculations  about  St.  Drostan,  see  Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Scot.  ii.  p.  66. 

G 


98  LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

sions.  Thus  every  circumstance  combines  to  show  that  Bruce 
never  fought  here;  and  although  elf-shot  or  flint  arrow-heads 
and  other  remains  of  early  warfare  have  occasionally  been  found 
buried  in  these  cairns,  they  may  have  belonged  to  heroes  of 
earlier  times  than  those  of  Bruce,  and  to  conflicts  unrecorded. 
Next  to  these  historical  incidents,  those  relating  to  the 
"  minerals  of  gold,  silver,  brass,  and  tin,"  which  were  first  dis- 
covered in  the  time  of  Sir  David  Lindsay,  are  the  most  remark- 
able. Both  Sir  David  and  his  brother,  Lord  Menmuir,  were 
anxious  to  ascertain  the  extent  of  these  mineral  treasures,  and 
entered  so  eagerly  upon  the  work,  that  miners  were  brought 
from  Germany  and  other  places  with  the  view  of  working  them. 
Smelting-houses  were  erected  in  various  parts  of  the  district, 
and  the  work  was  carried  on  with  much  spirit  by  a  German 
of  the  pugilistic  name  of  Fechtenburg,  whom  Lord  Menmuir 
strongly  recommended  to  his  brother  as  being  "  perfyt  in 
kenning  of  ground  and  discovering  of  metals."1  This  hap- 
pened in  1593-4,  and  it  would  appear  that  the  work  had  been 
remunerative,  for  on  the  12th  of  October  1602,  Sir  David  let  to 
Hans  Ziegler  and  his  companions  "  all  and  sundry  the  mines 
of  gold,  silver,  quicksilver,  copper,  tin,  and  lead,  and  all  other 
minerals  (except  iron  and  marmor)  within  all  the  bounds  of 
the  barony  of  Edzell  and  Glenesk "  for  the  space  of  twenty- 
five  years,  for  which  they  were  "  thankfully  to  pay  and  deliver 
the  fifth  part  of  all  and  sundry  the  saide  metals  of  gold,  silver, 
etc.,  whilk  the  said  Hans  and  his  partners  shall  happen  to  dig, 
hoik,  work,  and  win  out  of  the  said  mines."  2  From  that  period 
down  to  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  mines  were 
steadily  wrought  with  at  least  partial  success,  some  portions 
being  found  after  the  lead  was  extracted,  and  the  metal 
properly  refined,  to  yield  a  sixty-fourth  part  of  silver.3 

1  Lives,  i.  p.  343,  where  Lord  Menmuir's  letter  is  printed  in  full. 

2  Ibid.  p.  345. 

3  Mr.  Edward,  in  his  Description  of  Angus  in  1678,  says  :— "The  great-grand- 
father of  the  present  proprietor  of  Edzell  [that  is,  Sir  David  Lindsay,  who  was  knighted, 
1581]  discovered  a  mine  of  iron  at  the  wood  of  Dalbog,  and  built  a  smelting-house 


GLENESK — HISTORY  OF  THE  MINES.  99 

These  mines  however,  though  their  fame  had  become  so  great 
that  they  were  noticed  in  Camden's  Britannia  and  in  most 
topographical  books  of  the  period,  appear  to  have  fallen  into 
disuse  during  the  time  of  the  last  Lindsay  of  Edzell,  and  were 
not  again  wrought  until  1728,  when  the  South  Sea  Company 
tried  to  find  silver  in  the  mine  at  Craig  Soales  ;  but  the  over- 
seer of  the  work  being  bribed,  as  the  common  tradition  runs, 
the  speculation  was  abandoned  as  unremunerative,  and  neither 
gold,  silver,  nor  mineral  of  any  other  sort,  save  lime,  has 
since  been  tried  for.  According  to  some  accounts,  silver  is 
also  to  be  found  near  the  castle  of  Invermark ;  and  the  still 
more  precious  metal  of  gold  is  said  to  abound  in  the  Tarf, 
particularly  at  Gracie's  Linn  (a  place  so  called  from  a  person 
of  the  name  of  Gracie  having  been  drowned  there),  where  it  is 
reported  to  have  been  so  plentiful  at  one  time,  that  a  lucky  lad, 
in  passing  the  ford,  gathered  and  filled  his  pockets  with  it !  Iron 
also,  according  to  the  same  popular  tradition,  was  found  at  the 
same  place  and  at  Dalbog,  and  a  vein  of  copper  in  an  old 
quarry  at  Dalbrack, — yet,  with  all  these  temptations,  and  in 
the  recent  rage  for  gold-digging,  even  some  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Glenesk  have  shown  a  preference  for  the  distant  mines  of 
Australia,  and  it  is  not  now  likely  that  without  the  revival 
of  some  such  "  bubble  "  as  that  of  the  South  Sea  Company, 
the  mines  of  Glenesk  will  ever  again  be  wrought. 

for  preparing  the  metal.  This  gentleman's  grandson  [John  of  Edzell]  found  some 
lead  ore,  near  Innermark,  which  he  refined.  The  son  of  this  latter  [David,  the 
penultimate  laird]  found  a  very  rich  mine  of  lead  on  the  banks  of  the  Mark,  about  a 
mile  up  the  valley  from  the  castle  of  Innermark.  In  a  mountain  of  hard  rock, 
where  eighteen  miners  are  digging  deeper  every  day,  they  have  come  to  a  large  vein 
of  ore,  which,  when  the  lead  is  extracted  and  properly  refined,  yields  a  sixty-fourth 
part  of  silver.  This  vein  seems  to  be  inexhaustible."  The  mine  last  alluded  to  is 
that  of  Craig  Bristach,  or  "the  rock  of  fissures."  In  Ochterlony's  time  also  there 
was  "  ane  excellent  lead  inyne  in  Glenesk,  belonging  to  the  Laird  of  Edzell." — (Spot- 
tiswoode  Miscell.  i.  p.  320  ;  Lives,  i.  p.  345,  n.)  The  lead  is  yet  quite  visible,  and 
is  contained  in  a  vertical  seam  of  quartz  from  eighteen  inches  to  two  feet  in  thick- 
ness, and  runs  into  compact  gneiss  rock. 


100  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 


SECTION    III. 

The  mouldering  cell, 
Where  erst  the  sons  of  Superstition  trod, 
Tottering  upon  the  verdant  meadows,  tell — 
We  better  know,  but  less  adore  our  God, 

CHATTERTON. 

Traditions  of  Glenmark — "  Bonnymune's  Cave  " — Petrifying  cave — Rocking-stones 
— Druidical  remains — Colmeallie — The  circular  in  ecclesiastical  architecture — 
Cairn  at  Fernybank  explored — Archaeological  remains — Querns  at  Edzell. 

THE  historical  and  traditionary  characteristics  of  the  beautiful 
valley  of  Glenmark,  though  few,  are  not  unworthy  of  notice. 
One  of  these  belongs  to  the  history  of  the  unfortunate  young 
Edzell,  to  whom  we  have  so  often  had  occasion  to  allude,  and 
who,  while  lurking  among  the  fastnesses  in  this  quarter,  was 
unwarily  surprised  one  day  by  his  heartless  relative,  the  Earl 
of  Crawford,  and  a  band  of  followers.  Being  unarmed,  he 
bounded  from  his  pursuers  with  the  speed  of  a  roe,  and  making 
a  desperate  leap  over  a  wild  rocky  chasm  of  the  Mark,  landed 
safe  on  the  opposite  side  and  got  within  his  castle,  long  before 
his  enemies  could  make  up  with  him ;  some  of  them,  in  their 
eagerness  to  catch  him,  are  said  to  have  missed  their  footing, 
and  been  dashed  to  pieces  over  the  precipice.  Ever  since  the 
time  of  this  adventure,  the  place  has  been  known  by  the  name 
of  "  Eagil's  Loup." 

This  glen  was  as  serviceable  to  some  of  the  proscribed 
Jacobite  leaders  of  the  "  forty-five  "  as  it  was  to  young  Edzell. 
Near  the  foot  of  Curmaud  Hill,  a  large  natural  cavity,  with  a 
small  opening,  is  still  known  as  "  Bonnymune's  Cave,"  and 
there  the  rebel  laird  of  that  name  long  contrived  to  evade  his 
pursuers.  The  neighbouring  farmer  and  many  of  the  inhabi- 
tants not  only  knew  that  Balnarnoon  resided  there,  but  made 
him  their  welcome  guest  on  all  safe  occasions,  and,  notwith- 
standing heavy  bribes  and  the  vigilance  of  spies,  the  place  of 
his  resort  was  never  divulged. 


GLENESK — CAVES  AND  TRADITIONS.  101 

The  parish  clergyman  of  that  date  however,  who,  we  have 
seen,  was  the  avowed  enemy  of  Episcopacy,  was  useful  to  the 
reigning  powers  even  in  the  doubtful  capacity  of  a  public 
informer,  and  through  his  information,  it  is  said,  the  enemy 
were  put  on  the  scent  of  this  famous  fugitive.  One  cold  rainy 
day,  just  after  Balnamoon  had  gone  to  the  farm-house  to  warm 
himself,  and  while  he  was  sitting  by  the  wide  chimney  of  the 
kitchen,  a  party  of  soldiers  entered  the  house  in  search  of  him. 
The  farmer,  after  telling  them  that  he  had  not  seen  the  laird 
for  some  time  urged  them  to  partake  of  his  hospitality,  and 
at  the  same  time  gruffly  ordered  Balnamoon,  who  was  in  the 
guise  of  a  hireling  and  frightened  to  move  from  the  spot,  to 
go  and  clean  the  byres,  and  give  place  to  the  strangers.  The 
hint  was  sufficient :  Balnamoon  moved  from  the  kitchen  as  he 
best  could,  and  betaking  himself  to  his  cave  was  once  more 
beyond  their  reach.  After  leaving  Glenesk,  however,  he  was 
in  course  of  time  arrested,  but  being  set  at  liberty  in  conse- 
quence of  "  a  misnomer,"  he  retired  to  his  family  seat,  and,  as 
long  as  he  lived,  showed  his  gratitude  to  the  worthy  and  ready- 
witted  farmer  of  Glenmark,  by  making  him  his  familiar  guest 
on  all  occasions  when  he  came  to  the  low  country. 

"  Johnny  Kidd's  Hole,"  in  the  same  glen,  is  mainly  remark- 
able as  a  natural  curiosity,  and  is  so  exactly  described  by  the 
Eev.  Mr.  Edward  of  Murroes,1  that,  although  nearly  two  hundred 
years  have  since  elapsed,  the  description  is  yet  good,  and  may 
be  safely  adopted.  "  In  the  valley  of  the  Mark,"  he  writes, 
"  four  miles  west  from  Innermarkie,  there  is  a  cave  with  a 
roof  of  stone,  from  the  chinks  of  which  there  drops  some  water, 
which  petrifies  into  a  substance  resembling  crystal,  of  the  form 
of  diamonds,  with  three,  four,  and  six  sides."  It  is  not  known 
why  this  hole  received  the  homely  name  it  now  bears, — some 
say  it  arose  from  being  the  resort  of  a  freebooter,  and  others,  of 
a  shepherd,  who  bore  the  name. 

1  Edward,  Description  of  the  County  of  Angus,  1678,  now  scarce,  reprinted  in 
Warden,  Angus,  ii.  pp.  234  sq. 


102  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

In  the  same  vicinity,  and  within  a  comparatively  recent 
date,  the  rocking-stone  of  Gilfumman  was  an  entire  and  in- 
teresting object.  There  is  no  trace  of  any  so-called  Druidical 
temple  in  this  glen ;  but  being  near  Droustie,  the  rocking-stone 
may  have  had  some  effect,  in  those  days  when  Christianity  was 
seen  through  an  indistinct  and  narrow  haze,  of  inducing  St. 
Drostan  to  settle  in  Glenesk.  The  stone  was  well  known  in 
the  neighbourhood,  and  long  considered  to  be  an  infallible  dis- 
closer  of  future  events ;  but  some  mischievous  idlers  having 
removed  it  from  its  magic  pivot,  it  now  lies,  a  large  unheeded 
block,  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains. 

Of  all  so-called  Druidical  remains  the  rocking-stones  are 
by  far  the  most  wonderful.  They  are  found  in  sequestered 
dells,  and  in  the  beds  of  rivers,  but  mostly  on  the  tops  or  sides 
of  hills,  and  are  so  exactly  poised  about  three  or  four  feet  from 
the  ground,  on  one,  two,  or  three  lesser  stones,  that  a  touch 
with  the  finger,  or  a  breath  of  wind,  sets  them  in  motion.  Such 
were  the  celebrated  rocks  of  Gygonia  and  Harpassa,  mentioned 
by  Pliny  and  Ptolemy,  both  of  which  could  be  made  to  vibrate 
with  the  stalk  of  an  asphodel,  but  could  not  be  moved  from 
their  position  by  the  combined  force  of  many  individuals.  "No 
evidences  of  ancient  skill  or  of  primitive  superstitious  rites," 
says  the  learned  Dr.  Daniel  Wilson,  "  are  more  calculated  to 
awaken  our  astonishment  and  admiration  of  their  singular 
constructors.  There  is  so  strange  a  mixture  of  extreme  rude- 
ness and  great  mechanical  skill  in  these  memorials  of  the  remote 
past,  that  they  excite  greater  wonder  and  awe  in  the  thoughtful 
mind  than  even  the  imposing  masses  enclosing  the  sacred  area 
of  Stonehenge  or  the  circle  of  Stennis."  1 

Specimens  of  those  ancient  memorials  are  found  in  almost 
every  known  country,  and  uniformly  bear  names  indicative  of 
their  singular  property.  In  Phcenicia  they  are  called  Bcety-lia, 
"the  moving  or  animated  stones,"  and  are  attributed  to  the 
special  fabrication  of  Ouranos,  or  Heaven.  In  Ireland,  where 

1  Prehistoric  Annals  of  Scotland,  i.  p.  169. 


GLENESK — ROCKING-STONES.  103 

there  lately  were  eight  of  them,  they  are  called  clock- chriothir,  or 
"  trembling  stones ; "  *  while  in  England,  and  some  parts  of 
Scotland,  they  are  denominated  logan-stones,  to  which  the  Scot- 
tish word  "  shogin "  (the  act  of  shaking  backward  and  for- 
ward) seems  to  be  a  synonym.  Some  good  specimens  used  to 
be  in  various  parts  of  Scotland,  as  at  Kells,  Beith,  Kirkmichael, 
and  Dron,  but  few  are  left  in  situ,  and  fewer  are  movable. 
Until  the  year  1843,  the  county  of  Angus  possessed  two  excel- 
lent examples  in  addition  to  that  of  Gilfumnian.  These  were 
in  the  parish  of  Kirriemuir,  on  the  small  estate  of  Billhead, 
and,  as  may  be  supposed,  they  were  the  common  resort  of 
plodding  antiquarians,  and  of  all  lovers  of  national  curiosities, 
while  the  inhabitants  of  the  district  looked  upon  them  with 
all  the  veneration  and  wonder  that  the  remains  of  a  remote 
age  involuntarily  inspire;  but,  unfortunately,  those  time- 
honoured  monoliths  are  now  no  more,  having  been  blown  to 
pieces  Toy  gunpowder,  at  the  late  period  above  noticed,  and 
employed  in  building  dikes  and  drains? 

There  are  many  conjectures  as  to  the  use  of  these  monu- 
ments, but  the  general  belief  is,  that  they  were  used  for  pur- 
poses of  ordeal,  and  Toland  remarks  that  the  priests  made  the 
people  believe  that  they  alone  could  move  them,  and  that  only 
by  a  miracle.  Thus  they  condemned  or  acquitted  the  accused, 
and  often  brought  criminals  to  confess  what  in  no  other  way 
could  be  extorted  from  them.3  Mason,  in  his  excellent  tragedy 

1  Windele,  Notices  of  Cork,  p.  271. 

2  These  stones  are  thus  described  in  the  New  Stat.  Account  of  Forfarshire  (p.  176): 
"  One  of  them  is  a  block  of  whinstone,  nearly  oval,  and  is  three  feet  three  inches  in 
height,  nine  feet  in  length,  and  four  feet  ten  inches  in  breadth.     The  other,  of  Lin- 
trathen  porphyry,  is  two  feet  in  height,  eight  feet  in  length,  and  five  feet  in  breadth." 
Though  the  Druids  may  have  used  the  rocking-stones  for  religious  purposes,  it  is  not 
at  all  likely  that  they  were  connected  with  their  erection.     The  stones  are  now 
generally  regarded  as  natural  phenomena  outside  the  range  of  archaeological  inquiry. 
That  at  Beith  is  reported  to  have  been  a  mass  of  common  trap,  upwards  of  eleven 
tons  in  weight. 

3  Huddleston's  edit,  and  Scots  Magazine,  September  1805.     Toland,  who  was 
born  about  1670,  and  died  in  1722,  is  principally  known  as  a  deistical  writer  ;  but  his 
History  of  the  Druids,  which  was  written  in  a  series  of  letters  to  Lord  Moleswortb, 
and  considered  the  best  authority  on  the  subject  that  has  hitherto  appeared,  is 
now  believed  to  have  been  vastly  overrated  as  an  authority.     It  was  first  published 


104  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

of  Caractacus,  where  many  of  the  prominent  rites  of  Druidism 
are  beautifully  detailed,  remarks,  in  reference  to  the  supposed 
power  of  the  rocking  stone — 

"  It  moves  obsequious  to  the  gentlest  touch 
Of  him  whose  breast  is  pure  ;  but  to  a  traitor, 
Though  e'en  a  giant's  prowess  nerved  his  arm, 
It  stands  as  fixed  as  Snowdon." 

But  the  most  tangible  prehistoric  remains  in  Glenesk  are 
the  "  Stannin'  Stanes,"  or,  as  they  are  more  frequently  termed, 
the  Druidical  circles  of  Colmeallie.  Stonehenge  in  Wiltshire  is 
known  to  be  the  most  magnificent  of  those  ancient  monuments  in 
Great  Britain,  there  being  no  fewer  than  ninety-seven  enormous 
stones  ranged  in  circles,  covering  an  area  of  nearly  a  hundred 
acres.  All  such  relics  have  long  been  indiscriminately  called 
temples,  or  places  of  heathen  worship ;  but  from  human  re- 
mains being  found  within  many  of  them,  modern  antiquarians 
suppose  that  they  were  rather  used  as  primitive  places  of 
sepulture — an  idea  which  the  finding  of  stone  cists  within  the 
now  obsolete  circles  at  Dalbog  and  at  Balrownie  tends  greatly  to 
strengthen.1  Still  it  is  probable  that  such  places  may  have 
been  used  for  both  purposes ;  and  this  appears  the  more  likely 
from  the  fact,  that  in  the  early  ages  cemeteries  gave  rise  to 
temples  in  other  countries,  for  St.  Clement  observes  that  the 
tombs  of  the  Athenians  were  the  origin  of  all  their  churches, 
and  that  the  first  place  of  worship  in  the  Acropolis  of  Athens 
was  the  sepulchre  of  Cecrops.2 

in  1726,  and  the  best  edition  is  that  by  Huddleston,  1814.  Robert  Huddleston,  the 
learned  editor  of  this  edition,  was  a  native  of  the  parish  of  Closeburn,  Dumfries- 
shire, and  educated  first  at  the  Wallacehall  seminary  there,  and  subsequently  at  the 
University  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  took  the  degree  of  A.M.  He  was  some  time 
employed  as  a  teacher  at  Kirkmichael,  and  was  appointed  parochial  schoolmaster 
of  Lunan,  in  Forfarshire,  on  the  27th  of  August  1789.  He  was  an  industrious 
writer  on  antiquities,  a  contributor  to  the  Scots  Magazine,  and  died  on  the  27th  of 
February  1821,  aged  fifty-three,  leaving  a  widow  and  large  family. 

1  New  Statistical  Account  of  Forfarshire,  par.  STRACATHRO.     Different  parties 
contend  for  them  as  temples  for  worship,  places  for  political  assemblages,  courts  of 
law,  or  places  of  sepulture  ;  opinion  seems  gravitating  to  the  last  of  these  theories. 

2  This  is  scarcely  what  St.  Clement  Alex,  means  in  his  Protrepticus  (or  Colior- 
tatio),  c.  3,  ss.  44,  45,  which  is  the  passage  referred  to  above,  and  where,  in  arguing 
with  the  heathen,  he  says  their  heathen  temples  are  but  tombs,  euphemistically  called 


GLENESK— STONE-CIRCLES,  COLMEALLIE.  105 

A  want  of  uniformity  in  the  size  and  construction  of  these 
circles  is  also  urged  against  the  idea  of  their  having  been 
temples;  but  this  scarcely  seems  conclusive  evidence,  for 
apart  from  the  obvious  fact  that  churches  had  been  constructed 
in  early  times,  as  they  are  at  present,  to  suit  the  tastes  and 
number  of  the  population,  Socrates  of  Constantinople,  the 
continuator  of  Eusebius's  Ecclesiastical  History,  shows  that  the 
primitive  Christians  were  less  fastidious  in  the  rearing  of  their 
churches  than  is  sometimes  supposed,  for  he  says  that  the  altar 
of  even  the  great  church  of  Antioch  was  placed,  not  in  the 
east  end  of  the  fane,  as  was  then  usual,  but  in  the  west.1 

That  these  circles  have,  in  some  instances,  been  places  of 
worship  is  so  far  favoured  by  the  name,  and  the  associations 
of  that  now  under  our  notice.  Colmeallie  seems  to  be  a  corrup- 
tion of  the  Gaelic  Kil-meallie,  which  means  "  the  kirk  or  cell  on 
a  small  eminence,"  an  idea  corroborated  by  "  the  kirk  shank," 
"  the  kirk  hill,"  and  "  the  kirk  burn  " — names  that  the  hill  on 
the  north,  the  site  of  the  stones,  and  the  neighbouring  rivulet 
still  bear ;  but  no  sepulchral  remains,  such  as  those  that  were 
found  at  Dalbog  and  Balrownie,  have  ever,  so  far  as  we  have 
learned,  been  found  within  the  Colmeallie  circles.  In  the  hollow 
ground,  however,  on  the  east  side  of  them,  a  circular  patch  of 
from  four  to  six  yards  in  breadth  was  accidentally  discovered 
a  few  years  ago  in  the  middle  of  a  gravel  hillock,  containing  a 
quantity  of  black  earth  to  the  depth  of  about  four  feet.  This 
deposit  was  artificial,  and,  being  found  useful  in  improving  the 
thin  soil  on  the  farm,  the  tenant  had  the  whole  of  it  carried 
away  for  top-dressing.  Near  the  bottom  of  the  pit  some  char- 
coal was  found ;  but  there  was  no  trace  of  human  bones,  either 
calcined  or  otherwise,  or  of  any  sort  of  building. 

temples ;  he  then  illustrates  this  by  showing  instances  where  their  temples  were  first 
tombs,  and  by  alluding  also  to  a  story  in  Herodotus  iv.  34.  At  the  same  time, 
Christian  churches  and  cemeteries  were  associated  at  a  very  early  date.  (See  next 
note.) 

1  Eccl.  Hist.  lib.  v.  c.  22.  On  the  Orientation  of  churches  see  Dr.  Wm.  Smith 
and  Archd.  Cheetham,  Diet.  Christ.  Ant.  ii.  p.  1526,  and  on  the  relations  of  churches 
to  cemeteries  see  ib.  i.  pp.  329  sq.,  365  sq. 


106  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

The  circles  of  Colrneallie  are  of  the  common  concentric 
kind;  the  outer  encloses  an  area  of  forty-five  by  thirty-six 
feet,  and  consists  in  all  of  from  fifteen  to  twenty  stones,  includ- 
ing three  large  slabs  in  the  centre,  which  are  supposed  to  have 
formed  the  altar.  Some  of  tne  boulders  are  of  great  size  and 
weight,  and,  with  the  exception  of  three,  are  all  prostrated  or 
mutilated.  Those  standing  are  each  pretty  nearly  five  feet  four 
inches  above  ground ;  one  of  them  is  three  feet  nine  inches  broad, 
another  two  feet  three  inches,  and  the  third  about  one  foot  eight 
inches.  In  thickness  they  are  respectively  thirteen,  fourteen, 
and  twenty  inches.  The  largest  lies  on  the  ground,  and  is  nine 
feet  five  inches  long  by  seven  feet  five  inches  broad.  Others 
of  nearly  equal  dimensions  with  the  erect  stones  are  built  into 
the  adjoining  dike,  and  one  of  them  is  so  high  and  strong  as 
to  form  the  centre-support  or  pillar  of  a  cart-shed.  Although 
these  circles  are  erroneously  described  in  the  New  Statistical 
Account  as  being  almost  complete,  many  old  people  remember 
their  being  much  more  entire  than  they  are  now  :  but  the  late 
tenant  was  one  of  too  many  who  saw  no  use  in  going  a  little 
distance  for  building  materials  when  he  could  get  them  at  his 
door,  however  revered  or  valuable,  and,  as  his  Gothicism  was 
either  unknown  to,  or  unheeded  by,  his  landlord,  one  stone 
after  another,  as  circumstances  required,  disappeared  in  whole, 
or  was  blown  to  pieces. 

About  the  year  1830,  while  the  tenant  of  Fernybank  was 
levelling  a  hillock  in  the  haugh  between  the  farm-house  and  the 
Powpot  Bridge  (about  two  miles  north-west  of  Colrneallie),  he 
removed  a  number  of  stones  varying  in  length  and  breadth  from 
eighteen  to  twenty-four  inches.  They  were  ranged  singly,  and 
stood  upright  in  a  circle  at  short  distances  from  each  other,  en- 
closing an  area  of  about  twelve  feet  in  diameter.  On  the  knoll 
being  trenched  down,  the  encircled  part  (unlike  the  rest  of  the 
haugh,  which  was  of  a  gravelly  soil)  was  found  to  be  composed 
of  fine  black  earth;  but  on  several  cart-loads  being  removed, 
operations  were  obstructed  by  a  mass  of  stones  that  occupied 


GLENESK ARCHAEOLOGICAL  REMAINS.  107 

much  the  same  space  aiid  form  as  the  layer  of  earth.  Curiosity 
prompted  the  farmer  to  continue  his  labours  further,  but  after 
digging  to  the  depth  of  three  or  four  feet,  and  finding  stones  only, 
he  abandoned  the  work  in  despair,  without  having  discovered 
anything  worthy  of  notice.  Since  that  time,  however,  several 
pieces  of  old  warlike  instruments,  both  in  the  shape  of  flint 
arrow-heads  and  stone  hatchets,  have  been  found  in  the  same 
haugh,  and  so  late  as  1851  a  spear-head  made  of  iron,  and 
about  fifteen  inches  long,  was  also  discovered ;  it  was  much 
corroded,  but  had  part  of  the  wooden  hilt  in  it.1  Had  this  cairn 
been  thoroughly  searched  (it  being  of  a  construction  similar 
to  that  of  Balrownie,  which  will  be  noticed  in  a  subsequent 
Chapter),  it  is  probable  that  some  traces  of  sepulture  might  have 
been  found  in  it.  It  is  however  worthy  of  notice — whether 
as  relating  to  the  use  of  the  circles  at  Colmeallie,  or  to  other 
circumstances — that  a  passage  across  the  river,  near  the  site 
of  this  hillock,  is  called  "  the  Kilford,"  or  Kirkford,  while  "  the 
Kilford  Pool "  is  in  the  same  vicinity. 

A  hillock  close  to  Fernybank,  on  the  south-east  side  of 
the  Modlach  Hill,  is  still  known  as  "  the  Coort-hill,"  which  is 
perhaps  an  abbreviated  form  of  the  meaning  of  the  large  hill 
of  Modlagh,  or  "  the  law,  or  hill,  of  the  court  of  justice,"  and 
may  have  been  so  named  from  the  baron's  court  having  as- 
sembled there.  A  little  to  the  northward,  near  the  present 
mill-dam  of  Aucheen,  a  stone  coffin  was  found  nearly  sixty 
years  ago.  It  was  about  four  feet  long,  and  composed  of  rude 
slabs  at  the  top,  sides,  and  ends,  but  contained  no  tangible 
trace  of  human  remains.  A  bronze  celt,  ornamented  with  the 
herring-bone  pattern,  was  got  in  the  summer  of  1849  in  the 
well  at  Colmeallie ;  and  some  years  ago,  in  the  kiln  hillock  of 
Dalforth,  in  the  same  vicinity,  at  the  depth  of  three  or  four 
feet  in  the  gravel,  human  remains  were  discovered,  with  the 
skull  and  thigh-bones  pretty  entire,  but  there  was  no  trace  of 
stone  or  other  coffin.  The  thigh-bones  were  carried  off  by 

1  Now  in  Antiquarian  Museum,  Edinburgh. 


108  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

some  of  the  over-curious,  and  the  skull,  to  which  some  hair 
adhered,  was  long  preserved  in  the  locality. 

Elfshot,  or  flint  arrow-heads,  are  found  in  great  plenty 
throughout  the  whole  district,  particularly  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  "  Monks'  Pool ; "  but  stone  hatchets  or  "  thunder- 
bolts," as  they  are  popularly  termed,  are  rare.  Still,  during 
the  summer  of  1852,  apart  from  some  that  were  found  in 
Fernybank  haugh,  a  fine  specimen  of  these  was  turned  up  in 
the  East  Ward  field  on  Mains  of  Edzell.  It  is  formed  of  a 
tough  bluish-grey  stone,  has  not  been  much  used,  is  rather 
thicker  than  usual,  about  six  inches  long,  and  coated  with 
a  whitish  substance  not  unlike  pure  size- colour.  An  earthen- 
ware pot  was  also  found  on  this  farm  some  years  ago,  con- 
taining an  immense  quantity  of  coins,  principally  of  silver  and 
copper,  and  wholly  belonging  to  the  mints  of  Mary  and  James. 

Fragments  of  querns,  or  handmills,  have  been  got  in  many 
!  parts  of  Edzell  and  Glenesk,  but  those  found  on  the  farm  of 
Mains  of  Edzell  are  the  finest,  and  perhaps  the  largest.  No 
fewer  than  nine  of  these  curious  relics  were  preserved  by  the 
date  Mr.  Wyllie,  the  tenant  of  Mains  j1  some  of  them  were  in 
the  best  and  most  advanced  state  of  manufacture,  while  others 
were  of  the  rudest  and  most  primitive  sort.  These  were  prin- 
cipally gathered  on  the  hill  of  Drummore  (which  has  already 
been  alluded  to  as  presenting  evidence  of  having  been  peopled 
in  old  times),  and  vary  in  size  from  about  seventeen  to  twenty 
inches  in  diameter.  One  of  them,  which  was  of  native  granite, 
had  been  at  least  two  feet  in  diameter  when  in  its  original  state, 
for  although  broken,  it  was  about  two  feet  by  nineteen  inches. 
With  few  exceptions  they  were  pretty  entire  when  found,  and 
almost  all  contained,  not  only  the  hole  for  inserting  the  pin  by 
which  the  stone  was  moved  round,  but  also  that  into  which  the 
corn  was  dropped.  The  last-mentioned  specimen  was  perhaps 
peculiar  in  this  respect,  that  the  centre  hole  bore  evidence, 
on  the  under  side,  of  having  been  protected  by  a  piece  of 

1  Some  are  still  preserved  by  Mrs.  Wyllie  in  Brechin. 


GLENESK — TOPOGRAPHICAL  FEATURES.  109 

wood  or  iron  with  four  tongues.  It  need  scarcely  be  said  that 
querns  are  considered  the  most  ancient  of  all  domestic  pieces 
of  furniture,  and  were  made  of  stone  even  in  the  time  of  the 
Patriarchs.  Dr.  Wilson  is  of  opinion  that  in  Scotland,  prior 
to  the  introduction  of  stone  for  grinding  corn,  the  mill  had 
been  fashioned  of  oak,1  but  no  example  of  this  sort,  so  far  as 
we  are  aware,  has  ever  been  found  in  our  district. 


SECTION  IV. 

7  stood  in  a  romantic  pass, 

Near  which  swept  many  streams  ; 
The  ancient  mountains  pale  and  far 

Lay  like  a  land  of  dreams, 

C.  SWAIN. 

View  of  Glenesk — Want  of  wood — Shooting  lodge  at  Glenmark—  Depopulation — 
Migration  down  the  Glen — Esk  and  its  tributaries — Romantic  sites — Droustie — 
Bridges — Visited  by  Royalty — The  Queen's  well — Sudden  floods  on  the  hill 
streams  —  Tarfside  —  Maule's  cairn  —  Birks  of  Ardoch  —  The  Modlach  —  St. 
Andrew's  Tower— Death  of  Miss  Douglas — Anecdote  of  Lord  Pannmre — The 
new  road — The  Burn :  its  situation,  history,  and  improvements — Gannochy 
Bridge. 

Now  that  the  leading  features  of  the  ancient  history  of  Glenesk 
and  Edzell  have  been  shown,  a  brief  epitome  of  some  of  the 
topographical  peculiarities  of  the  North  Esk,  from  its  source 
to  the  Gannochy  Bridge,  may  not  be  unacceptable,  since  that 
river  runs  through  the  whole  length  of  these  parishes. 

Notwithstanding  that  considerably  more  than  a  century 
and  a  half  has  elapsed  since  the  great  family  of  Lindsay  ceased 
to  own  these  important  districts,  their  name,  we  need  scarcely 
repeat,  is  yet  familiarly  associated  with  both ;  and  although 
the  physical  aspect  of  the  land  has  perhaps  undergone  greater 
change  within  the  last  hundred  years  than  it  did  during  the 
whole  half  thousand  that  it  was  under  the  Lindsay  sway,  there 
is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  course  of  the  river  has  been 

1  Prehistoric  Annals,  i.  pp.  200,  212  sq.  ;  Mitchell,   The  Past  in  the  Present, 
pp.  83  sq. 


110  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

materially  altered  even  since  those  days  when  the  most  ancient 
lords  and  ladies  of  Glenesk  and  Edzell  chased  the  red  deer 
and  the  roe  along  its  banks. 

Nothing  is  more  striking  in  the  general  aspect  of  Glenesk 
than  the  scantiness  of  woods.  With  the  exception  of  several 
patches  of  the  native  birch,  and  a  few  strips  of  cultivated  firs, 
the  whole  Glen,  from  the  plantations  of  The  Burn  northward, 
may  be  said  to  owe  its  entire  beauty  to  the  high  heath-clad 
mountains  that  tower  on  all  sides  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  however,  the 
scene  was  much  more  inviting  than  it  is  now,  for  then  the 
forest  was  large,  and  the  Glen  abounded  with  "  great  plentie  of 
wood." *  Nay,  even  a  century  later,  the  hills  around  the 
venerable  tower  of  Invermark  were  covered  with  oaks  and 
pines,  and  the  castle  had  fine  approaches  shaded  by  stately 
beeches,  while,  on  the  south-east  side  of  the  hill  of  Drum,2 
there  is  apparent  evidence  that  the  land  was  once  under  the 
plough,  and  possessed  by  various  retainers  ;  but  the  ridge-marks 
are  now  scarcely  visible,  and,  barring  the  occasional  presence 
of  the  shepherd,  and  the  flocks  that  luxuriate  over  an  ample 
pasturage,  all  signs  of  a  living  human  industry  are  fled. 

But  it  is  pleasing  to  know  that  these  wilds  again  occasion- 
ally present  something  of  the  stirring  and  lively  aspect  that 
they  bore  in  the  palmy  days  of  the  Lindsays,  a  spacious 

1  Ochterlony's  Account,  c.  1682. 

8  A  gamekeeper  has  long  resided  on  this  hill.  The  exact  elevation  of  his  house 
above  the  sea  has  not  been  ascertained,  but  the  late  Rev.  Mr.  Muir  of  St.  Vigeans  (who 
made  a  barometrical  survey  of  some  of  the  neighbouring  hills)  kindly  informed  the 
author  that  the  site  of  Invermark  Castle  is  about  1000  feet  above  the  sea,  and  that  he 
guessed  the  gamekeeper's  house  to  be  about  250  feet  higher— thus  making  it  one  of 
the  highest  inhabited  places  in  Scotland,  since  the  mining  village  of  Leadhills  in 
Lanarkshire,  which  is  not  more  than  1300  feet  high,  is  said  by  all  writers  to  be  the 
highest  inhabited  of  any  place  in  the  kingdom.  He  also  remarks  that  "the  most 
striking  features  of  Glenesk  are  the  clear  instances  of  glaciers  once  pervading  that 
valley.  From  the  Loch  to  Edzell  moraines  occur  continually — one  at  Invermark 
two  miles  long,  and  the  terminal  one  at  The  Burn,  adjacent  to  the  Dooly  Tower,  are 
very  conspicuous — all  exhibiting  marks  of  a  much  colder  climate  than  the  present." 
By  the  Ordnance  Survey  the  summit  of  Craigmaskeldie,  is  2224  feet  high  above 
sea  level ;  that  of  the  Wolf  Craig,  2343 ;  Monawee,  2276 ;  Cairn  Caidloch,  2117 ; 
Braid  Cairn,  2907 ;  and  Mount-Keen,  3077. 


GLENESK — GLENMARK,  GLENLEE.        Ill 

shooting-lodge,  built  of  native  rock,  having  been  erected  by  a 
late  worthy  representative  of  the  noble  house  of  Panmure, 
whose  ancestors  (exclusive  of  the  long  interregnum  that 
followed  the  luckless  forfeiture  of  last  century)  have  been 
lords  of  Glenesk  and  Edzell  for  more  than  a  century.  The 
shooting-lodge,  built  in  1853  from  plans  provided  by  the  late 
Mr.  David  Bryce,  is  in  the  picturesque  style  of  English  cottage 
architecture,  with  a  fancy  tower  on  the  east  front ;  arid,  while 
in  harmony  with  the  huge  piles  of  surrounding  cliffs,  it  also 
forms  a  pleasing  contrast  to  the  towering  ruin  of  Invermark 
Castle,  near  to  which,  but  on  a  higher  level,  it  is  erected.  The 
whole  of  the  north-western  part  of  the  Glen  is  also  thrown 
into  a  deer-forest,  which  joins  the  extensive  preserves  of  Her 
Majesty  (with  the  forests  of  Glenmuick  intervening)  and  of  the 
Earl  of  Airlie  on  the  north  and  west,  and  those  of  the  Marquis 
of  Huntly  on  the  north-east,  thereby  forming  one  of  the  finest 
and  most  extensive  sporting  fields  in  Great  Britain. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  these  alterations  have  very  materially 
depopulated  the  Glen,  and  the  number  of  its  inhabitants, 
within  the  present  century,  has  decreased  with  great  rapidity. 
Glenlee  and  the  Bridge  of  Lee,  for  instance,  which,  together 
with  Gleneffock,  were  so  valuable  in  old  times  as  to  form  a 
part  of  the  terce  of  the  Duchess  of  Montrose,1  are  now  places 
of  apparent  insignificance,  and  almost  wholly  used  for  the 
pasture  of  sheep.  At  a  much  later  period  than  that  referred  to, 
however,  more  than  ten  families  lived  on  each  of  these  places 
for  one  that  has  done  so  for  many  years  past,  as  is  yet  to  be 
seen  by  the  ruins  of  cottages,  and  by  the  traces  of  many  fertile 
patches 

"  where  once  the  garden  smiled, 
And  still,  where  many  a  garden  flower  grows  wild." 

The  old  hamlet  of  Glenlee  is  now  scarcely  traceable,  even 
in  scattered  ruins.  The  last  of  its  inhabitants  (who  was 
known  by  the  familiar  name  of  Johnnie  Gordon)  died  during 

i  Ada  Dom.  Cancil.  Mar.  1,  1489. 


112  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

the  summer  of  1852,  and,  although  he  had  resided  little  more 
than  half  a  century  in  Glenesk,  he  remembered  Glenlee  being 
the  largest  clachan  in  the  parish.  It  was  on  the  decline  of  the 
population  in  this  or  the  upper  part  of  the  Glen,  that  the 
parish  church  was  removed  to  its  present  site ;  and  now, 
although  only  about  eighty  years  have  elapsed,  the  population 
has  been  so  reduced  in  the  district  of  Invermark,  that  the  church 
is  more  inconveniently  situated  for  most  of  the  people  than  it 
was  of  old,  when  it  stood  more  than  a  mile  to  the  westward. 
The  school  has  already  followed  the  population  to  Tarfside. 

But,  notwithstanding  that  the  face  of  nature  has  been  so 
materially  changed  here,  both  as  regards  agriculture  generally 
and  the  position  of  the  population — though  the  place  which 
knew  a  long  race  of  humble  retainers  now  knows  them  no 
more,  and  many  of  the  farms  that  lay  along  the  banks  of  the 
river  are  so  completely  incorporated  with  others  that  their  names 
are  only  traceable  in  the  national  records,  or  the  rent-rolls  and 
title-deeds  of  their  noble  owner, — still,  as  previously  said,  the 
course  of  the  North  Esk,  so  far  as  known,  has  undergone  little 
change.  This,  the  most  considerable  river  of  Angus  and 
Mearns,  is  exclusively  a  stream  of  the  former  county,  both  by 
birth  and  affiliation,  so  to  speak,  till  it  enters  the  woods  at  The 
Burn,  from  which  point,  with  a  slight  exception,  it  forms  the 
boundary  betwixt  those  shires. 

It  rises  among  the  mountains  of  Lochlee,  and  the  Unich 
and  the  Lee  are  its  original  sources.  The  former  rises  seven 
or  eight  miles  south-west  of  the  Loch,  and  the  latter  from  four 
to  five  miles  north-west.  These  two  unite  under  the  most 
northerly  ridge  of  the  majestic  mountain  of  Craigmaskeldie,  and 
are  known  from  thence,  for  a  distance  of  nearly  four  miles,  by 
the  common  name  of  The  Lee. 

The  Unich,  as  its  name  perhaps  implies,  has  a  hurried 
bustling  motion,  and  the  most  of  its  course,  from  the  Falls 
northward,  is  wild  and  rocky.  The  Falls  are  from  forty  to 
fifty  feet  in  height,  and  form  a  grand  Highland  cataract ;  but, 


GLENESK — CURIOSITIES  OF  GLENLEE.  113 

as  in  other  parts  of  the  Glen,  there  are  no  trees  near  them,  and 
the  situation  is  so  secluded  and  hemmed  in  by  mountains 
that  the  locality  seems,  as  it  were,  the  extreme  of  Creation's 
matchless  architecture. 

The  track  of  the  Lee  has  a  more  friendly  aspect  than  that 
of  the  Unich,  and,  as  the  stream  tumbles  from  the  north-east 
shoulder  of  the  Eagle  Craig  into  the  green  valley,  it  presents 
many  pretty  cascades.  A  little  below  the  junction  of  these 
rivers,  and  on  the  south  side,  about  four  hundred  feet  above 
their  channel,  the  great  basin-shaped  cavity,  called  Carlochy,  is 
scooped  from  the  heart  of  Craigmaskeldie,  and  forms  a  natural 
curiosity  of  some  interest,  particularly  to  anglers,  from  its 
abounding  with  a  scarce  sort  of  trout  called  char,  similar 
to  those  which  are  found  in  the  lake  of  Windermere  in 
Westmoreland,  and  in  Walton's  time  were  supposed  to  be 
peculiar  to  the  latter  place.  The  waters  sleep,  as  it  were,  in  the 
bosom  of  Craigmaskeldie,  in  much  the  same  way  as  do  those  in 
the  much  more  famous  Lochnagar.  Although  the  grandeur  of 
Carlochy  has  been  unsung,  and  the  cliffs  are  less  elevated  than 
those  of  Lochnagar,  it  is  very  far  from  being  destitute  of  romantic 
associations.  Here,  if  the  curious  traveller  has  courage  to 
encounter  the  glistening  adder,  and  patience  to  scramble  over 
huge  lumps  of  rock,  he  may  stumble  on  the  narrow  entrance 
to  a  dark  recess  called  Gryp's  Chamber,  where  a  notorious 
reaver  of  that  name  is  said  to  have  dwelt  for  many  years, 
issuing  at  night,  and  carrying  on  a  system  of  indiscriminate 
plunder.  It  is  a  long  dark  cavern,  with  a  large  stone  in  the 
centre,  which  the  infatuated  occupant  had  probably  used  as  a 
table.  Another  ill-fated  spot  bears  the  name  of  the  Bride's 
Bed,  so  called,  it  is  understood,  because  a  young  and  blooming 
bride  lost  her  life  there  in  crossing  the  hills  from  Clova — 
whether  by  unfair  or  accidental  means  has  not  been  recorded  ; 

"But  still,  at  the  darksome  hour  of  night 

When  lurid  phantoms  fly, 
A  hapless  bride  in  weeds  of  white 
Illumes  the  lake  and  sky  ! " 
II 


114  LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Passing  Inchgrundle,  the  Loch,  the  old  kirk,  and  the 
Monks'  Pool,  we  reach  the  point,  a  little  below  the  new  parish 
church,  where  the  waters  of  Mark  and  Branny  falling  into 
the  Lee  form  the  head  of  the  NORTH  ESK,  by  which  name 
the  stream  is  henceforth  known  for  the  whole  length  of  its 
course. 

The  river  Mark  has  its  principal  source  in  the  black  hill 
of  that  name,  and  is  by  far  the  finest  specimen  of  a  mountain 
torrent  within  the  parish.  It  traverses  a  distance  of  ten  or 
twelve  miles  through  a  singularly  romantic  valley,  which,  in 
many  places,  has  a  terrific  wildness  scarcely  surpassable;  in 
others  it  abounds  in  flat  and  undulating  swards  of  the  richest 
grass.  About  the  time  that  the  district  was  erected  into  an 
independent  parish,  the  bridge  near  the  old  castle  (and  it  is 
yet  a  substantial  and  rather  picturesque  fabric),  "  was  built  on 
general  contributions,  chiefly  by  the  parishioners."  l  Droustie, 
the  supposed  site  of  St.  Drostan's  ministry,  now  occupied  by 
the  minister's  house,  has  a  quiet  and  very  comfortable  appear- 
ance ;  but  once  upon  a  time — indeed  down  to  the  erection  of 
the  present  manse — it  was  the  busy,  and,  to  the  weary  traveller 
betwixt  Glenesk  and  Deeside,  the  welcome  scene  of  an  alehouse, 
which  not  only  furnished  the  necessary  food  and  rest  for  the 
traveller,  but  occasionally  also  some  business  for  the  parochial 
courts,  as,  in  more  cases  than  one,  instances  are  recorded  of 
several  members  of  both  sexes  having  been  admonished  and 
fined  by  the  minister  for  dipping  too  deep  in  the  nut-brown 
ale.2  Whether  the  celebrated  bard  of  The,  Minstrel  had 


1  Inscription  on  bridge,  now  almost  effaced.  The  contract  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Ross, 
schoolmaster,  and  still  preserved  at  the  Manse,  is  a  most  business-like  document. 
It  is  duly  signed  before  witnesses  "att  Droustie,"  on  14th  April  1755,  and  pro- 
ceeds as  "  minuted,  contracted,  and  agreed  upon,  betwixt  the  parties  following,  viz.  : 
John  Montgomery,  mason  in  Pitcainlich,  on  the  one  part,  and  Mr.  Alexander  Ross, 
Minister  of  the  Gospel  at  Lochlee ;  Mr.  David  Rose,  in  Woodside  of  Dunlappie ; 
Alexander  Mill,  in  Glenmark ;  Peter  Farquharson,  in  Auchronie ;  James  Jollie,  in 
Mill  of  Aucheen ;  and  Robert  Donaldson,  in  Droustie,"  for  the  contract  price  of 
£34,  but  allowing  reconsideration  of  the  terms,  if  the  contractor  can  prove  that  he 
has  been  "  yet  a  real  loser  thereby." 

*  Lochlee  Par.  Reg.  April  18,  1766,  etc. 


GLENESK — ROYAL   VISIT  AND   QUEENS   WELL.       115 

ever  partaken  of  the  good  things  of  the  place  cannot  be 
affirmed ;  but  in  his  poetical  address  to  his  old  friend  Eoss, 
after  complimenting  him  on  the  superiority  of  his  poem  of 
Helenore,  Beattie  takes  occasion  to  speak  of  this  inn  in  the 
following  manner : — 

"  But  ilka  Mearns  and  Angus  bairn 
Thy  tales  and  sangs  by  heart  shall  learn  ; 
And  chiels  shall  come  f  rae  yont  the  Cairn- 

o'-Mount,  right  voustie, 
If  Ross  will  be  so  kind  as  share  in 

Their  pint  at  Drousty  !  " 

In  1861,  this  romantic  glen  received  a  visit  from  royalty, 
when  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  and  the  late  Prince  Consort 
were  met  on  Mount  Keen  by  the  Earl  of  Dalhousie,  and  con- 
ducted through  the  glen  to  its  eastern  extremity  at  Fettercairn, 
where,  incognito,  they  spent  the  night,  and  next  day  returned 
to  Balmoral.  In  commemoration  of  their  visit,  the  Earl  after- 
wards erected  a  granite  monument  upon  the  well  at  Glenmark, 
where  the  royal  party  had  luncheon,  and  from  which  they 
drank.  It  bears  the  inscription : — 

HER   MAJESTY    QUEEN    VICTORIA, 

AND   HIS   ROYAL   HIGHNESS   THE    PRINCE    CONSORT, 
VISITED   THIS   WELL,    AND   DRANK   OF   ITS   REFRESHING   WATERS, 

ON    THE    20TH    SEPTEMBER    1861 

THE   YEAR   OF   HER   MAJESTY'S   GREAT   SORROW. 

The  basin  of  the  well  bears  the  following  legend  in  raised 
letters : — 

REST,  TRAVELLER,   ON  THIS  LONELY  GREEN, 
AND  DRINK  AND  PRAY  FOR  SCOTLAND'S  QUEEN. 

The  water  of  Effock,  which  tumbles  down  a  beautiful  glen 
on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  about  a  mile  below  the  head  of 
the  North  Esk,  is  the  only  tributary  of  that  stream  until  it 
receives  the  copious  waters  of  the  Tarf ;  St.  Fillan's  well  is 
beside  the  burn  of  Gleneffock.  The  Tarf,  second  only  to  the 
Mark,  is  one  of  the  largest  affluents  in  the  Glen,  and,  rising 
from  the  hill  of  Cat,  skirts  the  Kowan  on  the  east,  and  is 


116  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

augmented  in  its  descent  by  the  burn  of  Tennet,  along  whose 
course  we  enter  upon  a  good  pass  to  Charleton  of  Aboyne.1 
From  the  rapidity  with  which  it  rises  in  flood,  the  Tarf  is 
perhaps  the  most  dangerous  stream  in  the  parish;  and  it 
is  popularly  believed  that  the  frequency  of  the  floods  has 
swept  away  much,  if  not  all,  of  the  precious  metal,  for  which 
it  is  said  to  have  been  at  one  time  so  famous.  During  the 
great  spate  of  1829  it  rose  so  high  that  the  stone  bridge, 
which  (according  to  the  Parish  Eegister)  was  erected  for  the 
purpose  of  allowing  the  poor  "  to  pass  and  repass  in  quest  of 
their  living,"  and  for  people  "  coming  and  going  to  and  from 
the  church,"  was  neither  capacious  enough  to  allow  the  water 
free  exit,  nor  sufficiently  strong  to  withstand  its  pressure,  but 
it  bent  and  fell  in  twain,  as  if  it  had  been  a  frail  wooden 
fabric.  Prior  to  the  yielding  of  the  bridge,  the  lower  floor  of 
the  Parsonage,  and  the  fields  in  the  neighbourhood,  were 
inundated  to  a  considerable  depth,  and  here,  as  in  other  quar- 
ters, the  damage  done  to  property  was  very  great.2 

At  Tarfside,  now  the  only  hamlet  in  the  parish,  stand  the 
Episcopal  church  and  Parsonage,  which  are  remarkable  for 
their  neat  and  tidy  appearance,  on  the  west  side  of  the  stream. 
The  Parsonage  is  surrounded  by  thriving  belts  of  fir;  the 
nicely-kept  garden  contains  many  choice  and  valuable  speci- 
mens of  floral  riches,  and  the  place  seems  altogether  a  paradise 
of  peace  and  comfort.  A  school  near  the  6ast  end  of  the  bridge 
was  established  here  by  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
Christian  Knowledge  so  early  as  the  year  1760,  and  in  course 
of  time  others  were  commenced  in  connection  with  the  Epis- 
copal Church  and  the  Free.  But  all  are  now  represented  by 
the  one  handsome  Board  school  and  school-house.  The  inn 
has  disappeared,  but  the  tradesmen  still  ply  their  crafts, 
though  in  a  diminished  degree,  and  the  post-office  finds  its 

1  The  "  Eghte    passage  from  the  river  Tay  to  Deeside  across  the  mountains,  "  is 
Mounthe  Gammell  [i.e.  Gennat],  wich  lyes  from  Glenesk  to  Glentanner,  on  Dee  syde, 
and  conteins  sex  myles  of  mounthe." — (Sir  J.  Balfour's  MS.,  quoted  ut  sup.  p.  94.) 

2  For  the  bridges  in  Glenesk,  see  Jervise,  Epit.  i.  p.  131. 


GLENESK — TARFSIDE,   MISS  DOUGLAS.  117 

location  in  the  grocer's  shop,  which  is  also  the  haven  of  the 
weekly  carrier  to  and  from  Brechin. 

Apart  from  the  new  school,  the  most  considerable  building 
is  that  of  the  Mason  Lodge,  a  house  of  two  stories,  in  the  under 
flat  of  which  the  Society's  school  used  to  be  taught.  This 
branch  of  the  ancient  fraternity  of  Freemasons  is  known  as  St. 
Andrew's  Lodge,  and  was  constituted  in  due  masonic  style  by 
a  deputation  from  St.  James's  Lodge,  Brechin,  with  the  late 
Lord  Panmure  at  their  head,  on  the  22d  of  June  1821.  In 
honour  of  its  institution,  a  square  tower  of  about  twenty  feet  in 
height  was  erected  on  the  top  of  Modlach  Hill,  to  which  the 
brethren  walk  in  a  body  on  the  annual  feast  of  their  patron 
saint.  On  the  Eowan,  visible  at  a  great  distance  up  and  down 
the  glen,  Maule's  Cairn  was  erected  in  1866  by  Fox  Maule, 
Earl  of  Dalhousie,  K.T.,  G.C.B.,  to  the  memory  of  himself  and 
his  wife,  with  his  brothers  and  sisters,  whose  names  are  all 
inscribed  upon  a  slab  in  the  chambered  base  of  the  monument. 
Thus  the  Eowan  and  the  Modlach  command  the  whole  glen, 
with  their  well-defined  landmarks  for  sunshine  or  storm. 

A  little  to  the  eastward  of  Tarfside,  the  beautiful  range  of 
indigenous  wood,  called  the  Birks  of  Ardoch,  forms  a  pleasing 
contrast  to  the  general  bareness  of  the  scene.  Among  a  few 
neat  cottages  is  found  the  attractive  Retreat,  or  summer  resi- 
dence erected  by  the  late  Eear-Admiral  J.  E.  Wemyss,  who  died 
at  Wemyss  Castle,  Fifeshire,  on  3d  April  1 854.  From  this  point 
to  Millden  the  road  becomes  pretty  steep,  particularly  as  it 
approaches  the  latter  place ;  but  within  these  fifty  years  it  was 
still  more  so,  for  instead  of  winding  along  the  south  side  of  the 
Modlach,  as  it  now  does,  it  led  directly  over  its  top,  as  it  did  over 
that  of  the  Eowan,  and  on  both  of  these  hills  many  unfortunate 
travellers  lost  their  lives  in  snow-storms.  It  was  mainly  with 
the  laudable  view  of  lessening  the  number  of  these  calamities 
that  the  Masonic  body  erected  "  St.  Andrew's  Tower,"  and  had 
recesses  formed  in  its  base,  where  benighted  or  storm-bound 
travellers  could  rest  in  comparative  safety.  Yet  the  knowledge 


118  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

of  such  a  shelter,  and  an  attempt  to  gain  it,  soon  after  the 
erection  of  the  tower,  was  connected  with  one  of  the  most 
melancholy  of  the  many  sad  occurrences  of  which  the  Glen 
has  too  often  been  the  scene. 

The  incident  referred  to,  which  happened  on  the  27th  and 
28th  of  January  1827,  was  this: — The  late  Eev.  Mr.  Jolly, 
accompanied  by  Miss  Catherine  Douglas,  a  daughter  of  the 
laird  of  Brigton,  went,  on  Saturday  the  27th,  to  celebrate  a 
wedding  at  Mill  of  Aucheen,  distant  four  or  five  miles  from 
Tarfside.  It  was  a  fine  placid  day  when  the  minister  and  his 
companion  left  the  Parsonage  for  the  house  of  joy  and  merri- 
ment, and  danger  seemed  far  distant.  After  the  ceremony  was 
performed,  however,  the  sky  suddenly  assumed  a  threatening 
aspect,  and  the  minister  and  Miss  Douglas  took  their  departure 
homewards.  As  they  proceeded,  the  snow,  which  had  been 
only  a  partial  drift  before,  soon  fell  so  thick  and  fast  that  their 
path  became  covered,  and  the  unfortunate  pair  got  bewildered. 
Sometimes  they  fancied  that  they  heard  the  merry  strains  of 
the  violin  in  the  house  that  they  had  long  before  left ;  at  other 
times  that  they  could  descry  faint  gleams  of  light  peering  from 
some  lonely  cottage  window ;  and,  in  their  anxiety  to  grasp  at 
the  least  shadow  of  hope,  they  wandered  on 

"  From  hill  to  dale,  till  more  and  more  astray  ; " 

and  the  lady,  being  quite  fatigued  at  last,  and  benumbed  with 
cold,  fell  senseless  on  the  snow,  and  ere  long  became 

"  a  stiffen'd  corse  ! 
Stretch'd  out,  and  bleaching  in  the  northern  blast." 

She  expired  in  the  arms  of  her  venerable  friend,  who  continued 
to  feel  her  pulse  until  it  ceased  to  beat,  at  6  A.M.  on  the  28th ; 
and,  when  discovered  by  the  people  who  had  gone  in  search  of 
them,  Mr.  Jolly  was  so  enfeebled  by  cold  and  exhaustion  that 
he  could  not  possibly  have  survived  much  longer. 

The  long  dreary  hill  of  the  Modlach  is  skirted  on  the  south- 
east by  the  water  of  Turret,  which  has  its  source  in  the  springs 


GLENESK AUCHMULL  BRIDGE  AND  ROAD.        119 

of  Mount  Battock,  or  "  the  hill  of  groves."  This  stream  has 
also  much  of  the  rugged  characteristic  of  the  rivers  before 
noticed,  and  is  the  boundary  line  of  the  parishes  of  Lochlee 
and  Edzell.  On  the  east,  or  Edzell  side  of  the  Turret,  between 
the  bridge  and  the  Esk,  the  plain  comfortable  shooting-lodge  of 
Millden,  built  by  the  late  Lord  Panmure,  stands  on  a  rising 
ground,  surrounded  by  some  thriving  trees.1  Here  his  Lordship 
delighted  to  spend  the  summers  of  his  later  years  and  con- 
verse with  his  tenantry,  as  he  did  of  yore  when  he  wandered 
in  disguise  through  his  princely  possessions.  Of  those  wan- 
derings many  humorous  stories  are  told,  but  a  single  incident 
may  suffice.  One  cold  rainy  evening,  habited  as  a  gaberlunzie, 
he  entered  a  lonely  cottage  and  begged  for  quarters.  Having 
a  homely  welcome  from  the  tenant,  a  lone  old  woman,  who  sat 
spinning  at  a  crazy  wheel,  he  seated  himself  by  the  side  of  her 
ill-furnished  ingle,  and  soon  made  himself  acquainted  with  her 
circumstances,  which  he  found  to  be  very  far  from  luxurious. 
He  then  began  to  grumble  about  the  "  weeness  of  the  fire,"  at 
which  the  good  dame,  aware  of  the  old  proverb,  that  "  beggars 
shouldna  be  choosers,"  was  a  little  surprised,  and  assured  her 
guest  that  she  had  no  more  fuel  in  the  house.  On  this  he 
grew  wroth,  and  seizing  the  spinning-wheel,  exclaimed,  "I'll 
soon  make  fire ; "  then,  in  spite  of  all  her  exertions  and  entrea- 
ties, he  stuffed  "the  rock  an'  wee  pickle  tow"  into  the  flame, 
and,  heaping  the  body  and  limbs  of  the  wheel  over  all, 
spread  a  degree  of  light  and  warmth  throughout  the  cottage  to 
which  it  had  been  a  stranger  for  many  a  long  year.  The  poor 
woman,  as  may  be  supposed,  was  in  great  distraction  at  the 
loss  of  her  "bread-winner;"  but  when  her  guest  had  warmed 
himself  to  his  heart's  content,  and  become  tired  of  listening  to 
her  vociferations,  he  succeeded  in  turning  her  scolding  into 
praise,  and  the  bounties  of  her  mischievous  guest  were  ever 
after  the  theme  of  her  grateful  heart. 

1  Fernybank  shooting  lodge  was  erected  in  1861  by  Colonel   David  Guthrie. 
Carlogie,  then  Provost  of  Brechin. 


120  LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

The  so-called  Druidical  remains  of  Colmeallie  have  already 
been  described,  as  well  as  the  historical  associations  of  the 
castle  of  Auchmull.  It  may,  however,  be  observed,  that 
though  the  foundations  of  this  fortalice  are  barely  traceable, 
the  situation  of  the  whitewashed  farm-house,  the  rugged 
channel  of  the  stream,  the  fertile  garden  stretching  towards  the 
burn,  the  bridge  and  valley  below,  have  much  picturesque- 
ness  and  beauty.  Before  the  erection  of  the  present  bridge 
across  the  burn  of  Auchmull,  the  Glenesk  road  lay  near  the 
North  Esk — indeed,  it  almost  skirted  its  banks  at  this  part, 
and  much  skirmishing  passed  between  the  laird  of  The  Burn 
and  the  people  in  the  Glen  before  the  old  track  was  changed ; 
part  of  it  went  through  what  are  now  The  Burn  policies. 

Mr.  Shand,  at  that  time  the  proprietor,  attempted  to  effect 
his  purpose  without  consulting  the  people  of  Glenesk,  who,  of 
course,  were  deeply  interested  in  the  matter ;  and,  by  way  of 
retaliation,  they  no  sooner  saw  one  week's  work  completed  than 
they  went  under  night  and  destroyed  it,  so  that  before  he  could 
make  progress  with  his  improvement,  he  had  to  agree  to  defray 
the  greater  part  of  the  expenses  of  the  new  road  and  bridge, 
to  which  he  had  previously  refused  to  contribute.1  Nearly 
opposite  to  the  burn  of  Auchmull,  but  almost  hidden  from  the 
view  of  the  traveller  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  are  the  bridge 
and  burn  of  Moorau,2  the  vicinity  of  which  is  perhaps  the  most 
romantic  part  of  the  course  of  the  North  Esk,  not  even  except- 
ing the  locality  of  the  Gannochy  Bridge.  Nothing  can  surpass 
the  grandeur  of  the  rocks  at  this  place,  which,  apart  from  the 
surrounding  birks  of  Carneskcom,  are  shaded  by  a  cluster  of 
other  trees  of  great  effulgence  and  beauty;  while  a  roofless 
cot-house,  near  the  end  of  the  bridge,  long  greatly  enriched  the 

1  The  bridge  bears  this  inscription  : — "  1820 ;  Built  by  the  Honourable  WILLIAM 
MAULE  of  Panmure,  M.P.,  and  JOHN  SHAND  of  The  Burn,  Esq. — Mr.  SHAND  having 
contributed  to  this  Bridge  and  Road  one  hundred  guineas,  as  a  mark  of  his  Friend- 
ship for  his  Neighbours  in  the  Waterside  and  Glenesk. — Q.  D.  B. ;  J.  A.  ^Edif." 

2  From  the  Mooran  a  supply  of  water  was  taken  to  Brechin  in  1874  at  a  cost  of 
about  £18,000,  the  ceremony  of  letting  on  the  water  being  performed  by  the  late 
Earl  of  Dalhousie. 


GLENESK — THE  BURN,  LORD  A.  GORDON.     121 

landscape,  and  unconsciously  suggested  the  presence  of  some 
"  auld  Mause," 

"  that  for  sma'  price 

Can  cast  her  cantrips  an'  gie  sage  advice, 
Can  overcast  the  night,  an'  cloud  the  moon, 
An'  inak'  the  deils  obedient  to  her  croon  ! " 

Within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  Auchmull,  the  North  Esk 
enters  the  woods  of  The  Burn,  and  thence  forms  in  general  the 
boundary  betwixt  the  counties  of  Angus  and  Mearns.  It  has 
hitherto  traversed  solely  the  property  of  Lord  Dalhousie,  and, 
as  it  now  divides  these  shires,  so  does  it  the  possessions  of  that 
nobleman  on  the  west  from  those  of  Colonel  M'Inroy  on  the 
east,  and  sweeps  along  a  course  of  several  miles,  that,  for  extent 
of  rugged  wildness  and  silvan  beauty,  surpasses  anything  betwixt 
it  and  the  famous  Hall  of  Ossian.  It  would  be  idle  to  attempt 
a  description  of  "the  dread  magnificence"  of  the  scene;  but 
we  cannot  help  observing,  that  of  all  points  of  the  river,  apart 
from  the  above,  none  is  perhaps  more  strikingly  romantic  than 
its  entrance  into  the  woods  a  little  above  the  Dooly  Tower,  and 
just  below  the  burn  of  Mooran.  Here  the  stream  is  confined 
into  a  very  narrow  space  by  a  great  mass  of  clay-slate,  to 
which  the  ceaseless  action  of  the  water  has  imparted  so  fan- 
tastic and  picturesque  forms  that  the  rocks  seem  to  grow,  as  it 
were,  out  of  the  channel  in  a  flat-sided,  conical  form,  with 
sharp  sword-like  points,  rising  from  thirty  to  forty  feet  above 
the  river,  and  in  snow  or  frosty  weather  they  present  quite 
the  appearance  of  so  many  icebergs  in  miniature.  One  of  the 
cliffs,  on  the  west  side,  is  enriched  by  a  fine  vein  of  jasper, 
stretching  down  the  whole  depth  of  the  cliff,  and  varying  from 
about  one  to  twelve  inches  in  breadth.1 

The  North  Esk  is  believed  to  have  overflowed  the  lands  of 
The  Burn  in  ancient  times,  and  evidences  yet  remain,  both  in 

1  For  a  lengthened  and  minute  description  of  the  geological  varieties  of  the  channel 
of  the  North  Esk,  etc. ,  see  Colonel  Imrie's  paper,  with  Plate  showing  the  geological 
formations  to  the  top  of  Mount  Battock,  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society 
of  Edinburgh,  vi.  pp.  3  sq. 


122  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

the  quality  of  the  soil  and  in  the  appearance  of  the  neighbour- 
ing lands,  to  prove  the  truth  of  this.  Down  to  about  the  year 
1780,  when  Lord  Adam  Gordon  bought  The  Burn,  the  now 
beautifully  ornamented  and  wooded  banks  of  the  North  Esk, 
together  with  the  lands,  were  almost  destitute  of  trees  or 
shrubs,  and  of  all  sort  of  cultivation.  No  sooner,  however,  had 
Lord  Adam  acquired  possession,  than  the  work  of  improve- 
ment began  to  manifest  itself — the  barren  heath  was  broken  up, 
and  means  employed  to  render  it  available  for  the  production 
of  crops  and  forest  trees.  A  spacious  mansion-house  was  reared 
in  1791,  and  excellent  gardens  and  extensive  plantations  laid 
out.  Even  the  hill  and  banks  on  the  opposite  side  (the  pro- 
perty of  Lord  Panmure)  were  made  available  by  Lord  Adam  for 
beautifying  purposes,  and  these  he  covered  with  plantations  to 
the  extent  of  about  ninety  acres,  from  which  he  could  never 
reap  the  slightest  pecuniary  advantage.  It  has  indeed  been 
well  said  that  "  there  is  perhaps  not  another  instance  of  such 
a  disinterested  disposition  to  ornament  a  country  as  this  by 
Lord  Adam  Gordon,"  who,  in  less  than  a  score  of  years, 
"  created  a  desert  into  an  Arcadian  grove  I"1 

The  road  by  the  Gannochy  Bridge  divides  the  properties 
of  The  Burn  and  Arnhall,  both  of  which,  under  the  designation 
of  the  latter,  formed  a  barony  belonging  to  the  noble  house  of 
Southesk  down  to  a  comparatively  recent  date.  Some  memen- 
toes of  the  occupancy  of  that  family  are  yet  visible  on  a  sculp- 
tured stone  at  the  Chapelton  of  Arnhall,  and  in  some  parts 
of  the  old  mansion-house.2  It  was  from  the  grandfather  of 

1  Robertson,  Agricultural  Survey  of  Kincardineshire. 

2  These  relics  of  the  Southesk  family  consist  of  a  stone,  built  into  the  wall  of  a 
cottage  at  Chapelton,  bearing  an  erroneous  sculpture  of  the  family  arms,as  the  spread 
eagle,  instead  of  being  single,  is  double  headed.    These  initials  and  dates,  which  refer 
to  the  second  and  fifth  Earls,  are  also  upon  it — "ANNO  •  1668  •  E  .  I  :  E  •  I  •  S  • 
1704 ; "  and,  within  the  house  of  Arnhall,  but  now  plastered  over,  is  the  date  1669,  as  is 
also  1709  over  the  front  door.    In  1691,this  barony  consisted  of  the  following  farms  :— 
Mayns,  Milne  Eye  of  Disclune,  and  Milne  Lands,  Inch,*  Chapeltoune  and  Hill  of 

*  The  tenant  of  Inch  of  Arnhall,  whose  surname  was  Pressock  (see  Old  Rental-Book),  was 
bound  in  the  lease  of  his  farm  to  render  a  certain  quantity  of  ropes  made  from  the  roots  of 
treesdug  from  the  north  moss  of  Arnhall.— {Inf.  from  the  late  W.R.  Valentine,  farmer,  Bogmulr, 
who  had  seen  the  old  tack  of  Inch,  and  was  a  descendant  of  Pressock.) 


GLENESK — GANNOCHY  BRIDGE.  123 

the  present  Earl  of  Southesk,  in  1783  and  1796,  that  Lord 
Adam  Gordon  and  Mr.  Brodie  purchased  The  Burn  and  Arn- 
hall.  On  the  death  of  the  former  gentleman  in  1801,  the 
latter  added  The  Burn  lands  to  Arnhall,  and  continued  the  im- 
provement which  had  been  so  ably  begun  by  his  predecessor. 
Since  then,  both  estates  have  been  under  one  proprietor,  and 
Mr.  Brodie  was  succeeded  by  his  only  child,  the  Duchess  of 
Gordon,  who  disposed  of  her  patrimony  in  1814  to  Mr.  Shand, 
a  West  India  merchant,  from  whose  trustees  the  estates  were 
purchased  by  Colonel  M'Inroy,  now  Convener  of  Kincardine- 
shire. 

The  vicinity  of  the  Gannochy  Bridge  (on  the  Edzell  side  of 
which  a  shooting  lodge  was  erected  in  1853)  has  long  been  an 
object  of  admiration  to  the  lovers  of  sublime  and  romantic 
scenery.  The  picturesque  view  from  it  both  up  and  down 
the  river,  particularly  after  heavy  rains,  can  scarcely  be  over- 
rated ;  and  here  the  language  of  Thomson  is  peculiarly  appli- 
cable— 

"  Nor  can  the  tortured  wave  here  find  repose  : 
But,  raging  still  amid  the  shaggy  rocks, 
Now  flashes  o'er  the  scattered  fragments,  now 
Aslant  the  hollowed  channel  rapid  darts  ; 
And  falling  fast  from  gradual  slope  to  slope, 
With  wild  infracted  course,  and  lessen'd  roar, 
It  gains  wafer  bed,  and  steals,  at  last, 
Along  the  mazes  of  the  quiet  vale." 

The  bridge  was  originally  built  in  the  year  1732,  at  the  sole 
expense  of  James  Black,  then  tenant  of  the  adjoining  farm  of 
"Wood  of  Edzell,  who  also  left  fifty  merks  in  the  hands  of  the 
kirk-session  of  Fettercairn  for  "  supporting  and  upholding  the 
bridge,"  of  which  he  is  said  to  have  built  the  parapets  with  his 
own  hands.1  It  was  then  only  half  its  present  width,  and 

Dillydyes,  Bogge-side,  Moss-end,  Dean-Strath,  Steill-Strath,  Tillytogles,  Burne, 
Satyre,  and  Wood-myres.  The  number  of  tenants  on  these  was  nearly  seventy ; 
and  the  gross  rental  amounted  to  185  bolls  2  firlots  2  pecks  and  3  lippies  bear; 
296  bolls  3  pecks  meal ;  £906,  Os.  8d.  Scots  ;  74|  capons,  65  hens,  and  440  poultry.— 
(Southesk  Rental-Book,  1691  to  1710  inclusive,  in  possession  of  Earl  of  Southesk.) 
1  Old  Stat.  Ace.  Scot.  iv.  p.  18  ;  infra,  p.  130. 


124 


LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 


remained  so  down  to  1795,  when  it  was  widened,  as  it  now 
stands,  by  Lord  Pamnure  and  Lord  Adam  Gordon.  The  tradi- 
tional origin  of  this  bridge,  as  preserved  by  Black's  relatives, 
is  nearly  as  romantic  as  the  site  of  the  bridge  itself.  This 
worthy  man,  who  had  no  family,  was  understood  to  be  wealthy, 
and,  as  his  neighbours  had  often  experienced '  the  incon- 
venience of  round-about  roads,  and  the  dangerous  fords  of  the 
North  Esk,  and  were  aware  at  the  same  time  of  his  "  weak 
side"  and  heavy  purse,  they  adopted  the  following  wily 
scheme  that  induced  the  farmer  to  confer  this  great  and  last- 
ing boon  on  the  district.  During  the  winter  of  1731,  when 
several  lives  were  lost  in  the  river,  the  spirit  of  one  of  those 
unfortunate  individuals  is  said  to  have  called  upon  him  on 
three  successive  nights,  and  implored  him  to  erect  the  bridge,  and 
save  further  loss  of  life.  Unable  to  find  peace  of  mind,  or  to 
withstand  the  injunction  of  his  nocturnal  visitor,  Black  yielded 
to  this  request,  and  had  the  bridge  erected  at  the  very  spot 
that  the  spirit  pointed  out ! 


IRON  GATE  AT  INVERMARK  CASTLE. 


CHAPTER    III. 


SECTION  I. 

Lone  Navar  s  church-deserted  tombs. 

Beneath  those  rugged  elms,  that  yew-tree's  shade, 

Where  heaves  the  turf  in  many  a  mouldering  heap, 

Each  in  his  narrow  cell  for  ever  laid, 
The  rude  forefathers  of  the  hamlet  sleep. 

GRAY'S  'ELEGY.' 

Navar  and  Letbnot  —  Lethnot  a  prebend  of  Brechin  Cathedral  —  Ministers  —  St.  Mary's 
Well  —  Episcopacy  in  Navar  —  Rev.  John  Bow,  parish  minister  —  Monumental 
inscriptions—  "  Dubrach  "  —  His  great  age  —  "His  Majesty's  oldest  enemy"  — 
"  Lady  Anne  "  —  Navar  belfry  and  bell  —  Jonathan  Duncan,  Governor  of  Bombay. 

As  shown  in  the  preceding  Chapter,  the  districts  of  Lethnot  and 
Glenesk  were  served  of  old  by  one  clergyman,  who  preached 
twice  at  the  former  place  for  every  once  that  he  did  so  at  the 
latter  ;  but  in  1723,  when  Glenesk  or  Lochlee  was  erected  into 
a  separate  charge,  the  parish  of  Navar  was  joined  with  Lethnot 
in  its  stead.  The  road  by  which  the  minister  went  to  Glenesk 
by  the  Clash  of  Wirran  still  bears  the  name  of  the  Priest's  Road, 
and  is  the  nearest,  though  the  most  steep  and  lonely,  way  from 
Brechin  to  Lochlee. 

Navar  was  only  divided  from  Lethnot  by  the  West  Water, 
and  the  churches  lay  within  a  mile  of  each  other.  Both  were 
attached  to  the  bishopric  of  Brechin,  and,  for  some  time  after 
the  Reformation,  were  under  the  superintendence  of  one  minis- 
ter, who  had  also  Edzell,  Lochlee,  and  Dunlappie,  for  in  the 
year  1574  James  Foullartoun  had  a  stipend  from  the  first  two 
of  some  twenty-six  pounds  Scots,  while  each  had  its  own 
reader,  with  salaries  of  twenty  pounds  apiece.1 

1  The  etymology  of  LETHNOT  seems  doubtful,  and  "  Lethnoth"  is  the  spelling  in 
the  ancient  Taxatio  ;  but  some  suppose  that  Levenach  was  the  original  name,  and 


126  LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

The  church  of  Lethnot,  rated  in  the  ancient  Taxatio  at 
twenty  pounds,  was  erected  into  a  prebend  of  the  cathedral  of 
Brechin  in  1384,  by  Sir  David  Lindsay  of  Glenesk,1  afterwards 
first  Earl  of  Crawford,  and  large  mortifications  were  made  out  of 
some  of  the  lands — such  as  from  Drumcairn  and  Finnoch2 — 
both  to  the  parent  cathedral  and  to  the  monastery  of  the  Grey- 
friars  in  Dundee,  not  only  by  the  first  Earl  and  the  Countess 
Marjory,  but  also  by  "  a  rycht  noble  and  mychtie  prince  David, 
Duk  of  Montrose,  and  Erie  of  Craufurde,"  who  endowed  a 
religious  service  from  these  lands,  for  the  safety  of  his  own  soul 
and  those  of  his  progenitors  and  successors,  as  also  for  that  of 
his  benefactor,  the  unfortunate  James  in.  For  all  of  these  a 
daily  mass  was  to  be  said,  and  requiem  sung,  at  the  altar  of  Our 
Lady,  by  the  whole  convent,  which  was  to  be  "  opinly  callit 
the  Duk's  mess  of  Montross."3  Drumcairn  lies  adjacent  to  the 
kirk  of  Lethnot,  and  its  rental,  with  that  of  Clochie  and  Mill 
of  Lethnot,  was  enjoyed  by  Lord  Menmuir,  as  lay  parson  of 
the  parish,  during  a  part  of  the  subsequent  century. 

The  first  Prebendary  of  Lethnot  was  William  de  Inverpeffer. 
He  was  succeeded  by  John  de  Angus,  and  persons  bearing  the 
names  of  Adam  de  Inrepeffre,  and  Eue  de  Anegos,  both  of  the 
shire  of  Forfar,  swore  fealty  to  Edward  in  1296,4  and  to  these 
families  both  Prebendaries  may  have  been  related.6  William 
Wrycht  succeeded  Angus  in  the  kirk  of  Lethnot,  and  on  his 
decease,  in  the  year  1410,  the  second  Earl  of  Crawford  pre- 
sented his  "  beloved  cousin,"  Andrew  de  Ogilvy,  clerk  of  the 
diocese  of  Dunkeld,6  and  son  of  Sir  Alexander  de  Ogilvy, 
Sheriff  of  Forfar.  In  1435,  the  then  Prebendary  David  de 

then  the  meaning  would  be  "the  elm-field."  The  Brit.  Neth-var  (and  "  Netheuer " 
is  the  oldest  spelling  of  NAVAB)  may  mean  "  whirling  streams,"  and  is  not  inappli- 
cable to  the  motion  of  the  burns  which  run  through  the  district,  but  this  etymology 
is  very  doubtful. 

1  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  i.  p.  21. 

2  Drum-cairn,  "the  ridge  of  cairn." — Fionach,  "the  white  field." 

8  Crawford  Case,  p.  45  ;  and  Original  Dukedom  of  Montrose  Case,  p.  15. 

4  Ragman  Rolls,  p.  126. 

8  From  Reg.  de  Aberbrothoc,  p.  165,  it  appears  that  Walkelyn,  the  king's  brewer, 
was  the  first  of  the  Inverpeffer  family.  He  had  a  grant  of  the  lauds  of  Inverpeffer, 
near  Arbroath,  from  William  the  Lion,  about  A.D.  1200,  and  assumed  his  surname 
from  that  property.  6  Reg.  Ep.  Br.  i.  pp.  29,  71  sq. 


LETHNOT— CHURCH  AND  MINISTRY.  127 

Ogilvy  (who  was  of  the  same  family  as  Andrew)  was  charged 
with  the  non-payment  of  an  annual  from  Lethnot  to  the  cathe- 
dral of  Brechin ;  and,  from  the  fact  that  the  debt  was  found  to 
have  been  partly  paid  to  Bishop  Patrick  (in  so  far  as  in  his 
time  a  strong  white  horse,1  with  the  use  of  a  horse  and  cart,  was 
given  to  carry  stones  to  the  building  of  the  campanile  or  belfry  of 
the  church  of  Brechin  in  1354-84),  when  Sir  Henry  de  Lichton 
was  the  renter  of  the  church  (i.e.  of  the  teinds), — pretty  sub- 
stantial proof  is  afforded  regarding  the  time  of  the  erection  of 
the  steeple  or  spire  of  that  cathedral.  But  the  parsons  of 
Lethnot  were  not  always  messengers  of  peace,  as  John  Lindsay, 
son  of  Lindsay  of  Barras,  and  minister  at  Lethnot,  was  engaged 
in  the  tumult  in  Edinburgh  which  ended  in  Lord  Spynie's 
death,  and  was  outlawed  with  the  others  in  1607.2  From  Mr. 
Lindsay,  the  present  minister  (Mr.  F.  Cruickshank,  A.M.)  is 
the  eleventh  in  succession.3 

It  is  unknown  to  what  particular  saint  the  church  of  Navar 
was  dedicated,  but  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  patron  of  Lethnot, 
and,  during  the  incumbency  of  the  late  Mr.  Symers,  several 
votive  offerings,  consisting  of  pieces  of  silver  money,  were 
found  in  the  fountain  near  the  church,  which  still  bears  the 
name  of  St.  Mary's  Well ;  and  the  old  baptismal  font — a  plain 
circular  stone  basin — has  been  rescued  for  some  years  past  from 
the  ignoble  purposes  to  which  it  had  come  to  be  applied,  and 
now  stands  in  front  of  the  church. 

Here,  as  in  Glenesk,  Episcopacy  was  held  in  great  esteem, 
and  the  chapel,  which  stood  at  the  Clochie,  was  also  burned  to 
the  ground  in  1746.  It  is  preserved  in  tradition,  that  the 
soldiers  forced  the  farmer,  who  was  a  keen  Jacobite,  to  carry 
burning  peats  from  his  own  hearth,  and  straw  from  his  own 
barn,  and  that  standing  with  drawn  swords  over  him,  they  made 
him  set  fire  to  his  own  humble  meeting-house.4  This  failed, 

1  Reg.  Ep.  Br.  i.  p.  74  :  "  unum  magnum  equum  album." 

2  Lives,  i  p.  386.  *  Scott,  Fasti,  vi.  pp.  832,  852. 

4  Tradition  further  adds  that  the  women  of  Ba'field,  on  hearing  what  was  proposed, 
ran  to  save  their  books  from  the  building,  but  the  soldiers  ungallantly  prevented  an 
old  woman  from  rescuing  her  favourite  stool,  which  was  thrown  back  to  the  flames  ! 


128  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

however,  to  have  the  desired  effect,  for  though  the  nest  was 
destroyed,  the  rooks  still  lingered  around  their  native  haunts, 
and  profited  as  much  by  the  exhortation  of  their  pastor  in 
the  open  fields,  as  they  had  done  before  in  their  quiet  church. 
At  a  later  date  (as  before  noticed),  the  remains  of  Mr.  Eose,  in 
whose  lifetime  those  unseemly  transactions  occurred,  were 
peacefully  laid  within  the  walls  of  the  parish  church  of  Lethnot, 
distant  only  a  short  way  from  this  luckless  scene  of  his  labours. 
It  was  perhaps  from  the  reverence  in  which  Episcopacy  was 
held  here  that  the  prayer  of  the  Navarians  to  be  exempted  from 
compliance  with  the  terms  of  the  Disarming  Act  of  1 748  was 
refused ;  for  although  they  insisted  that  they  were  out  guarding 
the  district  against  the  rebels,  their  swords  and  guns  were 
seized  by  the  Government.  The  same  cause  may  have  retarded 
the  formation  of  a  kirk-session,  as  it  was  not  until  the  late 
period  of  1749  (a  lapse  of  nearly  thirty  years  from  the  dis- 
junction of  Lethnot  and  Lochlee,  and  the  union  of  the  former 
with  Navar)  that  a  parochial  court  was  formed. 

The  church  of  Lethnot  has  always  stood  in  the  same  place, 
and  the  foundation  of  the  present  edifice  was  laid  on  the  5th  of 
July  1827,  "in  due  masonic  order"  (as  related  by  a  contem- 
porary newspaper),  "  in  presence  of  a  number  of  the  brethren  of 
the  mystic  tie  and  surrounding  tenantry."  The  dates  of  some 
of  the  early  repairs  of  former  buildings,  if  not  the  time  of  their 
erection,  are  preserved  by  two  stones  which  form  the  base  of  the 
belfry,  and  bear  respectively,  "—1672  •  N,"  and  "  17  •  J  •  E .  42." 
The  first  date  refers  to  the  incumbency  of  a  Mr.  Eobert  Noray, 
of  whom,  beyond  the  name,  little  is  known  in  the  district, 
except  that  he  had  been  Eector  of  the  Grammar  School  in 
Brechin;1  but  the  memory  of  Mr.  John  Bow,  to  whom  the  latter 
belongs,  is  still  gratefully  remembered.  He  was  schoolmaster 
of  Lethnot,  was  subsequently  appointed  to  the  church  of  Navar, 
and,  on  the  removal  of  the  minister  of  Lethnot  to  Lochlee  in 
1723,  he  succeeded  to  the  charge  of  the  united  parishes  of 
Navar  and  Lethnot,  the  duties  of  which,  in  a  time  of  great 

i  Scott,  Fasti,  vl  p.  832. 


LETHXOT — REV.  JOHN  ROW.  129 

trial  and  danger,  he  performed  with  all  the  assiduity  and 
disinterestedness  of  a  faithful  minister,  looking  as  carefully 
after  the  temporal  as  the  spiritual  interests  of  his  flock — 
travelling  constantly  through  his  parish,  teaching  the  younger 
cattle-herds  the  rudimentary  parts  of  education,  as  there  was  no 
public  school  in  the  parish,  and  instructing  the  older  in  Bible 
knowledge  and  moral  rectitude.  At  his  death  he  left  many 
important  benefactions  to  the  parish,  such  as  a  mortification  of 
ten  pounds  for  the  support  of  the  bridge  of  Lethnot,  which 
was  erected  in  1 725,  mainly  at  his  urgent  application,  extending 
even  to  threats  of  resignation.1  As  was  the  custom  of  the  time, 
he  was  buried  within  the  church,  and  a  tablet  there,  bearing 
the  following  inscription,  commemorates  his  "  good  works  : " — 

"  1747. — Here  lies  what  was  mortal  of  the  late  Reverend  Mr.  JOHN 
Row,  minister  of  the  Gospel  in  the  united  parishes  of  Navar  and  Lethuot, 
who  discharged  the  sacred  office  with  unwearied  diligence  in  the  first  of 
these  parishes  alone  for  5  years,  and  afterwards  in  both  together  for  22 
years,  and  whose  labours,  through  the  blessing  of  God,  produced  such 
effects  as  convinced  all  who  observed  them  that  he  had  neither  run  unsent, 
nor  spent  his  strength  in  vain.  He  died  upon  the  24  day  of  Decr  1745, 
while  the  Nation  was  distracted  with  civil  wars,  but  had  the  pleasure  to  see 
his  People  adhering  to  their  religion  and  liberties,  while  many  others  had 
joined  those  who  wanted  to  overturn  both  ;  and  soon  after  Affairs  had  taken 
such  a  turn  as  he  had  foretold,  both  in  public  and  private,  the  disturbers  of 
our  peace  being  dispersed  by  ye  glorious  Duke  of  Cumberland.  His  spouse, 
ELIZABETH  YOUNG,  who  had  lived  43  years  married  with  him,  died  upon 
the  8  day  of  Septr  1746,  and  was  interred  beside  him." 

The  above  monument  to  Mr.  Eow,  and  another  erected  by 
his  successor  in  the  parish,  Rev.  William  Davidson,  in  memory 
of  two  of  his  sons,  are  within  the  church,  while  a  very  sub- 
stantial and  elegant  monument  stands  in  the  churchyard  to  the 
memory  of  the  Eev.  Al.  Symers,  who  died  in  1842.  The  only 
mottoes  in  the  graveyard  worthy  of  particular  notice  are  the 
two  that  follow.  One  of  them  is  interesting  as  being  on  the 
gravestone  of  the  philanthropic  founder  of  the  Gannochy  Bridge; 
and  the  other  (apart  from  the  painful  occurrence  it  cominemo- 

1  See  the  history  of  the  bridge,  being  a  paper  read  by  the  parish  minister  to  the 
Presbytery,  in  Montrose  Standard,  7th  October  1879. 


130  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

rates)  is  valuable  as  the  composition  of  Dr.  Beattie,  author  of 
"  The  Minstrel."  Both  these  tombs  are  of  the  chest  form.  The 
monument  to  Mr.  Black  presents  various  implements  of  hus- 
bandry, and  a  boldly  executed  figure  of  the  sower  in  the 
parable — that  of  the  reaper,  which  was  on  it  and  visible  till 
lately,  having  been  lost  or  broken.  This  tomb  is  superior  to 
any  contemporary  erection  in  the  district,  and  shows  the  good 
influence  which  the  pieces  of  sculpture  in  Edzell  garden  had 
produced  on  the  minds  of  the  thoughtful : — 

"  This  stone  was  erected  by  James  Black,  tenant  in  Wood  in  the  parish 
of  Edzell  in  memory  of  his  spouse  JANNET  WALLIS,  who  died  the  6  of  June 
1745  aged  65  years,  and  sd  James  Black  was  of  age  68  years. 
Ah,  Sin  !  Hence  momentary  Life,  Hence  Breath, 
•  Sighs  for  ye  silent  grave  and  pants  for  Death ; 
What  means  ye  warning  of  ye  passing  Bell  ? 
A  soul  just  gone  to  Paradise  or  Hell. 
To  darkness  tends  ye  broad  but  slippry  way — 
O,  frightful  gloom,  deny'd  each  cheering  Ray  ; 
While,  such  as  walk  in  paths  divinely  bright, 
Shall  shine  within  ye  Courts  of  endless  light. 

JAMES  BLACK,  Born  at  Mill  of  Lethnot,  dy'd  Oct  24,  1750,  at  Wood  of 
Dalbog.     Chiefly  built  the  Bridge  of  Gannochie,  and  doted  for  the  support 
of  it  50  merks  Scots  :  Besides  1000  merks  for  other  Bridges  and  pious  uses  : 
viz.  500  merks  for  a  Schooling  at  Tillibardin  :  and  300  merks  toward  build- 
ing a  Bridge  at  Balrownie,  with  200  merks  to  the  poor  of  Fettercairn. 
No  Bridge  on  Earth  can  be  a  Pass  for  Heav'n 
To  generous  deeds  Let  yet  due  Praise  be  given. 
Memento — 1746 — mori."  l 

The  melancholy  occurrence,  lamented  in  the  following 
epitaph,  took  place  before  there  was  a  bridge  at  Stonyf ord.2  The 
water  being  greatly  swollen  at  the  time,  and  the  two  brothers 
having  but  one  horse  between  them,  they  mounted  together, 
with  the  view  of  crossing  the  river,  but  being  unacquainted 
with  the  ford,  both  unfortunately  fell  victims  to  the  flood : — 

"To  this  grave  is  committed  all  that  the  grave  can  claim  of  two 
Brothers,  DAVID  and  JOHN  LEITCH,  who,  on  the  7th  Oct.  1753,3  both 
unfortunately  perished  in  the  West  Water,  aged  23  and  21  years.  Erected 

1  This  stone,  which  in  course  of  time  had  suffered  from  neglect,  was  afterwards 
repaired  by  the  late  Mr.  Wyllie,  at  Mains  of  Edzell,  who  was  a  maternal  descen- 
dant of  Mr.  Black.  2  Bridge  erected  in  1 787. 

s  Jervise,  JEpit.  I  p.  295,  has  the  year  1757;  the  inscription  itself  is  now  illegible. 


LETHNOT — THE  KING'S  OLDEST  ENEMY.  131 

by  their  disconsolate  father,  John  Leitch,  tenant,  Bonnington,  to  the 
memory  of  these  amiable  youths,  whose  early  virtues  promised  uncommon 
comfort  to  his  declining  years,  and  singular  emolument  to  Society. 

0  thou,  whose  reverential  footsteps  tread, 

These  lone  dominions  of  the  silent  Dead, 

On  this  sad  stone  a  pious  look  bestow, 

Nor  uninstructed  read  this  tale  of  woe ; 

And  while  the  sigh  of  sorrow  heaves  thy  breast, 

Let  each  rebellious  murmur  be  suppress'd. 

Heaven's  hidden  ways  to  trace  for  Thee  how  vain  ! 

Heaven's  just  decrees  how  impious  to  arraign  ! 

Pure  from  the  stains  of  a  polluted  age, 

In  early  bloom  of  life  they  left  this  stage  ; 

Not  doomed  in  lingering  woe  to  waste  their  breath, 

One  moment  snatched  them  from  the  power  of  death ; 

They  lived  united,  and  united  dy'd  ; 

Happy  the  Friends  whom  Death  can  not  divide." 

Here,  also,  but  unmarked  by  any  stone,  lie  the  remains  of 
Mary  Gumming  and  Ann  Grant,  the  wife  and  daughter  of  the 
once  locally  popular  rebel  veteran,  Peter  Grant,  or  Dubrach,  as 
he  was  generally  termed,  from  his  having  rented  a  small  farm 
of  that  name  in  Braemar.  He  is  buried  in  the  cemetery  of 
Invercauld,  near  the  Castleton,  and  the  following  inscription, 
cut  on  a  large  flag  of  granite,  is  found  at  his  grave  : — 

"  ifc  Erected  to  the  memory  of  PETER  GRANT,  some  time  farmer  in 
Dubrach,  who  died  at  Auchendryne,  the  llth  of  Feb.  1824,  aged  110  years. 
His  wife,  MARY  GUMMING,  died  at  Westside,  parish  of  Lethnot,  in  Forfar- 
ehire,  on  the  4th  Feby.  1811,  aged  65  years,  and  lies  interred  in  the  church- 
yard of  Lethnot." 

Although  the  name  of  Mary  Gumming  is  now  scarcely  re- 
membered in  Lethnot,  many  reminiscences  are  recorded  of  the 
life  of  her  husband,  Dulrach.  He  was  a  staunch  supporter  of 
"  the  Stuart  race,"  fought  in  their  cause  as  a  serjeant-major  at 
Culloden,  where  he  was  taken  prisoner  and  carried  to  Carlisle, 
but  succeeded  in  making  his  escape  by  scaling  the  walls.  He 
returned  to  his  native  mountains  of  Braemar  in  1746,  and, 
pursuing  his  original  trade  of  a  tailor,  made  the  cap  in  which 
his  future  wife  was  christened,  and  was  present  at  her  baptism  ! 
Prior  to,  and  long  after  his  arrival  in  Navar,  where  he  and 
a  son  rented  a  small  farm,  he  was  comparatively  an  unknown 


132  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

"  citizen  of  the  world ; "  but  a  pleasing  incident  occurred 
which  added  much  to  the  comfort  of  his  later  years. 

In  the  summer  of  1820,  while  two  gentlemen  from  London 
were  rambling  in  Lethnot,  they  chanced  to  meet  with  Dubrach, 
who  was  then  in  the  106th  year  of  his  age.  Astonished  to  see 
one  who  had  lived  to  such  an  age  still  enjoying  good  health  and 
strength,  they  got  into  conversation  with  him,  and  were  invited 
to  enter  his  cottage,  where  he  told  them  "  some  o'  Ids  queerest 
stories,"  as  he  was  wont  to  express  himself,  and  waxed  eloquent 
in  detailing  the  romantic  incidents  that  befell  him  in  "the 
forty-five."  The  days  of  his  youth  seemed  to  return,  and  his 
eye  beamed  with  delight,  when,  to  illustrate  the  mode  of 
Highland  warfare,  he  put  several  boys  through  the  broadsword 
exercise  !  Interested  in  the  patriarch,  one  of  the  gentlemen 
waited  on  the  parish  minister,  and  suggested  that  something 
might  be  done  for  the  comfort  of  Grant,  were  his  history  laid 
before  the  King.  The  suggestion  was  cordially  received — a 
petition,  containing  an  epitome  of  his  history,  was  immediately 
drawn  up  and  signed  by  Grant  himself,  as  "His  Majesty's 
oldest  enemy,"  and  by  the  parish  minister  and  elders.  On  the 
petition  being  presented  to  George  iv.,  he  was  graciously  pleased 
to  command  that  a  pension  of  a  guinea  a  week  should  be  given 
to  Grant  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  and  to  his  daughter, 
should  she  survive  him,  the  King  remarking,  in  reference  to 
Dubrach's  great  age,  "  that  there  was  no  time  to  lose  in  the 
matter." l  But,  as  was  to  be  expected,  the  gift  did  not  in  the 
least  abate  Grant's  Jacobite  ardour,  and  to  the  latest  hour  of 
his  life  he  expressed  his  partiality  for  the  luckless  Stuarts,  and 
his  willingness,  if  he  had  youth  upon  his  side,  and  had  his  aid 
been  required,  to  "  fecht  Culloden  ower  agen  ! " 

Dubrach  latterly  left  Navar  and  went  to  his  native  district, 
where  he  died  in  little  more  than  a  year,  when,  in  terms  of 

l  From  later  inquiries  this  good  work  appears  to  have  been  carried  out  by  Mr. 
Thomas  Davis  of  London,  brother-in-law  of  Mr.  George  Smart,  Montrose.  Dubrach's 
portrait  was  painted  for  the  King's  collection  of  pictures  at  Carleton  House  by  the 
late  Mr.  Colvin  Smith,  and  engravings  of  this  are  still  to  be  met  with. 


XAVAR — CHURCH  AND  BELL-HOUSE.  133 

His  Majesty's  grant,  his  daughter  Annie  (who  was  then  above 
sixty,  and  solely  dependent  on  the  hospitality  of  her  neigh- 
bours in  Navar,  where  she  still  dwelt)  succeeded  to  her 
father's  pension.  About  this  time,  also,  the  late  Lord  Panmure 
(then  the  Hon.  William  Maule)  had  a  neat  cottage  built  for 
her  near  the  bridge  of  Lethnot,  where  she  died  in  1840. 
Among  the  many  curious  stories  that  are  told  of  her,  one 
is  so  highly  characteristic  of  "Hieland  pride,"  that  we 
cannot  forbear  repeating  it.  Though  she  had  lived  entirely 
on  the  charity  of  her  fellow-parishioners  previous  to  the 
above  lucky  circumstance,  Lady  Anne,  as  she  now  termed 
herself,  was  ever  after  at  a  loss  to  find  companions  suitable 
to  her  station  ! — "  There 's  naebody,"  she  said  on  her  removal 
to  the  new  cottage,  "  but  the  minister's  folk  near  me  that 's 
worth  mindin' ;  an'  although  it  be  sair  against  my  wull,  I 
doubt  I  '11  hae  to  mak'  them  a  kind  o'  cronies  ! " l 

The  site  of  the  kirk  of  Navar  is  about  a  mile  due  west  from 
that  of  Lethnot,  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  hill,  in  the  corner  of 
an  arable  field,  surrounded  by  a  substantial  stone  wall  and 
row  of  ash-trees.  The  outlines  of  the  church,  which  was  pulled 
down  before  1729,  are  barely  traceable,  but  at  the  highest  part 
of  the  enclosure  there  is  a  square  erection,  about  twenty  feet 
high,  built  of  solid  freestone,  to  which  a  slab  of  Turin  pave- 
ment is  fixed,  bearing  the  following  inscription  : — 

"  Ann  Wyllie  in  Westside  omitted 

"This  bell-house  was  built  in  the  year  1773,  at  the  expense  of  the 
following  persons  and  their  interest — 

Mr.  Alex.  Gold  Tenant  in  Argeith 
James  Cobb  in  Ledbreakie 
Francis  Stewart  in  Nathrow 
James  Molison  in  Craigendowy* 
Ja.  Lighten  in  Drumcairn 
John  Molison  in  Oldtown 
Alexr.  Jolly  in  Witton 
Will.  Speid  in  Blarno* 
Thos.  Gordon  in  Lightney* 

1  Jervise,  Epit.  i.  p.  219. 


134  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Da.  Wyllie  in  Tilliearblet* 
Jon.  &  Andr.  Cobbs  in  Tilliebirnie 
George  Cobb  in  Achfearcy 
John  Cobb  in  Room.1 

The  bell  occupied  the  upper  third  of  the  belfry,  and,  as  was 
then  a  common  custom  throughout  Scotland,  not  yet  alto- 
gether abolished,  the  beadle  had  a  pair  of  shoes  annually  for 
ringing  it  on  Sundays,  fast-days,  and  at  funerals.2  Towards 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  however,  when  Mr. 
John  Fyfe  came  to  the  church  of  ISTavar,  there  was  no  bell 
in  either  parish,  and  many  of  the  inhabitants  pleaded  the  want 
of  it  as  an  excuse,  not  only  for  their  non-attendance  at  church, 
but  for  the  committal  of  many  more  heinous  and  sacrilegious 
offences.  It  is  told,  that  one  Sunday  morning  while  Mr.  Fyfe 
was  preparing  for  church,  he  heard  the  dull  grating  sound  of 
a  barley-mill  busy  at  work,  and,  hastening  to  the  spot  to 
inquire  the  cause  of  so  extraordinary  a  breach  of  the  holy 
commandment,  the  miller  pleaded  his  ignorance  of  its  being  the 
Lord's  day.3  The  minister,  determined  to  prevent  the  recurrence 
of  so  untoward  a  circumstance,  immediately  procured  a  bell  at 
his  own  cost,  and  gave  it,  as  shown  by  the  following  legend, 
for  the  exclusive  use  of  the  parishioners  of  Navar : — 

"SOLI    •   DEO    •    GLORIA   •    C    •    OVDEROGGE    •    FECIT   •    ROTTERDAM    •    1655. 

M .  lo.  Fifus  '  pastor  •  Navarensis  •  dono  •  dedit." 

The  first  part  of  this  inscription  is  in  raised  characters,  and 
has  been  cast  with  the  bell,  but  the  other  is  rudely  cut  with 
a  punch  or  chisel,  perhaps  by  the  parish  blacksmith.  Prior 
to  the  erection  of  the  belfry,  the  bell  was  hung  on  the  trunk 
of  an  old  tree  in  the  corner  of  the  graveyard,  and  produced  a 
fatal  accident  at  one  time,  through  the  unfortunate  handling  of 
a  ploughman.  He  was  ringing  it  as  usual  at  the  interment 
of  an  old  parishioner,  when  the  tongue  or  clapper,  starting  from 
its  axle,  fell  on  the  head  of  a  boy  who  was  standing  near, 

1  Descendants  of  those  marked  thus  *  still  occupy  the  same  farms.    In  1853  there 
were  seven,  now  four,  but  at  Tilliearblet  the  name  is  changed  by  marriage,  Mrs. 
Binny  being  a  daughter  of  the  late  Mr.  Wyllie. 

2  The  payment  mentioned  yearly  in  the  parish  register  is  £1,  4s.  Scots. 
8  See  A  ct.  Parl.  v.  p.  473 — Act  against  mill  going  on  Sunday  in  1641. 


NAVAR THE  BELL  AND  ITS  FORTUNES.  135 

and  killed  him  on  the  spot.  This,  as  a  matter  of  course,  was 
considered  an  ominous  circumstance,  and,  so  far  as  the  fate 
of  the  bell  was  concerned,  it  proved  so. 

Besides  gifting  a  bell  to  Navar,  Mr.  John  Fyfe,  minister 
of  the  parish,  also  mortified  the  sum  of  a  thousand  merks 
Scots,  or  about  £55,  lls.  l|d.  sterling,  "for  the  maintenance 
of  ane  student  at  the  Theologic  Colledge  of  St.  Andrews ;  and 
whensoever  that  occasion  could  not  be  hade  of  a  student 
standing  in  need  yrof,"  he  appointed  the  "  said  annuel  rent 
to  be  employed  for  helping  sum  poor  men's  children  to  be 
educat  at  the  gramer  schoole  of  Brechin  ;  and  in  speciall,  that 
if  any  freinds  and  relationes  stood  in  need  yrof,  these  to  be 
preferred  before  any  vther." x 

The  first  person  whom  we  have  found  taking  advantage 
of  this  excellent  mortification  was  the  Eev.  Eobert  Noray  of 
Lethnot,  who,  on  showing  "his  mean  condition  and  inabilitie 
to  educat  his  two  sones  at  school  and  colledge,"  had  a  grant 
of  the  liferent  of  the  money  by  consent  of  the  bishop  and 
ministers.2  This  occurred  in  1663,  and  his  example  was 
followed  for  a  long  time  by  many  others ;  but  by  some  over- 
sight, the  grant  fell  into  desuetude,  till  revived  a  few 
years  ago.  Its  annual  value  is  now  £2,  15s.  7d. 

When  the  church  of  Lethnot  was  rebuilt,  Lord  Panmure 
in  the  year  1827  proposed  that,  as  there  was  but  an  indifferent 
bell  at  Lethnot,  that  of  Navar  should  be  removed  to  the  new 
church,  but  the  Navarians,  unwilling  to  part  with  this  esteemed 
relic,  took  it  from  the  belfry  and  hid  it  so  securely  that  it 
could  not  be  found.  Convinced  that  some  of  the  parishioners 
knew  of  it,  his  Lordship  watched  an  opportunity  to  find  it  out ; 
and,  as  the  suspected  leader  in  the  movement  required  a  renewal 
of  the  lease  of  his  farm  some  years  afterwards,  his  Lordship 
refused  to  accede  to  his  request  until  the  bell  was  produced, 

1  For  extract  of  the  original  deed  of  Fyfe's  Mortification,  as  entered  in  the  record 
of  the  Commissary  Depute,  Feb.  16th,  1659,  see  Brechin  Advertiser,  Oct.  llth,  1853. 
The  deed  was  executed  on  May  12th,  1658,  and  recorded  in  the  Books  of  Presbytery 
of  Brechin,  July  17th,  1706  (vol.  vi.  f.  5,  6).    See  also  Black,  Brechin,  p.  279. 

2  Presb.  Rec.  of  Brech.  vl  fol.  9. 


136  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

or  a  satisfactory  account  of  it  given.  The  farmer  long  resisted 
compliance  with  the  request;  and,  but  for  a  friendly  hint 
from  Mr.  D.  D.  Black,  the  town- clerk  of  Brechin,  who  advised 
him  to  give  it  up  in  some  quaint  manner,  the  farmer  would  have 
been  thrust  from  his  holding,  and  the  bell,  perhaps,  entirely  lost 
sight  of.  But,  instead  of  this,  on  the  re-appearance  of  the 
instrument,  Lord  Panmure  in  1838  not  only  instructed  Mr. 
Black  to  renew  the  farmer's  lease  on  favourable  terms,  but  also 
desired  him  to  procure  another  bell  for  the  kirk  of  Lethnot. 

This  interesting  parochial  relic  was  sent  from  Navar  to  the 
church  of  Arbirlot,  but  by  what  right  beyond  his  Lordship's 
will  it  is  difficult  to  see.  There,  however,  it  was  cracked  some 
years  ago,  and  it  now  lies  in  the  Arbroath  Museum.  It  is 
not  perhaps  too  much  to  hope  that  it  may  yet  be  recast  and 
restored  to  its  legitimate  abode ;  for,  although  deprived  of  the 
kirk,  the  Navarians  tenaciously  adhere  to  the  use  of  the  old 
place  of  sepulture,  and  the  belfry  is  still  a  strong  substantial 
erection.  The  headstones  here  are  few, — the  oldest  bears  the 
recent  date  of  1771 ;  and  although  the  mottoes  are  of  no  general 
interest,  it  may  be  worthy  of  notice,  that  the  late  Jonathan 
Duncan,  who  was  long  Governor  of  the  Presidency  of  Bombay, 
drew  his  first  breath,  and  spent  his  earliest  years,  within  a  few 
paces  of  this  enclosure. 

Born  in  1756  on  the  farm  of  Blairno,1  which  his  parents 
rented  prior  to  their  removal  to  the  Wards  near  Montrose 
(at  the  schools  of  which  town  he  was  educated),  he  joined  a 
maternal  uncle  in  India,  when  only  eighteen  years  of  age,  and 
began  life  as  a  writer  in  the  Bengal  establishment.  From  his 
aptitude  in  the  knowledge  of  the  languages,  the  laws,  and  the 
manners  of  the  East,  he  was  appointed,  at  the  early  age  of  thirty, 
to  the  government  of  the  Province  of  Benares,  where  he  exercised 
the  confidence  reposed  in  him  during  a  period  of  unprecedented 
difficulty  with  a  success  which  has  been  rarely  surpassed. 

1  "1756,  May  16  ;  James  Duncan  and  Jean  Meiky,  tenants  in  Blairno,  had  a  son 
baptized  named  Jonathan." — (Lethnot  Par.  Reg.) 


NAVAR — GOVERNOR  JON.  DUNCAN.       137 

"  Among  the  many  blessings  which  flowed  from  his  admini- 
stration at  Benares,"  says  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  who  was 
judge  at  Bombay  at  the  time  of  Duncan's  death,  and  from 
whose  official  record  of  his  career  we  glean  these  particulars,1 
"  the  reform  which  he  effected  in  the  barbarous  and  cruel  prac- 
tice of  female  infanticide  among  the  chieftains  of  the  Eastern 
part  of  the  Company's  possessions  in  that  province,  as  it  is 
peculiarly  illustrative  of  the  humanity  of  his  disposition,  is  the 
more  worthy  of  particular  commemoration,  since  he  ever  con- 
templated the  success  that  attended  his  laudable  efforts  in  the 
accomplishment  of  so  beneficent  an  object  as  one  of  the  happiest 
incidents  of  his  life ;  and  with  equal  ardour  and  solicitude  has 
he  been  engaged  in  prevailing  on  the  chieftains  of  Kattywur 
and  of  Cutch  to  renounce  that  inhuman  custom,  the  existence 
of  which  in  these  provinces  had  recently  become  known  to  the 
Government." 

Mr.  Duncan  was  removed  from  the  government  of  Benares 
to  that  of  Bombay  and  its  dependencies  in  December  1795. 
In  that  stil^more  elevated  position  he  dispensed  justice  with 
marked  success  and  benevolence,  with  the  unequivocal  approval 
of  the  British  Legislature,  the  Court  of  Directors,  and  the  inha- 
bitants in  general,  down  to  the  time  of  his  death.  This  occurred 
on  the  llth  of  August  1811,  when  he  had  only  attained  his 
fifty-eighth  year.  He  was  buried  at  the  public  expense,  in  the 
cathedral  of  Bombay,  with  all  the  pomp  and  honour  becoming 
his  high  position,  and  a  magnificent  monument  was  erected  to 
his  memory.  On  this,  however,  the  place  of  his  birth  is  stated 
as  being  at  Wardhouse,  near  Montrose — an  error  that  may 
have  arisen  from  his  having  purchased  that  property,  on  which 
he  spent  his  boyhood,  and  where,  perhaps,  he  contemplated 
spending  his  later  years. 

1  Bombay  Courier,  Aug.  17,  1811.  Kindly  communicated,  with  other  informa- 
tion, by  the  late  Dr.  James  Burnes,  K.H.,  Ph.  Gen.  at  Bombay.  In  Contemplation 
and  other  Poems,  by  Alexander  Balfour,  there  is  an  elegy  to  the  memory  of  Governor 
Duncan. 


138  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 


SECTION   II. 

In  truth  they  were  as  bold  a  race 
As  ever  mounted  steed, 

Navar  and  the  lordship  of  Brechin — David  Earl  of  Huntingdon — Maison-Dieu  of 
Brechin — Family  de  Brechin — Family  of  Maule — Erskines  of  Dun— Pedigree  of 
the  Maules — Panmure  ennobled — Purchase  of  Edzell — Lord  Panmure — Fox 
Maule— The  late  Earl. 

IT  has  been  shown  in  a  previous  chapter  that  the  property  or 
parish  of  Lethnot  came  to  the  Lindsay  family  at  the  same 
time,  and  in  the  same  manner,  as  their  great  Glenesk  estate, 
namely,  through  the  marriage  of  Sir  Alexander  with  the  co- 
heiress of  Sir  John  Stirling ;  but  the  district  of  Navar,  from 
earliest  record,  has  been  conjoined  with  the  lordship  of  Brechin. 
In  addition  to  other  payments  made  from  Navar  to  the  church, 
Walter  Stuart,  Earl  of  Athole,  who  married  the  only  child  and 
heiress  of  Barclay,  Lord  of  Brechin,  gave  an  annual  of  forty 
pounds  to  that  cathedral  from  his  lands  of  Cortachy,  "  and 
failing  thereof,  through  war,  poverty,  or  other  cause,"  the  sum 
was  to  be  paid  from  the  lands  of  the  lordship  of  Brechin,  of 
which  Navar  formed  a  part.1 

Before  entering  upon  a  notice  of  the  various  persons  who 
have  borne  the  ancient  title  of  Lord  of  Brechin  and  Navar,  it 
may  be  observed,  that  subsequent  to  the  time  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, Nathro  (which  has  long  formed  a  part  of  the  estate  of 
Careston),  and  the  neighbouring  lands  of  Tilliquhillie,  were 
held  by  a  family  of  the  name  of  Douglas  (cadets  of  the  ancient 
house  of  Tilwhilly  in  Kincardineshire),2  while,  at  a  subsequent 
period,  Nathro  belonged  to  the  second  Earl  of  Panmure,  and 
afterwards  to  a  Charles  Eobertson,  sometime  tenant  in  Trusto.3 
Easter  and  Wester  Tillyarblet  were  long  possessed  by  descen- 
dants of  Erskine  of  Dun,  but  since  the  purchase  a  few  years 

1  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  i.  p.  47.  2  Reg.  de  Panmure,  ii.  p.  328  (1649). 

*  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.,  Nos.  295  (1647),  385  (1662),  546  (1697),  etc. 


NAVAR — LORDS  OF  NAVAR  AND  BRECHIN.        139 

ago  of  Easter  Tillyarblet,  both  now  belong  to  the  Earl  of 
Dalhousie,  while  to  the  estate  of  Careston  belong  Nathro 
and  the  grazing  farm  of  Tillybirnie,  which  was  described  by 
Ochterlony  as  being  "well  accommodate  in  grass  parks  and 
meadows."  With  these  exceptions,  the  whole  district  of  Navar 
has  been  owned  by  the  family  of  Panmure  since  the  year  1634, 
and  the  only  two  heritors  of  the  united  parish  in  the  present 
day  are  Lord  Dalhousie  and  Mr.  Adams  on. 

As  regards  the  ancient  Lords  of  Brechin  and  Navar,  the 
first  was  David,  Earl  of  Huntingdon  and  the  Garioch,  founder 
of  the  church  of  the  Virgin  Mary  at  Dundee,  and  brother  to 
William  the  Lion.  Earl  David  had  a  natural  son,  Henry,  to 
whom  he  gave  this  lordship,  and  from  the  district  of  Brechin 
he  assumed  his  surname.  Sir  William  de  Brechin,  the  son  of 
this  Henry,  founded  the  Domus  Dei  or  Maison-Dieu  of  that 
city  in  1264,  and  was  one  of  the  most  illustrious  barons  in  the 
time  of  Alexander  in.,  having  been  one  of  the  guardians  of 
Scotland  in  the  English  interest  during  the  minority  of  that 
king.1  His  only  child,  David,  who  married  a  sister  of  the 
Bruce,  swore  fealty  to  Edward  in  1296,  and  supported  the 
English  with  great  ardour  until  1308,  when  the  Scots  gained 
the  battle  of  Old  Meldrum.2  On  this  he  fled  to  his  castle  at 
Brechin,  but  being  besieged  by  the  Earl  of  Athole,  he  joined 
Bruce's  standard,  and  ever  after  espoused  his  cause.  His  son 
was  the  fourth  and  last  of  the  male  line  of  the  ancient  family 
de  Brechin,  and  was  also  one  of  the  great  barons  who  signed  at 
Arbroath  the  celebrated  letter  to  the  Pope  in  1320,  asserting 
the  independence  of  Scotland ;  but,  being  privy  to  the  conspi- 
racy of  William  de  Soulis,  he  and  some  of  the  other  traitors 
were  executed,  and  had  their  lands  forfeited. 

Sir  David  Barclay,  who,  throughout  the  whole  war  of  the 
Independence,  continued  Bruce's  unflinching  supporter,  married 

1  Tytler,  Hist,  of  Scot.  i.  p.  12 ;  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  i.  p.  4  (1267) ;  Reg.  de 
Panmure,  ii.  p.  205. 

2  Called  indifferently  the  battle  of  Barrafc,  Old  Meldrum,  and  Inverurie, — Barrafe, 
where  the  battle  took  place,  lying  between  the  other  two. 


14Q  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Margaret  de  Brechin,  the  only  sister  of  the  forfeited  noble ;  and 
now  that  the  male  line  of  the  family  was  for  ever  swept  away, 
Bruce  conferred  the  lordship  of  Brechin  and  Xavar  on  her 
husband,  in  recompence  for  his  many  services ;  but  this  brave 
knight  was  unfortunately  slain  at  Aberdeen,  in  1350,  by  John 
de  St.  Michael  of  Mundurnah.1  By  Margaret  de  Brechin  (the 
niece  of  Bruce),  Barclay  left  an  only  son  and  daughter, — the 
latter  married  Sir  Kobert  Fleming  of  Biggar,  and  her  only  sur- 
viving child,  Marion,  became  the  wife  of  William  Maule  of 
Panmure.  The  last-mentioned  David  Barclay  served  in  the 
Prussian  wars,  for  which  he  had  a  safe-conduct  from  Edward  in. 
to  pass  through  England.  Dying  sometime  after  the  year 
1364,  he  left  an  only  daughter,  Margaret,  who  was  married  to 
Walter,  second  son  of  Eobert  n.,  by  Euphemia  Eoss.  Walter, 
in  right  of  his  wife,  assumed  the  estates  and  titles  of  Brechin, 
but  having  participated  in  the  murder  of  his  nephew,  James  I., 
he  was  executed  as  a  traitor  in  1437,  in  a  still  more  igno- 
minious and  revolting  manner  than  his  predecessor,  de  Brechin, 
his  torture  being  protracted  over  three  days.2 

Athole's  wife  having  predeceased  him,  he  was  allowed, 
simply  by  the  courtesy  of  the  kingdom  of  Scotland,  to  retain 
her  lands  during  the  remainder  of  his  life ;  so  that,  although 
his  own  estates  were  forfeited  at  the  time  of  his  execution,  the 
lordship  of  Brechin  should  of  right  have  passed  to  Sir  Thomas 
Maule  of  Panmure  as  nearest  heir  to  the  Countess  of  Athole, 
by  descent  from  Marion  Fleming  of  Biggar ;  but,  under  pretence 
of  forfeiture,  it  was  annexed  to  the  Crown  by  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment in  1438,  and  was  afterwards  granted,  in  liferent  or  in  fee, 
to  various  persons.  This  Sir  Thomas  died  between  1442  and 
1450;  and,  although  admitted  judicially  to  be  heir  to  the 
Countess  of  Athole,  justice  was  not  done  to  him  and  his 
successors,  who  found  "  Chancellour  Crightoun  and  the  King's 
Councill  partys  too  hard  for  them  to  deall  with.  However, 

1  Balfour,  Annals,  i.  p.  113. 

2  For  his  connection  with  Brechin  and  neighbouring  parishes,  see  Reg.  Episc. 
Brech.  i.  and  ii.  pass. 


NAVAR — LORDS  OF  NAVAR  AND   BRECHIN.         141 

Sir  Thomas's  heirs  got  Leuchlands,  Hatherwick,  Claleck,  Jack- 
ston,  and  Stadockinore,  which  were  formerly  parts  of  the  estate 
of  Brichine." 

The  question  of  Maule's  right  of  succession  is  said  to  have 
been  raised  from  time  to  time,  and  a  judgment  in  favour  of  the 
family  to  have  been  obtained  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary ;  but 
it  was  not  until  after  the  death  of  the  seventh  Earl  of  Mar,  in 
1634,  that  Patrick  Maule  by  purchase  acquired  the  lordship  of 
Brechin,  which,  with  the  title,  ought  to  have  descended  to  him 
by  inheritance. 

Among  others,  Janet,  or  Jane,  Countess  of  the  eighth  and 
unfortunate  Earl  of  Douglas,  whom  James  slew  in  Stirling 
Castle,  had  in  1472-3  "the  liferent  of  the  king's  lands  of  Pet- 
pullock,  etc.,  with  the  Lordship  of  Brechin  and  Navar  in  full 
satisfaction  of  her  terce."1  This  lady,  however,  held  these 
lands  only  for  a  short  time,  as,  in  the  same  year,  King  James  is 
recorded  to  have  given  a  liferent  lease  of  them  to  David, 
fourth  Earl  of  Crawford,  afterwards  Duke  of  Montrose.2  The 
power  of  the  barons  as  superior  to  the  established  law  at  this 
date  is  well  exemplified  in  this  case  ;  for,  although  these  lands 
were  gifted  to  the  Duke  of  Koss  in  1480,  Crawford  maintained 
a  right  over  them  until  the  year  1488,  when,  on  the  complaint 
of  the  King,  "  the  Lordis  decretis  and  deliveris  that  the  said 
David,  Erie  of  Crawfurd,  dois  wrang  in  the  occupatioune  and 
manuring  of  the  said  landis  of  the  lordschipis  of  Brechin  and 
Neware."  He  was  accordingly  ordered  "  to  devoid  and  rede  " 
them  to  James  Duke  of  Eoss,  second  son  of  James  in.,8  but 
whether  he  did  so  immediately  does  not  appear.  From  these 
lands  the  Duke  of  Eoss  assumed  his  secondary  title  of  Lord 
of  Brechin  and  Navar. 

The  Duke  of  Eoss  was  ultimately  Archbishop  of  St. 
Andrews,  and  died  in  1504,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-eight, 
when  the  lordship  of  Brechin  and  Navar  again  fell  into  the 

1  Douglas,  Peerage,  p.  431.  2  Lives,  i.  p.  153. 

8  Ada  Dom.  And.  p.  123. 


142  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

King's  hands,  at  whose  disposal  it  perhaps  remained  until  1527, 
when  it  was  given  to  Thomas  Erskine  of  Haltoun,  a  cadet  of  the 
family  of  Dun,  and  uncle  to  the  Superintendent.1  He  had  a 
charter  of  the  lands  of  Kincraig  in  the  previous  year,  and  was 
Secretary  to  James  v.  from  that  time  until  March  1543.  He 
was  knighted,  and  soon  thereafter  appointed  a  Lord  of  Session ; 
he  was  afterwards  sent  as  an  ambassador  to  France  to  conclude 
the  treaty  of  the  intended  marriage  between  the  King  and 
Mary  of  Bourbon — an  alliance  which  was  never  completed. 
In  1541,  he  had  a  royal  grant  of  the  office  of  Constable  of  the 
burgh  of  Montrose,  which  he  afterwards  conveyed  to  his 
nephew  of  Dun,  whose  descendants  held  the  appointment  until 
the  abolition  of  heritable  jurisdictions  in  1748.  On  20th  June 
1545,  Sir  Thomas  Erskine,  as  superior,  confirmed  a  charter  of  the 
lands  of  Arrat,  Lychtonhill,  Pettyndreiche,  and  Nathrow,2  which 
was  granted  by  John  Erskine  of  Dun  to  Eobert  his  second  son, 
and  in  1550-1  he  excambed  the  lordship  of  Brechin  and 
Navar  with  John,  fourth  Lord  Erskine,  for  the  lands  of  Pit- 
todrie  and  Balhagardy  in  Aberdeenshire.3 

In  1620,  John  the  seventh  Earl  of  Mar,  tutor  of  Prince 
Henry,  had  influence  enough  to  get  such  parts  as  he  possessed  of 
Brechin  and  Navar  erected  into  a  part  of  the  lordship  of  Mar  ; 
but,  as  before  stated,  on  his  death  Brechin  and  Navar  fell  to 
Sir  Patrick  Maule  of  Panmure  by  purchase  in  1634;  and,  on 
being  elevated  to  the  peerage  in  1646,  Maule  was  dignified  by 
the  title  of  Earl  Panmure,  Lord  Brechin  and  Navar. 

Waiving  the  unfounded  assertions  of  Boethius  and  others, 
that  the  first  of  the  Maules,  who  settled  in  Scotland,  came  from 
Hungary  with  the  queen  of  Malcolm  Canmore,  and  afterwards 
received  charters  of  the  lands  of  Panmure  from  Edgar  in  the 
early  part  of  his  reign — we  shall  limit  our  brief  notice  of  the 
family  to  the  indisputable  evidence  afforded  by  records. 

1  Misc.  Spalding  Club,  ii.  pp.  Ixxiii  sq.,  177  sq. 
*  Dun  Charters  ;  Misc.  Spalding  Club,  iv.  p.  46. 

3  On  the  Erskines  of  Pittodrie  as  related  to  the  Erskines  in  Forfarshire,  see  Misc. 
Spalding  Club,  ii.  pp.  Ixxiii  sq.  ;  Davidson,  Inverurie,  ii.  p.  473. 


NAVAR — MAULES  OF  PANMURE.  143 

Suffice  it  to  say,  that  they  are  of  the  Maules  of  the  lordship 
of  Maule,1  in  the  Duchy  of  Normandy,  and  bear  quite  the  same 
arms.  One  of  these,  Ansold  Sire  de  Maule,  and  Rectrude  his 
wife,  are  recorded  as  benefactors  to  the  Priory  of  St.  Martin- 
in-the-Fields  at  Paris,  about  the  year  1015,  and  nine  genera- 
tions are  traced  from  them,  chiefly  through  gifts  to  the  Church. 

Guarin  de  Maule,  who  came  to  England  with  the  Conqueror 
in  1066,  is  the  first  recorded  of  the  name  in  Britain.  He 
settled  in  Yorkshire,  and  had  a  son  Eobert,  who  came  to  Scot- 
land with  David  I.,  from  whom  he  had  various  grants  of  land 
in  the  Lothians.  This  Eobert  had  a  son  William,  who,  for  his 
bravery  at  the  battle  of  the  Standard  in  1138,  obtained  the 
lands  of  Easter  Fowlis  in  Perthshire,  and  left  three  daughters, 
one  of  whom  married  Eoger  de  Mortimer ;  and  from  a  daughter 
of  a  successor  of  Eoger  the  late  Lord  Gray  was  descended, 
and  thus  inherited  the  lands  and  barony  of  Fowlis.2 

The  direct  ancestor  of  the  present  Maule  of  Panmure  was 
Sir  Peter  de  Maule  (grand-nephew  or  great-grand-nephew  to 
William  of  Fowlis),  who,  about  1224,  married  the  heiress  of  Sir 
William  de  Valoniis,  Lord  of  Panmure,  and  Great  Chamberlain 
of  Scotland.  This  was  the  time  and  manner  in  which  the 
Maules  became  proprietors  of  Panmure,  Benvie,  Balruthrie, 
and  other  estates  of  the  family  de  Valoniis,  who  had  a  gift 
of  these  possessions  from  William  the  Lion.8  This  Sir  Peter 
Maule  died  in  1254,  leaving  two  sons.  The  second  was  the 
brave  governor,  Sir  Thomas,  who  defended  the  castle  of 
Brechin  against  Edward  in  1303,  in  which  noble  action  he 
was  unfortunately  killed  by  a  stone  thrown  from  the  enemy's 
engine.*  But  it  must  not  be  inferred  from  this  fact,  as  is 

1  This  lordship  was,  at  a  later  date,  erected  into  a  Marquisate,  and,  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  the  titles  and  estates  were  carried  by  an  heiress  into  the  family  of 
the  Marquises  of  Morainvilliers.     See  Reg.  de  Panmure,  i.  Pref. ,  and  ii.  pass. 

2  Reg.  de  Panmure,  ii.  p.  77  sq. :  Anderson,  Scot.  Nat.  ii.  pp.  370  sq. 
8  Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Scot.  ii.  pp.  442  sq. 

*  The  war  wolf,  or  engine,  employed  at  the  sieges  of  Brechin  and  Stirling  by 
Edward  I.  in  1303,  discharged  stones  of  two  and  three  hundredweight — (Brewster, 
Edin.  Encyc.,  art.  ARMS,  i.  p.  471.) 


144  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

popularly  too  often  done,  that  the  family  of  Maule  were  lords 
of  Brechin,  or  had  any  interest  in  it  at  that  time,  the  titles  and 
estates  being  then  in  the  family  de  Brechin,  from  which  family, 
however,  they  are  lineally  descended,  and  of  which  the  late 
Marquis  of  Dalhousie  was  the  true  heir  of  line,  though  the  title 
and  estates  have  passed  to  the  younger  branch  of  his  family. 

As  the  genealogy  of  the  Maules  of  Panmure  is  sufficiently 
traced  in  the  principal  heraldic  books,  and  especially  in  the 
magnificent  Registrum  de  Panmure?-  it  will  be  superfluous  to 
go  into  the  history  of  those  who  flourished  betwixt  the  time 
of  Sir  Peter  Maule's  death  in  1254  and  the  ennobling  of  Sir 
Patrick  in  1646.2  It  is  enough  to  say  that  most  of  them  were 
actively  engaged  in  the  important  transactions  of  the  periods  in 
which  they  lived,  and  that  Sir  Patrick's  elevation  to  the  peerage 
in  1646  arose  from  his  attachment  to  the  person  of  Charles  I., 
whom  he  followed  in  all  his  enterprises,  and  waited  upon 
personally,  until  prohibited  by  order  of  Cromwell,  who  after- 
wards imposed  the  enormous  fine  of  £12,500  on  him  and  his  son 
Henry,  though  only  £5000  of  it  were  exacted.  Earl  Patrick's 
fidelity  to  the  King  has  been  questioned  by  modern  historians, 
who  are  inclined  to  think,  from  the  fact  that  he  made  extracts 
from  Charles's  private  correspondence,  and  forwarded  them 
to  the  leaders  of  the  Covenant  in  Scotland,  that  he  had  been 
guilty  of  a  breach  of  trust.3  It  is  most  probable,  however,  from 
the  King's  well-known  double-dealing  in  these  matters,  that  the 
Earl  had  not  only  acted  with  the  connivance,  but  perhaps  at 
the  instigation,  of  his  master :  for,  though  opposed  to  Arch- 
bishop Laud,  he  was  a  strong  Episcopalian  in  the  time  of  King 

1  The  original  Registrum  de  Panmure  is  a  MS.  belonging  to  the  family  of  Panmure, 
and  written  by  the  Hon.  Harry  Maule  of  Kelly,  who  died  in  June  1734.     It  was 
printed  for  private  distribution,  in  two  handsome  quarto  volumes,  with  plates,  and 
editor's  preface  by  the  late  Dr.  John  Stuart,  in  1874,  at  the  sole  expense  of  the  late 
Right  Honourable  Fox  Maule  Ramsay,  eleventh  Earl  of  Dalhousie  and  second  Baron 
Panmure.     His  Lordship  died  when  the  printing  had  hardly  been  completed. 

2  See  the  pedigree  drawn  out  in  detail  in  Registrum  de  Panmitre,  i  and  ii. ,  with 
the  charters,  etc., in  full;  Warden,  Angus,  L  379  sq. ;  Burke,  Peerage,  etc.,  1881, 
pp.  330  sq. 

3  Gordon,  Scots  A/airs;  Lord  Hailes's  Collections,  etc. 


NAVAR — MAULES  OF  PANMURE.  145 

James,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  he  continued  so  all 
his  life.  Indeed,  James  was  so  "  fully  satisfied  of  Mr.  Maule  s 
affection  in  that  Way,  and  of  his  unblemished  Integrity  in  the 
Protestant  Religion  [that  he]  gave  his  Eoyal  Consent  and 
Approbation  to  the  Transaction  which  passed  between  him 
and  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  by  which  he  purchased  the 
Abbacy  of  Arbroath,  which  was  erected  to  him  with  the  Right 
of  Patronage  of  the  Churches  of  Arbroath"  (and  thirty-two 
others),  "  all  formerly  belonging  to  the  dissolved  Monastery 
of  Arbroath,  which,  besides  the  old  Patronages  of  his  own 
Family,  made  him  among  the  greatest  Patrons  of  any  in 
Scotland."1 

Earl  Patrick  died  in  1661,  and  had  four  successors  in 
the  Earldom — his  son,  grandson,  and  two  great-grandsons. 
All  made  considerable  figure  during  the  civil  commotions 
of  their  respective  days ;  and  James,  the  fourth  Earl,  who 
added  the  properties  of  Edzell  and  Glenesk  to  his  patrimonial 
estate  in  1714,  forfeited  these  and  the  rest  of  the  property  in 
the  year  thereafter,  for  his  adherence  to  the  house  of  Stuart. 

The  rental  of  the  Panmure  estates,  including  Belhelvie  in 
Aberdeenshire,  amounted  at  that  time  to  the  large  sum  of 
£3168,  9s.  6d.  (little  more  than  a  tenth  of  their  present  value), 
besides  services,  making  them  the  most  valuable  of  all  the 
confiscated  lordships  of  1716.  They  were  purchased  by  the 
York  Buildings  Company  for  the  sum  of  £60,400,  but  after 
the  Countess  of  Panmure  and  her  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Harry 
Maule  of  Kellie,  who,  but  for  the  attainder,  would  have  been 
fifth  Earl  of  Panmure,  had  obtained  long  leases  of  Panmure 
and  Brechin,  the  whole  of  the  Maule  estates,  except  Belhelvie, 
were  bought  back  to  the  family  by  William,  son  of  Mr.  Harry 
Maule,  and  nephew  of  Earl  James,  for  £49,157,  18s.  4d. 
William  Maule,  after  a  distinguished  military  career  in  the  Low 

1  Crawford,  Peerage,  p.  397.  The  patronage  of  all  these  churches,  with  the 
superiority  of  Benvie  and  Balruthrie,  were  forfeited  by  the  attainder  of  1716,  and 
that  of  the  kirk  of  Monifieth  was  the  only  one  in  the  gift  of  the  family  at  the  passing 
of  the  Patronage  Act  in  1874. 

K 


146  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Countries,  and  twenty-seven  years'  service  as  Member  of  Par- 
liament for  Forfarshire,  was  created  a  Peer  of  Ireland  in  1743 
by  the  title  of  Earl  Pan  mure  and  Viscount  Maule  of  White- 
church.  Though  the  peerage  was  granted  with  remainder  to 
the  heirs-male  of  his  own  body  and  those  of  his  brother  John, 
the  title  became  extinct  at  his  death,  and  the  estates  passed 
into  the  female  line.1  Earl  Panmure  died  unmarried  on  the 
4th  January  1782. 

His  surviving  sister,  Lady  Jean  Maule,  was  married  to 
George,  Lord  Ramsay,  eldest  son  of  William  Eamsay,  the  sixth 
Earl  of  Dalhousie.  He  predeceased  his  father,  but  left  two 
sons,  Charles  and  George,  who  became  respectively  the  seventh 
and  eighth  Earls  of  Dalhousie.  As  William  Earl  Panmure, 
in  1779,  had  executed  a  deed  of  entail  upon  the  estates  of 
Panmure,  the  destination  in  which  included  George,  the  eighth 
Earl  of  Dalhousie,  in  liferent,  and  William,  his  second  son, 
in  fee,  they  vested  in  the  latter,  being  then  in  the  sixteenth 
year  of  his  age,  on  the  death  of  his  father  in  1787,  and  he 
accordingly  assumed  the  name  and  arms  of  Maule  of  Panmure. 
This  settlement  of  the  estates  had  been  challenged  on  some 
points  by  Lieutenant  Thomas  Maule,  heir-male  of  the  Irish 
branch  (which  issued  from  Thomas  Maule  of  Pitlevie  and 
Ardownie,  uncle  of  the  first  Earl  of  Panmure),  but  by  the 
decision  of  the  Lords  of  Council  and  Session  in  1782,  he  failed, 
with  some  trifling  exceptions,  to  establish  his  claim,  and  the 
Hon.  William  Maule  succeeded,  as  above  mentioned,  without 
legal  question  or  difficulty  five  years  afterwards. 

William  Maule  represented  Forfarshire  in  Parliament  from 
1796  to  1831,  when  he  was  created  a  British  Peer  by  the  title 
of  Baron  Panmure  of  Brechin  and  Navar.  A  lasting  memorial 
was  raised  during  his  lifetime,  when,  in  1839,  his  Lord- 
ship's numerous  tenantry  subscribed  and  erected  the  Panmure 
Testimonial  upon  the  Downie  Hill  in  Monikie.  It  commands 
a  magnificent  view,  and  unceasingly  witnesses  to  the  great 

1  Reg.  de  Panmure,  i.  p.  Ix  sq.,  ii.  pp.  356  sq. 


NAVAR — LORD  PANMTJRE.  147 

principle  in  human  life,  "  Live,  and  let  live,"  which  was  his 
Lordship's  favourite  sentiment  used  as  a  toast. 

Although  the  late  Lord  Panmure  never  shone  as  a  public 
orator,  he  is  uniformly  represented,  by  those  who  knew  him 
during  his  Parliamentary  life,  as  having  been  a  gentleman  of 
shrewd  and  discerning  parts,  who  not  only  could  discuss  the 
politics  of  the  day  in  private  circles  with  ability  and  judgment, 
but  possessed  a  more  than  ordinary  share  of  active  business 
habits.  Still,  it  is  not  on  his  political  acquirements  that  his 
fame  is  to  rest;  but  as  the  liberal  landlord — the  munificent 
supporter  of  the  public  institutions  of  Forfarshire — the  friend 
of  the  poor — and  the  encourager  of  genius — he  will  be  known 
to  posterity.  It  was  he  who  first  lent  a  helping  hand  to  the 
widow  and  family  of  the  immortal  Burns,  to  whom  he  gave  fifty 
pounds  a  year,  until  the  eldest  son  was  able  to  provide  for  his 
mother.  He  also  contributed  a  handsome  annuity  to  the  widow 
of  the  Hon.  Charles  James  Fox,  his  great  exemplar  in  politics. 
Neil  Gow,  and  other  men  of  genius,  who  are  long  since  num- 
bered with  their  fathers,  shared  largely  of  his  bounty;  and 
several  artists,  afterwards  in  Edinburgh  and  London,  owed 
their  early  success  almost  entirely  to  him,  as  did  many  persons 
who  became  conspicuous  in  our  civil  and  military  services  at 
home  and  abroad,  with  others  who  may  still  be  flourishing  in 
the  wide  world  of  commerce  and  letters.1 

His  Lordship  died  on  the  13th  of  April  1852,  in  the  eighty- 
second  year  of  his  age,  and  was  buried  at  Brechin,  where  a 
granite  obelisk  was  erected  at  his  grave  by  "  The  People."  He 
was  in  the  eighteenth  generation  from  the  first  Sir  Peter  Maule 
of  Panmure  and  his  wife,  Christian  de  Valoniis,  who  lived  in  the 
beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century.  He  is  believed  to  have 
been  longer  in  possession  of  the  property  than  any  of  his  pre- 
decessors, having  held  it  no  less  than  sixty-four  years.  By  his 
second  wife,  who  survived  him,  he  had  no  issue ;  but  by  the 

1  For  a  detail  of  the  late  Lord  Panmure's  numerous  charities,  see  the  local  news- 
papers published  at  the  time  of  his  death. 


148  LAND  OF  THE   LINDSAYS. 

first,  who  died  in  1821,  he  had  a  family  of  three  sons  and 
seven  daughters.  Of  the  latter,  four  outlived  their  father,  and 
the  Hon.  Lady  Christian  Maule  is  the  only  member  of  the 
whole  family  now  remaining. 

Of  the  sons,  the  youngest,  the  Hon.  William  Maule,  married 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Thomas  Binny  of  Fern  and  Maulesden, 
in  Forfarshire,  and  died  in  1859,  leaving  a  family  of  daughters, 
his  only  two  sons  having  predeceased  him.  The  second,  the 
Hon.  Lauderdale  Maule,  joined  the  army,  and  rose  to  the 
rank  of  colonel.  When  acting  as  Assistant  Adjutant-General 
in  the  Crimean  War,  he  was  cut  off  by  cholera  in  camp,  near 
Varna,  on  August  1st,  1854,  to  the  deep  regret  of  Lord  Eaglan, 
who  was  Commander-in-Chief,  and  his  brother  officers.  To  his 
memory  a  handsome  monument  in  Carrara  marble  was  erected 
in  the  church  of  Panbride,  by  his  friend,  the  late  Prince  Demidoff, 
and  his  name  is  inscribed,  with  those  of  the  other  members  of 
the  family,  in  the  monumental  tpwer  on  the  Eowan  in  Glenesk. 

The  Hon.  Fox  Maule,  eldest  son  of  Lord  Panmure,  succeeded 
his  father  in  the  titles  and  estates  in  1852.  In  early  life  he 
retired  from  the  army,  and  married  the  Hon.  Lady  Montague, 
daughter  of  George,  second  Lord  Abercroinby.  Her  Lady- 
ship died  without  issue  in  1853.  Fox  Maule  commenced 
his  long  Parliamentary  career  by  being  elected  to  represent 
the  county  of  Perth  in  1835,  and,  with  the  exception  of 
three  years  (1838-41),  when  he  was  member  for  the  Elgin 
Burghs,  he  continued  to  represent  Perth,  borough  or  county,  up 
to  the  time  of  his  father's  death,  when  he  succeeded  to  the 
Peerage.  On  the  death  of  his  cousin,  James  Andrew,  first 
and  only  Marquis  of  Dalhousie,  in  1860,  when  the  Marquisate 
lapsed  through  the  failure  of  heirs-male,  his  Lordship  became 
the  eleventh  Earl  of  Dalhousie,  and  in  the  following  year 
resumed  the  family  name  of  Eamsay  in  addition  to  that  of 
Maule.  He  was  long  a  member  of  the  Privy  Council,  and 
held  the  important  offices  of  Vice-President  of  the  Board  of 
Trade,  Under-Secretary  for  the  Home  Department,  Secretary 


NAVAR — EARLS   OF  DALHOUSIE.  U9 

of  State  War  Department,  and,  for  a  short  time,  President  of 
the  Board  of  Control.  As  Secretary-at-War,  from  1855  to 
1858,  when  the  Crimean  War  and  the  Indian  Mutiny  engaged 
all  his  energies,  the  name  of  Lord  Panmure  was  much  before 
the  public ;  but  as  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Forfarshire  and  a  liberal 
landlord,  he  was  better  known  upon  his  wide  estates.  Dying 
at  Brechin  Castle,  the  place  of  his  birth,  on  July  16,  1874,  at 
the  ripe  age  of  seventy-three,  he  was  buried  in  the  family 
vault  at  Panbride,  and  mourned  by  many  who  had  experienced 
his  kindness.  Leaving  no  issue,  he  was  the  last  Baron  Panmure, 
but  was  succeeded  by  his  cousin,  the  Hon.  George  Eamsay, 
C.B.,  second  son  of  the  Hon.  John  Eamsay,  fourth  son  of  the 
eighth  Earl  of  Dalhousie,  as  the  twelfth  Earl.  Earl  George, 
born  at  Kelly  House,  April  26,  1805,  entered  the  Royal  Navy 
at  the  age  of  fourteen,  and,  after  his  full  share  of  service  in 
all  parts  of  the  world,  was  appointed  Admiral  in  1875.  In 
the  same  year  he  was  elevated  to  the  Peerage  of  the  United 
Kingdom  under  the  title  of  Baron  Eamsay  of  Glenmark. 
During  his  short  tenure  of  the  family  estates  in  Forfarshire, 
he  proved  a  liberal  landlord,  like  his  predecessors.  He  died 
at  Dalhousie  Castle,  in  Mid-Lothian,  on  July  20, 1880,  and  was 
laid  in  the  family  burial-vault  at  Cockpen.  He  was  succeeded 
by  his  eldest  son,  the  Hon.  John  William  Eamsay,  as  thirteenth 
Earl  of  Dalhousie.  The  present  Earl  married  the  Hon.  Lady 
Ida  Louise  Bennet,  youngest  daughter  of  Charles,  sixth  Earl  of 
Tankerville,  and  has  issue.  He  was  Member  of  Parliament 
for  Liverpool  during  a  very  short  period  when,  in  1880,  his 
father's  death  removed  him  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and  in 
December  1881,  on  the  death  of  the  Earl  of  Airlie,  his  Lord- 
ship was  placed  on  the  roll  of  the  Knights  of  the  Thistle,  and 
duly  invested  by  Her  Majesty  with  the  insignia  of  the  Order. 


150  LAND  OF  THE   LINDSAYS. 


SECTION  III. 

A  deeper  import 

Lurks  in  the  legend  told  my  infant  years 
Than  lies  upon  that  truth  we  live  to  learn. 

SCHILLER. 

Aspect  of  Navar— The  Wirran— -Story  of  the  melder-sifter— Archaeology  of  Lethnot— 
Dunnyferne— "  Lady  Eagil's  Chair"— Cobb's  Heugh— Streams  of  the  district- 
Superstition  anent  the  white  adder— Superstitions  of  Lethnot— The  Cateran. 

ALTHOUGH  Navar  and  Lethnot  are  less  favoured  than  Glenesk 
on  the  score  of  extent  and  the  imposing  features  of  lofty 
and  rugged  mountains,  the  general  aspect  of  the  whole  is 
equally  highland,  and  when  traversed  in  a  fine  summer  day, 
or  viewed  from  the  old  British  fort  of  Caterthun,  it  has  a 
singularly  sweet  and  inviting  aspect.  This  is  peculiarly  the 
case  when  seen  from  the  latter  position,  which  embraces  an 
extended  view  of  four  or  five  miles.  But,  like  Glenesk,  the 
district  is  singularly  destitute  of  trees ;  for,  with  the  exception 
of  the  plantation  on  Nathro,  and  a  patch  of  firs  at  Balfield, 
there  is  little  wood,  either  indigenous  or  cultivated.  The  old 
churchyard  of  Navar,  on  the  sunny  side  of  Blairno  Hill,  shaded 
by  a  few  meagre  ash-trees — the  half  moon- shaped  bridge 
of  Lethnot — the  Board  School,  school-house,  and  other  tidy 
cottages — the  kirk  and  manse — the  hamlet  of  Balfield,  where 
the  laborious  matron  fits  her  charge  for  the  domestic  duties  of 
after-life,  and  the  parish  wright  and  blacksmith  drive  their 
useful  trades — are  the  main  objects  which  enliven  the  natural 
barrenness  of  the  prospect. 

The  hill  of  Wirran1  bounds  the  northern  parts  of  the 
parish.  It  is  about  six  miles  long  and  2082  feet  high,  com- 
manding a  fine  view  of  the  hills  of  Fifeshire  and  intervening 
objects.  In  the  dark  ages  of  credulity  and  superstition  it  was 
often  used  as  the  burial-place  of  suicides,  and  on  the  ridge  or 

1  Gael.  Fuaran,  "&  spring," — hence  "the  hill  of  springs." 


LETHNOT — SUPERSTITIONS.  151 

sky-line  of  the  hill  numerous  grave-shaped  hillocks  point 
out  the  resting-places  of  those  luckless  beings.  At  no  dis- 
tant date,  when  a  suicide  was  found  on  one  of  the  farms  in 
the  neighbourhood,  the  farmer,  rather  than  allow  the  body  to 
be  conveyed  in  at  the  barn-door,  had  an  aperture  made  in  the 
front  wall  for  that  purpose  :  and,  "  although  the  hole  was  built 
up  ower  an'  ower  again,"  says  our  informant,  "the  biggin' 
wudna  bide,  but  aye  fell  out !" 

A  kettle  filled  with  silver  is  said  to  lie  in  the  Craig  of 
Stonyford,  on  the  south-west  side  of  Wirran,  and  of  this  the  sun, 
when  in  full  lustre,  occasionally  displays  the  'bow  and  precious 
contents  to  the  view  of  the  credulous.  Many  attempts  have 
been  made  to  secure  the  treasure,  but  the  "  seekers "  have  all 
been  unsuccessful.  If  the  legend  be  correct,  they  have  little 
cause  for  regret,  for,  as  it  will  be  with  the  finder  of  the  kettle 
of  gold  which  is  said  to  be  secreted  in  the  well  on  the  hill  of 
Caterthun,  so  he  also  that  finds  this  kettle  of  silver  on  the 
Wirran  is  to  be  instantly  removed  from  this  sublunary  sphere, 
have  constant  labour  until  the  world  ends,  and  perpetual 
wailing  thereafter ! 

The  mill  of  Glascorry  lies  still  farther  to  the  west  of  the 
hill,  and  is  famous  in  local  story  as  the  scene  of  a  poor  "  melder- 
sifter's"  toil  on  the  day  of  her  narrow  escape  from  a  wolf.  The 
tradition  may  thus  be  briefly  told : — While  the  system  of 
thirlage  was  in  its  zenith,  and  no  better  plan  thought  of,  a 
servant-girl  was  one  day  sent  to  this  mill  to  sift  a  melder,  or 
grinding  of  corn.  The  melder  being  large,  she  had  a  long  and 
hard  day's  work,  and  was  so  overpowered  by  fatigue,  that  on 
her  way  home  she  lay  down  on  a  bank  to  rest  herself,  and 
fell  asleep.  She  rested  soundly  until  daybreak,  when,  to  her 
surprise  and  horror,  she  found  a  huge  shaggy  wolf  lying  on 
part  of  her  garment;  but,  with  great  presence  of  mind,  she 
succeeded  in  quietly  extricating  herself,  and  stealthily  fled 
home.  On  relating  her  adventure,  the  alarmed  neighbourhood 
went  in  pursuit  of  the  wolf,  whose  life  had  been  long  sought 


152  LAND  OF  THE   LINDSAYS. 

after  because  of  the  havoc  he  had  made  among  the  flocks  in  all 
parts  of  the  glen.  He  had  left  the  place  where  the  girl  saw 
him,  and  the  part  of  her  apparel  which  she  had  left,  and 
on  which  he  had  wreaked  his  vengeance,  was  found  torn  to 
shreds ;  but  chase  being  given,  he  was  discovered  on  the  West 
Shank  of  Wirran,  and  almost  instantaneously  shot  by,  it  is 
said,  Robert-son  of  Nathro.  This  was  the  last  wolf  seen  in 
the  district — provincial  story  says  in  Scotland ;  and,  whether 
in  imitation  of  the  usual  love-story,  or  from  fact,  it  is  also 
told  that  the  young  laird  of  Nathro  led  the  poor  melder-sifter 
to  the  hymeneal  altar ! 

The  antiquarian  objects  of  Lethnot,  and  indeed  of  the 
united  parish,  are  few  and  unimportant,  and  the  whole  district 
is  equally  meagre  in  traditions  regarding  the  Lindsays  and 
other  old  proprietors.  In  the  vicinity  of  Craigendowie,  how- 
ever, among  the  mass  of  artificial-looking  cairns  (which  are 
said  to  be  the  graves  of  warriors),  there  was  a  small  circle,  com- 
posed of  a  quantity  of  stones  about  the  same  size,  and  ranged 
in  the  same  manner,  as  those  at  Fernybank,  already  described. 
Unlike  the  latter,  this  circle  was  never  thoroughly  explored, 
even  at  the  time  of  its  removal  more  than  forty  years  ago, 
and  if  as  old  as  prehistoric  times,  it  cannot  now  be  said 
in  how  far  it  may  have  been  a  place  of  sepulture.1  Craigen- 
dowie has,  perhaps,  its  true  etymon  in  the  Gaelic  Craigan- 
dubh,  or  "  the  black  rock,"  for  the  craig  is  an  immense  black 
rock  close  by  the  river-side ;  but,  according  to  a  truer  etymo- 
logy, as  well  as  popular  story,  it  implies  the  "  rock  of  the  funeral 
cairn,"  or  perhaps  the  "craig  of  battle  or  mischief;"  and,  if 
any  reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  tales  regarding  the  malicious 
actions  of  the  kelpie  in  the  dark  pool  beside  it,  or  in  the  story 
of  warriors  having  fallen  in  the  neighbourhood,  the  latter 
rendering  may  not  be  altogether  inapt ! 

Some  fifty  years  ago,  a  good  specimen  of  concentric 
circles  stood  on  the  farm  of  Newbigging,  about  half-a-mile 

1  There  are  still  circles  on  the  farms  of  Braco  and  Blairno. 


LETHNOT — ANTIQUITIES,   TALES.  153 

north  of  the  house,  on  an  elevated  part  of  the  mountain ;  but, 
of  the  twenty  or  thirty  large  stones  that  enclosed  an  area  of 
from  fifty  to  sixty  feet  in  diameter,  only  one  remains,  the  rest 
having  been  carried  away  for  various  utilitarian  purposes. 
This  boulder,  which  is  about  eight  feet  high,  is  sometimes 
called  the  Druidical,  but  more  commonly  the  "  Stannin'  Stane 
of  Newbiggin',"  and  many  flint  arrow-heads  have  been  found 
in  its  vicinity.  When  demolished,  the  middle  of  the  area  of 
the  inner  circle  was  found  to  be  filled  with  small  stones  to  the 
depth  of  about  three  feet,  under  which  lay  a  quantity  of  black 
clammy  earth,  mixed  with  pieces  of  charcoal,  while  a  track 
about  two  feet  broad,  composed  of  loose  red  sandstone,  laid  to 
the  depth  of  a  few  inches,  ran  directly  through  the  clammy  earth 
and  pebbles,  from  side  to  side  of  the  outer  circle.  The  site  of 
these  circles  is  about  a  mile  north  of  the  channel  of  the  West 
Water,  which  is  the  nearest  bed  of  the  old  red  sandstone. 

At  a  short  distance  from  this  stone  are  the  foundations  of 
a  square  building  called  the  castle  of  Dennyferne.  Traces  of 
human  dwellings  have  from  time  to  time  been  turned  up  in  its 
vicinity,  and  evidences  of  ancient  tillage  are  quite  distinct  in 
numerous  ridge-marks.  It  is  said  to  have  been  a  residence  of 
the  Lindsays,  and  the  surrounding  cottages  to  have  been  occu- 
pied by  their  retainers. 

In  a  place  called  the  Taberan  Loan,  a  large  stone,  from  its 
peculiar  shape,  and  the  tradition  that  the  ladies  of  Edzell  used 
to  rest  on  it  when  accompanying  their  lords  on  fishing  expedi- 
tions, is  known  as  "  Lady  Eagil's  Chair."  It  is  destitute  of  all 
other  traditionary  associations ;  but  Cobb's  Heugh,  a  romantic 
part  of  the  West  Water  (mainly  formed  by  the  track  of  the 
Burn  of  Margie),  is  not  so  uninteresting  in  this  respect,  being 
associated  with  a  story  regarding  an  ancestor  of  Black,  the 
founder  of  the  Gannochy  Bridge.  This  family  long  tenanted 
the  Mill  of  Lethnot,  and  the  occupant  of  the  period  was  a 
strong  athletic  person,  fully  as  austere  and  turbulent  in 
temperament  as  he  was  powerful  in  body.  He  and  the  laird 


154  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

of  Edzell  are  said  to  have  quarrelled  about  the  rent  of  the 
farm,  which  Black  was  dilatory  in  paying,  and  the  laird  be- 
came so  annoyed,  that  he  determined  to  rid  himself  of  his 
tenant  in  the  most  summary  manner.  He  was  accordingly 
summoned  on  some  pretence  to  Edzell  Castle  one  winter's  night, 
and  the  laird  having  previously  arranged  with  a  person  of  the 
name  of  Cobb  to  waylay  and  attack  him  at  a  dangerous  part  of 
the  road,  Black  was  pounced  upon  on  returning  home.  A  des- 
perate struggle  ensued  betwixt  him  and  his  antagonist,  and  after 
much  parrying,  Black  proved  victorious,  and  threw  Cobb  over 
the  cliff  into  a  deep  pool,  where  his  body  was  found  some  days 
after.  From  this  incident  the  place  has  been  associated  with 
the  names  of  both  parties,  the  high  cliff  being  known  as  Cobb's 
Heugh,  and  the  pool  as  Black's  Pot.  The  fate  of  Black  is  not 
recorded :  perhaps  he  henceforth  lived  a  life  of  peace  with  his 
laird  and  all  the  world,  as  his  descendants  held  the  same 
farm  for  several  generations  after  the  time  referred  to. 

Although  the  springs  of  Wirran  contribute  largely  to  the 
augmentation  of  the  West  Water  by  many  affluents,  its  parent 
stream  is  the  Water  of  Saughs.  This  issues  from  the  Staney 
Loch,  on  the  confines  of  the  parish  of  Clova,  within  a  mile  or 
two  of  Loch  Wharral,  and  traverses  a  rugged  and  romantic  bed, 
that  winds  round  by  the  Muckle  Cairn,  White  Hill,  and  Black 
Shank,  and  is  famous  as  the  scene  of  the  battle  between  the 
men  of  Fern  and  the  Cateran,  which  will  be  noticed  in  a 
subsequent  Chapter.  Saughs  has  a  number  of  tributaries,  but 
the  burn  of  Duskintry  or  Dunscarney  is  the  largest,  and  is  an 
important  landmark  or  boundary,  being  the  march  for  the  glen 
pasture  of  the  Water  of  Saughs ;  from  this  burn  westward  the 
parish  ministers  and  tenants  of  Lethnot,  Lochlee,  and  Edzell 
have  a  common  right  to  pasture  a  certain  number  of  black  cattle.1 
At  the  union  of  Saughs  with  Duskintry,  the  river  becomes 
known  southward  by  the  common  name  of  the  West  Water. 

1  Decreet-Arbitral,  recorded  in  the  Register  of  Probative   Writs  of  Brechin, 
17th  Oct.  1843. 


LETHNOT— VIRTUES  OF  THE   WHITE  ADDER.       155 

From  Waterhead  downwards  this  river  is  augmented  by 
the  burns  of  Calletar  and  Nathro,  Differan  and  Paphry,  all 
on  the  Navar  side,  and  remarkable  for  the  rugged  eddying 
nature  of  their  channels.  None  of  these  burns  are  worthy  of 
notice,  except  the  Calletar,  and  that  entirely  for  certain  super- 
stitions connected  with  it,1  which  arose  in  most  part  from  its 
having  long  been  the  site  of  an  adder  stone.  This  stone  is 
described  as  being  of  a  greyish  colour,  pure  as  marble,  with  a 
hole  in  the  centre  as  large  as  would  freely  admit  a  man's  arm  ; 
through  and  through  this  hole  the  white  adder  is  said  to  have 
sported  in  fine  sunny  days,  followed  by  a  long  train  of  his 
glistening  family  or  subjects !  Adder  stones  are  well  known 
to  all  "  charmers "  as  a  sure  preventive  against  the  ill  that 
follows  the  exercise  of  supernatural  agency,  and  as  a  never- 
failing  curative  for  bewitched  persons  and  cattle ;  while  the 
antiquary  and  collector  of  curious  relics  prize  them  merely  as  a 
species  of  water-worn  perforated  stones,  and  find  some  addi- 
tional interest  in  them  from  their  resemblance  to  the  stone  of 
Odin,  in  the  Orkneys,2  which  was  held  in  so  high  esteem 
that  a  promise  made  beside  it,  whether  of  matrimony  or  in 
any  common  business  transaction,  was  considered  as  binding 
on  the  parties  promising  as  if  they  had  given  their  oath. 

Nor  was  the  white  adder  less  an  object  of  superstition  in 
old  times  than  the  perforated  stone.  Such  an  animal  is  said  to 
have  been  rare ;  and  as  his  qualities  fell  little  short  of  those 
anticipated  from  the  discovery  of  the  philosopher's  stone,  his 
acquisition  repaid  tenfold  any  labour,  expense,  or  trouble  that 
the  lucky  possessor  had  undergone  in  catching  him — his  great 

1  Leadbeakie,  a  farm  situated  on  the  banks  of  Nathro  burn,  has  so  secluded  a 
position,  that  it  has  given  rise  to  a  rhythmical  saying — 

"  Nae  wonder  though  the  maidens  o'  Leadbeakie  are  dun, 
For  three  months  o1  the  year  they  never  hae  the  sun." 

2  "Kelpie's  Needle,"  in  the  river  Dee,  near  Dee  Castle,  is  an  example  of  this  ' 
singular  sort  of  memorial.     It  is  about  four  feet  above  the  ordinary  rise  of  the  river, 
and  corresponds  in  appearance  with  the  description  given  of  the  "Odin  Stone."    It  is 
named  from  the  resemblance  which  the  perforation  bears  to  the  eye  of  a  needle,  and 
from  a  popular  superstition,  that  the  river  fiend  takes  shelter  behind  it  during  floods, 
eyeing  his  drowning  victims  through  the  orifice  ! 


15G  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

and  unique  property  being  the  conferring  of  no  less  a  power 
than  laibhse,  or  the  second-sight ! 

The  wonderful  gift  of  seeing  into  the  sealed  volume  of 
futurity  was  supposed  to  be  innate  in  some  persons,  but  for 
others  the  "  broo  "  or  broth  of  the  white  adder  had  the  same 
magical  effect  on  the  partaker  as  if  he  had  been  born  heir  to  the 
gift.  This  was  the  manner  in  which  Brochdarg,  the  celebrated 
prophet  of  the  North,  was  endowed  with  the  marvellous  power 
of  diving  into  the  hidden  future,  as  well  as  of  knowing  the 
persons  who  "cast  ill"  on  their  neighbours.  Going  to  the 
Continent  in  youth  as  the  servant  of  a  second  Sidrophel, 
he  one  day  got  a  white  adder  from  his  master  to  boil,  and 
was  admonished,  on  the  pain  of  his  life's  forfeit,  not  to*  let 
a  drop  of  the  "  broo "  touch  his  tongue.  On  scalding  his 
fingers,  however,  he  inadvertently  thrust  them  into  his  mouth 
as  a  soothing  balm,  when  he  instantly  beheld  the  awful 
future  stretched  out  before  him.  Fearing  the  wrath  of  his 
master,  he  fled  from  his  service,  and  taking  up  his  abode 
among  his  native  mountains  in  Aberdeenshire,  was  con- 
sulted by  all  the  bewitched  and  love-sick  swains  and  maidens 
far  and  near,  and  died  an  old  wealthy  carle  more  than  a 
century  ago. 

Another  party  in  the  same  district,  who  lived  within  these 
seventy  years,  obtained  the  second-sight  by  the  same  means 
of  tasting  the  "  broo "  of  a  white  adder.  This  person  was 
much  sought  after,  and  on  one  occasion  visited  a  farm  in 
Lethnot,  where  many  cattle  had  died  in  a  singularly  unac- 
countable manner.  In  proceeding  to  cure  them,  his  practice 
was  to  get  a  white  basin  full  of  spring  water,  and  taking  a 
round  ball,  which  he  carried  about  with  him,  pure  and  clear 
as  polished  steel,  he  dipped  it  three  times  into  the  basin  in  the 
name  of  the  Trinity.  He  was  thus  wont  to  discover  the  like- 
ness of  the  Evil  One  or  his  allies,  in  whom,  in  this  case,  the 
astonished  farmer  recognised  the  physiognomy  of  one  of  his 
own  cottar  women  !  This  witch  was  remembered  thirty  years 


LETHNOT — STORY  OF  THE  BLACK  CAT.  157 

ago  by  some  old  residenters,  and  one  respectable  person  could 
assure  his  hearers  that  she  was  as  thorough  a  witch  as  ever 
slept,  for  he  himself,  for  calling  her  "  a  witch  "  one  day,  while 
driving  one  of  his  father's  carts,  had  a  cart  full  of  lime  upset 
three  several  times  within  the  short  space  of  a  mile,  and  in 
sight  of  the  woman's  residence  ! 

But  it  would  seem,  if  tradition  can  be  relied  upon,  that  about 
the  beginning  of  last  century  (during  the  incumbency,  as  is 
said,  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Thomson l),  man's  great  adversary  had 
enjoyed  a  kind  of  respite  from  his  thousand  years'  captivity, 
and  taken  up  his  abode  in  the  quiet  glen  of  the  West  Water. 
It  were  idle  to  relate  a  tithe  of  the  stories  told  of  his  per- 
ambulations, and  the  various  shapes  in  which  he  appeared  to 
the  minister,  and  to  many  of  his  less  educated  neighbours ;  but 
an  instance  or  two  will  sufficiently  show  the  credulity  only 
too  common  both  then  and  afterwards. 

One  of  these  stories  is  based  on  a  quarrel  that  took  place 
between  the  tenant  of  Mill  of  Lethnot  and  his  fellow-parishioner 
the  farmer  of  Witton.  The  miller  had  long  a  craving  to  be 
revenged  on  his  neighbour,  and  on  learning  one  evening  that 
the  farmer  was  from  home,  and  would  not  return  until  a  late 
hour,  he  went  away  to  meet  him.  Before  departing  on  his 
vengeful  expedition,  however,  his  excited  appearance,  and  the 
unusually  late  hour,  so  alarmed  his  wife,  that  she  tried  every 
means  to  dissuade  him  from  his  journey,  and  all  protestation 
having  failed,  she  inquired,  as  a  last  resort,  and  in  a  piteous 
tone,  who  was  to  bear  her  company  during  his  absence.  To 
this  he  answered  gruffly,  and  in  a  frantic  manner — "  The  devil 
if  he  likes!" — and  immediately  went  away.  So,  sure  enough, 
in  the  course  of  an  hour  or  two,  his  Satanic  majesty  rose  from 
the  middle  of  the  earthen  floor  of  the  chamber  where  the  dis- 
consolate woman  sat,  and  presented  himself  to  her  astonished 

1  Minister  of  Lethnot  from  1685  to  1716.  The  distance  of  time  makes  the  matter 
the  more  doubtful,  and  another  tradition  brings  it  down  to  the  time  and  person  of 
Air.  Row.  See  below,  p.  159,  n.  Probably  political  and  religious  feeling  had  not  a 
little  to  do  with  this  and  suchlike  stories. 


158  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

gaze !  Whether  he  attempted  to  do  her  any  injury  is  not 
related ;  but  as  she  had  presence  of  mind  to  put  her  son,  a 
mere  boy,  out  at  a  back  window  for  the  minister,  his  reverence 
and  the  boy,  with  some  of  the  neighbours,  set  out  for  the 
house.  When  within  a  short  distance  of  it,  Mr.  Thomson, 
supposing  that  he  felt  the  odour  of  "  brimstane  smeik,"  was  so 
impressed  with  the  belief  of  the  bonafide  presence  of  Beelzebub, 
that  he  retraced  his  steps  to  the  manse,  arrayed  himself  in  his 
black  gown  and  linen  bands,  and,  taking  the  Bible  in  his  hand, 
went  boldly  forth  to  vanquish  the  master  fiend  !  On  entering 
the  ill-fated  chamber,  he  charged  the  intruder  with  the  sword 
of  the  Spirit,  when,  in  the  midst  of  a  volume  of  smoke,  and 
with  a  hideous  yell,  the  Evil  One  shrank  aghast,  and  passed 
from  view  in  much  the  same  mysterious  way  as  he  had 
appeared.  An  indentation  in  the  earthen  floor  of  the  farm- 
house was  long  pointed  out  as  having  been  caused  by  the 
descent  of  Satan  on  this  occasion ! 

Tradition  is  silent  regarding  the  miller's  adventure,  and 
perhaps  the  story  is  merely  another  version  of  that  of  Cobb's 
Heugh.  But  to  add  the  appearance  of  truth  to  the  tale,  it  is 
further  said  that  the  sanctity  of  the  manse  had  no  effect  in 
deterring  man's  prowling  and  tormenting  foe.  Even  there, 
Mr.  Thomson  was  annoyed  out  of  all  patience :  if  he  sat 
down  of  an  evening  to  write  or  read,  his  book  or  paper  soon 
became  a  darkened  and  unseemly  mass,  and  the  candle  burnt 
so  faintly  before  him  that  he  could  barely  see  from  one  end 
of  his  little  chamber  to  the  other ;  indeed,  so  bent  was  his 
enemy  on  doing  him  some  injury,  that  his  last  interview  with 
him  was  attended  with  most  lamentable  consequences.  It 
was  on  a  dark  winter  evening — the  storm  howled  with  fury, 
and  the  fall  of  snow  had  been  so  great,  that  large  wreaths 
were  blown  against  the  manse  and  church.  The  minister, 
as  usual,  was  sitting  by  the  fire  reading  or  writing,  when  a 
tremendous  gust  of  wind  suddenly  shook  the  house  from  top 
to  bottom — a  peculiar  sound  was  heard  in  the  chimney — and, 


LETHNOT — THE  FARMER  AND  THE  CATER  ANS.        159 

amidst  much  din  and  confusion,  his  tormentor '  entered  his 
room  in  the  shape  of  a  large  black  cat !  How  he  found  his 
way  none  could  exactly  affirm — the  minister  did  not  see  him 
enter,  and  distinguished  nothing  save  his  long  hairy  fangs, 
which  suddenly  extinguished  the  candle  !  Eunning  in  pursuit, 
however,  he  saw  him  clear  the  steep  and  narrow  stair  that 
led  to  the  lower  flat  of  the  house,  and  falling  from  head  to 
foot  of  it  himself,  Mr.  Thomson  was  so  much  injured  from 
bruises  and  fright  that  he  never  fully  recovered  ! 1 

The  facts  of  such  pitiful  displays  of  ignorance  and  credulity 
as  those  now  told,  though  absurd  in  themselves,  ought  not  to  be 
entirely  overlooked  when  delineating  the  history  of  a  district 
or  a  people.  They  formed  at  one  time  a  great  and  prominent 
part  of  the  beliefs  of  the  old  inhabitants,  and  were  as  intimately 
associated  with  their  habits  of  thought  and  action  as  were 
their  domestic  customs ;  thus  they  show  as  vividly  the  ruling 
passions,  and  throw  as  much  light  on  the  society  of  the  period, 
as  do  the  prehistoric  remains,  and  the  curious  tenures  by 
which  old  charters  tell  us  that  landed  property  was  held. 

But  apart  from  these  superstitions,  the  district  had  also  to 
do  with  those  times 

"  When  tooining  faulds,  or  scouring  o'  a  glen, 
Was  ever  deemed  the  deed  o'  pretty  men." 

An  ancestor  of  the  present  tenant  of  Craigendowie  (whose 
forefathers  have  farmed  the  same  place  upwards  of  two  cen- 
turies) was  reported  to  be  worth  money ;  and  the  Cateran, 
believing  that  the  money  was  stored  up  in  the  house,  paid  the 

1  Although  currently  ascribed  to  Mr.  Thomson,  these  stories  are  scarcely  in  accord- 
ance with  his  real  character  (supra,  p.  157  n.),  and  the  true  version  of  the  story  is  given 
in  APPENDIX  No.  VI. ,  as  put  together  by  the  present  minister,  Mr.  Cruickshank. 
Mr.  T.  was  the  last  Episcopal  minister  of  Lethnot,  and  being  a  determined 
supporter  of  the  rebellion,  was  deposed,  by  order  of  Government,  for  praying 
"  for  the  heads  and  patriots  of  the  Kebel  Army,  and  that  God  might  cover  their 
heads  in  the  day  of  battell."  He  also  prayed  "for  his  Noble  Patron  the  Earle  of 
Panmure,  that  the  Lord  might  preserve  him  now  when  he  was  exposed  to  Danger," 
and  thanked  God  for  "  King  James  the  Eight's  safe  Landing  into  these  his  native 
bounds,"  and  that  "the  Army  appearing  against  Marr's  Army  might  be  defeat," 
etc. — (Records  of  the  Presbytery  of  Brechin,  March  7,  1716.)  Mr.  Thomson  married 
Anna  Lindsay  of  the  house  of  EdzelL— (Deer eet- Arbitral,  Nov.  22d,  1714.) 


160  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

family  a  visit  on  one  occasion  about  midnight.  Being  refused 
admittance  they  deliberately  cut  a  large  tree  that  grew  near 
the  house,  and,  using  it  as  a  battering-ram,  soon  succeeded  in 
bursting  open  the  door,  and  walked  boldly  through  the  house. 
They  had  previously  emptied  the  mill  of  meal  and  corn,  and 
laded  the  farmer's  own  horses  with  it ;  then,  despatching  them 
and  some  of  his  cows  along  the  mountain  track,  they  next 
insisted  on  having  his  money.  This  he  peremptorily  refused, 
when,  with  a  view  to  enforce  compliance,  they  set  his  bare  feet 
over  a  blazing  fire,  and,  finding  this  stratagem  as  unsuccessful 
as  threats,  they  seized  his  wife,  and  rode  off  with  her  at  full 
speed.  As  the  farmer  made  no  resistance,  and  the  gudewife 
perhaps  proved  a  drag  on  their  progress,  they  dismissed  her  at 
Stonyford,  when  she  returned  to  Craigendowie  with  much  less 
injury  than  had  befallen  the  feet  of  her  inflexible  partner ! 
The  tombstone  of  this  worthy  "  gudewife  "  is  still  in  the  burial- 
place  at  Navar,  and  the  motto  may  interest  the  reader.  It 
runs  thus : — 

"  A  pearl  precious  here  doth  lie, 

As  signifies  her  name  : 

Still  shining  to  posterity 

By  her  deserved  fame. 

Death  battered  down  those  walls  of  clay 

To  let  her  soul  go  free, 
And  soar  aloft  to  praise  for  aye 

The  Triune  Deity. 

Sleep  thou,  frail  dust,  within  thy  closest  urn, 

Till  the  morning  of  the  Resurrection  dawn, 
When  thou  shalt  wake,  the  heaven  and  earth  shall  burn, 

And  be  rejoined  to  thy  immortal  pawn."  * 

1  Jervise,  Epit.  ii.  pp.  296  sq.  ;  Rogers,  Scott.  Mon.  and  Tombst.  ii.  p.  242. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

(Dathlato. 


SECTION  I. 

Here  they  lie  had  realms  and  lands, 
Who  now  want  strength  to  stir  their  hands. 

BEAUMONT. 

Finhaven  —  Etymologies—  Church  a  prebend  of  Brechin  Cathedral  —  The  nine 
maidens—  Old  church  of  Finhaven—  The  "kirk  of  A  ikenhatt"—  Ministers  of 
Finhaven—  Oathlaw  took  the  place  of  Finhaven—  Burial  aisle—  Later  ministers 
—  Female  rioters  do  penance  —  Rev.  Harry  Stuart. 

THE  districts  of  Finhaven  or  Finavon  and  Oathlaw  are,  for  the 
most  part,  divided  from  each  other  by  the  burn  of  Lenmo.1 
The  kirk  of  Finhaven  stood  on  the  south-east  corner  of  a 
rising  ground,  about  a  mile  east  of  the  castle,  near  the  junction 
of  the  Lemno  and  South  Esk,  and  was  frequently  called  the 
"  kirk  of  Aikenhatt,"  but  the  site  is  suggestive  of  the  origin 
of  the  name  of  Aberlemno,  though  that  parish,  in  its  present 
boundaries,  has  no  connection  with  the  Lemno.  This  name, 
Aikenhatt,  is  probably  derived  from  the  Gaelic,  and  may 
signify  "  the  place  of  prayer  or  supplication  ;  "  while  Finhaven, 
according  to  the  oldest  spelling,  "  Fothnevyn,"  may  have  its 
origin  in  the  same  language,  since  Fodha-fainn  (the  Gaelic  dh 
and  English  th  being  synonymous)  signifies  a  place  lying 
"  under  a  hill  or  height."  The  topographical  position  and 
aspect,  both  of  the  church  and  district,  accord  with  these 
renderings  ;  for  the  old  kirk  stood  immediately  under  the 

1  Lemno  (vulg.  pron.  Lemla)  is  perhaps  from  the  Gael.  Leum-na,  "  the  small 
limping  or  leaping  stream,"  which  may  correspond  with  the  bounding  peculiarity  of 
its  motion.  Levenach,  however,  is  an  old  spelling,  as  it  also  is  of  Lethnot.  The 
point  where  the  Lemno  falls  into  the  Esk  frequently  changes,  as  it  is  now  doing. 

L 


162  LA.ND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

highest  part  of  the  hill,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  arable  land 
of  Finhaven  proper  lies  along  the  foot  of  it,  though  in  strict- 
ness of  speech  some  is  found  on  the  other  side  of  the  Lemno, 
and  some  beyond  the  Esk  altogether.  But  a  simple  and  more 
natural  signification  of  Finhaven,  is  "  the  white  river,"  as 
suggested  in  Lord  Lindsay's  Lives  of  the  Lindsays}- 

There  has  been  a  kirk  at  Finhaven  from  the  earlist  record, 
as  we  find  it  being  rebuilt  and  erected  into  a  Prebend  of  the 
Cathedral  of  Breqhin,  by  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  of  Glenesk,  in 
1380;  but  the  saint  to  whom  it  was  dedicated  is  matter  of 
doubt.  In  the  ancient  Taxatio  it  was  rated  at  five  merks,2  and 
there  was  a  chaplainry  of  St.  Leonard's  belonging  to  it  in 
1587.3  A  fountain  called  "  Nine-well"  is  situated  on  the  hill 
above  the  old  kirk,  and  some  believe  this  to  be  a  corruption  of 
the  name  of  St.  Ninian,  who  was  a  favourite  over  all  Scotland  ; 
but,  as  the  Nine  "  virgin  dochters  of  S.  Donewalde  who  lived 
as  in  a  hermitage  in  the  Glen  of  Ogilvy  at  Glamis"  were 
canonised  as  the  "  Nine  Maidens,"  perhaps  the  fountain  and 
kirk  had  been  inscribed  to  them.  Like  most  of  the  primitive 
saints,  they  were  remarkable  for  industry  and  humility,  and 
are  said  to  have  laboured  the  ground  with  their  own  hands, 
and  to  have  eaten  only  once  a  day,  "  and  then  but  barley  bread 
and  water."  Their  father  died  while  they  were  in  the  Glen  of 
Ogilvy ;  on  this  they  retired  to  Abernethy,  the  Pictish  capital, 
where  they  had  an  oratory  and  some  lands  assigned  them, 
and  were  visited  in  their  retirement  by  Eugenius  vn.  of  Scot- 
land, who  made  them  large  presents.  Their  feast  is  on  the 
1 5th  of  June ;  and,  dying  at  Abernethy  in  the  early  part  of  the 
eighth  century,  they  were  buried  at  the  foot  of  a  large  oak, 
which  was  much  frequented  by  pilgrims  till  the  Reformation.4 

The  walls  of  the  old  kirkyard  of  Finhaven  were  in  existence 
within  the  present  century,  as  were  also  a  number  of  tomb- 

1  Lives,  i.  p.  108. 

2  "  By  vjU-  viij/.  &  iiijd  mo.  anno  payable  to  the  minister  of  the  paroche  of  ffin- 
evine,  be  vertew  off  ane  antient  gift  dated  the  20th  of  Febry.  1299,"  presented  and 
approved  by  the  Commissioners  of  Exchequer,  anno  1659. — (Burgh  Papers  of  Forfar.) 

3  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  ii.  p.  36.  4  Coll.  on  Aberdeenshire,  i.  pp.  595-6. 


FINHAVEN — OLD  CHURCH. 


163 


stones.  The  site  of  the  old  church  is  now  railed  in,  and  frag- 
ments of  tombstones  are  lying  on  it.  In  1849,  when  the 
farmer  trenched  the  graveyard,  the  floor  of  the  church  was 
laid  open,  and  two  ancient  monuments  were  found  at  a  con- 


siderable depth.  The  floor,  like  those  of  the  cathedral  of  Kirk- 
wall,  and  the  Church  of  the  IJoly  Trinity  at  Edinburgh,1  was 
paved  with  plain  square  glazed  tiles,  of  the  three  primary 
colours  of  red,  blue,  and  yellow,  each  of  them  being  about  six 

1  Wilson's  Prehistoric  Annals  of  Scotland,  ii.  p.  459. 


164  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

inches  square,  and  an  inch  thick.  They  were  placed  in  the 
common  diamond  form,  and  had  doubtless  been  the  flooring  of 
the  church,  which  was  erected  in  1380.  One  of  the  monu- 
ments is  about  three  feet  high,  and  bears  the  incised  figures  of 
a  cross  and  dagger,  resembling  those  on  a  stone  at  the  church 
of  Kingoldrum.1  The  other  measures  five-and-a-half  feet  by 
three,  with  the  rudely  incised  effigy  of  a  robed  ecclesiastic. 
His  hands  are  in  a  devotional  attitude,  and  these  words  are 
engraved  round  the  side  of  the  stone — "  fjic  •  facet  •  f)onarabilfs 
bit  ting  rcdjetfc'  -  br  =  *  =  -.  btcaribs  •  tie  •  finftebgn  •  qbi  •  obiit  • 
z°  •  fcie."  Here  the  inscription  abruptly  terminates,  but  the 
vicar  was  probably  a  Bruce,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the 
shield  on  the  monument,  and  a  James  Brouss  was  prebendary 
of  Lethnot  in  1476. 

The  time  of  the  erection  of  the  last  kirk  of  Finhaven  or 
Aikenhatt  is  unknown,  but  the  plan  included  a  nave  and  aisle. 
The  aisle  was  on  the  north,  and  had  likely  been  used  as  the 
burial-place  of  the  clergy,  or  of  collateral  members  of  the  Lindsay 
family,  for  both  the  monuments  alluded  to  were  found  within 
its  limits.  The  manse  or  rectory,  of  which  traces  are  occasion- 
ally found  when  the  field  of  Aikenhatt  is  being  tilled,  stood  a 
little  to  the  south  of  the  kirk ;  and  the  first  known  rector  was 
Dominus  Johannes  de  Monte  Alto,  brother  to  Richard  the  lord 
of  Fern.  As  "  rector  ecclesise  de  Fothynevyn,"  he  witnesses 
his  brother's  resignation  of  Brichty,  in  favour  of  Sir  Alexander 
Lindsay  of  Glenesk,2  on  the  20th  of  December  1379,  and,  in 
all  probability  he  had  been  rector  at  the  time  of  the  rebuild- 
ing of  the  church  and  the  founding  of  the  prebend.  In  1435, 
John  Knycht,  canon  of  Brechin,  was  rector  of  Finhaven,  and 
thirty  years  later  we  find  that  venerable  man,  Mr.  John  Lok, 
master  in  theology  and  arts,  and  rector  of  the  parish  church  of 
Finhaven,  protesting  with  all  legal  solemnity  for  the  rights  of 
himself  and  his  church.3 

1  See  Plate  xx.  of  Mr.  Chalmers,  Sculptured  Monuments  of  A  ngus,  etc. 
z  Fraser,  Hist.  Cameyies  of  Southesk,  ii.  pp.  492-3. 
3  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  i.  p.  196 ;  ii.  pp.  49,  104. 


F1NHAVEN — MINISTRY  IN  PARISH.  165 

From  that  time,  until  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, the  holders  of  the  prebend  are  unknown;  but  at  the 
latter  period,  the  living  was  held  by  Henry  White,  who  was  also 
Dean  of  Brechin,  and  in  1532,  when  the  College  of  Justice  was 
established  by  King  James,  he  was  "  ane  of  the  first  that  wes 
chosin "  to  fill  the  onerous  duties  of  a  Lord  of  Session.  He 
had  been  an  active  supporter  of  James  IV.,  and  was  far  ad- 
vanced in  life  at  the  time  of  his  appointment,  for  within  six 
years  after  his  installation,  the  King,  because  "  he  is  of  age,  and 
subdite  to  infirmities,"  and  had  "  done  leill  and  trow  seruice  to 
our  fader  of  gude  mynde  "  and  to  "  ws  in  our  tyme,"  relieved 
him  from  his  duties,  and  desired  that  he  should  "joiss  all 
priuilege  in  persoune  and  gudis  and  pencioune  "  as  the  rest  of 
the  council  "  for  tyftyme,  sic  like  as  he  war  dayly  present  as  of 
before."1  The  revenues  of  a  toft  and  tenement  of  land,  adjoin- 
ing to  the  city  of  Brechin,  were  given  to  the  chaplain  of  the 
altar  of  St.  Catherine,  for  saying  mass  annually  for  the  soul  of 
Henry  Quhit,  to  be  celebrated  on  the  Lord's  day  after  the  Feast 
of  All  Saints,  with  lighted  tapers,  etc.  The  officiating  priest 
alone  was  to  receive  the  proceeds  of  the  endowment.2 

The  next  parson  of  Finhaven,  with  whom  we  have  met,  was 
David  Lindsay  of  Pitcairlie  (1541-76),  who  appears  soon  after 
the  Eeformation  as  holding  both  this  cure  and  that  of  Inver- 
arity.  He  was  a  relative  of  the  family  of  Lindsay-Crawford 
(in  whom  the  patronage  of  both  these  churches  was  long 
vested),  and  not  only  having  an  ample  stipend,  but  being  also 
tacksman  of  the  teinds  of  these  parishes,  he  bound  himself  to 
supply  a  reader  at  each  place.  From  this  period  we  have 
found  no  mention  of  Finhaven  as  a  separate  parish,  nor,  as 
already  stated,  are  we  aware  of  the  time  of  its  suppression,  or 
of  the  removal  of  the  church  to  Oathlaw. 

It  is  supposed  that  Oathlaw,  which  is  perhaps  a  corruption 
of  the  Gaelic  Audi-law,  or  the  "  field  of  cairns,"  was  a  chaplainry 

1  Haig  and  Brunton,  Acct.  of  the  Senators  of  the  Coll.  of  Justice,  p.  12  ;  Reg. 
Epis.  Brech.  ii.  pp.  161,  192,  278.  »  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  ii.  p.  192. 


166  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

of  the  church  of  Finhaven.  It  does  not  appear  in  that  or  in 
any  other  character,  however,  in  the  old  Taxatio ;  but  since 
a  well  in  the  neighbourhood  bears  the  name  of  "  St.  Mary,"  it  is 
probable  that  a  kirk  or  chapel,  dedicated  to  the  Virgin,  had 
been  there  in  old  times.  In  the  absence  of  better  authority,  it 
may  perhaps  not  be  amiss  to  date  the  transference  of  the  kirk 
of  Finhaven  to  Oathlaw  at  about  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  since  the  oldest  tombstone  in  the  graveyard, 
which  belongs  to  a  family  of  the  name  of  "  Fode "  or  Faddie, 
bears  the  date  of  "  25  Maii  1616."  There  is  no  doubt  of  Oath- 
law  being  the  only  church  in  the  parish  in  1635  ;  for  at  that 
time,  when  Lord  Kinnoul  was  retoured  in  the  barony  of  Fin- 
haven,  it  was  "  cum  advocatione  ecclesiee  de  Phinheavin,  vocatce 
Ouathlaw"  1  There  is  no  village  or  hamlet  in  the  parish,  but  it 
is  probable  that  the  church  had  been  removed  to  its  present  site 
to  suit  the  convenience  of  the  bulk  of  the  parishioners  ;  for  the 
old  place  of  worship  was  so  inconveniently  situated  that  it  lay 
close  to  the  north-west  boundary  of  Aberlemno  parish.  The 
old  bell  bore  the  common  laudatory  motto — "  SOLI  DEO  GLORIA," 
and  the  date  and  initials  "1618-  I.  M.,"  but  to  what  pastor 
these  referred,  all  inquiry  has  been  fruitless,  and  the  bell  itself 
has  long  been  estranged  from  the  parish,  having  been  carried 
to  the  schoolhouse  of  Careston,  where  it  is  said  to  have  been 
long  used  (though  cracked)  for  assembling  the  scholars ;  it  is 
now  gone,  like  so  many  other  and  similar  relics  of  the  past. 

The  family  burial  aisle  of  Finhaven  stood  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Oathlaw  church,  which  was  pulled  down  in  1815  to  make 
way  for  the  present  commodious  building.  As  Earl  Henry  of 
Crawford  is  the  ooly  person  of  the  title  that  is  recorded  to  have 
been  buried  at  Finhaven,  perhaps  the  aisle  was  erected  at,  or 
soon  after,  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1622  ;2  but 
the  only  direct  notice  of  an  interment  within  it  is  that  of  the 
first  lady  of  Carnegie,  the  murderer  of  the  Earl  of  Strathmore.3 

1  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  230.  *  Unless  he  was  buried  at  Aikenhatt. 

3  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk,  ii.  p.  425  ;  infra,  p.  200. 


FINHAVEN — CHANGE  TO  OATHLAW.  167 

She  was  daughter  of  Sir  William  Bennet  of  Grubbet,  and,  re- 
garding her  burial,  the  Parish  Eegister  bears,  that  "  the  ladie  of 
Finhaven  dyed  on  Sabbath  morning,  the  20th  August  1738, 
and  was  buried  on  Friday  thereafter  in  the  Isle." 

But  the  aisle  is  now  gone,  and  no  monumental  traces, 
either  of  the  Lindsays  or  of  the  Carnegies,  are  visible  in  the 
graveyard.  The  gravestones  are  not  numerous,  and  present  few 
peculiar  or  generally  interesting  mottoes,  excepting  that  raised 
by  the  late  Mr.  Eaiker  (writer  of  the  first  Statistical  Account 
of  the  parish),  who,  in  lamenting  the  death  of  his  wife,  thus 
transforms  the  pointed  language  which  "rare  Ben  Jonson" 
uses  in  his  famous  monody  on  the  death  of  the  Countess  of 
Pembroke — 

"  Before  Mankind  a  better  Wife  shall  see, 
Time,  0  Death,  shall  strike  a  Dart  at  thee." 

Mr.  Baiker,  who  was  upwards  of  sixty  years  minister  of  the 
parish,  survived  his  wife  five  years,  and,  according  to  his 
epitaph,  he  possessed  the  good  qualities  of  being  "  a  singular 
and  zealous  servant  of  his  Divine  Master,  and  attentive  to  his 
own  concerns."  The  stone  also  bears  these  lines  : — 

"  Rests  before  this  stone  the  mortal  clay 
Of  THOMAS  RAIKER,  till  that  awful  day 
When  Christ  shall  send  his  angel  through  the  skies, 
And  to  the  dead  proclaim,  '  Ye  sleepers,  Rise  ! ' 
Then  may  the  Saviour  to  this  servant  say, 
Enjoy  a  crown  thro'  an  eternal  day."  * 

Mr.  Eaiker  dying  in  1803  was  succeeded  by  Messrs.  Little- 
john,  Cromar,  and  Stuart,  the  late  incumbent ;  and  his  pre- 
decessors, so  far  as  ascertained,  were  Messrs.  Kynnimonth, 
Hepburne,  Elliot,  Allan,  Ouchterlony,  Straiten,  Grub,  Ander- 
son, and  Martin.  The  present  incumbent  is  the  Eev.  Alex- 
ander Eitchie,  who  was  appointed  to  the  parish  on  the  death  of 
Mr.  Stuart  in  1880.  It  was  not,  however,  until  the  time  of 

1  This  motto  was  written  by  the  late  Rev.  Mr.  Buist  of  Tannadice,  who,  in 
speaking  of  Mr.  Raiker's  being  attentive  to  his  own  concerns,  perhaps  had  the  fact 
in  view  that  Mr.  R.  saved  £5000  off  his  stipend,  which  only  amounted  to  £70 
a  year  ! — ( Verbally  communicated  to  Mr.  Jervise  by  a  friend  in  the  district.) 


168  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Mr.  Anderson  that  the  Parochial  Register,  in  which  the  minis- 
ter soon  held  a  conspicuous  place  himself,  was  begun  ;  for,  not- 
withstanding that  the  laird  of  that  period  had  the  credit  of  being 
a  rebel,  the  minister  seems  to  have  supported  the  Crown,  and  to 
have  been  almost  killed  for  his  loyalty  by  a  band  of  Jacobite 
women  belonging  to  the  parish.  Whether  they  were  incited  or 
not  by  the  laird,  as  the  rioters  were  at  Edzell,  is  unknown ; 
but  five  of  them  fearlessly  attacked  Mr.  Anderson  one  Sunday, 
"  pulled  him  out  of  the  pulpit  in  a  violent  manner,  and  forced 
him  to  leave  off  worship  and  to  go  out  of  the  church,  which  he 
was  not  allowed  to  enter  again  till  the  rebellion  was  over." 

The  matter  was  investigated  by  the  minister  of  Fern  and 
his  elder,  the  famous  Ledenhendrie,  as  a  committee  of  the  Pres- 
bytery, and  the  rebellious  females  having  pleaded  guilty,  were 
all  ordered  to  compear  before  the  congregation,  "  covered  with 
white  sheets,  beginning  their  compearance  at  the  church  door, 
and  to  continue  there  till  the  third  bell  be  rung,  and  worship 
begun  and  prayer  ended,  and  thereafter  to  come  into  the  church 
and  to  stand  before  the  pulpit  where  they  attacked  the  minis- 
ter, and  pulled  him  out  of 'the  pulpit."1  This  appears  to  have 
had  the  effect  of  cooling  the  political  zeal  of  the  people,  for  during 
the  subsequent  outbreak  of  "the  forty-five,"  nothing  in  either 
tradition  or  record  is  said  of  the  disloyalty  of  the  parishioners. 

The  late  Rev.  Harry  Stuart,  who  died  on  the  18th  March 
1880,  was  presented  to  the  charge,  in  1836,  by  George,  Earl  of 
Aboyne,  and  is  best  known  for  his  work  on  behalf  of  the  agri- 
cultural labourers,  in  which  he  had  the  honour  of  securing  the 
interest  of  the  late  Prince  Consort,  through  the  publication 
(1853)  of  his  Agricultural  Labourers;  as  tliey  were,  are,  and 
should  le  in  their  Social  Condition.  His  subsequent  audience 
with  His  Royal  Highness  at  Balmoral  resulted  in  the  formation 
of  the  "  Association  for  Improving  the  Agricultural  Labourers' 
Dwellings,"  and  Mr.  Stuart  was  appointed  secretary,  his  chief 
aim  being  generally  to  improve  the  prevalent  bothy  system. 

1  Oathlaw  Par.  Reg.  1716. 


FINHAVEN — ANCIENT  FORESTS.  169 


SECTION   II. 

A  race  renown  'd  of  old, 
Whose  war-cry  oft  has  waked  the  battle-swell. 

SCOTT'S  '  DON  RODERICK.' 

Forest  of  Plater — Ancient  Scotch  forests — Keeper  of  the  forest — Ancient  foresters  of 
Plater — Succession  in  Finhaven — Accession  of  the  Lindsays — Earl  Crawford's 
lodging  in  Dundee — The  "  Houff " — Earls  Crawford  and  Douglas  watched  by 
Bishop  Kennedy — The  battle  of  Arbroath — Origin  of  the  house  of  Clova — Earl 
David  dies — Arbroath  burned — Douglas's  conspiracy,  and  death  at  Stirling — 
Crawford's  activity  for  revenge — Battle  of  Brechin— Calder  and  Earl  Beardie's 
cup — Assuanlie  memorial  cup — Site  and  remains  of  the  battle — Crawford's 
violence,  repentance,  and  royal  pardon. 

IF  the  value  or  consequence  of  ancient  lands  can  be  judged  of 
from  the  noble  birth  of  their  possessors,  or  from  the  part  which 
their  owners  have  enacted  in  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom,  those 
of  Finhaven  had  been  of  marked  consideration,  as  all  its  old 
proprietors  were  not  only  men  of  warlike  and  intrepid  charac- 
ter, but  of  the  highest  family  connection  and  political  influence. 
Before  noticing  the  proprietary  history  of  Finhaven,  it  may 
be  observed  that  a  great  part  of  it  was  occupied  by  the  forest 
of  Plater,  one  of  the  extensive  primitive  woods  that  partially 
survived  the  hatchet  and  spade  of  a  long  line  of  destructive 
invaders.1  Apart  from  the  havoc  made  by  the  common  enemy, 
these  immense  tracts  of  natural  wood,  which  mostly  consisted 
of  oaks,  were  also  greatly  reduced  by  the  extent  and  number  of 
grants  or  gifts  of  timber  that  Eoyalty  made  from  them  in  old 
times  by  way  of  payment  and  favour,  both  for  warlike  services 
and  for  the  necessities  of  religious  houses.  The  Prior  and 
Canons  of  Eestennet,  for  example,  had  power  from  Robert  the 

1  These  lands  were  all  within  the  barony  and  forest  of  Plater,  viz.  :— 
Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar. 

No.  130  Sandyfoord  and  Boigwilk,  and  Kilhill  (1621). 

172  Ballinscho,  Woodhead,  and  Banisdaillfaulds  (1628). 

240  Bow  (1638). 

310  Sheilhill  (1649). 

342  Cairn  and  Sherifbank  (1655). 

363  Westdobies  and  Whitewall  (1(356). 

416  Quilks  (1665). 


170  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Bruce  to  cut  wood  there  at  all  convenient  seasons  j1  and,  while 
Edward  held  the  temporary  sway  of  the  kingdom,  he  directed 
the  keeper  of  the  forest  of  Selkirk  to  deliver,  amongst  other 
articles  of  its  produce,  no  less  than  sixty  oaks  to  the  Bishop  of 
Glasgow.2  By  such  means,  and  subsequently  through  agricul- 
tural improvements,  the  most  of  those  great  forests  have  been 
dilapidated.  The  only  other  known  royal  forests  in  Forfarshire, 
besides  Plater,  were  those  of  Kingenny  in  Monifieth ;  Kilgery 
in  Menmuir;  a  part  of  that  of  Alyth;  and  Drymie  in  Ees- 
cobie,  where  a  royal  castle  once  stood,  in  which  Donald  Bane 
is  said  to  have  died.3  Monrommon,  of  which  the  Tullochs  were 
made  hereditary  keepers  by  Robert  I.,  was  also  a  royal  forest,4 
and  several  others  are  supposed  to  have  lain  along  the  Sidlaws. 
The  precise  extent  of  any  of  these  forests  is  not  now  ascer- 
tainable ;  but  it  is  certain  that  the  forest  of  Plater  extended 
from  the  south  side  of  the  hill  of  Finhaven  to  the  hill  of 
Kirriemuir5 — a  distance  of  at  least  seven  miles  as  the  crow 
flies ;  and  tradition  says  that  it  was  so  dense  that  the  wild-cat 
could  leap  the  whole  distance  from  tree  to  tree.  It  perhaps 
stretched  eastward  as  far  as  the  river  Noran,  for  the  lands  that 
lie  betwixt  that  stream  and  Finhaven  are  called  Mark-house, 
which,  according  to  the  Northern  dialects,  may  mean  "  the  castle 
iu  the  forest."  The  name  of  Plater  is  of  doubtful  origin,  and 
is  sometimes  written  Platone  and  Platon;  and  it  may  be 
noticed  that  the  Prior  and  Canons  of  Eestennet,  in  the  time  of 
Alexander  in.  (long  prior  to  the  date  of  Bruce's  grant)  had  a 
right  to  a  tenth  of  the  hay  grown  in  the  meadows  of  this 
forest.6  Four  oxeugates,  or  about  fifty-two  acres,  of  arable 
land  were  also  given  out  of  it  by  David  11.  to  Murdoch  del 

1  (A.D.  1317)— Robertson,  Index,  p.  4.  43. 

2  (A.D.  1291)—  Rotidi  Scotice,  vol.  L 

3  On  these  royal  forests,  see  Warden,  Angus,  i.  pp.  161  sq. ;  and  for  the  Forest 
Laws  of  Scotland,  see  Acts  Part.  i.  pp.  323  sq. 

4  Original  charter  in  possession  of  P.  Chalmers,  Esq.  of  Aldbar ;  for  the  charter 
evidence  as  to  this  moor,  see  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk,  i.  pp.  liii  sq. 

5  This  fact  is  ascertained  from  Robertson,  Index,  p.  81.  161,  and  Inquis.  Spec. 
Forfar.  Nos.  130,  172,  240,  310,  342,  363,  416. 

6  Chalmers,  Caledonia,  i.  p.  791. 


FINHAVEN — FORESTERS  OF  PLATER.  171 

Rhyud,  for  a  redclendo  or  payment  to  the  Crown  of  a  pair  of 
white  gloves  and  two  pennies  of  silver  annually ;  *  and  as  this 
land  is  described  as  next  adjoining  Casse,  or  Carse,  which  lies 
on  the  south  side  of  Finhaven  Hill,  it  not  only  shows  that 
hill  to  have  formed  part  of  the  forest  of  Plater,  but  also  proves 
that  amidst  those  great  plantations  and  at  that  early  date, 
agricultural  enterprise  was  not  wholly  unknown. 

Like  that  of  other  royal  forests,  the  keepership  of  Plater  was 
an  appointment  of  much  importance,  being  held,  as  we  shall 
shortly  see,  prior  even  to  the  time  of  the  Lindsays,  by  some  of 
the  most  illustrious  nobles  of  the  kingdom ;  and  it  is  worthy  of 
remark,  that  the  ruins  of  what  was  called  the  Forester's  House, 
or  sometimes  "Lindsay's  Hall,"  were  traceable  about  the 
middle  of  the  muir  so  late  as  the  beginning  of  this  century. 

The  first  Forester  of  Plater  of  whom  any  record  exists  was 
William  Comyn,  the  brave  Earl  of  Buchan,  who  slew  Gillescope 
and  his  sons  for  the  murder  of  Thomas  of  Thiiistane,  and  whose 
son,  Alexander,  about  1250,  mortified  an  annual  of  two  silver 
marks,  or  nearly  two  shillings  and  threepence  sterling,  out  of 
the  lands  of  Fothnewyn  to  the  monastery  of  Arbroath.2  It  is 
unknown  whether  the  Earl  held  the  lands  before  that  date,  and 
it  does  not  appear  whether  he  was  proprietor  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  which  happened  in  1288-9.3  The  next  person  associ- 
ated with  it  is  "  Philip  the  Forester,"4  through  whose  bold- 
ness Bruce  gained  admission  to  the  castle  of  Forfar  in  1308, 
while  it  was  strongly  garrisoned  by  the  English.5  This  cap- 
ture was  effected  by  Philip  making  an  escalade  under  night, 
when  he  succeeded  in  letting  down  the  bridges,  and  thus  made 
a  passage  for  the  Scots,  who  put  most  of  the  inmates  to  the 

1  (A.D.  1366)— Robertson,  Index,  p.  81.  161.    It  is  said  that  during  the  guardian- 
ship of  the  kingdom  by  Sir  Andrew  Murray,  he  and  the  Earls  of  Fife  and  March 
abode  here  for  a  short  period  during  the  winter  of  1336-7,  and   passing  from 
this  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Panmure,  they  routed  Lord  Montfort,  and  slew  about 
4000  of  his  followers.  — (Abercromby,  Martial  Achievements,  ii.  p.  70,  and  Guthrie, 
Hist.  Scot.  ii.  p.  395.) 

2  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbrothoc,  p.  266.  *  Dalrymple,  Annals,  i.  p.  203. 
*  Harbour,  Bruce,  ii.  pp.  38,  39.  e  Tytler,  Hist,  of  Scot.  i.  p.  234. 


172  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

sword,  while  others,  in  trying  to  escape,  were  drowned  in  the 
loch  that  surrounded  the  castle. 

It  was,  perhaps,  on  the  death  of  Philip  that  Bruce  gave  a 
grant  of  Finhaven  and  the  adjoining  lands  of  Carsegownie  to 
his  natural  son,  Sir  Robert,1  who  was  slain  at  the  battle  of 
Dupplin  in  1332  ;  but  in  little  more  than  two  years  from  the 
date  of  Sir  Eobert's  entry,  these  estates  were  again  in  other 
hands,  having  been  granted  to  one  Hew  Polayne,2  but  on  his 
doings  and  the  history  of  his  family  all  record  is  silent. 

William,  the  famous  Earl  of  Eoss,  is  the  next  proprietor, 
and,  for  some  cause  now  unknown,  a  forced  resignation  of  the 
church  and  lands  was  obtained  from  him  ;  but  receiving  them 
back  in  1369,3  he  made  a  free-will  resignation  during  the 
following  year,  not  only  of  Finhaven,  but  of  the  rest  of  his 
property,  and  was  followed  in  the  former  by  Sir  David  de 
Anandia,  who  again  resigned  his  right  in  1375.  It  was  at 
that  period,  after  the  lands  and  Forestership  of  Finhaven  had 
passed  through  the  hands  of  those  various  proprietors,  that 
they  fell  to  the  family  of  Lindsay,  and,  under  charter  of  that 
date,  granted  at  Scone  by  King  Robert  II.,  Sir  Alexander 
Lindsay  of  Glenesk  had  the  patronage  of  the  church,  together 
with  the  office  of  Keeper  of  the  forest  of  Plater.4 

The  surname  of  Polayne,  or  Paulin,  has  not  occurred  to  us 
in  our  reading  as  connected  with  the  shire  before  the  time 
above  noticed ;  but  the  Annands  were  a  serviceable  and  worthy 
race,  and  of  considerable  local  standing  even  before  the  days 
of  Bruce,  for  a  William  de  Anaund  occurs  among  the  Forfar- 
shire  barons,  who  swore  fealty  to  Edward  at  Berwick  in  1296.5 
Perhaps  the  Sir  David  de  Annand  who  clave  the  steel-clad 
English  knight  and  his  horse  through  on  the  streets  of  Edin- 
burgh with  one  fell  blow  of  his  ponderous  battle-axe,6  was  the 

i  (A.D.  1322)— Robertson,  Index,  p.  18.  82.  2  (A.D.  1324)— 76/d.  p.  23. 

3  Reg.  Mag.  Sigill.  p.  65,  No.  215 ;  Robertson,  Index,  pp.  52.  9  ;  86.  215. 
*  Reg.  Mag.  Sigill.  p.  138,  No.  63 ;  Robertson,  Index,  pp.  120.  63 ;  129.  31. 
6  Ragman  Rolls,  p.  126. 
«  (A.D.  1335)— Tytler,  Hist,  of  Scot.  ii.  p.  42 ;  Extracta  e  Cron.  Scot.  p.  168. 


FINHAVEN — EARL'S  "LODGING ".IN  DUNDEE.     173 

son  of  this  William,  and  the  immediate  progenitor  of  Sir  David 
of  Einhaven.  It  is  certain,  however,  that,  whether  of  the  same 
stock  or  not,  a  family  of  the  same  name  held  the  lands  of 
North  Melgund,  in  the  adjoining  parish  of  Aberlemno,  down  to 
about  1542,  when  the  heiress,  Janet  Annand,  sold  the  estate 
to  Cardinal  Beaton,  who  built  the  castle,  the  picturesque  ruins 
of  which  still  remain.1 

Whether  the  Earl  of  Buchan's  grant  to  the  monks  of 
Arbroath  was  confirmed  by  subsequent  proprietors  does  not 
appear;  but  in  1380,  immediately  before  Sir  Alexander  Lind- 
say went  on  his  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  he  rebuilt  the  church, 
as  before  mentioned,  and  assembled  his  family  and  friends  to 
witness  its  consecration  by  Stephen,  bishop  of  the  diocese  of 
Brechin,  when  he  erected  it  into  a  prebend  of  that  cathedral, 
where  the  rector  had  a  stall  in  the  choir,  and  said  Mass  for 
the  safe-conduct  of  the  noble  donor. 

It  is  unknown  whether  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay,  or  any  of 
his  predecessors  in  Einhaven,  had  a  castle  or  residence  there. 
No  notice  of  such  occurs  until  after  the  ennobling  of  his  son, 
Sir  David,  who  is  supposed  to  have  built  the  first  castle ;  but, 
so  long  as  the  great  Glenesk  branch  of  the  family  existed,  this 
was  their  principal  country  residence;  and  here,  or  in  their 
palace  at  Dundee,  the  "  Tiger  "  Earl  and  his  son  the  original 
Duke  of  Montrose,  and  most  of  the  other  Earls  of  the  Glenesk 
line  of  Crawford,  first  saw  the  light. 

The  town  residence,  or  "  Lodging,"  of  the  Earls  of  Crawford 
was  situated  in  the  Nethergate  of  Dundee,  and  was  so  exten- 
sive that  it  stretched  from  the  street  south  to  the  river  Tay,  and 
being  entered  by  a  massive  gateway,  on  which  there  was  a 
battlement  bearing  the  legend  "  ©afcto  3LottJ  3Lt'nti0ng,  <55arl  of 
(KtatofotV  had  altogether  a  princely  appearance.2  It  is  pro- 
bable that  the  property  on  which  this  palace  stood  was  owned 
by  the  first  Earl's  uncle,  "  the  good  Sir  James,"  as  he  founded  a 
convent  in  Dundee  for  the  ransom  of  Christian  captives  from 

1  Ada  Auditorum,  p.  60.  2  Lives,  L  p.  110. 


174  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Turkish  slavery.  This  foundation  ultimately  assumed  the 
character  of  a  hospital ;  and  its  revenues,  originally  "  princely 
magnificent,"  were  enlarged  by  a  gift  of  the  church  of  Kettins, 
near  Coupar- Angus,  from  Eobert  in. 

The  attachment  of  the  Earls  of  Crawford  to  Dundee  as  a 
residence,  and  as  the  place  of  their  burial,  may  have  arisen 
either  from  Sir  James  Lindsay's  favour  for  it, — from  the  interest 
which  that  Earl  had  in  the  great  customs  or  revenues  of  the 
burgh, — or  from  the  first  Earl,  on  his  return  from  the  overthrow 
of  Lord  Welles  at  the  famous  tournament  at  London  Bridge, 
building  a  church  and  tower  on  the  rock  of  St.  Nicholas.  This 
rock  is  said  to  have  been  the  site  of  the  church  that  was 
founded  by  the  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  in  fulfilment  of  a  vow  that 
he  made,  while  his  life  was  endangered  in  the  crazy  prow, 
which  landed  him  here  on  his  return  from  the  holy  wars ;  but 
all  trace  of  that  foundation,  which  was  destroyed  by  Edward  I. 
in  1295,  and  of  Crawford's  church  and  tower,  are  gone,  and  the 
rock  itself  is  only  represented  by  a  mere  fragment.  This,  how- 
ever, was  not  the  place  of  the  Crawford  sepulture ;  it  was 
within  the  church  of  the  Greyfriars,  which  stood  in  the  Houff, 
or  old  burial-place ;  and,  from  the  time  of  the  first  Earl  of 
Crawford,  down  to  the  demolition  of  their  family  tombs  by  the 
fanatics  of  the  sixteenth  century,  it  was  the  last  resting-place 
of  most  of  the  Lords  and  Ladies  of  that  house,  including  the 
renowned  Earl  Beardie,  and  his  son  the  first  Duke  of  Montrose. 
But,  from  the  period  of  the  sacrilegious  breaking  down  of  the 
fine  stone  effigies,  archways,  and  columns,  and  the  scattering 
of  the  bones  of  their  ancestors,  their  place  of  interment  came 
to  be  within  the  fine  church  of  St.  Mary  in  the  same  town. 
This  edifice  was  completely  destroyed  by  the  conflagration  of 
1841,1  and  no  trace  either  of  the  Lindsay  residence  or  burial  is 
now  to  be  found  within  the  bounds  of  this  important  and 
prosperous  town. 

1  Vide  Thomson,  History  cf  Dundee,  for  an  account  of  this  burning  (p.  308),  and 
for  some  notice  of  the  ecclesiastical  and  other  antiquities  of  Dundee. 


FINHAVEN — DOUGLAS  LEAGUE.  175 

The  principal  incidents  in  the  life  of  Earl  David,  the 
founder  of  the  church  and  "  Lodging  "  at  Dundee,  have  already 
been  alluded  to  ;  it  need  only  therefore  be  observed,  that  after 
enacting  those  chivalrous  feats  for  which  he  is  famous  in  story, 
and  mortifying  large  sums  to  various  churches,  he  closed  his 
life  in  peace  within  his  princely  residence  of  Finhaven,  in  the 
month  of  February  1407,  at  the  early  age  of  forty-one;  and 
was  buried  in  the  family  vault  at  Dundee,  beside  his  royal 
spouse,  Princess  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Eobert  II. 

Little  is  recorded  of  his  successor  beyond  the  fact  of  his 
being  a  negotiator  in  the  affairs  of  the  sister  kingdom,  a 
commissioner  for  the  release  of  James  L,  and  one  of  the  hos- 
tages for  his  ransom  in  1423,  at  which  time  his  annual 
revenue  was  reckoned  at  a  thousand  merks,  or  estimated  at 
a  present  value  of  nearly  seven  thousand  pounds  sterling; 
the  incomes  of  Lord  Erskine  and  of  the  Earls  of  Moray  and 
Crawford  were  equal.1  By  his  wife,  the  daughter  and  heiress 
of  Dunbar  of  Cockburn,  he  left  a  son,  whose  career,  and  that 
of  his  successor  in  the  Earldom,  were  perhaps  the  most  re- 
markable of  any  of  the  representatives  of  the  noble  house  to 
which  they  belonged. 

Succeeding  his  father  in  1438,  Crawford  associated  himself 
with  the  Earl  of  Douglas  in  the  well-known  league  that  set 
itself  to  dominate  even  the  royal  authority,  and  was  also  the 
means  of  ousting  Chancellor  Crichton  and  Sir  Alexander  Living- 
stone. Although  the  selfishness  of  the  purposes  of  Crawford 
and  Douglas  were  apparent  to  most  of  their  fellow-barons,  none 
dared  to  oppose  them,  even  in  the  lawless  course  of  plunder  and 
bloodshed  which  characterised  their  doings.  Bishop  Kennedy 
of  St.  Andrews,  however,  watched  the  whole  proceedings  with  a 
penetration,  honesty,  and  patience  worthy  of  a  patriot  and  man 
of  genius ;  and  using  his  influence  on  behalf  of  the  injured 
Chancellor,  soon  incurred  thereby  the  displeasure  of  Crawford 
and  his  followers.  The  Earl,  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  reckless 

1  Rymer,  Fcedera,  x.  p.  307. 


176  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

vassals  and  kinsmen  harried  his  lands,  and  burned  his  granges, 
and,  being  deaf  to  all  remonstrance,  was  at  last  excommuni- 
cated "  with  mitre  and  staff,  bell,  book,  and  candle,  for  a  year."1 
This  he  treated  with  contempt ;  but  as  his  biographer  says, 
u  the  sacrilege  met  with  its  reward,  and  within  a  twelvemonth." 
This  was  in  the  bloody  fight  that  occurred  at  Arbroath  on 
Sunday,  the  23d2  of  January  1445-6,  soon  after  the  time 
when,  in  place  of  the  Master  of  Crawford,  whose  extravagance 
had  rendered  a  change  necessary,  Alexander  Ogilvy  of  Inver- 
quharity  was  chosen  by  the  chapter  of  the  convent  to  act  as  chief 
Justiciar,  or  judge  in  civil  affairs  throughout  their  regality. 

Crawford  determined  upon  retaining  his  influential  office, 
and  the  Ogilvys,  equally  bent  on  asserting  their  right,  deter- 
mined to  settle  the  contest  by  arms  ;  and  "  there  can  be  little 
doubt,"  says  Mr.  Tytler,  "  that  the  Ogilvys  must  have  sunk 
under  this  threatened  attack,  but  that  accident  gave  them 
a  powerful  ally  in  Sir  Alexander  Seton  of  Gordon,  afterwards 
Earl  of  Huutly,  who,  as  he  returned  from  court,  happened  to 
lodge  for  the  night  at  Ogilvy's  castle,  at  the  very  time  when 
this  baron  was  mustering  his  forces  against  the  meditated 
assault  of  Crawford.  Seton,  although  in  no  way  personally 
interested  in  the  quarrel,  found  himself,  it  is  said,  compelled 
to  assist  the  Ogilvys,  by  a  rude  but  ancient  custom,  which 
bound  the  guest  to  take  common  part  with  his  host  in  all 

1  Lives,  i.  p.  127. 

2  The  exact  date  of  this  battle  is  most  difficult  to  fix.    The  "  13th  January 
1445-6  "  has  latterly  received  general  acceptance,  but  it  is  based  on  a  miscalculation. 
Lord  Lindsay  (Lives,  i.  p.  129,  cf.  Reg.  Episc.  Aberd.  ii.  p.  200)  misplaces  the  "four 
days  "  when  the  body  was  lying  under  excommunication,  and  does  not  notice  that  the 
13th  January  of  that  year  was  iwt  a  Sunday.     The  Regist.  Episc.  Aberd.  i.  p.  264, 
ii.  pp.  2,  200, 210,  gives  January  15, 16,  and  17  forthe  obit.   The  Auchirdeck  Chronicle, 
p.  38,  is  probably  the  most  to  be  depended  upon,  and  names  a  day  which  was  a 
Sunday  in  that  month  and  year :  "  The  yer  of  God  1445  [i.e.  1445-6]  the  xxiii  day 
of  Januar,  the  Erll  of  Huntlie  and  the  Ogilbies  with  him  on  the  ta  part,  and  the  Erll 
of  Craufurd  on  the  tother  part,  met  at  the  yettis  of  Arbroth  on  ane  Sonday  laite  and 
faucht  .  .  .  and  the  Erll  of  Craufurd  himself  was  hurt  in  the  field,  and  deit  within 
viij  dayis."    Extracta  ex  Cron.  Scoc.,  pp.  241-2,  places  the  battle  on  January  20, 
1447,  which  would  not  be  Sunday  but  Saturday,  while  January  20,  1448,  would  be  a 
Friday.    Douglas,  Peerage,  i.  p.  576,  has  13th  January  1445-6,  but  says  that  Ogilvy 
was  of  "  Inverarity." 


FINHAVEN-— BATTLE  OF  ARBROATH.  177 

dangers  which  might  occur  so  long  as  the  food  eaten  under  his 
roof  remained  in  his  stomach.  With  the  small  train  of 
attendants  and  friends  who  accompanied  him,  he  joined  the 
forces  of  Inverquharity,  and  proceeding  to  the  town  of  Arbroath 
found  the  opposite  party  drawn  up  in  great  strength  outside 
the  gates.  The  families  thus  opposed  to  each  other  in  mortal 
defiance  could  number  among  their  adherents  many  of  the 
bravest  and  most  opulent  gentlemen  in  the  county,  and  the 
two  armies  exhibited  an  imposing  appearance  of  armed  knights, 
barbed  horses,  and  embroidered  banners.  As  the  combatants, 
however,  approached  for  the  fight,  the  Earl  of  Crawford,  who 
had  received  information  of  the  intended  contest,  and  was 
anxious  to  avert  it,  suddenly  appeared  on  the  field,  and  gallop- 
ing up  between  the  two  lines,  was  mortally  wounded  by  a 
soldier,  who  was  enraged  at  his  interference,  and  ignorant 
of  his  rank.1  This  event  naturally  increased  the  bitterness  of 
hostility,  and  the  Lindsays,  who  were  assisted  by  a  large 
party  of  the  vassals  of  Douglas,  and  infuriated  at  the  loss  of 
their  chief,  attacked  the  Ogilvys  with  a  desperation  which 
soon  broke  their  ranks,  and  reduced  them  to  irreclaimable 
disorder.  Such,  however,  was  the  gallantry  of  their  resistance, 
that  they  were  almost  entirely  cut  to  pieces,  and  five  hundred 
men,  including  many  noble  barons  of  Forfarshire,  were  left 
dead  upon  the  field.  Seton  himself  had  nearly  paid  with  his 
life  the  penalty  of  his  adherence  to  the  rude  usages  of  the 
times ;  and  John  Forbes  of  Pitsligo,  one  of  his  followers,  was 
slain.  Nor  was  the  loss  which  the  Ogilvys  sustained  in  the 
field  their  worst  misfortune,  for  Lindsay,  with  his  characteristic 
ferocity,  and  protected  by  the  authority  of  Douglas,  let  loose 
his  army  upon  their  estates.  Thus  the  flames  of  their  castles, 
the  slaughter  of  their  vassals,  the  plunder  of  their  property, 
and  the  captivity  of  their  wives  and  children,  taught  the 
remotest  adherents  of  the  Justiciary  of  Arbroath  how  terrible 
was  the  vengeance  they  had  provoked."2 

i  Balfour,  Annals,  i.  p.  174.  2  Tytler,  Hist,  of  Scot.  iv.  p.  49  sq. 

M 


178  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  remark,  that  from  the  part  borne  by  a 
younger  brother  of  the  unfortunate  Inverquharity  in  this 
matter,  the  present  house  of  Clova  is  said  by  some  to  have 
had  its  origin.  This  arose  from  the  fact  of  Thomas  Ogilvy 
having  not  only  deserted  his  clan  on  the  occasion,  and  fought 
on  the  Lindsay  side,  but  from  his  having  taken  part  at  a  later 
date  in  the  destruction  of  the  castle  of  his  birth.  For  this  he 
had  a  grant  of  the  lands  of  Clova  from  Crawford,  who  was 
then  possessor  of  them,  and  thus  founded  the  Clova  branch 
of  the  Ogilvy s,  who  continued,  for  many  generations,  in  a 
direct  line  from  the  first  Thomas. 

Earl  David  died  at  Finhaven  "  after  a  week  of  lingering 
torture,"  and  the  sentence  of  excommunication,  that  had  been 
previously  laid  upon  him  by  Bishop  Kennedy  of  St.  Andrews 
for  ravaging  his  lands  and  burning  his  granges,  never  having 
been  removed,  "  no  man  durst  earth  him  "  until  it  was  with- 
drawn by  order  of  the  Bishop  who  pronounced  it.  The  laird 
of  Inverquharity  was  taken  prisoner  and  carried  to  the  castle 
of  his  antagonist,  and  died  there  of  his  wounds ;  or,  according 
to  tradition,  he  was  smothered  with  a  down  pillow  by  his  own 
sister,  the  Countess  of  Crawford,  out  of  revenge  for  the  loss  of 
her  husband.1  It  is,  perhaps,  in  reference  to  this  foul  transac- 
tion, and  to  the  unpopularity  of  the  Ogilvys  at  the  time,  that 
the  following  couplet  refers — 

"  Ugly  you  lived,  and  Ugly  you  die, 
And  now  in  an  Ugly  place  you  lie."  2 

The  Lindsay  party  burned  the  Conventual  church  of  Ar- 

1  Lives,  i.  p.  130 ;  Extr.  ex  Cron.  Sco.  p.  242. 

2  Ugly,  or  Ogly,  which  means  frightful  or  abominable,  is  a  well-known  pun  on 
the  noble  surname  of  Ogilvy.     The  unfortunate  baron  of  Inverquharity  is  said  to 
have  been  buried  in  the  aisle,  on  the  south  side  of  the  kirk  of  Kinnell,  the  Lords 
Ogilvy  of  Airlie  having  held  the   lands  of  Balishan  (or  "the  town  of  the  fairy 
mount,"  as  the  descriptive  Gaelic  etymon  Balchien  implies)  in  that  parish,  from  the 
Abbey  of  Arbroath  as  Bailies  thereof.     The  walls  of  the  aisle  were  long  adorned  by 
the  reputed  boot  and  spur  of  the  luckless  knight,  but  the  former  rotted  away,  while 
the  latter,  which  is  of  great  size,  and  has  a  rowel  as  big  as  a  crown  piece  and  toothed 
like  a  saw,  is  still  carefully  preserved  in  the  kirk,  and  is  perhaps  the  largest  spur 
ever  seen  in  the  locality.      This  tradition  is  given  in  a  slightly  modified  form  in  the 
Old  Stat.  Acct.  ii.  pp.  493-4. 


FINHAVEN — DOUGLAS'  LEAGUE.  179 

breath  before  they  left  the  town,  and  tradition  points  out  a 
patch  of  ground  to  the  north  of  the  Abbey  as  "  the  yettis  of 
Arbrothe,"  or  the  place  where  the  battle  began ;  while  the 
tumuli  in  the  neighbourhood  are  supposed  to  mark  the  graves 
of  those  who  fell  on  the  occasion.  The  meltfe  was  not  wholly 
confined  to  this  point,  however,  for  a  detachment  of  the  Ogilvys 
fleeing  in  the  direction  of  Leys,  in  the  parish  of  Inverkeillor, 
were  surprised  there  by  the  Lindsays,  and  the  affray  was  re- 
sumed with  great  vigour  on  both  sides.  The  remembrance  of 
this  battle  was  long  preserved  in  song ;  but  only  this  couplet, 
which  evidently  refers  to  the  latter  part  of  the  engagement,  is 
now  known : — 

"  At  the  Loan  o'  the  Leys  the  play  began, 
An'  the  Lindsays  o'er  the  Ogilvys  ran." 

On  succeeding  to  the  Earldom,  the  extravagant  Justiciary 
was  ever  after  known  as  "  The  Tiger,"  and  "  Earl  Beardie,"  because 
of  the  ferocity  of  his  temper  and  the  exuberance  of  his  beard. 

The  league  betwixt  Douglas  and  Eoss  being  still  in  force, 
it  was  religiously  adhered  to  by  all  parties ;  and  as  the  King 
found  that  he  had  unwarily  given  Douglas  too  much  power,  he 
took  the  opportunity  of  his  short  absence  at  the  Court  of  Rome 
to  deprive  him  of  his  office  of  Lieutenant-General  of  the  king- 
dom, to  burn  his  castle,  and  otherwise  to  waste  his  lands. 
Being  apprised  of  these  matters,  Douglas  hastened  from  Italy, 
and  he  and  his  friends  not  only  determined  on  resisting  all  the 
King's  attempts  to  suppress  their  influence,  but  entered  into  a 
conspiracy  with  the  English  rebels  for  overthrowing  him,  and 
usurping  the  government.  Aware  of  these  proceedings,  and 
determined,  if  possible,  to  bring  them  to  a  close,  the  King 
invited  Douglas  to  supper  at  Stirling  Castle  on  the  evening  of 
the  22d  of  February  1451-2,1  whither  he  went  on  the  faith  of 
a  safe-conduct  under  the  Great  Seal.  His  Majesty  led  Douglas 
to  a  side  apartment  after  supper,  and  remonstrating  with  him 

1  If  it  took  place  on  Shrove  Tuesday  (Extract,  ex  Cron.  Scoc.  p.  242)  in  1452,  this 
is  the  only  admissible  date,  and  it  accords  with  Ascension  Day  (Balvour,  Annals, 
i.  p.  181),  May  18th,  following,  for  the  battle  of  Brechin. 


180  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

on  his  lawless  intrigue,  urged  him  to  break  the  covenant 
that  he  had  made  with  Crawford  and  Ross.  Though  unarmed, 
and  in  the  midst  of  his  foes,  Douglas  determinedly  refused  to 
comply  with  James's  desire,  and  the  King,  exclaiming  with  an 
oath,  "  By  heaven,  if  you  will  not  break  the  league,  I  shall !" 
struck  him  in  the  breast  with  a  dagger.1  On  this,  Sir  Patrick 
Gray,  and  several  others  who  were  secreted  near  the  fatal 
chamber,  rushed  on  the  unfortunate  Earl,  and  finishing  the 
cold-blooded  act  of  royalty,  threw  the  carcase  out  at  the  window 
into  the  palace  garden  ;  from  that  time  the  aperture  has  been 
called  "  The  Douglas  Window."  This  murder  was  the  signal 
for  open  rebellion  on  the  part  of  Douglas's  adherents.  His 
brothers,  stung  with  horror  and  indignation,  proclaimed  the  King 
a  liar  and  traitor  at  the  very  gates  of  his  palace,  had  the  Earl's 
safe-conduct  dragged  ignominiously  at  the  tail  of  ahorse  through 
the  streets  of  Stirling,  and  afterwards  set  the  town  on  fire. 

Meanwhile,  Crawford  was  far  from  being  idle.  No  sooner 
had  the  news  of  Douglas's  murder  reached  him,  than  he  sum- 
moned his  kinsmen  and  vassals  throughout  Angus.  The  King, 
on  the  other  hand,  learning  the  precarious  state  of  matters,  and 
desirous  to  cut  off  all  communication  betwixt  the  armies  of 
Douglas  and  Crawford,  commanded  Huntly  to  march  south- 
ward, while  he  himself  led  a  powerful  army  to  the  north  for 
the  purpose  of  joining  him.  Crawford,  on  the  other  hand, 
equally  anxious  to  check  the  progress  of  the  new  Lieutenant- 
General,  marshalled  a  great  body  of  vassals  and  kinsmen,  and, 
when  barely  ten  miles  from  his  own  castle,  met  his  antagonist 
full  in  the  face — 

"Just  as  he  reached  the  fatal  plain, 

Where  Baliol  lost  his  sway,2 
Lord  Huntly  and  the  royal  train 
Appear'd  in  full  array." 

Although  greatly  outnumbered  by  his  opponents,  Crawford 

1  Pitscottie,  Chron.  i.  pp.  100  sq. ;  Auchirdeck  Chronicle,  p.  47. 

2  This  alludes  to  Baliol's  penance,  which  took  place  in  the  kirkyard  of  Stracathro, 
on  the  7th  of  July  1296.     He  resigned  the  crown  at  Brechin  Castle  on  the  10th  of 
the  same  month.     On  the  time  and  place,  see  Tytler,  Hist.  Scot.  i.  Note  F. 


FINHAVEN — BATTLE  OF  BRECHIN.  181 

was  undaunted,  and  the  contest  began  on  both  sides  with  the 
utmost  determination.  The  skill  and  valour  displayed  by  the 
rebels  were  so  great,  that  for  long  the  issue  was  doubtful,  and 
might  have  terminated  favourably  for  Crawford,  had  he  not 
imprudently  refused  to  comply  with  some  demands  made  by 
Collace  of  Balnamoon  on  the  battle-field.1  Collace,  who  com- 
manded three  hundred  of  the  most  efficient  and  best  equipped 
of  the  rebel  forces,  immediately  threw  his  whole  weight  into 
the  balance  of  royalty,  and  ere  long  decided  the  contest  in  a 
way  which,  according  to  all  historians,  could  not  otherwise 
have  been  accomplished.  The  fate  of  the  rebels  \vas  now 
sealed — a  breach  had  been  made  in  their  ranks ;  and,  unable 
to  withstand  the  deadly  shocks  that  they  were  every  moment 
receiving  from  their  antagonists,  they  fled  in  dismay.  Earl 
Beardie  lost  his  brother,  Sir  John  of  Brechin,  the  laird  of 
Pitcairlie,  and  several  other  clansmen  and  followers ;  and  he 
himself,  fleeing  from  the  scene  of  action,  reached  Finhaven 
Castle,  and  calling  for  a  cup  of  wine,  gave  utterance  to  the 
extraordinary  exclamation,  that  rather  than  have  lost  the  day 
"  he  wud  be  content  to  hing  seven  years  in  hell  by  the  breers 
(eyelashes)  o'  the  e'e." 

Like  the  Ogilvy  followers  at  the  battle  of  Arbroath,  those 
of  the  Lindsays  on  this  occasion  were  mostly  habited  in  green- 
coloured  uniform,  and  to  that  circumstance  Beardie  is  said  to 
have  attributed  the  loss  of  this  field,  as  the  Ogilvys  did  of 
Arbroath.  From  the  time  of  these  respective  engagements, 

1  A  curious  coincidence  is  told  respecting  Huntly  on  the  morning  of  the  battle, 
which  singularly  contrasts  with  the  story  of  Beardie  and  Collace.  The  victorious 
Earl,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  himself  a  Seton  by  birth,  and  only  succeeded  to  the 
estates  and  titles  of  Huntly  on  marrying  Elizabeth  Gordon,  the  heiress  (Davidson, 
Inverurie,  i.  pp.  101,  112).  In  appointing  the  officers  in  command  on  the  morning 
of  the  battle  of  Brechin,  he  placed  his  second  son,  of  Gycht,  at  the  head  of  the 
Gordon  clan,  but  the  laird  of  Pitlurg,  as  chief  of  the  Gordons,  claimed  the  leader- 
ship. Huntly  refused  his  request.  Pitlurg,  drawing  himself  aside,  and  taking  his 
black  bonnet  off  his  head,  waved  it  aloft,  exclaiming,  "A"  that's  come  o'  me,  follow 
me  !"  wh«n  the  whole  clan  deserted  Huntly,  and  rallied  round  Pitlurg.  The  Earl 
immediately  submitted,  and  good-humouredly  said,  "  Gentlemen,  you  have  overcome 
me — I  yield  it  to  you  !  Pitlurg,  command  the  Gordons  !  And  now  that  you  have  got 
the  better  of  me,  let  me  see  that  you  beat  Crawford  ! " — (Old  Slat.  A  cct.  xi.  p.  293. ) 


182  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

both  families  conceived  a  great  dislike  to  that  colour,  and  the 
Lindsays  considered  it  so  very  ominous,  that  they  vowed  hence- 
forth that  «  A  Lindsay  with  green 
Should  never  be  seen." 

In  the  heat  of  the  pursuit  after  Earl  Beardie  and  his 
followers,  one  of  the  royalists  got  so  entangled  in  the  train 
of  the  fugitive,  that  he  could  not  possibly  extricate  himself, 
and  seeing  his  danger,  followed  as  one  of  the  party  to  Einhaven. 
This  courageous  person  was  a  son  of  Donald,  thane  of  Cawdor, 
who,  according  to  another  account,  had  stolen  in  disguise  to 
the  camp  of  Earl  Beardie  as  a  spy.  All  agree,  however,  that 

"  A  silver  cup  he  from  the  table  bore ;" 

and  that  before  the  battle  of  Brechin  he  had  shown  such  a 
want  of  bravery  that  he  was  branded  as  a  coward.  But  on  the 
field  and  in  the  pursuit  he  gave  full  proof  of  his  valour,  and 
now,  having  reached  the  very  stronghold  of  the  enemy,  he 
was  resolved  to  wipe  off  all  shade  of  stain  from  his  scutcheon 
by  performing  that  daring  exploit  which  history  has  ascribed 
to  him.  While  the  Earl  was  refreshing  himself  with  a  cup 
of  generous  wine,  and  his  followers  were  seeking  rest  from  their 
flight,  the  whole  party  was  aroused  by  an  alarm  of  the  advance 
of  Huntly  along  the  valley  of  the  Esk,  and  thus  in  the  bustle 
and  confusion  that  ensued,  Calder  succeeded  in  carrying  off 
Lord  Crawford's  silver  drinking-cup.  This,  on  his  return,  he 
presented  to  his  chief,  as  an  evidence  of  his  courage  in  bearding, 
as  it  were,  the  "Tiger"  in  his  den,  and  he  is  said  to  have  re- 
ceived, as  a  reward  of  his  bravery,  either  an  augmentation  to 
his  patrimony  of  Assuanley,  or  favours  of  a  similar  sort.1 

This  celebrated  cup  measures,  exclusive  of  the  figure 
at  the  top,2  about  fifteen  inches  in  height,  holds  a  Scotch  pint 

1  "  Assuanlee  was  granted  to  the  Calders  twelve  years  before  the  battle  of  Brechin. " 
— (Lives,  i.  p.  138,  ».)     Huntly  had  also  received  Badenoch  before  the  battle,  as  the 
charter  is  dated  28th  April  1451. — (Misc.  Spald.  Club,  iv.  p.  xxvii. ) 

2  The  figure  on  the  top  is  the  crest  of  Gordon  of  Cobairdy.      The  woodcut  given 
in  the  former  edition,  and  in  the  Catalogue  of  the  Museum  of  the  Archaeological 
Institute  held  in  Kdinlurjh,  1856,  is  after  a  sketch  by  C.  Elphinstone  Dalrymple,  Esq. 


FINHAVEN — ASSUANLEY  CUP.  183 

and  two  gills.  In  1853  it  was  in  possession  of  Mrs.  Alexander 
Gordon,  only  surviving  child  of  the  late  Sir  Ernest  Gordon  of 
Park  and  Cobairdy,  and  the  history  of  its  acquirement  by  Sir 
Ernest's  father  is  equally  curious  as  the  romantic  manner  in 
which  it  is  said  to  have  been  originally  come  by : — "  Some  years 
after  the  '  forty-five/  a  party  of  gentlemen,  who  were  Jacobites, 
and  all  more  or  less  under  the  ban  of  Government,  ventured  to 
hold  a  meeting  at  a  small  hostelry  in  Morayshire,  between 
Elgin  and  Torres.  In  the  course  of  the  scderunt,  one  of  their 
number,  Gordon  of  Cobairdy,  got  up  to  mend  the  fire,  and  in 
doing  so  saw  at  the  bottom  of  the  peat-bunker,  or  box  for  hold- 
ing the  peats,  something  which  seemed  to  glitter.  He  pulled 
the  object  out,  and  found  that  it  was  a  large  and  handsome  old 
cup,  but  perfectly  flattened.  On  inquiry,  it  turned  out  that 
this  was  the  celebrated  Cup  of  Assuanley,  which  had  been 
pledged  to  the  landlord  of  the  inn  by  the  laird,  a  drinking 
spendthrift,  in  security  for  a  debt.  Cobairdy,  who  was  a  man 
of  considerable  taste,  and  a  collector  of  rarities,  never  lost  sight 
of  the  cup,  but,  when  opportunity  offered,  got  it  into  his  own 
possession,  though  he  and  his  family  had  to  pay  more  than  one 
sum  of  money  which  had  been  raised  by  Assuanley  on  the 
security  of  his  little-cared-for  heirloom.  Having  passed  into 
Cobairdy's  possession,  it  was  completely  restored  to  shape. 
There  are  no  arms  upon  it,  though  one  account  says  that  the 
arms  of  the  Earl  of  Crawford  were  upon  it ;  but  there  is  this 
inscription  in  the  centre  of  the' lid: — '  Titubantem  firmavit 
Huntleus — Breichin,  Mail  20  (or  28)  1453,' — but  in  characters 
apparently  of  the  seventeenth  century."1 

i  Lives,  L  p.  138.  The  later  history  of  the  Assuanley  Cup  is  interesting.  At  her 
death,  Mrs.  Gordon  bequeathed  the  cup  to  her  cousin,  Charles  E.  Dalrymple,  Esq. 
of  Kinellar,  Aberdeenshire,  who  soon  found,  however,  from  some  documents  which 
had  belonged  to  Mrs.  Gordon,  and  which  he  embodied  in  a  paper  read  before  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries,  Scotland,  and  printed  in  their  Proceedings  (ii.  pp.  180-4),  that 
this  was  only  a  memorial  cup,  for  the  making  (or  purchase)  of  which  George,  Duke  of 
Gordon,  in  1704,  gave  two  hundred  merks  to  George  Calder  of  Assuanley,  in  memory 
of  the  incident  at  Finhaven.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  very  good  specimen  of  Nuremberg  work 
of  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  thus  probably  a  hundred  and  seventy 
years  later  than  was  for  some  time  imagined,  though  William  Gordon,  in  his  History  of 


184  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

The  battle  of  Brechin  was  fought  at  the  Haercairn,  about 
two  miles  north-east  of  the  city,  on  the  18th  of  May  1452.1 
The  battle-field  lies  on  the  confines  of  the  parishes  of  Brechin 
and  Stracathro,  and,  although  a  place  perhaps  of  chance  selec- 
tion, was  well  adapted  for  the  purpose.  Including  the  flats 
of  Leightonhill  on  the  south,  and  those  of  Pert  and  Dun  on 
the  east,  it  could  not  embrace  much  less  than  a  square  of 
three  or  four  miles,  was  in  full  view  of  the  steeples  and 
mysterious  Round  Tower  of  Brechin,  and,  according  to  tradi- 
tion, the  same  ground  had  been  used  as  a  battle-field  at  an 
earlier  date. 

On  the  highest  point  of  the  rising  ground  on  the  north 
side  of  the  battle-field,  there  lies  a  large  rude  oblong  stone 
indiscriminately  called  "  Huntly's,"  and  "  Earl  Beardie's  Stone," 
on  which,  it  is  said,  one  or  other  of  these  chiefs  planted  his 
banner.  The  whole  of  this  rising  ground  is  known  by  the 
name  of  "  Huntly  Hill ; "  it  is  so  called,  doubtless,  in  honour 
of  the  victorious  general,  and  it  commands  one  of  the  finest 
views  of  the  lands  of  Edzell,  and  of  the  mountains  of  Glenesk 
land  Lethnot.  Crawford's  chagrin  is  not,  therefore,  to  be 
wondered  at,  for  although  the  lands  on  which  the  battle  was 
fought  were  under  the  superiority  of  the  Bishop  of  Brechin, 
Crawford  was  virtually  lord  of  the  whole ;  and,  wherever  he 
turned  his  eyes  on  the  battle-field,  the  lands  of  his  numerous 
vassals  and  kinsmen  were  always  before  him. 

Still,  much  as  Crawford  felt  the  defeat,  it  was  far  from 
restraining  his  vengeful  arm,  which  was  dealing  destruction 
on  all  sides  ;  for  he  and  his  rebellious  followers  burned  Walter 
Carnegie's  castle  of  Kinnaird,2  and  ravaged  the  lands  of  the 

the  Family  of  Gordon  (L  p.  70),  had  given  the  true  account  of  its  acquisition.  On  being 
exhibited  at  the  meeting  of  the  Archaeological  Society  of  London,  held  in  Edinburgh 
in  1856,  the  cup  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Duke  of  Hamilton  for  the  collection  in 
Hamilton  Palace,  and  the  relative  papers  accompanied  it  as  vouchers.  It  was  subse- 
quently lent  for  exhibition  in  the  South  Kensington  Museum,  but  again  returned  to 
the  Palace ;  it  is  now  preserved  with  the  ducal  plate. — (Inf.  from  James  Auldjo 
Jamieson,  Esq.,  W.S.,  Edinburgh.) 

1  Supr.  p.  179,  note. 

2  Crawford,  Peerage,  p.  446;  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies,  p.  17. 


FINHAVEN — CRAWFORD   PARDONED.  185 

traitor  Collace,  with  those  of  the  other  Angus  barons  who  had 
borne  arms  against  him.  He  was  henceforth  a  denounced, 
and  virtually  a  landless  outcast — "  his  lands,  life,  and  goods  " 
were  confiscated — his  armorial  bearings  "  scraipit  out  of  the 
Book  of  Arms  for  ever," — and  the  important  Lordship  of 
Brechin,  with  the  hereditary  office  of  Sheriff  of  Aberdeen,  was 
given  to  Huntly. 

His  accomplices,  the  Earls  of  Douglas,  Moray,  and  Ormond, 
were  carrying  on  like  depredations  in  their  own  districts, 
and  although  they  were  all  summoned  before  the  Parliament 
at  Edinburgh  for  their  murderous  and  pillaging  transactions, 
the  summons  was  treated  so  contemptuously  that  the  King 
despatched  an  army  to  bring  them  under  submission.  Douglas, 
who  lacked  the  determination  of  purpose,  which  was  the 
leading  characteristic  of  most  of  his  ancestors,  was  soon 
subdued ;  and,  on  succeeding  thus  far,  the  King  made  a 
journey  northward  in  person,  accompanied  by  Bishop  Kennedy, 
the  Earl  of  Huntly,  and  other  advisers,  for  the  purpose  of 
quelling  Crawford.  The  determined  spirit  that  Crawford  had 
shown  in  the  matter  incited  the  King  so  much  against  him 
that  he  vowed  not  only  to  disinherit  him,  but  to  make  the 
highest  stone  of  his  castle  the  lowest !  On  being  informed 
of  Douglas's  submission,  however,  Crawford,  finding  himself 
deserted  by  many,  and  not  knowing  whom  to  trust,  wisely 
relinquished  the  contest,  and  submitting  himself  to  the  royal 
clemency,  was  restored  to  his  estates  and  titles,  and  henceforth 
became  an  attached  and  steady  supporter  of  the  monarchy. 

The  place  where  this  remarkable  scene  occurred  lies  about 
a  mile  west  of  the  castle,  has  ever  since  borne  the  name  of 
Eevel  Green,  and  the  stone  which  the  King  threw  from  the 
battlements  was  long  fixed  to  the  foot  of  the  Keep  by  an 
iron  chain.  It  is  also  related,  that  on  the  occasion  of  Beardie's 
submission,  which  he  made  in  company  with  his  fellow-rebels 
of  Angus,  he  made  so  long  and  submissive  a  speech,  that 
in  the  quaint  language  of  the  chronicler,  "  they  held  up  their 


186  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

hands  to  the  King  maist  dolorously,  crying  '  Mercy  ! '  while 
[till]  their  sobbing  and  sighing  cuttit  the  words  that  almaist 
their  prayers  could  not  be  understood  ;  through  the  whilk  there 
raise  sic  ruth  and  pity  amang  the  company,  that  nane  almaist 
could  contain  themselves  from  tears."  l  The  substance  of  Earl 
Beardie's  long  speech  on  this  occasion  is  thus  briefly  summed 
up  in  an  unpublished  local  rhyme  : — 

"  But  now  his  pride  a  humbling  figure  shows, 
And  pale,  and  sad,  in  sackcloth  forth  he  goes  ; 
Bends  on  his  knees,  and  with  repentant  eyes, 
For  James's  smile,  the  Tiger  Earl  cries — 
Recounts  the  time  his  first  of  title  threw 
Lord  Welles  down,  in  Richard's  kingly  view  ! 
Talk'd  of  the  royal  blood  that  filled  his  veins, 
And  begg'd  in  tears  his  lost  and  wide  domains ! — 
Soon  were  they  gi'en,  and  soon  the  royal  host 
Join'd  Crawford's  banquet — drank  to  Crawford's  toaat! 

But  James,  still  mindful  of  the  vow  he  made, 
(When  Crawford's  power  the  rebel  force  array'd;) 
That  his  own  hand  the  loftiest  stone  would  throw 
Of  proud  Finavon  to  the  earth  below  ; — 
And,  bounding  nimbly  to  the  highest  tower, 
Where  Beardie  wont  to  pass  his  leisure  hour — 
Down  to  the  lawn  a  crazy  stone  he  threw, 
And,  smiling,  cried — '  Behold,  my  promise  true  ! ' " 

Providence,  however,  permitted  Earl  Beardie  to  survive  the 
restitution  of  his  house  only  for  a  short  time,  for  in  six  months 
thereafter  "  he  tuik  the  hot  fever,  and  died  in  the  year  of  God 
ane  thousand,  four  hundreth,  fifty-four  years,  and  wes  buried 
with  great  triumph  in  the  Grey  Friars  of  Dundee,  in  his  fore- 
bears' [ancestors']  sepulchre." 2 

1  Pitscottie,  Chronicles,  i.  pp.  105  sq.  ;  Lives,  i.  p.  141  sq.  A  curious  account 
of  the  battle  of  Brechin  will  also  be  found  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  Don,  a  Poem, 
first  printed  in  1655,  pp.  49  sq.  2  Lives,  i.  p.  143. 


FINHAVEN — EARL  DAVID  LINDSAY.  187 


SECTION  III. 

They  rose  to  power,  to  wealth,  to  fame; 
They  gained  a  proud,  a  deathless  name,-  — 
First  in  the  field— first  in  the  state — 
But,  ah  I  the  giddy  tide  of  fate 
Refiow'd,  and  swept  them  from  their  throne, 
And  thus  they  'came  Misfortunes  own  I 

'  Twixt  truce  and  war,  such  sudden  change 
Was  not  infrequent,  nor  held  strange. 

Earl  David  and  his  rewards  for  loyalty— Raised  to  the  Dukedom  of  Montrose — His 
princely  splendour — Suffered  for  James  TII. — Power  curtailed — New  ducal 
patent  granted — In  favour  with  James  IV. — Private  sorrows — Fell  at  Flodden — 
The  Wicked  Master  disinherited— Sir  David  Lindsay  of  Edzell  as  ninth  Earl 
of  Crawford — Tenth  Earl  marries  Cardinal  Beaton's  daughter — "The  Prodigal 
Earl"— Murder  of  Lord  Glamis — Education  of  an  Earl  and  fidelity  of  the 
"pedagogue" — "Comes  incarceraius" — Earldom  passes  to  the  Lindsays  of 
Byres— Returns  to  the  Crawford  Lindsays— Earl  Ludovick's  military  genius  and 
acts — True  to  the  royal  cause — Dies  in  France — Owners  of  the  lands  and  barony 
of  Finhaven — In  the  bands  of  the  Carnegies — Song,  "He  winna  be  guidit  by 
me"— Death  of  Earl  of  Strathmore  at  Forfar  by  misadventure — Trial  and 
acquittal  of  Carnegie — The  Earls  of  Southesk. 

EARL  BEARDIE  left  two  sons,  David  and  Alexander — the  first 
succeeded  as  fifth  Earl  of  Crawford,  and  the  latter  was  the  first 
designed  Lindsay  of  Auchtermonzie,  which  he  inherited  through 
his  mother.  Earl  David  being  a  minor  at  the  decease  of  his 
father,  was  brought  up,  as  before  mentioned,  under  the  guar- 
dianship of  his  uncle,  Walter  of  Beaufort;  arid  when  only 
eighteen  years  of  age  (it  being  customary  to  marry  young  in 
those  days),  he  formed  a  matrimonial  alliance  with  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  the  noble  house  of  Hamilton.  During  the 
minority  of  James  III.,  while  the  Boyd  faction  was  in  power, 
Crawford  was  among  the  earliest  to  denounce  their  tyranny 
towards  the  King,  and  to  take  active  steps  for  his  release.  In 
consequence  of  that,  various  royal  favours  were  conferred  upon 
him — such  as  the  Keepership  of  the  castle  of  Berwick  for 
three  years — the  liferent  of  the  important  Lordship  of  Brechin 
and  Navar — the  Sheriffship  of  Angus,  with  the  possession  of 


188  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

the  stronghold  of  Broughty  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tay, — and 
the  post  of  High  Admiral  of  Scotland.  These  were  well 
merited  by  the  Earl,  for  he  ever  continued  the  steady  and 
unflinching  supporter  of  his  King ;  and,  when  the  sceptre  was 
attempted  to  be  wrested  from  the  King's  hand  by  his  own  son 
and  ambitious  accomplices,  Crawford  raised  a  regiment  of  six 
thousand  horsemen,  which,  together  with  other  two  thousand 
that  his  influence  secured  from  his  kinsman,  Lord  Lindsay 
of  the  Byres,  greatly  contributed  to  rout  the  insurrectionists 
at  the  rising  at  Blackness.  For  this  signal  service  he  was 
raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  Duke  on  the  18th  of  May  1488, 
"  to  be  entitled  and  designated,  in  perpetual  future  times, 
Duke,  hereditaiy  of  Montrose,  and  was  the  first  instance  of 
the  rank  of  Duke  having  been  conferred  upon  a  Scottish 
subject  not  of  the  royal  family."  This  title  was  assumed  from 
the  burgh  of  Montrose,  which,  with  its  castle,  customs,  and 
fisheries,  and  the  Lordship  of  Kinclevin  in  Perthshire,  were 
erected  and  incorporated  into  a  regality  to  be  called  the  Duchy 
of  Montrose,  and  were  held  on  the  tenure  of  the  Duke 
rendering  therefrom  a  red  rose  yearly,  on  the  feast  of  St. 
John  the  Baptist.1 

The  newly-made  Duke  lived  in  princely  splendour — hav- 
ing his  squires,  armour-bearers,  chamberlains,  chaplains,  and 
a  herald  (the  privileged  appendage  of  royalty) — yet  he  was 
not  so  intoxicated  by  his  high  position  as  to  be  unmindful 

1  From  this  time  the  Duke  charged  his  paternal  coat  of  arms  with  a  red  rose  in 
chief,  the  cognisance  of  the  royal  burgh  of  Montrose.  In  contradistinction  to  the 
Lindsay,  or  original  Dukedom  of  Montrose,  the  title  of  the  noble  family  of  Graham 
(the  present  Duke)  is  assumed  from  "  Aid  Monros  "  in  the  parish  of  Maryton,  which 
the  Grahams  had  originally  from  Robert  I.,  and  from  which  they  long  designed 
themselves.  The  patent  of  the  Original  Dukedom  of  Montrose  is  printed  in  full  in 
Lives,  L  p.  454,  and  the  pleas  on  which  the  Earl  of  Crawford  and  Balcarres  (the 
heir-male  of  the  Duke)  founded  his  Claim  to  the  Dukedom,  .were— (1.)  That  the 
original  patent  of  18th  May  1488  still  exists,  and  was  in  no  wise  affected  by  the 
Act  Rescissory  of  October  of  that  year ;  ('2. )  That  the  Duke  was  never  attainted  ;  and 
(3.)  That  the  second  patent  of  19th  September  1489  was  a  grant  de  novo  in  terms  of 
the  original  one. — (Orig.  Dukedom  of  Montrose  Case,  pp.  56  sq.)  But  it  was 
decided  by  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Lords,  on  5th  August  1853,  that  the  patent 
of  1489,  or  grant  de  novo  of  the  Dukedom  of  Montrose,  was  only  a  grant  for  life  to 
David,  fifth  Earl  of  Crawford. 


FINHAVEN — DUKE  OF  MONTROSE.  189 

of  the  interests  of  his  King  and  country.  With  as  great 
alacrity  as  before,  he  raised  and  commanded  a  large  force  of 
horse  and  foot  at  the  battle  of  Sauchieburn,  where  he  was 
wounded  and  taken  prisoner,  and  where  the  King  was  treacher- 
ously killed  in  a  miller's  barn  by  a  pretended  priest,  while 
lying  there  wounded  by  a  fall  from  his  horse.1  The  forfeiture 
of  estates  and  titles  with  which  the  followers  of  James  in. 
were  visited,  was  very  partial  in  the  case  of  the  Duke  of  Mon- 
trose ;  for,  unlike  the  others,  he  had  no  part  in  the  intrigue 
with  the  Court  of  England,  and  in  consequence  had  his  power 
only  curtailed  by  the  loss  of  the  hereditary  sheriffship  of 
Eorfarshire  and  the  castle  of  Broughty,  which  were  given  to 
Lord  Gray ;  it  may  be  questioned  how  far  his  title  of  Duke 
was  affected  by  the  general  Eescissory  Act  of  17th  October 
1488,  but  a  new  patent  or  charter  of  the  Dukedom  of  Montrose 
de  now  was  issued  to  "  David  Earl  of  Crawford  and  Lord 
Lindsay,"  for  life,  on  the  19th  of  September  1489. 

Erom  the  time  of  the  King's  luckless  death,  the  Duke 
took  little  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  He  became  how- 
ever nearly  as  great  a  favourite  with  James  iv.  as  he  had  been 
with  his  father,  and  is  mentioned  in  the  most  respectful  and 
honourable  manner  by  him  in  the  grant  de  now  of  his  title.2 
He  closed  his  splendid  career  in  peace  and  honour  at  his  castle 
of  Einhaven  in  1495,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  second  son 
John. 

Though  blessed  with  earthly  honour  and  power  greatly  be- 
yond any  of  his  predecessors  or  compeers,  the  Duke's  domestic 
peace  was  far  from  undisturbed.  His  two  sons  were  reck- 
less, unprincipled,  and  sworn  enemies  to  each  other,  so  that 
the  elder  fell  by  the  sword  of  the  younger  in  a  broil  that 
happened  betwixt  them  in  1489>,3  a  circumstance  that  will 

1  See  Lindsay  of  Pitscottie's  interesting  account  of  the  King's  murder.     It  is 
quoted  in  Lives,  i.  pp.  160-63,  as  from  the  best  and  unpublished  MS.  in  possession 
of  Captain  Wemyss  of  Wemyss  Castle. 

2  Orig.  Dukedom  of  Montrose  Case,  p.  6. 

3  Ibid.  p.  31. 


190  LAND   OF  THE   LINDSAYS. 

be  more  particularly  noticed  in  a  subsequent  Chapter.1  This 
painful  matter,  after  lying  dormant  for  the  long  period  of 
more  than  twenty  years,  was  revived  by  some  of  Earl  John's 
enemies,  when  a  re-issue  of  letters  was  made  "  to  search  the 
Earl  of  Crawford  for  the  slaughter  of  Alexander,  Master  of 
Crawford,  his  brother,"  and,  as  neither  the  Earl  nor  any  of  his 
accomplices  attended  the  "  Justice  ayre  "  to  which  they  were 
summoned,  they  were  all  denounced  rebels.  In  the  course  of 
three  months,  however,  while  leading  an  important  division 
of  native  horsemen  at  the  bloody  field  of  Flodden,  as  one  of 
"  Two  Earls  of  an  antique  race," 

Crawford  and  his  valiant  kinsman,  young  Walter  of  Edzell, 
and  many  other  friends,  fell  in  the  rash  enterprise  of  their 
Sovereign,  and  thus,  by  his  sudden  death,  all  proceedings 
were  closed  against  him. 

His  uncle  and  successor,  Sir  Alexander  of  Auchtermonzie 
only  lived  till  1517,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  David, 
who,  unfortunately,  was  placed  in  much  the  same  position  as 
his  uncle  the  Duke  of  Montrose,  by  his  peace  of  mind  being  also 
broken  by  the  prodigality  of  his  only  son.  The  enormity  of  this 
person's  misdeeds,  as  before  seen,  gained  for  him  the  remarkable 
sobriquet  of  the  "  Wicked  "  or  "  Evil  Master,"  and  was  also 
the  means  of  excluding  him  and  his  issue  from  all  participa- 
tion in  the  titles  and  estates  of  Crawford,  except  by  the 
special  generosity  of  David,  the  ninth  Earl. 

Under  these  sad  circumstances,  as  already  more  fully 
narrated,2  the  titles  and  estates  of  Crawford  passed  to  Sir 
David  Lindsay  of  Edzell  as  the  ninth  Earl,  who  subsequently, 
through  the  most  disinterested  and  praiseworthy  motives,  had 
them  restored  to  David,  the  disinherited  son  of  the  "  Wicked 
Master,"  who  accordingly  succeeded,  and  married  a  daughter 
of  Cardinal  Beaton.3  The  marriage  was  celebrated  in  the 

1  "  Apr.  24,  1506.  A  respit  is  given  to  John  Erie  of  Craufurd  to  pass  in  pil- 
grimage to  St.  John  of  Ameas,  or  other  partis  beyond  sey." — (Pitcairn,  Crim.  Trials, 
i.  p.  106.)  8  Supr.  p.  40. 

3  Her  mother  was  Marion  Ogilvy,  daughter  of  the  first  Lord  Ogilvy  of  Airlie. 


FINHAVEN — PARENTAL  NEGLECT.  191 

castle  of  Einhaven  in  April  1546  (just  a  mouth  before  the 
Cardinal's  assassination),  and  her  dowry,  which  amounted  to 
the  large  sum  of  four  thousand  marks,  is  said  to  have  heen  the 
largest  bestowed  on  any  bride  down  to  that  time.  The  Earl, 
after  following  a  far  from  commendable  course  of  life 1  (in 
which  his  ingratitude  to  his  benefactor,  Edzell,  is  among  the 
most  glaring  and  heartless  of  his  actions),  died  in  1574,  and 
was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  David,  the  eleventh  Earl, 
"  ane  princely  man,  but  a  sad  spendthrift." 

In  this  Earl,  the  impetuosity  and  recklessness  of  his 
ancestors  were  revived  with  more  than  ordinary  force.  Besides 
being  singularly  selfish  and  proud,  he  was  so  utterly  destitute 
of  conjugal  and  parental  affection,  that,  although  his  first 
wife,  a  daughter  of  Lord  Drummond,  brought  him  the  enor- 
mous "  tocher "  of  ten  thousand  marks,  he  wrongfully  im- 
pugned her  character,  returned  her  to  her  family  in  disgrace, 
and  even  denied  his  own  offspring  the  necessaries  of  food  and 
raiment.  Being  accessory  to  the  murder  of  Lord  Glamis  at 
Stirling,  if  not  the  actual  perpetrator,  he  was  committed  to 
prison  and  arraigned,  but  for  lack  of  proof,  was  set  free  ; 2  and 
it  is  curious  to  notice,  that  notwithstanding  the  wildness 
of  his  life,  "as  he  returned  through  Angus,  the  inhabitants 
congratulated  him  on  his  freedom."  By  way  of  reprisal  for 
that  murder,  which  occurred  on  the  17th  of  March  1577-8, 
the  tutor  of  Glamis,  at  an  after  period,  killed  "  the  Earl  of 
Crawford's  man,"  and  had  to  pay  a  great  fine  by  way  of 
manbot,  or  blood-money. 

Earl  David,  with  his  relative  Sir  Walter  Lindsay  of  Bal- 
gavies,  and  other  Popish  friends,  bore  so  conspicuous  a  part  in 
the  Spanish  faction  of  1588,  that  he  engaged  to  assist  the 
King  of  Spain  to  make  himself  master  of  Scotland.  For  this, 

She  resided  latterly  at  Melgund  Castle,  which  was  built  by  the  Cardinal.  He  acquired 
the  estate  in  1542,  and  his  initials  and  arms  are  carved  on  the  lintel  of  one  of  the 
windows ;  as  are  those  of  Marion  on  the  corbel  of  the  stair  in  the  west  tower,  and 
over  the  west  window  with  the  Ogilvy  lions. 

1  Mwc.  Sp.  Club,  ii.  pp.  37,  38.  2  Pitcairn,  Grim.  Trials,  i.  pp.  79,  85. 


192  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

he  was  tried  with  the  Earls  of  Huntly,  Errol,  and  Bothwell, 
and  being  found  guilty  of  conspiracy,  was  laid  in  prison ;  but 
a  general  amnesty  being  granted  to  all  state  prisoners  on  the 
marriage  of  the  King  with  Anne  of  Denmark,  Crawford  was 
set  at  liberty  with  the  rest,  and  died  soon  after.1 

Little  was  to  be  hoped  from  Earl  David's  successor,  since 
the  welfare  of  neither  his  body  nor  his  soul  was  matter  of  any 
concern  to  his  father ;  for,  while  he  was  attending  College  at 
St.  Andrews,  his  "  pedagogue "  informs  the  amiable  Lord 
Menmuir  that  it  is  "three  years  since  the  Master  gat  any 
clothing,  saif  one  stand  (suit)  at  the  King's  beand  in  our  town. 
I  have  supplyit  thir  defects  as  my  poverty  and  credit  could 
serve, — there  is  no  hope  of  redress,  but  either  to  steal  of  the 
town,  or  sell  our  insight  (furniture),  or  get  some  extraordinar 
help,  gif  it  were  possible.  Haifing  therefore  used  your  Lord- 
ship's mediation,  [I]  thought  guid  to  crave  your  counsel  in  tins 
straitness — as  it  were  betwix  shame  and  despair.  The  Master, 
beand  now  become  ane  man  in  stature  and  knowledge,  takes 
this  heavily,  but  patiently,  because  he  is,  with  this  strait 
handling,  in  small  accompts  with  his  marrows, — yet,  praisit  be 
God!  above  all  his  equals  in  learning.  We  have  usit,"  he 
adds,  "since  your  Lordship's  beand  in  St.  Andrews,  all 
possible  moyen,  in  all  reverence  (as  we  ought)  and  humility," 
in  dealing  with  the  Earl,  "  but  little  or  nothing  mendit."  2 

Having  lost  his  mother,  and  being  so  little  cared  for 
by  his  father,  if  this  Earl  had  been  other  than  reckless,  it 
might  well  have  been  deemed  a  marvel.  But  his  later  conduct 
entirely  conformed  to  his  boyhood's  training.  Even  while 
appearing  to  extirpate  crime,  he  had  in  reality  the  resentment 
of  private  animosity  and  the  gratification  of  a  vicious  appetite 
only  in  view.  He  joined  a  band  of  unprincipled  clansmen,  who 

1  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  he  is  the  only  one  of  his  long  and  noble  line  of 
ancestors  of  whom  any  trace  exists  about  the  old  castle  of  Finhaven.     This  is  a 
broken  stone  slab  which  was  picked  from  the  ruins  of  the  castle,  and  built  into  the 
wall  of  an  adjoining  house.     It  bears  a  shield,  charged  with  the  initials  and  date — 
"  E.  D.  L.  1593,"  with  the  ring,  or  coronula,  of  the  coronet  overtopping  the  whole. 

2  Lives,  ii.  p.  50. 


FINHAVEN — THE  PRODIGAL  EARL.  193 

harried  the  lands  and  slew  the  nearest  of  their  kin.  It  was 
he  that  murdered  his  uncle  of  Balgavies,  persecuted  Sir 
David  of  Edzell,  sought  the  life  of  Sir  David's  unfortunate  son, 
and,  to  crown  his  other  wild  transactions,  tried  to  complete  the 
ruin  of  his  own  family  by  breaking  down  the  estates. 

A  succession  of  desperate  and  improvident  proceedings, 
however,  were  happily  found  good  ground  for  apprehending 
him ;  and,  by  the  intervention  of  his  own  relations,  he  was 
imprisoned  in  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  closed  his 
miserable  life  in  1621.  From  this  circumstance,  he  is  designed 
"  The  Prodigal,"  and  "  Comes  Incarceratus,"  Dying  without 
male  issue,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  grand-uncle,  Sir  Henry 
of  Kinfauns  and  Careston.  He  left  an  only  child,  however, 
Lady  Jean,  "  an  orphan  destitute  and  uncared  for,  and  fated 
to  still  deeper  debasement,  having  run  away  with  a  common 
'jockey  with  the  horn'  or  public  herald,  and  lived  latterly 
by  mendicancy — '  a  sturdy  beggar,'  though  mindful  still  of  the 
sphere  from  which  she  had  fallen,  and  '  bitterly  ashamed.' 
Shortly  after  the  Eestoration,  Charles  n.  granted  her  a  pension 
of  one  hundred  a  year,  '  in  consideration  of  her  eminent  birth 
and  necessitous  condition,'  and  this  probably  secured  her  com- 
fort during  the  evening  of  her  days."  * 

On  succeeding  to  the  Crawford  estates,  Earl  Henry  sold 
Kinfauns  and  Charteris  Hall  (which  he  had  acquired  through 
marriage),  with  the  view,  it  is  said,  of  paying  off  the  debts 
incurred  on  his  estates  ;  but  his  design  never  appears  to  have 
been  put  in  execution.  Like  his  enlightened  contemporary, 
Sir  David  of  Edzell,  he  had  a  special  taste  for  architectural 
embellishment,  and  the  part  that  remains  of  the  castle  of 
Careston,  which  he  erected,  is  an  admirable  specimen. 

Sir  Henry  enjoyed  the  Earldom  only  two  years,  dying  in 
1623,  and  leaving  three  sons,  George,  Alexander,  and  Ludovick 
—all  of  whom  succeeded  as  respectively  fourteenth,  fifteenth, 
and  sixteenth  Earls  of  Crawford.  On  the  death  of  Earl  Ludovick 

1  Lives,  ii.  p.  51. 

N 


194  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

about  1652,  the  titles  passed  by  a  new  patent  obtained  in  1642 
(through  the  influence  of  John  Lindsay  of  the  Byres,  and  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  preferable  branches  of  Spynie,  Edzell,  and 
Balcarres),  to  the  Byres  family,  of  which  there  were  the  seven- 
teenth, eighteenth,  nineteenth,  twentieth,  twenty-first,  and 
twenty-second  Earls.1  On  the  death  of  the  last  of  these  in 
1808,  the  title  devolved  on  Alexander,  sixth  Earl  of  Balcarres, 
as  twenty-third  Earl  of  Crawford,  whose  son  James  became 
twenty-fourth  Earl,  head  and  representative  of  the  Lindsays 
of  Crawford  and  Glenesk,  and  the  nearest  heir-male  to  the 
original  Duke  of  Montrose.  The  late  Alexander,  twenty-fifth 
Earl  of  Crawford  and  eighth  Earl  of  Balcarres,  was  distinguished 
for  his  literary  tastes  and  productions,  and  was  a  liberal  patron 
of  men  of  letters.  His  early  years  he  devoted  to  foreign  travel 
and  study  of  art.  His  Letters  on  Egypt,  Edotn,  and  the  Holy 
Land,  and  his  History  of  Christian  Art,  are  valuable  con- 
tributions to  literature,  while  they  are  fitting  memorials  of  his 
Lordship's  taste  and  learning ;  but  the  Lives  of  the  Lindsays 
form  the  best-known  fruits  of  his  study,  and  are  a  model  of 
careful  inquiry  into  the  many  lines  and  lives  connected  with 
the  author's  ancestry.  The  Earl  entered  Parliament  in  1869 
as  second  Baron  Wigan,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  who  in 
1826  had  obtained  the  patent  for  that  Baronage  in  the  peerage 
of  the  United  Kingdom,  but  he  never  took  a  prominent  place 
in  public  affairs.  In  1846  he  married  his  cousin,  Margaret, 
eldest  daughter  of  Lieutenant-General  James  Lindsay  of  Bal- 
carres, by  whom  he  had  six  daughters  and  an  only  son,  James 
Ludovic,  who  succeeded  to  the  titles  and  estates  at  his  father's 
death  at  Florence,  13th  December  1880.  The  body  of  the 
deceased  Earl  was  brought  from  Italy  and  placed  in  the 
mortuary  below  the  chapel  at  Dunecht.2 

1  Lives,  ii.  pp.  61  sq. 

2  Early  in  the  following  December,  it  was  discovered  that  the  body  had  been 
removed,  to  all  appearance,  some  months  before,  but  by  whom  or  for  what  reason 
remains  unknown.     On  being  recovered  in  July  1882,  it  was  taken  to  the  family 
vault  at  Haigh  Hall,  Wigan. 


FINHAVEN — EARLS  GEORGE  AND  LUDOVICK.        195 

But  of  all  these  the  family  of  Earl  Henry  alone  falls  within 
our  range,  being  the  last  Earl  of  Crawford  who  held  lands  in 
Angus.1  Like  many  of  his  relations,  Earl  George  (the  eldest 
son  of  Earl  Henry)  joined  in  the  thirty  years'  war  in  Germany. 
He  rose  to  the  rank  of  Colonel,  but  was  killed  in  cold  blood 
in  1633,  by  a  lieutenant  of  his  own  regiment,  who,  although 
acquitted  by  the  German  Council  of  War,  was  arrested  by  Major- 
General  Leslie,  the  Governor  of  Stettin,  who  had  him  immedi- 
ately "  shot  at  a  post."  Leaving  no  male  issue,  the  succession 
opened  to  his  second  brother,  also  a  Colonel,  and  he  having 
unfortunately  become  insane,  or  "  frantic,"  died  in  close  con- 
finement in  1639,2  and  was  succeeded  by  his  third  and  youngest 
brother,  Ludovick — the  steady  friend  of  Charles  I.,  and  com- 
panion in  arms  of  the  great  Marquis  of  Montrose,  to  whom 
Ludovick,  in  bravery  and  generalship,  was  all  but  equal. 

Being  matter  of  history,  however,  a  simple  enumeration  of 
only  the  principal  adventures  of  Earl  Ludovick's  life  will  be 
noticed  here — the  reader  being  in  this  case,  as  in  so  many 
others,  referred  to  the  interesting  notice  of  him  in  the  Lives. 
It  was  in  the  Spanish  wars,  where  he  rose  to  the  rank  of 
Colonel,  that  he  first  showed  that  genius  for  military  tactics 
which  distinguished  him  through  life,  and  on  succeeding 
to  the  Earldom,  he  joined  the  cause  of  his  own  unfortunate 

1  By  way  of  connecting  the  genealogy  of  the  family  of  Lindsay-Crawford,  it  may 
be  here  observed,  that  so  far  from  John  Lindsay  of  the  Byres  having  legitimate  claim 
to  the  Earldom  of  Crawford,  he  was  descended  from  a  younger  brother  of  Sir 
Alexander  of  Glenesk,  the  latter  of  whose  direct  male  descendants  were  all  repre- 
sented at  the  time  of  the  Byres  succession  by  the  houses  of  Spynie,  Edzell,  and 
Balcarres.     When  the  Byres  branch  failed  on  the  death  of  George,  the  twenty-second 
Earl  of  Crawford,  in  1808,  his  estates,  being  destined  to  heirs-female,  fell  to  his 
sister,  Lady  Mary  Lindsay,  on  whose  death  in  1834,  the  fourth  Earl  of  Glasgow 
(in  right  of  his  descent  from  Margaret,   daughter  of  Earl  Patrick  of  the  Byres) 
succeeded  to  the  estates  as  eldest  heir-of-line  to  Lady  Mary.     The  ancient  title  of 
the  Earldom  of  Crawford  was  then  claimed  by  the  sixth  Earl  of  Balcarres  (the 
representative  of  the  disinherited  line),  and  was  awarded  to  his  son  on  the  llth  of 
August  1848,  he  being,  in  consequence,  the  twenty-fourth  Earl  of  Crawford,  and  the 
PREMIER  EARL  on  the  Union  Boll.     For  a  full  account  of  the  interesting  houses  of 
Balcarres,  the  Byres,  and  other  branches  of  the  Lindsays,  the  first  of  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  was  founded  by  Lord  Menmuir,  brother  to  Sir  David  of  Edzell,  the  reader 
is  referred  to  the  Lives  of  the  Lindsays,  so  often  alluded  to. 

2  Lives,  ii.  pp.  52  sq. 


196  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

King,  and  was  his  staunch  supporter  throughout  the  whole 
of  his  difficulties.  It  is  believed  that  "  the  incident,"  as  it 
is  called  in  history,  was  the  joint  concoction  of  him  and  the 
Marquis  of  Montrose ;  in  this  it  was  proposed  to  seize  Lords 
Hamilton,  Lanark,  and  Argyll,  and  place  them  on  board  a 
ship  in  Leith  harbour, — then  to  take  Edinburgh  Castle  and 
set  free  Montrose,  who  was  a  prisoner  there  at  the  time.  The 
plot  was  however  discovered,  and  Crawford  arrested ;  and 
it  was  only  through  the  influence  of  John  of  the  Byres,  when 
Ludovick  consented  to  change  the  succession  to  the  Earldom 
in  his  favour,  that  he  obtained  his  release.  This  very  question- 
able transaction  was  completed  on  the  15th  of  January  1642  ; 
and  in  the  subsequent  August,  the  Earl  joined  the  royal 
standard  at  Nottingham,  with  a  large  troop  of  cavalry  that 
he  had  raised  for  the  King's  service.  He  fought  at  Edgehill 
in  October  thereafter,  as  also  at  Lansdown  in  July  1643,  and 
defeated  General  Waller,  while  the  latter  was  on  his  way 
to  Oxford.  He  was  also  at  Newbury  and  Eeading,  and  cutting 
his  way  out  of  Poole,  where  he  was  betrayed,  he  invaded 
Sussex,  and  took  the  castle  of  Arundel,  but  soon  after  had 
to  flee  from  Alton  near  Farnham  before  his  old  opponent 
Waller. 

Although  the  royal  cause  was  generally  unsuccessful,  Craw- 
ford's individual  exertions  were  not  so.  Yet,  being  defeated, 
in  common  with  his  fellow-royalists,  at  Marston  Moor,  on  the 
2d  of  July  1644,  the  excommunication  which  had  been  passed 
upon  him  by  the  Estates  in  the  previous  April  was  followed 
by  the  forfeiture  of  his  title  in  favour  of  Lord  Lindsay  of  the 
Byres  by  the  illegal  Parliament  of  that  period ;  and,  to  crown 
his  disappointment,  while  bravely  defending  Newcastle  in 
October  thereafter,  he  was  taken  prisoner,  and  with  much 
indignity  carried  to  Edinburgh  Castle.  There  he  remained 
until  the  decisive  battle  of  Kilsyth  on  the  15th  August,  when 
he  and  other  prisoners  were  released  by  their  leader  Montrose, 
— just  in  time  to  witness  their  total  defeat  at  Philiphaugh. 


FTNHAVEN — CLOSE  OF  THE  OLD  LINE  OF  EARLS.       197 

From  that  period  till  the  31st  of  July  1646,  when  their 
army  was  dissolved  at  Eattray,  near  Blairgowrie,  Earl  Ludovick 
and  his  horsemen  were  frequently  quartered  in  Angus,  and 
committed  many  serious  ravages  in  the  county.  Escaping 
to  the  Continent,  he  entered  his  old  service  in  Spain,  was 
at  Badajoz  in  June  1649,  and  two  years  later  took  an  active 
part  in  the  tumult  of  the  Eronde  at  Paris.  All  subsequent 
trace  of  him  is  lost,  and  "  where  he  ended  his  career — when 
or  how — there  is  no  authentic  evidence;  he  is  said  to  have 
died  in  France  in  1652,  and  this  is  very  probable,  seeing  that 
Cardinal  de  Eetz,  in  mentioning  his  Scottish  allies  in  that  year, 
makes  no  mention  of  their  gallant  commander ;  but  nothing 
is  certain  except  the  fact  that  he  was  dead,  and  without  issue, 
in  1663 — the  last  of  the  old  and  original  line  of  the  Earls  of 
Crawford."1  George,  third  Lord  Spynie,  was  duly  served  heir- 
male  on  November  8,  1666.2 

Such  are  a  few  of  the  leading  characteristics  of  the  lives 
of  the  great  Earls  of  Crawford,  of  the  old  Glenesk  line.  Their 
fall,  it  will  be  seen,  was  mainly  owing  to  the  misdoings  of  the 
"  Prodigal  Earl,"  who  had  laid  the  axe  so  effectually  to  the 
root  of  the  noble  tree  which  he  so  unworthily  represented, 
that  only  three  years  after  his  incarceration,  his  uncle,  Earl 
Henry,  was  compelled  to  mortgage  the  lands  to  a  large  amount ; 
this  was  done,  however,  with  power  of  redemption  to  the 
granters  on  payment  of  the  sums  advanced.3  In  1625,  three 
years  after  Earl  Henry's  death,  these  bonds  were  uplifted  by 
Lord  Spynie  (who  had  been  fortunate  in  the  German  wars),  and 
in  addition  to  this  he  gave  a  sum  of  fourteen  thousand  marks 
to  Earl  George  for  the  castle,  and  the  "  heretabil  richt  of  ye 
landis  and  baronie  of  Phinhewin,"  of  all  which  he  had  pos- 
session in  the  month  of  April  1630.4  But  he  only  held  them 
for  the  short  space  of  five  years,  when  they  passed  for  ever 
from  the  hands  of  the  Lindsays,  being  granted  by  Spynie  to 

1  Lives,  ii.  p.  79.  2  Inquis,  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  424. 

*  Crawford  Case,  p.  85.  4  Ibid.  p.  68. 


198  LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

his  brother-in-law,  the  second  Earl  of  Kinnoul.1  He,  again, 
was  followed  by  the  Earl  of  Northesk,  who  disponed  them 
in  favour  of  his  second  son,  the  Honourable  James  Carnegie, 
on  the  22dof  May  1672. 

Having  thus  traced  the  interesting  history  of  the  Lordship 
of  Finhaven  and  its  owners,  from  the  earliest  period  to  the 
decline  of  the  ancient  family  of  Lindsay,  we  shall  now  take 
a  view  of  it  from  the  succession  of  Carnegie,  down  to  the 
present  time,  which  will  embrace  altogether  a  period  of  a 
little  over  two  hundred  years. 

The  wife  of  the  first  designed  Carnegie  of  Einhaven  was 
Anna  Lundin,  second  daughter  of  Eobert  Maitland,  brother- 
german  to  John,  the  great  Duke  of  Lauderdale,  by  his  wife 
Dame  Margaret  Lundin  of  the  ancient  family  of  that  Ilk.2 
Carnegie  was  infeft  in  the  property  on  June  6th,  1672,  and 
sat  in  the  Parliament  of  1703,  but,  unlike  his  nephew  of 
Northesk,  was  a  strong  opponent  of  the  Union ;  by  substitu- 
tion for  deceased  members  he  had  also  been  in  Parliament  in 
1685-6,  and  1702.  He  had  a  family  of  two  sons  and  two 
daughters ;  one  of  the  latter  was  married  to  Lyon  of  Auchter- 
house,  a  cadet  of  the  noble  family  of  Strathmore,  and  the  other 
to  her  cousin,  Alexander  Blair  Carnegie  of  Kinfauns.  Of  the 
elder  son,  Charles,  we  only  know  that  he  was  so  palsied 
as  to  be  incapable  of  business,  and  died  unmarried  in  1712. 
The  younger,  who  succeeded  his  father  in  1707,  had,  with 
consent  of  his  brother,  charters  of  the  barony  of  Einhaven 
in  1710,  and  bore  a  conspicuous,  though  far  from  commendable, 
part  in  the  stirring  movements  of  "  the  fifteen." 

He  was  at  one  time  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  Stuarts, 
and  though  admitted  as  a  confidant  in  their  cause,  he  subse- 
quently sided  with  the  Hanoverians,  and  thus  gained  so  un- 
enviable a  notoriety  that  his  conduct  was  made  the  theme  of 
several  depreciatory  Jacobite  ditties.  In  one  of  the  ballads  of 
Sheriffmuir  he  is  represented  as  "  the  best  flyer  "  from  the  field 

1  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  200.  2  Fraser,  Hist.  Cam.  of  Southcsk,  ii.  p.  425. 


FINHAVEN — CARNEGIES  SUCCEED.  199 

of  battle,  and  is  impeached  in  the  song  which  follows  as  having 
been  bought  over  by  the  Government.  The  third  verse  refers 
to  the  ejection  of  the  Eev.  Mr.  Grub,  the  last  Episcopalian 
minister  of  Oathlaw ;  and,  since  it  is  recorded  that  Mr.  Grub 
was  "  never  admitted  to  the  parish  by  any  Church  judicatory," 
it  is  probable,  from  the  pointed  allusion  in  the  ballad  to  Car- 
negie's being  guilty  of  simony,  that  Grub  had  been  originally 
of  Carnegie's  choice,  though  the  laird  supported  the  subsequent 
induction  of  Mr.  Anderson,  a  Royalist,  and  thereby  had  most 
probably  obtained  some  direct  or  indirect  pecuniary  favour. 
The  song  is  quaintly  entitled 

f^e  fohma  be  ©ttftu't  ig  Jfflk 

0  heavens,  he 's  ill  to  be  guidifc, 
His  colleagues  and  he  are  dividit, 
Wi'  the  Court  of  Hanover  he 's  sidit — 

He  winna  be  guidit  by  me. 
They  ca'd  him  their  joy  and  their  darling, 
Till  he  took  their  penny  of  arling  ; 
But  he  '11  prove  as  false  as  Macfarlane — 

He  winna  be  guidit  by  me. 

He  was  brought  south  by  a  merling, 
Got  a  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  sterling, 
Which  will  make  him  bestow  the  auld  carlin — 

He  winna  be  guidit  by  me. 
He  's  anger'd  his  goodson  and  Fintry, 
By  selling  his  king  and  his  country, 
And  put  a  deep  stain  on  the  gentry — 

He  '11  never  be  guidit  by  me. 

He 's  joined  the  rebellious  club,  too, 

That  endeavours  our  peace  to  disturb,  too ; 

He 's  cheated  poor  Mr.  John  Grub,  too, 

And  he 's  guilty  of  simony. 
He  broke  his  promise  before,  too, 
To  Fintry,  Auchterhouse,  and  Strathmore,  too  ; 
God  send  him  a  heavy  glengore,  too, 

For  that  is  the  death  he  will  die. 

But  the  circumstance  by  which  Carnegie  is  best  known  is 
the  murder  of  the  Earl  of  Strathmore.     This  unfortunate  affair 


200  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

arose,  as  will  be  seen  by  a  perusal  of  the  trial,1  from  the  taunts 
and  gibes  that  he  received  from  John  Lyon  of  Brigton  regard- 
ing his  treachery  in  the  cause  of  the  Chevalier.  The  circum- 
stances attending  this  murder  are  briefly  these : — On  Thursday, 
the  9th  of  May  1728,  several  county  gentlemen  assembled  at 
Forfar  to  attend  the  funeral  of  a  daughter  of  Patrick  Carnegie 
of  Lour.  After  dinner  the  company,  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  times,  adjourned  to  an  inn,  where  they  regaled  them- 
selves until  the  dusk  of  the  evening.  Among  these  were 
Charles,  the  sixth  Earl  of  Strathmore,  his  kinsman  of  Brigton, 
and  Carnegie  of  Finhaven.  Being  all  intoxicated,  Brigton  first 
insulted  Carnegie  by  his  talk  within  doors,  and  on  coming  to 
the  street,  thrust  him  into  the  common  kennel.  Enraged  at 
these  proceedings,  Carnegie,  on  recovering  himself,  ran  up  to 
his  companions,  and  made  a  thrust  at  Brigton  with  a  drawn 
sword.  By  misadventure,  however,  it  passed  through  the  body 
of  Strathmore,  who  was  attempting  to  reconcile  the  parties, 
and  the  Earl  died  on  the  following  Saturday  from  the  effects 
of  the  wound. 

Arraigned  before  the  High  Court  of  Justiciary  "for  the 
crime  of  wilful  and  premeditate  murder,"  Carnegie  secured  the 
services  of  Dundas  of  Arniston,  the  future  Lord  President; 
and,  notwithstanding  the  able  pleading  for  the  Crown  by  the 
celebrated  Duncan  Forbes,  who  was  then  Lord  Advocate, 
Dundas  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  verdict  of  not  guilty  for  his 
client.  This  case  is  further  remarkable  as  being  the  first  in 
Scotland  in  which  the  power  of  a  jury  was  established  accord- 
ing to  ancient  practice,  which  was  then  questioned,  of  returning 
a  general  verdict  of  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  the  accused,  and 
not  merely  of  determining  whether  the  facts  in  the  indictment 
were  proved  or  not. 

In  early  life  Carnegie  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir 
William  Bennet  of  Grubbet,  by  whom  he  had  two  daughters. 
Of  these,  the  one  was  married  to  Sir  John  Ogilvy  of  luver- 

1  See  the  trial,  as  given  in  Arnot,  Criminal  Trials,  pp.  178-191. 


FINHAVEN — LATE  PROPRIETORS.  201 

quharity,  Bart.,  and  the  other  first  to  Foulis  of  Woodhall,  and 
secondly  to  Charles  Lewis,  both  daughters  having  issue.  His 
first  wife  died  in  1738.  He  subsequently  married  Violet 
Nasmyth,  by  whom  he  had  his  son  and  heir,  and  a  daughter 
Barbara,  who  was  married  to  Sir  Alexander  Douglas  of  Glen- 
bervie,  son  of  the  compiler  of  the  Scottish  Peerage  and  Baron- 
age, and  Physician  to  his  Majesty's  Forces  in  Scotland. 

Carnegie  died  in  1765,  and,  with  the  exception  of  his  son, 
who  died  without  issue  at  Lisbon  twelve  years  afterwards,  he 
was  the  last  of  his  race  in  Finhaven.  The  succession  then  de- 
volved on  his  daughter,  Lady  Douglas,  who,  to  meet  the  demands 
of  her  brother's  creditors,  had  the  lands  sold  in  1 779.  They  were 
purchased  by  the  fourth  Earl  of  Aboyne,  by  whose  frugality 
and  industry  the  ruined  estate  of  his  ancestors  was  restored  to 
its  old  importance;  and  in  1781  he  resigned  Finhaven  in  favour 
of  his  son  by  his  second  wife,  the  Honourable  George  Douglas 
Gordon  Hallyburton,  who  sat  long  in  Parliament  for  Forfar- 
shire.  Hallyburton  sold  Finhaven  in  the  year  1804  to  James 
Ford,  an  extensive  manufacturer  in  Montrose.  Ford's  circum- 
stances having  become  embarrassed,  he  went  abroad  and  fol- 
lowed the  laborious  calling  of  a  teacher.  The  estate  being 
exposed  for  sale  in  1817,  it  was  bought  by  the  late  Marquis  of 
Huntly,  then  Lord  Aboyne,  at  the  price  of  £65,000,  being  an 
advance  of  no  less  than  £26,000  over  the  purchase-money  paid 
for  it  by  his  father  in  1779. 

Like  the  affairs  of  his  predecessor,  those  of  the  Marquis 
also  became  embarrassed,  and  in  the  year  1843  Finhaven  was 
purchased  from  his  trustees  for  £75,000  by  the  trustees  of  the 
late  Thomas  Gardyne  of  Middleton,  in  terms  of  whose  testa- 
mentary deed  it  was  held  by  his  maternal  nephew,  James 
Carnegie,  W.S.  The  latter  was  second  son  of  Thomas,  the 
fourth  laird  of  Craigo,  was  designed  of  Finhaven  and  Noranside, 
and,  on  the  failure  of  male  issue,  was  succeeded  by  his  cousin, 
David  Greenhill  of  Fern  and  Craignathro,  each  assuming  the 
name  Gardyne  on  obtaining  the  estate.  On  his  accession  in 


202  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

1864,  Mr.  David  Greenhill  Gardyne  erected  the  fine  baronial 
residence  of  Finhaven  Castle,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  ruins  of  the 
old  Finhaven,  but  did  not  long  survive  its  completion,  having 
died  in  1867.  His  only  son,  the  present  Colonel  Charles 
Greenhill  Gardyne,  then  succeeded  to  the  property. 

Thomas  Gardyne  was  the  last  male  descendant  of  the 
ancient  family  of  Gardyne  of  that  Ilk,  who  were  proprietors 
in  Angus  from  a  remote  period,  and  one  of  whom  married 
Lady  Janet,  daughter  of  Sir  David  Lindsay  of  Edzell.  Mr. 
Carnegie  Gardyne,  the  ante-penultimate  proprietor,  was  a 
lineal  descendant,  in  the  fourth  generation,  of  David  Carnegie, 
minister  of  Farnell  and  Dean  of  Brechin,  by  Helen,  daughter 
of  Bishop  Lindsay  of  Edinburgh.  The  Dean  purchased  the 
estate  of  Craigo,  and  was  the  first  of  that  race,  which  is  repre- 
sented in  the  female  line  by  Sir  George  Macpherson  Grant, 
Bart.,  of  Ballindalloch  and  Invereshie.  On  the  death  of 
Thomas  Carnegie  of  Craigo,  in  1856,  this  property  passed  to 
his  cousin,  Thomas  Macpherson  Grant,  youngest  son  of  the 
late  Sir  George  Macpherson  Grant,  Bart.;  but  he  died  at 
Chiswick,  Middlesex,  on  23d  September  1881,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-six.  As  descended  from  Hercules,  sixth  son  of  Sir 
Robert  Carnegie  of  Kinnaird,  and  uncle  of  the  first  Earls  of 
Southesk  and  Northesk,  on  the  one  hand,1  and  from  the 
daughter  of  Bishop  Lindsay  on  the  other,  the  late  laird  of 
Finhaven  was  not  only  related  to  the  old  Carnegies  of  that 
place,  but  (Bishop  Lindsay  being  a  cadet  of  the  house  of 
Edzell)  was  also  connected  with  the  more  ancient  and  powerful 
lords  of  the  district — the  Earls  of  Crawford.2 

1  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk,  ii.  p.  436. 

2  The  facts  regarding  the  transmission  of  the  lands  of  Finhaven  from  1672  were 
obligingly  gleaned  from  the  title-deeds,  and  communicated  by  the  late  proprietor, 
Mr.  James  Carnegie,  W.S.     See  APPENDIX  No.  VII. 


FINHAVEN — THE  OLD  CASTLE.  203 


SECTION   IV. 

Those  stately  towers,  those  heights  sublime. 
That  mocked  the  gnawing  tooth  of  time, 
How  fair  and  firm  they  once  did  seem. 
How  fleeting  thou,  inconstant  stream  ! 
Yet  time  has  spared  thy  changeful  tide. 
Though  ruin  wait  on  all  beside. 

PERCY. 

Finhaven  Castle — Story  of  its  fall — Its  situation — The  harper  hung — Jock  Barefoot- 
Inner  life  of  old  Finhaven — Surrounded  by  retainers  and  allies— Markhouse — 
Blairiefeddan— Woodwrae — Balgavies  and  Sir  Walter  Lindsay — Estate  lost,  and 
how  previously  acquired. 

LIKE  the  other  castles  of  the  Lindsays  in  Forfarshire,  that  of 
Finhaven  is  a  total  ruin,  and  little  idea  can  now  be  formed  of 
either  the  style  of  its  architecture  or  its  original  extent.  In 
its  palmiest  days  it  was  a  much  larger  place  than  Edzell ;  for 
thick  and  continuous  foundations  of  houses  are  yet  found  two 
and  three  hundred  yards  to  the  west  and  south  of  the  castle ; 
but  there  are  no  remains  of  sculpture  like  that  at  Edzell  or 
Careston.  Indeed,  with  the  exception  of  the  turret  on  the 
north-east  corner,  and  a  few  lintels  near  the  centre  of  the 
building — which  present  some  simple  but  not  inelegant  mould- 
ings— no  trace  of  ornamental  masonry  is  now  to  be  seen. 

The  only  initials  and  date,  as  already  noticed,  are  those 
which  refer  to  the  eleventh  Earl,  the  father  of  "  the  Prodigal," 
who  had  perhaps  in  some  way  added  to  or  altered  the  castle. 
"We  are  not  aware  that  any  drawing  was  made  of  it  when 
entire,  or  that  any  description  of  it  exists  before  that  by  Mr. 
Ochterlony,  who  calls  it  (circa  1682)  "a  great  old  house;  but 
now  by  the  industrie  of  the  present  laird  [the  first  Carnegie]  is 
made  a  most  excellent  house ;  fine  roomes  and  good  furniture, 
good  yards,  excellent  planting,  and  enclosures,  and  avenues." 1 
It  fell  to  ruin  during  the  time  of  the  last  Carnegie,  and  the 
circumstances  attending  its  dilapidation,  though  seemingly 
vague,  are  uniformly  attested  as  fact. 

1  Spottisw.  Misc.  i.  p.  332. 


204  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Unlike  the  stories  of  the  old  proprietors  of  Edzell,  Mel- 
gund,  and  Vayne,  who  are  all  said  to  have  departed  mysteri- 
ously one  dark  evening  after  supper,  leaving  the  empty  dishes 
on  the  table,  and  the  lamps  in  full  blaze — the  castle  of  Fin- 
haven  itself,  instead  of  the  people,  was  the  first  to  give  way, 
and  that  while  the  sun  was  at  his  height.  One  fine  summer 
day,  when  Carnegie  was  from  home,  his  lady  had  the  table 
spread  with  the  choicest  viands  awaiting  his  arrival,  and, 
accompanied  by  her  lap-dog,  she  went  along  the  avenue  to  meet 
him ;  but,  just  as  the  laird  approached  the  gate,  the  walls  of 
that  part  of  the  house  where  the  table  was  spread  bent  in 
twain,  and  falling  to  the  ground,  threw  everything  into  utter 
ruin.  The  event  was  long  supposed  to  be  unaccountable,  and, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  was  attributed  to  supernatural  causes ; 
but,  on  the  rubbish  being  cleared  away,  the  catastrophe  was 
found  to  have  arisen  from  a  ground-slip.  The  lady  made 
almost  a  miraculous  escape,  and  it  is  said  that  no  lives  were 
lost,  save  that  of  her  favourite  dog,  which  was  attracted  to  the 
spot  by  the  noise,  and  buried  among  the  ruins. 

For  military  purposes,  the  position  of  the  castle  had  been 
chosen  with  no  little  skill,  being  situated  in  the  valley  of 
Strathmore,  at  the  point  where  that  magnificent  strath  begins 
to  expand,  and  thus  it  had  guarded  the  passes  of  the  Highlands 
through  the  valleys  of  the  Isla,  the  Prosen,  and  the  Esk. 
The  site  of  the  castle,  however,  presents  no  striking  peculiar- 
ity. It  stands  on  a  rising  ground  at  the  junction  of  the  Esk 
and  Lemno,  and  in  old  times  had  been  protected  on  the  east 
and  west  by  water,  as  it  is  at  present  on  the  north.  From  this 
moat,  which  rises  only  twenty  feet  above  the  Lemno,  the 
remains  of  the  castle,  embracing  five  stories  (including  the 
cellar  or  vault),  have  a  mean  elevation  of  eighty-six  feet. 
The  north  wall  is  still  entire,  but  the  east  one  is  rent  through 
the  line  of  windows  from  top  to  bottom  of  the  building,  and 
on  the  occurrence  of  some  furious  storm,  the  south-east  corner 
will  inevitably  fall  to  the  ground,  whether  the  latter  part  of 


FINHAVEN — THE  RUINS.  205 

the  prophecy  of  the  famous  Knight  of  Erceldon,  to  whom  the 
following  couplet  is  attributed,  be  fulfilled  or  not : — 

"  When  Finhaven  Castle  rins  to  sand, 
The  warld's  end  is  near  at  hand  !" 

The  north  wall  is  still  a  substantial  and  beautiful  piece  of 
masonry,  stands  as  perpendicular  as  at  the  period  of  its  erec- 
tion, and  its  apparent  strength  may  have  given  rise  to  the 
above  rhyme.  A  vault  or  ward  occupies  the  whole  length  and 
breadth  of  the  ground  floor  of  the  Keep,  to  which,  like  those 
of  Edzell  and  Invermark,  the  light  is  admitted  by  a  few  loop- 
holes ;  and  the  old  oaken  door,  filled  with  large  broad-headed 
nails,  is  yet  entire.  The  turret,  or  gunner's  room  (as  the 
peasantry  call  it),  forms  a  fine  termination  to  the  tall  unbroken 
character  of  the  north-east  corner ;  and  two  strong  projecting 
iron  hooks,  near  the  top  of  the  south-east  wall,  are  said  to  have 
been  used  by  Earl  Beardie  for  suspending  refractory  vassals ! 

These  spikes  are  the  only  pieces  of  iron-work  now  remaining, 
and,  as  the  legend  runs,  Beardie  hanged  at  least  one  unfortunate 
minstrel  upon  them,  and  that  for  predicting  the  murder  of  Earl 
Douglas  at  Stirling,  and  his  own  defeat  at  Brechin.  In  his  wan- 
derings, this  harper  had  got  within  the  private  demesne  of  Fin- 
haven,  and,  in  discoursing  his  mournful  tale  to  the  winds,  was 
overheard  by  Lady  Crawford,  who  was  walking  along  the  banks 
of  the  Lemno.  Being  attracted  by  his  extraordinary  rehearsal, 
she  led  him  into  the  presence  of  Beardie,  who,  on  having  foretold 
to  him  the  murder  of  Douglas  by  the  King,  and  his  own  defeat, 
rose  in  great  wrath,  and,  according  to  the  ballad,  exclaimed — 

"  '  No  more  of  thy  tale  I  will  hear: 
But  high  on  Finhaven  thy  grey  head  and  lyre 
Shall  bleach  on  the  point  of  the  spear  ! ' 

The  Laclie  craved  pity  ;  but  nane  wad  he  gie — 

The  poor  aged  minstrel  must  die  ; 
An'  Crawford's  ain  hand  placed  the  grey  head  and  lyre 

On  the  spikes  o'  the  turret  sae  high." 

The  famous  Horse  Chestnut,  or  "  Earl  Beardie's  Tree,"  as 
it  was  commonly  termed,  is  said  to  have  been  employed  by 


206  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

that  notorious  personage  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  of  the 
iron  hooks.  It  grew  in  the  court-yard  of  the  castle,  and  was 
one  of  the  largest  trees  ever  known  in  the  kingdom  ;  so  remark- 
able was  it  alike  for  the  beauty  of  its  grain  and  for  its  great 
size,  that  tables  and  chairs,  and  even  snuff-boxes,  were  made  of 
the  wood  of  it ;  and  such  was  the  demand,  that,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  very  small  portion  still  perhaps  lying  at  the  castle, 
none  of  the  tree  now  remains.  This  was  the  "  covin-tree " 
under  which  the  Earls  met  their  visitors,  and  drank  the  "stirrup- 
cup."  It  was  in  full  bearing  down  to  1740,  when  the  severe 
frosts  of  that  year  killed  it ;  it  withstood  the  blasts  of  other 
twenty  winters,  and  was  then  levelled  to  the  ground.1  Its  age 
is  unknown,  but  tradition  affirms  that  it  grew  from  a  chestnut 
dropped  by  a  Roman  soldier.  On  a  messenger  or  gillie  being 
sent  one  day  from  Carestou  to  the  castle  of  Finhaven,  he  cut  a 
walking-stick  from  it,  and  Earl  Beardie  was  so  enraged  at  the 
liberty  taken  that  he  had  the  offender  hanged  upon  a  branch 
of  it !  It  has  long  been  a  popular  belief  that  the  ghost  of  this 
luckless  person  still  wanders  betwixt  Finhaven  and  Careston 
as  the  guardian  of  benighted  travellers,  by  some  of  whom  he 
is  minutely  described  as  a  lad  of  about  sixteen  years  of  age, 
without  bonnet  or  shoes,  and  is  known  as  Jock  Barefoot !  His 
freaks  are  curious  and  inoffensive,  always  ending  at  a  certain 
burn  on  the  road,  where  he  vanishes  from  view  in  a  blaze  of  fire ! 
As  if  to  confirm  the  story  of  Beardie  still  living  in  the  secret 
chamber  of  Glamis, — where  he  is  doomed  to  play  cards  until 
the  day  of  judgment, — it  is  an  old  prophetic  saying,  that 

"  Earl  Beardie  ne'er  will  dee 
Nor  puir  Jock  Barefoot  be  set  free, 
As  lang  's  there  grows  a  chestnut  tree !  " 

It  was  in  the  dungeons  of  Finhaven,  as  more  fully  noticed 
before,  that  the  "Wicked  Master"  confined  his  father,  the 

1  The  circumference  of  this  tree  near  the  ground  was  forty-two  feet  eight ;  that  of 
the  top,  thirty-five  feet  nine ;  and  one  of  the  largest  branches,  twenty -three  feet.  — 
(Pennant,  Second  Tour,  1772,  p.  165.)  See  APPENDIX  No.  VIII.,  containing  also  an 
inventory  of  furniture  at  old  Finhaven. 


FINHAVEN — FAMILY  LIFE  AND    COUNCIL.          207 

eighth  Earl,  for  the  space  of  thirteen  weeks ;  and  from  Fin- 
haven,  this  once  magnificent  residence,  most  of  the  family 
charters  were  dated,  in  presence  of  "  a  council " — the  Earls 
Crawford,  Douglas,  and  a  few  other  great  chiefs,  having,  like 
monarchy,  privy  councils  for  deliberating  over  the  affairs  of 
their  extensive  domains.  Among  the  councillors  of  Crawford 
were  the  heads  of  some  of  the  most  ancient  and  honourable 
families  of  Angus — such  as  Ogilvy  of  Clova,  Fothringham  of 
Powrie,  Durham  of  Grange,  Gardyne  of  that  Ilk,  Balbirnie  of 
Inverichty,  and  the  ancient  family  of  Lour  of  that  Ilk.  These, 
with  Lindsay  of  the  Halch  of  Tannadyce  the  hereditary  con- 
stable of  Einhaven  Castle,  and  Auchenleck  of  that  Ilk  the 
hereditary  armour-bearer,  a  canon  of  the  cathedral  of  Brechin 
as  chamberlain,  and  the  clergymen  of  various  parishes  as  the 
chaplains  and  clerks — composed  the  councils  of  the  Earls  of 
Crawford  for  several  successive  generations.  "  Of  these  con- 
sisted the  society  of  the  castle,  with  the  Earl  and  his  immediate 
family — any  guests  that  might  be  resident  with  him — the 
ladies  attendant  upon  his  wife  and  daughters — the  pages,  of 
noble  or  gentle  birth,  trained  up  in  the  castle  under  his  eye  as 
aspirants  for  chivalry — and  his  own  domestic  officers,  most  of 
them  gentlemen  of  quality. 

"  The  inner  life  of  the  family,  especially  at  Finhaven,  was 
of  a  uniform  but  enjoyable  character ;  martial  exercises,  the 
chase,  and  the  baronial  banquet,  enlivened  by  the  songs  of  the 
minstrel  and  the  quips  of  the  jester,  occupied  the  day ;  and 
the  evening  was  whiled  away  in  '  the  playing  of  the  chess,  at 
the  tables,  in  reading  of  romans,  in  singing  and  piping,  in 
harping,  and  in  other  honest  solaces  of  great  pleasance  and  dis- 
port,'— the  ladies  mingling  in  the  scene  throughout,  whether 
in  the  sports  and  festivities  of  the  morning,  or  the  pastimes  of 
the  evening — though  a  portion  of  the  day  was  always  spent 
in  their  '  bowers,'  with  their  attendant  maidens,  spinning  or 
weaving  tapestry.  Occasionally  indeed  a  higher  responsibility 
devolved  upon  them, — during  the  absence  of  the  Earl,  whether 


208  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

in  attendance  on  the  Parliament,  or  in  warfare  public  or 
private,  his  wife  became  the  chatelaine,  or  keeper  of  his  castle, 
with  full  authority  to  rule  his  vassals,  guide  his  affairs,  and 
defend  his  stronghold  if  attacked  at  disadvantage  during  his 
absence."1 

It  was  perhaps  with  the  view  of  guarding  against  the  sur- 
prises here  alluded  to  that  some  of  the  trustiest  of  their  vassals 
were  located  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  castle. 
The  nearest  resident  of  those  retainers  were  the  Lindsays  of  the 
Haugh  of  Tannadyce,  or  Barnyards,  who,  at  least  from  the  time 
of  the  second  Earl  down  to  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
when  David  Lindsay  died,  had  sasine  "  de  terris  de  Hauch, 
cum  custodia  et  officio  constabularii  castri  et  manerii  nostri 
de  Fynnewyne,"  and  were  designed  constables  of  Finhaven. 
From  this  family,  which  failed  in  Patrick  Lindsay  in  1692,  were 
descended  the  Lindsays  of  Little  Coull,  and  those  of  Glenquiech. 
The  castle  of  Barnzaird  (as  it  is  termed  in  Monipennie's 
Briefe  Description  of  Scotland)  stood  about  two  miles,  in  a 
straight  line,  north  of  the  castle  of  Finhaven,  and  towards  the 
close  of  last  century  was  represented  by  two  archways  in  the 
Haugh,  a  little  north-west  of  the  present  farm-house,  which 
was  built  out  of  its  ruins.  Little  is  known  of  the  family, 
but  in  1571,  "David  Lindesay  of  Berneyardis"  and  "Jonet 
Ogilvie,  his  spouse,"  were  indicted  before  the  court,  for  the 
slaughter  of  John  Fentoune;  the  result  however  is  not  recorded.2 
As  constables  of  the  castle  of  Finhaven,  the  Lindsays  of  the 
Haugh  witnessed  many  of  the  charters  of  their  chief,  and 
"  Philip  Lindissay  de  la  Halche  "  was  one  of  Crawford's  coun- 
cil, by  whose  avisement  he  renewed  the  marches  and  bounds  of 
the  lands  of  the  family  of  Auchenleck  of  that  Ilk,  and  was 
also  present  at  the  perambulation  of  the  marches  of  Ochter- 
lony  in  1459.3 

The  lands  of  Markhouse,  which  adjoin  those  of  Finhaven 

1  Lives,  L  pp.  112-13. 

2  Pitcairn,  Crim.  Trials,  i.  p.  28.     On  these  cadet  families,  see  Lives,  i.  p.  430 ; 
ii.  pp.  281  sq.  3  Lives,  i.  p.  430. 


FINHAVEN — MARKHOUSE.  209 

on  the  east,  are  supposed  to  have  been  a  portion  of  the  forest 
of  Plater,  and  had  most  likely  been  held  under  the  superiority 
of  Lyon  of  Glamis,  who  ultimately  had  a  grant  of  the  thane- 
dom  of  Tannadice,  in  which  parish  Markhouse  is  situated.  At 
what  time  the  Lindsays  acquired  Markhouse  we  are  not  aware, 
but  on  the  13th  of  October  1683,  Alexander  Arbuthnott, 
younger  of  Findourie,  appears  as  attorney  for  his  father, 
Eobert  Arbuthnott  of  Findourie,  and  demands  sasine  for  his 
said  father  in  the  lands  of  Markhouse,  under  precept  of  dare 
constat  from  Patrick,  Earl  of  Strathmore  and  Kinghorne, 
which  lands  he  held  of  said  Earl,  subject  to  redemption  by  his 
Lordship.1  "Johannes  Lindsay  de  Markhous,"  who  witnesses 
a  resignation  of  the  barony  of  Finhaven  by  Earl  David  of 
Crawford  to  his  eldest  son,  on  the  24th  of  December  1563,  is 
the  first  proprietor  of  these  lands  that  we  have  met  with; 
and  the  same  person,  or  perhaps  his  son  "  John  Lindsay  of 
M'khous,  notarpublic,"  appears  in  a  paper  in  the  Southesk 
charter-chest,  of  date  1595.2 

The  site  of  the  old  house  or  castle  of  Markhouse  is  still 
pointed  out  near  the  south-east  side  of  the  estate;  and, 
although  nothing  tangible  exists,  either  in  tradition  or  record, 
regarding  the  Lindsays  of  Markhouse  individually,  the  lands 
had  once  on  a  time  been  the  scene  of  some  important  events, 
since  traces  of  ancient  sepulture  have  been  gathered  from 
various  parts  of  them.  At  a  place  called  the  Haercairn,  in  the 
Howmuir  wood  (about  a  mile  north-east  of  the  present  mansion- 
house  gate),  and  at  Haerland  Faulds,  several  rude  stone  coffins 
and  urns,  containing  human  bones,  were  found  some  fifty  years 
ago.  The  urns  at  Haerland  Faulds  contained  pieces  of  charred 
bones,  and  although  the  coffins  were  of  about  the  ordinary 
length,  carefully  built  of  rude  slabs,  and  the  bottoms  laid  with 
baked  clay,  no  trace  of  bones  was  found  apart  from  those 
in  the  urns.  At  the  Haercairn,  again,  there  were  no  urns,  the 

1  A  rbuthnott  Papers. 

*  Southesk  Papers.     For  the  present  proprietorship  of  Marcus  see  below,  p.  316. 

0 


210  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

remains  being  confined  to  the  coffins,  which  were  of  the  same 
construction  as  those  at  the  Haerland  Faulds.  These  places 
are  barely  three  miles  east  of  the  camp  of  Battledykes.  The 
graves  are  popularly  ascribed  to  the  time  when  the  Danes 
were  defeated  at  Aberleinno ;  and,  as  one  of  the  coffins  at  the 
Haercairn  was  rather  longer  than  its  fellows,  the  peasantry 
identified  it  as  that  of  one  of  the  Deuchars  of  Fern,  who  is 
said  to  have  been  killed  at  this  place  by  the  Northmen.  This 
person  was  of  gigantic  stature,  and,  according  to  story,  had  six 
fingers  on  each  hand  and  as  many  toes  on  each  foot ! 

Along  with  the  Lindsays  of  Barnyards  and  Markhouse  on 
the  north  side  of  the  Esk,  those  of  Blairiefeddan,  Woodwrae, 
Balgavies,  and  Pitscandlie  resided  on  the  south.  The  Blairie- 
feddan family  existed  from  the  time  of  John  Lindsay,  who 
was  a  party  to  the  slaughter  of  Sir  John  Ogilvy  of  Inver- 
quharity  about  1535-9,  till  near  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  But  they  do  not  appear  to  have  shone  very  promin- 
ently in  any  transaction;  neither  did  their  neighbours  and 
relations  of  Pitscandlie,  who  were  proprietors  of  that  and  neigh- 
bouring lands  down  to  the  first  quarter  of  last  century.1  The 
burial-place  of  both  these  families  was  at  Eescobie,  and  a 
monument  belonging  to  the  former  is  built  into  the  outer  wall 
of  that  church.2 

The  first  recorded  Lindsay  of  Woodwrae,  or  Woodwrayth 
(which  was  previously  held  by  a  family  of  the  name  of 
Wellem  or  Volume,  whose  name  is  found  in  the  parish  in  the 
last  century3),  was  Sir  John,  a  son  of  the  tenth  Earl  of  Craw- 
ford. He  was  also  proprietor  of  Balinscho,  and  his  "  castle  " 
of  Woodwrae,  within  a  mile  of  that  of  Finhaven,  stood  a  little 
to  the  north-east  of  the  present  farm-house.  It  was  removed 

1  John  Lindsay  of  Pitscandly,  an  elder. — (Par.  Reg.  of  Rescobie,  Feb.  2,  1718; 
Lives,  I  p.  442,  ii.  p.  282 ;  Retmvrs  Spec.  Forfar.  Nos.  172,  356.) 

2  See  APPENDIX  No.  VIL 

»  1636,  July  19  ;  "Gevin  to  Alexr.  Wellom,  sometyme  of  Woodwrae,  12s."— 
(Brechin  Sess.  Records.)  1638,  June  26  ;  To  ditto,  27s.—  (Ibid.)  Elisabeth  Volum, 
1732.—  (Jervise,  Epit.  i.  p.  374.)  Pitcairn  (Crim.  Trials,  iil  p.  347*)  has  on  an 
assize  in  1549,  "  Alexander  Wallein  [Vallene  or  Vallance]  of  Woodwra." 


FINHAVEN WOODWRAE,    BALGAVIES.  211 

about  sixty  years  ago ;  and,  with  the  exception  of  the  old  dove- 
cot, nothing  of  an  independent  feudal  character  is  now  trace- 
able on  the  property.  In  clearing  out  the  foundations  of  this 
"castle,"  about  the  year  1819,  two  sculptured  stones  were 
found  about  six  feet  in  height,  bearing  carvings  similar  to  those 
at  Aberlemno ;  one  of  these  was  carried  away  to  decorate  the 
grounds  of  the  late  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Bart.,  at  Abbotsford,  and 
the  other,  which  was  allowed  to  be  about  the  farm,  has  been 
altogether  lost  sight  of.  The  "grave  hill,"  a  little  to  the  south- 
east of  the  site  of  the  castle,  is  a  curious  prehistoric  remain, 
similar  to  those  of  Fernybank  and  Colmeallie  in  Glenesk, 
being  composed  of  a  ring  of  rude  stones,  about  a  foot  in  size, 
surrounding  a  pit  of  black  earth,  from  which  pieces  of  old  war- 
like weapons  and  burned  bones  and  charcoal  have  been  gathered.1 
But,  of  all  the  Lindsays  of  the  district,  few,  perhaps,  took 
a  more  prominent  lead  in  the  affairs  of  the  times,  or  have  a 
more  remarkable  history,  than  Sir  Walter  of  Balgavies.  He 
was  third  son  of  David  of  Edzell,  the  ninth  Earl  of  Crawford, 
and  commenced  life  as  a  steady  friend  and  supporter  of  the 
young  King.  He  was  appointed  a  gentleman  of  the  bedcham- 
ber, defended  James  vi.  against  the  enmity  that  he  incurred 
through  adopting  the  Earls  of  Lennox  and  Arran  as  his  coun- 
cillors, and  was  one  "  of  ane  voluntary  band  of  young  gentle- 
men who  hes  subscrivit  ane  band  to  serve  the  king  the  time  of 
his  weirs  (wars)  upon  their  awin  expenses."2  He  soon,  how- 
ever, changed  his  tactics,  and  becoming  a  convert  to  Eomanism, 
was  one  of  the  most  zealous  and  daring  confessors  of  his  time, 
having,  with  the  aid  of  an  English  Jesuit,  whom  he  kept  in 
his  castle  of  Balgavies,  confirmed  the  Earls  of  Huntly,  Errol, 
and  Angus  in  "  the  faith."  It  is  probable  that  the  treasonable 
correspondence  with  the  Court  of  Spain  was  concocted  within 
his  castle,  and  partly  carried  out — a  circumstance  that  long 

1  On  the  antiquities  of  Pitscandly,  Woodwrae,  and  Aberlemno,  see  Proc.  Soc. 
Ant.  Scot.  ii.  pp.  190  sq.,  in  a  paper  written  by  Mr.  Jervise:  Anderson,  Scotland  in 
Early  Christian  Times,  2d  Ser.,  passim. 

2  Lives,  L  p.  336. 


212  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

embittered  the  reign  of  James,  and  induced  him  to  undertake 
his  subjugating  journey  to  the  north  in  1593,  during  which  he 
wreaked  his  vengeance  on  Sir  Walter,  by  almost  wholly  razing 
his  residence  to  the  foundation. 

This  castle,  which  had  been  moated,  was  never  rebuilt,  and 
the  ruins  of  two  of  the  vaults  still  top  a  hillock  in  the  corner 
of  a  field.  With  the  exception  of  a  mutilated  sculpture  of  the 
family  arms  in  the  manse  garden  at  Aberlemno,  bearing  the 
initial  "  B,"  and  motto,  "  BUM  SPIRO  SPERO,"  these  ruins  are  the 
only  traces  in  the  district  of  this  adventurous  baron  or  his 
descendants.  The  armorial  tablet  may  have  graced  their 
burial-place,  which  had  probably  been  at  that  church. 

Like  others  of  his  noble  relatives,  Sir  Walter  fell  by  the 
hand  of  one  of  his  own  kinsmen,  the  young  and  erratic  Master 
of  Crawford,  in  16051 — a  circumstance,  as  has  already  been 
shown,  that  was  the  root  of  a  series  of  unhappy  consequences 
to  the  house  of  Edzell.  It  may  be  noticed  that  Sir  Walter's 
landed  interest  was  not  confined  to  the  lands  of  Balgavies,  or 
even  to  the  barony,  in  which  were  included  the  Hilton  of 
Guthrie,  Langlands,  and  Innerdovat,  but  embraced  Little 
Markhouse,  the  Haughs,  Cunningair,  and  other  parts  of  Fin- 
haven,  and  also  Carlungie  and  Balhungie,  in  the  barony  of 
Downie,  as  well  as  the  barony  of  Inverarity  and  the  patronage 
of  the  church.2  In  all  these  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  David, 
who  died  in  1615,  from  whose  son  and  successor,  Walter,  the 
lands  passed  to  other  hands  in  1630,  and  from  that  period  the 
Lindsays  entirely  ceased  to  have  any  connection  with  Balgavies.3 

It  is  likely  that  Sir  Walter  acquired  Balgavies  about  1571, 
as  in  that  year  he  had  a  charter  from  his  father  of  the  adjoin- 
ing property  of  Kemphill,  in  the  parish  of  Guthrie — a  property, 
by  the  way,  which  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  Kemp  or 
Camp  Castle,  that  tradition  speaks  of  as  being  on  the  neigh- 

1  Pitcairn,  Grim.  Trials,  iiL  p.  248,  for  the  royal  remission  granted  to  David  Earl 
of  Crawford,  in  June  1613. 

2  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  Nos.  20  (1601\  49  (1606),  etc. 

3  For  its  subsequent  proprietorship,  see  Warden,  A  ngus,  ii.  pp.  310  sq. 


FINHAVEN — B  ALGA  VIES.  213 

bouring  hill  of  Turin,  and  reported  to  have  come  to  the  Lind- 
says by  their  taking  forcible  possession  of  it  from  the  owner, 
who  bore  the  name  of  Kemp.1  This  story  at  best  is  confused 
and  improbable,  and  may  have  arisen  from  the  fact  of  Sir 
Walter  having  been  possessor  of  Balgavies  and  Kemphill  at 
the  same  time.  Perhaps,  however,  although  all  record  has 
been  lost,  both  Balgavies  and  Kemphill  had  been  places  of 
consideration  in  old  times,  and  may  have  had  something  to  do 
with  the  disastrous  engagement  that  occurred  here  betwixt  the 
Picts  and  Scots,  or  during  the  invasion  of  the  Danes  at  a  later 
period.  At  least,  the  Gaelic  origin  of  the  names  would  imply 
something  of  this  sort,  for  Balgaise  means  "  the  town  of  bravery 
and  valour,"  and  the  name  of  Kemp  may  be  associated  with 
that  of  a  northern  deity,  remarkable  for  gigantic  stature,  and 
for  prowess  and  valour. 


SECTION  V. 

Time  like  an  arrow  flies,  with  rapid  course, 
And  states,  and  empires,  'neath  it  roll  away  ! 
But  thou,  rare  treasure,  long  hast  stood  its  test, 
To  please  the  curious  of  a  modern  age. 

ANON.    " 

Vitrifications  on  Finhaven  Hill— Site  described --Theories  of  the  vitrification— Camp 
at  Battle-dykes — Local  names — Archaeological  remains. 

SUCH  were  the  Lindsays  of  Finhaven  and  those  who  dwelt  in 
the  more  immediate  vicinity  of  the  castle ;  but  of  the  families 
in  other  and  more  distant  parts  of  the  shire  we  shall  speak  in 
treating  of  their  several  estates,  and  will  close  this  chapter 
by  a  brief  notice  of  the  prehistoric  features  of  the  district  of 
Finhaven,  which  are  the  only  points  that  now  remain  to  be 
noticed. 

These  consist  of  the  so-called  "vitrified  fort,"  the  well- 
known  Roman  Camp  of  Battle-dykes,  and  traces  of  ancient  se- 
pulture. Of  all  these,  the  vitrified  fort  (or  site  as  it  is  now  more 

1  Sew  Stat.  Acct.,  Forfarshire,  p.  607. 


214  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

generally  termed  by  archaeologists),  situated  on  the  highest  part 
of  the  range  known  as  Finhaven  Hills,  and  nearly  equidistant 
from  Brechin  and  Forfar  by  the  old  road,  is  the  most  remark- 
able. The  hill  on  which  the  site  is  found  is  five  hundred  and 
seventy-three  feet  above  the  level  of  the  South  Esk  at  the 
castle  of  Finhaven,1  or  seven  hundred  feet  above  sea-level,  and 
embraces  an  extensive  view  of  the  country  on  all  sides,  being 
well  adapted  for  defensive  purposes,  or  for  signals,  or  for  Beil 
fires.  It  also  commands  a  view  of  Greencairn  near  Fetter- 
cairn,  the  hill  of  Garvock  in  the  Mearns,  and  that  of  Denoon 
in  Glamis  parish — on  all  of  which  traces  of  vitrification  have 
been  observed. 

The  site  of  Finhaven  is  a  parallelogram,  and  the  southern 
wall  stands  within  a  hundred  feet  of  the  perpendicular  side  of 
the  hill.2  The  mean  length  from  the  middle  part  of  the  east 
to  that  of  the  west  dike  (including  the  space  occupied  by  the 
well,  which  is  from  seventy  to  eighty  feet  across),  is  from  three 
hundred  and  seventy  to  three  hundred  and  eighty  feet,  and  about 
one  hundred  and  twelve  feet  at  greatest  width.  The  well  (which 
was  once  supposed  to  be  the  mouth  of  a  volcano,  and  from 
which  the  vitrified  appearances  were  said  to  have  originated), 
together  with  an  entrance,  is  at  the  south-west  corner,  and 
the  whole  is  surrounded  by  a  wall  varying  in  height  from 
three  to  ten  feet,  and  not  more  than  twenty  feet  wide  at  most. 

Unlike  the  area  of  the  circle  of  Caterthun,  that  of  Finhaven 
is  very  unequal,  and  seems  to  have  been  roughly  divided  into 
three  compartments.  The  most  westerly  part  is  exclusively 

1  Given  in  both  Stat.  Accounts  as  five  hundred  yards  above  the  river.  For  the 
exact  measurement  of  this  hill,  and  the  height  of  the  castle  walls,  Mr.  Jervise  was 
indebted  to  Mr.  G.  Stuart,  parochial  schoolmaster  of  Oathlaw,  who  kindly  made  the 
measurements  for  him  by  the  theodolite. 

a  To  prevent  all  misunderstanding,  the  reader  is  requested  to  bear  in  mind  that 
this  description  of  the  vitrified  site  is  solely  referable  to  its  present  appearance,  as  no 
idea  can  now  be  formed  of  its  original  state.  This  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  thousands 
of  cart-loads  of  stones  were  quarried  out  of  it,  and  driven  away  for  making  roads  and 
filling  drains,  etc. ,  and  the  whole  structure  might  have  been  cleared  off  but  for  the 
laudable  interference  of  the  late  lairds  of  Aldbar.  It  was  also  quarried  towards  the 
close  of  last  century  for  pozzuolana,  which  is  said  to  have  been  obtained  in  good 
quality.  For  a  late  account  of  the  fort,  see  Warden,  Angus,  L  pp.  43  sq. 


FINHAVEN — VITRIFICATIONS.  215 

occupied  by  the  well  ;x  while  the  eastern  third  slopes  suddenly 
to  the  depth  of  six  or  eight  feet,  and  leaves  the  middle,  or  largest 
third,  the  highest  part  of  the  whole.  About  fifty  feet  east- 
ward, running  parallel  with  the  northern  dike  of  this  site,  there 
is  another  artificial-looking  work  scooped  from  the  side  of  the 
mountain.  This  is  divided  into  two  compartments  by  a  low 
dike ;  and,  like  its  fellow,  has  also  a  hollow  on  the  west  side, 
having  much  the  appearance  of  the  mouth  of  a  well.  The 
mean  breadth  of  this  work  from  east  to  west  is  nearly  one 
hundred  and  forty  feet ;  but,  whether  it  be  natural  or  artificial, 
no  traces  of  vitrification  are  visible,  and  its  extent  from  south  to 
north  cannot  now  be  defined.  The  space  between  the  vitrified 
site  and  this  eastern  work  is  the  highest  peak  of  the  hill,  and, 
though  now  planted,  appears  to  have  been  artificially  levelled. 
Some  attribute  the  origin  of  vitrified  sites  to  the  Picts,  but 
examples  of  them  are  found  throughout  all  Scotland.  So  far 
as  yet  known,  however,  they  are  peculiar  to  North  Britain,  and 
may  have  formed  a  curious  feature  in  the  domestic  or  warlike 
economy  of  the  ancient  inhabitants.  They  were  first  brought 
under  notice  in  the  year  1777  by  Mr.  Williams,  the  mineral 
surveyor  and  engineer  of  the  forfeited  estates  of  Scotland,  who 
published  a  book  on  the  subject,  and  at  once  pronounced  them 
"  vitrified  forts,"  and  threw  out  this  theory  as  to  their  probable 
construction : — "  After  the  walls  were  raised  to  a  proper  height, 
and  the  interstices  filled  with  sand  or  gravel,  great  quantities 
of  wood  or  bog  turf,  mixed  with  brushwood,  were  piled  within 
and  without  the  fort,  and  over  the  top  of  the  walls.  Upon 
these  combustibles  being  set  on  fire,  the  intense  heat  would 
soon  produce  that  vitreous  effect  upon  the  trap-rock  now  to  be 
noticed  in  the  ruins  of  those  erections,  and  the  stones  would 
not  only  be  firmly  cemented,  but  have  all  the  appearance  of  a 
solid  mass." 

1  There  is  now  no  water  in  this  well,  the  shaft  having  been  filled  with  stones  by  a 
former  tenant  of  Bogardo,  several  of  whose  sheep  were  drowned  in  it.  It  is  said  to 
have  been  constructed  something  like  a  spiral  stair,  and  was  popularly  believed  to 
have  a  subterraneous  passage  to  the  old  kirk  of  Finhaven. 


216  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Since  Mr.  Williams's  time,  speculations  regarding  the  origin 
of  these  remarkable  works  have  been  plentiful,  but  an  epitome 
of  the  various  theories  may  suffice.  Mr.  Anderson  of  Monksmill 
supposes  that  the  stones  had  been  piled  together,  and  then 
cemented  by  means  of  pouring  a  vitrified  matter  upon  the 
wall.  Lord  Woodhouselee  attributes  the  vitrified  appearance, 
not  to  the  mode  of  rearing  the  sites  by  the  assistance  of  fire,  but 
to  their  having  been  destroyed  by  it.  But  the  idea  to  which 
most  credit  is  attached  is  that  of  Sir  George  Mackenzie,  who 
concludes  that  the  vitreous  effects  had  arisen  from  the  frequent 
lighting  of  beacon-fires  upon  the  same  spot ;  and  argues  that 
vitrification  is  only  traceable  upon  the  tops  of  insulated  and  con- 
nected chains  of  mountains,  where  these  remains  have  all  more 
the  appearance  of  an  accidental  than  an  intentional  effect.1 

This  latter  remark  is  peculiarly  applicable  to  the  site  of 
Finhaven,  where  the  vitreous  traces  are  all  partial,  there  being 
sometimes  patches  to  the  extent  of  one,  two,  three,  and  even  six 
feet,  where  no  traces  of  fire  are  visible;  and  though  rarely  found 
at  the  lower  part  of  the  wall,  vitrification  is  evident  through- 
out many  parts  of  the  heart  of  it,  but  particularly  on  the  top 
and  sides,  to  the  depth  of  twelve  inches  or  more.  Nor  are  these 
confined  to  the  walls  or  boundary  dikes  only,  but  extend  to 
the  area  of  the  work,  which  presents  throughout  the  same 
partial  effects  of  vitrification.  Charred  and  uncharred  pieces 
of  wood  are  said  to  have  been  found  in  many  parts  of  the  wall, 
a  fact  still  proved  by  the  peculiar  appearance  of  the  cavities  in 
the  scoriae,  where  pieces  of  wood  have  fallen  out  by  accident 
or  otherwise.  In  one  piece  lately  found,  there  was  discovered, 
firmly  encased,  the  grinder  of  an  animal  which  may  have  been 
slain,  either  as  a  sacrifice  to  Beil,  or  to  satisfy  the  appetites  of 
the  old  inhabitants. 

The  Hill  of  Finhaven  is  of  the  conglomerate,  or  plum- 
pudding  species  of  rock,  which  is  the  most  fusible  of  any  ;  but 
the  vitrified  walls,  though  mostly  composed  of  that,  contain 

1  Archtzologia  Scoticdf,  vol.  iv. 


FINHAVEN — SPECULATIONS  ON  VITRIFYING.        217 

many  traces  of  freestone  and  others  not  common  to  the  dis- 
trict ;  and,  as  observed  by  Dr.  Jamieson,  the  stones  appear,  in 
some  instances,  to  have  been  laid  in  regular  courses,  and  banded 
together.  The  Eev.  Mr.  White  of  Selborne l  was  among  the 
first  to  notice  that  heat  caused  sand  to  flux,  and  thereby  fur- 
nished a  key  to  the  various  theories  regarding  the  causes  of 
vitrification  on  mountains.  But  the  most  elaborate  notices  on 
the  fusible  nature  of  stone,  and  of  the  probable  origin  of  these 
sites,  is  by  Dr.  Wilson,2  who  is  inclined  to  agree  with  Sir  George 
Mackenzie  in  believing  the  vitreous  effects  to  have  been  caused 
by  the  frequent  lighting  of  beacon-fires  on  the  same  spot. 

The  value  of  inquiring  into  the  origin  of  these  remark- 
able structures  is,  obviously,  from  the  light  that  the  discovery 
of  their  formation  and  use  would  throw  on  the  ancient  arts 
and  manners  of  our  forefathers.  As  yet,  however,  these  are  as 
mysterious  as  ever  to  archaeologists,  though  the  inexhaustible 
treasury  of  popular  tradition  asserts  that  this  "  fort  "  is  merely 
the  ruins  of  the  original  castle  of  Finhaven,  which  never  reached 
beyond  the  foundations,  because  of  a  demoniacal  power  overturn- 
ing under  night  what  was  erected  during  day !  A  nocturnal  watch 
was  accordingly  set  to  detect  the  destroyer;  but  the  watch- 
men were  almost  frightened  to  death,  when,  about  midnight,  a 
fiendish  voice  exclaimed,  from  amid  the  din  of  tumbling  walls — 

"  Found-even  down  into  the  bog, 
Where  'twill  neither  shake  nor  shog  !  " 

The  hint  was  taken — operations  were  instantly  stopped  on  the 
hill  and  commenced  in  the  valley,  and  the  foundations  left  to 
puzzle  the  curious.  The  couplet  (double-headed  as  such  things 
generally  are)  is  also  said  to  have  conferred  the  distinctive 
name  of  Findaven  on  the  district ! 

The  boundary  of  the  Eoman  Camp  at  Battle-dykes  is  not 
now  traceable,  but  it  was  so  in  the  time  of  Maitland,3  and  for 

1  Natural  Hist,  of  Selborne,  Letter  rv.  J  Prehistoric  Annals,  ii.  pp.  92  sq. 

3  William  Maitland,  author  of  a  History  and  Antiquities  of  Scotland,  and  other 
works,  was  the  first  to  discover  Roman  traces  north  of  the  Tay.  He  was  horn  at 
Brechin  in  1693,  and  died  at  Montrose  in  1757,  leaving  a  fortune  of  £10,000. 


218  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

long  after.  It  measured  two  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
seventy  feet,  by  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  fifty  ;  and  it 
is  worthy  of  remark  that,  apart  from  the  Camp  of  Eae-dykes 
at  Fetteresso  in  the  Mearns  (where  General  Eoy  supposes  the 
Battle  of  the  Grampians  to  have  been  fought),  that  of  Battle- 
dykes  is  not  only  the  largest  in  the  district,  but  nearly  two- 
thirds  greater  than  that  of  Ardoch  in  Perthshire.  It  is  believed 
that  this  camp  was  employed  by  Agricola  in  the  year  81,  and 
was  connected  with  those  of  Ardoch  and  Grassy-walls  by  a 
Eoman  road  that  passed  through  the  south-eastern  part  of 
Forfarshire,  and  from  thence  to  Eae-dykes,  by  the  camps  of 
Keithock,  near  Brechin,  and  Fordoun  in  the  Mearns.  In  cor- 
roboration  of  this,  when  General  Eoy  made  his  survey  of  the 
Eoman  camps  throughout  Scotland,  he  says,  in  reference  to 
that  of  Battle-dykes  : — "  It  appears  to  me  to  be  one  of  the 
most  entire  of  the  kind  hitherto  discovered ;  at  the  same  time 
that  the  similarity  of  its  figure  and  dimensions  prove  indis- 
putably that  it  held  the  same  army  formerly  encamped  at 
Ardoch  and  Grassy-walls."  l 

It  may  also  be  remarked  that  the  names  of  some  places  in 
the  district  of  Finhaven  are  curious.  The  King's  Palace,  the 
King's  Seat,  and  the  King's  Bourne,  for  instance,  are  all  on  the 
farm  of  Battle -dykes,  within  the  limits  of  the  Eoman  camp, 
and  perhaps  refer  to  the  time  when  the  lands  were  in  the 
hands  of  royalty.  At  the  King's  Palace,  six  clay  urns  were 
found  about  fifty  years  ago,  but  nothing  is  known  of  the  style 
of  their  manufacture.  About  six  hundred  cart-loads  of  stones 
were  taken  away  from  the  last-mentioned  place  for  building 
purposes,  and  it  is  supposed  that  nearly  as  many  more  are 

1  In  reference  to  the  Camp  of  Rae-dykes,  General  Roy  says,  "  In  this  neighbour- 
hood we  are  to  look  for  the  scene  of  the  celebrated  battle  [Mons  Grampius] ;  for  the 
nature  of  the  country  seems  to  point  out  that  the  Caledonians  would  take  post  on 
the  Grampian  Mountains  towards  their  eastern  extremity,  where  the  plain  becomes 
narrow,  from  the  near  approach  of  that  lofty  range  to  the  sea, " — (Military  Antiquities, 
pp.  85,  86,  87. )  On  the  supposed  line  of  the  Roman  camps  and  roads  to  the  north, 
see  Warden,  Angus,  i.  pp.  57  sq.  ;  but  the  site  of  the  battle  of  Mons  Grampius  must 
remain  as  a  matter  for  speculation.  Dr.  Skene  (Celt.  Scot.  i.  pp.  52  sq.)  places  it 
near  the  Isla  below  Blairgowrie. 


FINHAVEN — BATTLE-DYKES.  219 

there  still ;  and,  as  stones  are  comparatively  scarce  on  the 
adjoining  ground,  it  is  probable  that  those  which  composed  the 
"  palace  "  had  been  gathered  from  these  parts. 

Stone  coffins,  with  human  remains,  have  been  found  through- 
out the  whole  district.  Three  of  these  were  exhumed  some 
years  ago  in  the  hillock  adjoining  the  dove-cot,  and  were  all 
composed  of  rude  stone  flags,  about  four  feet  and  a  half  long, 
with  the  heads  lying  towards  the  east,  while  one  of  them  con- 
tained the  additional  and  interesting  relic  of  a  large  iron  spur, 
but  this,  unfortunately,  was  carried  off  by  the  workmen  and 
lost.  But  the  most  important  of  these  discoveries  was  that  of 
a  solitary  coffin,  found  near  the  Gallow  path-road,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  St.  Mary's  Well  in  Oathlaw,  in  which,  along 
with  human  remains,  there  was  a  large  gold  ring  or  chain, 
which,  from  its  position  in  the  coffin,  is  supposed  to  have 
been  the  necklace  of  the  person  interred.1  Although  our 
inquiry  has  been  fruitless  regarding  the  custodier  of  this  ring, 
it  is  said  to  be  still  in  the  district,  and,  being  described  as  a 
thin  twisted  hoop,  is  perhaps  of  a  construction  and  age  similar 
to  the  Largo  and  Eannoch  Armillse.2 

1  Information  from  the  late  Mr.  George  Stuart,  parochial  schoolmaster. 

2  See  Wilson,  Prehistoric  Annals  of  Scotland,  i.  pp.  467,  469  ;  ii.  p.  250. 


FINHAVEN   CASTLK. 


CHAPTER  V. 
Jnrn. 

SECTION  I. 

The  kirk  an'  kirkyard  on  the  hillock  sae  green, 
Where  friends  an'  gude  neebors  on  Sundays  convene. 

The  district  is  further  remarkable  as  the  birthplace  of  men  of  genius. 

Etymology  and  old  condition  of  Fern — Early  ministers — The  post-Reformation 
clergy — Parish  registers — The  Tytlers,  father  and  sons — Kirks,  past  and  pre- 
sent— Kirkyard,  and  its  monuments. 

THE  church  of  Fern  belonged  to  the  provostry  of  Tain,1  and 
was  situated  within  the  diocese  of  Dunkeld;  but  history  is 
silent  as  to  the  name  of  its  donor  and  the  period  of  its  gift. 
A  piece  of  land,  consisting  of  about  five  Scotch  acres,  a 
little  east  of  the  kirk,  is  called  "Dunkeld  riggs,"  some- 
times abbreviated  into  Dun's  riggs.  No  fountain  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  the  kirk  bears  the  name  of  any  saint ; 
but  at  Wellford,  about  a  mile  to  the  south-west,  there  is  a 
spring  called  St.  Innen.  This  is  probably  a  corruption  of  the 
name  of  St.  Ninian,  the  apostle  of  vthe  Picts,  to  whom  the  kirk 
may  have  been  inscribed,  for  no  field  or  knoll  near  Wellford 
bears  any  name  that  would  lead  one  to  suppose  that  a  chapel 
had  ever  stood  there,  though  within  the  last  century  there 
were  two  or  three  large  rude  boulders  near  it,  called  Druidical 
stones.  The  name  of  Fern  is  probably  derived  from  the 
abundance  of  Alder,  that  had  grown  there,2  fearn  being  the 
Gaelic  name  of  that  tree. 

William  Eattray,  third  son  of  Sir  Adam  Eattray  of  Craig- 

1  MS.  Rental  of  Assumption. — Mait.  Club. 
~  But  see  New  Stat.  Acct.,  Forfarshire,  p.  518. 


FERN EARLY  HISTORY.  221 

hall,  was  rector  of  the  parish  church  of  Fern  in  1357,1  and 
John  Gray  in  1394.2  Towards  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, the  cure  was  held  by  a  Thomas  Hamilton,  who  had  his 
stipend  so  irregularly  paid  by  the  tacksmen  of  the  teinds  that 
he  raised  an  action  against  them  before  the  Lords  of  Council, 
who  were  pleased  to  ratify  his  claim.  As  the  names  of  the 
renters  of  the  teinds,  and  the  amount  paid  from  certain  of  the 
lands  are  given  in  detail,  the  facts  may  be  quoted  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  the  amount  of  these  at  the  early  period 
referred  to.  John  of  Fothringham  was  charged  "  xii  merkis 
and  thre  wedderis"  for  Auchinlochy  and  the  third  part  of 
Bochquharne ;  John  of  Ferae,  "  iv  merkis,  or  ellis  half  a  chalder 
of  vitale,"  for  the  Mill  of  Feme ;  and  David  Lindesay,  and 
Paule  of  Fentoune  (?  of  Ogil),  "  viii  merkis,  ii  wedderis,  and  a 
Scottis  bow,  the  price  of  the  bow  x  s.,  for  the  teyndis  of 
Duchre."3  Patrick  Muir  is  said  to  have  been  parson  in  1584, 
and  Alexander  Noray,  rector,  had  died  before  1613.4 

The  parishes  of  Fern,  Menmuir,  and  Kinnell  were  under 
the  charge  of  one  minister  after  the  Eeformation,  and  for  the 
serving  of  all  three  he  had  little  more  than  eleven  pounds 
sterling.  The  minister  of  the  period  was  James  Melville  (fifth 
brother  of  the  celebrated  Andrew),  whose  father  was  laird  of 
the  small  estate  of  Baldovie  near  Montrose,  and  had  in  all 
nine  sons,  of  whom  Andrew  was  the  youngest.6  Thomas 
Schevand,  the  contemporary  reader  of  Fern  with  Mr.  Melville, 
had  a  yearly  salary  of  about  thirty-three  shillings  sterling ;  but, 
at  a  subsequent  period  (the  exact  date  of  which  is  unknown), 
the  reader's  stipend  was  augmented  by  a  "  Lady  Lindsay  "  to 

1  Douglas,  Baronage,  p.  275.  -  Reg,  Nigr.  Aberbr.  p.  42. 

3  Ada  D&m.  Concil.  Oct.  25,  1488. 

*  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  ii.  pp.  228,  237,  240. 

5  This  eminent  reformer  was  one  of  nine  brothers,  who  are  all  said  to  have 
followed  the  ministry.  This,  however,  is  a  mistake.  Besides  Richard  and  Andrew, 
the  other  sons  were — Thomas,  "secretar  deput  of  Scotland;"  Walter,  burgess  and 
bailie  of  Montrose ;  Roger,  burgess  of  Dundee  ;  James,  minister,  first  at  Fern,  and 
then  at  Arbroath ;  John,  the  contemporary  reader  at  Maryton  with  his  brother 
Richard,  who  was  minister  there ;  and  Robert  and  David,  who  were  both  "  crafts- 
men." See  James  Melville,  Diary,  pp.  38-9  ;  Th.  M'Crie,  Life  of  Andrew  Melville. 


222  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

the  extent  of  eight  bolls  of  meal,  which  was  converted,  about 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  into  a  money  payment;  and, 
not  unmindful  of  the  poor,  the  same  charitable  person  also 
mortified  an  annual  of  two  and  a  half  bolls  of  meal  to  them. 

Little  is  known  of  Andrew  Leitch,  the  two  Nories,  and 
George  Symmer.  James  Cramond  was  minister  in  Ochter- 
lony's  time.  He  died  in  1690,  and  on  the  29th  of  December 
1698  Mr.  George  Wemyss  was  settled  in  the  parish.1  About 
the  time  of  the  rebellion,  Mr.  Wemyss  yielded  for  a  short 
space  to  a  Mr.  James  Watson,  who  took  part  with  the  Earl  of 
Southesk  in  "  the  fifteen,"  and  was  deposed  "  for  praying  for 
the  Pretender  under  the  name  of  King  James  the  Eighth,"  and 
for  keeping  "the  fast  and  thanksgiving  appointed  by  the 
rebels."  His  coadjutor,  the  schoolmaster,  joined  in  the  same 
cause,  and  was  also  deposed.  The  old  part  of  the  present 
manse  was  erected  in  Mr.  Watson's  time,  and  a  stone  dated 
1702  and  initialed  "E.I.S."  (Earl  James  of  Southesk),  is  still 
in  the  wall.  Mr.  George  Wemyss,  who  was  a  determined 
friend  to  the  Hanoverian  family,  ultimately  regained  his  place, 
and  was  followed  by  his  son,  who,  being  translated  to  Errol, 
in  Perthshire,  in  1744,  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  George  Tytler,  a 
native  of  Aberdeenshire.  Mr.  Gillanders  was  minister  for  six- 
teen years  up  to  1802,  and  his  successor,  Mr.  David  Harris, 
held  the  incumbency  for  nearly  sixty-five  years  thereafter. 
Messrs.  Wilson  and  Waddell  each  did  so  for  a  short  period,  and 
the  present  minister,  the  Rev.  John  Ferguson,  was  appointed 
in  1 874.  It  may  be  remarked,  that  although  little  attention 
had  been  paid  for  long  to  the  parochial  registrations  there,2  it 
appears  from  a  curious  dispute  which  occurred  between  Mr. 
Tytler  and  John  Dildarg  (the  schoolmaster  then  and  for  some 
years  after),  that  at  and  before  the  year  1778,  these  were  better 
attended  to,  since  the  keeping  of  them  was  one  of  the  reasons 
that  induced  Mr.  Tytler  to  employ  Dildarg. 

1  Presbytery  Record,  vol.  iii.  fol.  6. 

2  "  The  minister  of  Fame  rebuked  for  not  having  a  session  or  book  to  insert 
minutes  of  transactions." — (Presby.  Book,  June  14,  1649.) 


EERN THE   TYTLERS.  223 

These  registers,  however,  throw  little  light  on  the  history 
of  either  Mr.  Tytler  or  his  predecessors  ;  still,  as  the  father  of 
James  and  Dr.  Henry  William,  both  of  whom  were  famous  in 
literature,  Mr.  Tytler's  name  has  a  more  than  ordinary  interest. 
He  died  on  July  29th,  1785,  in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his 
age,  and  the  fifty-third  of  his  ministry.  But,  it  may  be 
inferred,  from  the  curious  dispute  which  arose  betwixt  him 
and  Dildarg  about  "  the  unlawfulness  of  blood-eating,"  that, 
although  men  of  learning  and  genius,  both  sons  inherited  much 
of  the  eccentricity  of  their  father.1  The  eldest,  James,  com- 
piled the  greater  part  of  the  second  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,  and  wrote  many  other  works  of  acknowledged 
merit;  but,  being  an  unsuccessful  rival  of  Montgolfier  and 
Lunardi,  he  is  best  known  by  the  sobriquet  of  Balloon  Tytler. 
In  addition  to  his  scientific  writings,  he  was  author  of  the 
well-known  Scottish  songs  of  "  The  Bonnie  Bruiket  Lassie," 
"  Loch  Erroch-side,"  "  I  canna  come  ilka  day  to  woo,"  and 
several  others.  He  married  young,  and  being  ill-requited  for 
his  literary  labours,  his  life  was  a  continued  struggle  with 
poverty.  Naturally  liberal  in  politics,  and  fond  of  novelty,  he 
joined  in  the  reforming  movement  of  the  times,  and  made  him- 
self so  conspicuous  by  his  pen  and  otherwise,  that  but  for  the 
prompt  interference  of  his  friends,  who  sent  him  to  America,  he 
might  have  had  a  fate  like  that  of  Baird  and  Hardie.  Tytler 
died  in  the  town  of  Salem,  New  England,  in  1805,  where  he 
had  conducted  a  newspaper  from  the  time  of  his  arrival  there.2 

His  brother,  who  is  famous  as  the  first  Scotchman  that 
published  a  translation  of  the  Greek  classics,  was  bred  a 
surgeon,  and  married  a  sister  of  the  historian  Gillies.  He 
began  life  as  a  practitioner  in  Brechin,  but  finding  little 
encouragement  there,  he  went  to  India,  and  on  his  return 
published  some  original  poems,  among  which  was  a  "  Voyage 


1  See  APPENDIX  No.  IX.  for  an  epitome  of  the  dispute  alluded  to. 

2  For  many  interesting  particulars  of. the  chequered  life  of  this  extraordinary 
person,  see  a  biographical  notice  of  him  published  at  Edinburgh  in  1822. 


224  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,"  and  died  at  Edinburgh  in  1808. 
But  he  was  known  as  an  author  long  before  the  publication  of 
these  poems,  for,  while  Tytler  was  labouring  under  severe 
mental  distress  (and  not  after  his  death,  as  several  biographers 
state),  Dr.  John  Gillies,  his  brother-in-law,  superintended 
Callimachus  through  the  press,  and  the  book  appeared  in 
1793,  with  a  preface  by  the  Earl  of  Buchan,  in  which  that 
vain-glorious  nobleman  compares  himself  to  Sir  Philip  Sidney, 
"  in  whom,"  he  says,  "  every  compatriot  of  extraordinary  merit 
found  a  friend  without  hire,  and  a  common  rendezvous  of 
worth  "  ! 

Happily  the  cloud  which  hung  over  Tytler's  mind  was 
only  temporary,  and  about  four  years  after  the  publication  of 
Callimachus,  he  issued  Pcedotrophia,  or  the  Art  of  Nursing  and 
Rearing  Children,  from  the  Latin  of  Scevole  de  St.  Marthe, 
but  enriched  with  valuable  medical  and  historical  notes.  In 
the  poetical  dedication  of  this  book  (which  extends  over  thirty- 
five  pages),  he  thus  feelingly  alludes  to  the  Earl  of  Buchan's 
kindness  to  him  during  his  illness,  and  to  his  own  pre-eminent 
position  as  the  first  Scottish  translator  of  a  Greek  poet : — 

' '  With  health,  with  ease,  with  sacred  friendship  blest, 
The  friendship  of  a  virtuous  heart,  and  good, 
More  dear  to  mine  than  treasures  of  the  proud, 
Let  me  attempt  the  heights  desired  before, 
Unlock  now  ancient,  now  the  modern  lore, 
And  happy  that  the  first  ofScotian  swains 
1  taught  a  Grecian  poet  English  strains, 
Still  court  the  Nine,  secure  of  lasting  praise, 
If  BUCHAN  favour  and  approve  my  lays." 

Apart  from  the  interesting  fact  of  the  Manse  of  Fern 
being  the  birthplace  of  those  two  eminent  men,  the  vicinity 
has  other  attractions,  in  so  far  as  the  kirk  is  beautifully  situated 
on  an  isolated  hillock  in  the  middle  of  a  romantic  den,  which, 
although  now  rendered  lovely  by  the  taste  of  the  past  and 
present  ministers  of  the  parish,  was  an  uncultivated  wild  at 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  shaded  only  by  brushwood, 
among  which  the  hazel  and  the  arn,  or  alder,  predominated. 


FERN — CHURCH  AND  BELL.  225 

The  latter  still  abounds  throughout  the  district,  particularly  on 
the  banks  of  the  Noran;  and  it  is  probable,  as  before  said, 
that  the  name  of  the  parish  may  have  been  thus  assumed. 

The  old  church  stood  more  in  the  middle  of  the  graveyard 
than  the  present  edifice,  which  was  built  in  1806;  and,  as  if 
to  support  the  story  of  Cardinal  Beaton's  connection  with  the 
castle  of  Vayne  (which  will  be  fully  noticed  in  a  subsequent 
section),  it  has  long  been  reported  that  he  not  only  presented 
the  bell  to  the  church,  but  that  it  bore  his  name  and  the  year 
of  his  birth ;  and  having  had  two  bells  made  in  Holland  at  the 
same  time,  he  gifted  the  other  to  the  church  of  Aberlemno,  in 
which  parish  his  castle  of  Melgund  was  situated  !  So  far  from 
these  stories  being  credible,  the  date  on  the  Fern  bell,  it  will  be 
seen,  is  only  twelve  years  later  than  Beaton's  birth,  and  refers 
merely  to  the  time  of  its  being  cast,  at  which  period  the  barony 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  Lindsays  of  Edzell,  as  vassals  of  the 
Earls  of  Crawford.  The  following  is  the  legend  on  the  bell : — 

"1C    BEN    GEGOTEN    INT    IAEK    MCCCCCVI."  l 

The  gravestones  in  the  churchyard  are  numerous,  and, 
although  some  of  them  bear  "  uncouth  rhymes  and  shapeless 
sculpture,"  few  are  so  peculiarly  interesting  as  to  warrant 
their  being  specially  referred  to.  The  following,  however,  which 
appears  on  a  stone  erected  to  the  memory  of  a  farmer  who 
died  within  the  last  forty  years,  may  be  cited  as  an  example 
of  the  way  in  which  worldly  employments  and  Scripture  ideas 
are  laid  hold  of  by  mortuary  rhymesters : — 

"  Death  daily  walks  his  active  round, 

On  Time's  uncertain  stage  ; 
He  breaks  up  every  fallow  ground — 
Spares  neither  sex  nor  age." 

The  best  monument  is  a  granite  slab  over  the  grave  of  the 
late  Thomas  Binny,  proprietor  of  Fern,  who  died  on  the  5th 

1  i.e.  "  I  was  cast  in  the  year  1506."  Nothing  is  known  of  an  older  bell  at 
Aberlemno  than  the  present,  though  there  had  doubtless  been  one.  That  now  in  use 
bears  : — "THE  •  BELL  •  OF  •  ABERLEMNO  •  BOBERTVS  •  MAXWELL  •  ME  •  FECIT  • 
EDB.  1728." 

P 


226  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

of  March  1845.  The  burial-places  of  the  families  of  Gall, 
sometime  proprietors  of  the  small  estate  of  Auchnacree,  and 
of  Deuchar  of  that  Ilk,  are  also  marked  by  respectable  free- 
stone memorials,  one  recording  the  decease  of  the  penultimate 
laird  and  lady  of  the  latter  name,  who  died  respectively  in  the 
years  1802  and  1823.  But  of  the  graves  of  the  families  of  de 
Montealto  and  Lindsay — the  ancient  superiors  of  the  district — 
no  trace  is  visible. 


SECTION   II. 

Though  in  their  day  a  violent  band 
As  ever  waved  the  deadly  brand  ; 
And  good  to  kirk  as  well  as  king. 
They  're  now  a  lost,  forgotten  thing. 

The  de  Montealtos  of  Fern  and  Both — Their  other  possessions — Fern  passed  to  the 
Crawford  Lindsays — Estate  of  Deuchar — Deuchar  at  the  battles  of  Barry  and 
Harlaw — Family  and  influence  traced — Its  decline — Fern  under  the  Carnegies — 
Windsor — Waterstone—  Commonty  of  Little  Brechin — Balmadity. 

No  record  of  any  proprietor  of  the  barony  of  Fern  is 
known  before  the  time  of  William  the  Lion,  by  whom  it  was 
gifted  to  a  family  bearing  the  surname  of  de  Montealto,  now 
metamorphosed  into  that  of  Mowed — a  name  by  no  means 
uncommon  in  Angus  at  the  present  time,  though  not  in  a 
proprietary  relation.  Mention  of  the  family  first  occurs  during 
the  reign  of  David  I.,  when  Eobert  de  Montealto  witnesses 
several  of  that  king's  charters ;  but  they  were  first  settled  in 
the  south,  and  assumed  their  surname  from  a  place  in  Flint- 
shire.1 William  de  Montealto,  knight,  gave  an  annual  of  a 
stone  of  wax  and  four  shillings  to  the  monks  of  Cupar  from 
his  lordship  of  Fern,  and  is  a  witness  to  the  perambulation 
of  the  marches  of  the  Abbey  lands  of  Arbroath  and  those  of 
Kinblethmont :  this  took  place  in  1219.2 

1  Chalmers,  Caledonia,  i.  p.  531.    Mohaut,  Mouhaut,  Muhaut,  Muhauth,  and 
Montealt  are  the  same,  and  occur  frequently  in  the  ancient  Scotch  charters,  etc. 
from  the  thirteenth  century. 

2  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbrothoc,  p.  162;  Reg.  Cup.  Alb.  p.  xvii. 


FERN — FAMILY  DE  MONTEALTO.  227 

Besides  the  lordship  of  Fern,  the  Montealtos  were  pro- 
prietors of  Both,  in  the  parish  of  Carmyllie,  and  Abbot 
Adam  of  Arbroath  became  bound  to  William  de  Montealto, 
the  son  of  Michael,  to  support  a  chaplain  at  the  chapel  of  St. 
Laurence  of  Both, l  or,  in  other  words,  became  patron  of  that 
church,  which  was  afterwards  given  by  William  Maule  of  Pan- 
mure  to  the  cathedral  of  Brechin.2  Michael  de  Montealto  was 
one  of  the  Justiciaries  of  Scotland  proper  in  1242,3  and  his  son 
Bernard  and  Abbot  William  of  Balmerino  were  among  the 
many  persons  of  distinction  who  were  drowned  on  returning 
from  the  court  of  Norway  in  1281,  after  witnessing  the  cele- 
bration of  the  nuptials  of  Margaret,  daughter  of  Alexander  HI., 
with  King  Eric4 — a  catastrophe  that  gave  rise  to  the  fine  old 
ballad  of  "  Sir  Patrick  Spens,"  which  concludes  thus — 

"  Half  owre,  half  owre  to  Aberdour, 

It's  fifty  fathoms  deep, 
And  there  lies  gude  Sir  Patrick  Spens, 
Wi'  the  Scots  lords  at  his  feet." 

Eobert  de  Montealto  was  sheriff  of  Forfarshire  in  1262,5 
and  a  witness  to  the  foundation  charter  of  the  Domus  Dei,  or 
Maisondieu  Hospital  of  Brechin  in  1267.6  William  de  Monte- 
alto, perhaps  the  son  of  Robert,  was  present  at  the  famous 
convention  held  within  the  monastery  of  Arbroath  on  the 
6th  of  April  1320,  and  subscribed  the  spirited  remonstrance 
to  Pope  John  xxii.,  asserting  the  independence  of  Scotland. 
And  it  may  have  been  the  same  William  de  Muhaut  that 
subscribed  the  letter  to  King  Edward  in  1289,  regarding  the 
marriage  of  our  Princess  Margaret  with  his  son.7  In  1322 
William  de  Montealto  of  Kinblethmont  gave  a  charter  of  the 

1  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  p.  189  (A.D.  1250) ;  on  Both,  see  Reg.  de  Panmure,  i.  p.  rxi, 
ii.  pp.  173, 363  sq. ;  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  i.  p.  14. 

2  Robertson,  Index,  p.  51.  42.  3  Chalmers,  Ceiled.  I  p.  532. 
*  Tytler,  Hist,  of  Scot.  i.  p.  48.                               e  Warden,  Angus,  ii.  p.  226. 

6  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  i.  p.  7 ;  Reg.  de  Panmure,  ii.  p.  207. 

7  Acts  of  Part.  i.  p.  85.    Robert  and  Michael  de  Montealto  are  charter  witnesses 
in  1246,  and  Laurence  in  1272  (Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk,  ii.  pp.  478,  480), 
probably  the  same  Laurence  being  rector  of  the  church  of  Kinnettles  in  1264  and 
1265  (Reg.  Ep.  Brech.  i.  p.  7 ;  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  p.  269). 


228  LAND  OF  THE   LINDSAYS. 

lands  of  Brechin  to  Sir  Gilbert  de  Haya  of  Errol : l  and  on  the 
resignation  of  John  de  Haya,  Dominus  de  Tulybothevyle,  de 
Montealto  had  charters  of  the  lands  of  Brichty,  in  the  parish  of 
Murroes,  which  were  given  by  Eichard  de  Montealto  in  the 
year  1379  to  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  of  Glenesk.2  This  Eichard 
was  chancellor  of  the  cathedral  of  Brechin ;  and  in  the  same 
year  resigned  the  barony  of  Inverlunan  in  favour  of  Alexander 
Stuart,  the  king's  son  by  Marion  de  Cardny — a  resignation  that 
took  place  at  Dundee,  from  the  customs  of  which  burgh,  de 
Montealto  at  the  same  period  had  a  pension  of  twenty  pounds.3 

Two  years  prior  to  this  date,  however,  Eichard  had  resigned 
all  claim  to  the  barony  of  Tern  in  favour  of  his  son,  William, 
whose  charters  of  it  were  confirmed  at  the  Abbey  of  Cupar,  by 
Eobert  II. ; 4  and,  as  before  noticed,  a  younger  son  was  rector  of 
the  kirk  of  Finhaven  in  the  lifetime  of  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay 
of  Glenesk,  and  a  witness  to  the  charter  of  Brichty.  Eichard 
was  alive  in  1383,  as  his  surname  (changed  for  the  first  time 
into  the  modern  form  of  Movat  or  Mowat)  recurs  in  connec- 
tion with  the  barony  of  Lunan.5  John  is  the  last  of  the 
Mowats  whom  we  have  found  connected  with  Fern ;  he  had 
charters  of  Syanford  (now  Shandford)  from  Eobert  in.,6  'but 
from  this  period,  until  about  1450,  there  is  a  hiatus  in  the 
proprietary  history  of  Fern  that  we  are  unable  fully  to  supply.7 

The  surname  of  this  once  powerful  family  is  now  generally 
unknown  in  the  district ;  but  it  is  curious  to  observe  that  a 
place  on  the  hill  of  Bruff  Shank  is  still  called  "  Mowat's  Seat," 
or  "  Mowat's  Cairn ; "  and,  although  popularly  associated  with 
the  deeds  of  a  Cateran  of  the  name  of  Mowat,  there  is  good 
reason  to  conclude  that  it  more  probably  has  reference  to  the 
ancient  lords  of  the  district,  and  is  the  only  positive  evidence 
of  their  name  now  in  the  parish. 

1  Eobertson,  Index,  p.  18.  66. 

2  Fraser,  Hist.  Camegies  of  Southesk,  ii.  pp.  492,  537. 

3  Robertson,  Index,  pp.  122,  123.  *  Reg.  Mag.  Sig.  p.  149.  108. 
8  Robertson,  Index,  p.  124.  15.  6  Ibid.  p.  139.  5. 

?  Sir  William  de  Monte  Alto  was  of  Fern  in  1410.     Reg.  Mag.  Sig.  p.  246.  8. 


FERN — HISTORY  OF  BARONY.  229 

Perhaps  the  barony  of  Fern  had  been  resigned  to  Lindsay 
of  Glenesk  at  the  same  time  as  Brichty,  and  to  his  descendants 
Shandford  may  have  fallen  on  the  death  of  John  Mowat.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  these  lands  were  in  possession  of  the  Earls  of 
Crawford  some  time  before  1450;  for  in  that  year,  Walter  of 
Beaufort  obtained  them  from  his  nephew,  the  fifth  Earl  and 
afterwards  Duke  of  Montrose,  in  exchange  for  his  patrimony  of 
Strathnairn  in  Inverness-shire,  which  the  first  Earl  had  acquired 
by  marriage  with  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Robert  II.,  and  yet, 
in  the  same  year,  John  Crawmond  de  Fern  was  a  charter 
witness.1 

From  the  period  of  Montealto's  resignation  of  Fern,  it 
was  held  under  the  superiority  of  the  Earls  of  Crawford, 
although,  at  the  time  of  Walter  of  Beaufort's  succession,  and 
that  of  his  son,  Sir  David,  it  formed  part  of  the  Edzell  barony, 
and,  along  with  Vayne,  was  given  to  Alexander,  Sir  David's 
second  son  by  his  second  wife.  The  wife  of  Alexander  Lind- 
say of  the  Yayne  was  named  Elizabeth  Bethune,  as  appears 
from  charters  of  the  land  of  Skyne  (Scryne)  and  Vayne,  dated 
respectively  31st  August  1547  and  1st  April  1550.  Perhaps 
Elizabeth  was  a  daughter  of  Cardinal  Beaton,  and  sister  to 
Margaret  Beaton,  who  was  married  to  the  son  of  the  "  wicked 
master "  of  Crawford.  By  the  descendants  of  Alexander  the 
lesser  estates  of  Balquhadlie  and  Balquharn  were  subsequently 
held ;  and  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  Lindsays  of  both 
these  places  were  concerned  with  their  cousin,  Sir  David  of 
Edzell,  in  the  slaughter  of  Campbell  of  Lundy.  North  of  the 
church,  on  the  hill  of  Drummore,  the  place  is  still  pointed  out 
where  a  Lady  Lindsay  (perhaps  the  Countess  of  the  ninth 
Earl  of  Crawford)  met  her  tenants  and  collected  her  rents,  and 
some  earthen  benches  adjoining  are  said  to  be  those  on  which 
the  tenantry  sat  on  these  occasions. 

The  estate  of  Deuchar  was  also  under  the  superiority  of  the 
lords  of  Fern,  as  was  in  fact  the  whole  parish ;  and  from  earliest 

1  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  i.  p.  146. 


230  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

record,  this  small  property  was  occupied  by  a  family  who 
designed  themselves  "  of  that  Ilk  "  down  to  the  late  period  of 
1819,  when  their  male  representative,  who  had  for  some  time 
been  insolvent,  sold  the  lands,  and  left  this  country  for  the 
colonies.  Although  the  property  was  small,  the  Deuchars  were 
considered  the  oldest  family  in  the  shire ;  and  tradition  says 
that  the  first  of  them  had  a  gift  of  Deuchar  so  early  as  the  com- 
mencement of  the  eleventh  century,  for  killing  a  wild  boar  at 
the  pass  across  the  Koran,  now  known  as  Coortford  or  Coort- 
hill  Bridge.  But  the  popular  idea  of  the  lands  having  passed 
uninterruptedly  from  father  to  son  down  to  the  latest  date  has 
no  foundation,  for  the  family  papers  show  in  many  instances 
that  the  grandfather  was  succeeded  by  his  grandchild,  and 
the  uncle  by  his  nephew.  Yet  it  was  perhaps  from  the  above 
romantic  story  of  the  manner  in  which  the  lands  were  originally 
come  by  that  the  Deuchars  assumed  the  sword  and  boar's  head 
as  their  family  bearings. 

This  origin  of  the  Deuchars  is  quite  in  accordance  with 
that  related  of  the  Hays  and  the  Keiths  and  many  other  old 
families.  But,  as  the  story  is  referable  to  a  period  anterior  to 
the  date  of  our  national  records,  it  is  probable,  if  documentary 
evidence  could  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  point,  that  the  killing 
of  the  wild  boar  at  Coortford  would  have  as  little  foundation 
in  fact  as  the  vanquishing  of  the  Danes  by  the  Hays  and 
the  gift  of  Errol  for  their  trouble — all  of  which  has  been 
proven,  by  recent  investigation,  to  be  based  on  mere  fancy, 
notwithstanding  that  the  coat-armorial  of  Hay,  as  that  of 
Detichar,  bears  the  salient  points  of  the  tradition.1 

It  is  also  said  that  a  Deuchar  of  that  Ilk  was  companion  in 
arms  with  Keith  at  the  battle  of  Barry  in  1010  ;2  and,  although 

1  The  first  of  the  Hays  came  from  Normandy  with  William  the  Conqueror,  and  a 
descendant,  William  de  Haya,  was  the  first  of  the  family  who  had  Errol,  of  which  he 
had  charters  betwixt  1178  and  1188 — 160  years,  at  least,  subsequent  to  the  time 
ascribed  by  tradition. — Douglas,  Peerage,  i  pp.  544  sq.     See  some  curious  material 
on  this  subject  in  Pratt,  Bucfian,  Note  M,  p.  372.    But  it  is  alway  open  to  argument 
that  the  bearings  armorial  gave  birth  to  the  legend  in  some  or  all  of  these  cases. 

2  Ut  supra,  p.  210. 


FERN  —  DEUCHARS  OF  THAT  ILK.  231 

a  person  of  gigantic  form,  and  endowed  with  almost  super- 
human strength  (having  had  six  fingers  on  each  hand,  and  as 
many  toes  on  each  foot  !)  he  fell  by  the  sword  of  the  Northmen, 
of  whom  he  had  gone  in  pursuit.  Another  representative  of  the 
family  named  William  (who  married  a  daughter  of  "  the  stal- 
wart laird  of  Lawriestoun  ")  was  among  the  minor  barons  who 
fell  at  Harlaw  in  1410.  But  unlike  his  father-in-law,  neither 
his  name  nor  his  fate  has  been  preserved  in  general  history; 
though  family  tradition  records  that,  when  his  attendant  found 
him  on  the  battle-field,  his  hand  was  so  firmly  clasped  in  his 
sword-hilt  that  it  could  not  be  wrested  from  it,  and,  "  knowing 
that  the  sword  was  an  old  relic  in  the  family  and  in  high  esteem, 
the  servant  cut  the  hand  off  by  the  wrist,  and  brought  all  home 
with  him,"  as  the  too  true  evidence  of  his  master's  fate,  and 
the  unmistakeable  signs  of  his  valour. 

The  sword  was  preserved  in  the  family  until,  it  is  said,  a 
feud  broke  out  between  an  old  laird  of  Ogil  and  a  descendant 
of  the  hero  of  Harlaw,  when  the  latter  brought  the  "  family 
relic  "  to  his  service  ;  but,  instead  of  his  thereby  achieving  the 
victory  he  anticipated,  he  was  overpowered,  and  Ogil,  taking 
the  weapon  from  Deuchar,  had  it  shortened  some  inches  to  suit 
his  own  diminutive  stature!  After  a  lapse  of  many  years, 
this  sword  was  restored  to  the  Deuchars  on  certain  payments 
and  conditions,  and  the  present  weapon  is  reputed  to  be  the 
same  that  "cut  off  the  boar's  head"  at  Coortford,  and  com- 
mitted so  great  slaughter  at  Harlaw.  Apart  from  these 
stories,  however,  the  following  inscription,  cut  upon  it  in 
comparatively  modern  characters,  imparts  the  additional  par- 
ticular of  its  having  been  employed  in  the  wars  of  the 
Independence  :  — 

"I9a  •  Be&q&figte  •  fjts  •  sfoertje. 
&t  •  Bannodtfmtn  •  £  -  serbeti  •  tfje  •  33rbs  . 
©f  .  qbfjilfc  -  tfje  .  Enfllis  .  fjato  •  na 


1  This  sword  is  now  in  possession  of  Miss  Lucinda  Marshall  Deuchar,  Edinburgh, 
daughter  of  the  late  Alexander  Deuchar,  seal  engraver,  along  with  the  family  papers 


232  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Such  are  the  traditions  relative  to  the  old  family  of 
Deuchar.1  Their  private  genealogy  traces  their  origin  from  a 
second  son  of  Gilchrist,  the  great  Earl  of  Angus;  but  no 
documentary  proof  of  their  existence  can  be  had  till  the  year 
1369,  when  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  of  Glenesk  granted  a  charter 
of  the  lands  to  William  de  Deuhqwhyr  of  that  Ilk,  as  heir  to 
his  father.  It  is  therefore  evident  that  the  Deuchars  were 
vassals  of  the  Lindsays  at  that  period ;  and,  in  all  probability, 
they  had  also  been  the  same  under  the  Montealtos,  from  whom 
the  feudal  superiority  had  most  likely  passed  with  the  owner- 
ship of  the  barony  of  Fern  in  1379.  In  further  corroboration 
of  this,  it  is  said  that  the  Deuchars  paid  an  annual  of  a  pair  of 
white  gloves  to  the  Lindsays ;  and  this  was  by  no  means  a 
singular  reddendo  for  lands  in  old  times,  for,  as  one  of  many 
instances,  it  may  be  remarked  that  Eobert  de  Camera,  ancestor 
of  Chalmers  of  Aldbar,  held  the  lands  of  Balnacraig,  in  Aber- 
deenshire,  in  the  early  part  of  the  same  century,  on  precisely 
the  same  terms,  under  his  superior,  Andrew  de  Garrioch.2 

If  the  appearance  of  old  families  as  assizers,  and  witnesses 
to  charters,  be  any  criterion  to  judge  of  their  influence  or  status 
in  society,  one  is  forced  to  the  conclusion  (from  the  rare  occur- 
rence of  the  Deuchars  in  these  capacities)  that  they  had  always 

and  numerous  relics  which  belonged  to  her  father,  and  her  uncles,  Commander 
Patrick  Deuchar,  R.N.,  and  Major  David  Deuchar,  1st  Eoyals.  The  sword  belonged 
to  David,  the  first  seal  engraver,  who  gave  it  to  his  son  Alexander.  The  quotation 
in  the  text  above  is  given  from  a  paper  forming  one  of  the  "  Deuchar  Vouchers." 
From  these  and  other  sources  we  have  gleaned  the  following  various  spellings  of 
the  name,  which  may  interest  the  curious : — 


Dequhar. 

Deughar. 

Dewchare. 

Dowchar. 

Deuchair. 

Deugher. 

Dewquhar. 

Dowgar. 

Deuchar. 

Deuhqwhyr. 

Docher. 

Duchar. 

Deuchars. 

Deuquhair. 

Docker. 

Duchir. 

Deucharys. 

Deuquhar. 

Doker. 

Puchre. 

Deucher. 

Deuquhare. 

Doucher. 

Ductor. 

Deuchor. 

Deuquhyre. 

Doughar. 

Duquhar. 

Deuchquhyr. 

Dewchar. 

Douquhar. 

Duquhare. 

1  The  following  are  other  places  in  Scotland  bearing  similar  names,  viz. : — 
Dewchrasyde  in  Cuningham  ;  Duchrays  in  Dumfries ;  Deuchar  in  Ettrick  ;  Duchray 
in  Stirlingshire  ;  Over  and  Nether  Duchries  in  Banff :  and  Deuchries  in  Glen  Tanar, 
Aberdeenshire.     The  etymology  of  the  name  is  very  doubtful. 

2  Nisbet,  Heraldry,  ii.  p.  123. 


FERN — DEUCHARS  OF  THAT  ILK.  233 

been  of  inconsiderable,  though  respectable,  standing.  We  have 
not  met  with  them  at  all  in  the  latter  relation,  that  is,  as  wit- 
nesses ;  and  the  only  instances  in  which  they  appear  in  the 
former  are  "  Patrik  Duchir  of  that  Ilk,"  who,  as  one  of  several 
county  gentlemen,  is  charged  with  giving  a  wrong  decision  in 
reference  to  the  property  of  Ogilvy  of  Owres  ; x  and  a  "  Robert 
of  Duchir,"  but  as  to  whether  he  was  a  member  of  the  same  race 
or  not  we  are  uncertain,  was  similarly  charged  at  an  earlier  date 
in  reference  to  the  property  of  Scrimgeour  of  Lillok  in  Dun- 
dee.2 It  may  also  be  noticed  that  about  this  time  "  James  of 
Duchir,"  a  residenter  in  Dundee,  was  found  guilty  of  denying 
his  own  handwriting,  that  appeared  at  an  obligation  he  made 
in  favour  of  a  foreigner.  For  this  he  was  punished  in  a  style 
exceedingly  characteristic  of  the  times,  being  ordered  to  be 
taken  by  the  magistrates  on  the  market  day  "  to  the  market 
corse  of  the  said  burgh  in  the  heiest  tyme  of  the  market  quhen 
maist  multitude  of  folk  ar  present,  and  gar  ane  officiar  stryke 
him  throw  the  hand  that  wrate  the  said  write,  in  exemple  of 
punitione  of  sic  lyke  crynie  in  tyme  to  cum."3  Still,  this 
severe  form  of  punishment  did  not  prevent  James  from  re- 
appearing before  justice,  for  in  two  years  thereafter  he  was 
cited  as  a  debtor  of  fifty  shillings  to  a  brother  burgess.4 

These  are  the  principal  notices  of  the  Deuchars  that  have 
come  under  our  observation.  It  has  been  already  shown  that 
they  were  merely  vassals  of  the  Crawford  Lindsays,  and,  from 
a  deed  of  1642,  it  also  appears  that  the  estate  was  a  feudal 
holding  under  the  Earls  of  Southesk;5  from  at  least  1691 
to  1710,  they  paid  an  annual  of  nearly  fifteen  shillings 
and  ninepence  sterling  to  the  Carnegies  as  superiors.6  At  a 
later  period,  as  part  of  the  forfeited  estates  of  Southesk,  the 
lands  of  Deuchar  were  held  under  the  trustees  of  the  York 
Buildings  Company,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  present 

1  Acta  Auditorum,  June  4,  1478. 

a  Ibid.  July  6,  1476.  a  Ibid.  July  5,  1476. 

4  Ibid.  Mar.  17,  1478.  8  Deuchar  Vouchers,  quoted  ut  sup.  p.  232. 

6  Old  Rental- Book  of  Southesk,  quoted  ut  sup.  p.  122. 


234  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

century,  of  the  proprietor  of  Noranside  for  a  small  money 
payment,  if  asked.1 

After  the  barony  of  Fern  fell  to  the  Southesk  family, 
various  of  the  Deuchars  migrated  to  the  parishes  of  Farnell 
and  Kinnell,  where  they  held  considerable  farms,  and  where, 
it  is  believed,  some  of  their  descendants  live  at  the  present 
time.  Deuchar,  the  first  seal  engraver  of  that  name  that  was 
in  Edinburgh,  was  of  the  Balishan  or  Bolshan  branch,  and 
born  on  that  farm  in  1743.  His  direct  heir-male  is  Patrick 
Deuchar,  merchant  in  Liverpool,  who  contests  with  the  heir- 
male  of  the  late  John,  brother  of  that  George  who  sold  the 
property,  the  title  to  represent  the  "  Deuchar  of  that  Ilk."2 

The  estate  of  Deuchar  consists  of  little  more  than  two 
hundred  acres  arable  land;  but,  according  to  tradition,  the 
family  had  an  interest  in  the  lands  of  Windsor,  which  are 
the  most  easterly  rising  ground  in  the  parish,  and  of  these 
they  are  said  to  have  had  every  fourth  fur  or  ridge.  We 
have  seen  no  evidence  for  this;  and  perhaps  the  story  of 
their  being  portiouers  of  Windsor  is  confounded  by  tradition 
with  the  fact  of  their  having  once  possessed  the  fourth  part  of 
Waterstone.3  Both  these  farms  were  under  the  superiority  of 
Fern,  and  the  seventh  Earl  of  Crawford  is  specially  men- 
tioned as  proprietor  of  Wyndesour ;  while,  between  the  years 
1165  and  1189,  Walter  de  Windesour  is  witness  to  Walter  de 
Berkeley's  charter  of  the  lands  of  Newton,  near  Inverkeillor.4 
Although  there  is  no  positive  evidence  of  any  family  having 
assumed  a  surname  from  this  Windsor,  it  is  probable  that 
Walter  had  done  so,  and  been  a  vassal  of  the  de  Montealtos. 

AVaterstone,  or  Waterstown  (a  farm  now  divided  between 
the  parishes  of  Fern  and  Careston,  but  wholly  a  part  of  the 
former  parish  5  until  the  erection  of  the  latter  into  a  separate 
parochial  district)  was  anciently  an  independent  property,  and 

1  Deuchar  Vouchers.  2  See  Appendix  No.  X. 

3  Inquis.  Spec.,  Forfar.  No.  11.  91.  4  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbrothoc,  p.  329. 

8  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  ii.  p.  312,  giving  its  disjunction  from  Brechin,  and  annexation 
to  Fern. 


FERN WATERSTONE.  235 

gave  name  to  a  family  who  designed  themselves  "  of  that  Ilk," 
and  who,  in  all  probability,  had  also  been  vassals  of  the  Lind- 
says and  older  lords  of  Fern.  Alike  with  the  name  of 
Deuchar,  records  are  wanting  to  show  the  time  when  that  of 
Waterstone  was  assumed ;  but  it  is  probable  that  the  lands  had 
been  so  called  from  Walter,  the  uncle  and  tutor  of  Dempster, 
one  of  the  heirs-portioners  of  the  lordship  of  Menmuir.  The 
earliest  known  charter  of  Waterstone  belongs  to  the  regency  of 
the  Duke  of  Albany ;  but  the  family  had  enjoyed  the  estate 
from  at  least  the  year  1359,  as  at  that  date  mention  is  made  of 
a  David  de  Walterystoun,  who  had  eight  marks  out  of  the 
farms  in  the  thanedom  of  Tannadice,1  a  confirmation  of  which 
grant,  and  the  half  lands  of  Walterstoune  to  David,  son  and  heir 
of  John  de  Walterystoun,  also  constitutes  the  charter  of  the 
Duke  of  Albany.  That  cb.ar.ter  was  granted  at  Falkland  in 
1407 ;  and  in  1450,  David  Walterstoun  of  that  Ilk  was  one  of 
an  assize  chosen  to  perambulate  the  marches  of  Brechin  and 
Balzeordie,2  and  Hew  of  Walterstoun — perhaps  a  son  of  David 
— was  one  of  the  referees  in  the  case  of  the  Owres  property 
already  mentioned. 

The  last  time  we  have  met  with  the  name  is  in  1535,  when 
David,  portioner  of  the  lands  of  Waterstoun,  with  Dempster  of 
Careston,  Deuchar  of  that  Ilk,  Fenton  of  Ogil,  and  other 
adjoining  proprietors,  were  charged  by  the  Bishop  and  Chapter 
of  Brechin  with  having  "  riwen  out,  telit,  and  sawyn  ane  part 
thereof,  and  biggit  housis  upon  ane  uther  parte  "  of  the  com- 
monty  of  that  city,  which  had  been  used  by  them  and  the 
citizens  as  a  common  peat  moss,  "  past  memory  of  man."  In 
this  process  the  defenders  were  found  in  fault,  and  Lord  Gray, 
then  Sheriff  of  the  county,  declared  "  the  whole  muir  to  be  a 
commonty  to  the  said  reverend  father  (the  Bishop),  Dean, 
Chapter,  and  citizens  of  Brechin."3  This  commonty  was  of  great 
extent,  and  well  worth  claiming,  having  extended  over  a  large 

1  Ckamb.  Rolls,  i.  p.  343. 

2  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  i.  p.  141,  ii.  p.  79.  3  Ibid.  ii.  pp.  186-9. 


236  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

part  of  the  parishes  of  Brechin,  Menmuir,  Careston,  and  Fern 
— its  extreme  boundary  on  the  east  being  the  Gallows  Hill  of 
Keithock,  and  that  on  the  west  the  Gallows,  or  Law  of  Fern 
— being  an  average  length  of  not  less  than  eight  miles,  and  in 
breadth  nearly  one  and  a  half.  It  is  on  this  commonty  that 
Little  Brechin  is  situated,  and  the  whole  of  it  is  held  under  the 
city  of  Brechin  as  superiors  for  payment  of  certain  feu- duties. 

But,  of  all  the  lands  in  Fern,  or,  indeed,  in  any  other  part 
of  the  district  comprised  in  this  volume,  notices  of  those  of 
Balmadity  are  the  earliest  found.  In  ancient  times,  this  small 
property  belonged  to  the  great  Macduffs  of  Fife,  and  so  early 
as  the  reign  of  Malcolm  iv.,  Duncan  Earl  of  Fife  excambed 
"Balmadethy  and  Dunloppie,"  with  Orera,  the  son  of  Hugh 
of  Abernethy,  for  the  lands  of  Balbernie  in  Fife.1  In  1362, 
it  was  granted  by  the  heiress,  Margaret  Abernethy,  Coun- 
tess of  Angus,  to  William  de  Fassingtoun  and  Margaret  his 
spouse,  but  of  him  or  his  name,  nothing  is  known  beyond 
the  fact  that  a  William  de  Fasington,  of  the  county  of 
Edinburgh,  swore  fealty  to  Edward  I.  in  1296.2  Little  is 
known  of  the  subsequent  history  of  this  estate,  but  it  has 
formed  a  portion  of  the  barony  of  Fern  for  many  centuries. 


SECTION    III. 

The  brave  Carnegie,  wha  but  he — 
The  Piper  o  Dundee. 

JACOBITE  BALLAD. 

Vayne — Fern  divided — Noranside — Greenhills  of  Fern — Carnegies  of  Balinhard — 
Their  pedigree  and  history — Of  Kinnaird— Earls  of  Southesk — Their  loyalty — 
Kinnaird  Castle — The  present  Earl. 

As  already  shown,  the  family  of  Lindsay  were  designed 
"  of  Vayne  "  till  near  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
but  were  succeeded  in  the  barony  of  Fern  by  Carnegie  of 

1  Douglas,  Peerage,  il  p.  466.  2  Ragman  Roll,  p.  134. 


FERN — NORANSIDE.  237 

Southesk  between  1593  and  1 5 95.1  Falling  under  the  attainder 
of  1716,  this  property  was  part  of  the  forfeited  estates  of 
Southesk,  which  were  repurchased  by  Sir  James  Carnegie  of 
Southesk  and  Pittarrow,  by  whose  trustees  again,  in  1766,  the 
lands  were  sold  to  John  Mill  of  Philpot  Lane,  London,  for 
£11,340,  5s.  Od.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  also  John,  who, 
after  building  the  mansion-house  of  Noranside,  and  otherwise 
improving  the  property,  alienated  all  but  the  Noranside  part, 
which,  however,  was  afterwards  sold  by  a  descendant  of  Mill 
to  the  trustees  of  the  late  Thomas  Gardyne  of  Middle- 
ton  ;  and,  in  virtue  of  Gardyne's  testamentary  deed,  it  was 
possessed  by  his  nephew,  the  late  James  Carnegie  of  Fin- 
haven.  It  now  belongs  to  trustees  for  behoof  of  the  widow 
and  family  of  the  late  proprietor,  Eobert  Thomas,  Esq.  of 
Noransjde,  Drummore,  and  Kincarrathie,  who  died  on  the 
20th  of  February  1881. 

The  portion  sold  by  John  Mill  during  his  lifetime  passed 
into  the  possession  of  the  Hon.  William  Maule,  third  son  of 
Lord  Panmure,  to  whom  it  came  by  marriage  with  the  daughter 
of  Thomas  Binuy  of  Maulesden,  who  purchased  the  barony 
in  1836  from  the  trustees  of  Alexander  Greenhill,  whose  father 
had  acquired  the  property  from  Mill  in  1 79  7.2  Fern  was  bought 
from  the  trustees  of  Mrs.  Binny-Maule,  and  now  belongs  to 
James  Fletcher,  Esq.  of  Letham- Grange  and  Fern,  who  has 
also  estates  in  Ross-shire. 

Of  the  families  of  Mill  and  Greenhill  little  is  known. 
Eobert,  the  first  of  the  former,  was  provost  of  Montrose,  and, 
amassing  a  respectable  fortune  by  trade,  bought  the  lands  of 
Balwyllo  in  the  parish  of  Dun,  sometime  before  the  beginning 
of  last  century,3  and  those  of  Balhall  in  Menmuir  soon  there- 
after.4 He  was  father  of  the  first  Mill  of  Fern,  who  was  also 
laird  of  Old  Montrose.  In  1786,  while  a  mere  youth,  Mill  of 

*  Deuchar  Vouchers,  quoted  ut  sup.  p.  232. 

a  Inventory  of  the  Title  Deeds  of  Fern,  kindly  communicated  by  the  late  Hon. 
William  Maule. 

»  Douglas,  Baronage,  p.  34.  4  Tide-Deeds  of  Balhall. 


238  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Noranside  married  an  Irish  lady  of  the  name  of  Ivy,  widow  of 
the  Hon.  George  Falconer,  fifth  son  of  David,  Lord  Halkerton. 
This  turned  out  an  unhappy  union,  and  Mill  dying  without 
issue  in  1822,  the  Noranside  part  of  Fern  devolved  on  Major 
James  Mill,  a  hero  of  Waterloo,  by  whom  it  was  sold  as  above. 

Charles  Greenhill,  who  bought  the  greater  part  of  the  barony 
of  Fern  from  Mill,  belonged  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Glamis. 
He  was  of  humble  parentage,  was  bred  to  the  law,  and,  besides 
being  factor  to  the  Southesk  family  for  upwards  of  forty  years, 
was  much  employed  as  trustee  on  bankrupt  estates.  He 
married  a  sister  of  the  late  Thomas  Gardyne  of  Middleton,  by 
whom  he  had  a  family  of  sons  and  daughters,  of  the  former  of 
whom,  David  Greenhill  of  Craignathro,  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany's Civil  Service,  became  heir  of  entail  to  his  cousin,  James 
Carnegie,  in  the  estates  of  Finhaven  and  Noranside.  The 
genealogy  of  the  ancient  honourable  proprietors  of  the  barony 
of  Fern  has  already  been  traced.1  It  now  only  remains  to 
give  a  brief  outline  of  the  noble  house  of  Southesk,  whose 
family  and  fortunes  were  linked  with  these  lands  for  upwards 
of  a  century  and  a  half. 

The  Lindsays  were  succeeded  in  the  barony  of  Fern  by 
the  Carnegies  towards  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The 
surname  of  this  noble  family  was  originally  de  Balirihard,  a 
territorial  designation  assumed  from  a  small  property  in  the 
parish  of  Arbirlot,  near  Arbroath.  Martin  of  Clermont  says 
that  the  first  of  them  was  cupbearer  to  Malcolm  Canmore, 
and  a  later  was  constable  of  the  castle  of  Kincardine  in 
William  the  Lion's  time,  and  got  the  lands  of  Fesdow  and 
Pitnemoone  for  his  service,2  but  there  is  no  known  evidence 
for  these  statements.  About  the  year  1230,  Gocelynus  de 
Balindard,  whose  name  suggests  a  Norman  or  otherwise 
foreign  origin,  witnesses  several  deeds  betwixt  the  Abbeys  of 

*  Ut  sup.  p.  142,  etc. 

2  Transcript  of  Martin  de  Clermont's  MS. ,  by  Macfarlane,  in  Advocates'  Library, 
Edinburgh,  in  which  is  contained  this  fabulous  account  of  the  origin  of  the  family  of 
Carnegie.  The  original  MS.  is  in  the  Register  House,  Edinburgh. 


FERN — FAMILY  DE  BALINHARD.  239 

Arbroath  and  Balmerino.1  In  all  probability  lie  was  father  to 
John  de  Balinhard,  the  first  certainly  recorded  ancestor  of  the 
Carnegies  of  Southesk.  His  connection,  however,  with  the 
Arbirlot  de  Balinhards  must  remain  doubtful,  though  names, 
dates,  and  localities  are  in  favour  of  its  existence. 

John  de  Balinhard,  who  died  about  1275,  was  succeeded 
by  his  son,  Christian,  whose  grandson,  John,  about  1350, 
parted  with  the  family  estate  of  Balinhard,  which  lay  in  the 
middle  of  the  lordship  of  Panmure,  and  by  exchange  or  other- 
wise acquired  from  Sir  Walter  Maule  the  lands  of  Carnegie  in 
the  parish  of  Carmylie  in  the  same  neighbourhood.2  From 
these  lands  the  progenitors  of  the  Carnegies  of  Kinnaird 
assumed  their  surname  and  title  of  "  Carnegie  of  that  Ilk." 

Duthac  de  Carnegie,  presumed  to  have  been  second  son 
of  John  de  Carnegie,  first  "  of  that  Ilk,"  was  the  first  of  Kin- 
naird, having  in  1401  purchased  a  part  of  these  lands  from 
Eichard  Ayre.3  Eight  years  afterwards  he  acquired  from 
Mariota  de  Kinnaird4  the  other  half  of  the  lands  and  "  town  " 
of  Kinnaird.  Mariota  is  understood  to  have  been  one  of  three 
co-heiresses,  and  to  have  been  married  to  Duthac  de  Carnegie, 
who  received  her  portion  of  the  estate.  The  other  two  co- 
heiresses are  said  to  have  been  married  respectively  to  David 
Panter  of  Newmanswalls  and  William  Cramond  of  Aldbar. 
Since  these  persons  are  named  along  with  Duthac  as  "  lairds 
of  Kinnaird"  in  a  law-process  of  1410,  they  seem  to  have  had 
interests  in  the  estate,  which  were  probably  acquired  by  mar- 

1  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  p.  197;  Reg.  Prior.  S.  And.  p.  271 ;  Lib.  de  Balm.  pp.  9  sq. 

2  A  copy  of  the  charter  is  in  the  British  Museum,  and  runs  thus  : — "  David  [n.] : 
Dei  gratia,  etc.    Sciatis  nos  approbasse  et  hac  presenti  carta  confirmasse  donacionem 
illam  et  concessionem  quam  quondam  Walterus  de  Maule  fecit  et  concessit  Joanni 
filio  et  heredi  quondam  Joannis  filii  Christini,  filii  Joannis  de  Balnehard  de  terra  de 
Carryneggii  cum  pertinenciis  in  Baronia  de  Panmure  infra  Vicecomitatum  de  Forfar 
tenenda  et  habenda  eidem  Joanni  de  Carinnegi  filio,  heredi  predicti  quondam  Joannis 
filii  Joannis  et  heredibus  suis  in  feodo,"  etc. — (Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk, 
i  p.  1 ;  Reg.  de  Panmure,  L  p.  215. ) 

3  Crawford,  Peerage,  p.  446.     The  surname  of  Air  subsisted  in  the  parish  of 
Farnell  until  the  late  period  of  1851,  when  the  last  of  the  name  (an  unmarried 
female)  died  at  an  advanced  age. 

4  Vide  Charter  under  the  Great  Seal,  dated  21st  February  1409. 


240  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

riage,  but  no  evidence  on  the  subject  exists,  nor  is  further 
mention  made  of  their  connection  with  Kinnaird,  which  must 
have  been  of  a  temporary  nature.1 

Duthac  de  Carnegie,  however,  did  not  enjoy  his  newly- 
obtained  estate  for  any  length  of  time,  as,  when  the  unfortu- 
nate dispute  arose  betwixt  Donald  of  the  Isles  and  Begent 
Albany  regarding  the  succession  to  the  Earldom  of  Eoss, 
Duthac  joined  in  that  dreadful  enterprise,  and  was  left  dead 
on  the  field.  Walter,  his  only  son,  fought  against  Earl  Beardie 
at  the  battle  of  Brechin,  18th  May  1452,  and  for  this  he  had 
his  castle  burnt  down  by  the  Lindsays,  wherein,  says  Craw- 
ford, "all  his  writs  and  evidents  were  miserably  consumed."2 
In  consequence  of  this  outrage  Walter  made  complaint  to 
James  n.  that  "...  his  mansione  wes  brvnt  and  his  charteris 
.  .  .  war  thair  throw  analijt  and  distroyit,"  and  he  accordingly 
obtained  a  royal  letter  for  an  "  inquisitione  of  knavlage  "  into 
the  circumstances.  Thus  he  endeavoured  to  supply,  to  some 
extent,  the  loss  of  his  family  papers.3 

David,  Earl  of  Crawford,  afterwards  Duke  of  Montrose, 
gave  John,  the  son  of  this  Walter  (whom  he  styles  his  cousin), 
a  liferent  out  of  the  lands  of  Glenesk.  He,  dying  in  1505, 
was  succeeded  by  his  son,  also  John,  who  fell,  with  his  king 

1  The  barony  of  Kinnaird  was  held  by  the  ancient  tenure  of  keeping  the  King's  ale- 
cellar  whenever  the  Court  should  have  residence  in  Forfarshire,  and  the  seal  of  John 
Carnegie  of  Kinnaird,  Bailie-Depute  of  the  Abbey  of  Arbroath,  is  appended  to  a 
sasine  given  by  him  in  his  character  of  Bailie  pro  hac  vice  of  the  lands  of  Balishan 
in  favour  of  Lord  Ogilvy  of  Airly,  who  was  the  chief  Bailie  of  the  Abbey.     The 
sasine  is  dated  13th  of  October  1489.     The  seal  bears  an  eagle  displayed  standing  on 
a  butt  or  tun.    There  appears  to  be  a  mullet  in  the  sinister  chief  for  difference,  but 
the  bearing  of  the  ale-tun  must  have  had  reference  to  the  tenure  of  the  barony  of 
Kinnaird,  and  not  to  the  name  of  Carnegie.     Sir  Robert  Carnegie,  who  died  in  1565, 
bore  the  heraldic  charge  of  a  covered  cup,  or,  on  the  eagle's  breast,  which  may  have 
been  substituted  for  the  ale-tun,  or  sign  of  territorial  office,  either  in  consequence  of 
the  bearing  of  the  cup  being  derived  from  the  tenure  by  which  some  other  lands  than 
those  of  Kinnaird  were  held,  or  from  the  family  having  been  royal  cupbearers — an 
office  which  some  authors  assign  to  them,  though  on  insufficient  evidence.     In  that 
noble  heraldic  manuscript,  "  The  Buke  and  Register  of  Armes,  done  by  Sir  David 
Lindesay,  Knight,  alias  Lion  King  of  Armes,"  A.D.  1542,  the  arms  of  "Carnegye  of 
Kinnarde "  are  thus  pictorially  blazoned  : — Arg.  An  eagle,  displayed,  Az.  ;  armed, 
beaked,  and  membered,  Gu.  ;  on  its  breast  an  antique  covered  cup,  Or. 

2  Peerage,  p.  446. 

3  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk,  i.  pp.  17  sq. 


FERX — SIR   ROBERT   CARNEGIE.  241 

and  many  kinsmen,  at  Flodden.  It  was  not,  however,  till  the 
time  of  Sir  Eobert,  the  fourth  in  descent  from  Duthac,  that  the 
family  rose  to  importance.1  Sir  Eobert  adopted  the  law  as  a 
profession.  In  1547  he  was  appointed  a  Senator  of  the  College 
of  Justice,  and  in  subsequent  years  he  was  largely  employed 
in  important  national  transactions,  being  on  several  occasions 
ambassador  to  France  and  England.  He  was  a  Privy  Coun- 
cillor under  Chatelherault,  the  Queen  Dowager,  and  Queen 
Mary,  and  at  various  times  held  high  offices  of  trust.  Sir 
Eobert  rebuilt  the  house  of  Kinnaird,  and  greatly  enlarged  the 
family  estate,  adding  to  it  Panbride,  Ethie,  Idvie,  Auchquhan- 
den,  Fithie,  Balnamoon,  and  other  lands  in  Angus,  as  also  in 
Aberdeen,  Fife,  and  the  Lothians.  He  died  in  1565,  and  by 
Margaret,  daughter  of  Guthrie  of  Lunan,  left  a  family  of  eight 
sons  and  eight  daughters.  The  eldest  of  the  former,  Sir  John, 
who  succeeded  his  father,  was  so  much  the  confidant  of  the 
unfortunate  Queen  Mary,  that  in  1570  she  wrote  to  him  a 
letter,  still  preserved  at  Kinnaird,  craving  his  "  advice  and 
answere  .  .  .  after  good  advisement  and  deliberacioun,"  how 
to  act  in  her  difficulties. 

Sir  John  died  without  male  issue,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  next  brother,  David,  previously  styled  "  of  Colluthie  "  in 
consequence  of  his  marriage  with  Elizabeth  Eamsay,  heiress 
of  Colluthie  and  Leuchars.  He  married,  secondly,  Eupheme, 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Wemyss  of  that  Ilk,  by  whom  he  had 
four  sons — David,  ancestor  of  the  Earls  of  Southesk;  John, 
ancestor  of  the  Earls  of  Northesk;  Alexander,  of  Balnamoon; 
and  Eobert,  of  Dunnichen. 

On  the  death  of  David  Carnegie  in  1598,  he  was  succeeded 

1  This  Sir  Robert  had  a  natural  son,  John  (Reg.  Mag.  Sigill.  lib.  35,  ch.  330), 
who  bought  the  lands  of  Carnegie,  and  was  designated  John  Carnegie  of  that  Ilk,  in 
1581  (lib.  36,  ch.  404,  wherein  Catherine  Fothringham  is  mentioned  as  his  spouse). — 
Macfarlane's  MS.  Notes  on  Geo.  Crawford's  Peerage  of  Scotland,  This  John  Car- 
negie acquired  the  lands  from  Sir  James  Carnegie  of  that  Ilk ,  who  was  head  of  the 
family  in  1500 ;  and  Sir  David  of  Kinnaird,  the  first  of  Leuchars,  bought  the  same 
lands  from  Sir  Robert's  natural  son  or  grandson.  They  passed  to  the  Panmure  family 
by  excambion. — (Eraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk,  i.  pp.  xxii  sq.  ;  45  sq.) 

Q 


242  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

by  David,  the  eldest  of  the  brothers.  Sir  David  Carnegie 
inherited  the  talents  of  his  father  and  grandfather  for  public 
business,  and,  like  them,  passed  a  long  and  active  life  in  the 
service  of  his  country.  He  held  many  high  offices  in  the 
State,  and  was  so  particularly  beloved  by  the  king,  that  he 
visited  him  twice  at  Kinnaird,  in  1602  and  in  1617,  on  which 
occasions  his  Majesty  amused  himself  by  hunting  in  the 
adjoining  forest  of  Monrommon;  and  for  the  convenience  of 
"  leading  his  Majesty's  provision  "  while  he  resided  at  Kinnaird, 
the  bridge  over  the  Pow,  betwixt  Kinnaird  and  Old  Montrose, 
was  first  erected.1  Charles  I.  and  n.  were  also  at  Kinnaird.2 
The  Chevalier,  too,  passed  some  nights  there  while  on  his 
perilous  enterprise,  and  remains  of  his  bed-curtains  are  still 
preserved  in  the  house. 

Sir  David  was  raised  to  the  Peerage,  by  the  title  of  Lord 
Carnegie  of  Kinnaird,  in  1616,  the  year  before  King  James's 
second  visit  to  Kiimaird;  and  in  1633  he  received  the  higher 
honour  of  Earl  of  Southesk  from  Charles  I.,  with  remainder 
to  his  heirs-male  for  ever.3  He  was  Sheriff  of  Forfarshire, 
and  under  Cromwell's  Act  of  Grace  and  Pardon,  was  fined 
in  the  large  sum  of  three  thousand  pounds.  His  excellencies 
are  thus  summed  up  in  Arthur  Johnston's  Musce  Aulicce : — 

"  Nee  numero  clauduntur  opes,  nee  limite  rura, 
Carnegi,  servat  mens  tamen  alta  modum." 

His  wife  was  the  Lady  Helen,  only  daughter  of  Sir  David 
Lindsay  of  Edzell ;  and  a  beautifully  embroidered  silk  velvet 

1  Black,  Hist,  of  Brechin,  p.  72. 

*  Ochterlony,  c.  1682  (Spot.  Misc.  i.  p.  341).  When  it  was  fully  determined  that 
Charles  n.  should  come  to  Scotland  in  1650,  the  Parliament  ordained  that  he 
"should  come  from  Aberdeen  to  Dunottar;  from  thence  to  Kinnaird,  the  Earl  of 
Southesk's  house  ;  thence  to  Dundee;  and  thence  to  his  own  house  at  Falkland." — 
Balfour,  Annals,  iv.  p.  19. 

3  His  second  brother,  John,  was  created  Lord  Lour  in  1639,  and  Earl  of  Ethie  in 
1647  ;  but  by  letters-patent  dated  25th  October  1666,  this  title  was  changed  to  Earl  of 
Northesk,  Lord  Rosehill  and  Eglismauldy.  The  other  two  brothers  were  Sir  Robert 
of  Dunnichen  and  Sir  Alexander  of  Balnamoon  and  Careston.  Portraits  of  these 
four  brothers,  by  Jamesone  of  Aberdeen,  are  among  the  magnificent  collection  of  British 
and  foreign  paintings  at  Kinnaird. 


FERN — LANDS  OF  KINNAIRD.  243 

cloth  at  Kinnaird  Castle  is  of  her  handiwork,  bearing  the 
Carnegie  arms  impaled  with  those  of  Lindsay.  Earl  David 
died  in  1658,  leaving  four  sons  and  six  daughters.  The  eldest 
son,  David,  Lord  Carnegie,  died  in  his  father's  lifetime  without 
male  issue ;  the  second,  James,  succeeded  to  the  Earldom,  and  by 
deed  of  gift  under  the  Privy  Seal,  dated  17th  November  1641, 
was  constituted  keeper  for  life  of  the  houses,  yards,  and  lands 
within  the  precincts  and  walls  of  the  Abbey  of  Arbroath,  with 
a  right  after  his  death  (which  took  place  in  1669)  to  his  heirs- 
male  for  the  space  of  three  nineteen  years.1  The  third,  Sir  John, 
had  charters  of  Craig  and  Ulishaven  in  1618,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  received  also  the  barony  of  Fern ;  he  left  one  son,  who 
died,  without  male  issue,  about  1663.  The  fourth  son,  Alexander, 
from  whom  the  present  Earl  directly  descends,  was  the  first  of 
Pitarrow.  His  eldest  son  and  successor,  David,  was  created 
Baronet  of  Nova  Scotia  in  1663.  All  the  daughters  married 
peers,  the  husband  of  the  youngest,  Magdalene,  being  the  cele- 
brated James,  first  Marquis  of  Montrose,2  who,  when  on  his 
way  a  prisoner  to  Edinburgh,  shortly  before  his  execution,  took 
farewell  of  his  two  sons  at  Kinnaird,  his  Marchioness  having 
predeceased  him. 

The  lands  of  Kinnaird  were  originally  in  the  parish  of 
Brechin,  but  the  people  found  it  more  convenient  to  attend 
divine  service  in  the  chapel  of  Cuikstoun  than  in  the  parish 
church  or  cathedral  in  Brechin.  In  place  of  this  chapel,  then 
becoming  ruinous,  David  Carnegie,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in 
1598,  was  building  the  kirk  of  Kinnaird  at  a  short  distance 
from  the  former,  and  his  successor,  Sir  David,  in  1606,  had  the 
Kinnaird  division  of  Farnell  made  a  separate  parish.  This 

1  Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Scot.  xL  pp.  539  sq. 

a  During  his  minority,  Montrose  was  under  Earl  David's  guardianship.  His 
portrait  by  Jamesone,  signed  and  dated  1629,  is  in  the  dining-room  at  Kinnaird.  It 
is  a  curious  coincidence  that  two  cousins,  bearing  the  same  Christian  name,  should 
have  been  so  closely  related  to  the  two  greatest  warriors  of  their  time — Lady  Mag- 
dalene Carnegie,  youngest  daughter  of  the  first  Earl  of  Northesk,  having  been  the 
mother  of  Graham,  the  hero  of  Killiecrankie.  See  Fraser,  Carneyifs  of  Southesk, 
ii.  p.  357. 


244  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

was  suppressed,  however,  and  the  greater  part  united  to  Far- 
nell,  in  1787.1 

The  first  Earl  was  succeeded,  as  before  said,  by  his  second 
son,  James,  who,  from  his  swarthy  complexion,  is  known  in 
the  family  genealogy  as  "the  black  Earl."  He  waited  long 
on  Charles  n.  while  an  exile  in  Holland,  was  a  commissioner 
at  the  English  Parliament  of  1652,  and  present  at  Cromwell's 
proclamation  at  Edinburgh  in  1657.  He  was  one  of  the  best 
swordsmen  of  his  time,  killed  the  Master  of  Gray  in  a  duel  near 
London  in  the  memorable  year  1660,  and  died  a  privy  coun- 
cillor nine  years  afterwards.  Educated  at  Padua  in  Italy,  he 
had  the  credit  of  being  a  magician,  and,  according  to  an  absurd 
tradition,  is  said  not  only  to  have  given  his  shadow  to  the 
devil,  but  to  have  departed  to  him  bodily,  having  been  lost 
with  his  coach  and  four,  one  stormy  night,  in  the  Starney- 

1  "  Parish  of  Kynnard,  in  the  Diocese  of  St.  Andrews,  and  Regality  of  Rescobie." 
— (Charter  of  Mid.  Drums,  etc.)  The  Kinnaird  church  of  the  first  Earl's  time  was 
erected  in  the  park  in  front  of  the  castle,  where  its  foundations  and  several  tomb- 
stones are  yet  visible.  One  of  the  stones  (dated  16-0)  presents  this  quaint  couplet : — 

"  Hve  (we)  doe  not  this  for  no  wther  end, 
Bwt  that  owr  birial  may  be  kend." 

The  Farnell  division,  where  the  present  church  is  situated,  was  in  former  times 
the  property  of  the  Bishops  of  Brechin,  who  resided  there  down  to  the  period  of  the 
Reformation.  A  considerable  part  of  the  castle  of  Farnell  is  still  entire. 

Duncan  de  Ferneval  (one  of  the  perambulators  of  the  Arbroath  and  Kinblethmont 
marches  in  1219,  and  witness  to  Malcome,  Earl  of  Angus,  in  1225)  had  probably  been 
a  vassal  of  the  bishop.  Edward  i.  stopped  here  on  Friday,  the  6th  of  July  1296, 
when  on  his  subjugating  expedition  through  the  kingdom.  The  lands  of  Farnell  were 
alienated  from  the  see  of  Brechin  by  Alexander  Campbell,  bishop  of  that  diocese^ 
who,  in  1566,  transferred  them  to  Archibald,  fifth  Earl  of  Argyll.  In  1578  they  were 
sold  to  James,  Lord  Ogilvy  of  Airlie,  and  in  1623  they  were  purchased  from  him  by 
David,  Master  of  Carnegie,  the  eldest  son  of  Earl  David.  On  his  death,  in  1633,  they 
became  part  of  the  Southesk  estates,  and  the  whole  parish,  with  the  exception  of  the 
glebe  and  the  parochial  buildings,  is  now  the  property  of  the  Earl  of  Southesk. 

The  church,  of  Gothic  style,  was  built  during  the  minority  of  the  late  Baronet, 
and  is  beautifully  situated  on  a  rising  ground  on  the  side  of  the  Pow.  Perhaps  the 
district  is  named  from  the  abundance  of  ami,  or  alder  trees,  in  this  water-course, 
since  Fem-'n-akl,  or  alt,  in  Gaelic  means  "the  stream  of  arns."  The  kirk  was, 
perhaps,  dedicated  to  Saint  Rumon  or  Rumold,  as  a  knoll,  about  a  mile  north  of  the 
church,  is  called  Rume's  Cross;  but  the  editor  of  the  Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Scot,  ii  p.  199, 
suggests  Rune  or  Runic  Cross.  A  fine  sculptured  stone  bearing  an  ornamental  cross 
and  other  carving  (figured  in  Plate  xxi.  of  Chalmers's  Sculptured  Monuments  of 
Angus'),  was,  in  1849,  found  in  the  churchyard,  and  presented  to  the  Montrose  Museum 
by  the  Earl  of  Southesk.  The  bell  on  thechurch  bears : — "  IOHANXKS  •  BVRGERHYYS  • 

ME   •    FECIT  •    ANNO   •    1662." 


FERN — KIXNATRD   CASTLE.  245 

Bucket  Well,  which  lay  In  the  Deil's  Den,  immediately  south 
of  the  family  burial  vault.  These  foolish  stories,  suggested  by 
the  grimness  of  his  aspect  and  the  scene  and  nature  of  his 
studies,  may  be  classed  with  many  similar  products  of  the 
fanatical  party  spirit  of  the  times. 

The  Black  Earl  was  succeeded  by  his  only  son,  Eobert,  for 
some  time  captain  of  a  company  of  the  famous  Scots  Guards 
of  Louis  xiv.  His  wife  was  the  beautiful  Lady  Anne  Hamilton 
(daughter  of  the  second  Duke),  whose  conduct  in  connection 
with  the  Court  of  the  "Merry  Monarch"  forms  the  subject  of 
a  scandalous  story  in  the  Memoirs  of  the,  Count  de  Grammont, 
and  has  obtained  some  currency,  though  disproved  by  the 
testimony  of  Bishop  Burnet,  a  friend  or  acquaintance  of  the 
persons  chiefly  concerned.1  It  was  in  this  Earl's  time  that 
the  Castle  of  Vayne  underwent  those  important  repairs  to  be 
noticed  hereafter,  and  also  that  Ochterlony  described  Kinnaird 
as  being  "without  competition  the  fynest  place,  taking  alto- 
gether, in  the  shyre;  a  great  house,  excellent  gardens,  parks 
with  fallow-deer,  orchards,  hay  meadows,  wherein  are  extra- 
ordinare  quantities  of  hay,  very  much  planting,  ane  excellent 
breed  of  horse,  cattle,  and  sheep,  extraordinare  good  land."2 

1  Burnet,  Hist,  of  his  Own  Time,  i.  pp.  385,  396. 

2  The  castle  was  mostly  rebuilt  about  the  beginning  of  this  century,  and  is  still 
one  of  the  finest  in  the  shire,  whether  as  regards  its  imposing  exterior  or  internal 
decorations.     The  "fallow-deer,"  which  number  about  400,  are  of  the  same  breed  as 
were  those  in  Guynd's  time  ;  but  the  deer-park  of  that  period,  which  has  never  been 
ploughed,  is  now  the  cow-park,  and  the  present  deer-park,  which  lies  in  front  of  the 
castle,  was  partly  made  in  1 821 ,  when  the  walls  were  built  round  it.     It  was  greatly 
improved  and  enlarged  in  1853  and  following   years,  and  its  extent   was   more 
than  doubled.     Many  of  the  trees  at  Kinnaird  are  of  great  size  and  beauty,  and  to 
those  fond  of  such  matters,  it  may  be  briefly  mentioned  that  some  of  the  beech-trees 
girthed  in  1853  upwards  of  14  feet ;  ash,  from  18  to  Hi  f.  ;  elm,  13  to  11  f.  ;  oak, 
13  to  9  f.  ;  a  silver-fir,  upwards  of  11  f.  ;  lime,  from  18  to  9  f.  ;  sycamore,  from 
17  to  10  f.  ;  horse-chestnut,  11  f. ;  Scots  fir,  about  8  f.  5  in.  ;  thorn,  7  f.  ;  gean,  from 
upwards  of  9  to  8  f.  3  in.  ;  birch,  nearly  7  f.     These  measurements  were  taken  at 
heights  varying  from  3  to  4  feet  from  the  ground. 

In  the  years  1854-1860  the  castle  was  enlarged  and  remodelled  by  the  present 
EarL  It  now  resembles  an  ancient  French  chateau,  with  many  lofty  steep-roofed 
towers  and  turrets,  long  stone  balconies,  and  balustraded  terrace  walls.  The  park, 
of  which  the  deer-park  occupies  three-fourths,  comprises  between  1300  and  1400 
acres,  enclosed  by  a  high  wall  where  not  bounded  by  the  river  Southesk. 

Most  of  the  trees  referred  to  are  still  existing,  though  some  have  perished,  and 


246  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Earl  Eobert,  whose  disposition  is  said  to  have  been  so 
austere,  that  even  on  his  death-bed  no  one  durst  disobey 
him,  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Charles.  He  was  a  man  of 
great  taste,  and  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  planting  and 
beautifying  his  estate.  He  probably  planted  the  fine  old 
trees  which  shadow  the  avenue  to  the  vault  in  the  park, 
where  he  is  buried.  On  either  side  of  the  entrance  to  this 
enclosure  are  the  family  arms,  with  quaint  inscriptions  under- 
neath, one  of  which  informs  the  reader  that  Earl  Charles's 
widow,  the  Lady  Mary  Maitland,  of  the  house  of  Lauder- 
dale,  "put  up  thir  coats,  and  built  this  gate,  in  the  year 
1704."1 

Earl  James,  who  figured  so  conspicuously  in  the  unfortunate 
transactions  of  "  the  fifteen,"  for  which  his  lands  were  forfeited, 
was  the  only  son  of  Earl  Charles.  He  was  at  the  battle  of 
Sheriffmuir;  and,  in  the  enumeration  of  the  heroes  of  that 

others  have  suffered  through  storms  and  natural  decay.  Even  the  ancient  trees  have 
made  progress  during  the  thirty  years  since  their  last  measurement,  the  finest 
among  them,  an  ash,  traditionally  known  as  "  Old  Adam,"  having  added  two  feet  to 
his  girth,  which  reaches  20  feet  at  4  feet  from  the  ground,  though  his  top  began  to 
decay  in  1870,  and  has  become  ruinous.  The  largest  tree  of  each  kind  now  (1881) 
girths  as  follows  at  3  or  4  feet  from  the  ground :— Ash,  20  f.  ;  lime,  18  f.  ;  sycamore, 
17£  f.  ;  beech,  15  f.  ;  silver-fir,  15  f.  (was  11  f.  in  1850) ;  oak,  14  f.  ;  elm,  14  f.  ; 
horse-chestnut,  12^  f.  ;  gean,  10  f.  These  ancient  specimens  vary  in  age  from  170  to 
300  or  400  years,  but  most  of  the  trees  round  Kinnaird  were  planted  by  Sir  David 
about  1780-1800.  The  largest  of  this  younger  growth  are  the  beeches,  girthing 
from  8  f.  to  10  f.  or  12  f.  ;  the  oaks,  limes,  etc.,  are  somewhat  less.  One  Spanish 
chestnut  measures  12  f.  in  fair  girth,  having  increased  3J  feet  since  1850.  The  pre- 
sent Earl  has  also  planted  largely  iu  the  park  and  pleasure-grounds. 

1  In  1691,  during  the  time  of  Earl  Charles  of  Southesk,  the  barony  of  Fern  (apart 
from  the  estates  of  Deuchar  and  Auchnacree,*  which  were  held  under  the  superiority 
of  the  lord  of  Fern)  consisted  of  the  following  farms : — Mayns,  Ballmaditie,  Easter 
Balquhadlie,  Wester  Balquhadlie,  Brucetoun,  Shan-foord,  New-milne,  Old-milne, 
Wak-milne,  Balquharn  and  Cornablews,  Fermertown,  Kirk-den,  Boggie,  Reid-foord, 
Dubbytown  and  Court-foord,  Cathro-seat,  Waterstown,  Milne  of  Waterstown,  Easter 
Hiltown,  Windsour,  Ladinhendry,  Auchlochie,  and  Trustee.  The  number  of  tenants 
in  these  farms  was  fifty-two,  and  the  gross  rental  amounted  to  388  bolls,  1£  firlot, 
3  pecks,  and  £  lippie,  bear ;  565  bolls,  £  firlot,  2  pecks,  and  1£  lippie,  meal ;  £1538,  Is. 
money  Scots;  18  capons,  30  poultry,  and  5  swine.—  (Old  Rental-Book  of  Southesk, 
quoted  ut  sup.  p.  122. ) 

*  In  1691  et  sub.,  the  proprietor  of  Auchnacree  paid  an  annual  feu-duty  of  £'20  Scots  to 
the  Earls  of  Southesk.  This  is  the  only  fact  worthy  of  notice  which  has  been  ascertained 
regarding  this  property,  although  it  is  said  that  there  are  titles  of  it  by  the  Earls  of  Crawford 
and  Southesk  for  upwards  of  three  hundred  years. 


FERN— SOUTHESK  ATTAINTED.  247 

field,  he  is  termed  "Brave  gen'rous  Southesk,"  and  was  the 
hero  of  the  fine  Jacobite  ballad  of  "  The  Piper  o'  Dundee." l 
After  the  defeat  of  his  party,  he  escaped  to  France,  where  he 
died  in  1730  :  and  his  only  son,  a  mere  boy,  having  predeceased 
him,  the  representation  of  the  family  devolved  on  the  Pitarrow 
branch,  as  descendants  of  the  fourth  son  of  the  first  Earl.  The 
Southesk  estates  were  the  third  largest  of  those  forfeited,  were 
scattered  over  no  fewer  than  seven  counties,  and  estimated  at 
the  annual  rent  of  £3271,  10s.,  besides  services  ;  but  the  value 
of  property  in  Scotland  has  increased  so  much  since  then,  that 
these,  and  most  other  estates,  are  worth  seven  or  eight  times 
the  rental  here  stated. 

The  entire  estate  was  purchased  by  the  York  Buildings 
Company,  in  1716,  for  £51,549,  7s.  4d.  On  the  insolvency 
of  that  Company,  a  large  portion  of  the  property  was  re- 
purchased by  Sir  James  for  £36,870,  14s.  2d.  Long  prior  to 
this,  however,  he  had  procured  an  assignation  to  a  lease  of 
Kinnaird,  and  making  it  his  residence,  he  improved  the 
lands  to  a  great  extent,  without  any  positive  idea  of  their 
ever  becoming  his  own ;  and  it  was  mainly  by  his  enterprise 
that  the  general  sale  of  the  forfeited  estates  of  Scotland  was 
effected.  Sir  James  was  member  of  Parliament  for  Kincardine- 
shire  from  1741  till  his  death.  In  early  life  he  served  in  the 
Flemish  wars,  and  was  also  present  at  the  battle  of  Culloden. 
In  1752  he  married  Christian,  daughter  of  David  Doig  of 
Cookston,  by  his  wife  Magdalene,  heiress  of  an  ancient  Forfar- 
shire  family  Symmers  of  Balzeordie.  Lady  Carnegie  survived 
her  husband  for  the  long  period  of  fifty-five  years,  dying  in 
1820,  at  the  age  of  ninety-one.  Sir  James  died  in  1765.  He 
was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  Sir  David,  for  many  years 
member  of  Parliament  for  the  county  of  Forfar.  Soon  after 
attaining  his  majority,  Sir  David  purchased  the  baronies  of 
Arnhall  in  Kincardineshire,  and  Leuchars  in  Fife,  part  of  the 

1  In  Jacobite  Minstrelsy,  p.  118,  Carnegie  of  Finhaven  is  erroneously  said  to  be 
the  subject  of  this  popular  ballad. 


248  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

forfeited  Southesk  estates,  but  afterwards  sold  them  with  other 
lands,  and  in  1791  bought  from  Sir  James  Stirling,  Lord 
Provost  of  Edinburgh,  for  £32,000,  the  fine  estate  of  Old  Mon- 
trose,  adjoining  Kinuaird.1 

By  his  wife  Agnes,  daughter  of  Andrew  Elliot  of  Green- 
wells,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  New  York,  a  brother  of  Sir 
Gilbert  Elliot  of  Minto,  Sir  David,  who  died  in  1805,  left  two 
sons  and  ten  daughters,  and  was  survived  for  fifty-five  years 
by  Lady  Carnegie,  who  died  at  Leamington  in  June  1860  at 
the  age  of  ninety-six  years.  The  eldest  son,  Sir  James,  elected 
member  for  the  Montrose  burghs  in  1830,  was  married  t6 
Charlotte,  daughter  of  the  Kev.  Daniel  Lysons  of  Hempsted 
Court  in  Gloucestershire,  who  predeceased  him,  leaving  three 
sons  and  two  daughters. 

On  the  death  of  Sir  James  in  1849,  his  eldest  son,  James 
present  Earl  of  Southesk,  succeeded  to  the  baronetcy  and 
estates.  In  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  Lord- Lieutenant 
of  Kincardineshire,  but  resigned  the  office  in  1856,  on  his  dis- 
posal of  the  estate  of  Strachan  in  that  county,  which  had  been 
purchased  by  his  father  some  thirty  years  before.  In  1855,  by 
the  reversal  of  the  Act  of  Attainder,  he  was  restored,  with 
original  precedence,  to  the  forfeited  Scottish  titles,  as  Earl  of 
Southesk  and  Lord  Carnegie  of  Kinnaird  and  Leuchars. 
Further,  in  1869,  he  was  created  a  peer  of  the  United  King- 
dom, with  the  title  of  Lord  Balinhard  of  Farnell,  and  was  also 
made  a  Knight  of  the  Order  of  the  Thistle. 

Lord  Southesk,  who  was  born  in  1827,  received  his  educa- 
tion at  Sandhurst,  and  obtained  his  commission  there,  serving 
for  a  short  time  in  the  92d  Highlanders,  and  for  three  years  in 
the  Grenadier  Guards.  He  married,  first,  the  Lady  Catherine 
Noel,  daughter  of  the  first  Earl  of  Gainsborough,  who  died  in 

1  This  was  the  ancient  patrimony  and  messuage  of  the  noble  family  of  Graham, 
from  which  they  were  designed  "  Dominns  de  Aid  Munros,"  so  early  as  1360.  It 
was  probably  also  the  birthplace  of  "the  Great  Marquis,"  whose  portrait,  in  his 
wedding-dress,  is  at  Kinnaird  Castle.  On  the  old  family  of  Graham,  see  Warden, 
Angus,  i.  1  sq.  ;  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk,  il  pp.  li,  et  al. 


FERN — CARDINAL  BEATON.  249 

1855,  leaving  three  daughters  and  one  son,  Charles,  Lord 
Carnegie,  born  in  1854.  The  Earl  married,  secondly,  in  1860, 
the  Lady  Susan  Murray,  daughter  of  the  sixth  Earl  of  Dun- 
more.  Of  this  marriage  there  is  issue  three  sons  and  four 
daughters. 

In  consequence  of  his  direct  descent  from  Sir  David,  created 
first  Lord  Carnegie  and  first  Earl  of  Southesk,  the  present 
Earl  of  Southesk  is  chief  of  the  family  of  Carnegie. 


SECTION   IV. 

His  castle  stood  in  a  lonely  glen, 

By  the  side  of  a  rocky  stream  ; 
An  there  full  many  a  deed  was  done 

Whilk  nae  ane  dared  to  name. 

All  is  lot  gaistis,  and  elrischefantasyis, 
Of  brownyis  and  of  bogillis full  this  buke. 

GAWIN  DOUGLAS. 

Castle  of  Vayne — Ascribed  to  Cardinal  Beaton — A  word  for  the  Cardinal — View 
of  the  castle — Superstitions — Kelpie's  footmark  and  "the  De'il's  Hows" — The 
Brownie — Brandyden — "  The  Ghaist  o'  Feme-den" — The  ghost  laid. 

POPULAR  tradition  ascribes  the  erection  of  the  castle  of  Vayne, 
or  the  old  manor-house  of  Fern,  to  Cardinal  Beaton,  whither 
he  is  said  to  have  resorted  "  for  less  consistent  purposes  than 
the  fulfilment  of  his  vow  of  celibacy,"  and  a  deep  black  pool  in 
the  river  Noran,  near  the  castle,  is  called  Tammy's  Pot,  from  a 
story  that  one  of  his  sons,  whom  he  had  by  a  Lady  Vayne,  fell 
over  the  precipice  and  was  drowned  in  it.  Such  is  the  tale  ; 
but,  as  shown  in  tracing  the  history  of  the  transmission  of  the 
barony  of  Fern,  Beaton  never  had  any  proprietary  interest  in 
the  parish ;  and  if  he  had  ever  resided  there,  nothing  exists  in 
any  way  to  prove  that  particular,  although  tradition  seeks 
further  to  corroborate  the  story,  by  asserting  that  when  he  and 
his  suite  appeared  at  a  certain  point  of  the  road,  on  their  way 
to  the  church  on  Sundays,  it  was  the  signal  for  ringing  the  bell ! 
The  whole  story,  like  that  of  his  gifting  the  bell  to  the  church, 


250  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

is  a  mere  fable,  'and  framed,  no  doubt,  from  the  peculiarly 
secluded  situation  of  the  castle ;  for  at  no  distant  date,  most  of 
the  obscure  retreats  and  fortalices  in  Angus  were  said  to  have 
been  tenanted  by  him  and  his  paramours,  and  almost  every- 
thing bad  and  disreputable  was  ascribed  to  him. 

It  may  be  remarked,  however,  that  many  of  Beaton's  en- 
gagements show  him  to  have  had  a  spirit  of  an  opposite 
tendency  to  that  popularly  assigned  to  him,  for  while  the  real 
and  supposed  faults  of  his  life  are  descanted  upon  by  partial 
writers  in  anything  but  a  godly  spirit,  not  a  single  redeeming 
quality  of  his  whole  history  is  ever  brought  to  bear  against  them. 
It  is  an  indisputable  truth,  however,  that  we  are  indebted  to 
him  for  the  preservation  of  some  of  the  most  valuable  remains 
of  our  monastic  literature  which  he  fortunately  plucked  from 
the  flames  kindled  by  infuriated  zealots  ;  and,  perhaps,  it  is  not 
too  much  to  presume  that  when  the  collections  of  old  family 
charters  that  are  now  being  made  by  impartial  antiquarians 
are  completed,  the  character  of  Cardinal  Beaton  may  appear  in 
a  more  favourable  light  than  hitherto ;  particularly  since  so 
much  light  has  been  thrown  by  these  investigations  on  the 
private  characters  of  Knox  and  Erskine  of  Dun.1  Nay,  it  is 
probable,  despite  the  coarse  assertions  of  party  historians,  that 
Beaton  was  allied  to  Mariota  Ogilvy  (the  mother  of  all  his 
children),  "  by  that  sort  of  morganatic  marriage  frequent  among 
churchmen  of  that  period."  2 

The  castle  of  Vayne  stands  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Noran, 
at  the  most  rocky  and  precipitous  part  of  the  stream ;  between 
it  and  the  stream  there  is  a  natural  terrace- walk  along  the  top 
of  the  rocks,  where  the  lords  and  ladies  of  other  days  could 
muse  unseen  amidst  a  mass  of  wild  and  imposing  scenery.  The 
castle  was  originally  three  stories  high,  with  a  circular  tower 

1  Tytler,  Hist,  of  Scot.  2d  edit,  vii.  pp.  21  and  355;  Spalding  Club  Mis- 
cellany, iv.  ;  Booke  of  the  Univ.  Kirk  of  Scot.  pp.  25  sq. ;  T.  M'Crie,  Jun., 
Sketches  Scott.  Ch.  Hist.  pass. ;  T.  M'Crie,  Life  of  John  Knox,  pass. 

1  Archaeologia,  xxxiv.  p.  35.  See  the  estimate  of  his  life  and  character  by  Dr. 
Grub,  Ecd.  Hist.  Scot.  i.  pp.  27-8. 


FEKN— CASTLE  OF  VAYNE.  251 

or  staircase  in  the  south-west  corner,  and  is  built  of  the  soft 
red  sandstone  of  the  district.  The  workmanship  has  been  very 
indifferent ;  still,  although  a  total  ruin,  the  only  part  present- 
ing the  original  height  being  the  gable-wall  on  the  east,  its 
former  extent  can  without  difficulty  be  traced.  In  the  time 
of  Earl  Robert  of  Southesk,  the  castle  was  greatly  improved  ; 
and,  immediately  subsequent  to  these  alterations,  Ochterlony 
described  it  as  "a  very  good  house,  called  the  Waird,  well 
planted,  good  yards,  the  house  presently  repaired  by  him  [the 
Earl  of  Southesk],  and  well  furnished  within;  it  hath  ane 
excellent  fine  large  great  park  called  the  Waird." 

Many  of  Earl  Robert's  repairs,  which  had  been  made  with 
stone  superior  to  that  employed  in  the  original  building,  are 
yet  visible  about  the  place,  and  the  door  and  window  lintels 
bore  Horatian  and  other  maxims.  Three  of  these  are  still 
preserved  in  the  walls  of  the  adjoining  farm-steading.  One  is 
more  elegant  than  the  rest ;  it  bears  an  Earl's  coronet,  and 
other  sculpture  in  high  relief,  and  the  initials  in  monogram  of 
Earl  Robert  (R.  E.  S.),  together  with  the  following  legend,  which 
may  have  had  reference  to  the  merry  disposition  of  his 
spouse : — 

"  DI8CE   •    MEO   •    EXEMPLO   •    FORMOSIS   •    POSSE   •   CARERE." 

The  second  stone,  now  over  the  garden  door,  runs  thus  : — 

" VS    •    PLACITIS    •    ABSTINVISSE    •    BONIS 

— NNO    •    DOM.   1678  ;" 

and  the  third  presents  this  quaint  observation : — 

"  NON    •    SIMALE   •    NVNC   •    ET 

SIC    •   ERAT 
ANNO    •    DOM.   1678. "l 

Like  most  of  our  old  uninhabited  castles,  that  of  Vayne  fell 
a  victim  to  the  barbarism  of  despoiling  utilitarians,  a  part  of 
it  having  been  blown  down  with  gunpowder  by  a  tenant- 
farmer,  and  the  stones  used  for  building  dikes  and  similar 
purposes.  An  arched  cellar  or  vault  forms  the  ground-floor 

1  "  Non,  si  male  nunc,  et  olim  sic  erit." — Horace,  Odes,  ii.  10. 


252  LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

of  the  east  wing,  and  is  the  only  roofed  part  of  the  building  ; 
underneath  there  is  said  to  be  a  deep  dungeon  into  which  the 
family,  before  taking  their  final  departure,  threw  all  their 
treasure  of  money  and  plate  !  This  chamber  has  often  been 
sought  for,  and  only  one  person  is  believed  to  have  found 
it ;  but  when  about  to  descend  in  search  of  the  valuables,  he 
was  forcibly  thrust  from  the  entrance  by  an  uncouth  monster 
in  the  shape  of  a  horned  ox,  that  departed  in  a  blaze  of  fire 
through  a  big  hole  in  the  wall  (still  pointed  out !)  and,  before 
the  terrified  treasure-seeker  could  recover  himself,  the  chasm, 
which  he  had  wrought  so  hard  to  discover,  was  closed  for  ever 
to  his  view ! 

The  doings  of  Satan  at  this  place  are  proverbial,  and  the 
umbrageous  rocky  ravine  through  which  the  Noran  tumbles  its 
pellucid  waters  is  the  very  place  that  imagination  would  picture 
as  his  abode,  and  there,  in  all  conceivable  shapes,  he  reigned 
of  old,  and  perhaps  reigns  still;  for,  according  to  provincial 
rhyme,  this  locality  was  his  favourite  place  of  residence — 

"  There's  the  Brownie  o'  Ba'quharn, 

An'  the  Ghaist  o'  Brandieden  ; 
But  of  a'  the  places  i'  the  parish, 
The  deil  burns  up  the  Vayne  !" 

A  little  east  of  the  castle,  close  by  the  side  of  the  Noran,  a 
large  sandstone  has  lain  from  time  immemorial,  bearing  a  deep 
indentation  resembling  the  hoof  of  a  colossal  horse  with  the 
impress  of  one  of  the  caulkers  of  the  heel.  This  has  been 
fashioned  by  the  falling  out  of  a  large  pebble  imbedded  in  the 
stone,  though  at  first  glance  it  looks  like  an  artificial  work.  It 
is  popularly  called  the  Kelpies  Footmark,  and  was  believed  to 
have  been  occasioned  by  his  step  while  bounding  among  the 
rocks.  Some  of  the  largest  of  these  he  not  only  amused  him- 
self by  overturning  when  the  water  was  swollen,  but,  as  if 
conscious  of  his  own  unbridled  power,  he  boldly  seated  himself 
on  others,  and  called  lustily  for  help,  in  the  feigned  voice  of  a 
drowning  person,  that  so  he  might  lure  his  victim  to  the  river ! 


FERN — THE   BROWNIE.  253 

The  people  of  Waterstone  were  at  one  time  much  annoyed 
in  this  way,  because  there  was  a  certain  amount  of  danger,  it  is 
said,  from  the  deceptive  nature  of  the  adjoining  ford,  which  is 
much  deeper  than  is  indicated  by  the  clearness  of  the  water ; 
and,  with  a  view  also  to  deceive  the  neighbours,  when  any  real 
case  of  drowning  occurred,  Kelpie  ever  and  anon  called  out — 

"  A'  the  men  o'  Waterstone  ! — Come  here  !  come  here  ! " 

Almost  opposite  Vayne  Castle,  on  the  lands  of  Markhouse, 
there  is  a  spot  of  ground  called  "  the  De'il's  Hows,"  where  the 
notorious  personage  from  which  the  place  is  named  has  made 
some  wonderful  manifestations  of  his  presence,  in  even  later 
times  than  those  of  our  grandfathers.  From  this  place,  which 
is  a  small  hollow  in  the  middle  of  a  moor,  large  lumps  of  earth 
have  been  thrown  to  a  great  distance  without  any  visible  cause.1 
The  stone  bearing  Kelpie's  footmark  is  of  the  conglomerate 
sort,  and  the  earth  of  the  Deil's  How,  at  a  little  depth,  is  a 
stratum  of  a  yellowish  colour,  mixed  with  small  stones,  con- 
taining in  themselves  no  sulphur,  but  being  merely  a  composite 
of  argillaceous  earth  and  iron,  the  calcined  substance  of  which 
makes  a  good  red  ochre. 

But  of  all  the  spirits  of  this  locality,  the  Brownie  and  the 
Ghaist  are  by  far  the  most  popular,  and  are  considered  by  some 
as  one  and  the  same.  In  other  quarters,  however,  the  Brownie 
was  an  independent  and  entirely  different  being,  and  but  for 
the  wonderful  ghost  stories  connected  with  Fern,  he  might  also 
have  figured  in  the  same  way  there.  From  the  similarity  of 
his  disposition  to  the  Lares  Familiares  of  the  ancients,  some 
believe  that  he  was  descended  from  them.  Brownies  have  existed 
in  all  countries  and  ages — not  only  under  the  blue  skies  of 
Greece  and  Italy,  but  under  the  dark  wintry  clouds  of  Scandinavia ; 
and,  as  the  name  of  the  "  fairies  "  originated  from  the  clearness 
of  their  habit,  and  their  aerial  abode,  that  of  the  Brownies  was 
assumed  from  their  swarthy  complexion,  and  their  partiality 

1  Old  Stat.  Account,  xix.  p.  875. 


254  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

for  remote  chambers  of  ruined  houses  and  secluded  banks  of 
rivers. 

Their  habits  were  the  same  over  the  whole  globe,  except 
that  the  Shetland  Brownie  assumed  "  all  the  covetousness  of 
the  most  interested  hireling,"  instead  of  performing  ungrudg- 
ingly the  laborious  and  self-imposed  services  which  charac- 
terised his  fellows  in  other  quarters.1  These  particulars,  and 
their  aversion  to  the  receipt  of  remuneration,  are  described  in 
the  following  exquisite  lines  of  Mr.  Erskine's  Supplemental 
Stanzas  to  Collins's  Ode  on  the  Highland  Superstitions : — 

"  Hail,  from  thy  wanderings  long,  my  much-loved  sprite  ! 

Thou  friend,  thou  lover  of  the  lowly,  hail ! 
Tell,  in  what  realms  thou  sport'st  thy  merry  night, 

Trail'st  the  long  mop,  or  whirl' st  the  mimic  flail. 
Where  dost  thou  deck  the  much-disorder'd  hall, 

While  the  tired  damsel  in  Elysium  sleeps, 
With  early  voice  to  drowsy  workmen  call, 

Or  lull  the  dame  while  mirth  his  vigils  keeps  ? 
'Twas  thus  in  Caledonia's  homes,  'tis  said, 

Thou  pliedst  the  kindly  task  in  years  of  yore  : 
At  last,  in  luckless  hour,  some  erring  maid 

Spread  in  thy  nightly  cell  of  viands  store  : — 
Ne'er  was  thy  form  beheld  among  their  mountains  more." 

At  no  distant  date  almost  every  farmer  in  Shetland  pos- 
sessed one  of  those  mysterious  beings,  but  from  their  opposite 
conduct  there,  they  were  considered  rather  in  the  light  of  evil 
spirits ;  and  it  is  a  singular  fact,  that  in  all  localities  famous  as 
their  haunts  the  same  stories  are  told  of  their  services  to  the 
gudewife  of  the  farm-houses  where  they  took  up  their  abode, 
and  the  same  reasons  are  assigned  for  their  disappearance. 
This  is  peculiarly  the  case  with  the  Brownie  of  Bodsbeck  in 
Ettrick  Forest,  and  with  those  of  Fern,  and  of  Claypots  near 
Dundee.  In  all  those  instances  the  Tweed,  the  Noran,  and  the 
Dichty  waters  were  forded  when  at  their  highest,  and  the  sage 
femme  landed  safely  at  the  door  of  the  sick  wife  ! 

Such  were  the  leading  characteristics  of  Brownies  in  general. 

1  Jamieson,  Scottish  Die?.,  in  voce. 


FERN— GHAIST  €)'   FERNE-DEN.  255 

But  that  of  Fern,  in  addition  to  those  serviceable  qualities, 
was  connected  with,  and  had  his  origin  in,  a  scene  of  cruelty 
and  bloodshed,  not  uncharacteristic  of  the  age  to  which  tradi- 
tion ascribes  it,  and,  as  before  hinted,  stamps  the  Brownie  and 
the  Ghaist  of  Fern  as  one  and  the  same.1  In  Brandyden  (the 
great  hollow  betwixt  the  kirk  and  Noranside),  there  were, 
within  these  eighty  years,  the  foundations  of  a  house,  said  to 
have  been  an  old  fortalice  of  the  lords  of  Fern — perhaps  be- 
longing to  the  de  Montealtos ;  of  the  site  of  the  most  ancient 
house  of  Fern  no  conjecture  can  be  formed,  but,  in  all  proba- 
bility, as  was  the  custom  of  feudal  times,  it  had  been  nearer 
the  church  than  the  present  castle,  which  lies  about  a  mile  to 
the  south,  is.  The  situation  of  Brandyden  is  equally  secluded 
as  that  of  Vayne,  and,  according  to  tradition,  the  occupant  was 
a  sort  of  Bluebeard,  who  also  punished  his  vassals  with  the 
utmost  impunity. 

One  of  these  had  offended  him  so  grievously  that,  although 
an  influential  person,  he  was  doomed  to  die  the  death  of  a 
traitor,  but  being  thrown  into  a  dungeon  to  await  his  execution, 
he  fortunately  breathed  his  last  before  the  hour  arrived.  His 
body  was  buried  in  a  secluded  spot  between  the  castle  and 
Balquharn.  But  from  that  luckless  day,  the  laird's  peace  was 
broken  ;  no  servant  would  stay  with  him — the  doors  and  win- 
dows of  his  house  flew  open  of  their  own  accord,  not  only  in 
the  stormy  nights  of  winter,  but  in  the  quietest  nights  of 
summer — hideous  yells  reverberated  throughout  the  dwelling, 
and  the  laird,  falling  into  a  state  of  despondency,  died  suddenly 
and  mysteriously !  This  had  no  effect,  however,  in  stopping 
the  wanderings  of  the  vassal's  spirit ;  so  far  from  that,  it  was 
the  means  of  inciting  him  to  usefulness,  it  being  only  after  the 
laird's  death  that  he  assumed  the  character  of  a  menial,  and 
performed  that  piece  of  service  to  the  gudewife  of  the  farm- 
house, for  which  he  is  best  known  in  the  district.  Although, 

1  The  Qhaisfs  Stane,  or  the  piece  of  rock  to  which  that  worthy  was  chained,  still 
lies  in  the  burn  in  the  vicinity  of  the  kirk  ! 


256  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

ns  already  seen,  this  occurrence  was  far  from  unique,  it  was 
wedded  to  verse  by  some  local  bard,  in  the  following  rude 
effusion  of 


There  lived  a  farmer  in  the  North 

(I  canna  tell  you  when), 
But  just  he  had  a  famous  farm 

Nae  far  frae  Ferne-den, 
I  doubtna,  sirs,  ye  a'  ha'e  heard, 

Baith  women  -folks  an'  men, 
About  a  muckle,  fearfu'  Ghaist  — 
The  Ghaist  o'  Ferne-den  ! 

The  muckle  Ghaist,  the  fearfu'  Ghaist, 

The  Ghaist  o'  Ferne-den  ; 
He  wad  ha'e  wrought  as  muckle  wark 
As  four-an'-twenty  men  ! 

Gin  there  was  ony  strae  to  thrash, 

Or  ony  byres  to  clean, 
He  never  thocht  it  muckle  fash 

0'  workin'  late  at  e'en  ! 
Although  the  nicht  was  ne'er  sae  dark, 

He  scuddit  through  the  glen, 
An'  ran  an  errand  in  a  crack  — 

The  Ghaist  o'  Ferne-den  ! 

Ae  nicht  the  mistress  o'  the  house 

Fell  sick  au'  like  to  dee,  — 
"  O  !  for  a  canny  wily  wife  !  " 

Wi'  micht  an'  main  cried  she  ! 
The  nicht  was  dark,  an'  no'  a  spark 

Wad  venture  through  the  glen, 
For  fear  that  they  would  meet  the  Ghaist  — 

The  Ghaist  o'  Ferne-den  ! 

But  Ghaistie  stood  ahint  the  door, 

An'  hearin'  a'  the  strife, 
He  saw  though  they  had  men  a  score, 

They  soon  wad  tyne  the  wife  ! 
Aff  to  the  stable  then  he  goes, 

An'  saddles  the  auld  mare, 
An'  through  the  splash  an'  slash  he  ran 

As  fast  as  ony  hare  ! 


FERN — THE  GHAIST  o'  FERNE-DEN.  257 

He  chappit  at  the  Mammy's  door —  . « 

Says  he — "  Mak  haste  an'  rise  ; 
Put  on  your  claise  an'  come  wi'  me, 

An'  tak  ye  nae  surprise  ! " 
"  Where  am  I  gaun  ?"  quo'  the  mid-wife. 

"  Nae  far,  but  through  the  glen — 
Ye' re  wantit  to  a  farmer's  wife, 

No'  far  frae  Ferne-den." 

He 's  ta'en  the  Mammy  by  the  hand, 

An'  set  her  on  the  pad, 
Got  on  afore  her  an'  set  aff 

As  though  they  baith  were  mad ! 
They  climb 'd  the  braes — they  lap  the  burns — 

An'  through  the  glush  did  plash  : 
They  never  minded  stock  nor  stane, 

Nor  ony  kind  o'  trash  ! 

As  they  were  near  their  journey's  end, 

An'  scuddin'  through  the  glen  : 
"  Oh  !"  says  the  Mammy  to  the  Ghaist, 

"  Are  we  come  near  the  Den  ? 
For,  oh  !  I  'm  fear'd  we  meet  the  Ghaist  ! " 

' '  Tush,  weesht,  ye  fool ! "  quo'  he  ; 
' '  For  waur  than  ye  ha'e  i'  your  arms, 

This  nicht  ye  winna  see  !  " 

When  they  cam'  to  the  farmer's  door 

He  set  the  Mammy  doon  : — 
"  I  've  left  the  house  but  ae  half  hour — 

I  am  a  clever  loon  ! 
But  step  ye  in  an'  mind  the  wife, 

An'  see  that  a'  gae  richt, 
An'  I  will  tak  ye  hame  again 

At  twal  o'clock  at  nicht !" 

"  What  maks  yer  feet  sae  braid  ?"  quo'  she, 

"  What  maks  yer  e'en  sae  sair?  " 
Said  he — "  I  've  wander'd  mony  a  road 

Without  a  horse  or  mare  ! 
But  gin  they  speir,  Wha  brought  you  here  ? 

'Cause  they  were  scarce  o'  men  ; 
Just  tell  them  that  ye  rade  ahint 

The  Ghaist  o'  Ferne-den  ! " l 

1  For  this  ballad,  Mr.  Jervise  was  indebted  to  the  late  Rev.  Mr.  Harris  of  Fern, 
who  had  it  from  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Lyon  of  Glamis  about  1812-13. 

R 


258  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Long  after  this  timeous  service  to  the  gudewife,  Brownie 
continued  his  monotonous  wanderings  as  a  ghost,  to  the  fear 
and  dread  of  the  bad,  but  to  the  willing  assistance  of  the 
honest  and  industrious,  who  were  ever  thankful  of  his  visits. 
Tradition,  with  its  accustomed  minuteness,  points  out  the 
gudewife  of  Farmerton  as  the  person  in  whose  welfare  he  felt 
so  interested,  and  a  male  child  as  the  issue.  This  youth 
ultimately  became  remarkable  for  courage,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing may  be  taken  as  an  instance.  Although  many  stalwart 
persons  had  ere  now  encountered  the  murdered  vassal  in  his 
nocturnal  wanderings,  none  had  sufficient  courage  to  "  speak," 
and  give  him  rest.  But  after  Farmerton's  son  had  reached  man- 
hood, he  was  returning  home  one  dark  night,  and  accidentally 
met  this  spirit;  determined  to  know  the  cause  of  his  wanderings, 

' '  About  himsel'  wi'  hazel  staff, 

He  made  ane  roundlie  score  ; 
And  said,  '  My  lad,  in  name  o'  Gude, 
What  doe  you  wander  for  ? '  " 

On  this  the  ghaist  disclosed  his  woeful  tale,  confessed  the 
offences  of  his  life,  and  making  a  summary  exit  from  the 
presence  of  his  interrogator,  was  never  again  seen !  Some 
however  say  that  he  was  never  heard  of  from  the  time  he 
landed  the  "  mammy  wife,"  whose  impertinent  remarks  regard- 
ing the  peculiarities  of  his  form  are  supposed  to  have  caused 
his  departure ! 


SECTION  V. 

Calm  was  the  morn,  and  close  the  mist 

Hung  o'er  St.  Arnolds  Seat, 
As  Ferna's  sons  gaed  out  to  Saughs, 

M'Gregor  there  to  meet. 

RAID  o'  FEARN. 

Battle  of  Saughs— Date  uncertain— "  The  Hawkit  Stirk  "—Bravery  of  Macintosh- 
Spoil  recovered — Ledenhendrie  in  danger,  and  his  precautions — Winter's  monu- 
ment— Archaeology  of  Fern— Primitive  dwellings. 

THE  most  important  historical  tradition  of  Fern  is  that  which 
relates  to  the  Eaid,  or  Battle,  of  Saughs.     This  transaction  be- 


FERN THE  BATTLE  OF  SAUGHS.  259 

longs  to  "  those  days  when  might  was  right,"  and  is  connected 
with  Fern  only  thus  far,  that  the  parishioners  were  the  actors ; 
for  "  the  battle-field  "  lies  within  the  confines  of  the  parish  of 
Lethnot,  near  the  head  of  the  Water  of  Saughs.  Although 
little  more  than  a  century  has  elapsed  since  "  the  cold  red 
earth  "  closed  over  some  of  the  principal  heroes,  the  accounts 
of  the  transaction  are  as  various,  and  the  year  in  which  it 
occurred  as  uncertain,  as  though  it  had  belonged  to  prehistoric 
times — furnishing  another  convincing  proof  of  the  value  of 
registering  all  incidents  that  in  any  way  affect  the  civil  or 
religious  history  of  a  district.  One  writer  says  that  the  affray 
took  place  "  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century." 
Others  fix  the  years  1703,  1708,  1709,  and  1711  as  the  dates, 
but  all  on  mere  hearsay ;  and  the  accounts  of  the  details  of  the 
action  are  as  various  as  the  dates.  Still,  as  little  can  be  added 
with  accuracy  to  that  before  the  public,  this  notice  will  be 
mainly  framed  from  these  sources  ;  for  it  would  be  worse  than 
absurd  to  arrogate,  in  the  absence  of  documentary  evidence, 
anything  more  authentic  than  that  which  was  gleaned  from 
the  living  chronicles  of  the  last  generation. 

It  may  be  remarked,  however,  that  as  tradition  is  uniform 
in  stating  the  age  of  John  Macintosh,  the  leader  of  the  Fern 
men  (who  was  the  son  of  a  farmer  in  the  parish),  as  well  as 
that  of  all  his  followers,  as  being  about  twenty  at  the  time,  the 
period  of  the  engagement,  instead  of  being  fixed  at  any  of  these 
dates,  ought,  according  to  the  age  of  James  Winter  (who  was 
another  of  the  actors),  to  be  placed  somewhere  about  the  year 
1 680,  as  he  was  born  in  1660.  If  Winter's  age  was  an  exception 
to  that  of  the  rest  of  his  compeers  (and  from  the  great  execu- 
tion that  he  is  said  to  have  done  with  his  Andrea  Ferrara,1 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  older),  the  fixing  of  the 
date  somewhere  betwixt  the  years  1690  and  1700,  when 
Winter  was  in  the  prime  of  life,  may  approach  nearer  the  real 

1  This  sword  is  a  genuine  Andrea  Ferrara,  and  is  three  feet  and  a  half  long,  in- 
cluding the  hilt.  It  was  at  one  time  in  the  possession  of  the  late  Mr.  James  Dickson 
of  the  Stamp  and  Tax  Office,  Kirriemuir,  who  had  it  from  Winter's  grand-nephew. 


260  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

period  than  any  of  the  above.  This  notion  is  strengthened  by 
the  fact,  that  young  Macintosh  succeeded  his  father  in  the 
farm  of  Ledenhendrie  in  the  year  1699,1  and  all  story  agrees 
that  his  father  was  farmer  at  the  time  of  the  engagement. 

The  Eaid  of  Saughs  is  attributed  to  a  comparatively  trivial 
matter  belonging  to  a  previous  year,  when,  through  the  intre- 
pidity of  young  Macintosh,  the  cattle  of  the  farmer  of  the 
Dubb  of  Fern  were  rescued  from  a  party  of  three  freebooters. 
Perhaps  from  a  determination  to  revenge  this  insult,  a  gang  of 
thirteen  Cateran,  headed  by  the  Hawkit  StirJc?  made  a  summary 
descent  on  the  district  during  the  following  spring.  They 
stole  in  unperceived  on  the  evening  of  a  Sunday,  and  conduct- 
ing their  predatory  labours  during  the  silence  of  night,  not 
only  succeeded  in  clearing  the  stalls  of  horses  and  cattle  before 
the  domestics  were  astir,  but  were  far  over  the  mountains 
with  their  booty. 

Infuriated  by  previous  incursions,  and  by  the  heavy  loss 
which  the  parish  sustained  on  this  particular  occasion,  the 
inhabitants  were  assembled  on  Monday  morning,  among  the 
tombs  of  their  fathers,  by  the  ringing  of  the  kirk  bell.  As 
they  were  anxious  to  regain  their  stolen  property,  the  day  was 
spent  in  discussing  the  question  as  to  what  was  the  proper 
course  for  doing  so  ;  but,  fearing  the  superior  strength  of  their 
antagonists,  many  of  them  lost  heart  at  the  manifest  risks  to 
be  incurred,  so  that  the  pursuit  would  have  been  wholly 

1  Southesk  Rental-Book,  quoted  ut  sup.  p.  122. 

2  The  name  of  the  Hawkit  Stirk  was  given  to  this  Cateran  chief,  from  a  supposi- 
tion that  he  was  the  same  person  as  was  laid  down,  when  an  infant,  at  the  farm- 
house door  of  Muir  Pearsie,  in  the  parish  of  Kingoldrum,  and  from  the  gudewife 
desiring  her  husband  to  rise  from  bed  about  midnight  to  see  the  cause  of  the  bleating 
cries  which  she  heard  ;  but  having  a,  pet  caZ/that  was  in  the  habit  of  prowling  about 
under  night,  her  husband  lay  still,  insisting  that  the  noise  was  merely  the  croon  o' 
the  hawkit  stirk  I    Hearing  a  continuation  of  the  same  piteous  moan,  the  gudewife 
herself  rose  and  found  a  male  child,  of  a  few  weeks  old,  lying  on  the  sill  of  the  door, 
carefully  rolled  in  flannel  and  other  warm  coverings,  and,  taking  it  under  her  charge, 
brought  it  up  as  one  of  her  own  family.    Nothing  of  the  foundling  or  his  parents  was 
ever  positively  known  ;  but  when  about  sixteen  years  of  age,  he  departed  clandes- 
tinely from  Muir  Pearsie,  and  from  the  resemblance  of  the  leader  of  this  band  to 
him,  they  are  said  to  have  been  one  and  the  same  individual.     His  name  is  variously 
given  as  M'Gregor  and  Cameron. 


FERN PURSUIT  OF  THE  CATERAN.  261 

abandoned  and  the  reavers  allowed  to  go  with  impunity,  had  not 
young  Macintosh  felt  so  enraged  at  the  cowardice  of  his  fellow- 
parishioners,  that  he  sprang  to  an  eminence  apart  from  them 
and  called  out  at  the  top  of  his  voice — "  Let  those  who  wish  to 
chase  the  Cateran  follow  me  ! "  Eighteen  young  men  left  the 
multitude  and  rallied  round  him,  and  after  making  some  hasty 
preparations  for  their  perilous  enterprise,  they  went  off  in 
search  of  the  reavers,  with  the  brave  Macintosh  as  their 
leader.  The  journey  was  long  and  arduous;  but  being  well 
acquainted  with  the  mountain  tracks,  and  following  the  trodden 
path  of  their  enemy  through  bogs  and  fens,  they  succeeded 
about  daybreak  in  discovering  the  thieves,  who  were  crowded 
round  a  blazing  fire,  cooking  a  young  cow  for  breakfast. 

The  place  was  a  perfect  wilderness — a  boundless  expanse 
of  moss  and  moor — intersected  by  natural  cairns  of  rocks  and 
the  rugged  channels  of  rivulets,  without  the  remotest  sign  of 
shelter.  By  wary  steps,  the  Fern  men  succeeded  in  reaching 
within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  freebooters,  who  thought  that  a 
few  sharp  and  aimless  shots  would  frighten  them  away.  This 
they  were  the  more  convinced  of,  as  one  of  the  party,  throwing 
his  "  lang  gun  "  from  him,  tied  from  the  contest ;  but  the  main 
body  remaining  firm,  the  leader  of  the  bandits  stept  forward 
and  ironically  requested  to  know  which  of  them  was  the 
leader.  Macintosh  boldly  acknowledged  the  honour ;  and  the 
Cateran's  doubts  being  set  at  rest  on  that  particular,  it  was 
mutually  agreed  to  determine  the  matter  by  single  combat. 
The  chief,  smiling,  no  doubt,  at  the  idea  of  Macintosh's  bold- 
ness, pictured  the  misery  and  death  that  were  likely  to  follow 
a  pitched  engagement;  and  playfully  cutting  two  or  three 
buttons  from  the  breast  of  the  young  farmer's  coat  with  the 
blade  of  his  sword — telling  him  at  same  time  that  he  could  as 
easily  deprive  him  of  life  as  take  away  those  trifling  append- 
ages— he  urged  the  propriety  of  the  pursuers  retiring  in  peace. 

Matters  remained  in  this  undecided  state  for  some  time; 
but,  either  wilfully  or  accidentally,  some  of  the  Cateran  fired, 


262  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

and  the  ball  taking  effect,  killed  one  of  the  Fern  men.  This 
was  the  signal  for  a  general  onset :  the  chief  and  Macintosh 
closed  in  desperate  combat,  as  also  did  the  others.  The  power- 
ful hand  of  the  Cateran,  though  resisted  with  wonderful  tact  by 
his  weaker  opponent,  would  soon  have  prevailed  over  Macin- 
tosh, had  not  assistance  come  from  James  Winter,  who  ran  to 
his  aid.  He,  stealing  behind  the  chief,  hamstrung  him  unawares, 
and  brought  him  to  the  ground,  when,  like  brave  Witherington 
of  Chevy  Chase,  and  fair  Lilliard  of  Ancrum, 

"  His  legs  (being)  smitten  off, 
He  fought  upon  his  stumps  !  " 

Fully  aware  of  the  defenceless  state  in  which  he  lay,  the 
wounded  chieftain  made  several  desperate  aims  at  Macintosh 
(for  by  this  time  Winter  had  been  re-assailed) ;  but  all  attempts 
to  mow  Macintosh  down  having  failed,  and  the  Cateran's 
sword  breaking  on  a  stone,  he  solicited,  as  a  dying  request, 
that  Macintosh  would  bid  him  farewell.  This  was  frankly 
assented  to,  and  while  the  Cateran  grasped  his  unsuspecting 
victim  with  one  hand,  he  secretly  drew  a  dagger  from  his  side 
with  the  other,  and  this  he  would  have  plunged  into  the  youth's 
heart  if  Macintosh  had  not  been  apprised  of  his  danger  by  some 
of  his  followers.  On  perceiving  this  he  hastily  relinquished  his 
hold,  and  thrusting  his  sword  into  the  breast  of  the  wily  chief, 
finished  the  work  that  had  been  so  tragically  begun  by  Winter. 

Seeing  their  chief  overpowered,  and  several  of  their  clans- 
men wounded  and  dead,  the  surviving  Cateran  fled  in  dismay. 
None  are  supposed  to  have  escaped ;  one  of  them,  named 
Donald  Young,  was  so  severely  wounded,  that  though  able  to 
flee  a  short  distance,  he  ultimately  fell  and  expired  at  a  hill 
east  of  "  the  battle-field,"  which  has  ever  since  been  called 
"Donald  Young's  Shank."  Only  one  of  the  pursuers  was 
killed,  but  several  were  more  or  less  wounded.  All  the  dead 
were  buried  where  they  fell;  and  about  seventy  years  ago, 
when  the  banks  of  the  Saughs  were  broken  by  a  flood,  some  of 
their  bones  were  exposed  to  view. 


FERN PLOTS  AGAINST  LEDENHENDRIE.  263 

The  cattle  and  other  spoils  were  collected  together  by  the 
victors,  who  proceeded  slowly  on  their  homeward  march. 
Meanwhile  the  less  valiant  part  of  the  parishioners,  reflecting 
upon  the  risk  that  the  gallant  band  had  hazarded,  assembled 
in  considerable  numbers,  and  proceeded  to  their  assistance, 
but  they  were  barely  beyond  the  bounds  of  their  own  parish 
when  they  beheld  their  friends  and  the  lowing  herd  returning 
home. 

The  boldness  of  Macintosh  and  Winter  was  the  talk  of 
surrounding  districts  ;  and  as  the  former,  being  the  leader,  was 
the  one  above  all  others  on  whom  the  friends  of  the  vanquished 
would  wreak  their  vengeance,  his  landlord,  the  Earl  of  South- 
esk,  is  said  to  have  been  so  pleased  with  his  achievements,  that 
he  erected  a  strongly  fortified  dwelling  for  him,  and  made  him 
Captain  of  the  parish,  an  office  long  held  by  Ogilvy,  tenant  of 
Trusto,1  who,  upon  this  occasion,  had  declined  to  follow  the 
Cateran. 

These  precautions  of  the  Earl  were  not  unnecessary ;  for 
Ledenhendrie  was  frequently  assaulted  by  his  old  enemies, 
and  might  have  fallen  under  their  attacks  but  for  the  security 
of  his  dwelling.  It  is  related,  that  on  spending  an  hour  one 
evening  with  Ogilvy,  who  ever  bore  him  hatred,  the  latter  thrice 
called  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  "  Gude-nicht,  Ledenhendrie  !  " 
when  parting  with  him  at  the  door  of  Trusto.  Macintosh, 
suspecting  no  harm,  proceeded  leisurely  homeward,  but  on 
reaching  a  solitary  part  of  the  road  he  discovered  the  diabolical 
meaning  of  Trusto's  parting  salutation,  and,  ere  he  had  time  to 
bethink  himself,  was  surprised  by  a  party  who  lay  in  wait  for 
him.  He  was  wholly  unarmed,  and  accompanied  only  by  a 
favourite  dog ;  but,  luckily,  the  night  was  dark,  and  being  well 
acquainted  with  the  route,  he  contrived  by  his  agile  step  to 
gain  the  crevice  of  a  rock  in  the  den  of  Trusto,  into  which  he 

1  David  Ogilvy  tenanted  Trusto  from  at  least  1691  to  1709.  His  name  is  not 
in  the  rent-roll  of  1710.  He  was  perhaps  followed  by  Patrick  Lyon  of  Ogil,  who 
tenanted  Trusto  in  1729. — (Inv.  of  York  Build.  Coy 'a  Estates,  belonging  to  Lord 
Panmure,  pp.  198,  313.) 


264  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

and  his  dog  got  safely  ensconced.  As  if  instinctively  aware 
of  his  master's  jeopardy  (although  the  pursuers  were  so  near 
that  Ledenhendrie  could  distinctly  hear  their  conversation),  his 
faithful  companion  remained,  as  he  did  himself,  in  breathless 
silence  until  daybreak,  when  both  reached  home.  This  niche 
has  ever  since  been  known  as  "  Ledenhendrie's  Chair." 

Trusto's  perfidy  was  not  lost  on  the  subsequent  conduct 
of  Ledenhendrie's  life,  while  it  tended  greatly  to  increase  his 
uneasiness  of  mind ;  for  from  that  night  to  the  day  of  his 
death  he  went  to  neither  kirk  nor  fair  without  defensive  wea- 
pons. Even  in  church,  he  no  sooner  entered  his  pew  (which 
was  so  placed  as  to  command  the  door,  and  evade  any  assault 
from  the  windows)  than  he  laid  his  unsheathed  sword  and 
loaded  pistols  on  the  desk  before  him;  but  it  is  not  known  that 
he  ever  had  a  fair  opportunity  of  calling  these  into  use, 
although  several  clandestine  attempts  were  made  on  his  life — 
more,  it  is  believed,  by  Trusto's  emissaries  than  by  those  of 
the  reavers. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  Macintosh  and  Winter  were  bosom 
friends  ever  after,  and,  in  the  true  spirit  of  attached  clans- 
men, they  agreed  that  whoever  died  first,  the  survivor  should 
conduct  the  funeral,  and  have  it  attended  with  the  bagpipes 
and  other  warlike  accompaniments,  in  the  true  spirit  of  the 
times.  Winter  was  the  first  to  pass  away,  and  Ledenhendrie 
religiously  performed  the  last  duties,  taking  care  to  have  the 
coronach,  or  dirge,  played  over  his  grave.  A  handsome  monu- 
ment, of  the  old  table  fashion,  was  soon  thereafter  raised  to 
his  memory,  bearing  the  sculpture  of  a  sword  and  buckler  on  a 
shield,  with  this  inscription,  now  much  effaced : — 

"I.  W.  1732. — This  stone  was  erected  by  Alexander  "Winter,  tennent 
in  the  Doaf  [?  Doal]  in  memory  of  JAMES  WINTER,  his  father's  brother, 
who  died  on  Peathaugh,  in  the  parish  of  Glenisla,  the  3d  January  1732, 
aged  72. 

Here  lyes  James  Vinter,  who  died  in  Peathaugh, 
Who  fought  most  valointly  at  ye  Water  of  Saughs, 
Along  w*-  Ledenhendry,  who  did  command  ye  day — 
They  Vanquis  the  Enemy  and  made  them  runn  away." 


FERN — HIGHLAND  FUNERAL.  265 

This  tombstone  is  yet  entire,  near  the  south-east  corner  of 
the  kirk  of  Cortachy,  but  the  inscription,  though  it  had  been 
revised  and  rudely  deepened,  has  since  become  all  but  ob- 
literated. His  friend  Ledenhendrie  appears  to  have  outlived 
him  but  a  few  years,  as  in  1739  his  son's  widow  held  the  farm, 
and  in  1742  one  John  Bruce  had  it  on  "a  prorogation  of  John 
Macintosh  his  tack,"1  but  the  exact  time  and  place  of  his 
decease  are  not  ascertained.  He  was  buried  within  the  church 
of  Fern,  but  no  memorial  points  out  the  spot  of  his  repose. 
So  far  from  this,  his  reputed  targe  that  hung  on  the  church 
wall  near  his  grave  was  cast  forth  at  the  rebuilding  of  the 
present  edifice,  and  trodden  under  foot,  his  fortified  residence 
erased,  and  the  very  stone  that  bore  his  initials,  "  I.  M."  with 
the  date  "  1708,"  was  thrown  aside  and  lost. 

The  want  of  a  monument  to  Ledenhendrie  is  the  more  to  be 
regretted,  because  a  similar  notice  as  that  over  Winter  would 
not  only  have  told  of  the  gratitude  and  respect  which  the  cir- 
cumstances demanded,  but  would  also  have  settled  the  era  of 
the  engagement,  as  all  agree  that  he  was  not  less  than  eighteen 
or  above  nineteen  years  of  age  at  the  time.  As  it  is,  the 
whole  affair  appears  to  have  much  the  air  of  romance,  and  is 
so  destitute  of  authentic  details,  that  the  humble  tomb  of 
Winter  is  the  only  genuine  record  of  it  that  is  known  to  be  in 
existence.2 

The  district  of  Fern,  so  far  as  known,  has  little  to  boast  of 
in  the  way  of  prehistoric  traces,  though  a  few  warlike  remains, 
and  the  old  names  of  places,  would  favour  the  supposition  of 
the  parish  having  been  the  scene  of  some  unrecorded  engage- 
ments. The  discovery  of  stone  coffins  and  urns  in  various 
parts,  particularly  at  a  place  called  Drumcuthlaw;  and  the 
existence  of  large  rude  stones  at  Haerpithaugh  ("  the  boundary 

1  York  Buildings  Co.  Mem.  Book,  MS.  p.  455. 

8  Accounts  of  "  the  Battle  of  Saughs  "  have  been  written  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Harris, 
entitled  Ledenhendrie;  and  by  the  late  Mr.  Alex.  Laing,  Stracathro,  in  a  ballad 
called  The  Raid  o/Fearn.  Some  anonymous  articles  have  also  been  printed  about 
it  in  Chambers's  Edinburgh  Journal,  the  Montrose  Review,  etc. 


266  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

haugh  of  the  pit  or  grave  "),  having  much  the  appearance  of 
boundary  or  march  stones,  would  imply  something  of  this 
sort.  It  is  certain  that  nothing  has  been  found  on  the  Law  of 
Windsor,  or  Fern  (as  the  conspicuous  knoll  on  the  farm  of 
Hilton  is  indiscriminately  called),  within  the  last  half-century, 
that  in  any  way  relates  to  prehistoric  times,  though  the 
appearance  of  the  place  seems  not  only  to  indicate  an  artificial 
origin,  but  has  much  of  the  peculiarity  of  the  conical-shaped 
barrow, — a  rare  species  of  ancient  sepulchral  tumulus,  which, 
according  to  Catullus,  appertains  to  females.1 

Primitive  dwellings  are  said  to  have  been  found  in  different 
parts  of  the  parish ;  and,  according  to  the  writer  of  the  New 
Statistical  Account,  consist  of  a  circle  of  moderately  sized 
stones,  enclosing  an  area  of  from  nine  to  twenty  feet  and 
upwards,  with  the  exterior  packed  by  earth  and  stones  to  the 
breadth  of  three  or  four  feet,  and  the  interior,  or  floor,  laid  with 
clay  or  mortar,  mixed  sometimes  with  stones.  Traces  of  the 
action  of  fire  were  found  at  the  middle  of  these  enclosures,  and 
on  some  of  the  largest  stones.  The  fragment  of  a  quern  was 
dug  from  one,  and  .a  stone  cofim  found  in  the  vicinity  of 
another,  while  in  1851  an  old  grave  dug  out  of  the  solid  sand- 
stone, and  containing  the  remains  of  a  human  body,  with  a 
small  earthen  vessel  and  brass  pin,  was  found  near  the  manse.2 

These  primitive  dwellings  are  believed  to  have  been  the 
abode  of  the  aborigines  of  Caledonia,  and  some  of  them  were 
found  in  the  upper  parts  of  Lethnot  near  Waterhead,  but 
differing  from  those  of  Fern  in  so  far  as  they  were  scooped 
out  of  the  mountain  side,  and  the  entrance  levelled  to  the 
adjacent  ground.  These,  however,  are  popularly  believed  to 
have  been  made  by  shepherds  as  shelters  from  the  storm. 
Perhaps  they  were  so,  but  it  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  they  are 
of  the  same  form  as  the  so-called  "  primitive  dwellings  "  in  dis- 
tant parts  of  Scotland,  and  are  found  singly  and  in  clusters, 

1  Fosbroke,  Encyc.  of  Antiquities,  p.  544. 

»  New  Stat.  Acct.  Forfar.  pp.  313-4 ;  Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Scot.  iii.  p.  81. 


FERN — ITS  ARCHEOLOGY.  267 

like  the  lone  shepherd's  cot,  and  the  Highland  clachan  or 
village.  They  are  most  plentiful  in  tracts  of  spongy  moss  and 
arid  heath,  and  in  solitudes  where  the  plough  has  never  pene- 
trated ;  but  as  ages  have  elapsed  since  they  were  the  scene  of 
busy  life,  the  richness  of  the  soil  has  so  greatly  fostered  vege- 
tation, that  their  sites  can  only  be  discovered  with  great 
difficulty,  and,  if  it  were  not  for  their  floors,  hard-crusted  by 
burning,  they  could  scarcely  be  distinguished  from  bothies  or 
illicit  distilleries,  or,  as  already  mentioned,  from  shepherds' 
sheltering-places. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
,  .or 

SECTION  I. 

Sir  Alexander  Carnegy  built  a  very  fyne  little  church,  and  a  fyne  minister's 
manse,  upon  his  own  expenses,  and  doted  a  stipend,  and  gave  a  glebe  thereto,  out  of  his 
own  estate.—  OCHTERLONY. 

Blest  be  the  man  that  spares  these  stones, 
And  curst  be  he  that  moves  my  bones. 

ON  SHAKESPEARE'S  TOMB  AT  STRATFORD. 

Careston — Origin  of  name— "  Keraldus  judex" — Erection  of  parish — "  Fyne  little 
church  "—  Succession  of  ministers — Churchyard — Rev.  John  Gillies — Formation 
of  kirk-session — Rev.  Dr.  John  Gillies  of  Glasgow — Mr.  Robert  Gillies  of 
Brechin— Dr.  John  Gillies,  Historiographer-Royal  of  Scotland — Lord  Gillies — 
Dr.  Thomas  Gillies. 

THERE  are  various  theories  as  to  the  origin  of  the  name  of 
Caraldstone,  or  Careston.  In  the  Old  Statistical  Account  it 
is  derived  from  the  Ossianic  hero  Carril,  who  is  said  to  have 
been  killed  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  to  have  had  a  monument 
erected  to  him,  which,  towards  the  close  of  last  century,  was 
represented  by  three  large  rude  stones.  These  stood  on  a 
hillock  about  a  mile  south-east  of  the  church,  near  the  farm- 
house of  Nether  Careston,  but  their  site  is  now  barely  traceable, 
though  the  story  of  the  fall  of  Carril  (who,  under  the  name  of 
Carald,  has  been  metamorphosed  into  the  leader  of  a  band  of 
Danish  fugitives)  still  lingers  in  the  neighbourhood.1  It  is 
also  said  that  Careston  was  known  at  one  time  by  the  name  of 
Fuirdstone.  This  is  assumed  from  a  decreet  of  valuation  of 
the  teinds  in  1 758,  in  which  the  expression  occurs,  of  "  the  lands 
and  barony  of  Caraldstone,  formerly  called  Fuirdstone,  with  the 

1  Old  Stat.  Acct.  ii.  p.  483  ;  New  Stat.  Acct.  Forfar.  p.  518. 


CARESTON — ITS  EARLY  HISTORY.  269 

tower,  fortalice,  manor-place,"  etc.  But,  according  to  Lord 
Spynie's  charter  of  the  lands  in  1606,  this  passage  admits  of  a 
more  likely  interpretation,  and  merely  signifies  that  a  part  of 
the  lands  of  Careston  was  so  called.1 

In  the  Preface  to  the  old  Hegistrum  de  Aberbrothoc,  atten- 
tion is  directed  to  a  different  and  more  probable  source  than 
either  of  those  mentioned,  for  the  etymology  of  the  name 
of  the  parish : — "  A  person  of  the  name  of  Bricius  occurs  in 
very  early  charters  as  '  judex'  of  Angus,  probably  holding  his 
office  under  the  great  Earls.  In  1219,  Adam  was  'judex'  of 
the  Earls'  court.  Some  years  later  he  became  '  judex  '  of  the 
King's  court,  and  his  brother  Keraldus  succeeded  to  his  office 
in  the  court  of  the  Earl;  for  in  the  year  1227,  we  find  the 
brothers  acting  together,  and  styled  respectively  'judex '  of 
Angus,  and  'judex'  of  our  Lord  the  King.  The  dwelling  of 
Keraldus  received  the  name  of  '  Keraldiston,'  afterwards 
Caraldstoun ;  and  the  office  of  '  judex '  becoming  hereditary 
and  taking  its  Scotch  form  of  '  Dempster,'  gave  name  to  the 
family  who  for  many  generations  held  the  lands  of  Caraldstoun 
and  performed  the  office  of  Dempster  to  the  Parliaments  of 
Scotland."2 

The  parish  of  Careston  is  of  recent  origin,  having,  down  to 
a  late  period,  formed  a  part  of  that  of  Brechin.  The  site  of  the 
kirk  is  said  to  have  been  a  place  of  family  interment  from  a 
remote  age  ;  and,  although  the  endowment  was  given  and  con- 
nrmed  by  Eoyal  Charter  in  1631,  and  a  church  was  built  in 
1636,  the  Act  for  erecting  the  district  into  a  separate  parish 
was  not  obtained  until  the  year  1641,  when,  on  Sir  Alexander 
Carnegy  of  Balnamoon  (who  was  sole  heritor,  holding  under 
the  superiority  of  Maule  of  Panmure,  as  proprietor  of  the 
Lordship  of  Brechin  and  Navar),  "  takand  christeanlie  to  his 
consideration  the  ignorance  of  his  tennentis,  and  seriowslie 
pondering  with  him  selff,  fynding  the  case,  cause,  and  occasion 

1  Orig.  Dukedom  of  Montrose  Case,  p.  218  ;  so  also  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  187, 
A.D.  1629.          *  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  pp.  ixvi,  94,  et  aL  ;  Acts  Parl.  ii.  pp.  76  (1455). 


270  LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

thereof  to  proceid  frome  the  distance  of  thair  dwelling  to  thair 
paroche  kirk  of  Brechine,  .  .  .  and  that  be  consent  of  the 
ministers  of  Brechine,  it  was  thought  expedient  that  the  said 
lands  of  Carrestoun  et  Pitforkie  should  be  disjoynted  from  the 
said  paroche  of  Brechine,  and  erected  into  ane  severe!!  and 
distinct  paroche  be  it  selff." l 

The  erection  of  the  parish  was  opposed  by  Sir  Patrick 
Maule,  the  minister  of  Navar,  and  the  Commissioner  of 
Brechin,  in  name  of  that  burgh  and  parish ;  still,  the  General 
Assembly  "  appoints  and  ordanes  the  inhabitants  of  the  said 
lands,  with  the  pertinents,  to  repair  to  the  Newe  kirk,  built  be 
the  said  Sir  Alexander  vpon  the  saids  lands  of  Carrestoun,  as 
thair  paroche  kirk  in  all  tynie  thairefter,  for  divine  service,  re- 
ceaveing  of  the  sacraments,  and  to  vse  the  kirkyard  thereof  for 
buriell  of  thair  dead."  Carnegy  reserved  the  patronage  of  the 
kirk  to  himself,  and  the  stipend,  paid  out  of  the  teind  sheaves 
of  Careston,  Pitforkie,  and  Balnabreich,  amounted  to  forty-five 
bolls  two  firlots  victual,  two  parts  meal,  and  third  part  bear, 
and  forty-five  pounds  Scots  money,  "  as  the  samene  are  and 
hes  been  in  vse  to  pay  yeirlie  to  the  late  pretendit  Bishope  of 
Brechine."2 

The  "fyne  little  church,"  as  Ochterlony  calls  it,  of  1636,  is 
still  a  substantial  plain  building,  with  an  aisle  on  the  north 
side.  The  aisle  has  a  special  entrance  from  the  west,  and 
used  to  contain  the  pew  of  the  laird's  family  and  domestics. 
The  burial  vault,  which  is  below  the  aisle,  is  entered  by  a 
flight  of  steps,  but  the  approach  is  covered  up  by  the  flags  in 
the  floor.  In  1870  the  church  and  aisle  received  a  new  roof, 
and  the  inside  seating  was  rearranged.  The  pulpit  now  occu- 
pies the  east  end,  instead  of  the  south  side.  The  proprietor's 
seat,  with  its  baldachino,  stands  in  the  west  end,  and  the 

1  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  ii.  p.  311 ;  Acts  Parl.,  A.D.  1641,v.  p.  568 ;  Fraser,  Carnegies 
ofSouthesk,  L  p.  Ixxxviii  sq.  It  may  be  worthy  of  note  that  a  stone  bearing  the  Car- 
negie and  Blair  arms,  with  initials,  etc.,  similar  to  that  at  Menmuir,  was  found  at 
Careston  Church,  and  is  there  preserved,  being  built  into  the  wall  (infra  pp.  304.  315). 

*  Acts  of  Parl.  v.  p.  568,  Ratification  of  Mortification,  Nov.  2,  1641. 


CARESTON — PARISH  MINISTERS.  271 

aisle  is  partitioned  off  for  a  vestry.  In  this  there  is  preserved 
a  plain  hand-bell  about  ten  inches  high,  with  a  flat  hammered 
loop  for  a  handle,  and  having  cut  upon  the  side  above  the 
rim,  AF1756CF.  On  the  apex  of  the  north  gable  wall 
there  is  the  date  1636.  In  the  churchyard  there  lies  the 
upper  part  of  the  bowl  of  a  small  octagonal  sandstone  font. 

It  is  probable  that  Mr.  David  Campbell,1  who  married  a 
daughter  of  Carnegy  of  Cookston,  was  the  first  minister  of 
Careston  after  its  formation  into  a  parish.  Mr.  Campbell  was 
soon  translated  to  Menmuir,  and  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  John 
Ramsay  in  1649,  whose  successor  was  perhaps  Mr.  Thomas 
Skinner,  master  of  the  Grammar  School  of  Brechin,  who  was 
inducted  to  the  charge  in  1663.  Mr.  Skinner  was  translated 
to  Dailly  in  1666,  and  in  December  of  that  year  he  was  suc- 
ceeded in  Careston  by  Mr.  Gilbert  Skein,  master  of  the  Gram- 
mar School  of  Montrose.  In  June  1679,  Mr.  William  Carnegie 
was  admitted  minister,  and,  being  translated  to  Hoddam  in 
October  1681,  he  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  John  Murray  in 
March  following.2  This  gentleman,  and  his  assistant,  Mr. 
Alexander  Lindsay,  were  among  the  "  Jacobite  intruders  "  who 
caused  their  brethren  so  much  annoyance  on  the  overthrow  of 
Episcopacy,  and  from  that  time  till  the  induction  of  Mr.  Gillies 
in  1716  the  parish  was  without  a  settled  minister.  Mr.  Gillies' 
successor,  William  Morrice,  demitted  the  charge  in  1772,  and 
Andrew  Gray  was  ordained  there  in  the  following  spring.  To 
his  pen  we  owe  the  first  statistical  account  of  the  parish  (1792), 
which  is  very  carefully  written,  while  to  that  of  a  later  minister 
we  owe  the  second  account  (1842).  This  latter,  David  Lyell, 
was  presented  in  1800,  married  the  Hon.  Catherine,  youngest 
daughter  of  John,  seventh  Viscount  Arbuthnott,  and  died  1853. 
The  present  minister,  the  Rev.  W.  L.  Baxter,  A.M.,  appointed 
in  1862,  is  the  third  since  Mr.  Lyell's  death.3 

1  "  April  4, 1643 ;  This  day  Mr.  Dauid  Campbell,  minister  of  Carralstoun,  was 
contractit  with  Mara*  Carnegy  in  this  paroch ;  caur  for  them  both  Alex'  Carnegy  of 
Cuikstoune." — (Br.  Sess.  Rec.) 

2  Presby.  Record  of  Brechin.  3  Scott,  Fasti,  vi.  pp.  818  sq.,  851. 


272  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

As  Careston  is  the  least  among  the  parishes  in  Forfarshire, 
both  as  regards  size  and  population,  and  the  fifth  least  in  the 
kingdom,  the  kirk  and  graveyard  are  correspondingly  small. 
Still,  the  tombstones  were  once  numerous,  and  manifested  as 
much  regard  for  the  memory  of  departed  relatives  as  is  often 
shown  in  more  extensive  localities;  but  when  George  Skene  was 
proprietor,  he  had  the  whole  of  them  thrown  from  the  graveyard, 
and,  in  course  of  time,  they  were  for  the  most  part  broken 
to  pieces,  or  used  for  drain-covers !  The  few  now  remaining 
were  taken  from  the  common  heap,  and  set  up  in  their  present 
position  after  his  death.  One  of  these  (erected  in  1755),  as  if 
anticipating  Skene's  sacrilegious  doings,  bears  this  unambiguous 
request,  which  will  remind  the  reader  of  the  lines  on  the  tomb- 
stone of  Shakespeare,  quoted  at  the  head  of  this  Chapter : — 

"  This  stone  doth  hold  these  corps  of  mine, 
While  I  ly  buried  here  ; 
None  shal  molest  nor  wrong  this  stone, 
Except  my  friends  that  near. 
My  flesh  and  bones  lyes  in  Earth's  womb, 
Wntill  Judgment  do  appear, 
And  then  I  shall  be  raised  again 
To  meet  my  Saviour  dear." 

The  discarded  tombstones  were  supplanted  by  small  slabs, 
that  were  built  into  the  walls  of  the  graveyard,  at  certain  dis- 
tances from  each  other,  and  on  these  the  names  of  the  various 
farms  in  the  parish  were  carved.  The  late  Eev.  Mr.  Lyell 
said  that  these  were  executed  by  the  laird  himself,  and  polished 
by  his  son  David,  who  was  a  druggist  by  occupation.  Perhaps 
the  most  generally  interesting  memorial  now  left  is  the  fol- 
lowing simple  record  of  the  Eeverend  John  Gillies,  who  was 
the  first  minister  of  the  parish  after  the  final  departure  from 
Episcopacy: — 

"  In  memory  of  Mr.  JOHN  GILLIES,  who  was  ordained  minister  of  Car- 
raldston  Sept.  1716,  and  departed  this  life  the  1st  March  1753,  aged  72 
years.  Six  of  his  children  are  likewise  buried  here,  of  which  five  died  in 
infancy,  and  one,  viz4.  THOMAS,  in  March  1736,  aged  13  years.  His  spouse, 


CARESTON — FAMILY   OF   GILLIES.  273 

Mary  Watson,  survives  him,  as  also  five  of  his  children,  viz*.  John,  minister 
in  Glasgow ;  Robert,  merchant  in  Brechin  ;  and  Mary,  Isobel,  and  Janet 
Gillies."  (Ps.  37  ;  Phil.  1.  31  ;  Col.  3.  4.) 

Mr.  Gillies  was  a  native  of  the  west  country,  and  the  first 
of  his  race,  for  seven  generations  (as  he  told  an  old  parishioner), 
who  forsook  the  needle  and  the  bodkin.  He  was  a  licentiate 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Wigtown,  within  whose  bounds  he  taught 
a  school  for  some  time  ;J  and  on  the  removal  of  the  parochial 
teacher  of  Fern,  in  1716,  "for  his  accession  to  the  late  re- 
bellion," Mr.  Gillies  succeeded  him  on  the  recommendation 
of  Professor  Hamilton  of  Edinburgh,  having  shown  himself 
acceptable  to  "the  heritors  of  his  parish  who  are  not  fled 
from  the  Eebellion."2  He  taught  the  school  of  Fern  only 
about  six  months,  when,  on  the  people  of  Careston  promising 
to  "  be  passive,"  and  refusing  to  have  any  hand  in  calling  a 
minister,  though  they  had  been  without  one  for  seven  or  eight 
years,  the  Presbytery  elected  Mr.  Gillies  to  that  charge  on  the 
29th  of  August,  and  ordained  him  on  the  18th  of  the  following 
month. 

He  had  been  inducted  for  many  years,  however,  before  the 
parish  could  boast  of  either  a  kirk-session  or  a  school-house ; 
for  the  church  served  the  double  purpose  of  kirk  and  school 
down  to  the  year  1738,  and  the  parochial  affairs  were  managed 
by  the  minister  and  a  committee  of  the  Presbytery  till  1733, 
when  elders  and  office-bearers  were  chosen  for  the  first  time. 
The  election  had,  perhaps,  been  hastened  by  the  refusal  of  Lord 
Menzies  to  pay  the  Lady  of  Balnamoon's  mortification  to  the 
poor  unless  a  kirk-session  was  chosen  to  receive  the  money. 
This  mortification  was  made  so  far  back  as  1704,  and  became 
payable  from  the  lands  on  Mrs.  Carnegy's  death ;  but  Stewart 
of  Grandtully,  Carnegy's  successor  in  the  property,  refused  to 
do  so  until  compelled  by  law. 

The  want  of  a  session  had  perhaps  arisen  from  the  strong 
feeling  in  favour  of  the  proscribed  faith,  which  long  lingered  in 

i  Presbytery  Rec.  of  Brechin,  May  30,  1716.  2  Ibid. 

S 


274  LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

the  district;  for  although  Mr.  Gillies  was  admitted  to  the 
parish  church  without  any  disturbance,  an  Episcopal  meeting 
was  regularly  held  at  Whiteside  long  after  the  date  of  his 
induction.  It  is  pleasing  to  observe,  however,  that  while  Mr. 
Gillies  and  his  colleagues  were  liberal  to  their  own  party — such 
as,  the  ill-starred  "  relict  of  the  late  Mr.  Buchan,  minister  of 
St.  Kilda," — an  old  veteran  recommended  by  the  Assembly, 
who  had  spent  his  time  in  the  army,  from  the  Eestoration  to 
the  Peace  of  Utrecht — a  poor  stranger  who  had  been  reduced 
to  frailty  and  want,  and  "  suffered  much  from  his  good  affec- 
tion to  the  Church  and  State," — they  were  also  mindful  of  their 
opponents,  the  Episcopal  clergymen  and  Highland  gentlemen, 
several  of  whom  had  their  claims  allowed  from  the  poor's  box, 
as  had  also  "  Hugh  Douglas,  son  to  the  late  Earl  of  Morton," 
who  had  a  "  recommend  from  one  as  having  lost  much  at  sea."1 
All  these  entries  exhibit,  in  simple  but  expressive  language, 
the  sad  distress  into  which  the  persecutions  of  the  times  had 
thrown,  not  only  the  Episcopal  clergy  of  the  period,  but  many 
others  whose  feelings  could  ill  brook  the  sad  reverses  that 
forced  them  to  crave  charity  from  the  hands  of  strangers. 

The  above-mentioned  tombstone  to  the  memory  of  Mr. 
Gillies  has  greater  claim  to  our  notice,  and  is  more  generally 
interesting,  than  may  at  first  sight  appear.  Though  known 
for  little  individually,  further  than  discharging  the  duties  of 
his  office  with  acceptance  to  his  parishioners  during  a  time  of 
great  difficulty,  Mr.  Gillies  is  remarkable  as  the  father  of  a 
race  who  have  become  popular  in  the  higher  walks  of  literature 
and  other  dignified  studies.  A  brief  notice  of  some  of  these 
men  may  not  be  unacceptable  to  the  reader. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  inscription  records  the  birth  of 
eleven  children,  of  whom  only  two  sons  and  three  daughters 
grew  up;  and  the  initials  and  date  "I  •  G:  M  •  W  •  1716," 

1  Careston  Parish  Reg.  1720-21-23,  etc.  This  Hugh  Douglas  may  have  been  a 
natural  son,  or,  more  probably,  an  impostor,  there  being  no  legitimate  son  of  Morton 
so  named  at  the  time  referred  to,  or  for  several  generations  before.  The  twelfth,  or 
"  late  Earl,"  died  unmarried  in  1715. 


CARESTON REV.  DR.  JOHN  GILLIES,  SEN.  AND  JUN.     275 

rudely  cut  on  the  outside  of  the  minister's  pew,  was  perhaps  an 
essay  at  carving  by  the  hand  of  his  eldest  son  John,  the  future 
Doctor  of  Divinity.  This  eminent  divine,  who  wrote  the  Life 
of  George  Whitfield,  Historical  Collections  of  the  Success  of  the 
Gospel,  and  other  works,  was  born  two  years  before  the  time  of 
his  father's  settlement  in  Angus,  and  was  probably  a  native  of 
Galloway.  He  was  ordained  to  the  South  Parish  of  Glasgow  in 
1742,  where  he  continued  for  the  long  period  of  fifty-four  years, 
and  had  a  numerous  family,  one  of  whom  was  minister  of 
Paisley.  His  only  child  by  his  second  wife  was  married  to 
the  Hon.  General  Leslie,  third  son  of  the  Earl  of  Leven. 

But  it  is  to  the  family  of  his  brother  Eobert,  merchant  in 
Brechin,  and  for  a  time  proprietor  of  Little  Keithock,  with  the 
mill-lands  adjoining,  that  the  name  of  Gillies  chiefly  owes  its 
celebrity.  His  wife  was  Margaret  Smith,  the  daughter  of  a 
merchant  of  the  same  city,  and  by  her  he  had  a  large  family 
of  sons  and  daughters.  John,  the  eldest,  was  the  well-known 
historian  of  Greece,  and  author  of  many  other  works.  On 
completing  the  rudimentary  part  of  his  education  at  Brechin, 
John  went  to  Glasgow,  and  resided  with  his  uncle  during  the 
University  session.  He  spent  his  summers  at  home,  "  study- 
ing in  his  father's  garret,"  and  was  but  rarely  seen  either  by 
his  own  family  or  others,  save  in  the  evenings,  when  he  took 
an  airing  in  the  neighbouring  fields.  This  extensive  applica- 
tion had  its  reward ;  and  before  reaching  his  twentieth  year, 
he  attained  such  proficiency  in  the  Greek  language,  that  he 
was  appointed  teacher  of  the  University  class  during  Professor 
Moore's  last  illness,  and  would  have  succeeded  to  that  chair  on 
Moore's  death  had  he  not  preferred  a  journey  to  the  Continent, 
whither  he  went  as  guardian  to  the  sons  of  the  Earl  of  Hope- 
toun.  The  Earl,  being  much  pleased  with  Mr.  Gillies'  conduct 
towards  his  sons,  placed  him  beyond  the  remotest  prospect  of 
pecuniary  want  by  settling  a  handsome  annuity  upon  him  for 
life,  and  he  thenceforward  prosecuted  his  studies  in  ease  and 
comparative  affluence,  devoting  himself  entirely  to  literary 


276  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

pursuits.  The  most  popular  of  his  many  works  is  the  History 
of  Ancient  Greece.  On  the  death  of  Dr.  Kobertson  he  was 
appointed  Historiographer-Eoyal  for  Scotland,  and  died  in 
1836,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety. 

Though  his  pursuits  were  of  a  classical  and  historical 
character,  he  had  a  clear  perception  of  the  ludicrous,  and 
entertained  his  friends  with  couplets  descriptive  of  the  pecu- 
liarities of  the  more  singular  characters  of  his  native  town. 
These,  unfortunately,  have  been  lost,  with  the  exception  of 
that  undernoted.  The  party  epitaphised  was  a  maternal  rela- 
tive of  the  Doctor's,  and  alive  when  the  couplet  was  written. 
He  was  bred  a  shoemaker,  but  preferred  the  more  exhilarating 
avocation  of  a  courier,  and  other  out-of-door  exercises,  to  his 
immediate  calling — a  circumstance  that  gave  rise  to  the  epitaph 
referred  to,  which  runs  thus : — 

"  Here  lies  John  Smith,  shoemaker  by  trade, 
Who  wore  more  shoes  than  ever  he  made." 

Dr.  Gillies'  youngest  brother,  Adam,  was  called  to  the  bar 
in  1787,  appointed  Sheriff  of  Kincardineshire  in  1806,  and, 
though  a  Whig,  was  raised  to  the  bench  in  1811,  during  the 
Administration  of  the  unfortunate  Mr.  Perceval.  He  had  a 
grave,  austere  demeanour,  was  a  judge  of  high  authority,  of 
few  words,  and  terse  argumentation ;  and,  unlike  his  learned 
predecessors,  who  loved  to  use  the  broad  Scotch  dialect,  he 
affected  an  ignorance  of  it,  and  assumed  the  English  ac- 
centuations. While  on  circuit  on  one  occasion,  a  case  came 
before  him,  in  which  some  of  the  witnesses  examined  were 
natives  of  Brechin.  In  course  of  giving  evidence,  one  of  them, 
an  old  man  who  had  known  Gillies  from  his  infancy,  happened 
to  give  the  name  of  the  article  hat  the  sharp  provincial  ac- 
centuation of  Mt.  His  Lordship  immediately  interrogated 
the  deponent — "What  do  you  mean  by  a  Mt,  sir?"  "I 
thocht,"  said  the  unabashed  witness,  "that  yer  honour  had 
been  lang  eneuch  aboot  Brechin  to  ken  what  a  Mt  was !" 

Mr.  Gillies  was  counsel  for  some  of  the  political  martyrs  of 


CARESTON — LORD    GILLIES.  277 

the  early  part  of  this  century,  and  by  the  distinguished  and 
able  manner  in  which  he  conducted  the  defence,  he  established 
that  reputation  for  talent  which  eventually  led  to  his  promo- 
tion to  the  bench.  He  held  office  till  within  a  few  weeks  of 
his  death,  which  occurred  towards  the  end  of  the  year  1842, 
at  Leamington,  whither  he  had  gone  for  the  benefit  of  his 
health.  His  body  was  conveyed  to  Edinburgh,  and  interred 
in  the  Greyfriars  Churchyard. 

Though  by  no  means  a  lover  of  the  place  of  his  nativity, 
which  perhaps  arose  from  the  misfortunes  that  attended  an 
elder  brother,  he  was  the  untiring  benefactor  of  his  less  opulent 
relatives,  and  left  a  respectable  annuity  to  his  nephew,  Robert 
Pearse  Gillies,  of  literary  celebrity. 

His  brother  Colin  was  the  most  enterprising  provincial 
flour  and  corn  dealer  of  his  time,  and,  in  his  hey-day,  had 
perhaps  more  influence  than  any  individual  trader  of  Angus 
or  the  Mearns  ever  enjoyed.  Throughout  both  of  these  counties 
he  had  extensive  spinning,  bleaching,  and  weaving  factories, 
and  farmed  a  large  extent  of  land,  besides  being  proprietor  of 
Murlingden,  near  Brechin,  and  of  house  property  to  a  great 
amount  in  most  of  the  towns  of  the  two  counties.  He  was 
also  projector  of  the  porter  brewery  at  Brechin,  in  itself 
a  lucrative  concern,  and  he  contributed  the  valuable  statistics 
of  the  linen  trade  of  Forfarshire  to  Sir  John  Sinclair's 
great  work.  For  several  years  he  was  also  chief  magis- 
trate of  his  native  city.  Matters,  however,  were  suddenly 
reversed,  and  his  failure,  which  occurred  in  the  year  1811, 
sank  the  north-eastern  districts  of  Forfarshire  and  the  adjoining 
parts  of  Kincardineshire  into  a  state  of  ruin,  that  was  not 
recovered  from  for  many  a  day.  Under  the  judicious  manage- 
ment of  Mr.  Greenhill  of  Fern,  who  was  the  principal  creditor, 
Mr.  Gillies'  estate  yielded  a  little  more  than  half  payment,  which 
was  beyond  all  anticipation;  and  although  Lord  Gillies  was 
personally  involved  to  a  large  amount,  he  felt  so  sensible  of 
the  value  of  Mr.  Greenhill's  services,  and  the  loss  he  sustained 


278  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

beyond  other  creditors,  that  he  pledged  himself  to  remunerate 
him  to  some  extent  if  ever  he  had  it  in  his  power.  On  the 
death  of  Mrs.  Hay  Mudie  of  Newton  and  Pitforthy,  many 
years  afterwards,  Lord  Gillies  was  left  a  handsome  legacy  by 
that  lady.  An  opportunity  was'  thus  afforded  of  fulfilling  his 
promise,  and,  with  a  nobleness  of  heart,  and  honour  worthy  of 
all  praise,  he  forwarded  a  thousand  pounds,  with  the  request 
for  Mr.  Greenhill's  kind  acceptance  of  it. 

Thomas,  who  was  bred  a  surgeon,  and  went  to  India,  was  the 
father  of  Robert  Pearse  Gillies,  now  so  well  known  in  literature. 
He  amassed  a  large  fortune  abroad,  and,  on  returning  to  his 
native  country,  purchased  the  estate,  and  built  the  mansion- 
house  of  Balmakewan  in  Kincardineshire,  a  property  which 
his  son  sold  on  coming  of  age.  Dr.  Thomas  Gillies  was  a  man 
of  great  benevolence,  but  of  singularly  eccentric  habits,  and  in 
honour  of  his  son,  or  perhaps  of  Colonel  Pearse  (an  intimate 
acquaintance  in  the  Indian  army),  he  named  a  part  of  Brechin, 
where  he  held  considerable  property,  "  Pearse  Street,"  by  which 
name  it  is  still  known. 

While  residing  in  his  town-house  in  Brechin  one  winter, 
a  band  of  strolling  players  located  themselves  in  the  Mason 
Lodge,  which  was  immediately  opposite  his  residence,  and 
thither  he  went  one  evening  to  while  away  the  time.  On 
entering  the  theatre,  he  placed  himself  so  close  to  the  stage 
that  the  master  of  the  ceremonies  was  forced  to  ask  him  to 
retire  to  a  little  distance.  This  was  insisted  upon  without 
success ;  and  after  much  altercation,  the  Doctor,  raising  him- 
self on  tip-toe,  gruffly  inquired  of  his  antagonist,  "  Don't  you 
know  who  /  am,  sir? — I'm  Doctor  Gillies  from  Bengal!" 
"  Though  you  were  Doctor  Faustus  from  the  devil,"  rejoined 
the  humble  representative  of  Thespis,  giving  him  a  shove  to 
the  front  seats,  "  you  shan't  stand  there !"  Of  his  eminent  son 
little  can  be  added  to  the  interesting  and  unvarnished  state- 
ment which  he  gives  of  his  own  chequered  and  unfortunate 
career.  He  was  born  at  Brechin  in  1789,  called  to  the  Scotch 


CARESTON — DR.    THOMAS   GILLIES.  279 

bar  in  1812,  and  subsequently  adopted  literature  as  a  profes- 
sion. His  later  history  is  told  by  himself  in  his  curious  work 
entitled  Memoirs  of  a  Literary  Veteran. 

Thus,  it  will  be  seen,  "  the  mantle  "  has  descended  on  the 
Gillies  family  to  an  almost  unprecedented  extent.  Another 
brother,  William,  who  was  engaged  with  Colin  in  porter- 
brewing,  was  father  of  the  Misses  Mary  and  Margaret  Gillies  of 
London,  of  whom  the  one  was  known  as  a  successful  miniature- 
painter,  and  the  other  as  a  contributor  to  the  periodical  press. 
Of  the  daughters,  one  married  Henry  William  Tytler,  translator 
of  Callimachus,  and  another  was  mother  of  the  late  Colvin  Smith, 
portrait-painter  in  Edinburgh,  whose  father  (a  cousin  of  his 
mother)  was  some  time  a  merchant  and  bailie  in  Brechin,  and 
long  held  the  office  of  postmaster.  Still,  strange  to  say,  notwith- 
standing the  former  opulence  and  importance  of  the  Gillies 
family,  the  very  surname  is  now  almost  unknown  in  the 
district. 


SECTION   II. 

Of  known  renown,  and  Chieftains  of  their  name. 

DON,  A  POEM. 

Office  of  Dempster — Dempster  of  Careston — of  Muiresk — Lindsays  of  Careston — of 
Balnabreich  —  The  Carnegies  of  Careston  —  The  Stewarts  —  "The  Douglas 
Cause  " — The  Earl  of  Home,  Baron  Douglas — The  Skenes  of  Careston — Origin  of 
family — Major  George  Skene— Captain  Skene,  the  warlock  laird — Mr.  John 
Adamson — Mitchells  of  Nether  Careston. 

THE  surname  of  "  Dempster,"  as  before  mentioned,  originated 
from  the  office  of  "  judex,"  or  Dempster  to  the  Parliament  and 
shire ;  but  it  is  uncertain  at  what  period  it  was  first  assumed. 
Haldan  de  Emester,  or  Demester,  of  the  county  of  Perth,  swore 
fealty  to  Edward  in  1296,1  and  this  is  the  earliest  instance  of 
the  surname  with  which  we  have  met.  It  was  assumed  by  the 
lairds  of  Careston  (in  its  present  form)  before  1360,  when  they 
and  the  Collaces  became  portioners  of  Menmuir.2  In  1370, 

1  Ragman  Rolls,  p.  128.  2  Reg.  Mag.  Sig.  p.  43,  no.  118. 


280  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

David  Dempster  of  Careston  was  a  perambulator  of  marches 
near  Arbroath,  and  bound  himself  to  the  Abbot  of  that 
Monastery,  of  which  he  was  justiciary,  to  provide  a  qualified 
deputy.1  On  the  resignation  of  this  office  by  his  grandson,  it 
was  conferred  on  the  Earl  of  Crawford,  whose  extravagance 
prompted  the  convent  to  dispense  with  him,  and  appoint 
Ogilvy  of  Inverquharity — a  circumstance  that  gave  rise  to  the 
battle  between  the  Ogilvys  and  Lindsays  at  Arbroath,  already 
noticed.2 

The  office  of  heritable  Dempster  to  the  Parliaments  was 
confirmed  to  Andrew  Dempster  of  Careston  by  Eobert  n.  in 
1379,3  and  from  the  irregularity  with  which  the  fees  attached 
thereto  were  paid,  a  glimpse  is  afforded  of  the  sources  from 
which  the  payments  were  derived.  Thus  an  action  was  raised 
before  the  Lords  Auditors  by  David  Dempster,  who  claimed 
"  (tene  pundis)  amerciament  of  fee  ilk  parliament,"  and  the  like 
sum,  it  is  presumed,  "  of  ilk  Justice  Are  "  held  in  Forfarshire, 
and  "  amerciament  zerely  of  the  extrect  of  the  Sheref  s  Court 
of  the  sammyn,"  which  the  "  lordis  Auditoris  thinkis  that  he 
suld  be  pait  efter  the  forme  of  his  infeftment,  maid  be  King 
Eobert  vnder  the  gret  sele  schawin  et  producit."  4 

The  father  of  the  last-mentioned  David  was  the  first  of  the 
name  that  possessed  the  lands  of  Pitforthy,  Ardo,  Bothers  (now 
Cairnbank),  and  Adecat,  near  Brechin.  These  were  anciently 
church  lands,  and  formed  part  of  those  alienated  from  the 
Cathedral  of  Brechin  by  peculating  officials ;  but  James  ill., 
in  his  determination  to  restore  the  Church's  property,  had 
Dempster  cited  before  the  Lords  of  Council  in  1464,  as  the 
wrongous  possessor  of  these  lands,  and  he  was  ordered  to 
reconvey  them  all  to  the  Church.  To  this  he  agreed  in  1468, 
in  the  humiliating  posture  of  bended  knee,  and  having  his 
hands  closed  within  those  of  the  Bishop.5 

1  Reg.  Nigr.  Aberbr.  pp.  31,  111  2  ui  supra,  p.  176. 

3  Douglas,  Baronage,  p.  531.  4  ^cta  Auditorum,  July  18,  1476,  p.  53. 

8  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  ii.  pp.  106,  109. 


CARESTON — DEMPSTER   AND  HIS   NEIGHBOURS.      281 

Although  thus  penitent,  and  reinstated  in  part,  if  not  in 
the  whole  of  these  lands,  Dempster  seems  to  have  had  little 
love  for  either  the  church  or  the  Bishop,  for  soon  afterwards, 
in  1467,  he  was  again  summoned  by  "the  Eeverend  Fader," 
for  the  "  spoliacioune  of  iiijxx  nolt "  from  the  lands  of  Ardo, 
and  a  horse  from  those  of  Pitforthy,  over  which  it  would 
appear  (from  the  fact  that  a  deliverance  was  given  against 
Dempster  with  costs),  the  Bishop  had  retained  the  privilege 
of  grazing. 

Ever  and  anon  this  lording  spirit  was  manifesting  itself 
in  Dempster's  character,  either  through  the  oppression  of  the 
widow  or  by  other  heartless  outrages  ;  and  he  and  his  brother, 
joining  in  the  mischievous  and  daring  enterprises  of  the  pro- 
fligate sons  of  the  Duke  of  Montrose,  were  of  that  sacrilegious 
party  which  carried  off  "twa  monkis,"  and  some  horses,  belonging 
to  the  Abbey  of  Cupar;  and  for  this  "hurting  of  the  priuilege  and 
fredome  of  hali  kirk,"  they  were  both  ordered  to  place  themselves 
in  ward  in  the  respective  castles  of  Dumbarton  and  Berwick. 
Perhaps  the  aid  which  Dempster  of  Careston  and  his  brother 
afforded  the  young  Crawfords  in  their  lawlessness  and  rapine 
induced  their  father  to  thrust  Dempster  out  of  the  farms 
of  Gleneffock  and  Pettintoscall,  of  which  he  was  liferenter, 
and  to  take  forcible  possession  of  a  number  of  his  oxen  and 
cows.  But,  so  far  was  the  Duke  from  succeeding  in  this,  that 
his  adversary  was  ordained  to  "  broek  and  joise  the  tak  all 
the  dayis  of  his  life,"  without  vexation  or  trouble.1 

Emboldened  with  success,  Dempster  next  directed  his 
energies  to  the  annoyance  of  the  Duke  and  the  summary 
ejection  of  his  tenantry,  and,  among  other  misdeeds,  he  turned 
John  Guthrie  out  of  "  the  tak  and  mailing  of  the  landis  of 
Petpowoks,"  in  the  lordship  of  Brechin.  In  this  the  Dempsters 
were  found  at  fault,  and  ordered  to  reinstate  Guthrie  in 
his  possession,  seeing  that  he  produced  a  tack  signed  by  the 
Duke.2 

1  Acta  Dom.  ConcUii,  Ap.  22,  1479,  p.  29.  2  Ibid.  Dec.  9,  1494. 


282  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

This  polemical  laird,  who  was  fifth  in  descent  from  the 
David  first  named,  added  largely  to  his  possessions  in  the  north, 
having  had  charters  of  the  lordship  of  Muiresk  and  other 
parts  from  James  III.  in  1481,  from  which  period  the  family 
were  promiscuously  designed  of  Auchterless  and  Muiresk.1 
He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  William,  who  is  the  last  designed 
"of  Caroldstoun,"  of  which  he  had  charters  in  1529,  as  also 
of  the  lands  and  mill  of  Pitmois,  in  the  regality  of  Kirriemuir.2 
He  died  soon  thereafter,  and  although  he  was  the  last  of  the 
name  specially  designed  of  Careston,  the  family  had  an  interest 
in  the  locality  down  to  a  much  later  period ;  for  among  the 
charters  belonging  to  the  city  of  Brechin,  David  Dempster, 
"  fiar  of  Peathill,"  appears  as  a  witness  under  date  1597.3 

We  are  not  aware  of  the  precise  time  when  the  barony 
of  Careston  fell  to  the  Lindsays,  but  it  is  certain  that  Sir 
Henry  Lindsay  of  Kinfauns,  afterwards  thirteenth  Earl  of 
Crawford,  was  in  possession  before  the  close  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  since  on  the  17th  of  January  1600,  Janet  Forrester, 
with  consent  of  her  son,  granted  an  annual  of  forty-five  merks 
out  of  a  part  of  the  lands  of  Balnabreithe  to  Henry  Lindsay  de 
Carraldstoun,  and  his  heirs.4  Only  eight  years  thereafter,  Sir 
Henry  resigned  Careston,  Nether  Careston,  and  Balnabreich, 
and  the  barony  and  lordship  of  Kinfauns,  in  favour  of  his 
eldest  son  Sir  John,  Knight  of  the  Bath,  as  fiar,  but  under 
his  father's  liferent.5  Sir  John  predeceased  his  father  about 
1615,  and  leaving  no  male  issue,  the  property  reverted  to  Sir 
Henry  in  1618,  who  obtained  a  bond  of  reversion  over  Careston 
and  Finhaven  from  William  Forbes  of  Craigievar.6  In  1629, 

1  Douglas,  Baronage,  p.  532.  2  Ibid. 

3  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  ii.  pp.  230,  285, 291.  Thomas  Dempster,  the  celebrated  author 
of  Hintoria  Ecclesiastica  Qentis  Scotorum,  etc.,  was  of  the  Muiresk  family,  and 
commonly,  but  erroneously,  said  to  have  been  born  at  Brechin.  The  real  place  of 
his  birth  was  the  mansion-house  of  Cliftbog,  in  Aberdeenshire.  He  was  the  twenty- 
fourth  of  twenty-nine  children,  that  his  mother,  a  daughter  of  Lesly  of  Balquhain, 
bore  to  his  father.— (Irving,  Lives  of  Scottish  Writers,  i.  p.  347.)  Dempster  of 
Dunichen  and  Skibo  is  also  said  to  be  descended  from  a  younger  son  of  Muiresk. — 
(Jervise,  Epitaphs,  i.  pp.  108-9.)  *  Crawford  Case,  p.  82. 

8  Crawford  Case,  p.  84.  o  jbid.  p.  84. 


CARESTON — OWNERS    OF   THE   ESTATE.  283 

Earl  George,  as  heir  to  his  brother  Sir  John  Lindsay,  had, 
along  with  the  lands  of  Careston,  the  office  of  adjudicator  in 
the  Parliaments  of  Scotland,  and  justiciary  in  the  courts  of 
Forfarshire  j1  but  in  1630,  these,  and  the  lands  of  Shielhill,  in 
the  parish  of  Kirriemuir,  and  Easter  Balnabreich,  were  sold 
by  him  to  John  Eamsay,2  who  had  been  laird  of  the  western 
part  of  the  last-named  property  for  some  time  before.  Lord 
Spynie  relieved  Craigievar's  bond  at  that  period,  and  thus 
became  proprietor  of  Careston  and  Finhaven  at  about  the  same 
time. 

Long  before  this,  however,  in  1595,  Sir  Alexander  Carnegie, 
brother  to  the  first  Earl  of  Southesk,  and  afterwards  proprietor 
of  Balnamoon,  had  a  charter  of  half  the  lands  of  Balnabreich ; 3 
and  being  a  lawyer  of  eminence,  is  said  to  have  received 
the  barony  of  Careston  in  lieu  of  the  expenses  of  a  lawsuit, 
which  he  is  represented  to  have  carried  on  in  behalf  of  the 
Lindsays.4 

Sir  John  Stewart  of  Grandtully  and  Murthly,  succeeded 
the  Carnegies  in  Careston  by  purchase,  in  1707.  His  arms, 
with  the  date  1714,  still  decorate  the  front  of  the  castle  ;  and 
during  the  proprietorship  of  that  family  much  of  the  stone 
carving  was  added  to  the  house.  The  Stewarts  were  de- 
scended, through  a  daughter  of  Lord  Bute,  from  a  son  of  Alex- 
ander, the  Lord  High  Steward  of  Scotland  in  the  time  of 
Alexander  n.  and  ill. ;  his  eldest  brother,  the  seventh  Lord 
High  Steward,  was  the  illustrious  personage  from  whom 
"  the  Royal  Stewart "  deduce  their  descent.  Grandtully  was 
acquired  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  The  first  baronet  was  a 
Senator  of  the  College  of  Justice,  and,  by  the  marriage  of  his 
grandson  with  Lady  Jane  Douglas,  only  daughter  of  the  pen- 

1  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  187.     When  the  Earl  of  Ethie  was  served  heir  of 
conquest  to  his  immediate  younger  brother,  Robert  Carnegie  of  Dunnichen,  in  the 
lands  and  barony  of  Careston,  he  had  also  "  the  office  of  dempster  of  Parliaments, 
Justice-courts,  and  Circuit- courts,  of  the  Sherefdom  of  Forfar."— (Ibid.  No.  371, 
A.D.  1658.) 

2  Crawford  Case,  p.  91  ;  see  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  Nos.  431,  432. 

3  Douglas,  Peerage,  ii.  p.  514.  4  New  Stat.  Acct.  Forfar.  p.  529. 


284  LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

ultimate  Marquis  of  Douglas,  and  thirteenth  Earl  of  Angus, 
the  famous  "  Douglas  Cause"  arose,  whereby  her  son,  Archibald, 
succeeded  to  the  large  estates  of  the  Duke  of  Douglas — the 
Marquisate  of  Douglas  having  merged  into  the  Dukedom  of 
Hamilton.  He  was  created  a  British  Peer  by  the  title  of 
Baron  Douglas  of  Douglas  in  1790,  was  long  Lord-Lieutenant 
of  Forfarshire,  and  died  in  1827.  His  two  brothers  succeeded, 
and  on  the  death  of  his  half-brother,  the  Eev.  James  Douglas, 
the  fourth  and  last  Baron  Douglas  of  that  creation,  in  1857,  the 
title  became  extinct,  and  the  estates  devolved  upon  the  Lady 
Montagu,  eldest  daughter  of  the  first  Baron  Douglas,  and  widow 
of  the  second  and  last  Lord  Montagu.  Two  years  after,  on  the 
death  of  Lady  Montagu,  the  estates  passed  to  her  eldest 
daughter,  Lady  Lucy  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Cospatrick  Alexander, 
eleventh  Earl  of  Home.  His  Lordship  had  his  titles  augmented 
by  the  addition  of  Baron  Douglas  of  Douglas  in  1875,  arid  by 
this  title  had  his  place  as  a  Peer  of  the  United  Kingdom.  The 
Countess  of  Home  died  in  1877,  and  his  Lordship  wras  found 
with  life  extinct  on  the  lawn  at  The  Hirsel  in  Berwickshire 
in  1881.  He  was  succeeded  in  titles  and  estates  by  his  eldest 
son,  Charles  Alexander  Douglas,  twelfth  Earl  of  Home. 

Careston  again  changed  hands  in  1721,  and  became,  by 
purchase,  the  property  of  Major  George  Skene,  a  cadet  of  the 
old  family  of  that  Ilk.  This  family  enjoyed  the  estate  of 
Skene  from  father  to  son  in  nearly  uninterrupted  succession 
for  more  than  600  years,  down  to  the  late  period  of  1827,  when 
the  last  direct  male  descendant  died.  The  first  who  bore  the 
surname  is  said  to  have  been  a  younger  son  of  Donald  of  the 
Isles,  who,  according  to  tradition,  saved  Malcolm  n.  from  being 
torn  to  pieces  by  an  enraged  wolf,  that  chased  him  from  the 
forest  of  Kilblein  in  Mar  to  the  Burn  of  Broadtach,  now 
within  the  boundary  of  the  town  of  Aberdeen.  At  this  point 
the  wolf  came  up  with  the  king,  and  was  just  about  to  spring 
upon  him,  when  the  gallant  youth,  "  wrapping  his  plaid  about 
his  left  arm,  and,  rushing  in  betwixt  the  king  and  the  wolf, 


CARESTON — SKENES   OF   THAT   ILK.  285 

thrust  his  left  arm  into  the  wolfs  mouth,  and  drawing  his 
skene — which  in  the  Gaelic  language  signifies  a  dirk  or  knife — 
struck  it  to  the  wolfs  heart,  and  then  cut  off  its  head  and  pre- 
sented it  to  King  Malcolm." x  For  this  meritorious  service  he 
had  a  large  grant  of  land  in  Aberdeenshire,  including  the  parish 
of  Skene,  and  took  his  surname  from  the  dirk  or  knife.  This  in- 
strument, it  is  said,  is  still  preserved  among  the  family  relics. 

This  tradition,  though  strengthened,  as  are  those  of  other 
ancient  families,  by  armorial  insignia,  is  as  incredible  as  it  is 
romantic.  The  first  genuine  notice  of  the  race  occurs  in  the 
time  of  the  disputed  monarchy,  during  which,  in  1290, 
"Johannes  Skene"  was  an  arbitrator  between  Bruce  and 
Baliol;  and  in  1296,  the  same  person  and  "Patrik  de  Skene" 
(probably  a  son,  for  they  were  both  of  Aberdeenshire),  were 
among  the  barons  who  swore  fealty  to  Edward.2  So  far  from 
the  whole  property  of  Skene  having  continued  in  the  family 
from  the  time  of  Malcolm,  it  appears,  from  a  roll  of  missing 
charters  by  Eobert  I.,  that  he  gave  "  Alexander  Frazer  of  Cluny 
the  lands  of  Cardnye,  with  the  fishing  of  the  Loch  of  Skene,"  3 
which  had,  doubtless,  formed  part  of  the  estate.  At  all  events, 
"  the  great  loch  of  Skene "  is  a  portion  of  the  traditionary 
grant  of  Malcolm.  This  charter  of  the  fishing  to  Frazer  is 
undated,  but  was  given  sometime  before  1318,  as  in  that  year 
the  same  patriotic  prince  made  a  grant  to  Eobert  de  Skene,  for 
his  service  and  homage,  of  "  omnes  et  singulas  terras  de  Skene 
et  locum  ejusdem."  Hence  it  seems  evident  that  this  was  the 
period  that  the  family  had  their  charter  of  the  lands  and  loch 
of  Skene,  and  the  first  time,  so  far  as  known,  that  they  received 
a  royal  acknowledgment  of  their  services ;  although  from  the 
designation  de  Skene,  they  must  either  have  been  vassals,  or 
portioners  of  the  lordship,  prior  to  the  year  1290.4 

The  first  of  the  race,  who  figured  in  the  subsequent  achieve- 

1  Douglas,  Baronage,  p.  555 :  Nisbet,  Heraldry,  i.  p.  324. 

2  Ragman  Rolls,  p.  154  :  Nisbet,  Heraldry,  App.  in.  p.  44. 

3  Robertson,  Index,  p.  16.  24.  4  Douglas,  Baronage,  p.  556. 


28G  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

merits  of  the  kingdom,  was  Adam  de  Skene,  who  married  a 
daughter  of  Keith  Marischal.  He  raised  a  force  against  the 
invasion  of  Donald  of  the  Isles,  and  fell  at  Harlaw.  The 
heads  of  the  family  shared  the  same  fate  at  the  subsequent 
battles  of  Flodden  and  Pinkie.  James  Skene,  who  succeeded 
his  father  in  1634,  was  a  staunch  loyalist,  and,  like  others  of 
his  exiled  countrymen,  served  in  the  Ten  Years'  War  under 
Gustavus  Adolphus.  His  second  son  joined  the  Covenanters, 
was  taken  prisoner  at  Eutherglen,  and  executed  in  the  Grass- 
market  of  Edinburgh,  on  the  1st  of  December  16S0.1 

It  was  Major  George  Skene,  grandson  of  the  last-mentioned 
James,  an  officer  of  distinction  during  the  wars  of  Queen  Anne, 
who  purchased  the  estate  of  Careston  from  the  Grandtully 
family  in  1721,  entailed  it  in  the  following  year,  and  died  in 
1724.  He  had  two  daughters ;  one  of  them  married  the  laird 
of  Skene,  her  own  cousin-german,  the  other  Sir  John  Forbes 
of  Foveran.  Both  being  married  at  the  same  time,  it  is  said 
that  their  father  willed  that  his  estate  of  Careston  should  pass 
to  the  daughter  who  bore  the  first  son.2  Mrs.  Skene  was  the 
fortunate  party,  and  her  eldest  son,  George,  consequently  suc- 
ceeded to  Careston.  On  the  death  of  his  father  he  became 
chief  of  the  ancient  family  of  Skene  of  that  Ilk,  being  the 
twenty-first  in  succession  from  Kobert  Skene  of  1318.  He 
married  a  daughter  of  Forbes  of  Alford,  had  five  sons  and  two 
daughters,  and,  as  all  the  former  died  without  issue,  the  succes- 
sion devolved  on  their  eldest  sister,  who  married  Alexander, 
third  Earl  of  Fife.  She  was  mother  of  James,  the  fourth  Earl, 
and  of  the  late  General  Sir  Alexander  Duff,  whose  eldest  son 
became  proprietor  of  Careston,  and  afterwards  succeeded  to  the 
Earldom  of  Fife. 

The  eldest  son  of  Miss  Forbes  of  Alford  was  bred  a  lawyer, 
but  having  a  desire  for  military  service,  entered  the  army,  and 
rose  to  the  rank  of  captain.  He  was  long  quartered  in 
Ireland,  and,  in  allusion  to  the  English  interpretation  of  his 

1  Douglas,  Baronage,  p.  559.  2  New  Stat.  Acct.  Forfar.  p.  530. 


CARESTON — LAST   OF   THE   SKENES.  287 

name,  was  familiarly  known  there  as  Captain  Knife :  he  left 
the  service  on  the  death  of  his  father.  Taking  part  with  the 
late  Lord  Panmure  in  the  reforming  movements  of  the  period, 
he  held  a  conspicuous  place  in  that  momentous  crisis,  and  was 
one  of  the  party  whom  Napoleon,  soon  after  his  elevation  to 
the  First  Consulship,  arrested  for  openly  drinking  to  his  over- 
throw at  a  public  banquet  in  Paris.  The  fines  which  were 
imposed  on  Skene  and  Maule,  and  the  bribes  they  paid  for 
their  escape,  were  so  heavy,  that,  though  both  had  large 
incomes,  and  were  long-lived,  they  were,  to  some  extent  at 
least,  embarrassed  in  consequence  all  their  days. 

Captain  Skene  died  unmarried,  and  was  succeeded  by  his 
youngest  surviving  brother,  Alexander,  who,  with  another 
brother,  was  deaf  and  dumb.  With  the  view  of  enabling  these 
to  employ  their  time  usefully,  they  were  both  apprenticed  in 
early  life  to  a  Mr.  Eobb,  watchmaker,  Montrose,  a  person  of 
provincial  eminence  in  his  line. 

On  succeeding  to  the  estates,  the  last  Skene  of  Skene 
removed  to  the  ancestral  dwelling  in  Aberdeenshire,  where  he 
died  in  1827.  His  nephew  James,  the  fourth  Earl  of  Fife,  and 
grand-nephew,  James  the  fifth  Earl,  succeeded  to  the  properties, 
and,  after  several  ineffective  attempts  to  dispose  of  Careston, 
the  entail  at  last  was'  removed,  with  the  aid  of  the  Eutherfurd 
Act,  and  the  estate  was  sold  to  the  present  proprietor,  Mr.  John 
Adamson,  late  manufacturer,  Blairgowrie,  for  £196,000,  the 
transaction  of  sale  being  completed  in  1873. 

None  of  the  family,  however,  was  so  popular  in  Forfar- 
shire  as  the  father  of  these  youths — the  eldest  son  of  Miss 
Skene — and  of  his  wild  drunken  adventures  and  natural 
eccentricities  many  singular  anecdotes  are  preserved.  Con- 
temporary with  "  the  rebel  laird  "  of  Balnamoon,  and  resident 
within  a  short  distance,  he  is  said  to  have  found  in  him  a 
frequent  companion,  and  the  stories  of  their  carousals  are  so 
mixed  up  with  each  other  that  they  are  practically  inseparable. 
Though  reputed  to  be  a  man  of  greater  learning,  and  perhaps 


LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS.    . 

of  more  extensive  general  knowledge,  Skene  is  said  to  have  been 
much  more  of  the  bacchanal  than  Carnegie.  He  had  travelled  a 
good  deal  on  the  Continent,  and  being  naturally  of  a  musical 
turn,  was  believed  by  the  vulgar,  not  only  to  have  the  power 
of  making  his  favourite  instrument,  the  bagpipe,  play  in  the 
castle  while  he  strolled  among  the  fields,  but,  like  the  Black 
Earl  of  Southesk,  it  was  also  understood  that 

"  He  learn'd  the  art  that  none  may  name 
In  Padua,  beyond  the  sea." 

The  story  of  "  there  being  nae  wale  o'  wigs,"  when  the  laird 
fell  from  his  Eosinante  into  the  South  Esk  at  Blaikiemill  ford, 
and  his  drunken  servant  placed  a  wet  fagot  on  his  head 
instead  of  his  wig  ! — of  his  falling  over  his  horse's  ears  into  a 
burn,  and  crying  to  his  man,  "  Is  that  a  man  fa'en  i'  the 
water,  Harry  ?  I  thocht  I  heard  a  plash  ! " — of  his  being  set 
past  in  his  carriage,  in  the  shed,  and  forgot  for  hours — and  a 
host  of  kindred  anecdotes,  are  printed  in  almost  all  jest-books, 
and  need  not  be  repeated.  They  are,  however,  generally 
understood  in  the  locality  to  have  occurred  between  Skene 
and  his  man  Harry  Walker ;  but  the  first  story  belongs  pro- 
perly to  the  contemporary  laird  of  Balnamoon,  who  falls  to  be 
noticed  in  the  next  Chapter. 

Such  were  the  proprietors  of  Careston  from  earliest  record 
to  the  present  time  ;  and,  as  a  family  called  Mitchell  occupied 
until  recently  the  farm  of  Nether  Careston,  which  their  progeni- 
tors had  held  from  at  least  the  time  of  Earl  Henry  of  Craw- 
ford (the  last  tenant  having  among  his  papers  leases  to  his 
forefathers  by  Earl  Henry,  until  they  were  lately  handed  over  to 
the  Earl  of  Fife),  some  notice  of  them,  as  still  preserved  in  the 
district,  may  not  be  inaptly  given  under  this  head.  Having 
always  been  energetic,  they  were  foremost  in  all  sorts  of  agricul- 
tural improvement,  and,  among  other  advances,  were  the  first  in 
the  north-eastern  district  of  the  county  to  erect  a  thrashing-mill, 
and  adopt  the  use  of  fanners.  As  a  matter  of  course,  they  had 
much  to  contend  with  in  so  doing,  because  the  wonderful 


CARESTON — MITCHELLS  OF  CAKESTON.  289 

power  of  the  latter  machine  in  separating  the  grain  from  the 
chaff  was  attributed  to  supernatural  agency,  and  called  the 
Devil's  Wind  I  It  is  said  that  the  prejudice  was  so  strong 
against  their  use,  that  Mitchell  and  his  family  were  compelled 
to  work  them  personally,  and  scarcely  a  housewife  would  allow 
a  particle  of  the  meal,  that  was  made  from  the  corn  that  passed 
through  them,  to  enter  her  house.  Still,  the  farmer  persevered, 
and  the  advantage  of  the  fanners  became  so  apparent,  that 
even  during  his  own  lifetime  no  meal  could  be  found  that  had 
not  undergone  the  process  of  being  chaffed  by  the  heretical 
wind.  This  same  farmer  was  also  the  greatest  cultivator  of 
flax  while  the  bounty  was  given,  having  had  in  one  year  no 
less  than  a  hundred  acres  under  that  crop.1 

Nor  was  it  alone  in  their  farming  operations  that  this 
family  were  ahead  of  their  neighbours  ;  for,  while  other  tenants 
had  merely  the  glow  of  the  fire,  and  splinters  of  wood  to  aid 
them  in  their  domestic  duties  in  the  evenings,  and  only  the 
cold  earthen  floor  under  their  feet,  these  had  white  tallow 
candles  for  enlivening  the  gloom,  and  the  floor  of  the  ben,  or 
inner  apartment  of  their  house,  was  laid  with  green  turf,  or 
strewn  with  rushes  gathered  from  the  banks  of  the  Koran. 
This,  it  is  said,  was  deemed  so  extravagant  by  the  laird  at  the 
time,  that  he  threatened  to  turn  Mitchell  out  of  his  holding  if 
he  persisted  in  their  use  ;  but,  the  farmer  being  incorrigible,  the 
threat  went  for  nothing,  and  he  continued  to  augment  the 
comfort  of  his  house  by  steady  steps.  He  was  followed  in 
Nether  Careston  by  successive  descendants  down  to  1870,  when 
Mr.  George  Mitchell  left  for  the  colonies. 

1  Information  from  Mr.  Thomas  Ross,  Manchester. 


290  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 


SECTION   III. 

Forsaken  stood  the  hall, 

Worms  ate  the  floors,  the  tap' 'stry fled  the  wall  : 
No  fire  tlie  kitcheris  cheerless  grate  displayed, 
No  cheerful  light  the  long-closed  sash  conveyed. 

CRABBE. 

O,  the  name  of  gallant  Grahame — 
Alderne,  Kihythe,  and  Tibber,  owned  its  fame, 
Tummell's  rude  pass  can  of  its  terrors  tell. 

SCOTT. 

The  "  Castle  of  Fuirdstone  "— Careston  Castle  described — Ochterlony's  account — Its 
decorations — Thorough  repair — Traditions  of  Careston — Retreat  of  Montrose 
from  Dundee  to  Careston — Later  acts  of  Montrose — His  execution. 

IT  has  been  shown  that  a  portion  of  the  estate  of  Careston  was 
known  by  the  name  of  Fuirdstone,  and  could  boast  in  old 
times  of  a  tower  or  fortalice  so  called.  This  stronghold  is 
mentioned  by  Monipennie  in  1 6 1 2,  as  the  castle  or  tower  of 
"  Bannabreich." J  The  ruins  of  a  large  house,  called  "  the 
castle  of  Fuirdstone,"  were  erased  from  a  field  west  of  the 
farmhouse  of  Balnabreich,  about  the  beginning  of  this  century, 
and,  to  this  day,  the  plough  turns  up  ruins  of  old  buildings 
near  the  same  place.  The  name  had,  doubtless,  originated 
from  the  more  than  ordinary  number  of  fords  that  are  at  this 
part  of  the  river,  for  that  adjoining  the  site  of  the  old  castle  is 
only  one  of  several  that  lie  within  a  short  distance  of  each 
other.2  Perhaps,  as  the  Gaelic  Bal-na-breith  implies  "the 
town  of  judgment,  or  sentence,"3  this  may  have  been  the  place 
where  Keraldus,  or  other  early  barons,  dispensed  feudal  justice. 
The  necessary  adjunct,  the  Law,  or  cairn,  stood  on  an  adjoining 
field,  called  the  Law-shade,  which  lies  nearly  due  south  of  the 

1  John  Guthrie  of  Balnabreich  appears  as  witness  to  a  mortification  by  Sir  Thomas 
Maule  of  Panmure  in  1509  (Reg.  de  Panmure,  ii.  p.  279),  and  the  same,  or  another  John, 
is  witness  to  an  inquest  and  service  in  the  mill  and  lands  of  Camistown  on  behalf  of 
Sir  Thomas,  grandson  of  the  preceding,  in  1560  (Ib.  ii.  p.  310).  James  Guthrie  is 
portioner  of  Balnabreich  in  1589  (Reg.  Ep.  Brech.  ii.  p.  227),  and  in  1595  resigns 
Wester  Balnabreich  in  favour  of  Alexander  Carnegie  (of  Balnamoon),  youngest  sou 
of  David  Carnegie  of  Colluthie,  "  cum  turre  fortalicio  hortis,"  etc.  (Ib.  ii.  p.  370). 

8  New  Stat.  Acct.  Forfar.  p.  518.  »  Or  "the  speckled  town." 


CAKESTON — THE  CASTLE.  291 

site  of  the  reputed  monument  of  Carril.  Many  rude  coffins  and 
urns  were  found  on  reducing  this  cairn. 

It  is  not  probable  that  Fuirdstone  Tower  (as  popularly 
believed)  was  the  original  castle  of  Careston,  for,  as  previously 
mentioned,  there  was  a  residence  here,  and  the  district  had 
probably  its  name  from  being  the  abode  of  Keraldus ;  while, 
as  shown  by  Monipennie,  Fuirdstone  and  Careston  were  con- 
temporary houses. 

The  present  castle  of  Careston  has  been  added  to  and 
ornamented  by  various  lairds.  The  latest  erected,  or  back  part, 
with  its  turrets  and  battlements,  particularly  when  seen  from 
the  Fern  road,  has  the  most  castellated  appearance  of  the 
whole  fabric,  and  the  best  view  of  the  front  is  obtained  from  the 
Angus  Hill,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Esk.  The  front  con- 
sists of  a  main  part  of  three  stories,  and  two  gable  wings  of 
four,  which  project  about  twenty  feet  from  the  centre  or  old 
part,  and  are  connected  together  by  a  lead-covered  corridor  of 
one  story,  giving  the  whole  a  solid  massive  effect.  A  fine  cable 
moulding  runs  along  the  top  of  the  wall,  and  round  many  of 
the  window  lintels,  of  the  old  part  of  the  house. 

The  centre,  as  before  said,  is  the  oldest  portion  of  the  castle, 
and,  including  the  general  appearance  of  the  place,  is  thus 
described  by  Ochterlony :  "  A  great  and  most  delicat  house, 
well  built,  brave  lights,  and  of  a  most  excellent  contrivance, 
without  debait  the  best  gentleman's  house  in  the  shyre ;  extra- 
ordinaire much  planting,  delicate  yards  and  gardens  with  stone 
walls,  ane  excellent  avenue  with  ane  range  of  ash-trees  on 
every  syde,  ane  excellent  arbour,  for  length  and  breadth,  none 
in  the  countrey  lyke  it.  The  house  built  by  Sir  Harry  Lind- 
say of  Kinfaines,  after  [wards]  earl  of  Crawfourd."1 

Though  two  centuries  have  nearly  elapsed  since  Guynd 
gave  this  expressive  account  of  the  castle  of  Careston,  yet  had 
the  house  not  been  long  tenantless  and  uncared  for — had  the 
the  excellent  avenue,  that  extended  from  the  river  at  Gateside 

*  Spottisw,  Misc.  i.  p.  334. 


292  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

to  the  front  of  the  castle,  not  been  destroyed,  and  large  trees  in 
other  parts  cut  down — had  the  arbour  not  been  allowed  to  fall 
into  disrepair,  and  much  of  the  elaborate  sculpture  not  been 
carried  off  to  decorate  a  distant  mansion — then  Careston,  even 
at  the  present  day,  might  have  worthily  borne  the  appellation 
of  being  the  best  gentleman's  place  in  the  shire,  for  its  internal 
carvings,  though  allowed  for  a  time  to  run  fast  to  ruin,  are  still 
among  the  richest  of  their  kind  in  the  district. 

But  it  was  left  untenanted  for  a  number  of  years,  and  little 
care  was  bestowed  upon  house  or  grounds,  until  Mr.  Steven- 
son rented  it  from  Lord  Fife  and  restored  it.  During  the  period 
of  its  desolation  the  finest  garden  ornament,  which  consisted 
of  a  magnificently  carved  vase  of  fruits  and  flowers,  went  to 
pieces  in  the  hands  of  the  workmen  who  were  employed  to 
take  it  down.  And  yet  all  trace  of  the  ancient  refinement,  for 
which  this  place  was  once  so  remarkable,  is  not  completely 
gone,  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  Mains  still  receive  water  from 
the  gaping  mouth  of  a  well-sculptured  dolphin,  and  other  taste- 
ful carvings  grace  the  well  in  the  outer  court  of  the  castle  and 
the  now  waterless  pond  in  the  middle  of  the  kitchen  garden. 

But  it  is  by  the  internal  decorations  of  Careston  that  the 
genius  of  the  sculptor  and  the  taste  of  the  erector  are  to  be 
fully  estimated.  These  consist  mostly  in  heraldic  bearings, 
with  which,  and  a  good  deal  of  grotesque  ornament,  the  land- 
ing of  the  old  staircase  and  five  of  the  bedrooms  are  profusely 
decorated ;  and,  from  the  Carnegie  arms  holding  a  chief  place 
in  the  staircase,  this  armorial  group  had  probably  been  set  up 
by  Sir  Alexander.1  In  the  dining  and  drawing  rooms,  allegori- 
cal representations  predominate.  The  fireplace  of  the  former 
is  flanked  by  male  and  female  satyrs,  and  the  mantelpiece  is 
embellished  with  the  Airlie  arms  and  motto,  guarded  on  either 
side  by  two  naked  figures  holding  urns,  from  each  of  which  a 

1  Besides  the  armorial  bearings  of  Carnegie,  which  are  in  the  centre,  this  cluster 
also  comprises  those  of  the  families  of  Wemyss  of  that  Ilk ;  Blair  of  Balthyock  ; 
HaUyburton  of  Pitcur ;  Foulis  of  Colington  ;  Earl  of  Gowrie ;  Earl  of  Haddington  ; 
and  Earl  of  Airlie. 


CARESTON — ORNAMENTS  IN  THE  CASTLE.  293 

serpent,  emblematical  of  life,  issues  in  twisting  folds,  and  the 
two  unite  at  the  top. 

The  mantelpiece  of  the  old  drawing-room  bears  a  fine 
sculpturing  of  the  Koyal  Arms  of  Scotland,  surrounded  by 
military  trophies,  consisting  of  banners,  shields,  and  lances, 
with  two  nude  human  figures  riding  on  lamas.  These  are 
flanked  on  either  side  by  a  man  and  woman,  nearly  life-size, 
also  naked,  holding  in  their  hands  cornucopias  that  are  beauti- 
fully festooned,  and  united  in  the  middle  by '  a  Pan's  head. 
Immediately  under  the  Eoyal  Arms,  a  plain  tablet  bears  the 
following  incentive  motto,  in  allusion,  perhaps,  to  the  valour- 
ous  character  and  high  position  of  the  first  Earl  of  Crawford, 
and  his  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  King  Eobert  the 

Second : — 

"THIS  •  HONORIS  •  SINGE 
AND  •  FIGVRIT  •  TROPHE  •  BOB 
SVLD  •  PVSE  •  ASPYRING  •  SPRE 
ITIS  •  AND  •  MARTIAL  •  MYND 
TO  •  THRVST  •  YAIR  •  FORTVNE 
FWRTH  •  &  •  IN  •  HIR  •  SCORNE 
BELEIVE  •  IN  •  FAITHE 
OVR  •  FAIT  •  GOD  •  HES  •  ASSINGD." 

Three  of  the  bedrooms  contain  respectively  the  Gowrie, 
Haddington,  and  Balthyock  arms,  and  the  first  of  these  has 
robed  and  mailed  figures  on  either  side.  Another  bedroom 
contains,  instead  of  armorial  insignia,  a  vigorous  carving  of  a 
Highlander  playing  on  the  bagpipes ;  while  a  fifth  presents  the 
figures  of  two  peasants  dressed  in  short  tunics,  each  bearing  a 
flail,  with  sheaves  of  corn,  rakes,  and  forks  beside  them. 

Such  is  a  brief  account  of  the  history  of  the  castle  of  Cares- 
ton,  and  to  its  sculptures  there  could  have  been  added,  until 
the  year  1843,  the  armorial  bearings  of  the  Carnegies :  but  in 
that  year  these  scaled  off  and  fell  to  pieces,1  and  thus  it  need 
scarcely  be  said  that  both  externally  and  internally  evidences 

1  These  are  said  to  have  been  thus  impaled : — "  Ermine,  three  bars,  gules,  each 
charged  with  a  round  buckle,  or,"  with  the  mottoes,   "DRED  GOD,"  and  "BE  IT 


294  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

of  dilapidation  long  met  the  eye  at  all  corners.  It  is  true  that 
the  fine  walk  which  leads  from  the  castle  to  the  church  has 
still  much  of  the  beauty  it  had  of  old ;  but  the  grove,  from  the 
north  gate  by  Waterston,  which  was  guarded  on  both  sides  by 
spreading  trees,  whose  branches  united  like  the  roof  of  a 
vaulted  chamber,  is  now  a  coarse  and  uninviting  thoroughfare ; 
and  though  some  of  the  large  trees  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
castle,  especially  the  handsome  yews  which  are  said  to  have 
been  planted  while  the  lands  were  in  possession  of  the  Grand- 
tully  family,  are  pleasing  accessories  to  the  old  baronial  man- 
sion, yet  the  great  bulk  of  the  extensive  woods  has  disappeared, 
and  the  swamp  is  rapidly  threatening  to  usurp  the  lawn. 

The  principal  traditions  of  Careston  are  those  concerning 
Jock  Barefoot,  already  noticed,  and  a  White  Lady,  who  was 
wont  to  perambulate  the  district  when  the  woods  were  dense. 
But  these  need  not  be  dwelt  upon,  as  so  much  space  has  been 
taken  up  in  the  notice  of  similar  superstitions  belonging  to 
other  quarters ;  and  of  prehistoric  traces  and  historical  peculi- 
arities, the  district,  unfortunately,  is  extremely  meagre.1  The 
first  of  these,  so  far  as  known  to  us,  have  already  been  noticed ; 
and  perhaps  the  greatest  historical  event  connected  with  the 
district  of  Careston  was  the  lodgment  of  the  Marquis  of  Mon- 
trose  and  his  followers  in  front  of  the  castle,  on  the  5th  of 
April  1645,  after  the  storming  of  the  town  of  Dundee.  As  this 
was  the  only  rest  which  the  Eoyalists  enjoyed  after  their  cele- 
brated retreat  before  General  Baillie  and  the  Covenanting 
army,  a  brief  retrospect  of  that  dexterous  achievement  may 
not  be  inaptly  given  under  the  present  head. 

As  the  cause  of  the  wars  of  Montrose,  and  his  many  won- 
derful exploits,  are  familiar  to  all  readers,  we  shall  confine 
our  notice  to  an  epitome  of  this  "  retreat,"  which  is  charac- 
terised on  all  hands  as  the  most  dexterous  specimen  of  general- 

1  Some  writers  say  that  ad  Esicam,  the  pass  of  the  Romans  in  A.D.  81,  was  at  the 
junction  of  the  Noran  and  South  Esk,  in  the  parish  of  Careston ;  but  it  is  generally 
supposed  to  have  been  at  Montrose,  or  some  place  thereabout. 


CARESTON — WARS  OF  MONTROSE.  295 

ship  which  the  warlike  annals  of  almost  any  country  can  pro- 
duce. After  the  total  defeat  of  the  Earl  of  Argyll  at  Inver- 
lochy,  on  the  2d  of  February  1645,  Moutrose  had  his  forces 
strengthened  by  a  vast  number  of  the  Highland  chiefs  and 
their  followers,  whose  inclination  to  support  the  royal  cause 
had  been  hitherto  thwarted  by  the  power  of  Argyll.  Thus 
reinforced,  Montrose  marched  southward  in  triumph,  and  after 
firing  several  towns,  villages,  and  estates,  whose  proprietors, 
or  inhabitants,  refused  compliance  with  his  demands  (among 
which  were  those  of  Dunottar,  Cowie,  Ury,  and  Drumlithie), 
he  pitched  his  camp  at  the  village  of  Fettercairn,  where  he 
stopped  a  few  days  to  refresh  his  army.  During  this  stay  his 
soldiers  laid  waste  the  neighbouring  lands,  and  killed  the  aged 
father  of  the  future  Earl  of  Middleton  and  Clermont,  as  he  sat 
in  his  chair  in  the  castle  of  Caldhame.1 

While  at  Eettercairn,  Montrose's  soldiers  met  with  their  first 
check  after  leaving  Inverlochy, — a  detachment  of  Urrey's  troops, 
who  were  sent  as  scouts  from  the  main  camp  of  the  Covenanters, 
which  was  then  stationed  at  Brechin,  having  fallen  upon  them 
by  a  surprise  at  the  woods  of  Haulkerton.  The  Covenanters 
were  soon  repulsed,  however,  and  leaving  Fettercairn,  Montrose 
crossed  the  North  Esk  and  West  Water,  and  passed  along  the 
braes  of  Menmuir  and  Fern,  with  the  intention  of  crossing  the 
Tay  at  Dunkeld  ;  but  observing  Baillie's  army  lingering  on  his 
flank,  he  halted  two  days  on  the  north  side  of  the  Isla,  while 
Baillie  lay  on  the  south.  As  Baillie  declined  to  fight,  both 
armies  continued  their  southward  march;  and  when. Montrose 
was  informed  that  his  antagonist  had  gone  to  intercept  his 
progress  at  the  main  fords  of  the  Forth,  he  determined  to 
retrace  his  steps. 

Aware  of  the  unprotected  state  of  the  North,  he  immediately 
fell  back  on  the  town  of  Dundee,  which,  from  its  wealth  and 
population,  afforded  considerable  inducements ;  and,  about 
nightfall  on  the  3d  of  April,  having  previously  despatched 

1  Douglas,  Peerage,  ii.  p.  231. 


296  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

his  baggage  and  weakest  soldiers  to  Brechin,  he  inarched  at  the 
head  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  horse  and  about  seven  hundred 
chosen  musketeers,  and  reached  Dundee  early  next  forenoon. 

He  encamped  on  the  Law,  and  despatched  a  trumpeter  to 
offer  terms  to  the  Magistrates  ;  but  instead  of  returning  with 
an  answer,  the  messenger  was  cast  into  prison.  This  formed 
good  grounds  for  Montrose  wreaking  his  vengeance  on  the  town, 
especially  as  he  had  no  favour  for  it,  because  the  inhabitants 
had  refused  to  lodge  his  forces  after  the  victory  of  Tipper- 
muir.  His  army  was  accordingly  directed  to  storm  the  town 
at  three  different  places,  and  a  fearful  scene  of  bloodshed, 
drunkenness,  and  debauchery  ensued.  The  doors  of  the  churches, 
chapels,  and  wine-cellars  were  torn  from  their  hinges,  and  the 
town  fired  in  two  places — that  part  called  the  Bonnet  Hill  being 
nearly  consumed.  But  for  the  alarm  and  cry  that  the  enemy 
was  at  hand,  the  sack  might  have  ended  in  the  complete 
destruction  of  the  town  and  shipping. 

Instead  of  going  to  protect  the  fords  of  the  Forth,  as  was 
rumoured,  the  Covenanters  had  only  gone  to  Perth ;  and  intel- 
ligence of  Montrose's  movement  being  speedily  conveyed  to 
them,  they  were  close  at  his  heels  before  he  well  knew  his 
danger, — indeed,  the  last  of  his  army  was  only  retreating  from 
Dundee  by  the  east,  when  the  Covenanters  were  entering  by 
the  west. 

There  was  no  time  to  lose  ;  and  this  being  a  case  of  ut- 
most emergency,  Montrose  asked  advice  of  his  staff.  Some 
advised  that  the  horse  should  ride  off,  and  leave  the  foot  to 
their  own  shifts  ;  others,  that  they  should  stand  firm,  and  meet 
Baillie  face  to  face.  Montrose  rejected  both  propositions — the 
one  as  unfair,  the  other  as  imprudent,  and  resolved  on  a 
march  towards  the  hills  by  a  circuitous  route,  Collecting  the 
whole  of  his  army  of  foot  and  horse,  he  marshalled  the  weakest 
and  most  inebriated  of  his  men  in  the  centre,  and  had  the 
flanks  and  rear  guarded  by  the  horse  and  strongest  musketeers. 
Thus  he  departed  towards  Arbroath,  a  distance  of  seventeen 


CARESTON — RETREAT  OF  MONTROSE.  297 

miles,  and  this  he  reached  about  midnight,  notwithstanding 
that  they  had  had  much  skirmishing  with  a  detachment  of 
the  Covenanters,  who  only  gave  up  the  pursuit  when  evening 
closed  upon  them. 

Montrose's  army  had  now  marched  about  fifty  miles,  had 
been  engaged  in  the  dreadful  work  of  storming  Dundee,  and 
had  had  no  sleep  for  two  successive  nights !  Yet  he  could  not 
remain  at  Arbroath,  with  the  fear  of  the  ocean  on  one  side, 
into  which  the  superior  force  of  the  Covenanters  could  easily 
have  driven  them,  and  with  their  principal  detachment  on  the 
other  side  at  Brechin,  from  which  they  could  as  easily  have 
crushed  them.  Instead,  therefore,  of  allowing  his  men  to  rest, 
or  holding  further  to  the  north  by  the  coast  road,  he  cut 
directly  through  Forfarshire  in  a  north-westerly  line,  and 
crossing  the  South  Esk  at  Careston,  landed  there  in  the  grey 
of  the  morning. 

This  was  now  the  5th  of  April.  From  about  sunset  on  the 
3d,  the  army  had  been  on  constant  march  and  duty  of  the 
most  arduous  and  fatiguing  character,  without  a  moment's 
repose.  Montrose  was  well  acquainted  with  the  roads  of  his 
native  county,  and  knew  that,  besides  having  the  Grampians 
at  his  back,  he  had  a  relative  by  affinity,  though  opposite  in 
politics,  in  Sir  Alexander  Carnegie,  the  proprietor  of  Careston ; 
he  therefore  led  his  troops  thither,  and  instantly  on  their 
arrival  they  squatted  themselves  on  the  lawn  before  the  castle. 

Meanwhile,  General  Baillie,  who  was  quartered  at  Forfar, 
had  little  dreamt  of  Montrose's  dexterous  movements,  and 
concluding  that,  between  his  own  army  and  Urrey's,  he  had 
his  enemy  simply  for  the  cutting  up,  was  so  greatly  mortified 
to  find  Montrose  had  marched  round  about  him,  that  he  set 
off  with  all  speed  in  pursuit.  On  hearing  of  his  approach, 
Montrose,  ever  mindful  of  his  family  motto,  N'oubliez,  had 
his  men  again  on  the  move  :  this,  however,  was  not  so  easily 
carried  out  as  on  former  occasions,  for  nature  was  so  completely 
exhausted  that  the  sentinels  had  to  prick  many  of  the  soldiers 


298  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

with  their  swords  before  they  would  awaken.  The  fastnesses 
of  Glenesk  (where  they  had  been  quartered  on  previous 
occasions)  were  again  their  rendezvous  ;  thither  they  retreated 
with  all  speed,  and  once  more  bade  defiance  to  the  superior 
force  of  their  pursuers. 

So  ended  "  the  celebrated  retreat  of  the  Marquis  of  Mon- 
trose,"  which  was  followed  by  the  succession  of  marvellous 
victories  down  to  his  defeat  at  Philiphaugh,  on  the  13th  of 
September  following.  The  rest  of  his  history  is  well  known  : 
fleeing  to  the  Continent,  he  reappeared,  for  the  first  time 
thereafter,  in  arms  for  Charles  II.,  and  was  defeated  at  Inver- 
carron,  on  the  northern  border  of  Ross-shire,  by  Colonel 
Strachan,  in  March  1650.  Afraid  of  detection,  he  threw  his 
military  cloak,  and  the  star  and  ribbon  which  he  so  much 
cherished  as  the  approving  gift  of  his  late  Sovereign,  to  the 
winds;  he  exchanged  his  warlike  habit  with  a  peasant  whom  he 
met  in  the  fields,  and,  seeking  shelter  from  his  enemies,  he  was 
betrayed  by  M'Leod  of  Assynt,  one  of  his  old  followers,  for  the 
reward  of  four  hundred  bolls  of  meal ! l  He  was  taken  to 
Edinburgh  in  the  mean  habit  in  which  he  was  found — hanged 
on  a  gibbet  in  the  Grassmarket,  with  a  copy  of  Bishop  Wishart's 
Memoirs  of  his  exploits  hung  around  his  neck — and  his  body, 
when  quartered,  was  sent  to  grace  the  gates  of  the  principal 
towns  in  Scotland  !  So  died  Montrose,  at  the  early  age  of 
thirty-eight — the  most  accomplished  general,  and  devoted 
Royalist  of  his  own,  or  perhaps  of  any  age — a  sacrifice  to 
public  clamour  and  private  hatred.2 

1  Arnot,  Criminal  Trials,  p.  234. 

a  John  Hill  Burton,  Hist.  Scot.  vii. ;  Napier,  Life  and  Times  of  Montrose. 


CHAPTER    VII. 
Jftenmuir. 

SECTION  I. 

The  family  tomb,  to  wAose  devouring  mouth. 
Descended  sire  and  son,  age  after  age, 
In  long  unbroken  hereditary  line. 

POLLOK'S  '  COURSE  OF  TIME.' 

Menmuir — Dedicated  to  St.  Aidan — Its  ministers — The  Covenant  subscribed— Danger 
from  the  Cateran — Frightened  by  the  Royalists — Opposed  the  Prince — The 
church  and  its  surroundings — Burial-place  of  the  Carnegies  of  Balnamoon — 
Notice  of  Adjutant-General  Sir  David  Leighton,  K.C.B. — The  Guthries  of 
Menmuir  and  Brechin — Tigerton. 

THE  church  of  Menmuir  was  in  the  diocese  of  Dunkeld,  and 
dedicated  to  St.  Aidan,  Bishop  of  Lindisfarne,  whose  feast 
is  held  on  the  31st  of  August.  A  fountain  near  the  church, 
now  nearly  lost  by  drainage,  long  preserved  his  name  in  the 
metamorphosed  form  of  St.  Iten,  and  was  believed  to  be  useful 
for  effecting  cures  on  such  as  were  afflicted  with  asthma  and 
cutaneous  diseases. 

The  church  has  a  prominent  position  in  the  upland  part  of 
the  parish,  and  in  old  times  was  surrounded  by  a  marsh,  hence 
in  Moine-more,  which  in  Gaelic  implies  "  a  great  moss,"  the 
name  of  the  district  is  supposed  to  have  originated. 

Ninian  de  Spot,  who  is  designed  presbyter  of  the  prebend 
of  Menmuir  in  1454,  is  the  first  clergyman  we  have  found  men- 
tioned in  connection  with  the  parish;  and  in  1502  Mr.  Walter 
Leslie  was  parson.  He  was  perhaps  a  native  of  the  city  of 
Aberdeen,  as  he  showed  so  much  favour  for  the  church  of  St. 
Nicholas  of  that  town,  as  to  ask  and  receive  a  licence  to  "  big 


300  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

and  found  ane  alter  of  Sanctis  Mongow  "  there.1  Towards  the 
middle  of  the  same  century,  "  Eobert  Schaw,  clerk,  then  in  his 
eighteenth  year,  suffering  the  defect  of  birth  as  soluta  genitus" 
had  a  dispensation  granted  by  the  Pope,  as  successor  to  James 
Hamilton  in  the  canonry  of  Menmuir,  with  the  condition  that 
"  he  do  not  celebrate  the  service  of  the  altar  along  with  his 
father,  nor  succeed  him  in  his  benefices  "  2 — his  father  being 
also  a  canon  of  the  parent  church  of  Dunkeld ;  and  also  from 
its  being  an  old  law  in  the  Church,  that  ecclesiastical  benefices 
should  not  be  hereditary — that  a  son  should  not  succeed  a 
father  in  them. 

According  to  the  Eegister  of  Ministers  in  1567,  Mr.  James 
Melville  was  minister  of  the  parish  soon  after  the  Eeformation, 
and,  as  already  mentioned,  had  also  charge  of  Fern  and  Kinnell. 

Mr.  Andro  Elder,  the  contemporary  reader  of  Menmuir,  had 
"  the  thyrd  of  the  vicarage,"  extending  to  about  fifteen  shillings 
and  fourpence  sterling.  Mr.  George  Hallyburton,  minister  of 
Menmuir,  was  removed  to  Perth  in  1644,  and  nominated 
Bishop  of  Dunkeld  on  18th  January  1662,  by  letters-patent. 

It  is  only  when  we  approach  the  interesting  era  of  the 
Covenant  that  much  is  known  of  the  state  of  religion  in  Men- 
muir, and  from  the  distinct  records  which  exist  regarding  it  at 
that  period,  the  Covenant  appears  to  have  been  so  highly 
esteemed,  that  on  the  6th  of  May  1638,  the  "  Confession  of 
Faith  and  Covenant  with  our  God  [was]  openlie  read,  subscryvit 
and  sworne  unto  ~be  the,  haille  congrcgatioune"  It  is  in  this 
stirring  movement  that  the  first  record  of  the  family  of 
Carnegie  occurs  in  connection  with  the  history  of  the  parish, 
Sir  Alexander  having  been  elected  in  the  following  September 
to  represent  the  kirk-session  in  the  General  Assembly  at 

1  On  9th  September  1502,  Mr.  Walter  Leslie,  parson  of  Menmuir,  had  full  power 
and  licence  granted  him,  by  the  magistrates  and  council  of  Aberdeen,  ' '  to  big  and 
found  ane  alter  of  Sanctis  Mongow,  and  Tovine  in  the  triangall  of  thar  eist  end  of 
thar  queir  for  his  fundatioun  to  be  made  at  the  samyn,  in   honour  of  the  blissit 
trinitie,  the  blissit  Virgin  moder  Mary,  Sanctis    Nicholace,  and  specialie  of  the 
saidis  Sanctis,"  etc. — (Spald.  Miscel.  v.  p.  34.) 

2  (A.D.  1550)— Book  of  the  Officialof  St.  Andrews,  Pref.  p.  xxix. 


MENMUIR — POLITICAL  TROUBLES.  301 

Glasgow,  on  the  21st  November  1638,  and  again  at  Aberdeen, 
28th  July  1640. 

From  that  period,  and  indeed  throughout  the  whole  course 
of  the  civil  wars,  the  parish,  from  its  proximity  to  the 
Grampians,  was  often  the  rendezvous  of  the  army ;  and,  like 
the  people  of  Edzell  at  a  later  time,  the  inhabitants  were 
oftener  than  once  surprised  on  Sundays,  while  at  their  devo- 
tions, by  the  presence  of  the  soldiers.  An  idea  of  the  sadly 
unsettled  state  of  affairs  may  be  had  from  the  following 
notices  in  the  Parochial  Register,  which  is  among  the  most 
complete  and  interesting  of  any  in  the  district. 

Soon  after  the  renewal  of  the  Covenant,  and  on  the  23d  of 
March  1644,  it  is  recorded  that  there  was  "no  conventioim 
becaus  of  ye  troubles ;  "  and  on  the  1 3th  of  the  following 
February,  "  no  conventioun  again  until  ye  1 7  of  August, 
becaus  ye  enemie  was  still  in  ye  fields,  so  that  the  minister 
durst  not  be  seen  in  ye  parish."  But  on  the  1 7th  of  August 
matters  bore  even  a  more  formidable  aspect  than  before ;  and 
just  two  days  after  Kilsyth  had  been  won  through  the  skilful- 
ness  of  the  Marquis  of  Montrose,  it  is  recorded  "  that  upon  ye 
intelligence  of  the  approach  of  ye  enemie,  the  people  fled  out 
of  ye  kirk  in  the  midst  of  the  sermon."  On  the  1 7th  of  No- 
vember 1645,  after  the  total  defeat  of  the  Royalists,  and  while 
they  were  skirmishing  here  and  there  before  their  final  break- 
ing up,  the  presence  of  the  sixteenth  Earl  of  Crawford  and  his 
army  in  the  parish  on  a  Sunday,  spread  terror  over  the  whole 
district,  and  is  thus  mentioned  by  the  session-clerk,  in  the  true 
dignity  of  a  friend  of  the  Parliament : — "  No  preaching, 
because  ane  partie  of  the  enemies'  horse,  coming  throw  the 
shyre,  under  LudowicJc  Lindsay,  were  in  the  parish." 

After  this  visit  of  Earl  Ludovick,  however,  matters 
assumed  a  comparatively  tranquil  aspect : — the  "  declaration 
against  the  traiterous  band  wer  read"  in  April  1646 ;  and  on 
17th  December  1648,  the  Covenant  was  again  read  in  presence 
of  the  Congregation,  and  "  subscrived  by  the  minister,  and  all 


302  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

whilk  could  subscrive."  Two  years  later,1  after  Montrose's 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  restore  Charles  IL,  the  thanksgiving 
was  held  "for  the  victorie  in  the  north,"  or  the  decisive 
battle  of  Invercarron,  in  Ross-shire,  where  the  champion  of 
royalty  was  defeated  by  Colonel  Strachan,  taken  prisoner, 
and  afterwards  hanged  at  Edinburgh.  A  few  months  later,2 
the  minister  "  was  appoynted  by  the  Presbytery  to  attend  the 
Lord  of  Egill's  regiment  for  a  month," — the  latter,  like  his 
noble  relative  of  Balcarres,  being  a  staunch  supporter  of  the 
Covenant.  Towards  the  close  of  the  same  year  two  fasts  were 
kept,  the  one  "  for  the  sinnes  of  the  King's  famillie,"  and  the 
other  "  for  taking  the  rebels  ; "  3  as  was  also  a  fast,  ten  years 
later,  for  "  the  King's  happy  restauratioune."  Some  of  these 
scenes  occurred  during  the  ministry  of  Mr.  David  Campbell, 
who  was  a  supporter  of  the  Parliament,  for  the  time  being,  and 
the  feeling  in  the  parish  at  the  time  of  his  death  is  well 
exemplified  in  the  reception  which  Mr.  M'Henrie  received 
from  the  parishioners  in  1699,  when  he  preached  the  kirk 
vacant  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Campbell,  for  he  declares  that  on 
that  occasion  he  "  was  violently  opposed  by  severall  women 
with  clubs  in  their  hands,  so  that  he  could  not  have  access  "  to 
the  church.4 

During  the  rebellious  movements  of  the  early  part  of  the 
following  century,  when  the  Chevalier  de  St.  George  attempted 
to  establish  his  right  to  the  throne,  the  faith  that  had  been 
bought  by  the  price  of  so  much  blood  was  suspended  in 
the  parish  for  a  short  time,  the  minister  being  "  obliged  to 
retere,"  and  the  church  and  pulpit  taken  summary  possession 
of  by  "  curats  and  rebellious  intruders ; "  but  on  the  happy 
conclusion  of  hostilities  the  ejected  pastor  resumed  his  labours, 
and  the  schoolmaster  and  several  farmers,  who  had  aided 

1  Parish  Reg.  May  20,  1650. 

2  Ibid.  Aug.  11,  1650.  3  ibid.  Dec.  22,  1650. 

4  The  King's  advocate  was  apprised  of  "the  said  ryot,"  and  issued  "counsell 
letters  against  the  robbers."-— (Brechin  Presby.  Record,  iii.  fol.  35-45,  9th  July 
1699.) 


MENMUIR  —  CHURCH  AND  CHURCHYARD.  303 

and  abetted  the  treasonable  doings  of  the  times,  were  rebuked 
for  countenancing  those  "  who  prayed  for  a  popish  Pretender, 
and  for  success  to  the  rebels  against  our  protestant  soveraign 
King  George."  x 

The  kirk,  which  was  the  scene  of  those  unseemly  but 
interesting  historical  events,  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present 
commodious  edifice,  and  seems  to  have  been  replaced  by 
another  in  1767,2  when  George  Ogilvy  was  the  minister.  This 
lasted  to  1842,  and  was  in  much  the  same  style  of  building 
as  the  existing  church  at  Careston,  with  an  aisle  on  the  north 
side,  and  lofts  in  the  north,  east,  and  west  ends.  The  Collace 
burial-aisle  stood  detached  near  the  east  end  of  the  church, 
but  was  demolished  when  the  present  building  was  erected; 
and  "  a  skull  was  found  with  a  band,  or  fillet,  of  silver  lace 
around  it,  with  stripes  of  the  same  covering  from  the  fillet 
to  the  crown  of  the  head.  The  silver  is  supposed  to  have  been 
the  remains  of  a  skull-cap,  and  appeared  to  have  been  plaited 
with  hair.  In  the  progress  of  decay,  it  had  come  to  adhere 
closely  to  the  bone."  3  Two  fragments  of  stones  —  one  a  rudely 
incised  cross,  the  other  a  cross  in  low  relief  —  were  got  in  the 
Collace  burial-place  in  1861. 

There  is  no  monument,  however,  belonging  to  either  the 
Collaces,  the  Lindsays  of  Balhall,  the  Symerses  of  Balzeordie, 
or  the  Livingstons  of  Balrownie,  all  of  whom  were  long  pro- 
prietors in  the  parish  ;  but  the  following  quaint  lines  on  John 
Symers  of  Balzeordie,  were  written  by  a  local  Latin  poet  of  the 
name  of  Leech,  who  will  soon  after  be  noticed  :  — 

"  Joannis  Simmer  (quod  cestatem  Angtice  sonat)  A  Balyordie,  tumulus. 

Regnat  hyems,  restas  fnerat  ;  miracula  non  sunt, 
si  bruma,  iam  subeunte,  perit."  * 


The  burial-place  of  the  Carnegies  of  Balnamoon  is  attached 
to  the  north  side  of  the  church,  and  enclosed  by  a  parapet  and 
railing,  which  in  1872  took  the  place  of  the  previous  high  wall 

i  Parish  Reg.  Feb.  18,  and  April  18,  1716.  *  Old  Stat.  Ace.  v.  150. 

3  Chalmers,  Sculptured  Monuments  of  Angus,  p.  13.       *  Epigrammata,  p.  59. 


304  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

with  massive  moulding.  Built  into  the  church  wall,  there  is  a 
beautiful  sculpture  of  the  armorial  bearings  of  the  first  laird  of 
the  name,  Sir  Alexander,  impaled  with  those  of  his  lady,  Dame 
Giles,  eldest  daughter  of  Alexander  Blair  of  Balthyock,  with 
the  date  1639,  and  their  respective  initials, "  S.  A.  C. :  D.  G.  B." 
As  Sir  Alexander  survived  long  after  this  period,  the  date, 
perhaps,  refers  to  the  time  .of  his  lady's  death  and  the  erection 
of  the  aisle. 

Though  no  monument  marks  the  graves  of  the  Carnegies 
(except  a  marble  recently  raised  to  the  memory  of  three  of  the 
late  laird's  family,  and  a  granite  lona  cross  to  his  own  by  his 
surviving  daughters),  the  graveyard  contains  an  abundance  of 
mortuary  memorials,  but  few  possess  any  general  interest. 
Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  (taking  into  account  the  humble 
position  in  life  from  which  the  erector  rose  to  eminence)  is 
that  erected  by  "  Colonel  David  Leighton,  C.B.,  Adjutant- 
General  at  the  Presidency  of  Bombay,  in  memory  of  his 
parents,  Thomas  Leighton  and  Ann  Fairweather."  After  the 
erection  of  this  monument  in  1825,  the  Colonel  was  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  Lieuteuant-General ;  and,  for  his 
meritorious  services  in  India,  where  he  was  esteemed  for  the 
justice  and  impartiality  of  his  conduct,  and  for  his  military 
attainments,  he  was  made  K.C.B.  in  1837.  His  ancestors  can 
be  traced  in  the  Parish  Eegister  back  to  the  year  1698,  when 
his  direct  progenitors,  "David  Leighton  and  Jean  Mathers, 
were  married."  Sir  David,  however,  was  not  a  native  of  Men- 
muir,  but  of  Brechiu,  having  with  his  three  sisters  been  born 
in  Market  Street,  where  his  father  erected  a  house,  and  David 
first  saw  the  light  in  1774.  Owing  to  feeble  health,  his  father 
removed  to  a  pendicle  on  the  farm  of  Cookstone,  and  for  a 
time  carried  on  the  work  of  a  wheelwright ;  in  the  same  clay- 
built  cottage,  long  since  removed,  the  widow  remained  with 
her  family. 

In  early  youth,  Sir  David  was  a  banker's  clerk  in  Montrose, 
but,  having  a  taste  for  military  service,  he  obtained,  through 


MENMTJIR — SIR  DAVID  LEIGHTON,   K.C.B.  305 

the  influence  of  his  uncle  (father  of  the  late  Mr.  Leighton  of 
Bearhill),  a  cadetship  in  the  East  India  Company's  Service,  on 
20th  January  1795,  and  rose  step  by  step  till  he  attained  the 
highest  position.  When  he  died  at  Cheltenham,  on  1st  June 
1860,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-five  years,  he  had  received 
the  honour  of  knighthood,  and  was  senior  officer  on  the  Bombay 
establishment.  He  had  seen  a  long  period  of  active  service  in 
India,  and  for  many  years  had  held  the  office  and  discharged  the 
duties  of  Adjutant-General  to  the  Bombay  army  with  firm- 
ness, impartiality,  and  general  satisfaction. 

The  following  epitaph,  though  not  remarkable  for  either 
sublimity  of  thought  or  orthographical  accuracy,  is  worthy  of 
transcription,  as  pointing  out  the  burial-place  of  a  family  sur- 
named  Guthrie,1  whose  members  bore  a  chief  and  active  part  in 
the  management  of  the  municipal  affairs  of  the  city  of  Brechin 
for  upwards  of  a  century.  They  long  continued  to  be  the 
most  considerable  traders  of  that  city,  and  the  late  Dr.  Alexan- 
der Guthrie,  sometime  Provost,  and  the  late  Kev.  Dr.  Thomas 
Guthrie  of  Edinburgh,  famous  as  the  advocate  of  Ragged  Schools, 
were  sons  of  one  who  had  also  been  chief  magistrate.  The 
principal  farms  of  Menmuir  were  once  tenanted  wholly  by 
Guthries,  and  the  small  estate  of  Burnside  was  owned  by  one  of 
them  ; — but  the  name  (save  in  the  female  line)  is  now  almost 
unknown  in  the  parish.  The  tablet,  from  which  these  lines 
are  copied,  was  erected  in  1795,  and  is  profusely  decorated 
with  mortuary  emblems : — 

"  All  passengers  as  you  go  by, 
And  chance  to  view  this  stoue, 
To  mind  you  of  Mortality, 
Behold  the  scull  and  bone  : 
Likewise  the  darte,  that  wounds  the  hart, 
And  syath  that  cuts  the  Threed 
Of  life,  and  coffin  for  to  hold, 
The  bodie  when  its  dead." 

1  The  father  of  the  first  Guthries  in  Menmuir  was  tenant  of  Balbirnie  Mill,  near 
Brechin,  and  is  represented  as  residing  with  his  son  in  Menmuir,  Sept.  21,  1731. — 
Mem.  Book  of  York  Buildings  Co.,  MS.,  p.  332,  the  property  of  the  Earl  of  Dalhousie 

U 


306  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

At  Tigerton,  the  only  hamlet  in  the  parish,  the  Episco- 
palians had  a  meeting-house  down  to  a  late  date,  in  which  the 
service  was  conducted  at  first  by  a  resident  minister,  as  was 
done  by  Dean  Somerville,  and  then  by  the  minister  of  the 
Brechin  chapel.  Though  not  so  extensive  as  in  old  times,  this 
village  is  still  the  home  of  the  wright,  blacksmith,  shoemaker, 
and  grocer ;  and  is  remarkable  in  story  as  the  spot  on  which 
the  Earl  of  Crawford  and  his  merciless  followers  rested,  when 
wreaking  their  vengeance  over  the  lands  of  Collace  of  Balna- 
moon,  through  whose  treachery  Crawford  supposed  he  had  lost 
the  battle  of  Brechiu ;  and,  from  the  fact  that  the  Earl  bore  the 
singular  sobriquet  of  the  "  Tiger,"  the  name  of  Tigertown  is 
said  to  have  been  conferred  upon  this  particular  place. 


SECTION   II. 

Of  the  antient  lordis  and  ladies  gaye, 

Quha  livit  in  their  landis  full  manie  a  daye, 

Thoch  I  doe  wryte,  little  guid  I  can  say. 

OLD  POEM. 

Lands  of  Menmuir— Eoyal  residence — Kilgery — Exploit  of  Peter  de  Spalding — 
Hermitage  of  Kilgery  chapel — Balzeordie — Somyrs  of  Balzeordie— Slaughter 
of  Graham  of  Leuchland — Connection  of  the  Carnegies  in  Menmuir — Menmuir 
thanage — belonged  to  different  families — The  Collaces  became  reduced — yet 
known  to  literature — Leech  a  connection — Carnegies  of  Balnamoon  related  to  the 
Arbuthnotts— Purchased  Balzeordie  and  Balrownie — "The  rebel  laird" — not 
such  a  sot  or  Goth. 

DOWN  to  about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  the  lands 
of  Menmuir  were  in  possession  of  the  Crown,  under  the  super- 
intendence of  thanes,  and  the  rents  were  drawn  by  the  sheriffs  ; 
during  that  period  the  poverty  of  the  inhabitants  and  the  value 
of  the  rents  are  well  authenticated.  David  de  Betun,  sheriff  of 
Eorfar  in  1290,  claims  deduction  in  his  accounts  for  that  year, 
for  Ixvi  Ib.  xiij  s.  iiij  d.,  rent  of  the  land  of  Menmoryth,  "  which 
could  in  no  way  be  recovered  on  account  of  the  poverty  of  the 
husbandmen  of  the  said  land,  as  the  chamberlain  and  whole 
country  witnesseth,"  and  this  rent  was  increased  by  fifty  marks 


MENMUIR — FOREST  OF  KILGERY.  307 

yearly,  to  the  oppression  of  the  said  husbandmen,  by  Sir  Hugh 
de  Abirnethy,  knight,1  who  had  perhaps  been  thane  or  cham- 
berlain of  Menmuir.  In  1359,  the  rents  of  assize  of  this  parish 
are  charged  in  the  sheriffs  account  at  1 3s.  4d.  for  three  years, 
or  one-third  of  a  mark  yearly ;  and,  in  1390,  they  had  increased 
to  half  a  mark. 

Though  no  ruins  have  been  found  here  in  the  memory  of  the 
present  generation,  a  royal  residence,  which  is  supposed  to  have 
stood  on  the  rising  ground  south-east  of  the  kirk,  once  orna- 
mented the  now  comparatively  bleak  landscape.  It  probably 
occupied,  with  its  garden  and  other  necessary  buildings,  what 
has  long  been  known  as  the  Hatton  park,  and  was  in  full  pomp 
during  the  time  of  Alexander  in.,  for,  in  the  Chamberlain  Rolls 
of  that  period,  Eda  Montealto,  sheriff  of  the  county,  takes  credit 
for  the  payment  of  one  mark,  or  thirteen  shillings  and  fourpence 
sterling,  to  the  King's  gardener  at  Menmoreth.2  The  time  of 
its  destruction  is  unknown ;  but  it  may  have  been  occupied 
down  to  the  time  of  Bruce,  as  it  was  in  his  reign  that  the  lands 
were  first  apportioned  to  deserving  subjects.  It  was  perhaps 
the  valuable  sport  which  the  Forest  of  Kilgery  afforded  that 
led  royalty  to  have  a  seat  there.  This  forest,  of  which,  as  of 
the  King's  residence,  all  remains  are  lost,  had  covered  the  hills 
of  Caterthun  and  Lundie,  and  the  adjoining  valley ;  but  the 
Garry,  or  Geary  burn,  which  rises  in  the  bog  of  Lundie,  is  now 
the  only  trace  of  the  name.  In  a  line  with  the  Geary  burn, 
stretching  from  the  West  Water  on  the  north,  to  Chapelton  on 
the  south,  are  the  remains  of  an  earthen  dike,  from  six  to  ten 
feet  high,  and  about  twelve  feet  broad  at  the  base.  Tradition 
says  that  it  stretched  from  hill  to  sea ;  but  it  is  probable,  since 
the  estate  of  Dunlappie  was  a  separate  property  long  before 
any  notice  of  the  Forest  of  Kilgery  occurs,  that  this  dike  had 
been  the  march  betwixt  the  forest  and  Dunlappie.8 

i  Chamberlain  Rolls,  vol.  i.  p.  79.  2  Ibid.  A.D.  1263. 

8  The  etymology  of  Kilgery  is  unknown,  and  may  refer  to  a  dedication  to  some 
saint,  or  to  the  forest  covering  Lundie  Hill  and  neighbouring  plain.  For  more 
details  of  the  archaeological  remains  in  this  district  see  a  paper  by  Mr.  Jervise  in 


308  LAND   OF   THE    LINDSAYS. 

The  name  of  Kilgerre*  occurs  in  the  earliest-known  charters 
of  Menmuir.  The  first  of  these  is  dated  on  the  1st  of  May  1319, 
and  the  circumstances  under  which  the  grant  was  made,  how- 
ever beneficial  to  the  interests  of  the  kingdom,  were  far  from 
creditable  to  the  holder.  The  facts  are  these : — Peter  de 
Spalding,  a  burgess  of  the  town  of  Berwick,  whose  wife  was  a 
Scotchwoman,  became  so  disgusted  with  the  tyranny  of  the 
English,  who  had  possessed  the  castle  and  town  for  the 
space  of  twenty  years,  that  he  resolved,  in  hopes  that  the 
government  of  the  Scots  would  be  more  lenient,  to  deliver 
Berwick  by  stratagem  into  the  hands  of  Bruce.  Accordingly, 
on  the  night  of  the  2d  of  April  1318,  when  it  was  Spalding's 
turn  to  take  part  in  the  watch  rounds,  he  assisted  the  Scots  in 
an  escalade,  and  they  succeeded  in  taking  that  important 
position.1 

Spalding's  life  was  no  longer  safe  on  the  Border,  and,  with 
a  view  to  being  more  secure  in  the  inland  part  of  the  kingdom, 
he  excambed  certain  tenements  in  the  town  of  Berwick  with 
Bruce,  for  which,  in  1319,  as  above  stated,  he  had  a  royal 
charter  of  the  lands  of  Ballourthy  and  Petmathy  (Balzeordie 
and  Pitniudie),  with  the  office  of  Keeper  of  the  Forest  of 
Kilgery,  and  right  to  half  the  foggage.  This  occurred  in  the  year 
after  the  taking  of  Berwick,  and  the  name  of  Spalding  does  not 
recur  in  any  future  historical  transaction.  His  end,  however, 
was  only  such  as  was  to  be  expected  ;  for  although  he  evaded 
the  sword  of  his  own  countrymen,  he  fell  by  that  of  the  Scots. 
His  betrayal  of  Berwick,  and  summary  death,  are  thus  narrated 
by  the  old  chronicler : — 

"  The  castell  then  of  Berwyke  and  the  towne, 
Kynge  Robert  gatte,  after  stronge  and  greate  defence, 

Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Scot.  ii.  pp.  461  sq.  It  is  traditionally  said  that  the  oaken  rafters 
of  the  old  kirk  of  Brechin  were  taken  from  Lundie  hog,  a  portion  of  the  Forest  of 
Kilgery,  and  various  pits  in  the  neighbourhood,  called  sauters,  are  said  to  be  those 
in  which  the  wood  was  salted. 

1  Hailes,  Annals,  ii.  p.  88 ;  Fraser,  Hist.  Camegies  of  Southesk,  ii.  p.  482  ; 
Tytler,  History  of  Scotland,  i.  p.  303.  But  Radulphus  de  Spalding  is  witness  to  a 
charter  on  Mill  of  Caterline  in  1225  (Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  p.  90). 


MEXMUIR — SPALDING,   HERMITAGE    OF  KILGERY.       309 

By  treaty  with  [peace  Spaldyng]  and  treason, 
The  Wednesdye  before  Easter's  reuerence, 
When  that  traitour,  without  long  suspence, 
Betrayed  the  towne,  and  into  Scotland  went  : 
By  Scottes  slain,  as  to  a  traytour  appent."  l 

The  place  of  Spalding's  murder  is  not  stated,  but  it  was 
probably  in  the  vicinity  of  Menmuir,  though  no  cairn  in  the 
parish  bears  the  significant  name  of  Spalding.  In  the  adjoin- 
ing parish  of  Fern,  however,  there  are  places  called  Spalding's 
Stables,  and  Spalding's  Loan,  on  the  road  betwixt  Shandford 
and  Balquharn,  and  on  the  Bruff  Shank  hill,  both  of  which  are 
popularly  believed  to  have  originated  from  the  capture  of  the 
spoils  of  a  Caterau  so  named ;  these,  most  probably,  have 
reference  in  some  way  to  Spalding,  if  not  to  the  place  of  his 
murder.2 

In  1445,  a  royal  charter  was  given  to  John  Smyth,  citizen 
of  Brechin,  upon  the  hermitage  of  the  chapel  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary  of  the  forest  of  Kilgerre  (Kilgery),3  with  its  croft, 
green,  and  pertinents,  which  Hugo  Cuminche  (or  Gumming) 
the  hermit  had  formally  resigned  into  the  King's  hand  by  his 
procurator  William  of  Nudry.  But  we  find  the  same  hermit 
resigning  his  hermitage  to  the  King  nine  years  afterwards,  and 
a  royal  charter  being  granted,  as  before,  to  Alexander  of  Fowlar- 
tone  in  the  spring  of  1455.  While  yet  again  in  1461  John 
Smith  sold  the  same  to  William  Somyr  of  Balzeordie,  for  one 
mark  of  yearly  rent  out  of  a  tenement  in  Brechin.4  This 
Somyr  or  Sy miner  is  so  designated  in  1450,5  and  thus  his 

1  Hardyng,  Chronicle,  p.  308.    See  also  Barbour,  Bruce,  B.  17,  vol.  iii. 

2  On  the  south-west  corner  of  the  Menrns  Hill,  adjoining  Limdie,  "the  Scotsman's 
cairn  "  is  still  visible, 

3  Reg.  Ep.  Brech.  ii.  p.  382.     This  old  chaplainry  stood  in  a  field  near  the  farm- 
house of  Chapelton  of  Dunlappie.     The  stones  of  the  chapel  were  taken  to  build  the 
farm-steading,  and  a  fine  spring,  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  yards  south-east  of  the 
site  of  the  chapel,  still  bears  the  name  of  Ladywell,  in  honour  of  the  Virgin.     It 
must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  this  was  quite  a  separate  establishment  from  the  ad- 
joining kirk  of  Dunlappie,  which  stood  on  the  margin  of  the  West  Water,  and  where 
the  unenclosed  churchyard  shows  only  its  even  surface  of  green  turf.     On  the 
hermitage  of  Kilgery,  see  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk,  i.  p.  xvii. 

4  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk,  ii.  pp.  518  sq. 
8  Reg.  Ep.  Brech.  i.  p.  141 ;  ii.  p.  79. 


310  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

descendants  continued  to  be  considered  "  chief  of  the  name  " 
till  about  the  middle  of  last  century,  when  the  male  branch 
failed,  and  the  estate  was  annexed,  by  purchase,  to  that  of 
Balnamoon. 

In  1470,  half  of  Balzeordie  was  held  of  Sir  James  Ogilvy  of 
Findlater,  who,  on  the  27th  of  November  of  that  year  granted 
precept  of  sasine  for  infefting  George,  son  of  William  Somyr, 
as  heir  to  his  father  deceased,  in  the  above  half.  Besides  the 
portion  here  noticed,  the  Somyrs  also  acquired  the  western  half 
of  Balzeordie,  Chapeltoun,  and  the  foggage  of  Kilgery;  the 
lands  of  Brako  and  East  Cruok,  with  the  mill  of  the  same  ;  the 
Hermitage  of  Kilgery,  and  the  cemetery  belonging  thereto ;  the 
Chymmess  lands  of  Kirktoun  of  Menmuir ;  the  fourth  parts  of 
the  lands  of  Balfour,  Balconwell,  Pitmudy,  and  the  Brewlands 
of  Menmuir.1 

George,  son  of  the  first-named  William,  was  next  proprietor, 
and  died  previous  to  16th  December  1494,  as  at  that  time  his 
widow,  Cristiane  Guthrie,  pursued  Dempster  of  Careston  "  for 
the  wrangws  vptaking  and  withhalding  fra  hir  of  the  teynd 
schaiffis"  of  Balrownie,  and  for  similar  injuries  and  outrages 
committed  over  her  property  of  Burnetoune  of  Balzeordie.2 

Neither  history  nor  tradition  preserves  much  regarding  the 
family  of  Somyrs  of  Balzeordie ;  but  from  casual  notices  of 
them,  they  appear  to  have  borne  conspicuous  parts  in  some 
transactions  of  local  importance.  In  the  year  1478,  George 
Somyr,  along  with  Luvall  of  Ballumbie  and  several  other 
county  gentlemen,  was  chosen  by  the  Sheriff-depute  of  Forfar 
"  to  inquire  and  knaw  vppone  the  landis  and  gudis  pertaining 
to  Walter  Ogilvy  of  Owres."3  In  1580  the  laird  of  Balzeordie, 
also  George,  was  Chancellor  of  Assize  when  Lord  Oliphant  was 
tried  for  the  slaughter  of  Stewart  of  Schuttingleis  ;4  and  it 
may  be  remarked  that  Robert,  the  son  of  the  laird  of  the 

1  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  SoutJiesk,  ii.  pp.  458  sq.,  giving  an  account  of  the 
Symmers  or  Somyrs  of  Balzeordie  from  1450. 
a  Acta  Auditor.  Dec.  16,  1494. 
»  Ibid.  June  4,  1478.  *  Pitcairn,  Crim.  Trials,  i.  pt.  ii.  p.  90. 


MENMUIE, — SOMYBS  OF  BALZEORDIE.  311 

period,  was  beheaded  by  "the  Maiden"  in  1618,  at  the  cross  of 
Edinburgh,  for  the  slaughter  of  the  son  of  Grahame  of  Leuch- 
land,  which  was  committed  "  vpon  the  Hauche  of  Insche  near 
the  Mekill-mylne  of  Brechin,  be  stroking  him  throw  the  body 
with  ane  rapper-suord,"  on  the  29th  of  April  1616.1  The  next 
mention  of  the  family  is,  happily,  in  a  more  peaceful  cause, 
since,  on  the  occasion  of  Sir  Alexander  Carnegie's  absence  from 
the  celebrated  Glasgow  Assembly  of  1638,  one  of  them  was 
appointed  to  represent  his  native  kirk-session;2  and,  in  1662, 
his  successor  was  fined  in  the  sum  of  six  hundred  pounds,  by 
the  Earl  of  Middleton,  for  his  opposition  to  the  introduction  of 
Episcopacy.3  From  that  period  until  1715,  when  the  Presby- 
tery and  Parish  Records  teem  with  the  indiscreet  amours  of 
Magdalene  Campbell,  the  widow  of  George  Somyr,  and  the 
son  of  the  Eev.  Sylvester  Lyon  of  Kirriemuir,  nothing  is 
recorded  of  the  family.  As  previously  mentioned,  the  male 
line  failed  before  the  middle  of  last  century  in  the  person  of 
Colin,  whose  sister  married  David  Doig,  sometime  a  merchant 
and  chief  magistrate  of  Brechin.4  He  sold  the  property  to 
Carnegie  of  Balnamoon,  and  was  father  of  Christian  Doig,  the 
wife  of  Sir  James  Carnegie  of  Pitarrow,  who,  on  the  extinction 
of  the  direct  male  line  of  the  noble  house  of  Southesk  in  1730, 
became  the  representative  and  head  of  that  ancient  family. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Menmuir  was  anciently  super- 
intended by  thanes,  who  acted  as  stewards  or  factors  to  the 
King.  This  probably  continued  down  to  1360,  as,  on  the  8th 
of  October  of  that  year,  a  charter  of  the  lands  of  Menmuir  was 

1  Pitcairn,  Grim.  Trials,  iii.  p.  437.  2  Session  Records. 

a  Wodrow,  Hist,  of  the  Church  of  Scot.  i.  p.  276. 

*  It  is  said  that  while  Balzeordie  belonged  to  Mr.  Doig,  a  person  of  the  name  of 
Donaldson  "put  away  with  himself."  As  was  customary  at  the  time,  he  was  to  be 
buried  between  two  lairds'  lands,  and,  without  being  coffined,  was  set  on  a  pony  by 
the  people  of  the  parish,  with  the  view  of  being  taken  to  the  appointed  spot.  But 
on  the  company  going  through  a  den  on  Balzeordie,  the  body  fell  from  the  pony,  and 
the  people,  believing  the  accident  to  arise  from  some  supernatural  cause,  all  ran 
away,  with  the  exception  of  Donaldson's  wife  and  brother.  Mr.  Doig,  hearing  of 
the  matter,  ordered  out  all  his  tenants  to  the  funeral,  and  had  the  suicide  buried  on 
the  spot  where  he  fell,  and  the  place  has  ever  since  been  called  "Donaldson's  Den." 


312  LAND   OF   THE    LINDSAYS. 

granted  at  Kinnell  Castle  by  David  n.  to  Audrew  Dempster  of 
Auchterless  and  Careston,  and  to  Findlay,  the  son  of  William, 
and  John  de  Cullas.  It  would  appear  from  this  that  Dempster 
and  the  Collaces  were  portioners  of  Menmuir,  and  in  this 
charter  they  confirm  a  grant,  originally  made  in  1347,  to  the 
canons  of  the  Priory  of  "  Rostynot,"  of  four  pounds,  by  way  of 
the  tenth  penny,  to  which  charter,  among  other  notables, 
"  David  de  Grahame  do  minus  de  Aldmonros"  appears  as  a 
witness.1  Such  were  the  first  Collaces  of  Balnamoon  or  Men- 
muir, whose  name  was  of  territorial  origin,  and  had  perhaps 
been  assumed  from  the  estate  or  parish  of  Collace,  in  Perth- 
shire. 

The  possessions  of  this  family  seem  to  have  been  mostly 
confined  to  Menmuir,  and  the  traitor  of  the  battle  of  Brechin 
and  his  son  were  the  most  conspicuous  of  their  race.  The 
former  has  already  been  fully  referred  to  ;  and,  in  regard  to  the 
latter,  it  appears  that  on  the  17th  of  May  1488  Thomas  de 
Collace  had  a  grant  of  half  the  foggage,  with  the  vert  and 
venison  of  the  forest  of  Kilgery,  for  his  faithful  services  at 
Blackness,  when  the  life  of  James  in.  was  threatened  by  the 
rebellious  faction  that  held  sway  over  his  misguided  son.2 
Apart  from  these  two  historical  incidents,  little  else  is  known 
of  the  family  beyond  the  frequent  skirmishes  that  occurred 
betwixt  them  and  the  inhabitants  of  Brechin.  In  1450,  when 
a  perambulation  of  the  boundaries  of  the  lands  of  Balnamoon 
and  the  Common  Muir,  or  those  belonging  to  the  cathedral  of 
that  city,  was  made,  John  of  Collace  of  Balnamoon,  wroth  at 
the  portion  assigned  to  him,  pulled  down  the  cross  and  uplifted 


1  Reg.  Mag.  Sig.  p.  43,  No.  118  ;  Robertson,  Index,  p.  78. 118.     In  1391,  Walter 
Stuart,  Earl  of  Athole  and  Caithness,  who  succeeded  to  the  title  and  estates  of 
Brechin  on  marrying  Margaret  Barclay,  the  heiress,  had  six  shillings  and  eightpence 
annually  from  Menmuir,  as  superior  of  the  lands. — (Rob.  Index,  p.  158.  43.) 

2  Dukedom  of  Montrose  Case,  p.  40] .     "Lord  Fife  has  the  Collace  charter  in  1488 
of  half  the  vert  and  venison  of  Kilgerry,  and  therefore  it  may  be  supposed  that  that 
right  went  to  Careston  at  the  same  time.     The  charter  of  the  Somyr  half  went  to 
Southesk,  probably  through  the  Doig  marriage." — (Note  from  the  late  P.  Chalmers, 
JSsq.  of  Aldbar.) 


MENMUIH — COLLAGE  OF  BALNAMOON.  313 

the  march-stones,  which  the  bishop  had  placed  between  these 
properties  by  order  of  an  assize  of  county  gentlemen.1  These 
skirmishes  were  of  long  duration,  and  more  than  a  century 
after  the  above  date,  Eobert  Collace,  and  fifty-two  of  his 
tenants  and  servants,  found  caution  to  "  underly  the  law "  for 
convocating  about  a  hundred  persons  "  bodin  in  feir  of  war," 
and  coming  "  vnder  sylence  of  nycht  to  the  Burrow  Eudis  of 
the  citie  of  Brechin,"  where  they  "frechit  and  focht  certane 
inhabitants  thereof  for  thair  slauchteris,  and  destroyit  the 
turris  [torrs  or  turfs  for  fuel]  beand  upon  the  said  muir." 2  It 
was  by  way  of  reprisal,  perhaps,  that  Harry  Hepburn,  and 
eighty-seven  other  citizens  of  Brechin,  made  an  incursion  on 
the  lands  of  Balnamoon  a  few  months  after,  and  summarily 
attacked  three  persons  of  the  surname  of  Downy,  servants  to 
Collace,  whose  houses  they  "  keist  down,"  and  "  cuttit  and 
destroyit  thair  plewis  and  harrowis,  and  schamefullie  hocht 
and  slew  thair  gudis  and  scheip  to  gret  quantitie."3  It  was  a 
daughter  of  the  above  Eobert  Collace  who  married  James  Eollo 
of  Duncrub,  and  was  maternal  ancestor  of  the  noble  family  of 
Eollo.  A  still  more  remote  ancestor  of  this  family,  Sir  David 
Eollo,  had  a  proprietary  interest  in  Ballichie  and  Menmuir  in 
the  time  of  James  n.,4  and  in  1519  David  Eollok  witnessed 
the  retour  of  Eobert  Maule  of  Panmure  as  heir  to  Sir  Thomas, 
his  father.5 

Latterly,  the  family  fortunes  of  the  Collaces  became  so 
greatly  reduced,  that  in  1632,  John,  the  grandson  of  the  pre- 
vious laird,  and  the  last  known  male  descendant  of  the  family 
of  Balnamoon,  was  first  returned  as  heir,6  and  then  he  sold  the 
lands  to  Irving  of  Brucklaw,7  from  whom  they  soon  afterwards 
passed  to  Sir  Alexander  Carnegie,  brother-german  to  the  first 
Earls  of  Southesk  and  Northesk,  and  thus  the  family  of  Collace 
ceased  to  have  territorial  connection  with  the  parish.  A  stone 

1  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  i.  pp.  127  sq.  ;  ii.  p.  80. 

2  Pitcairu,  Grim.  Trials,  i.  pt.  i.  p.  431.  3  Ibid. 

*  Crawford  Peerage,  pp.  422,  423.  «  Reg.  de  Pan.  i.  p.  292. 

u  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  210.  7  Ibid.  No.  234. 


314  LAND    OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

built  into  the  present  mansion-house  of  Balnamoon,  bearing 
the  initials  and  date,  "I.  C.  1584,"  is  the  only  visible  trace  of 
them  now  on  these  lands ;  nay,  their  very  surname,  unlike  that 
of  most  old  barons,  is  almost  unknown,  and  unassociated  with 
any  prominent  action,  barring  the  instances  of  John's  treachery 
at  Brechin  and  Thomas's  services  at  Blackness ;  and  the  only 
mention  of  the  name  in  the  Parish  Eegister  is  in  the  slightly 
humiliating  notice,  that  "Patrick  Collace  was  admitted  beddell" ! 
The  family,  however,  were  not  altogether  devoid  of  a  literary 
taste.  William  Collace,  who  is  presumed  to  have  been  of  the 
Balnamoon  branch,  was  Professor  of  Latin  in  St.  Andrews,  and 
preceptor  of  the ' illustrious  James  Melville;  and  one  of  the 
daughters  was  mother  of  John  Leech,  a  writer  of  Latin  poems, 
under  the  Latinised  cognomen  of  Johannes  Leochseus.  He 
spent  his  early  years  under  the  roof  of  his  maternal  ancestors, 
and  according  to  the  title  of  one  of  his  poems,  he  would  seem 
to  have  been  a  native  of  Montrose,  and  educated  at  the 
Grammar  School  there,  under  David  Lindsay,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Brechin.  Leech  is  supposed  to  have  graduated  at 
Aberdeen  in  1614,  but  nothing  certain  is  known  of  his  father. 
A  burgess  family  in  Montrose  bore  the  same  name,  and  he  is 
believed  to  have  been  descended  from  them.  He  went  abroad 
for  three  years,  and  on  leaving  Balnamoon  in  May  1617,  wrote 
the  lines  of  which  the  following  are  a  translation : — 

"  COLLIS  !  serene  in  years,  of  fair  renown, 
Whose  manly  virtues  Mars  and  Themis  crown  ; 
And  thou,  my  home ! — three  hundred  years  thy  date, 
Firm  hast  thou  stood,  though  oft  the  sport  of  fate. 
Here  first  a  grandsire's,  mother's  care  I  knew  ; 
In  thy  fair  field  from  infancy  I  grew. 
Farewell !  dear  to  the  Poet's  memory  ye  shall  be, 
And  thy  remembrance  fondly  dwell  on  me. 
If  the  bright  laurel  wreath  reward  my  lays, 
To  you  be  due  the  merit  and  the  praise."1 

The  first  Carnegie  of  Balnamoon  and  Careston,  as  before 

1  Leech,  Poems,  p.  61.     This  excellent  translation  is  by  a  young  lady  (Miss 
Spankie,  cousin  to  the  late  P.  Chalmers,  Esq.  of  Aldbar). 


MENMUIR — CARNEGIES  OF  BALNAMOOX.  315 

noticed,  was  Sir  Alexander,  brother-german  of  the  first  Earls 
of  Southesk  and  North  esk,  and  of  Sir  Robert  of  Dunichen.  He 
married  Giles,  daughter  of  Blair  of  Balthyock,  who  died  in  or 
before  the  year  1639,  leaving  two  sons,  David  and  John.  The 
former  predeceased  his  father,  and  on  Sir  Alexander's  death  in 
1658,  Sir  John  succeeded  his  father  and  elder  brother  in  these 
estates,  but  had  to  sell  Careston  to  Sir  John  Stewart  of  Grand- 
tully.  He  was  twice  married,  and  was  followed  by  his  only 
son  by  the  first  marriage,  James,  who  had  retours  of  the  lands 
in  November  1662.  He  married  first  his  cousin,  Margaret, 
daughter  of  Sir  Alexander  Carnegie  of  Pitarrow,  and  next, 
after  a  long  widowhood,  Jean  Fothringham  of  the  house  of 
Powrie,  and  was  succeeded  in  1700  by  his  son  James,  eldest 
son  of  the  first  marriage.  Dying  in  the  spring  of  1704,  he  was 
succeeded  by  his  brother  Alexander,  who  sold  the  mains  of 
Balnamoon  and  others  to  Stewart  of  Grandtully  in  1707.1 
His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Graham  of  Fintry,  and  was  mother 
of  James  Carnegie,  who  figured  so  conspicuously  in  the  rebellion 
of  1745.  James  married  Margaret  Arbuthnott  in  1734,  by 
whom  the  fine  estate  of  Findowrie  was  brought  to  the  Balna- 
moon family,  in  virtue  of  which  they  assume  the  additional 
patronymic  of  "Arbuthnott."2  This  gentleman  also  added  by 
purchase  the  lands  of  Balzeordie  3  and  Balrownie  to  his  paternal 
estate,  and  dying  in  1791,  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son, 
who  died  unmarried  in  1810,  when  his  nephew,  James  Carnegie 
Knox,  son  of  the  proprietor  of  Keithock  and  Markhouse,  came 
to  the  property.  By  his  wife,  Mary  Anne,  daughter  of  David 
Hunter  of  Blackness,  who  predeceased  him  on  Nov.  12,  1854, 

1  See  APPENDIX  No.  XL,  for  a  curious  letter  to  this  laird  from  Sir  David  Car- 
uegie  of  Pitarrow. 

2  The  first  Arbuthnott  of  Findowrie  was  Robert,  son  of  Arbuthnott  of  that  Ilk, 
who  died  in  l/>79.     The  laird  of  the  period  was  fined  £2400  by  the  Earl  of  Middleton 
for  his  opposition  to  Episcopacy.     They  were  also  proprietors  of  Markhouse,  Cald- 
hanie,  etc.     See  APPENDIX  No.  XII. 

3  The  small  farm  of  Piperton,  at  the  extreme  south-east  of  the  parish,  belonged  to 
the  barony  of  Balzeordie.     According  to  tradition,  the  progenitors  of  a  family  sur- 
named  Bean,  who  till  lately  were  tenants  in  Piperton,  had  been  there  for  several 
centuries. 


316  LAND    OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

James  Carnegie-Arbuthnot  had  a  family  of  four  sons  and  five 
daughters,  and  dying  in  1871  at  the  age  of  eighty  years,  was 
buried  at  Menmuir.  He  is  now  survived  by  three  daughters,  of 
whom  two  are  married  and  have  issue ;  the  eldest  is  unmarried 
and  resides  at  Balnamoon.  Markhouse  or  Marcus  now  belongs 
to  the  family  of  Swinburne  of  Pontop  Hall,  county  Durham,1 
the  late  proprietor  being  Lieutenant-Colonel  Swinburne  of 
Marcus  and  Noranbank,  who  died  28th  November  1881  at  the 
age  of  fifty-one  years,  leaving  two  daughters. 

Of  all  these  Carnegies,  the  most  conspicuous  was  he  who 
married  the  heiress  of  Findowrie,  and  who,  with  a  company  of 
vassals,  bore  a  prominent  part  at  the  battles  of  Preston,  Falkirk, 
and  Culloden.  He  was  governor  of  Forfarshire  on  behalf  of  the 
Prince,  and  the  person  in  whose  name  the  "Hazard"  sloop  of  war 
was  captured  at  Montrose  by  Captain  James  Erskine  (brother 
of  Lord  Dun),  and  Ferrier,  the  notorious  rebel  leader  of  Angus. 
Carnegie,  being  hunted  by  the  Royalists  from  his  own  house, 
found  shelter  for  some  time  in  the  guise  of  a  hireling  among 
his  own  tenants,  and  ultimately  took  refuge  among  the  moun- 
tains of  Glenesk,  where  the  place  of  his  retreat  is  still  known 
as  "Bonnymune's  Cave,"  and  from  being  of  kindred  politics 
with  most  of  the  inhabitants,  he  long  lurked  there  in  safety.2 

Although  "  the  rebel  laird  "  was  remarkable  for  humour 
and  conviviality,  which  were  then  fashionable,  it  is  not  to  be 
concluded  that  he  was  either  the  sottish  old  bachelor  described 
in  the  Story-teller  of  Last  Century, 3  or  the  illiterate  Goth 
who  is  said  to  have  cut  the  fine  old  books  of  his  ancestors  to 
fit  the  crazy  wooden  shelves.4  It  has  been  shown  that  he  not 
only  was  married  and  left  a  family,  but  that  he  also,  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  augmented  his  patrimony  by  purchase.  And 
although  it  cannot  be  said  on  any  authentic  grounds  that  he 
was  the  author  of  the  popular  old  song  of  "  Low  down  in  the 

1  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk,  ii.  p.  431. 

2  Ut  sup.  pp.  78, 100. 

8  Chambers's  Edin.  Journal,  New  Series,  No.  30. 

4  R.  P.  Gillies,  Memoirs  of  a  Literary  Veteran,  i.  p.  23. 


MENMUIR — LIBELS  ON  THE   "REBEL  LAIRD."       317 

broom  "  (which  is  generally  ascribed  to  him),  the  intelligence 
which  was  requisite  to  fulfil  the  important  and  trustworthy 
office,  which  he  held  during  "the  forty-five,"  ill  agrees  with 
the  sottish  and  illiterate  character  that  the  above  writers  would 
give  him. 

By  way  of  authenticating  the  story  of  Mr.  Carnegie's  sawing 
his  books,  and  parting  with  the  original  edition  of  Shakespeare 
as  a  work  of  which  he  knew  nothing,  also  of  the  valuable 
library  lying  as  lumber  in  a  damp  room  at  the  house  of  Bal- 
namoon,  Mr.  Gillies  speaks  as  from  personal  intimacy  with  the 
laird,  and  knowledge  of  the  library.  These  assertions,  how- 
ever, must  appear  rather  problematical,  when  it  is  known  that, 
apart  from  the  presumption  to  the  contrary  above  noticed, 
Mr.  Gillies  was  barely  one  and  a  half  years  old  at  the  time  of 
Mr.  Carnegie's  death — the  former  being  born  on  the  9th  No- 
vember 1789,  and  the  latter  dying  sometime  previous  to  Whit- 
sunday 1791.  While,  so  far  from  the  fine  old  tomes,  which  he 
says  were  so  shamefully  mutilated  by  the  laird,  being  at  the 
house  of  Balnamoon,  they  came  to  the  family  by  Miss  Arbuth- 
nott,  and  were  never  at  Balnamoon  at  all,  being  preserved  in  a 
substantial  building  at  Findowrie,  about  two  miles  distant,  and 
"  were  all  delivered  in  good  order  and  unmutilated,"  shortly 
before  1810,  to  the  late  Alexander  Gibson  Hunter  of  Blackness, 
then  a  partner  in  the  firm  of  Constable,  the  great  publishers 
in  Edinburgh.1 

1  If  Mr.  Gillies  and  the  "Story-teller"  have  confounded  " the  rebel  laird "  with 
his  son  and  successor,  who  died  a  bachelor  (and  perhaps  they  have  done  so),  he  was 
remarkable  beyond  most  men  of  his  age  for  quiet,  sober,  and  exemplary  conduct ; 
and  the  following  satisfactory  note  from  the  late  laird  will  show  the  care  which  he 
took  of  the  books  in  question.  "  I  am  a  witness  myself,"  writes  Mr.  Carnegie 
Arbuthnott,  "  that  the  books  were  never  here  [at  Balnamoon]  at  all.  I  remember 
them  at  Findowrie,  in  a  small  building  separate  from  the  house,  at  the  foot  of  the 
garden,  where  I  have  seen  them  repeatedly  in  the  time  of  my  uncle,  who  succeeded 
his  father,  and  have  assisted  in  dusting  and  keeping  them  in  order  down  to  the  time 
of  the  late  Alexander  Gibson  Hunter  of  Blackness,  to  whom  they  were  all  delivered 
in  good  order,  and  unmutilated." 


318  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 


SECTION    III. 

Alas  for  routhe  t  what  thouche  his  mynde  -were  goode, 
His  corage  manly,  yet  ther  he  shed  his  bloode. 

PERCY'S  BALLADS. 

Although  the  age  and  use  of  this  mysterious  -work 
Have  baffled  Wisdoms  self,  provincial  lore  unravels  all. 

ANON. 

Balhall  and  the  family  of  Glen— Balhall  passed  to  the  Lindsays — Patronage  of  Men- 
muir  belonged  to  Balhall — The  Parson  of  Menmuir — Succession  in  Balhall — The 
Cramonds — The  Lyells — The  Erskines  of  Dun — Moss  of  Balhall — Death  of  Lyon 
of  Glainis — Expiation  of  perjury — Cairns — Murder  of  the  shoemaker  of  Tiger- 
ton — Archaeological  remains — Stracathro — The  Caterthuns — described — Origin 
veiled  in  mystery  and  a  field  for  superstition — Witchcraft  — Fairy  child. 

LITTLE  is  known  regarding  the  proprietary  history  of  Balhall 
until  shortly  before  the  year  1440.  At,  and  for  some  time 
previous  to  that  period,  it  was  possessed  by  Sir  John  Glen  of 
Inchmartin,  in  the  barony  of  Longforgan,  which  the  family 
de  Inchmartin  held  from  an  early  date.  The  first  of  those  who 
figured  conspicuously  was  John,  one  of  the  ten  barons  selected 
to  make  the  peace  of  Scotland  with  Edward  I.  in  1305;  and, 
on  the  first  appointment  of  sheriffs  in  that  year,  he  was  chosen 
for  the  county  of  Perth.1  In  the  following  year,  his  son  Sir 
David,  who  had  been  one  of  the  original  followers  of  (Bruce, 
was  hanged,  with  several  other  patriots,  by  order  of  Edward. 
His  successor — perhaps  a  son — had  a  charter  from  Bruce  of  the 
lands  of  his  sires;  and  about  1376,  Sir  Allan  de  Erskyne  of 
Wemyss  succeeded  to  the  estates  on  marrying  the  heiress.  Sir 
Allan  died  in  1401,  leaving  an  only  daughter,  who  married  Sir 
John  Glen,  and  the  estate  of  Inchmartin  devolved  on  that 
knight.  He  also  left  co-heiresses,  one  of  whom  married  Sir 
Walter  de  Ogilvy,  who  succeeded  to  the  half  of  Inchmartin, 
and  other  properties  belonging  to  Glen,  of  which  "  Balhalwell " 
(Balhall)  formed  a  part.2 

1  Dalrymple,  Annals,  i.  p.  314. 

2  Crawford,   Peerage,  p.   143.        His  descendant,  Sir  Patrick  of    Inchmartin, 
married  the  eldest  daughter  of  James,  second  Lord  Ogilvy  of  Deskford :  and,  in 


MENMUIR — PROPRIETORS  OF  BALHALL.  319 

It  is  not  improbable,  since  Menmuir  was  wholly  at  the  royal 
disposal  in  Bruce's  time,  that  Balhall  had  formed  part  of  the 
grant  which  he  made,  or  rather  renewed,  to  the  successor  of 
his  unfortunate  friend  Inchmartin.  Subsequent,  however,  to 
Ogilvy's  succession,  the  name  of  Sir  John  Wemyss  of  Wemyss 
occurs  in  a  proprietary  relation  with  Balhall,1  but  whether 
through  pecuniary  advances  or  otherwise,  it  does  not  appear. 
It  has  perhaps  only  reference  to  the  half  of  it,  however,  for  in 
1527  Sir  Alexander  Ogilvy  of  Deskford  had  a  charter  of  half 
these  lands,  and  another  for  the  fourth  part  of  Menmuir,  which 
were  erected  into  a  free  barony,  called  the  barony  of  Ogilvy.2 
But  in  1555  the  Ogilvy s  sold  Balhall,  and  other  parts  of  Men- 
muir, to  David  Lindsay  of  Edzell,  the  ninth  Earl  of  Crawford. 

The  patronage  of  the  church  of  Menmuir  had  long  gone 
with  the  lands  of  Balhall ;  and  John,  second  son  of  the  said 
ninth  Earl,  was  lay  parson  at  one  and  the  same  time  of  Men- 
muir, Lethnot,  and  Lochlee,3  and  assumed  his  judicial  title  of 
Lord  Menmuir  from  the  first  place.  But,  apart  from  certain 
ecclesiastical  emoluments  which  he  drew  during  life  from  this 
and  neighbouring  parts,  he  had  no  heritable  or  other  claim  on 
Menmuir,  his  youngest  brother  Robert  having  succeeded  to 
Balhall  and  the  other  Lindsay  temporalities  about  1572,  when 
he  also  gave  his  mother  a  discharge  of  his  "  bairnes  pairt  of 
guid,"  in  return  for  certain  moneys  advanced  to  him  by  her.4 
This  Eobert  was  one  of  several  of  his  name,  who  had  a  remis- 
sion for  the  slaughter  of  the  laird  of  Lundie  in  1583,  and  barring 
this  incident  nothing  particular  is  known  of  him.  He  died 
in  1598,  leaving  a  son  John,  who  survived  for  the  short  space 
of  four  years,  when  his  sister  Katherine,  who  married  Robertson 
of  Dalkbane,  was  served  heir-portioner  to  her  father  and  brother 


virtue  of  the  new  patent  obtained  by  the  first  Earl  of  Findlater  in  1641,  he  suc- 
ceeded, on  the  death  of  his  father-in-law,  to  the  estates  and  titles  of  Findlater  and 
Deskford. 

1  Douglas,  Peerage,  ii.  p.  618.  2  Crawford,  Peerage,  p.  143. 

8  Crawford  Case,  p.  218.  For  an  account  of  Lord  Menmuir,  see  Proc.  Soc.  Ant. 
Scot.  xi.  pp.  419-21.  4  Ibid. 


320  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

in  1603.  Immediately  on  the  back  of  this,  or  rather  a  few 
months  before  the  date  of  the  retour,  she  and  her  husband 
resigned  Balhall  and  the  patronage  of  the  kirk  to  Sir  David  of 
Edzell.1  This  is  the  last  mention  of  the  family  that  we  have 
found  as  landowners  in  Menmuir;  and,  some  time  before  1623, 
Balhall  had  passed  to  the  Cramonds,  for  a  sculptured  stone 
bearing  that  date,  and  the  initials  "  H  •  C  :  A  •  G."  with  the 
Cramond  and  Gardyne  arms  impaled,  js  built  into  a  wall  at 
the  farm  offices  of  Balhall. 

In  1646,  Hercules  Cramond  (perhaps  a  descendant  of  the 
old  lairds  of  Aldbar  and  Melgund)  is  designed  younger  of 
Balhall ; 2  and  being  the  last  name  with  which  we  have  met 
up  to  about  1682,  when  the  estate  and  advowson  of  the  kirk 
were  in  the  hands  of  Patrick  Lyell  (who  was  followed  by 
his  son  William  of  Dysart  and  Bonington),  it  is  probable  that 
Lyell  had  succeeded  Cramond.  In  Lyell's  time  the  estate  was 
greatly  enlarged  out  of  the  Common  Muir  of  Brechin,  and  this 
portion  is  still  held  in  feu  from  the  magistrates  of  that  city ; 
but  during  Patrick's  time  the  family  fell  into  pecuniary  diffi- 
culties, and  the  property  passed  in  1721  to  Mill  of  Balwyllo, 
who  in  the  course  of  a  year  resold  it  to  David  Erskine  of  Dun. 

Some  notice  has  already  been  given  of  the  Mills ; 3  of  the 
families  of  Cramond  and  Lyell  we  have  gleaned  little.  Suffice 
it  to  say  that  the  Cramonds  of  Angus  were  of  the  same  stock 
as  those  of  Lothian,  and  were  proprietors  of  Aldbar  in  the 
time  of  Edward  I. — the  laird  (Laurence  de  Cramound)  having 
sworn  fealty  to  that  king  in  1296.4  The  Lyells  of  Balhall 
were  related  to  Thomas  Lyell  of  Dysart  near  Montrose,  who 
married  Jean  Maria  Lindsay,  of  whom  the  late  venerable 
minister  of  Careston  was  a  great-grandson. 

The  Erskines,  however,  have  a  more  distinct  lineage  than 

1  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  33.     Inventory  of  Balhall  Title-Deeds,  communicated 
by  Messrs.  Speid  &  Will,  writers,  Brechiu. 

2  Menmuir  Parish  Records.  3  Ut  sup.  p.  237. 

*  Ragman  Rolls,  p.  162 ;  Nisbet,  Heraldry,  i.  p.  354.     The  Cramonds  owned 
Aldbar  down  to  about  1570.    See  Warden,  Angus,  ii.  pp.  297  sq. 


MENMUIR — EKSK1NES  OF  BALHALL.  321 

their  immediate  predecessors  in  Balhall,  the  first  proprietor  of 
the  name  being  the  Hon.  David  Erskine,  or  Lord  Dun,  who  fell 
heir  to  the  paternal  estate,  and  became  chief  of  the  family,  on 
the  death  of  his  eldest  brother.  Their  remote  progenitor  in 
Dun  was  John,  grandson  of  Sir  Robert  of  that  Ilk  in  Renfrew- 
shire, who  was  Chamberlain  of  Scotland,  and  whom  Barbour 
and  other  writers  extol  for  his  fidelity  to  Robert  u.  John  was 
alive  in  1419,  and  had  a  charter  of  Dun  from  his  father  in 
1393.1  The  grandfather,  Sir  Robert,  was  the  main  instrument, 
according  to  Wyntoun,  in  bringing  the  Stewarts  to  the  throne : — 

"  Schere  Roberte  Stewarte  wes  made  King, 
Specialy  throw  the  grete  helpyng 
Off  gild  Scher  Roberte  of  Erskyne." 

Lord  Dun,  or  the  first  Erskine  of  Balhall,  was  admitted 
advocate  in  1696,  and,  after  serving  forty- three  years  as  a  judge, 
resigned  office  in  1753.  He  retired  to  his  residence  of  Dun, 
and  employed  his  leisure  in  writing  a  small  volume  of  moral 
and  political  Advices,  which  he  published  in  1754,  the  year 
before  his  death.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Riddell  of  Hain- 
ing,  by  whom  he  had  a  son  and  daughter,  and  resigned  his 
estate  of  Balhall  in  fee  to  his  son  in  the  year  1732.  That  son 
succeeded  to  Dun  and  Balhall  on  his  father's  death  in  1755, 
and  died  in  1787.  He  had  two  sous,  John  and  David,  and  the 
last-mentioned  predeceased  his  father  without  issue.  The 
former  had  a  son  and  two  daughters.  The  son,  William  John, 
was  killed  in  Ireland  in  the  attack  on  the  rebels  at  Kilcullen 
Bridge,  in  1798 ; 2  and  his  father,  John,  the  last  male  descendant 

1  Wyntoun,  Cron.  iii.  p.  8 ;  see  Misc.  Spald.  Club,  iv.  pp.  Ixix  sq. 

-  "  The  story  of  Mr.  or  Captain  Erskine's  death  was  always  the  theme  of  conversa- 
tion among  the  men  of  a  cavalry  regiment  on  passing  the  scene  of  it,  which  they  used 
frequently  to  do,  on  the  line  of  march  between  Naas  and  Carlow.  As  I  have  heard 
it  told,  a  body  of  rebels  was  strongly  posted  in  a  churchyard  on  rising  ground,  and 
surrounded  by  a  strong  stone-and-lime  wall.  General  Francis  Dundas  ordered 
Captain  Erskine  to  dislodge  them,  but  the  dragoons  could  not  get  their  horses  to 
leap  the  wall.  After  ineffectual  attempts,  and  being  galled  by  the  enemy's  fire, 
Captain  Erskine  reported  to  the  General  that  it  was  useless  to  attempt  the  duty  with 
cavalry.  '  Are  you  afraid,  sir  ?'  asked  the  General.  '  No  !  I  am  not  afraid  ! '  replied 
the  other,  and  turning  his  horse  round,  he  rode  over  the  wall,  and  was  immediately 

X 


322  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

of  the  Erskines  of  Dun,  survived  till  1812,1  when  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  eldest  daughter  Alice,  who  died  unmarried  in 
1824.  The  younger  daughter,  Margaret,  married  the  Earl  of 
Cassillis,  afterwards  Marquis  of  Ailsa;  and  her  second  son,  the 
Hon.  John  Kennedy  Erskine,  succeeded  to  the  estate  of  Dun 
in  right  of  his  mother  and  aunt.  He  died  in  1831,  and  left  by 
his  wife,  Lady  Augusta  Fitzclarence,  daughter  of  William  iv., 
two  daughters  and  one  son,  Captain  William  Henry  Kennedy  - 
Erskine.  He  married  Catherine,  daughter  of  William  Jones, 
Esq.  of  Henlys,  Carmarthenshire,  and  in  1870  was  succeeded 
in  Dun  by  his  only  son,  Augustus  John  William  Henry,  the 
present  proprietor.  The  Marquis  died  8th  September  1846, 
aged  seventy-six,  and  the  Marchioness  two  years  later. 

Balhall  continued  in  the  Dun  family  until  the  time  of  the 
last-mentioned  John,  who  sold  the  property  and  the  patron- 
age of  the  church  of  Menmuir  to  Alexander  Erskine,  grand- 
nephew  of  Lord  Dun,  by  his  Lordship's  youngest  brother 
Alexander,  a  merchant  in  Montrose.  He  became  heir-male 
and  chief  of  the  Erskines  of  Dun,2  and  died  17th  November 
1855  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty-one  years,  proprietor  of  Balhall, 
Forfarshire,  and  Longhaven,  Aberdeenshire.  The  property 
belongs  now  to  his  two  daughters,  Mrs.  Ellis  and  Mrs.  West. 

The  moss  of  Balhall,  which  is  now  partly  under  the  plough 
and  partly  under  wood,  was  a  great  marsh  in  old  times,  stretch- 
ing from  Lochty  on  the  east  to  Bedford  on  the  west,  a  dis- 
tance of  several  miles.  It  was  in  this  place,  in  the  year  1382, 
that  Sir  James,  then  chief  of  the  Lindsays  of  Crawford,  and 
High  Justiciary  of  Scotland,  accidentally,  or  designedly,  met 
Sir  John  Lyon,  the  founder  of  the  noble  house  of  Strathmore, 
when  they  engaged  in  single  combat ;  and  being  one  of  the 


killed.  It  was  always  added  that  the  General,  who  was  no  favourite,  never  forgave 
himself  for  this  sacrifice  of  a  promising  officer."— (Kindly  communicated  by  the  late 
P.  Chalmers,  Esq.  ofAldbar.) 

1  "May  15,  1812;  John  Erskine,  Esq.  of  Dun,  died;  interred  in  the  family 
vault  on  the  18th.  Aged  69."— (Dun  Par.  Reg.  of  Burials.) 

•  Family  Tree.,  kindly  communicated  by  the  late  A,  Erskine,  Esq.  of  Balhall. 


MENMUIR — QUARREL  OF  LINDSAY  AND  LYON.       323 

most  accomplished  horsemen  and  expert  swordsmen  of  his 
time,  Lindsay  proved  the  victor  and  slew  Lyon.1  The  origin  of 
the  quarrel  is  now  unknown ;  but  it  is  believed  to  have  arisen 
from  jealousy  on  the  part  of  Lindsay,  by  whom  Lyon  had  been 
recommended  to  the  notice  of  his  Majesty.  Lindsay,  in  fact, 
beheld  in  his  own  late  secretary  the  greatest  favourite  of  the 
court  of  Eobert  n.,  and  one  through  whose  influence  he  had 
been  denied  several  favours.  From  being  Secretary  to  the 
King,  Lyon  had  become  Great  Chamberlain,  had  been  employed 
in  various  important  negotiations  at  home  and  abroad,  and  in 
addition  to  the  original  dowry  of  Glamis,  which  he  had  by  his 
royal  consort,  his  estate  had  been  augmented  by  the  gift  of 
various  other  possessions.  Thus  favoured  by  royalty,  Lyon 
perhaps  treated  his  former  benefactor  somewhat  cavalierly; 
for  it  is  certain  that  Lindsay  was  impelled  by  the  feeling  of 
having  sustained  some  real  or  imaginary  insult,  which  he 
determined  to  resent,  and  which  terminated,  as  above  seen, 
in  the  slaughter  of  the  laird  of  Glamis.  Lyon's  body  was 
buried  at  Scone  among  the  ancient  kings,  and  his  son,  then  a 
boy  of  thirteen  years  of  age,  was  educated  under  his  Majesty's 
especial  care.  Lindsay  "  fled  into  voluntary  exile ; "  still,  it  is 
curious  to  know  that  he  always  held  the  office  of  High  Justi- 
ciary, and  on  making  a  penitential  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of 
St.  Thomas  a  Becket  at  Canterbury,  was  recalled  and  pardoned.2 
It  was  also  on  the  lands  of  Balhall,  but  on  the  northern 
confines  of  the  property,  that  an  unfortunate  retainer  of  the 
name  of  Beattie  expiated  the  crime  of  perjury  in  true  feudalic 
manner.  There  is  no  record  of  the  time  when  this  affair 
occurred,  or  even  of  the  proprietors  of  the  land — the  Ogilvys  or 
the  Lindsays  or  later ;  but  the  tradition  has  countenance  from 
the  fact  of  a  barrow  and  patch  of  ground,  that  still  exist,  being 
known  by  the  names  of  Seattle's  Cairn  and  the  Mis-sivorn  Rig. 
It  is  said  that  the  circumstance  arose  from  two  lairds  quarrel- 
ling about  the  marches  of  their  lands  in  this  quarter,  and  when 

i  Extructa  e  Cron.  Scot.  p.  19-1.  a  Lives,  i.  p.  72. 


324  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

witnesses  were  brought  to  specify  the  boundary,  the  evi- 
dence of  one  of  them  went  to  prove  that  the  laird  of  Balhall 
had  no  right  to  the  portion  to  which  he  laid  claim.  Infuri- 
ated at  this  declaration,  and  convinced  in  his  own  mind  that 
the  witness  had  perjured  himself,  the  laird  of  Balhall  drew  a 
dagger  from  his  belt,  and  slew  the  man  on  the  spot.  On  the 
body  being  examined,  the  fact  of  the  perjury  was  discovered, 
as  it  was  found  that,  to  save  his  conscience,  the  cunning 
witness  had  filled  his  shoes  with  earth  brought  from  the  land 
of  the  laird  in  whose  favour  he  was  enlisted,  and  on  whose 
property  he  swore  he  stood  at  the  time  he  gave  his  oath ! 

A  story  is  also  told  of  a  rather  superstitious  old  woman,  who 
kept  as  a  charm  a  bronze  sword  that  had  been  found  by  her 
husband  in  the  Moss  of  Balhall.  Every  night  she  slept  with 
it  under  her  pillow,  but  before  depositing  it  there  she  was 
careful  to  draw  the  figure  8  upon  the  floor  with  the  point  of 
the  blade,  in  order  to  ward  off  the  evil  spirits  ! 

This  Seattle's  Cairn,  however,  was  not  the  only  one  that 
the  people  of  Menmuir  raised  to  commemorate  unprincipled 
acts  of  villainy.  Upwards  of  a  hundred  years  ago  Donald 
M'Arthur,  the  shoemaker  at  Tigerton,  when  about  to  get 
married,  went  to  Brechin  a  few  days  before  the  wedding  to 
make  some  purchases.  While  in  town,  he  unfortunately 
quarrelled  with  several  parties  who  were  well  known  for  their 
proud  resentful  spirit,  and  in  this  case  more  than  ordinarily 
anxious  to  have  their  itch  for  secret  revenge  gratified,  though 
in  the  most  cowardly  manner  possible.  Knowing  the  secluded 
path  by  which  the  bridegroom  had  to  return  home,  they  went 
and  concealed  themselves  in  the  dense  and  extensive  wood 
of  Findowrie,  which  then  bounded  the  road.  It  was  dark  by 
the  time  Donald  reached  the  wood,  and  nothing,  save  the  wind 
rustling  among  the  trees,  broke  the  silence  of  night.  On  coming 
to  the  fatal  spot  he  was  furiously  attacked  and  almost  killed 
by  those  who  lay  in  wait  for  him ;  but,  before  they  had  finished 
their  diabolical  business,  they  heard  the  sound  of  footsteps,  and, 


MENMUIR — TALES  AND  ANCIENT  REMAINS.         325 

fearing  detection,  simultaneously  pounced  on  the  passenger, 
whom  they  at  once  recognised  as  a  provincial  highwayman — 
in  every  way  a  fit  accomplice  in  their  dreadful  enterprise.  On 
receipt  of  a  paltry  sum  of  money  he  completed  the  murder  of 
poor  Donald,  and  swore  a  secrecy  which  he  held  inviolate  until 
about  to  suffer  the  extreme  penalty  of  the  law  for  another  crime. 
By  that  time  all  the  murderers,  save  one  (who  was  raving  mad, 
and  at  the  point  of  death),  had  gone  to  give  an  account  of  their 
transactions  to  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth.  In  commemora- 
tion of  this  bloodthirsty  act,  a  cairn  of  stones  was  raised  on 
the  spot  where  the  body  of  the  bridegroom  was  found,  and  a 
solitary  bush  of  weebo  or  ragwort  long  grew  from  the  middle  of 
it.  As  few  travellers  passed  the  road  without  contributing  a 
stone  to  Donald's  Cairn,  as  it  was  called,  it  ultimately  assumed 
a  great  size,  but  it  was  removed  several  years  ago  to  make  way 
for  agricultural  improvements.  The  bride,  according  to  popular 
story,  but  contrary  to  fact  (for  she  was  afterwards  married  and 
had  a  family),1  died  of  grief  soon  after  the  murder  of  her  lover  ; 
and  the  peasantry  were  often  alarmed  by  mingled  cries  of  dis- 
tress from  the  weird  of  the  unfortunate  shoemaker,  while  the 
faiiy  form  of  his  betrothed  hovered  nightly  around  the  cairn,  so 
long  as  any  stones  remained ! 

The  cluster  of  so-called  barrows  near  the  church  of  Men- 
muir  are  commonly  attributed  to  the  Picts  and  Danes  ;  and 
the  sculptured  stones  bearing  equestrian  and  other  figures,2 
which  were  found  in  the  foundation  of  the  old  church,  are 
also  ascribed  to  the  genius  of  the  latter  people.  These  ideas 
may  have  originated  in  the  vague  notion  that  pervades  the 
district,  of  the  Danes  having  fought  a  battle  there.  These 
barrows  have  an  artificial  appearance,  but  that,  perhaps,  is  the 
amount  of  the  matter,  and  we  are  not  aware  that  they  have 

1  Her  name  was  Rachel  Sim,  and  her  husband  was  a  blacksmith  called  Gleig,  near 
Kincraig,  in  the  parish  of  Brechin. 

3  Chalmers,  Sculptured  Monuimnts  of  Angus,  Plate  xvii.  figs.  2  and  3.  On  the 
general  question  of  such  sculpturings,  see  Anderson,  Scotland  in  Early  Christian 
Times,  ii.  pp.  49  sq. 


326  LA.ND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

ever  been  opened,  or  that  any  warlike  or  domestic  remains 
relating  to  prehistoric  times  have  been  found  in  their  vicinity. 
It  is  true,  that  on  disinterring  a  stone  coffin  a  few  years  ago  in 
the  Cotton  Muir,  at  a  short  distance  from  these  barrows,  a  flint 
spear-head  was  found  in  it  as  large  as  a  man's  hand.  This 
relic  was,  perhaps,  peculiar,  not  only  from  its  great  size,  but 
also  from  its  having  a  hole  in  the  end,  in  which  a  piece  of  the 
wooden  handle  was  firmly  fixed.  The  workmen,  anxious  to 
discover  the  kind  of  stuff  of  which  it  was  made,  broke  it  into 
several  pieces  and  thus  destroyed  it.  A  thin  bronze  hatchet 
was  also  found  near  the  same  spot. 

There  is  no  record  of  any  engagement  having  occurred  at 
this  particular  place ;  but  the  facts  now  mentioned,  together 
with  the  finding  of  numerous  stone  cists,  containing  urns,  in 
the  adjoining  mosses  of  Findowrie  and  neighbourhood,  tend  to 
corroborate  the  tradition.  These  places  are  in  the  vicinity  of 
a  large  rude  stone  called  the  Killievair  Stone ;  and,  according 
to  the  provincial  couplet — 

"  'Tween  the  Blawart  Lap  and  Killievair  Stanes, 
There  lie  mony  bluidy  banes."  1 

The  Blawart  Lap  lies  about  a  mile  due  north  of  the  Killievair 
Stone,  on  the  farm  of  Longhaugh  ;  and,  as  all  historians  agree 
that  Angus,  Earl  of  Moray,  and  four  thousand  followers  were 
slain,  when  the  Earl's  forces  were  routed  by  David  I.  in  1130, 
in  the  contiguous  parish  of  Stracathro,2  it  is  probable  that  the 

1  Black,  Hist.  Brech.  p.  14. 

2  Dalrymple,  Annals,  i.  p.   76.      "  Strathcatherach  "  is  the  oldest  spelling  of 
Stracathro  ;  and,  according  to  the  Gaelic,  Strath-cath-rath  may  mean  "  the  plain  of 
the  circular  mounds,"  but  it  is  doubtful.     Sepulchral  remains  are  found  in  great 
quantity  throughout  the  whole  flat  ground  of  the  parish ;  and  on  opening  the  Re  or 
Rye  Hillock,  near  the  church,  some  years  ago,  a  carefully-constructed  stone  coffin 
was  found  on  the  top  about  2  feet  below  the  surface.     It  contained  human  remains, 
and  the  figure  of  a  Jish,  which  the  peasantry  say  was  "made  of  gold,  and  about 
a  finger  length."      This  interesting  relic,  which  was  carried  off  by  the  workmen 
and  lost,  had,  perhaps,  been  part  of  the  armorial  ensigns  of  the  persons  interred ; 
and,  as  the  Earl  of  Moray  was  killed  here,  this  may  have  been  the  place   of  his 
burial. — King's  Ford,  or  "  ad  Tinam,"  the  reputed  passage  of  the  Romans  across  the 
North  Esk,  in  A.D.  81,  is  in  this  neighbourhood  (Six  Old  Eng.   Chron.  p.  490). 
Tytler  says  that  Kenneth  ill.  also  came  by  his  death  here ;  and  tradition  affirms  that 
three  Danish  chiefs,  or  sea-kings,  were  buried  at  the  north-east  corner  of  the  kirk. 


MENMUm — ARCHAEOLOGICAL  TRACES.  327 

melee  had  extended  as  far  west  as  "  'tween  the  Blawart  Lap  and 
Killievair  Stanes,"  and  the  sepulchral  traces  which  have  been 
found  in  this  quarter  may  belong  to  that  engagement. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  most  important  of  these 
traces  were  found  about  thirty  years  ago  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Blawart  Lap.  Of  these  the  discoverer  gives  this  account : — 
"  While  engaged  improving  a  piece  of  waste  land,"  he  writes, 
"  including  a  grassy  mound,  called  by  the  old  people  in  the 
district,  the  Gallows  or  Law  of  Balrownie  (where,  it  is  said, 
the  lairds  dispensed  feudal  justice),  it  was  found,  on  excavating 
this  mound,  that  it  had  been  originally  raised  as  a  monument 
and  place  of  burial.  A  dike,  or  circle  of  rough  stones, 
apparently  gathered  from  the  adjacent  muir,  was  arranged 
round  the  bottom.  This  circle  was  one  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  in  circumference.  Within,  it  was  filled  with  earth,  brought 
from  the  banks  of  Cruik  Water  (distant  about  one  hundred 
yards),  and  raised  about  six  feet  above  the  surrounding  surface. 
It  contained  a  stone  coffin,  constructed  with  two  long  pave- 
ment-like stones  on  each  side,  and  a  half  round  one  at  the 
head — the  whole  covered  by  a  heavy  slab  of  whinstone.  From 
the  inroads  of  vermin  and  insects,  the  coffin  was  completely 
filled  with  mould,  mixed  with  small  particles  of  bones,  and  none 
of  them  could  be  distinguished  from  each  other,  excepting  a 
small  portion  of  the  skull.  The  head  was  placed  exactly  in 
the  centre  of  the  mound,  and  the  body  laid  due  south." 

Old  people  remember  .when  three  or  four  stones  stood  on 
the  same  spot,  but  no  record  exists  of  the  circle  having  been 
complete,  though  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  had  once 
been  so.  The  remaining  stone  is  about  four  feet  above  ground, 
upwards  of  eight  feet  in  circumference,  and  tops  a  knoll  north- 
west of  the  farm-house  of  Barrel  well,  in  the  parish  of  Brechin. 

It  was  also  here  that  Baliol  did  penance  to  Edward  in  1296.  The  church  anciently 
belonged  to  the  Chapter  and  Cathedral  of  Brechin,  and  St.  Braid's  Well  is  in  a 
field  adjoining  the  church,  to  whom  (as  St.  Rule)  the  kirk  had  likely  been  dedi- 
cated.— (See  Jervise,  Kpit.  ii.  pp.  236-45,  and  Campbell,  Lect.  on  Brechin  District, 
pp.  16-7,  30-1.) 


328  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

A  stone  coffin  with  an  urn  inside,  was  found  adjacent  to  it, 
about  the  beginning  of  this  century. 

The  most  remarkable  antiquarian  features  of  Menmuir, 
however,  are  the  mountain  forts  of  White  and  Brown  Cater- 
thun. These  hills  are  of  the  same  class  as  Duneval  and 
Dunjardel,  in  Inverness  and  Nairn  shires ;  but  that  of  White 
Caterthun  is  accounted  the  most  remarkable  of  any  in  the 
kingdom.  Huddleston  calls  White  Caterthun  a  Druidical 
erection ;  but  other  writers,  on  perhaps  better  grounds,  suppose 
both  ramparts  to  have  a  native  origin,  coeval  with  British  posts, 
and  to  have  been  raised  for  the  protection  and  retreat  of  the 
wives  and  children  of  the  ancient  inhabitants,  during  the 
repeated  invasions  of  their  country ;  and,  instead  of  assuming 
the  name  to  signify  "  Camptown  "  or  "  City  Fort,"  according 
to  Pennant,  they  derive  it  from  the  likelier  source  of  Cader- 
dun,  a  hill-fort.1 

The  rampart  and  intrenchments  of  the  Brown  or  Black 
Caterthuu  are  nearly  circular,  and  entirely  composed  of  earth 
— hence  its  distinctive  name.  It  occupies  a  lower  site  and 
less  space  than  its  fellow,  from  which  it  lies  about  a  mile 
eastward,  commanding  an  extensive  view  of  the  eastern 
and  southern  portions  of  the  valley  of  Strathmore  ;  while  White 
Caterthun,  whose  height  is  nine  hundred  and  seventy-six 
feet  above  the  sea,  commands  the  western  parts  of  the  Strath, 
and  a  great  part  of  its  southern  and  northern  boundaries. 
The  former  has  been  formed  by  the  levelling  down  of  the  top 
of  the  mountain,  which,  in  a  physical  aspect,  is  altogether 
different  from  its  fellow ;  for,  while  stones  abound  on  all  parts 
of  the  White  Caterthun,  comparatively  few  are  to  be  found  on 
the  Brown — so  that  whether  the  stones  had  been  carried  from 
the  latter  to  erect  the  former,  or  whether,  by  scooping  out  the 
trenches,  White  Caterthun  had  afforded  materials  for  its  own 
rearing — or  whether,  as  fixed  by  tradition,  the  stones  were 
brought  from  the  West  Water,  or  from  the  still  more  distant 

1  Chalmers,  Caled.  i.  p.  89 ;  and  Prof.  Stuart,  Essays,  p.  87. 


MENMUIR — THE  CATERTHUNS.  329 

hill  of  Wirran  (to  which  provincial  geologists  say  the  stones  of 
this  fort  are  peculiar) — is  all  a  matter  of  uncertainty.  But, 
about  twenty  years  ago,  a  large  boulder  was  discovered  at  the 
north-west  corner  of  the  White  Caterthun,  and  upon  the  two 
large  fragments  a  series  of  cup-markings  is  distinctly  traceable ; 
but  there  is  nothing  to  elucidate  their  meaning  or  the  special 
use  to  which  the  boulder  had  been  applied;1  one  of  the 
fragments  is  rolled  a  considerable  distance  down  the  hill. 

Caterthun  has  been  frequently  engraved  and  described, 
particularly  in  Eoy's  Military  Antiquities?  and  is  agreed  on  all 
hands  to  have  been  singularly  well  constructed  for  purposes 
of  security  and  defence.  The  fort  was  not,  however,  as  some 
descriptions  of  it  would  lead  the  stranger  to  believe,  an  erection 
which  had  been  held  together  by  mortar  or  other  cement,  but 
was  composed  entirely  of  loose  stones.  These  have  fallen  from 
their  original  position,  and  the  breadth  of  the  wall,  in  its  present 
state,  is  presumed  to  measure  about  a  hundred  feet  at  the  base, 
and  between  twenty  and  thirty  feet  at  the  top.  It  rises  little 
more  than  five  feet  above  the  inner  area,  which  is  of  an  oval 
form,  measuring  about  five  hundred  and  thirty-four  feet  in 
length,  by  two  hundred  in  breadth.  The  well  is  within  eighty 
feet  of  the  south-west  corner,  and  although  much  filled  up,  is 
still  represented  by  a  pit  of  about  eight  feet  in  depth,  and 
forty  feet  in  diameter  at  the  top.  Beyond,  and  surrounding 
the  whole  citadel,  there  is  a  succession  of  strong  ramparts  and 
ditches,  mainly  composed  of  earth,  and  stretching  far  down 
the  hill.  Although  now  much  filled  up,  these  trenches 
vary  in  depth  from  eighteen  to  twenty-four  inches,  and  the 
whole  structure,  as  has  been  frequently  remarked,  is  one  of 
the  most  extensive  and  elaborate  ancient  citadels  in  Great 
Britain.  It  may  be  observed  that,  although  the  dikes  and 
intrenchments  of  Brown  Caterthun  are  quite  in  the  same 
style  and  condition  as  those  of  White  Caterthun,  there  is  no 

1  The  stone  is  figured  by  Miss  Maclagau,  Hill  Forts,  etc.,  Plate  xi. 

2  Plates  47,  48. 


330  LAND    OF   THE  LINDSAYS. 

appearance  of  any  well  upon  it  except  on  the  south-west  slope 
of  the  hill,  near  the  Geary  Burn. 

Like  that  of  the  vitrified  site  of  Finhaven,  the  real  history 
of  Caterthun  is  veiled  in  mystery  ;  but,  perhaps,  since  the  place 
has  never  been  properly  investigated,  something  may  yet  be 
found  among  its  ruins  to  throw  light  on  the  manners  of  its 
possessors,  or  the  purposes  of  its  erection.  Tt  was  visited  by 
an  anonymous  writer  upwards  of  a  century  ago,  who  speaks 
of  having  found  stones  upon  it  with  hieroglyphic  characters, 
bits  of  broken  statues,  and  old  coins ;  but  as  none  of  these  have 
been  seen  or  heard  of,  save  through  the  columns  of  a  con- 
temporary magazine,1  the  assertion  is  generally  questioned. 
The  late  Mr.  D.  D.  Black,  author  of  the  History  of  Brcchin, 
cut  through  a  portion  of  the  wall  some  years  ago,  but  found 
only  a  few  remains  of  charred  wood  and  burned  bones.2 

But,  as  may  be  expected,  though  the  learned  of  every  age 
have  failed  to  satisfy  themselves  regarding  the  use  or  gathering 
together  of  these  stones,  local  tradition  at  once  solves  the 
mystery,  and  says  that  the  place  was  merely  the  abode  of 
fairies,  that  a  brawny  witch  carried  the  whole  one  morning 
from  the  channel  of  the  West  Water  to  the  summit  of  the  hill, 
and  would  have  increased  the  quantity  (there  is  no  saying 
to  what  extent),  but  for  the  ominous  circumstance  of  her  apron- 
string  breaking,  while  carrying  one  of  the  largest !  This  stone 
was  allowed  to  lie  where  it  fell,  and  is  pointed  out  to  this  day 
on  the  north-east  slope  of  the  mountain !  This  tradition,  it 
may  be  remarked,  however  outre,  is  curious  from  its  analogy 
to  that  concerning  the  castles  of  Mulgrave  and  Pickering  in 
Yorkshire,  the  extensive  causeways  of  which  are  said  to  have 
been  paved  by  genii  named  Wada  and  his  wife  Bell,  the  latter, 
like  the  amazonian  builder  of  Caterthun,  having  carried  the 
stones  from  a  great  distance  in  her  apron!  But  the  same 

1  Rudditnaris  Mag.,  August  31,  1775. 

-  On  hill  forts  like  the  Caterthuns  and   Finhaven,   see  Prof.    Daniel  Wilson's 
Prehistoric  Annals  of  Scotland,  ii.  pp.  85  sq. 


MENMUIR — SUPERSTITIONS.  331 

story  is  to  be  met  with  in  many  different  places,  and  with  only 
the  slightest  variation. 

Perhaps  the  fabled  occupancy  of  Caterthun  by  fairies  had 
the  effect  of  preserving  a  superstitious  credulity,  both  in  Men- 
muir  and  Lethnot,  for  a  longer  period  than  in  the  neighbouring 
districts.  We  have  already  seen  its  effects  in  the  latter  place ; 
and  it  is  a  notorious  fact,  that  at  no  distant  period  demonology 
and  witchcraft  survived  in  Menmuir  with  much  of  its  original 
vigour.  Nay,  apart  from  tradition,  it  is  recorded  that  in  the 
memorable  1649,  when  a  vast  number  of  native  Scots  are 
said  to  have  been  burnt  for  witchcraft,  the  clergyman  was 
prevented  from  preaching  the  Word  of  Clod  to  his  parishioners 
upon  the  2d  and  23d  of  December,  because  he  had  to  attend 
"  the  committee  appoynted  by  the  provincial  assemblie  for  tJw 
tryal  of  witclies  and  charmers."  What  the  pastor  of  Menmuir 
and  others  began,  their  brethren  of  Tannadice  and  Cortachy 
appear  to  have  finished,  for  both  were  absent  from  their 
parochial  duties  on  certain  Sundays,  because  of  having  to 
attend  the  burning  of  "  ane  witche  "  !  Such  cases,  however, 
were  far  from  rare ;  even  Knox,  one  of  the  most  enlightened 
men  of  his  time,  not  only  attended  the  execution  of  these 
martyrs  to  popular  ignorance  and  superstition,  but  actually 
on  one  occasion  preached ;  for  Melvill  says  that  the  first 
execution  he  ever  beheld  was  that  of  "  a  witche  in  St.  Androis, 
against  the  whilk  Mr.  Knox  delt  from  the  pulpit,  sche  being 
set  upe  at  a  pillar  before  him  ! "  * 

But  the  barbarous  doings  of  old  times  are  not  so  much  to 
be  wondered  at,  when  some  of  the  "  living  chronicles,"  even  in 
the  district  under  notice,  remember  of  burning  peats  being 
dropped  through  the  infant's  first  shift,  to  counteract  the  power 
of  diabolical  agency2 — of  the  husband's  unmentionables  being 
laid  at  the  feet  of  the  labouring  wife,  and  the  fairy  club  placed 
athwart  the  door-sill,  to  prevent  her  being  carried  away  by 

1  Diary,  p.  58. 

a  Ross  describes  this  superstitious  process  iu  his  Ifdenore. 


332  LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAY >. 

those  tiny  elves.  Nor,  even  at  this  day,  has  the  "  deid  licht  " 
perhaps  entirely  ceased  to  flutter,  and  throw  its  ominous  gleams 
across  the  marshy  patches  of  the  East  and  West  Lucks-o'- 
Pagan! 

Threescore  years  have  not  much  more  than  passed  away 
>iuce  a  humble  couple,  who  resided  at  Tigerton,  were  blessed 
with  a  son.  At  his  birth,  and  for  some  time  after,  the  boy 
throve  as  do  other  healthy  children;  but  his  constitution 
underwent  a  sudden  change,  and  the  thriving  infant  became 
decrepit  and  rickety.  This  marvellous  reverse  occupied  the 
attention  of  the  gossips,  and  various  causes  were  alleged, — 
among  others,  that  the  boy  or  his  mother  was  bewitched,  or, 
that  the  rickety  child  was  a  substitute  for  the  healthy  one, 
whom  the/airies  had  carried  away  by  stealth  to  their  invisible 
chambers  about  the  hill  of  Caterthun '  The  learned  in  such 
matters  were  anxious  to  find  the  truth  of  these  ideas  by  experi- 
ment If  the  boy  was  really  of  fairy  origin,  he  would,  on  being 
placed  over  a  blaze  of  whins,  fly  to  his  native  region — if  an  heir 
of  mortality,  he  would  withstand  the  fire,  and  receive,  at  worst, 
&  slight  burn,  or  scaum  ! 

As  the  Tigerton  Hecate  was  well  aware  that  it  would  revolt 
the  feelings  of  the  parents  to  have  their  infant  subjected  to  such 
an  ordeal,  she  watched  her  opportunity  when  the  mother  had  left 
her  ailing  child  in  charge  of  a  neighbour  on  leaving  home  for 
a  day,  and  she  prevailed  on  the  temporary  nurse  to  allow  her 
to  test  the  boy's  human  or  supernatural  being.  The  experiment 
was  of  the  highest  possible  interest.  Harvey  was  not  more 
anxious  to  discover  the  circulation  of  tie  blood  than  were  those 
hags  to  show  the  truth  of  their  irrational  surmises.  A  favoured 
few  were  collected  to  witness  the  result,  and  the  scene  took 
place  in  the  ben  end  of  a  low  thatched  cottage.  The  door  was 
carefully  secured,  the  small  window  covered  up,  and  the 
ceremony  conducted  by  whisperings,  so  that  no  other  human 
being  should  witness  their  unhallowed  actions.  A  bundle 
of  whins  was  lighted,  and  stripping  the  poor  child  to  the  skin, 


MENMUIR UNHALLOWED   OEDEAL.  333 

they  placed  him  upon  the  tongs,  and  held  him  over  the  flame ! 
He  screamed  and  struggled,  as  older  people  would  do  in  like 
circumstances ;  but,  as  he  never  attempted  to  fly  out  of  the  chimney, 
he  was  declared  by  the  cruel  hags,  in  council  assembled,  to  be 
merely  a  human  creature  after  all !! 


CHAPTER  VII. 
<|ftisalkttemtjs  ICnirb*  ot  the 


His  lands,  I  ween,  stretch'  d  far  an'  wide— 
frae  hi  el  and  hill  to  ocean's  side. 

BALLAD. 

Now  that  the  history  of  the  Parishes  over  which  the  great  family 
of  Lindsay  of  Glenesk  once  held  almost  supreme  sway  has  been  given, 
that  of  their  minor  estates  in  other  parts  of  Angus,  and  of  those 
which  they  owned  on  the  confines  of  Perthshire,  and  in  Kincardine- 
shire,  will  have  our  attention.  The  notices  of  these  must  be  neces- 
sarily brief,  in  consequence  of  the  volume  having  already  reached 
beyond  the  limits  originally  proposed.  Our  observations  will  there- 
fore be  mainly  confined  to  such  facts  and  traditions  as  are  preserved 
regarding  the  Lindsays,  and  to  some  of  the  less  generally  known 
historical  incidents  of  the  various  districts.  For  the  furtherance  of 
our  plan,  this,  the  concluding  Chapter,  will  be  divided  into  three 
Sections  —  the  first  of  these  will  embrace  such  of  the  Lindsay  pro- 
perties as  lay  in  the  Highland  or  North-western  parts  of  Angus, 
and  on  the  East  of  Perthshire  ;  the  second,  the  southern  portions, 
or  those  that  were  on  the  south  of  the  Valley  of  Strathmore 
in  Angus  ;  and  the  third,  such  of  their  lands  as  lay  in  the  Mearns. 


SECTION  I. 

LINDSAY  PROPERTIES  IN  THE  NORTH-WESTERN  PARTS  OF 
ANGUS,  AND  ON  THE  EAST  OF  PERTHSHIRE. 

Miscellaneous  properties — Brechin — Forket  acre— Brechin  and  Pitairlie — Keithock — 
passed  to  the  Edgars — Secretary  Edgar — Bishop  Edgar — Keithock's  toast — 
Little  Pert — Glenquiech  held  by  the  Lindsays — Preceded  by  the  Stuarts,  Earls 
ofBuchan — Shielhill  and  chapel  of  St.  Colm— The  water-kelpie — Inverquharity 
and  early  proprietors — Ogilvys  of  Airlie  and  Inverquharity — Baronets  of  Inver- 
quharity—  Balinscho  or  Benshie  —  Scrymgeours  and  Ogilvys  —  Lindsays  of 


LINDSAYS  OF  KEITHOCK.  335 

Balinscho—  Two  chestnut-trees  -The  Fletchers—  Chapel  of  St.  Ninian  and 
burial-place  —  Clova  —  Feuds  —  The  old  Peel  —  Parochial  district  and  chapel  — 
Glaslet,  Rottall,  Easter  and  Wester  Lethnot,  Gella,  Braeminzeon  —  Bakie 
Castle  —  Passed  to  the  Lyons  —  Chapel  of  Bakie  —  Kirk  of  Airlie  —  Dunkeny  — 
Ruthven,  Queich,  Alyth—  Corb,  Inverqueich  —  Murder  of  Lord  Lindsay  — 
Haunted  lady  —  Meigle  —  Its  early  proprietorship  —  Its  later  —  Church  and  burial- 
place. 


Bredjfn,  lUttfjock,  anfc  Slittle 

THE  Lindsay  interest  in  the  district  of  Brechin  is  of  old 
date,  and  has  been  of  a  varied  and  important  nature.  From 
the  time  of  the  first  settlement  of  the  family  in  Forfarshire, 
they  showed  great  favour  for  the  Cathedral  of  Brechin.  Sir 
Alexander  of  Glenesk,  as  before  shown,  erected  the  kirk  of 
Finhaven  into  a  prebend  of  that  church  ;  arid  his  son,  the  first 
Earl  of  Crawford,  endowed  a  chaplainry  in  its  chapel  of  St. 
Beternan  (probably  St.  Ethernan  or  Eddran),1  to  the  revenues 
of  which  his  descendant,  the  Duke  of  Montrose,  also  added 
considerably  shortly  before  his  death.  It  was  during  the  time 
of  the  Duke,  however,  when  the  Lindsays  attained  the  meridian 
of  their  power,  that  they  had  most  interest  there,  a  circum- 
stance which  arose  from  the  Duke  having  the  liferent  of  the 
lordship  of  Brechin  and  Navar  from  the  King,  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  services  at  the  rising  at  Blackness. 

But  the  earliest  notice  of  them  as  landowners  in  Brechin 
occurs  in  1508,  when  Kichard  Lindsay  owned  the  house  and 
land  called  the  Forket  Acre,  the  rent  of  which,  witli  other  pro- 
perties, was  mortified  to  the  Cathedral  by  James  iv.2  This 
place  is  described  in  the  charter  of  resignation  of  1511  as  lying 
on  the  west  side  of  the  city,  and  is  still  known  to  some  old 
people  as  part  of  the  property  called  the  Bank  of  Brechin,  near 
the  south-west  part  of  the  Latch  Eoad,  on  the  north  side.  It 
was  resigned  at  the  above  date,  as  "  le  Forket  Aker,"  by  Alex- 
ander Lindsay,  "  communi  fabre  in  Brechin,"  to  David  Lyon  of 
Kinnell.3  This  Alexander  Lindsay  was  one  of  a  long  line  of 

1  Lives,  i.  p.  103.    See  Smith  and  Wace,  Did.  Ch.  Biog.  ii.  p.  232. 
*  Ef(j.  Ep.  Brech.  ii.  pp.  19,  159  ;  Black,  Hist.  Brech.  p.  32. 
3  Fraser,  Hist,  Canifyies  of  Southenk,  i.  p.  xv  ;  ii.  p.  527. 


336  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

hereditary  blacksmiths  of  the  same  name,  who,  for  the  making 
and  mending  of  ploughs  and  sheep-shears,  had  certain  annual 
payments  in  meal  and  wool  from  various  farms  in  the  lordship, 
and  the  pasture  of  two  cows  and  a  horse  at  Haughmuir.1  It  is 
probable  that  they  continued  to  enjoy  the  office  of  common 
blacksmith  down  to  at  least  the  year  1616,  at  which  period  the 
name  occurs  for  the  last  time  in  the  minute-book  of  the  Ham- 
mermen,2 in  the  council  of  which  craft  one  or  other  of  them 
acted  from  the  earliest  date,  as  they  had  done  in  the  municipal 
courts  of  the  burgh.  Perhaps  the  Brechin  Lindsays  failed 
through  females,  for  in  1672  the  "  co-heiresses  of  John  Lindsay, 
residenter  in  Brechin,"3  had  annuities  furth  of  the  lands  of 
Craighead  of  Finhaven. 

Sir  John,  the  uncle  of  Earl  Beardie,  and  one  of  his  unfor- 
tunate kinsmen  who  fell  at  the  battle  of  Brechin,  was  designed 
of  Brechin  and  Pitairlie  ;4  but  whether  he  had  a  residence  in 
the  city,  or  why  he  is  so  entitled,  is  unknown  to  us.  It  is  true 
that  the  Earls  of  Crawford  are  traditionally  said  to  have  had  a 
residence  in  Brechin,  and  an  old  large  three-story  house  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Nether  Wynd  Street  (near  the  Cathedral)  is 
pointed  out  as  the  spot.  A  well  on  the  property  has  borne 
from  time  immemorial  the  name  of  Eeardie's  Well,  and  the 
rental  of  this  tenement  is  said  to  have  been  given  by  him  to 
the  Cathedral,  for  saying  mass  for  the  soul  of  his  mother.  It 
is  probable,  however,  that  if  the  family  did  not  reside  there,  it 
had  been  the  site  of  their  granary,  or  the  place  where  their 
vassals  or  tenants  deposited  their  meal,  of  which,  and  other 
payments  in  kind,  ancient  rentals  were  mostly  composed. 

It  was  in  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  that  David, 

1  The  farms  which  were  bound  to  pay  these  dues  were  Balnabrech,  Kindrokat 
[Kintrockat],  Petpollokis,  Pittendrech,  Hauch  de  Brechin  [Haughmuir],  Buthirgille 
[Burghill],  Pettintoschall  ["The  Haugh  of  Pantaskall,  at  the  west  end  of  Balbirnie 
miln."—  (Paper  in  the.  Southesk  charter-chest,  regarding  the  water  for  driving  the 
mill  of  Balbirnie  and  the  new  mitt  of  Pantaskall,  A.D.  1574)],  Balbirny,  and  the 
mill  thereof,  Kincragie,  and  Leuchlandi. — (Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  594,  Suppl.,  ii.  ; 
Misc.  Sp.  Club,  v.  p.  291 ;  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk,  ii.  p.  527,  App.) 

-  Quoted  nt  sup.  p.  45.  3  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  456. 

4  Pitairlie,  in  Monikie,  is  uniformly  called  Pitcairlie  in  the  Lives, 


LINDSAYS  AND  EDGARS  OF  KEITHOCK.  337 

third  son  of  Sir  David  of  Edzell,  became  proprietor  of  the  lands 
of  Keithock,  north  of  the  town ;  these  were  partly  under  the 
superiority  of  the  Bishop  of  Brechin,  and  partly  under  that  of 
the  Knights  of  St.  John.  From  that  period,  David  and  his 
descendants  were  designed  of  Keithock,  down  to  1617,  when 
the  succession  passed  to  a  female,  who  disposed  of  the  pro- 
perty, but  she  and  her  descendants  long  thereafter  retained 
that  of  Cairn  in  Tannadice.1 

Little  is  recorded  of  either  the  public  or  private  transactions 
of  the  Lindsays  of  Keithock.  The  last  laird  in  his  father's  life- 
time was  a  partisan  in  the  famous  melee  that  occurred  between 
young  Edzell  and  Wishart  of  Pitarrow  in  1606;  and  it  is  probable, 
from  the  name  of  Carnegie  of  Kinnaird  being  connected  with 
the  lands  in  a  proprietary  relation  in  1593,2  that  the  general 
embarrassment,  which  the  Lindsays  were  then  labouring  under, 
had  extended  to  Keithock,  and,  like  their  chief  and  others  of  the 
clan,  they  had  been  forced  to  mortgage  their  property. 

In  1617  we  find  John  Oudnay  "de  Keithik"  one  of  the 
jurors  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  extent  of  the  lordship 
of  Brechin  and  Navar.3  It  is  therefore  probable,  that  after 
Keithock  had  passed  through  these  various  hands,  it  came  to 
those  of  a  younger  son  of  the  old  family  of  Edgar  of  Wadderlie, 
who  are  the  next  proprietors  with  whom  we  have  met.  David 
Edgar  of  Keithock,  who  bought  the  property  in  1679  from  his 
cousin  Thomas  (the  father  of  John  of  Poland),4  had  a  large 
family,  among  whom  were  John  and  James,  who  bore  pro- 
minent parts  during  the  rebellion  of  1715  and  afterwards.  The 
former  died  a  prisoner  in  Stirling  Castle,  and  the  latter,  escaping 
to  Italy,  became  the  well-known  private  secretary  of  the 
Chevalier,  and  died  at  Eome  in  September  1764,  where  "he  was 
buried  by  a  Protestant  clergyman,  according  to  the  rites  of  the 
Church  of  England."  He  was  a  person  of  great  worth,  and,  as 
appears  not  only  by  the  letters  of  the  Chevalier  and  his  son 

i  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  342  (A.D.  1655).  2  Douglas,  Peerage,  ii.  p.  513. 

»  (Mar.  7)—Inq.  Valorum,  No.  10.  4  Nisbet,  Heraldry,  i.  p.  281. 

Y 


338  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

Prince  Charles,  but  by  those  of  the  fugitive  nobles,  was  one  in 
whom  all  had  the  most  implicit  confidence.  His  fidelity  to  the 
cause  of  his  exiled  master  was  unimpeachable,  as  the  follow- 
ing anecdote  told  by  his  great-grand-niece  amply  illustrates : 
— "Some  considerable  time  after  the  'fifteen,'  the  British 
Government  had  reason  to  believe  that  another  attempt  was  to 
be  made  for  the  exiled  family.  Sir  Eobert  Walpole  directed 
his  spies  to  learn  who  was  in  King  James's  confidence,  and  what 
were  the  character  and  circumstances  of  the  individual.  He 
was  told  that  the  King's  private  secretary  was  the  younger  son 
of  a  Scotch  laird  of  small  fortune ;  that  he  was  of  a  generous, 
hospitable  turn,  fond  of  entertaining  his  countrymen  when  at 
Eome;  and  that  he  had  but  a  small  salary.  This  was  just 
what  Sir  Robert  wanted,  and  he  wrote  to  Edgar  offering  a 
handsome  sum  if  he  would  betray  the  intentions  of  his  master. 
Edgar  put  the  letter  into  the  fire,  and  returned  no  answer. 
Several  other  epistles  bearing  advanced  offers  met  the  same 
fate.  Sir  Robert,  thinking  he  had  not  yet  come  up  to  the 
secretary's  price,  then  wrote  (and  this  time  without  making 
any  conditions)  that  he  had  placed  ten  thousand  pounds  in  the 
bank  of  Venice  in  the  name  of  Mr.  Edgar.  The  secretary  then 
consulted  his  master,  and,  after  a  brief  interval,  returned  for 
answer  that  he  had  received  Sir  Robert's  letter.  He  thanked 
him  for  the  ten  thousand  pounds,  which  he  had  lost  no  time  in 
drawing  from  the  bank,  and  had  just  laid  it  at  the  feet  of  his 
royal  master,  who  had  the  best  title  to  gold  that  came,  as  this 
had  done,  from  England." l 

Secretary  Edgar's  eldest  brother,  Alexander,  succeeded  to 
the  estate  of  Keithock.  A  younger  brother,  Henry,  was  the 
third  and  last  Bishop  of  Fife,  and  for  thirty-six  years  pastor  of 
the  Episcopal  church  in  Arbroath,  where  he  died  (as  intimated 
by  his  tombstone  in  the  Abbey  burial-ground)  on  the  22d  of 
August  1768,  in  the  seventy-first  year  of  his  age.2 

1  Quoted  by  Mr.  R.  Chambers,  Hist,  of  Rebellion  1745-46,  p.  419. 

2  The  following  is  his  baptismal  entry  in  the  Brechin  Records  : — "  April  2,  1698  ; 


LINDSAYS  OF  LITTLE  PERT.  339 

Alexander,  the  penultimate  laird  of  Keithock,  died  about 
1768,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  John,  who,  like  his 
uncles,  was  a  staunch  supporter  of  the  Stewarts,  and  joined  their 
cause  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  He  fled  to  France  on  the  final 
defeat  of  the  Stewarts  at  Culloden,  and  served  under  LordOgilvy, 
until  the  passing  of  tlie  Act  of  Indemnity  in  1756  allowed  him 
to  return  to  Scotland.  He  married  Catherine,  daughter  of  Mr. 
Ogilvy,  minister  of  Tannadice,  and,  down  to  his  last  breath, 
when  quaffing  the  goblet  of  wine  or  ale,  indulged  in  the  rather 
equivocal  toast  of  drinking — "To  the  King  o'er  the  water!" 
Keithock  being  greatly  mortgaged  at  the  time  of  John's  succes- 
sion, it  was  sold  in  1790  (two  years  after  his  death);  and, 
although  the  family  has  passed  from  the  district  of  Brechin, 
numerous  descendants  survive  in  America  and  in  various  parts 
of  Great  Britain.1 

Though  Little  Pert  was  one  of  the  earliest  acquired  of  the 
Lindsay  properties  in  Angus,  little  of  any  importance  is  known 
concerning  it  beyond  the  fact  that  it  was  gifted  by  Sir  Alex- 
ander Lindsay  to  the  Abbey  of  Cupar  so  early  as  1308.2  It  is 
said  to  have  been  held  in  later  times  by  the  Erskines  of  Dun, 
one  of  whom  (the  Superintendent,  it  is  believed)  erected  the 
Upper  North  Water  Bridge  at  his  own  expense.3  An  almost 
effaced  sculpture  of  the  Erskine  arms  is  yet  visible  upon  it ; 
and  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  when  the  Covenanters  were 
being  conveyed  to  their  prison  at  Dunnottar,  they  were  placed 

David  Edgar  of  Keythick,  husband  to  Elizabeth  Guthrie,  had  a  son  baptised,  named 
Hendrie.  Witnesses,  Hendrie  Maull  of  Kellie,  Hendrie  Graham  of  Menorgan,  Hcn- 
drie  Guthrie."  The  entry  in  the  Keithock  Family  Bible,  now  in  the  possession  of 
Miss  Watson  (having  a  fuller  entry,  but  counting  by  a  different  style),  is  :  "  Henry 
Edgar  was  born  on  Friday  the  8th,  and  christened  on  Monday  the  llth  Aprile  1698. 
His  godfathers,"  etc.  See  also  Scott.  House  Edgar,  p.  26,  and  infra,  APPENDIX 
No.  XIII. 

1  Both  author  and  editor  are  indebted  for  much  of  this  information  to  Miss  Watson, 
Pitt  Street,  Edinburgh  (daughter  of  the  late  Bishop  Watson  of  Dnnkeld,  and  great- 
granddaughter  of  Alexander  Edgar  of  Keithock).  See  Scott.  House  of  Edgar, 
passim.  2  Lives,  i.  p.  42. 

3  James  Mill,  author  of  the  History  of  British  India,  etc.,  was  born  on  the  6th 
of  April  1773,  in  a  cottage  which  stood  a  short  distance  south  of  the  Forfar  end  of 
the  North  Water  Bridge.  He  died  at  London  on  the  23d  of  June  1836,  and  was 
buried  in  Kensington  Cemetery. 


340  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

for  the  night  in  the  middle  of  this  bridge,  which  was  guarded 
at  both  ends  by  the  soldiers,  to  prevent  their  escaping.1 

These  estates,  so  far  as  the  writer  is  aware,  constitute  the 
sum  of  the  detached  Lindsay  properties  in  the  eastern  parts  of 
Angus  —  those  of  Woodwrae,  Balgavies,  Markhouse,  and  Barn- 
yards, having  been  already  noticed.2  The  first  of  those  parts 
that  lie  on  the  north-west  of  the  shire  are  the  lands  of 


cf)  antj 

The  first  designed  Lindsay  of  these  places  was  James,  son 
of  the  first  Lindsay  of  Little  Goull,  one  of  whose  descendants, 
Robert,  succeeded  the  eldest  brother  of  his  grandfather  in 
Barnyards  on  19th  September  1692.  The  Lindsays  continued 
in  Glenquiech  till  about  the  middle  of  last  century,  and  failed 
in  the  Rev.  David  Lindsay,  Episcopal  minister  of  St.  Andrews. 
They  were  all  staunch  Jacobites,  and  the  last  landed  proprietors 
of  their  name  in  Angus.  Robert,  who  was  served  heir  to  his 
father  in  1  664,3  "expected  to  the  day  of  his  death  the  happy  hour 
to  arrive  when  the  Prince  should  ascend  his  father's  throne,  and 
gave  himself  much  uneasiness  about  matters  of  Court  etiquette, 
fearing  lest,  during  the  interval  which  had  elapsed,  his  manners 
might  have  become  rusty,  and  he  should  not  cut  a  good  figure 
when  presented  to  his  Sovereign  after  the  restoration  !  "  When 
he  died,  his  son  insisted  on  his  being  buried  openly  with  the 
proscribed  Episcopal  service,  and  when  the  timorous  clergyman 
declined  to  officiate,  the  young  man  said,  "  Fear  nothing,  I  am 
resolved  it  shall  be  so  ;  I  will  stand  over  you  with  my  drawn 
sword,  and  we  shall  see  who  dare  molest  you  !  "  This  youth 
was  the  father  of  the  venerable  clergyman  of  St.  Andrews, 
whose  reverential  appearance  struck  Dr.  Johnson  so  forcibly 
when  in  Scotland,  that  he  stopped  and  inquired  of  a  person 
who  he  was  —  "  Only  a  poor  Episcopal  clergyman,"  replied  his 

i  Wodrow,  Hist.  iv.  p.  323.  2  Ut  sup.  pp.  208  sq. 

3  Inquis.  Gen.  No.  4783.  In  May  1876  a  stoneware  jar  or  bottle  full  of  coins, 
belonging  to  the  reigns  of  Charles  n.  and  William  III.,  was  discovered  at  Glenquiech. 
—  Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Scot.  xi.  p.  550, 


LINDSAYS  OF  GLENQUTECH  AND  MEMUS.  341 

(tor  the  moment)  oblivious  cicerone.     "  Sir  !  "  replied  Johnson, 
"  I  honour  him  !  "  1 

The  predecessors  of  the  Lindsays  in  Glenquiech  and 
Memus2  were  the  Stuarts,  Earls  of  Buchan,3  who  acquired 
most  of  their  Forfarshire  lands,  and  the  Sheriffship  of  that 
county,  by  marriage  with  the  heiress  of  Ogilvy  of  Auchter- 
house,  about  1491—  a  circumstance  which  doubtless  had  given 
rise  to  the  popular  notion  of  this  locality  being  the  scene  of  the 
tragedy  commemorated  in  the  ballad  of  "  Sir  James  the  Eose." 
Here,  as  at  Auchterhouse,  an  old  thorn-tree  was  long  pointed 
out  as  the  spot  where  the  "  furious  Grahame  "  and  the  "  brave 
Eose  "  fell  in  deadly  combat,  and  where  the  "  fair  Matilda,"  with 

"  The  sword,  yet  warm  from  his  left  side, 

With  frantic  hand  she  drew  :  — 
'  I  come,  Sir  James  the  Eose,'  she  cried, 
'  I  come  to  follow  you  ]'"* 


This  property,  which  lies  in  the  parish  of  Tannadice,5  was 
also  owned  by  Lindsays  at  an  early  date.  In  ancient  docu- 
ments it  is  called  "  Murtletyre,"  "  Murlettre,"  and  "  Murethlyn." 
According  to  the  Great  Seal  Eegister,  Sir  John  Lindsay  of 
Thuirstown  acquired  this  property  from  John  Wallays  of  Eick- 
arton  in  the  Mearns,  in  the  year  1329.  It  was  held  under 
the  superiority  of  the  Crown,  and  Lindsay's  charters  being 

1  Lives,  ii.  p.  282. 

2  These  properties  lie  in  the  parish  of  Tannadice.    It  was  anciently  a  thanedom, 
and  John  de  Logy  and  his  heirs  had  a  gift  of  the  reversion  of  it  and  Glamis  in  1363, 
for  the  reddendo  of  a  red  falcon  for  the  first,  and  a  sparrow-hawk  for  the  second,  to 
be  delivered  yearly  at  the  Feast  of  Pentecost.  —  (Reg.  Mag.  Sigitt.  lib.  i.  32,  No.  76.) 
Glamis  was  afterwards  given  to  Sir  John  Lyon  in  dowry  with  his  wife,  Princess  Jane, 
daughter  of  Robert  II.,  Mar.  8,  1371-2.     Tannadice  fell  to  the  same  family  at  a  sub- 
sequent date.     On  the  sculptured  stones  at  Glamis,  see  Stuart,  Sculp.  Stones  Scot. 
i.  pp.  25-6,  and  plates  ;  Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Scot.  ii.  pp.  247-8  ;  Jervise,  Epit.  i.  pp.  180  sq. 

»  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  106,  Apr.  21,  A.D.  1619. 

4  Glenquiech  and  part  of  Memus  are  now  the  property  of  J.  A.  Sinclair  Maclagau, 
Esq.,  while  the  remainder  of  the  estate  of  Memus  belongs  to  John  Ogilvy,  Esq.  of 
Inshewan. 

6  In  a  bounding  charter  of  the  Fern  property  (1535),  among  the  Caraldstone 
papers,  the  hill  of  St.  Arnold's  Seat,  in  this  parish,  is  named  "St.  Eiinan's 
Seit"  (St.  Adamnan). 


342  LAND    OF   THE    LINDSAYS. 

among  those  that  were  destroyed  by  the  burning  of  the 
monastery  of  Fail,  he  had  these  renewed  according  to  the  fol- 
lowing finding  of  the  Assize:  —  "At  a  sheriffs-court  of  the 
King's  tenants  of  Forfarshire,  held  at  Perth  on  the  21st  July, 
in  the  thirty-first  of  David  n.  (1360),  it  was  found  by  an  assise 
that  the  writs  which  Sir  John  Lindsay,  Knight,  had  of  the  lands 
of  Murethlyn,  in  the  sheriffdom  of  Forfar,  were  totally  burned 
in  the  sudden  fire  of  the  monastery  of  Fale  :  and  that  the  said 
Sir  John  held  these  lands  of  the  King  in  capite  for  the  service 
of  one  bowman  in  the  King's  army,  and  three  suits  yearly  at  the 
Court  of  the  Sheriff  of  Forfar  :  and  that,  in  that  finding,  the 
King  renewed  his  charters."1 

Murthill  was  resigned  by  Sir  John  Lindsay  in  1370,2  when 
he  was  succeeded  by  John  Wallays  of  Eickarton,  who  held  it 
for  only  a  few  years.  It  then  passed  into  the  hands  of  Mal- 
colme  de  Eamsay  of  Auchterhouse,  who  gave  charters  of  "  Mor- 
thyll  "  and  the  tenement  of  Kinalty  to  Hew  Lyell  in  the  time 
of  Eobert  n.,3  and  in  this  family  Murthill  continued  till  at  least 
Guynd's  time,  about  1682.4 


in  the  immediate  neighbourhood,  was  also  Lindsay  property 
from  an  early  date  down  to  1629,  when  it  was  sold  by  George, 
Earl  of  Crawford,  to  John  Eamsay  of  Balnabreich,  near  Cares- 
ton.5  The  castle  stood  upon  the  top  of  a  romantic  rock  that 
overhangs  the  Esk,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  and  one  of 
the  proprietors  is  said  to  have  married  a  daughter  of  Deuchar 
of  that  Ilk.  Part  of  the  castle  forms  the  walls  of  the  cottages 
which  now  occupy  its  place.  These  are  about  three  feet  thick, 
the  door  and  window  lintels  are  of  old  hewn  ashlar,  and  one  of 
them  bears  the  date  1686.  A  chapel  is  also  said  to  have  been 
here  in  old  times  ;  and  a  fountain,  at  a  little  distance,  is  known 

1  Bibl.  Hurl.  4628,  MSS.  Brit.  Mus. 

2  Robertson,  Index,  p.  91.  267.  3  Ibid.  pp.  53.  30  ;  118.  17. 
4  Spot.  Misc.  i.  325.  *  Crawford  Case,  p.  91. 


LINDSAYS  OF  SHIELHILL.  343 

by  the  name  of  St.  Colm,  to  whom  the  chapel  may  have  been 
inscribed.  The  estate  of  Shielhill  is  now  held  in  liferent  by 
Miss  Sophia  Georgianna  Lyell,  daughter  of  the  late  Charles 
Lyell,  Esq.  of  Kinnordy. 

In  exact  correspondence  with  the  old  rhythmical  saying, 
and  a  little  north-west  of  Shielhill, 

"  The  Waters  o'  Prosen,  Esk,  an'  Carity, 
Meet  at  the  birken  bush  o'  Inverquharity,"  * 

rolling  their  united  waters  to  the  ocean,  through  a  rugged  and 
romantic  channel,  fringed  on  all  sides  by  clustering  and  umbra- 
geous trees  of  various  kinds  and  sizes.  The  bridge  of  Shielhill 
(dated  1769-1770)  is  famous  as  the  place  where  the  celebrated 
Scottish  lexicographer,  the  late  Dr.  Jamieson  (whose  wife  was 
a  daughter  of  Mr.  Watson  of  Shielhill),  laid  the  scene  of  his 
admirable  ballad  of  the  "  Water  Kelpie,"  in  which  he  thus  takes 
advantage  of  the  story  of  Kelpie  bringing  the  stones  to  build 
the  bridge,  and  also  lays  hold  of  the  bold  sculpture  of  the  head 
of  a  Gorgon,  which  forms  the  base  of  a  sun-dial : — 

"  Yon  bonny  brig  quhan  folk  walcl  big, 

To  gar  my  stream  look  braw  ; 
A  sair-toil'd  wicht  was  I  benicht ; 

I  did  mair  than  them  aw. 
An'  weel  thai  kent  quhat  help  I  lent, 

For  thai  yon  image  fram't, 
A  boon  the  pond,  whilk  I  defend  ; 

An'  it  thai  kelpie  nam't." 

JEnbetqufjarttg, 

which  adjoins  the  lands  of  Shielhill,  was  anciently  under  the 
superiority  of  the  Earls  of  Angus ;  and  Margaret,  Countess  of 
Angus,  related  by  marriage  to  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  of 
Glenesk,  gave  him  charters  on  Inverquharity  in  the  reign 
of  David  n.;2  and  about  1390,  the  first  Earl  of  Crawford 
resigned  the  Newton  in  favour  of  a  John  Dolas.3  Inver- 

1  Erroneously  printed  Inverarily  in  Chatnbers's  Popular  Rhymes. 

2  Robertson,  Index,  p.  65.  14.  :(  Ibid.  p.  148.  29. 


344  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

quharity  proper,  however,  seems  to  have  been  alienated  from  the 
Lindsays  to  a  John  Allardis  sometime  before  1405  ;  for  in  that 
year  Allardis  resigned  the  lands  in  favour  of  Sir  Walter  Ogilvy 
of  Carcary,1  who  was  then  Lord  High  Treasurer  of  the  king- 
dom. On  the  3d  of  June  1420,  Sir  Walter  conveyed  the  lands 
to  his  brother  Sir  John,  who,  in  consequence,  became  founder 
of  the  house  of  Inverquharity ,  but  from  the  respective  seniority 
of  Walter  of  Lintrathen  (founder  of  the  house  of  Airlie),  and 
that  of  this  Sir  John  being  doubtful,2  both  of  these  families,  with 
some  degree  of  plausibility,  can  lay  claim  to  the  chieftainship 
of  their  clan.  The  real  progenitor  of  the  Ogilvys  of  Airlie  and 
Inverquharity  was  Gilbert,  younger  son  of  Gilibrede,  Earl  of 
Angus,  who  obtained  charters  from  William  the  Lion  "ter- 
rarum  de  Pourin,  Ogilvin,  et  Kyneithin."  He  assumed  his 
surname  from  the  lands  of  Ogilvy,  in  the  parish  of  Glamis,  and 
is  witness  to  a  charter  of  donation  by  his  brother  Gilchrist, 
Earl  of  Angus,  of  the  church  of  Monyfode  (Monifieth)  to  the 
Abbey  of  Arbroath,  1207.3  The  traditionary  account  of  the 
origin  of  the  Ogilvys  is  this : — Earl  Gilchrist  was  married  to  a 
sister  of  William  the  Lion,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons.  Their 
mother's  fidelity  had  long  been  suspected,  and  on  returning 
home  from  the  chase  one  day,  and  finding  her  with  her  para- 
mour, they  raised  their  daggers,  and  despatched  them  both  on 
the  spot.  On  learning  the  circumstance,  the  King  declared 
vengeance  against  all  the  Gilchrists,  and  seized  their  lands. 
They  fled  to  the  forests  for  safety,  and  remained  among  them 
several  years.  One  day  his  Majesty  was  out  hunting,  and 
getting  detached  from  his  party,  was  set  upon  by  banditti. 
The  proscribed  Gilchrists,  who  were  lurking  near  by,  ran  to 
his  rescue,  and  on  learning  their  name  he  restored  them  to 

1  Robertson,  Index,  p.  143.  91. 

2  Lives,  i.  p.  133.     Sir  Walter  Ogilvy  acquired  Lintrathen  by  marriage  with 
Isabella,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  Allan  Durward.— (Douglas,  Peerage,  pp.  49,  288. ) 
He  married,  secondly,  the  heiress  of  Sir  John  Glen  of  Inchmartin,  and  thus  came  by 
that  property.— (Spald.  Club  Miscell.  iv.)    He  died  in  1440 ;  but  during  his  lifetime 
(1426)  the  patronage  of  the  church  of  Lunderthin  (Lintrathen)  belonged  to  the  Earls 
of  Crawford.-— (Crawford,  Case,  p.  43.)  »  Reg.  Vet.de  Aberbrothoc,  p.  29. 


OGILVYS  OF  INVERQUHAK1TY.  345 

their  old  possessions,  and  added  that  of  the  Glen  of  Ogilvy 
in  Glamis,  where  he  had  been  beset  and  rescued,  but  on 
the  reservation  of  their  assuming  any  other  name  than  that 
of  Gilchrist  (though,  in  truth,  Gilchrist  never  was  the  surname 
of  the  Earls  of  Angus).  In  honour  of  the  place  where  they 
saved  their  monarch's  life,  they  took  the  name  of  OGILVY, 
which  has  been  so  long  and  so  worthily  borne  by  their  de- 
scendants. 

The  third  baron  of  Inverquharity,  as  before  mentioned,  was 
appointed  Justiciary  of  the  Abbey  of  Arbroath  in  the  room 
of  Earl  Beardie,  and  being  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Arbroath, 
was  taken  prisoner  to  Finhaven,  where  he  is  said  to  have  been 
smothered  by  his  sister,  the  Countess  of  Crawford.  His  brother 
Thomas  sided  with  the  Lindsays  on  that  occasion,  and  in  con- 
sequence had  a  gift  from  "  Earl  Beardie  "  of  Clova,  Wateresk, 
and  Cortachy.  The  eighth  baron  was  created  a  baronet  of 
Nova  Scotia,  29th  September  1626,  and  as  holding  this  title 
Sir  John,  the  present  Baronet,  is  ninth  in  the  succession. 

But  although  the  title  and  family  have  descended  in  a  long 
uninterrupted  line,  their  ancient  patrimony  was  wholly  alien- 
ated many  years  ago  by  the  grandfather  of  the  present  Baronet, 
who  had  succeeded  to  Baldovan  through  his  wife,  Charlotte 
Tulliedelph ;  and  the  castle,  which  is  yet  one  of  the  finest  and 
most  entire  baronial  buildings  in  the  shire,  stands 

"  now  forhow't, 
And  left  the  howlat's  prey." 

It  is  in  much  the  same  style  of  architecture  as  Auchenleck, 
and  perhaps  belongs  to  the  fifteenth  century.  Its  strong  ashlar 
masonry  and  heavily  grated  narrow  windows  convey  the  idea 
of  a  calm  and  passive  resistance,  while  there  is  a  noticeable 
absence  of  those  deeply  splayed  shot-holes  which  are  so  gener- 
ally found  to  cover  and  defend  the  approaches  to  the  chief 
entrance  of  such  castles.  The  heavy  door  of  grated  iron,  which 
is  similar  to  that  of  Invermark,  is  in  fine  preservation ;  and, 
whatever  difficulty  may  arise  regarding  the  age  of  the  building, 


346  LAND    OF   THE    LINDSAYS. 

the  time  of  the  erection  of  the  gate  is  satisfactorily  accounted 
for  by  the  following  royal  "  Licence."1  It  runs  thus  :  —  "  EEX  — 
Licence  be  the  King  to  Al.  Ogilvy  of  Inercarity  to  fortifie  his 
house  &  put  ane  Iron  yet  therin.  JAMES  be  the  grace  of  God 
Kinge  of  Scottis  To  all  and  sindry  oure  liegies  &  subdits 
to  qwhais  knawlage  thir  oure  Llez  (letters)  sail  cum  gretinge 
Wit  yhe  vs  to  haue  gevin  ande  grauntit  full  fredome  facultez 
and  spele  licence  to  our  loued  familiare  sqwier  Alex  of  Ogilby 
of  Innerquharady  for  to  fortifie  his  house  and  to  strenth  it  with 
ane  Irne  yhet  Quharfor  we  straitly  bid  and  commaunds  that 
naman  take  on  hande  to  make  him  impediment  stoppinge  na 
distroublace  in  the  makinge  raising  hynginge  and  vpsettinge 
of  the  saide  yhet  in  his  said  house  vndir  all  payne  and  charge 
at  eftir  may  folow  Gevin  vndir  oure  signet  at  Streviline  the 
xxv°  day  of  September  ande  of  oure  Eegne  the  sevint  yhere."2 


,  or 

The  earliest  proprietor  of  Balinscho  of  whom  we  have  any 
record  was  Scrymzeour,  a  bailie  of  Dundee,  and  one  of  the 
Dudhope  family,  who  owned  both  Balinscho  and  Glasswell 
during  the  sixteenth  century.  He  was  either  father  or  brother 
of  Henry  Scrymzeour,  the  grammarian  and  professor  at  Geneva, 
who  died  about  1572.4 

It  is  probable  that  the  Ogilvys  succeeded  Scrymzeour,  as 
about  1595,  by  way  of  revenge,  perhaps,  for  Inverquharity's 
slaughter  of  Lindsay  of  Blairiefeddan,  Sir  John  Lindsay  of 

1  For  the  use  of  this  curious  document  the  author  was  obliged  to  the  courtesy  of 
the  present  Baronet. 

2  September  25,   1444,  or  1467,  the  seventh  year  respectively  of  the  reigns  of 
James  II.  and  in.,  during  which  Alexander  Ogilvy,  second  Baron  of  Inverquharity, 
survived.     See  APPENDIX  No.  XIV.,  and  supra,  p.  93. 

3  The  following  list  of  variations  is  given  :—"  Balenscho,  Balensho,  Balenshoe, 
Balinscho,  Balinsho,  Balinshoe,  Ballinscho,  Ballinsho,  Ballinshoe,  Benshie." 

4  His  sister  Margaret  married  John  Young,  father  of  Sir  Peter  Young  of  Easter 
Seatoun,  the  joint  tutor  with  Buchanan  of  James  vi.     Another  sister,  Isabella, 
married  Richard  Melville  of  Baldovie,  and  was  the  mother  of  Master  James  Melville. 
—  (Papers  on  the  Young  Family,  collected  by  the  late  P.  Chalmers,  Esq.  of  Aldbar.) 
Thomas  Scrymgeour  of  Wester  Ballinschoe  was  served  heir  to  his  uncle,  a  burgess  of 
Dundee,  in  1647.—  (Inquis.  Gen.  No.  3358  ;  Nisbet,  Heraldry,  i.  p.  283.) 


LINDSAYS  OF  BALINSCHO.  347 

Woodwrae  is  said  to  have  killed  Ogilvy  of  Baliuscho,  and  thus 
forcibly  possessed  himself  of  the  lands.1  So  far  as  known,  this 
circumstance  is  only  recorded  in  the  family  muniments  of 
Crawford,  there  being  no  mention  of  it  among  the  criminal 
trials,  or  in  any  private  diary  of  the  period, — a  fact,  however, 
which  is  not  much  to  be  wondered  at,  since  so  very  few  of 
these  cases  have  come  down  to  us. 

Sir  John  Lindsay  was  a  son  of  the  tenth  Earl  of  Crawford, 
and,  before  acquiring  Balinscho,  was  designed  indifferently  of 
Woodwrae,  in  the  parish  of  Aberlemno,  and  of  Woodhead, 
near  Balinscho.2  He  had,  perhaps,  been  twice  married,  as, 
according  to  the  family  genealogy,3  his  wife  was  Catherine, 
eldest  daughter  of  Lord  Menmuir ;  and,  according  to  a  second 
authority,  she  was  Margaret  Keith,  daughter  of  Lord  Altrie,4 
to  whom  the  sculpture  of  the  Keith  arms,  and  the  remaining 
initial  "M"  on  the  unbroken  side  of  the  stone  now  built  into 
the  dike  near  Baliuscho  Castle,  may  refer. 

Sir  John  had  three  sons,  all  of  whom,  with  their  chief,  the 
Earl  of  Crawford,  Lord  Spynie,  and  other  clansmen,  left  their 
native  country  in  the  hope  of  retrieving  their  decayed  fortunes, 
and  joined  the  cause  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  The  eldest  son 
of  Balinscho  was  dangerously  wounded  at  the  siege  of  Stral- 
sund,  and  ultimately  rose  to  the  rank  of  colonel ;  being  with 
Tilly  at  the  storming  of  Brandenburg,  he  was  mortally 
wounded  there,  and  died  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-eight. 
The  second  son,  who  was  also  a  colonel,  fell  in  Bavaria  soon 
after.  The  third,  and  youngest,  was  a  youth  of  great  bravery, 
and  while  an  ensign,  and  a  mere  boy,  "  lost  a  great  part  of  his 
shoulder-blade  by  a  cannon  bullet,"  in  covering  the  retreat  of 
Gustavus  from  Wolgast,  in  Pomerania,  in  1628:  he  was  after- 
wards captain  in  Gustavus's  Life  Eegiment — rose  to  the  rank 
of  lieutenant-colonel — was  wounded  and  left  for  dead  on  the 


i  Lives,  i.  p.  314.  2  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  172,  A.D.  1628. 

3  Crawford  Case,  p.  125. 

*  SpaUling  Club.  Mincell.  iv.  p.  Ixxvi ;  Douglas,  Peerage,  \.  p.  380. 


348  LAND    OP   THE    LINDSAYS. 

field  of  Liitzen  in  1632,  but  recovering,  died  at  Hamburg 
seven  years  afterwards,  leaving  his  property  to  his  friends 
and  kinsmen,  and  "a  legacy  of  four  hundred  rix-dollars  for 
his  funeral."1 

Such  were  the  brave  brothers  of  Balinscho.  Like  the 
castles  of  their  more  powerful  ancestors  in  other  parts  of  the 
country,  theirs,  too,  is  a  roofless  ruin.  A  circular  tower,  and 
other  buildings,  stood  at  the  north-east  corner  down  to  a  late 
date;  and  the  ruins  of  the  more  modern  house,  which  was 
built  by  Fletcher  (the  reputed  successor  of  the  Lindsays), 
stands  near  by.  Many  fine  old  trees  surround  the  Lindsay 
castle ;  and  the  orchard,  which  occupies  an  acre  and  a  half  on 
the  south  side,  still  enclosed,  contains,  among  many  other  fruit- 
trees,  two  of  the  largest  walnuts  that  are  perhaps  to  be  found 
in  the  kingdom.  At  four  feet  from  the  ground  the  most 
easterly  measures  fifteen  feet  four  inches  in  girth,  and  the 
other,  to  the  west,  measures  only  a  foot  less,  but  has  greater 
wealth  of  foliage,  which  extends  eighty  feet  from  tip  to  tip  of 
the  branches,  east  and  west. 

Fletcher,  who  married  the  youngest  daughter  of  young 
Ogilvy  of  Airlie,  fell  at  Inverlochy  during  the  civil  wars,  and 
was  perhaps  the  first  of  his  name  in  Balinscho.  Though  not 
of  old  standing  in  Scotland,2  the  Fletchers  were  among  the 
most  ancient  and  reputable  of  the  English  barons,  those  of 
Salton  and  Inverpeffer  (of  whom  Balinscho  was  a  younger 
brother),3  being  direct  descendants  of  Sir  Bernard  Fletcher  of 
the  county  of  York,  where  the  family  subsisted  for  many  ages. 
Sir  George  Fletcher  and  his  brother  James  held  Restennet,  and 
many  other  lands  throughout  Forfarshire,  about  and  subsequent 
to  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  were  patrons  of 
the  church  of  Forfar,  which,  together  with  the  teinds,  were 

1  Lives,  ii.  pp.  52-56. 

2  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  370,  September  7,  1658— Robert  Fletcher  of  Balin- 
shoe  has  retours  as  heir  of  Robert  Fletcher  of  Balinshoe.     Again,  No.  388,  May  1, 
1662,  Robert  Fletcher  of  Balinshoe  is  retoured  as  heir  to  his  father  Robert — perhaps 
three  generations  of  Roberts.  3  Douglas,  Baronaye,  p.  281 . 


PROPRIETORS    OF  BALINSCHO.  349 

purchased  from  them  by  the  magistrates  of  that  burgh  about 
the  year  1669.1  They  were  both  of  the  Balinscho  family,  and 
it  was  the  penultimate  Fletcher  of  Balinscho  who  added  the 
estate  of  Lindertis  to  his  original  patrimony,  and  rose  to  the 
rank  of  major  in  the  Indian  army.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
brother,  who,  in  conjunction  with  the  late  Lord  Panmure, 
enacted  those  youthful  vagaries  for  which  he  is  so  well  known 
in  the  district,  and  remembered  as  "  the  daft  laird."  His  death 
was  a  remarkable  one.  Foolishly  plunging  himself  into  debt, 
he  was  immured  in  the  jail  at  Liverpool,  and  while  signing 
over  all  claim  to  his  landed  property,  he  is  said  to  have  thanked 
God  that  he  was  no  longer  a  proprietor !  It  is  said  that  he 
died  in  prison,  and  never  shaved  his  beard  from  the  time  he 
entered  it.  The  estates  were  afterwards  sold  to  Wedderburn, 
of  the  family  of  Balindean,  who  parted  with  them  in  the  course 
of  two  or  three  years  to  Gilbert  Laing-Meason,  brother  of 
Malcolm  Laing,  the  historian  of  Scotland.  The  Balinscho 
portion  now  belongs  to  the  Earl  of  Strathmore,  and  the  Lin- 
dertis part  to  Sir  Thomas  Munro,  son  of  the  late  eminent 
Governor  of  Madras. 

Balinscho  was  anciently  an  independent  ecclesiastical 
district.  The  church  or  chapel,  which  was  dedicated  to  St. 
Ninian,  stood  on  the  west  side  of  the  turnpike  road,  and  is  still 
marked  by  the  old  family  burial  enclosure  of  the  Fletchers. 
This,  too,  had  perhaps  been  the  last  resting-place  of  the  Lind- 
says of  Balinscho ;  but  no  monument,  of  either  them,  their 
predecessors,  or  successors,  ornaments  the  walls.  The  "  Stannin' 
Stane  o'  Benshie,"  which  stood  for  unknown  ages,  and  was  the 
theme  of  inquiry  and  speculation  to  local  antiquarians,  as  well 
as  the  dread  of  the  credulous,  was  demolished  by  gunpowder 
about  half-a-century  ago,  and  the  spot  is  now  covered  by 
luxuriant  crops  of  corn.  This  rude  monument  of  antiquity 
is  supposed  to  have  been  about  twenty  tons  in  weight ;  and  at 
a  considerable  depth  below  it,  a  large  clay  urn,  measuring 

i  Old  Stat.  Acct.  vi.  p.  613. 


350  LAND   OF   THE    LINDSAYS. 

about  three  feet  in  height,  and  of  corresponding  circumference, 
was  found  containing  a  quantity  of  human  bones  and  ashes. 
Like  its  rude  protector,  however,  the  urn  was  broken  to  pieces  ; 
and,  beyond  the  mere  fact  of  its  discovery,  nothing  authentic, 
as  to  either  the  style  of  its  manufacture,  or  the  precise  nature 
or  state  of  its  contents,  is  preserved. 


The  earliest  proprietary  notice  of  this  picturesque  and  inter- 
esting glen  (which  the  discoveries  of  the  late  ingenious  Messrs. 
Don  and  Gardner  have  rendered  famous  for  botanical  investiga- 
tion) occurs  during  the  reign  of  Bruce,  who  gave  charters  of 
Clova  and  other  lands  to  his  nephew  Donald,  the  twelfth  Earl 
of  Mar,  in  the  year  1327.1  Mar  gave  a  John  Johnston  an 
annual  out  of  these  lands  soon  after,  and  they  continued  in  the 
hands  of  the  Mar  family  till  Countess  Isabella  (the  wife  of  the 
Wolf  of  Badenoch)  resigned  them  in  favour  of  Sir  David 
Lindsay  of  Glenesk,  the  newly-created  Earl  of  Crawford,  in  the 
year  1398.2  In  1445-46,  when  Thomas  Ogilvy,  a  younger 
brother  of  the  Laird  of  Inverquharity,  joined  the  Lindsays 
against  his  own  clan  at  the  battle  of  Arbroath,  "  Earl  Beardie  " 
gave  Clova  over  to  him,  reserving  the  superiority  to  his  own 
family.  It  continued  in  this  way  till  at  least  the  years  1513-14; 
for  at  that  date  the  seventh  Earl  of  Crawford  was  infeft  in  the 
barony  of  Clova,  as  heir  to  his  nephew,  the  previous  Earl,3  and 
George,  Lord  Spynie,  succeeded  his  father  in  the  half  of  the 
same  lands  and  barony  so  late  as  1646.4 

The  conduct  of  young  Inverquharity  at  Arbroath  was,  as 
might  be  expected,  the  signal  for  family  hostility  and  revenge. 
A  series  of  desperate  feuds  was  speedily  commenced  betwixt 
the  houses  of  Clova  and  Inverquharity,  and  the  former  being 
backed  by  the  Lindsays,  was  always  successful  ;  but,  an 

1  Douglas,  Peerage,  ii.  p.  200.  2  Robertson,  Index,  p.  142.  84. 

3  Dukedom  of  Montrose  Case,  p.  222.  4  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfarshire,  No.  290. 


FEUD  BETWEEN  CLOVA  AND  INVERQUHARITY.        351 

arrangement  being  made  in  the  time  of  the  fourth  baron  of 
Inverquharity,  these  hostilities  were  brought  to  an  end.  This 
agreement  was  made  in  the  true  spirit  of  feudalism,  by  written 
indenture  "  at  the  Water-side  of  Prossyn,"  on  the  26th  of 
March  1524,  in  presence  of  various  kinsmen  and  other"  wit- 
nesses, whereby  the  lairds  of  Inverquharity  and  Clova,  under 
heavy  pains  and  penalties,  "  remit  the  rancour  of  their  hearts 
to  others  (each  other),  and  shall  live  in  concord  and  perfite 
charity,  and  sic-like  efter  the  said  sentence  be  given,  as  guid 
Christian  men  and  tender  friends  should  do,  under  the  pain  of 
eternal  damnation  of  their  souls,  because  that  is  the  precept 
et  law  of  God."  l  In  strict  fulfilment  of  the  conditions  of  the 
"  Indenture,"  the  laird  of  Clova,  now  weaned  over  to  the  side  of 
his  kinsmen,  conspired  against  the  noble-hearted  Edzell,  on 
his  advancement  to  the  peerage,  when  the  Earldom  was  can- 
celled in  the  person  of  the  "Wicked  Master," — joined  the 
Ogilvys  in  besieging  the  Castle  of  Finhaven,  harried  Craw- 
ford's lands,  and  otherwise  tried  to  prevent  his  succession — a 
proceeding  which,  as  already  seen,  was  only  prohibited  by  the 
peremptory  mandate  of  royalty. 

The  band  had  thus  the  desired  effect,  and  the  descendants 
of  Thomas  Ogilvy,  the  family  traitor  of  1445,  continued  lords 
of  Clova  and  Cortachy  till  towards  the  close  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  when  the  former  was  given  to  Sir  David,  third  son  of 
the  first  Earl  of  Airly,  who  like  his  older  brother  that  fell  at 
Inverlochy,  bore  a  prominent  part  in  the  great  civil  commo- 
tions of  his  time.  He  erected  a  mansion  at  the  Milton  of 
Clova,  several  of  the  hewn  stones  of  which  were  built  into 
the  walls  of  adjoining  cottages,  and  the  initials  and  date 
"  D  •  0  •  1684  •  I  •  G ',"  on  one  of  the  stones  referred  to  him 
and  his  wife  Jean  Guthrie. 

The  boundary  of  the  old  garden  is  yet  traceable,  but  the 
foundations  of  the  house  are  completely  erased.  It  is  not  so, 
however,  with  those  of  the  previous  Castle  or  Peel,  for  it  is  still 

1  Lives,  i.  pp.  447  sq.,  where  the  Indenture  is  printed  nearly  iu  full. 


352  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

a  prominent  object  on  the  west  side  of  Benread  (a  comparatively 
smooth  or  tame  mountain,  as  the  name  implies),  north  of  the 
Milton.  The  Peel  commands  an  extensive  and  delightful  view  of 
the  Glen,  and  consists  of  a  fragment  about  twenty  feet  in  height, 
with  walls  fully  four  feet  thick.  It  is  traditionally  attributed 
to  the  time  of  the  Lindsays,  and  the  occupant,  says  the  same 
authority,  having  rendered  himself  obnoxious  to  his  brother 
barons,  a  party  marched  against  him  under  night  and  set  his 
castle  on  fire.  Amidst  the  confusion  and  smoke  attendant  on 
the  burning,  the  luckless  baron  fled  to  the  adjoining  mountain 
and  took  shelter,  first  under  a  large  piece  of  rock,  still  called  the 
"  Laird's  Stane,"  and  afterwards  in  the  Hole  of  Weems,  a  well- 
known  cave  in  the  face  of  a  hill  near  Braedownie.  Others 
ascribe  the  destruction  of  the  Peel  to  the  soldiers  of  Cromwell 
and  Montrose ;  but  perhaps  the  real  cause  and  time  were  in 
1591,  when,  "  vnder  silence  of  night,"  five  hundred  "  brokin 
men  and  sornaris  houndit  oute  be  the  Erll  of  Ergyle  and  his 
freindis,"  entered  Glen  Clova  in  September,  "  invadit  the  in- 
habitants, and  murthourit "  and  slew  "  three  or  foure  innocent 
men  and  women  and  reft  and  took  away  ane  grit  pray  of  guidis."1 
It  is  also  worthy  of  note,  that  when  Charles  II.  duped  his  keepers 
at  Perth  in  1650,  he  rode  to  Clova,  in  the  hope  of  meeting 
Lord  Ogilvy  and  some  of  his  other  friends  ;  but  "  finding  very 
few  to  attend  upon  him,  and  very  bad  entertainment,"  he 
returned  to  his  captivity  on  the  following  day.2  This  circum- 
tance  is  known  in  history  as  "  The  Start,"  but  whether  the  King 
passed  the  night  in  the  mansion  of  David  Ogilvy  at  Milton,  or 
where,  is  now  unknown. 

Clova,  honoured  by  Her  Majesty  and  the  Prince  Consort 
with  a  visit  in  1861,  only  a  short  time  before  the  lamented 
death  of  his  Eoyal  Highness,  was  long  an  independent 
parochial  district,  but  was  united  to  the  parish  of  Cortachy  in 
1608,  on  condition  that  the  minister  should  receive  the  teinds 

1  Pitcairn,  Criin.  Trials,  i.  pp.  263-4. 

2  Row,  Autobiog.  of  R.  Blair,  p.  243. 


CLOVA  VISITED  BY  HER  MAJESTY.  353 

of  both,  and  preach  on  two  Sundays  at  Cortachy,  and  on  the 
third  at  Clova.  From  that  period  the  parochial  matters  of  both 
districts  have  been  managed  conjointly ;  and  the  records,  which 
begin  in  the  year  1659,  show  some  glimpses  of  the  curious 
local  customs  of  the  age, — such,  for  example,  as  when  parties 
went  to  church  on  the  first  Sunday  after  marriage,  they  were 
accompanied  by  the  inspiring  strains  of  the  Highland  bagpipes;1 
and,  in  1662,  there  was  no  sermon  at  Cortachy  because  of  the 
minister  being  in  Clova,  at  "  the  executione  of  Margaret  Adam- 
son,  who  was  burnt  there  for  ane  witch."  2 

Clova  was  anciently  dependent  on  the  Abbey  of  Arbroath, 
and  was  a  pendicle  of  Glamis,  by  the  clergymen  of  which 
parish,  after  the  Eeformation,  it  was  occasionally  served,  but 
more  frequently  by  a  reader,  who  had  fifty  marks  yearly,  for 
his  services  there  and  at  Cortachy.  The  teinds  belonged  to 
the  first  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  as  Commendator  of  the  Abbey 
of  Arbroath,  and  subsequently  to  the  Earls  of  Panmure,  down 
to  their  forfeiture  in  1716 — the  laird  of  Clova  being  tacksman 
of  the  whole  vicarage,  which  amounted  to  forty  pounds  Scots. 
Clova  was  erected  into  a  parish  quoad  sacra  in  1860,  and  a 
few  years  previously  a  new  church  was  also  built,  which  occu- 
pies, with  the  churchyard,  a  pleasant  site  on  a  knoll  by  the 
river-side,  and  the  oldest  of  the  few  monuments  is  dated  1787. 
A  chapel  is  said  to  have  stood  at  a  place  called  Lethnot,  about 
half-way  between  the  kirks  of  Cortachy  and  Clova ;  but,  be- 
yond the  common  tradition,  that  when  the  workmen  were 
employed  in  building  it,  such  part  as  was  erected  during  the 
day  was  constantly  thrown  down  under  night  by  some  dia- 
bolical agency,  nothing  whatever  is  known  of  it.  The  old 
church  of  Cortachy  was  of  unknown  age,  but  the  style  of  a 
freestone  ambry  would  point  to  about  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century.  The  present  church  was  built  in  1828-9,  by  David, 
seventh  Earl  of  Airlie,  on  the  site  of  its  predecessor. 

1  "The  minister  and  elders  discharge  that  barbarous  custome,  of  bringing  a  piper 
along  to  the  kirk  with  married  persons." — (Cortachy  Par.  Reg.  Nov.  20, 1659.) 

2  Ibid.  June  8,  1662. 

Z 


354  LAND  OF  THE   LINDSAYS. 

Glasslet,  in  this  district,  was  Lindsay  property  till  about 
the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  small  estates  of 
Rottal,  Easter  and  Wester  Lethnot,  Gella,  and  Braeminzeon, 
were  also  in  the  same  family,  down  to  at  least  the  year  1717, 
about  which  period,  or  soon  thereafter,  they  became  by  pur- 
chase a  part  of  the  extensive  properties  of  the  Earl  of  Airlie. 
Although  in  the  middle  of  the  parish  of  Cortachy  proper,  these 
lands  were  always  considered  a  part  of  Clova,  and  there  is 
reason  to  believe  that  it  was  from  these  Lethnots,  and  not  from 
that  adjoining  Edzell,  that  David  Lindsay,  who  married  Mar- 
garet, co-heiress  of  Lord  Fenton  of  Baikie,  was  designed  so  early 
as  1458.  As  Lindsays  of  these  places  are  accounted  for  in  the 
family  history,  down  to  at  least  1666,1  it  is  probable  that  the 
lairds  of  the  eighteenth  century  were  descended  of  these. 
Indeed,  so  convinced  were  the  descendants  of  the  Lindsays  of 
Rottal,  Gella,  and  the  Lethnots,  of  their  being  the  nearest  heirs 
to  the  Glenesk  branch  of  the  family,  that  steps  were  taken  by 
some  of  them,  on  the  death  of  Lady  Mary  Lindsay,  to  lay  claim 
to  the  titles  of  the  old  Earls  of  Crawford.2 


Cfje  (SDagtle  of  Batfcu 

was  situated  in  the  parish  of  Airlie,3  within  little  more  than  an 
hour's  ride  of  Clova,  and  stood  on  a  rising  ground  near  the  west 
end  of  a  large  moss.  It  was  moated  in  old  times,  reached  by  a 
drawbridge,  and  part  of  the  ruins  and  causeway  were  visible 
towards  the  close  of.  last  century.4  David  Lindsay,  the  son  of 

1  Lives,  i.  p.  440. 

2  Andrew  Lindsay  was  heir  to  his  father  Alexander,  in  the  lands  and  town  of 
Fichell,  with  the  teind-sheaves,  and  the  fourth  part  of  the  town  and  lands  of  Rottal, 
with  the  teind-sheaves — all  in  the  barony  of  Cortachy. — (Inq.  Spec.  Forf.,  Aug.  18, 
1657,  No.  362.) 

3  The  kirk  of  Airlie  was  dedicated  to  St.  Meddan  (vulg.  Meaden).     A  spring  in 
the  neighbourhood,  and  a  small  hamlet,  bear  his  name.    A  finely  sculptured  ambry, 
and  a  figure  in  mailed  armour,  are  built  into  the  kirk  wall.    See  Proc.  Soc.  Ant. 
Scot.  v.  p.  346,  for  a  paper  by  Mr.  Jervise  on  the  antiquities  and  history  of  Airlie, 
Baikie,  etc. 

*  Old  Stat.  Ace.  xi.  p.  211. 


CASTLE  AND    CHAPEL  OF  BAIKIE.  355 

Margaret  Fenton,  and  bailiff  of  the  Earls  of  Crawford  for 
several  years,  was  designed  "of  Lethnot  and  Baikie,"  and  charged 
as  an  accomplice  with  the  Earl's  son  and  heir-apparent  in  the 
sacrilegious  outrage  on  "  twa  monkis  "  belonging  to  the  Abbey 
of  Cupar.  He  is  the  last-designed  Lindsay  of  Baikie,  and  it  is 
likely  that  the  estate  had  passed  from  the  family  in  the  time 
of  his  successor,  for  the  third  Lord  Glands  had  charters  of  it 
in  1489.1  After  the  execution  of  the  unfortunate  Countess  of 
Strathmore  for  the  alleged  crime  of  witchcraft,2  the  accounts 
of  the  Lord  High  Treasurer  show  that  a  payment  of  forty 
pounds  was  made  for  the  "reipar  of  the  Glammys  and  Baky,"8 
so  that  it  is  probable,  since  the  King  lived  a  good  deal  at 
Glamis  during  the  proscription  of  the  Lyons,  that  some  of  his 
court  may  have  resided  at  Baikie. 

The  old  chapel  of  Baikie,  which  was  dedicated  to  St.  John,4 
stood  in  the  Kirk-shade  near  Lindertis;  and  in  1362,  William 
de  Fenton  enriched  it  with  a  gift  of  the  adjoining  lands  of 
Lunros.6  This  family,  whose  name  is  only  preserved  in  the 
district  by  a  rising  ground  called  "  Fenton-hill,"  continued  in 
considerable  repute  till  about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  when  they  failed  in  co-heiresses,  who  were  married 
respectively  to  David  Lindsay,  and  to  William,  second  son  of 
David  de  Halket  of  Pitfirran.6 


Uunkenng, 

in  the  adjoining  parish  of  Eassie,  is  worthy  of  notice,  mainly 
from  the  fact  of  its  having  been  owned  by  Bishop  David 

1  Douglas,  Peerage,  ii.  p.  563.  On  the  estate  and  families  of  Bakie  or  Baikie, 
see  Warden,  Angus,  ii.  pp.  330  sq. 

a  Pitcairn  (Crim.  Trials,  i.  pp.  187*  sq.,  244*,  327*)  gives  a  full  account  of  this 
sad  incident.  Two  daughters  of  Lady  Glamis  received  from  the  King's  bounty,  and 
were  probably  committed  to  the  monastery  at  North  Berwick.—  Ibid.  i.  p.  291*. 

3  Pitcairn,  Crim.  Trials,  i.  p.  290*. 

*  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.,  A.r>.  1695,  No.  536. 

6  Reg.  Mag.  Sig.  p.  25,  No.  30.     It  is  now  called  Linross. 

8  Douglas,  Baronage,  p.  284. 


356  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

Lindsay,  a  son  of  Edzell.  This  celebrated  prelate  was  first 
teacher  of  the  Grammar  School  of  Montrose,  afterwards 
minister  of  Dundee,  and  on  the  translation  of  Bishop  Lamb 
from  Brechin  to  Galloway  in  1619,  was  raised  to  that  See. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  learning,  an  eloquent  orator,  author  of 
several  important  works,  and  was  translated  to  the  See  of 
Edinburgh  in  1634.  Bishop  Lindsay  was  the  preacher  on  that 
forenoon,  when,  on  the  Dean's  attempting  to  read  the  new 
service  in  the  High  Church,  on  the  23d  of  July  1637,  Jenny 
Geddes  is  said  to  have  thrown  her  stool  at  his  head,  exclaim- 
ing— "De'il  colick  ye!  will  ye  say  mass  at  my  lug?"1  The 
Bishop  was  excommunicated  by  the  Glasgow  Assembly  of  the 
following  year,  and,  withdrawing  into  England,  died  sometime 
betwixt  that  and  the  year  1640,  as,  of  that  date,  his  son  John 
was  served  heir  to  him  in  the  estate  of  Dunkenny.2  This  son 
only  survived  till  1643,  when  his  sisters  succeeded  as  heirs- 
portioners:  one  of  them,  Helen,  married  David  Carnegie, 
minister  of  Farnell  and  Dean  of  Brechin,  the  founder  of  the 
present  family  of  Craigo.3  The  Lindsays  were  followed  in 
Dunkenny,  sometime  before  1661,  by  Peter  Blair;4  and,  in 
Ochterlony's  day,  it  was  possessed  by  John  Lammie,  ancestor 
of  the  present  proprietor,  one  of  whose  name,  also  John 
"Lamby,"  was  designed  therefrom  in  1542,5  and  a  George 
Lammie  in  1628-9.6 

1  A  mutilated  tombstone,  within  the  old  kirk  of  Eassie,  bears  sculptures  of  the 
Lambie  and  Forbes  arms,  the  initials  and  date,  "  D.  L. :  1603  :  C.  F,"  and  these  words, 
"...  loannes  •  Amme  •  qvondamde  •  Dvnkennie  •  qvi  •  obiit  •  26  •  die  •  mensis 
Septembar  .  .  ."    Bishop  Lindsay  was  perhaps  the  first  of  his  name  "of  Dunkeny," 
and  most  probably  acquired  the  estate  soon  after  the  date  on  this  tablet.     The  John 
here  named  may  have  been  the  last  of  the  original  stock  of  the  Lambies  of  Dunkenny, 
the  L'Amys  now  in  possession  being  merely  akin  to  the  old  family  in  name. 

2  Lives,  i.  p.  435. 

8  Ut  sup.  p.  202,  and  APPENDIX  No.  VII. ;  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk, 
ii.  p.  438;  Inq.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  269.  4  Acts  of  Part.  vii.  p.  95. 

6  Spald.  Club  Miscett.  iv.  p.  237.  8  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  ii.  p.  244. 


BUTHVEN,   QUEICH,   AND  ALYTH.  357 


3&utf)&ett,  ©uet'cfj,  anfo 
are  conterminous  districts;  the  first  lies  in  Angus,  and  the 
others  in  Perthshire.  They  were  among  the  earliest  acquired 
of  the  northern  estates  of  the  Crawford  family,  Alexander  de 
Lindsay  having,  so  early  as  the  time  of  David  n.,1  received  a 
grant  of  the  lands  of  Eothven,  and  Balwyndoloch  from  Thomas, 
Earl  of  Mar.  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  of  Glenesk  succeeded 
to  these  in  1369,2  and  they  continued  in  the  Crawford  family 
until  about  1510,  when  Alexander  Crichton,  of  the  noble  house 
of  Dumfries,  became  proprietor  by  purchase. 

It  is  commonly  said  that  the  parish  of  Euthven  originally 
formed  a  portion  of  Alyth,  and  was  erected  into  a  separate  cure 
by  an  Earl  of  Crawford  for  the  accommodation  of  his  vassals, 
several  of  them  having  been  killed  in  a  conflict  with  the  Eollos 
of  Ballach,  while  on  their  way  to  the  church  of  Alyth.3  So  far, 
however,  from  this  being  the  fact,  there  was  a  kirk  at  Euthven 
at  least  a  century  and  a  half  before  the  Lindsays  had  anything 
to  do  with  the  district;  for  so  early  as  the  year  1180,  Eobert 
de  Lundres,  natural  son  of  William  the  Lion,  gave  the  patron- 
age and  tithes  of  the  church  of  Euthven  to  the  monastery  of 
Arbroath.4  All  subsequent  history  of  the  church  is  lost  till 
the  sixteenth  century,  when  we  find  Walter  Lindsay,  David 
Cumyng,  and  Thomas  Maxwell  the  vicars.5  The  church  was 
perhaps  dedicated  to  St.  Monan,  as  a  field  near  the  kirk  bears 
the  name  of  Symonades  :  there  a  fair  was  long  held,  and  so 
called.  Some  years  ago  a  weem  was  discovered  at  Euthven,  and 
on  one  of  the  roof-stones  there  were  a  number  of  cup-markings, 
of  which  some  are  plain  and  some  surrounded  with  circles. 
These  markings  are  a  puzzle  to  the  archaeologist,  and  in  this 
case  from  their  position  must  be  older  than  the  weem.6 

*  Robertson,  Index,  p.  44.  54  ;  Reg.  Mag.  Sig.  p.  30,  no.  57. 
2  Douglas,  Peerage,  i.  p.  374.  3  New  Stat.  Acct.,  Forfar.  p.  419. 

4  Reg.  Nig.  de  Aberbrothoc,  p.  41,  A.D.  1125. 
»  Scott,  Fasti,  vi.  p.  758. 

8  See  Prof.  J.  Y.  Simpson,  Ancient  Sculplurings,  in  Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Scot.  vi. 
Appendix. 


358  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

The  kirk  of  Alyth  was  inscribed  to  St.  Moloch,  and  its 
chapel  was  dedicated  to  St.  Ninian.1 

The  Lindsays  had  two  castles  in  this  locality — one  at  Corb, 
on  the  north-west  of  the  Forest  of  Alyth,  and  another  at 
Queich,  near  the  kirk  of  Euthven.  Ruins  of  both  are  still 
visible,  and  the  site  of  the  latter  is,  perhaps,  the  most 
romantic  and  picturesque  of  the  many  old  Lindsay  castles  in 
the  district.  It  stands  on  a  rocky  delta,  formed  by  the  river 
Isla  and  the  Burn  of  Alyth,  on  the  south  side  of  that  parish. 
The  rock  is  quite  perpendicular,  from  forty  to  fifty  feet  high, 
and  in  old  times,  when  surrounded  by  vast  tracts  of  forest  and 
almost  secluded  from  view,  had  been  an  appropriate  scene  for 
enacting  those  dark  tragedies  that  tradition  ascribes  to  it. 
The  only  part  remaining  is  a  portion  of  the  east  wall,  which 
stands  on  the  verge  of  the  precipice.  It  is  fully  five  feet  thick, 
and  covered  with  ivy ;  it  is  little  more  than  thirty  feet  high,  and 
about  the  same  length.  The  rest  of  the  building  has  been 
demolished  and  carried  away  for  rearing  the  adjoining  farm- 
house and  offices,  throughout  the  whole  of  which  carved  door 
and  window  lintels  are  profusely  scattered.  It  is  said  that  a 
subterraneous  passage  communicated  between  the  castle  of 
Queich  and  the  celebrated  fort  of  Barryhill,  which  is  about  two 
miles  to  the  northward,  and  traditionally  said  to  have  been  the 
prison  of  Guinevra,  the  faithless  Queen  of  Prince  Arthur.2 

The  first  mention  of  the  castle  of  Inverqueich  occurs  in 
Edward  the  First's  time,  it  being  there  that  he  rested  on  the 
2d  of  July,  when  on  his  subjugating  expedition  in  1296.  It  is 
known  in  that  Prince's  itinerary  as  "  Entrekoyt  chastel,"3  and 
had  then  been  entire,  though  it  was  a  ruin  when  Eobert  n. 
granted  it  to  his  nephew  James  de  Lindsay  in  1374.4  At  the 

1  New  Stat.  Acct.  Perthsh.  p.  1119.     The  feasts  of  these  saints  are  St.  Madoc, 
Jan.  31  ;  St.  Monan,  Mar.  1 ;  St.  Moloc,  June  25 ;  and  St.  Ninian,  Sept.  16.     See 
Bishop  Forbes,  Kalendars  of  Scott.  Saints,  pass. 

2  This  ancient  fortress  is  described  in  Old  Stat.  Acct.  i.  p.  508,  and  vi.  p.  405  n.; 
and  in  Chalmers,  Caledonia,  i.  pp.  90-91;  more  recently  in  Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Kcot. 
ii.  pp.  75  sq.  3  Ragman  Rolls,  p.  178. 

*  Reg.  Mag.  Sig.  pp.  137,  no.  55 ;  141,  no.  75 ;  158,  no.  24. 


INVERQUEICH  AND  CORE.  359 

latter  date  it  is  called  "  the  king's  castle  of  Inu'cuyth,"  and  was 
held,  till  then,  by  John  de  Welhame  (Volume  ?)  and  John  de 
Balcasky ;  and  the  Forest  of  Alyth  being  a  royal  sporting  field 
in  old  times,  the  castles  of  Inverqueich  and  Corb  had  probably 
been  used  as  hunting  seats  by  the  Scottish  kings.  A  person 
of  the  surname  of  Menzies  (perhaps  a  descendant  of  the  old 
family  of  Durrisdeer  in  Nithsdale)  was  Eoyal  Forester  in  the 
first  year  of  David  the  Second's  reign  ;a  and,  during  the  subse- 
quent reign  of  Eobert,  John  de  Eoos  held  the  office  of  Justiciary 
of  the  Forests  of  Alyth  and  Cluny.2 

It  was  about  this  time  that  the  Forest,  and  indeed  almost 
all  the  parish  of  Alyth,  with  the  exception  of  the  property  of 
Bamff  (which  was  granted  by  Alexander  II,  in  1232,  to  Nessus 
de  Eamsay  his  physician,3  and  ancestor  of  the  present  Baronet), 
fell  to  the  Lindsays,  and  from  the  rents  of  the  Forest,  and  other 
parts  adjoining,  the  dowager  Countesses  of  Crawford  received 
part  of  their  terce,  as  verified  by  a  process  raised  for  the  same 
by  Countess  Margaret  against  her  own  sons.4  Little  is  known 
regarding  either  the  history  or  traditions  of  the  castle  of  Corb, 
but  those  of  Inverqueich  are  strangely  interwoven  with  the 
history  of  the  Crawfords,  especially  as  the  Master,  or  heir- 
apparent  to  the  Earldom,  seems  to  have  received  it  for  his 
residence.  It  was  so  in  the  time  of  the  Duke  of  Montrose, 
whose  eldest  son  long  possessed  it.  This  was  the  desperate 
person  who  renewed  the  family  feuds  with  the  house  of  Glamis, 
took  part  against  his  father  in  his  struggle  for  James  ill., 
and  also  became  the  leader  of  a  band  of  lawless  followers, 
who  ravaged  the  lands  alike  of  friends  and  foes.  In  one  of 
these  rambles  he  came  in  contact  with  his  younger  brother 
John,  who  was  as  unprincipled  as  himself,  and  joining  in 


1  Robertson,  Index,  p.  39.  51. 

2  Edward  stopped  several  days  in  Cluny  Castle,  and  went  from  thence  to  In- 
verqueich.—(Ragman  Rolls,  p.  134.)    Cluny  was  the  birthplace  of  the  Admirable 
Crichton.    It  is  now  the  property  of  the  Earl  of  Airlie,  and  is  still  a  picturesque 
ruin  on  an  island  in  the  loch  ;  it  has  been  uninhabited  since  the  end  of  last  century. 

*  Douglas,  Baronage,  p.  551.  *  Ada  Dom.  Condi.  Mar.  1,  1439. 


360  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

single  combat,  the  younger  fatally  stabbed  the  elder.  He  was 
removed  to  the  castle  of  Inverqueich,  and  is  said  to  have  died 
there  from  his  wounds ;  or,  as  more  popularly  believed,  and 
indeed  recorded  at  the  period,  "  he  was  smored  in  his  bed 
at  Innerquich,  and,  as  was  thought,  not  without  knowledge  of 
his  wife."1 

This  painful  occurrence,  not  unparalleled  in  the  family  annals, 
took  place  in  the  autumn  of  1489,2  and  the  widowed  lady  was 
Janet  Gordon,  of  the  Huntly  family,  granddaughter  of  James  I. 
Soon  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  she  married  Patrick  Gray, 
son  and  heir-apparent  of  the  lord  of  that  name,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded to  the  influential  offices  of  Sheriff  of  Angus  and  Keeper 
of  Broughty  Castle,  of  which  the  Duke  of  Montrose  was 
deprived  by  the  parliament  of  James  IV.,  for  his  services 
to  the  late  King  at  Sauchieburn.  Although  Janet  Gordon 
had  no  family  by  Lord  Lindsay,  she  tried  to  assert  her  right  to 
the  castle  of  Inverqueich,  and  persisted  in  collecting  the 
"  fermes,  proffitis,  and  dewities,"  of  several  lands  in  the  vicinity, 
notwithstanding  that  the  Duke  had  resigned  them  by  charter 
to  Adam  Crichtoun  of  Kippendavie.3  These  circumstances 
gave  rise  to  much  discussion,  and  during  the  time  of  the 
dispute,  the  house  of  Inverqueich  was  ordered  to  be  "  frely 
deliverit  in  keping  to  Johne  Erskin  of  Dovne,"  who  held  it  for 
some  time  on  behalf  of  the  Crown.4 

But,  according  to  tradition,  the  murder  of  Lord  Lindsay 
was  not  altogether  unavenged.  Though  differing  in  the  mode 
of  telling,  the  story  of  the  locality  is  linked  with  the  fate  and 
mysterious  conduct  of  the  so-called  Countess  Janet,  and  the 
sufferings  of  her  penitent  spirit ;  for,  although  she  had  two 
other  husbands,  and  survived  both,  her  soul  sought  the  hoary 
mansion  of  Inverqueich,  where  her  nightly  lamentations  and 
sorrowful  wailings  prevailed  for  ages.  Here  the  shadowy  forms 
of  her  and  her  lord,  perched  on  the  narrow  cliff  between  the 

i  Lives,  i.  p.  171  n.  a  Ibid.  i.  p.  169. 

3  Acta  Dmn.  Feby.  4,  1492,  p.  271 :  June  27, 1494,  p.  341. 
*  Ibid.  March  9,  1491,  p.  227. 


PENANCE  OF  LADY  LINDSAY.  361 

river  and  the  castle,  met  the  eyes  of  the  credulous  at  all  hours  of 
the  night,  and  there,  on  bended  knee,  and  clad  in  snowy  weeds, 
the  guilty  suppliant  craved  forgiveness.  Tired  of  her  supplica- 
tions at  Inverqueich,  Lord  Lindsay  is  said  to  have  doomed  her 
latterly  to  live  out  her  penance  to  the  end  of  time  in  the 
bosom  of  Craig  Liach,  or  the  Eagle's  Eock,  in  the  water  of 
Ericht,  in  the  lovely  glen  of  Craighall,  near  Blairgowrie, 
where  ruins  still  exist  called  Lady  Lindsay's  Castle.  Here, 
though  the  unfortunate  lady  has  a  circumscribed  abode,  she 
is  not  allowed  to  sleep  or  idle  away  her  time,  being  doomed  to 
spin  a  long  unbroken  thread — sufficiently  long  to  reach  from 
the  remotest  parts  of  her  rocky  habitation  up  to  the  heavens  : 
and  by  this,  when  accomplished,  she  is  to  be  permitted  to 
mount  to  her  place  of  rest,  and  enjoy  for  ever  the  society  of 
her  injured  lord ! 

Such  are  the  traditions  of  this  singular  event.  But  Inver- 
queich Castle  was  inhabited  at  a  much  later  period  than  the 
time  to  which  this  dark  story  is  referable,  and,  strangely  enough, 
by  a  person  of  equal  recklessness  and  daring — perhaps  of  much 
less  heart — than  the  unfortunate  son  of  Montrose.  This  was 
the  son  of  the  "Wicked  Master,"  the  husband  of  Cardinal 
Beaton's  daughter,  and  the  persecutor  of  his  greatest  bene- 
factor, Sir  David  of  Edzell,  the  ninth  Earl.  The  circumstances 
attendant  on  his  and  his  father's  unhappy  career  are  already 
noticed  and  need  not  be  repeated,1 — suffice  it  to  say,  that  in 
his  time,  and  caused  by  his  extravagance  and  imprudence,  the 
interesting  properties  of  Euthven  and  Alyth  passed  from  the 
family  of  Lindsay,  and  since  then  have  frequently  changed 
hands.  The  estate  of  Euthven  now  belongs  to  Colonel  Thomas 
Wedderburn-Ogilvy,  while  Alyth,  including  Inverqueich,  is  the 
property  of  the  Earl  of  Airlie. 

1  Ut  supra,  pp.  38  sq. 


362  LAND   OF   THE    LINDSAYS. 


The  interesting  district  of  Meigle  was  acquired  by  the  first 
Earl  of  Crawford,  who  had  a  charter  of  the  whole  barony  on 
the  resignation  of  William  de  Megill,  in  the  time  of  Eobert  ill.,1 
and  when  he  founded  the  choirs  of  Our  Lady  of  Victory  and  of 
St.  George  at  Dundee,  he  gave  an  annual  of  twelve  marks  out 
of  the  lands  of  Balmyle  and  Aberbothrie,2  in  that  barony,  but 
Aberbothrie  and  the  castle-stead  of  Inverqueich,  together  with 
certain  lands  in  Alyth,  had  already  been  owned  by  James  de 
Lindsay.3  Meigle  was  also  a  part  of  the  lordship  of  Crawford, 
which  the  scapegrace,  Lord  Lindsay,  overran  and  uplifted  the 
rents  from  in  the  time  of  his  father,  who  was  compelled  to 
crave  Parliament  to  protect  him  in  the  circumstances.  The 
Council  granted  the  Duke's  prayer,  and  laid  the  turbulent 
offender  under  heavy  pains  and  penalties,  ordaining  that  he 
should  restore  the  stolen  property,  and  remedy  the  evils  which 
the  lands  of  "  Megill  and  Eothuen  "  had  sustained  through  his 
interference.4  It  is  also  worthy  of  notice,  that  shortly  before 
the  death  of  the  Duke,  he  mortified  certain  lands  to  the  church 
of  Meigle  in  honour  of  his  benefactor  James  ill.6 

The  earliest  recorded  lords  of  Meigle  were  the  family 
already  noticed,  who  assumed  their  surname  from  the  land. 
They  perhaps  had  failed  in  William,  and  it  is  probable  that 
they  acquired  the  lands  from  William  the  Lion  ;  for  in  his 
time  Simon  de  Meigle  gifted  the  advocation  of  the  kirk,  and 
an  adjoining  chapel,  to  the  Prior  and  Canons  of  St.  Andrews.6 
Roger  de  Miggel,  a  descendant  of  Simon,  along  with  some  other 
Perthshire  barons,  swore  fealty  to  Edward  in  1296.7  Michael 
de  Migell,  probably  in  the  reign  of  Alexander  in.,  had  bestowed 
on  the  Abbey  of  Cupar  the  marsh  of  Meigle.8  Margaret, 

1  Robertson,  Index,  p.  142.  83.  a  Thomson,  History  of  Dundee,  p.  286. 

3  Robertson,  Index,  pp.  120.  55  ;  121.  75  ;  192.  24. 

4  A  eta  Auditorum,  Feby.  19,  1487.  f  Lives,  i.  p.  155. 
•  Lyon,  History  of  St.  Andrews,  ii.  p.  305. 

7  Ragman  Rolls,  p.  128.  8  Reg.  Abb.  Cupar.  I  pp.  343,  344. 


MEIGLE  LANDS  AND  CHURCH.  363 

daughter  of  John  de  Rattry,  of  that  Ilk  and  Craighall,  was 
married  to  "  John  de  Megill,  of  that  Ilk."  She  and  her  heirs 
by  him  -were  infeft  in  the  lands  of  Logie  and  Meigle  in  virtue 
of  a  deed  confirmed  by  charter  under  the  Great  Seal  by 
Robert  IL,  dated  23d  January  1383.1 

The  kirk  was  inscribed  to  St.  Peter,  and  the  chapel  to 
St.  Mary  the  Virgin.  The  former  was  probably  rebuilt  about 
the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and,  after  being  con- 
siderably altered  and  enlarged  in  the  course  of  years,  was 
accidentally  burned  down  in  the  spring  of  1869,  when  the 
present  church  took  its  place  on  the  same  site,  but  many  of 
the  monuments  in  and  about  the  church  were  hopelessly 
damaged  and  lost.  The  chapel,  lying  to  the  west  of  Meigle, 
is  now  used  as  the  burial-place  of  the  Kinlochs  of  Kinloch, 
having  been  restored  in  the  Romanesque  style  of  architecture 
in  1861.  Kinloch,  called  Aberbothrie  up  to  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  now  belongs  to  Sir  John  Kinloch,  Bart., 
whose  father,  the  late  Sir  George  Kinloch,  added  to  it  the  estate 
of  Meigle  in  1871  by  purchase  from  the  Earl  of  Strathmore. 
Sir  George  received  the  baronetcy  in  1873.  In  the  Kinloch 
Chapel  are  laid  the  remains  of  George  Kinloch  of  Kinloch, 
grandfather  of  the  present  Baronet,  who  was  outlawed  in 
1819,  but  took  his  seat  in  the  first  reformed  Parliament  as 
member  for  Dundee  in  1832,  and,  dying  in  the  following  year, 
the  well-known  bronze  statue  in  front  of  the  Albert  Institute, 
Dundee,  was  erected  to  his  memory  by  public  subscription  in 
1872.  Kirkhill  (now  Belmont,  where  the  late  Lord  Privy  Seal 
Mackenzie  erected  a  fine  mansion)  was  a  residence  of  the 
Bishops  of  Dunkeld,  of  whom  two — Robert  Nicolson,  once 
parson  of  Meigle,  and  William  Lindsay,  second  son  of  James 
Lindsay  of  Dowhill 2 — are  buried  at  the  kirk.  When  the 
Knights  Templars  were  in  pomp,  they  had  considerable  interest 
here,  the  lands  on  which  the  kirk  and  kirkyard  are  situated, 
and  others  in  the  neighbourhood,  being  still  known  as  Temple 

1  Douglas,  Baronage,  p.  275.  *  Lives,  p.  ii.  284. 


364  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

lands ;  and  some  writers  suppose  that  the  so-called  Guinevra 
monuments  are  those  of  certain  Knights  who  died  here  after 
returning  from  the  Crusades.1 


SECTION   II. 

MISCELLANEOUS  LINDSAY  PROPERTIES  IN  THE  SOUTHERN 
PARTS  OF  FORFARSHIRE. 

Kinblethmont — First  Lord  Spynie,  his  marriage  and  death— Second  Lord  Spynie — 
Represented  by  Lindsay-Carnegies  of  Boysack — Early  proprietors  of  Kinbleth- 
mont— Inverkeillor — Guthrie  proprietary  and  ecclesiastical  history — Line  of  the 
Guthries — Bishop  Guthrie— Forfarshire  Guthries — Guthrie  Castle — Carbuddo  — 
Inverarity — Its  lords — Fotheringhams  of  Pourie — Meathie  Lour — Kinnettles — 
Evelick — Arbroath  connection — Kinnell — Panbride— Boethins  family — Panmure 
House — Monikie,  Dowiiie,  Dunfind — Pitaiiiie — Cross  of  Camus — Ethiebeaton, 
Broughty  Castle — Brichty. 

ItinbUtfjmont 

THE  founder  of  the  Kinblethmont  branch  of  the  family  of 
Lindsay  (who  are  now  the  only  remaining  proprietors  in 
Forfarshire  lineally  descended  of  the  great  Earls  of  Crawford) 
was  Alexander,  youngest  son  of  the  tenth  Earl,  by  his  wife 
Margaret  Beaton.  He  inherited  much  of  the  active  habits  of 
his  ancestors,  but  had  more  of  a  conciliatory  disposition  than 
most  of  them.  James  vi.  esteemed  him  so  much,  that  he  chose 
him  Vice-Chancellor,  and,  on  his  marriage  with  Princess  Anne 
of  Denmark,  also  selected  him,  and  his  relative  Mr.  David 
Lindsay,  minister  of  Leith,  along  with  Chancellor  Maitland, 
to  accompany  him  to  Denmark  on  his  matrimonial  expedition. 
At  this  important  period  the  royal  exchequer  was  so 
inadequate  to  meet  the  necessary  demands  upon  it,  that  the 

1  New  Stat.  Acct.  of  Alyth.  These  remarkable  stones  are  figured  and  described 
in  Chalmers,  Sculptured  Monuments  of  Angus,  etc.,  and  Stuart,  Sculptured  Stones 
of  Scotland,  vol.  i.  See  also  Jervise,  Epit.  ii.  pp.  287  sq.,  and  Proc.  Soc.  Ant. 
Scot.  ii.  pp.  242  sq.,  Warden,  Angus,  i.  pp.  34  sq.,  for  a  full  account,  while  Dr. 
Joseph  Anderson  (Scotland  in  Early  Christian  Times,  pass.,  2d  Ser.)  argues  for  the 
Christian  interpretation  of  such  symbols. 


KINBLETHMONT  AND  LORD   SPYNIE.  365 

Vice-Chancellor  advanced  the  large  sum  of  ten  thousand  gold 
crowns  towards  defraying  the  expenses  of  the  King's  journey ; 
but  while  in  Germany  he  became  so  seriously  indisposed  that 
he  was  unable  to  proceed  farther.  During  the  stay  of  the 
Court  at  Kroneburg,  however,  the  King,  desirous  to  alleviate, 
as  far  as  possible,  Lindsay's  disappointment  in  not  being  able 
to  accompany  him  the  whole  way,  sent  him  the  following 
familiar  notification  of  the  honour  he  had  in  store  for  him : — 

"  Sandie, 

"Quhill  (till)  youre  goode  happe  furneis  me  sum  bettir 
occasion  to  recompence  youre  honest  and  faithfull  seruice, 
utterid  be  youre  diligent  and  cairfull  attendance  upon  me, 
speciallie  at  this  tyme,  lett  this  assure  you,  in  the  inviolabill 
worde  of  youre  awin  Prince  and  maister,  that  quhen  Godd 
randeris  me  in  Skotlande,  I  sail  irreuocablie,  and  with  consent 
of  Parliament,1  erect  you  the  temporalitie  of  Murraye  in  a 
temporall  lordshipp,  with  all  honouris  thairto  apparteining : 
and  lett  this  serue  for  cure  of  youre  present  disease. — From  the 
Castell  of  Croneburg,  quhaire  we  are  drinking  and  dryuing 
our  in  the  auld  maner.  J.  K."  2 

As  soon  as  the  King  set  foot  within  his  palace  of  Holy- 
rood,  he  fulfilled  his  promise  to  Lindsay,  gave  him  a  grant  of 
the  temporalities  of  the  See  of  Moray  in  lieu  of  his  ten  thousand 
crowns,  and  conferred  the  title  of  Lord  Spynie  on  him  and  his 
heirs.  But,  with  the  exception  of  the  patronage  of  about 
fifty  livings,  in  various  parts  of  Elgin,  Nairn,  and  Inver- 
ness shires,  which  the  Lindsays  long  retained,  the  King  re-pur- 
chased the  rental  of  these  lands  in  1605,  and  restored  them  to 
the  Church.3  The  proprietary  interest  of  the  family  in  that 
district  was  limited  in  the  end  to  the  advowson  of  the  kirk  of 
New  Spynie,  which  was  bought  by  the  proprietor  of  Kinbleth- 
mont  from  the  late  Duke  of  Gordon. 

1  Obtained  accordingly.     Ada  Part.  iii.  p.  650. 

2  Li'ixs,  i.  p.  319.  s  See  Inq.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  130. 


366  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

Lord  Spynie  married  Jean  Lyon,  eldest  daughter  of  that 
John,  eighth  Lord  Glamis,  who  was  accidentally  killed  in 
Stirling  by  the  Earl  of  Crawford's  man  in  1578.  She  had 
been  previously  married  to  the  Master  of  Morton,  and  to 
Archibald,  the  eighth  Earl  of  Angus.  Her  alliance  with  Spynie 
is  said  to  have  been  mainly  effected  through  his  Majesty's 
intervention,  regarding  which,  while  in  Denmark,  and  at  a 
later  date  than  the  above  letter,  he  reiterated  his  promise, 
and  thus  jocularly  wrote  to  Lindsay,  in  allusion  to  the  lady's 
double  widowhood  and  considerable  fortune : — "  Sandie :  We 
are  going  on  here  in  the  auld  way,  and  very  merry.  1 11  not 
forget  you  when  I  come  hame — you  shall  be  a  Lord.  But 
mind  Jean  Lyon,  for  her  auld  tout  will  make  you  a  new  horn."1 
Lindsay  and  "Jean  Lyon"  were  accordingly  married.  She 
bore  him  two  sons,  the  youngest  of  whom  died  in  childhood ; 
and,  unfortunately,  only  a  few  years  thereafter  Lord  Spynie 
came  suddenly  by  his  death  in  the  riot  which  occurred  betwixt 
young  Edzell  and  the  Master  of  Crawford,  on  the  High  Street 
of  Edinburgh,  on  the  5th  of  July  1607.2 

The  friendship  that  subsisted  betwixt  the  King  and  Spynie 
became  much  abated  towards  the  close  of  Lindsay's  life,  as  the 
latter  had  joined  in  the  Popish  and  other  treasonable  move- 
ments of  the  period.  He  was  also  engaged  in  a  tulzie  with  the 
Ogilvy  family,  when  "  Eeid  John "  and  "  Black  Sandie " 
Ogilvy  were  charged  with  "  bering,  wering,  and  schuting  of 
hagbutis  and  pistolettis,  and  for  hurting  of  Alexander,  Lord 
Spynie."8  To  counterbalance  this  charge,  and  in  the  true  spirit 
of  the  times,  Spynie  and  a  number  of  his  kinsmen  were  charged 
only  a  few  days  thereafter,  as  "  art  and  part  of  slaucteris  "  of 
two  of  the  Ogilvy  clan,  when  Spynie  maintained  that  he  and 
his  followers  were  summarily  attacked  by  them  on  the  "  hei- 
way  beside  the  place  of  Leyis,  as  they  were  rydand  in  sober  and 

1  Lives,  i.  p.  323.     See  Pitcairn,  Grim.  Trials,  ii.  pp.  529  sq.,  iii.  pp.  61  sq.,  for 
the  official  inquiries  and  illustrative  documents  regarding  Spynie's  death. 
a  Warden,  Angus,  ii.  pp.  30  sq.,  for  the  Lords  of  Spynie. 
8  (July  26, 1600)- Pitcairn,  Crim.  Trials,  ii.  pp.  130  sq. 


LINDSAY- CARNEGIE  OF  SPYNIE  AND  BOYSACK.       367 

quyet  maner  furth  of  his  duelling  place  of  Kinbrakmonth 
[Kinblethmont]  to  the  place  of  Gairdyn,"  when  they  "  hurt  and 
deidlei  woundit  the  said  nobill  lord  in  the  heid,  and  left  him 
lyand  for  deid,"  and  shot  one  of  his  servants.1  Ogilvy  and 
Spynie  were  both  fined  in  large  sums  for  those  crimes,  and 
warded  to  certain  parts  of  the  South,  to  abide  his  Majesty's 
pleasure.2 

Lord  Spynie's  son  and  successor  was  an  active  officer  in  the 
service  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  amassed  such  an  amount  of 
wealth,  that  he  uplifted  the  mortgages  that  were  over  Finhaven 
and  Careston,  and  even  purchased  the  tombs  of  his  ancestors 
in  Dundee  from  his  cousin,  the  Earl  of  Crawford.3  He  left  two 
sons,  in  both  of  whom  the  male  succession  failed,  and  it  then 
devolved  on  their  eldest  sister,  Margaret,  who  was  married  to 
William  Fullarton  of  Fullarton,  near  Meigle.  Their  only  son, 
John,  married  in  1711  Margaret,  daughter  of  Carnegie  of  Boy- 
sack  near  Arbroath,  and  was  grandfather  of  Colonel  William 
Fullarton  of  Spynie,  who  married  his  own  cousin,  Miss  Car- 
negie, heiress  of  Boysack.  Their  son,  both  in  right  of  his 
mother,  and  according  to  the  deed  of  entail,  assumed  the  name 
and  title  of  Lindsay-Carnegie  of  Spynie  and  Boysack  ;  and  by 
his  wife,  who  was  descended  of  the  old  family  of  Strachan  of 
Thornton,  he  had  a  family  of  five  sons  and  three  daughters. 
James,  his  eldest  son  and  heir,  died  while  distinguishing  him- 
self in  his  professional  duty  on  the  shores  of  North  America 
in  1814;  and  their  second  son,  William,  who  was  the  next 
proprietor,  was  for  many  years  Convener  of  the  Freeholders 
of  Forfarshire.  He  was  heir  of  line  and  representative  of  the 
Lords  of  Spynie,  served  honourably  as  an  officer  of  artillery  in 
the  West  Indies  and  Portugal,  and  married  a  daughter  of  the 
Earl  of  Northesk.  He  had  a  numerous  family,  and  lived  in 
widowhood  for  twenty  years,  dying  in  1860.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded, owing  to  the  death  of  the  elder  brothers,  by  his  fifth 

1  Pitcairn,  Grim.  Trials,  ii.  p.  136.  2  Ibid.  ii.  p.  146. 

3  fnq.  Spec.  Forfar.  Nos.  130,  290. 


368  LAND   OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

son,  Henry  Alexander  Fullarton  Lindsay-Carnegie,  who  has 
married  Agnes,  eldest  daughter  of  James  Rait,  Esq.  of  An- 
niston. 

The  eldest  son,  James,  already  mentioned,  was  a  brave 
and  active  officer — as  remarkable  for  the  amiability  of  his 
disposition  as  for  his  spirit  and  gallantry,  and  preferred  the 
hazardous  service  of  his  country  to  the  peaceable  possession  of 
a  fine  estate.  He  served  as  Lieutenant  with  his  relative, 
Admiral  Lord  Northesk,  at  the  memorable  engagement  of 
Trafalgar,  and  was  in  other  severe  actions  with  honour.  He 
rose  to  the  rank  of  Commander  in  the  Navy,  and  when  relieved 
of  duty  by  being  thus  promoted,  his  thirst  for  active  service 
induced  him  to  serve  as  volunteer.  In  this  capacity  he  went 
with  Admiral  Griffith  in  his  expedition  to  the  Penobscot  river, 
where  he  contracted  a  fatal  marsh-fever  from  long  exposure  in 
the  boats. 

In  the  public  despatch,  forwarded  by  Admiral  Griffith, 
regarding  the  transaction  at  Penobscot,  he  says  that  he  was 
"  most  particularly  indebted  to  the  active  and  zealous  exertions 
of  Lieutenant  Carnegie,  who  was  a  volunteer  on  this  occasion." 
Nor,  in  those  sent  by  Colonel  John  after  the  engagement  at 
Hamden,  is  his  brave  and  disinterested  conduct  less  honour- 
ably mentioned.  "  Captain  Carnegie  of  the  Eoyal  Navy,"  he 
writes,  "  who  most  handsomely  volunteered  his  services  with 
this  expedition,  was  in  action  with  the  troops  at  Hamden ; 
and  I  feel  most  particularly  indebted  to  him  for  his  exertions, 
and  the  assistance  he  afforded  me  on  this  occasion." 

It  is  not  to  be  inferred,  however,  that  Lord  Spynie  was  the 
first  Lindsay  proprietor  of  Kinblethmont,  it  being,  in  part  at 
least,  in  the  hands  of  "Walter  Lindsay  of  Beaufort,1  and  of  the 
Earls  of  Crawford  so  early  as  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  was  owned  by  them  down  to  the  time  of  the 
eleventh  Earl,  who  gave  his  brother,  the  first  Lord  Spynie, 
charters  of  the  Mains  on  the  19th  of  June  1589.  In  1634,  the 

'  Reg,  Ep.  Brech.  i.  pp.  141,  164-5 ;  ii.  p.  79. 


KINBLETHMONT   AND   CHAPEL.  369 

Earls  of  Kinnoul  and  Kinghorn,  and  the  second  Lord  Spynie, 
as  joint  proprietors,  conveyed  the  lands  and  Temple  lands  of 
Kinblethmont  to  Sir  John  Carnegie  of  Ethie  in  liferent,  and 
to  his  son  David  in  fee,  from  whom,  as  seen  above,  the  lands 
of  Boysack  have  descended  by  marriage  to  the  present  pro- 
prietor of  Kinblethmout.1 

The  name  of  Kinblethmont  is  said  to  be  derived  from  a 
popular  belief  that  William  the  Lion  had  a  hunting-seat  there 
called  "  King's  blythe  mount," 2  but  its  true  etymon  is,  perhaps, 
in  the  Gaelic  Kin-Uaih-mont,  or  "the  head  of  the  flowery 
mount."  This,  at  least,  is  quite  descriptive  of  the  site  of  the 
place,  and  corresponds  with  the  oldest  orthography — KynUath- 
mund.  Richard  de  Melville,  of  the  Glenbervie  family,  is  the 
most  ancient  proprietor  of  Kinblethmont  with  whom  we 
have  met.  He  gave  the  monks  of  Arbroath  certain  parts  of 
it,  and  the  patronage  of  the  chapel,  which  was  dedicated 
to  St.  Lawrence  the  martyr.3  It  stood  near  the  Temple 
lands,  is  known  as  Qhytefield  Chapel,  and  used  as  the  family 
burial-place ;  but  "  no  storied  urn  or  animated  bust "  per- 
petuates the  memory  of  any  of  the  Lindsays  that  are  buried 
within  it. 

About  a  century  subsequent  to  Melville's  grant,  Welandus 
de  Seynclau  is  designed  "Dominus  de  Kynblatmund," 4  but 
to  what  family  he  belonged  has  not  been  ascertained.  He  was 
probably  followed  by  a  branch  of  the  old  family  of  Montealto 
of  Fearn,  who  had  considerable  property  in  the  southern,  as 
well  as  in  the  northern,  parts  of  the  shire ;  and  as  Eichard 
de  Montealto  occurs  in  connection,  both  with  this  lordship 
and  with  Fern  in  1378,6  the  reference  is  probably  to  one 
and  the  same  person ;  and  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  of  Glenesk 
had  possibly  succeeded  him  in  both  estates.  Guthries  were 

1  MS.  note  from  the  late  J.  M.  Lindsay,  Esq.,  Director  of  Chancery. 

2  Old  Stat.  Acct.  iii.  p.  285. 

s  (A.D.  1189)— .Re?.  Vet.  Aberbrothoc,  p.  99. 

«  Ibid.  p.  274. 

6  Reg.  Mag.  Siy.  pp.  149.  108 ;  150.  115 ;  ul  supra,  p.  228. 

2  A 


370  LAND  OF  THE   LINDSAYS. 

designed  of  Kinblethmont  from,  at  least,  the  year  1470,1  till 
1594.2  They  were  of  the  family  of  Colliston,  and  sold  Kin- 
blethmont to  Master  Peter  Young  (afterwards  Sir  Peter), 
about  1582,  who  held  the  lands  for  some  time  thereafter — 
perhaps  under  the  superiority  of  the  Crown.3 


©utfjrte  antj 

The  early  history  of  the  lands  of  Guthrie  is  obscure :  they 
were  probably  Crown  property  when  William  the  Lion  granted 
the  church  and  its  patronage  to  the  Abbey  of  Arbroath.4  The 
next  notice  of  them  is  in  the  Chamberlain  Eolls  in  1359,  when 
the  Sheriff  of  Forfar  returns  that  there  is  nothing  to  be  charged 
against  him  out  of  the  ward  of  Baldowry,  or  out  of  the  propart 
of  the  lands  of  Sir  Henry  de  Eamesay,  within  the  barony  of 

1  Acta  Auditorum,  p.  68  ;  Reg.  dePanmure,  ii.jpp.  282,  300  ;  Reg.  Nigr.  Aberbr. 
p.  xxxiv. 

2  Thomas  Guthrie  de  Kinblethmont  witnesses  the  excambion  of  Cookston  for 
Ardovie,  betwixt  Sir  R.  Carnegie  of  Kinnaird,  and  George  Speid,  ancestor  of  the 
present  laird  of  Ardovie. — (Ardovie  Charters.)  Sir  Robert  succeeded  his  father  John 
Carnegie  in  Kinnaird  in  1513.    But  in  1675  we  find  four  daughters  of  Robert  Guthrie 
of  Kinblethmont  served  as  heirs-portioners  in  certain  payments  from  Arbroath. — 
(Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.,  No.  461.) 

3  The  lands  of  Bandoch,  west  of  the  kirk  of  Inverkeillor,  were  also  Lindsay  pro- 
perty so  late  as  1666  (Douglas,  Peerage,  i.  pp .  92,  139),  and  had  probably  been 
obtained  from  Lord  Innermeath,  a  previous  proprietor.  —{Reg.  Mag.  Sig.)     The 
church  of  Inverkeillor,  in  the  diocese  of  St.  Andrews,  was  gifted  to  the  Abbey  of 
Arbroath  about  1178,  by  de  Berkeley  of  Redcastle,  and  dedicated  to  St.  Macconnoc 
(Reg.    Vet.  Aberbrothoc,  p.  38) ;  the  donor  on  this  occasion  was  that  Walter  de 
Berkeley,  who  was  chamberlain  of  the  King  of  the  Scots,  and  after  being  given  as 
pledge  for  the  due  compliance  with  the  conditions  of  the  convention  of  Falaise  in 
1174,  was  in  the  following  year  ransomed  for  twenty  marks. — (Calend.  Doc.  Scot. 
i.  pp.  19,  20  ;  Excheq.  Rolls  of  Scot.  ii.  App.  p.  cxix.)    The  old  church  or  chapel 
of  Athyn  was  dedicated  to  St.  Murdoch,  and  now  stands  in  ruins,  with  its  ancient 
cemetery  unused,  near  the  Redhead,  east  of  Ethie  Castle  ;  it  was  given  to  the  same 
Abbey  by  William  the  Lion  (Reg.  Vet.  Aberbrothoc,  p.  4),  and  is  now  united  to  Inver- 
keillor.    John  Fordyce,  John  Melmaker,  and  Archibald  Fullarton  were  vicars  of 
Athyn  during  part  of  the  fifteenth  century.— (Reg.  Nig.  Aberbr.  pp.  115,  321.)    The 
church  of  Inverkeillor  is  an  old  fabric  often  renewed,  and  the  sides  of  the  windows 
are  covered  with  long  scriptural  quotations  in  Greek  and  Hebrew.      As  recently 
restored  it  is  a   very  favourable  specimen   of   Presbyterian    architecture. — (See 
APPENDIX  No.  XV.)     The  burial  aisle  of  the  Earls  of  Northesk  is  attached  to  the 
east  end  of  the  kirk  ;  Gardyne  of  Lawton  and  Middleton  (ut  sup.  pp.  201,  237),  and 
Rait  of  Anniston,  also  bury  here. — (Jervise,  Epit.  i.  pp.  321  sq.) 

4  Reg.  Nig.  Aberbrothoc,  p.  128  ;  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  ii.  pp.  258  sq.,  A.D.  1178-98. 


GUTHRIE    FAMILY   AND  PARISH.  371 

Gutherie,  because  they  (the  wardships  of  these  lands)  were 
sold  by  Thomas,  Earl  of  Mar,  the  Lord  Chamberlain,  as  appears 
by  his  letters-patent  charging  himself  with  fifty-three  shillings 
and  fourpence  sterling  for  the  propart  of  Gutherie.1  From  this 
it  appears  that  Sir  Henry  Ramsay  was  then  a  portioner  of  the 
barony  of  Guthrie :  how  he  came  to  be  so  there  is  nothing  to 
show.  In  1398,  the  Earl  of  Crawford  had  a  confirmation 
charter  of  the  barony  of  Guthrie;  in  1450,  Walter  Carnegy  of 
Guthrie  is  one  of  an  inquest  to  inquire  into  the  marches  of 
the  Bishop's  Common  of  Brechin.  But  in  1440,  a  George 
Guthrie,  who  designates  himself  of  that  Ilk,  grants  to  Sir 
John  Ogilvy  of  Lintrathen  his  half  of  the  lands  of  Eroly 
(Airlie)  which  he  holds  of  Sir  John  as  superior  of  these.2 
David  Guthrie,  who  was  an  esquire  to  the  Earl  of  Crawford, 
and  who  seems  to  have  combined  in  his  person  a  sort  of  mix- 
ture of  soldier,  churchman,  and  lawyer  (for  all  which  he  was 
knighted  in  England  by  the  English  King),  purchased  the 
barony  of  Guthrie  from  the  Earl  of  Crawford  about  1465.3 
He  also  purchased  the  patronage  and  church  of  Guthrie  from 
the  Abbey  of  Arbroath,  and  erected  it  into  a  collegiate  church 
with  a  provost  and  three  canons,  to  which  number  his  son  added 
five  canons.  The  church  of  Guthrie,  dedicated  to  St.  Mary, 
was  an  ancient  prebend  of  the  Cathedral  of  Brechin,4  and  its 
history  is  much  complicated  by  these  transactions  with  the 
Abbey  and  the  collegiate  church.  The  first  prebendaries  we 
have  notice  of  are  Thomas  de  Luchris  or  Lathress  in  1372, 
Johannes  Mowet  in  1410,  Willelmus  Hawik  in  1434,  and 
Jacobus  Dekysoun  in  1474,  while  Andreas  Schull  appears  as 
vicar  in  1450.6  The  surname  of  Guthrie  does  not  appear  in 

1  Chamb.  Rolls,  i.  p.  344. 

2  Airly  Charter*;  Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Scot.  v.  pp.  346  sq. 

»  Mr.  Harry  Maule  of  Kelly  writes:— "Sir  David  Guthrie  of  that  Ilk  [was] 
designed  first  Captain  of  the  King's  Guard,  afterwards  Comptroller,  then  Register, 
and  afterwards  Lord  Treasurer,  and  last  of  all  Justice-General,  as  is  to  be  seen  in 
the  charters  of  King  James  the  Third  in  the  Public  Records."— (Information  by  the 
late  P.  Chalmers,  Esq.  of  Aldbar.) 

*  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  i.  p.  19.  e  Ibid.  i.  pp.  20,  et  al. 


372  LAND   OF   THE    LINDSAYS. 

the  first  volume  of  the  Register  of  Arbroath,  although  the 
Abbey  was  so  closely  connected  with  the  lands. 

Sir  David,  son  of  that  Alexander  Guthrie  who  bought  the 
estate  of  Kincaldrum  in  1442,  is  said  to  have  been  brother  to 
Abbot  Eichard  of  Arbroath,  and,  as  eldest  son,  succeeded  to 
Kincaldrum,  which  he  owned  in  1463;1  and  from  that  estate 
Guthries  were  designed  down  to  1674-76.2  This  knight  is  the 
first  laird  of  Guthrie  of  his  name  who  appears  as  a  witness  to 
Crown  charters,  and,  so  far  as  known,  was  the  most  illustrious 
of  his  family,  having,  at  various  periods,  filled  the  important 
offices  of  Lord  Eegister  and  Lord  High  Treasurer,  and  died 
Lord  Chief-Justice  of  Scotland.  He  was  also  a  depute  -of  the 
Sheriff  of  Forfarshire,  and  armour-bearer  to  James  in. 

Sir  David  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Alexander,  who  was 
Sheriff  of  Forfar,3  and  fell  at  Flodden,  along  with  his  eldest 
son  and  three  brothers-in-law.  His  grandson,  also  Alexander, 
was  killed  in  a  feud  with  the  Gardens  of  Legiston,  in  October 
1587,  and  of  that  murder  Garden  had  a  remission  under  the 
Great  Seal.4  Garden  was,  perhaps,  thus  leniently  dealt  with 
from  the  fact  that  William  Guthrie  of  Eavensbie,  son  of  this 
unfortunate  laird,  had  murdered  both  Garden  of  that  Ilk  and 
Garden  of  Tulloes  on  the  highway  betwixt  Brechin  and  Dundee 
in  1578,5  and  the  assault  on  old  Guthrie  may  have  been  com- 
mitted by  Garden  out  of  revenge  for  the  death  of  his  relatives. 
It  is  certain,  however,  that  James,  the  son  of  the  laird  of 
Guthrie  who  fell  by  Legiston,  shared  the  fate  of  his  father  in 
June  1599,6  being  murdered  by  the  hands  of  several  of  his 
own  near  relations.  In  1617  John  Guthrie,  who  was  accused 
of  double  adultery,  and  of  having  laid  aside  "  the  name  of  laird," 
became  a  victim  to  the  arbitrary  and  inhuman  laws  or  will  of 
King  James  VI.  (himself  one  of  the  most  impure  of  princes), 

1  Crawford,  Officers  of  State,  p.  361. 

2  Genealogical  MS.  belonging  to  Lord  Panmure.    [The  Bowers  possessed  Kincal- 
drum in  1678. — (Edward,  Descrip.  of  Angus.)]  3  Acta  And.  p.  95. 

4  Pitcairn,  Crim.  Trials,  i.  pt.  2,  p.  372 ;  ii.  p.  103. 

8  Ibid.  ii.  p.  528 ;  iii.  pp.  77,  80.  «  Ibid.  ii.  p.  101. 


GUTHRIE    FAMILIES.  373 

and  was  accordingly  executed  at  the  Cross  of  Edinburgh. 
Arnot  well  said,  that  "it  is  a  fortunate  maxim  in  our  juris- 
prudence that  statute  laws  prescribe."1 

There  was  also  a  James  Guthrie  "  laird "  about  this  time, 
but  whether  he  was  father  of  James  Guthrie,  the  famous 
martyr,  who  was  executed  in  the  Grassmarket  of  Edinburgh 
in  1661,  is  not  so  certain. 

Owing  to  the  difficulties  into  which  the  family  were  thrown 
about  that  period,  James's  brother — perhaps  Patrick  (at  least 
there  was  a  Patrick  Guthrie,  who  designed  himself  in  1655,  as 
"  sometime  of  that  Ilk"),2 — sold  the  estates  to  Mr.  John  Guthrie, 
Bishop  of  Moray,  and  on  this  the  original  stock  and  line  of 
"  Guthrie  of  that  Ilk "  practically  ceased  to  have  connection 
with  the  lands  that  bore  their  name,  the  Bishop  being  but 
remotely  related  to  the  family  of  that  Ilk.3  We  have  been 
unable  to  ascertain  the  exact  date  of  the  Bishop's  purchase ; 
but  he  received  infeftment  on  December  29th,  1636,  and  in 
1640  (on  being  deprived  of  his  living,  and  forced  out  of  his 
official  residence  of  Spynie  Castle),  he  retired  "  to  his  own 
estate  of  Guthrie,  in  the  county  of  Angus,"  where  "he  died 
during  the  course  of  the  grand  rebellion."4  From  the  diary 
of  his  brother  James,  the  minister  of  Arbirlot,  and  ancestor 
of  the  Craigie  and  Taybank  Guthries,  we  learn  that  the  Bishop 
died  in  Guthrie  on  Tuesday  38th  August  1649,  and  was  buried 
in  "ye  He  of  ye  kirk  of  Guthrie,"  beside  Nicolas  Wood  his 
wife.  Bishop  Guthrie's  daughter  married  her  cousin,  Guthrie 
of  Gaigie,  and  thus  became  maternal  ancestor  of  the  present 
laird  of  Guthrie  and  Gaigie,  John  Douglas  Maude  Guthrie, 
who  succeeded  his  father  in  1877.  About  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  Ochterlony  gives  a  pleasant  account  of 
the  parish:  "The  most  part  of  the  parish  belongs  to  the 
Laird  of  Guthrie  of  that  Ilk  [sic],  a  very  ancient  gentle - 

1  Arnot,  Gel.  Grim.  Trials,  p.  312. 

-  Services  of  Heirs  in  Chancery  Office,  vi.  p.  90. 

a  For  an  account  of  Bishop  Guthrie  and  his  family,  see  Jervise,  Epit.  ii.  p.  149. 

4  Keith,  Catal.  of  Scotch  Bishojts,  p.  152. 


374  LAND    OF  THE    LINDSAYS. 

man,  and  chief  of  his  name :  his  house  is  well  planted,  good 
yards  and  orchards,  good  land,  well  grassed,  and  lyes  pleasantly 
on  the  head  of  the  water  of  Lounane  in  Strathbegg."1  But, 
although  the  direct  descendants  of  Sir  David  have  now  passed 
from  the  position  of  landowners,  the  present  family  claims 
collateral  descent  through  the  Gaigie  line,  and  the  surname  is 
still  plentiful  throughout  Angus.2  At  no  distant  date  the  fol- 
lowing provincial  couplet  was  applicable  to  four  Forfarshire 
freeholders  of  the  surname  of  Guthrie,  who  possessed  the 
various  properties  here  named : — 

"  Guthrie  of  Guthrie, 

And  Guthrie  of  Gaigie, 
Guthrie  of  Taybank, 

And  Guthrie  of  Craigie."  3 

The  old  part  of  the  castle  of  Guthrie  (which  was  perhaps 
built  about  1468,  when  Sir  David  Guthrie  obtained  warrant 
under  the  Great  Seal  to  erect  a  stronghold  there),4  is  a  place  of 
great  strength,  with  a  square  tower  sixty  feet  high  and  walls 
nearly  ten  feet  thick,  and  to  this  the  late  laird  added  a  spire 
and  other  castellated  embellishments.  The  gateway  is  a  Gothic 
erection  of  considerable  elegance,  being  composed  of  a  graceful 

1  Spottisw.  Misc.  i.  p.  346. 

2  Mr.  Harry  Maule  of  Kelly  writes  :— "This  family  of  Guthrie  [of  that  Ilk]  ended 
in  the  time  of  King  Charles  the  First,  and  the  Barony  of  Guthrie  [was]  sold  to  John 
Guthrie,  Bishop  of  Murray,  who  left  it  to  his  daughter,  whose  posterity  does  now 
(1733)  enjoy  it,"  and  it  is  still  (1882)  with  her  descendants.    This  Bishop  Guthrie  was 
of  the  Guthries  of  Colliston,  in  which  family  there  was  a  Nova  Scotia  baronetcy, 
which  seems  to  have  become  soon  extinct.—  (Information  to  Mr.  Jervise  by  the  late 
P.  Chalmers,  Esq.  of  Aldbar :  see  Reg.  de  Panmure,  ii.  p.  244.) 

3  Guthries  were  lairds  of  Pitforthy,  near  Brechin,  before  and  subsequent  to  1620. 
They  may  have  been  related  to  the  family  of  that  Ilk.    The  famous  William  Guthrie, 
minister  of  Fenwick,  author  of  the  Christian's  Saving  Interest,  was  a  son  of  Pitforthy ; 
and  William  Guthrie,  the  historian  of  a  later  date,  was  a  member  of  the  same  family. 
The  traditionary  origin  of  the  family  name  of  Guthrie  is  well  known  : — One  of  the 
kings  of  Scotland  being  driven  on  Bervie  Brow,  a  rock  on  the  Kincardineshire  coast, 
found  a  solitary  fisherwoman  on  the  shore,  and  being  hungry,  he  asked  her  to  gut 
twafish  for  him  !    "  I '11  gut  three /"  said  the  loyal  dame.    "Well,"  replied  the  king, 
"Gut-three  for  ever  shalt  thou  be  !"    Dr.  Jamieson  (Scot.  Diet.  pref.  p.  xi)  gives 
Guthrie  as  a  Pictish  name,  and  shows  its  affinity  to  some  Icelandic  and  Danish  names. 

4  See  the  Guthrie  Family  Genealogy  prepared   by  Mr.    George   Constable    of 
Wallace  Craigie  (Scott's  "  Monkbarns  "  in  the  Antiquary) ;  it  is  summarised  by  Mr. 
Jervise  in  his  Epitaphs,  ii.  pp.  148  eq.,  and  traces  the  name  to  a  territorial  origin. 


GUTHRIE  CHURCH  AND  BELL.  375 

arch,  flanked  with  towers,  and  bearing  a  fine  sculpture  of  the 
family  arms.  This  was  erected  by  the  late  Arbroath  and  Forfar 
Eailway  Company,  and  the  present  Caledonian  line  of  railway 
traffic  passes  over  the  archway. 

A  new  church  was  built  in  1826,  during  the  ministry  of  the 
Rev.  John  Bruce,  but  the  one  for  which  Sir  David  Guthrie  and 
his  son  showed  so  much  favour  stood  on  the  same  site  as  the 
present,  and  the  family  burial  vault  is  the  south  transept  or 
aisle.  The  Guthrie  arms  surmount  the  gateway  of  the  church- 
yard, with  these  initials  and  date,  "  — G  :  B  •  G  :  1 637."  Other 
fragments  bear  "  1629,"  "  G.  1747,"  and  "  M  •  H  •  G."  Some  of 
the  mottoes  in  the  graveyard  are  curious;  but  the  following, 
from  a  stone  raised  by  Robert  Spence  to  "  his  forefathers  "  in 
1774,  is  the  most  singular: — 

"  Beside  this  stone  lyes  many  Spences, 
Who  in  their  life  did  no  offences ; 
And  where  they  liv'd,  if  that  ye  speir, 
In  Guthrie 's  ground  four  hundred  year."1 

At  Guthrie  Castle  there  is  carefully  preserved  the  well- 
known  Guthrie  Bell,  with  its  highly  decorated  shrine.  The 
bell,  four-sided  like  other  ancient  Scotch  relics  of  the  kind,  and 
considerably  worn  or  broken,  is  enclosed  in  an  elaborately 
wrought  case  or  shrine,  whose  ornamentation  would  point  to 
the  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  century,  but  no  record  remains  as 
to  when  or  how  either  bell  or  shrine  came  to  Guthrie  Castle. 
They  probably,  however,  formed  part  of  the  furniture  or  trea- 
sures of  the  ancient  collegiate  church. 

Like  the  church  of  Guthrie,  that  of  Carbuddo,  or  the  south- 
ern division  of  the  parish,  was  in  the  diocese  of  Brechin,  and 
was  at  first  a  chapelry  belonging  to  the  church  of  Guthrie ;  but 
the  time  of  its  suppression  is  unknown,  and  the  graveyard 

1  See  Jervise,  Epitaphs,  ii.  144  sq.     The  following,  from  a  stone  to  the  same 
family  at  Aberlemno,  is  dated  1756  : — 

"  Here  lyes  an  honest  old  race, 
Who  in  Ballgavies  land  had  a  place 
Of  residence,  as  may  be  seen, 
Full  years  three  hundred  and  eighteen." 


376  LAND   OF  THE   LINDSAYS. 

alone  remains.1  The  family  of  Guthrie  had  but  little  property 
in  Carbuddo,  their  ownership  being  probably  limited  to  the 
ad  vocation  of  the  kirk,  six  acres  of  land  adjoining  it,  and 
pasture  for  six  cows,  "  with  their  falloues."2  The  oldest  known 
superiors  were  the  Earls  of  Angus,  from  whom,  in  all  likeli- 
hood, it  had  passed  to  the  Earls  of  Crawford,  for  the  Lindsays 
were  lords  of  Carbuddo  also  from  at  least  about  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  down  to  the  early  part  of  the  following, 
when  the  great  bulk  of  it  became  the  property  of  Sir  Thomas 
Erskiue  of  Brechin.  In  1543  Sir  Thomas  resigned  it  in  favour 
of  his  nephew,  Superintendent  Erskine  of  Dun,3  in  the  hands 
of  whose  descendants  it  continued  till  1833,  when,  on  the  death 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Charles  Erskine,  the  last  of  the  male  line, 
the  property  passed  to  his  nephew,  George  Ogilvie,  who  died 
in  1848,  leaving  the  estate  in  the  hands  of  trustees,  to  be  equally 
divided  in  fee-simple  at  the  end  of  fifty  years,  between  his  two 
grand-nephews  or  their  heirs, 

Enfoeraritg  atrti  fK£atf)ie=3L0ut. 

It  will,  however,  be  perceived,  that  although  the  Earls  of 
Crawford  had  a  long  and  important  interest  in  Guthrie,  there 
was  no  separate  house  founded  in  the  district  by  any  collateral 
or  immediate  branch  of  the  family.  It  was  so  also  in  the  parish 
of  Inverarity,  though  the  Kirktown  and  Hilltown,  with  other 
lands  in  the  district,  were  in  their  possession  from  the  year 
1395,  and  out  of  them  the  first  Earl  gave  twelve  marks  for 
the  endowment  of  a  chaplain  in  the  parish  church  of  Dundee.4 
Though  Alexander  Burnet  of  Leys  was  in  possession  of  the 
village  of  Inverarity  in  1500,5  Sir  David  of  Edzell  was  lord  of 
the  properties  which  his  ancestors  held  in  the  parish,  and  also 

1  "  Crebyauch "  is  the  oldest  orthography  of  Carbuddo ;  the  Gaelic   Cri-baith 
means  "  clay  and  birk  wood,"  both  of  which  are  plentiful,  not  only  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  kirk,  but  throughout  the  district.     But  more  probable  meanings  would 
be  "the  rocky  land  of  the  churl,"  and  "the  rough  or  stony  field." 

2  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  5,  A.D.  1550.  3  Spalding  Club Miscett.  iv.  p.  44. 
4  Robertson,  Index,  p.  161.  5.  5  Douglas,  Baronage,  p.  41. 


INVERARITY,   FOTHRINGHAM,   AND   LOUR.  377 

patron  of  the  kirk,  as  was  Sir  Walter  of  Balgavies,  and  then 
his  son,  so  late  as  1606. 

But  of  the  ancient  lords  of  Inverarity  there  is  now  no  trace, 
in  either  ruined  castle  or  legendary  tale, — nay,  even  the  Kirk- 
town  or  village  of  the  days  of  the  Lindsays  has  disappeared, 
having  been  supplanted  by  the  mansion-house  of  Fothringham, 
which  was  so  named  from  the  present  family,  and  erected  on 
the  site  of  the  old  Kirktown.1  An  archway  or  door  of  the  old 
kirk  was  remaining  at  a  late  date,  and  the  burial-ground  is 
represented  by  a  mound  planted  with  shrubs,  opposite  the 
west  windows  of  Fothringham  House.  The  rivulets  Airity 
(anciently  AritTi)  and  Denburn  unite  here,  and  from  this  cir- 
cumstance the  parish  was  named.  To  the  original  parish  of 
Inverarity,  the  adjoining  district  of  Meathie-Lour  was  added 
about  two  hundred  years  ago.  Both  were  in  the  diocese  of 
St.  Andrews,  and,  after  the  Eeformation,  were  served  by  one 
and  the  same  minister ; 2  and  the  kirk  of  Meathie  was  "  ruinous 
and  decayed  "  even  in  Ochterlony  of  the  Guynd's  time. 

The  etymology  of  Meathie-  Lour  is  doubtful,  and  is  written 
"  Mathi-Lur "  in  the  ancient  Taxatio.  The  oldest  proprietors 

1  The  modern  surname  of  Fothringham  is  a  corruption  of  the  ancient  Fothring- 
hay,  and  assumed  its  present  form  from  the  resemblance  of  ay  to  m  in  old  writings. 
Henry  de  Fodringhay  swore  fealty  to  Edward  in  1296 ;  but  they  were  a  family  of 
good  standing  long  before  then,  being  witnesses  to  some  important  charters,  and 
bearing  arms  (ermine,  three  bars)  in  the  time  of  William  the  Lion.     Their  first 
known  estates  were  in  Tweeddale,  and  their  first  Forfarshire  property  was  Baluny,  in 
the  parish  of  Kettins,  of  which  Thomas,  the  son  of  Henry,  had  charters  in  1378.— 
(Nisbet,  On  Rag.  Roll,  p.  33. )  Powrie  was  acquired  during  the  subsequent  century. — 
(Reg.  Ep.  Brech.  i.  pp.  114,  141,  et  al.;  Reg.  Nig.  Aberbr.  p.  146,  et  al. ;  Douglas, 
Baronage,  pass.)    Through  the  marriage  of  the  late  laird  with  the  heiress  of  Scrym- 
geour  of  Tealing,  this  ancient  family  became  allied  with  the  Dudhope  race,  whose 
remote  progenitor,  Sir  Alexander  Carron,   saved  the  life  of  Alexander  i.,  when 
attacked  by  rebels  in  his  castle  at  Invergowrie  in  1107.     Nisbet  (Her.  i.  p.  288)  says 
he  is  the  first  knight  read  of  in  history,  and  had  his  name  changed  to  Scrimgeour, 
i.e.   "a  sharp  fighter,"  for  his  bravery  on  the  above  occasion.     The  family  were 
hereditary  standard-bearers  of  Scotland,  and  bore  a  conspicuous  part  in  old  times  in 
all  the  notable  transactions  of  the  kingdom.— (See  Jervise,  Epitaphs,  i.  pp.  121-2.) 
The  late  proprietor,  Thomas  Frederick  Scrimsoure-Fotheringham,  married  the  Hon. 
Lady  Charlotte  Carnegie,  sister  of  the  Earl  of  Southesk,  and  died  in  1864,  leaving  a 
son  and  daughter.     The  former,  Walter  Thomas  James  Scrymsoure-Fotheringham, 
succeeded  also  to  Tealing,  on  the  death  of  his  grandmother,  in  1875. 

2  Register  of  Ministers,  1567  ;  Spot.  Misc.  i.  p.  323. 


378  LAND  OF   THE    LINDSAYS. 

of  Lour  that  we  have  found  are  a  Henricus  de  Neuith,  knight, 
who,  for  failure  of  service,  resigned  the  property  into  the  hands 
of  Alexander  in.  ;  and  next,  Hugh  of  Abirnithy,  who  received 
a  charter  in  1264,  in  the  lands  which  had  shortly  before  come 
into  the  King's  hand  from  the  foresaid  Henricus.1 

This  Sir  Hugh  was  Chamberlain  of  Menmuir  about  1290  ; 
and  the  male  line  of  this  old  family  failing  in  co-heiresses, 
their  extensive  possessions  passed  by  marriage  to  the  several 
families  of  Lindsay,  Stewart,  and  Lesly.  Lesly's  wife  was 
heiress  of  the  Lour  portion,  of  which  Norman  de  Lesly  had 
charters  in  1390.2  In  the  year  1466,  a  family  there  bore  the 
name  of  Lur  of  that  Ilk,  and  doubtless  had  been  of  considerable 
influence  in  their  time,  as  they  were  councillors  of  the  Earls 
of  Crawford  ;  3  —  they  had  also  been  vassals  of  theirs,  for  the 
lands  and  teinds  were  in  possession  of  the  Duke  of  Montrose 
in  the  year  1492.4  It  is  probable  that  about  this  period  the 
lands  of  Lour  had  more  than  one  proprietor,  as  in  1464  the 
Earl  of  Eothes  held  the  barony  of  Lour,  and  granted  it  by 
charter  to  Guthrie  of  Kincaldrum,  and  soon  after  that  which 
is  now  Little  Lour  belonged  to  a  family  called  Kynnynmonth. 

It  is  certain  that  the  greater  part  of  the  estate  was  owned 
in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  by  the  Carnegies, 
as,  on  being  elevated  to  the  peerage  in  1639,  Sir  John  Carnegie 
of  Ethie  assumed  the  title  of  Lord  Lour.  The  lands  were 
afterwards  given  by  the  second  Earl  of  Northesk  to  Patrick, 
his  third  son,  from  whom  the  present  Carnegies  of  Lour  and 
Turin  are  descended.5 


Although  the  estate  of  Kinnettles  was  much  later  in  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  Lindsays  than  those  of  Guthrie  and 

1  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk,  ii.  p.  479,  for  the  charter. 

2  Robertson,  Index,  p.  127.  3  Lives,  i.  p.  117. 
4  Acta  Dom.  Condi.  Jan.  15,  1492. 

8  Fraser,  Hist.  Cam.  of  Southesk,  ii.  pp.  426-7.  In  Jervise,  Epit.  ii.  pp.  301  sq., 
there  is  a  supplementary  account  of  this  district,  and  the  families  belonging  to  it. 

6  The  kirk  of  Kinnettles  was  in  the  diocese  of  St.  Andrews,  and  is  rated  in  the 
ancient  Taxatio  at  18  merks  ;  the  rector  in  1265  was  Laurence  de  Montealto.  The 


KINNETTLES  AND  EVELICK.  379 

Inverarity  (a  branch  of  the  family  having  settled  here  only 
about  the  year  1511),  they  flourished  in  considerable  repute 
for  nearly  a  century  and  a  half.  Robert,  a  cadet  of  the 
knightly  house  of  Evelick,  descended  from  a  younger  brother  of 
the  third  Earl  of  Crawford,  was  the  first  Lindsay  of  Kinnettles. 
Marjory  Lindsay,  the  wife  of  the  minister  of  Eescobie  (men- 
tioned on  the  tombstone  at  that  church)1  was  perhaps  a  daughter 
of  the  last  Lindsay  of  Kinnettles,  and  aunt  to  Dr.  Thomas 
Lindsay  of  Armagh.  This  eminent  divine,  however,  was  born 
in  England,  whither  his  father  went  in  early  life,  and  became 
rector  of  Blandford  in  Dorsetshire.  He  was  the  friend  and 
contemporary  of  Dean  Swift,  rose  to  the  important  position  of 
Archbishop  of  Armagh  and  Primate  of  all  Ireland,2  and,  dying 
in  1713,  was  the  last  male  descendant  of  the  Lindsays  of 
Kinnettles. 

Still,  although  on  the  death  of  the  Archbishop,  all  trace  of 
the  male  descendants  of  the  house  of  Kinnettles,  as  well  as 
of  Evelick,  passed  away,  collateral  descendants  of  the  latter 
branch  not  only  survive  in  Perthshire,  but  also  in  Forfarshire, 
two  daughters  having  been  united  in  marriage  to  influential 
barons  of  the  latter  county.  These  were  Elizabeth  and  Mar- 
garet Lindsay,  daughters  of  Sir  Alexander  of  Evelick,  and  sisters 
of  the  unfortunate  youth  who  was  slaughtered  in  cold  blood  by 
his  step-brother,  James  Douglas,  in  the  year  1682.3  The  former 
of  these  ladies  was  married  to  John  Ochterlony,  of  the  ancient 
family  of  that  Ilk,  author  of  the  interesting  and  valuable 

name  of  the  parish  is  misprinted  "  Kynathes "  in  Ragman  Rolls  (p.  164),  from 
which  it  appears  that  Nicol  de  Merton,  the  parson  of  the  period,  swore  fealty  to 
Edward  I.  Kinnettles,  Inverarity,  and  Meathie,  were  served  by  one  clergyman,  a 
Mr.  James  Fothringham,  in  1567,  who  had  a  stipend  of  £100  Scots  (£8,  6s.  8d.  stg.). 
Mr.  Alexander  Tayler,  the  minister  (1670-85),  was  a  poet  of  considerable  imagination, 
and,  when  going  to  Edinburgh  with  several  of  his  brethren,  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
the  oaths  required  by  the  Test  Act,  he  encountered  so  great  a  storm  that  he  felt 
constrained  to  write  a  long  poem  upon  it ;  but  his  most  ambitious  work  is  Memoires 
of  Ikon  the  Great,  third  of  that  name,  present  King  of  Poland  (1685).  Colonel 
William  Patterson,  who  rose  from  humble  birth  to  the  dignified  office  of  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  New  South  Wales,  was  born  at  Kinnettles  in  1755.  He  died  in  1810. 

1  See  APPENDIX  No.  VII. 

»  Lives,  i.  p.  439 ;  ii.  p.  283.  3  Scott.  Jour.  i.  p.  280. 


380  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Account  of  the  Shyre  of  Forfar,  so  frequently  quoted  in  this 
volume ; l  the  latter  was  first  the  wife  of  Arbuthnott  of  Fin- 
dowrie,2  and  afterwards  that  of  Pierson  of  Balmadies,  to  whom 
she  bore  seven  sons.  From  these  ladies,  both  maternally  and 
paternally,  the  late  Mr.  Pierson  of  the  Guynd  was  the  fourth 
generation  in  descent. 

It  may  not  therefore  be  improper  to  give  a  brief  outline  of 
the  house  of  Evelick,  since  it  has  given  sons  and  daughters  to 
other  families  of  provincial  note  and  importance,  and  is  itself 
still  represented,  though  not  in  the  direct  male  line. 

Descended  from  a  younger  brother  of  Sir  Walter  the  first 
of  Edzell,  Alexander  Lindsay  of  Evelick  (father  of  the  ladies 
of  Ochterlony  and  Balmadies)  was  created  a  baronet  in  16G6. 
Besides  the  son  who  came  by  his  death  in  the  painful  manner 
already  noticed,  he  had  his  successor,  Sir  Alexander,  whose  son, 
also  Alexander,  married  Amelia,  sister  of  the  celebrated  Lord 
Mansfield,  and  by  her  he  had  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 
All  the  sons  rose  to  eminence  in  the  service  of  their  country,  as 
did  the  families  of  both  daughters :  Sir  David,  the  eldest,  was  a 
General ;  the  second,  William,  an  officer  of  repute,  died  in  the 
East  Indies  ;  and  the  youngest,  John,  for  his  gallantry  during 
the  attack  on  the  Havannah,  etc.,  was  created  a  Knight  of  the 
Bath,  rose  to  the  rank  of  Eear- Admiral  of  the  Eed,  and,  dying 
in  1788,  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey.  General  Sir 
David  Lindsay  left  two  sons  and  two  daughters :  the  eldest 
son  was  ambassador  at  Venice,  and  predeceased  his  father ;  the 
youngest,  who  succeeded  to  the  title  and  estates  in  1762,  was 
a  signal-officer  at  the  battle  of  St,  Vincent,  and  commander  of 
the  "  Daphne ;"  he  lost  his  life  at  Demerara  by  the  upsetting  of 
a  boat  in  1799.  He  was  the  last  direct  male  descendant,  and 
baronet  of  Evelick. 

The  succession  then  devolved  on  General  Sir  David's 
eldest  daughter,  Charlotte  Amelia  (wife  of  the  Eight  Honour- 

1  Printed  in  the  Spottisivoode  Miscellany,  i.  pp.  317  sq. :  and  in  Warden,  Angus, 
ii.  pp.  233  sq.  On  the  Piersons  and  Ochterlonies,  see  Jervise,  Epit.  i.  pp.  159  sq., 
384-5.  -  See  APPENDIX  No.  VII. 


EVELICK    AND    ARBROATH.  381 

able  Thomas  Steele),  and  the  estates  of  Evelick  passed  to  her 
son,  a  Colonel  in  the  Guards,  who  married  a  daughter  of  the 
Duke  of  Manchester,  by  whom  he  had  the  late  proprietor, 
Major-General  Thomas  Steele  of  the  Coldstream  Guards,  and 
other  children.  The  present  proprietor  is  Sir  Thomas  Montague 
Steele,  K.C.B.,  his  eldest  son.  The  sisters  of  General  Sir 
David  of  Evelick  were  respectively  married  to  Allan  Eamsay, 
the  distinguished  portrait-painter  and  son  of  the  poet,  and  to 
Alexander  Murray,  afterwards  Lord  Henderland.  The  eldest 
was  mother  of  General  John  Eamsay,  and  several  daughters, 
but  all  these  died  without  issue.  The  General's  estate  was 
inherited  by  his  cousin,  the  late  William  Murray  of  Hender- 
land ;  and  he  and  his  brother,  John  Archibald  Murray  (Lord 
Murray),  were  the  nearest  representatives,  through  a  female, 
of  the  old  houses  of  Evelick  and  Kinnettles. 


j,  Blacfelafo,  antj 
The  cause  of  the  battle  of  Arbroath,  which  was  fought 
between  the  Lindsays  and  Ogilvys  in  1445-6,  and  the  fatal 
result  of  it  to  the  latter  clan,  have  already  been  fully  noticed  ;  l 
and,  if  it  were  not  that  the  proprietary  interest  of  the  Lindsays 
of  Edzell  survived  longer  at  Arbroath  than  in  any  other  part 
of  Forfarshire,  the  extent  of  their  holding  would  barely  warrant 
our  taking  notice  of  these.  Their  wealth  in  this  quarter  con- 
sisted mainly  in  dwelling-houses,  and  other  burghal  and  arable 
lands.  Among  these  were  Lady-Bank  and  its  chapel  (which 
were  erased  about  a  century  ago  to  make  way  for  the  old 
harbour)  ;  the  croft  of  Darngate,  or  the  postern  gate,  at  the 
south-east  corner  of  the  monastery;  the  Grinter,  or  granary 
croft,  situated  at  the  north  corner  of  the  burial-ground,  where 
the  corn  and  meal  belonging  to  the  Abbey  were  kept  ;  and  St. 
Ninian's  Heuch,  among  the  famous  cliffs  and  caves,  east  of  the 
harbour.2  Though  small,  these  properties  gave  Edzell  an  influ- 

1  Ut  supra,  pp.  175  seq. 

2  For  an  interesting  account  of  the  Abbey,  and  of  the  fine  scenery  of  the  Cliffs 
and  Caves,  see  Miller,  Arbroath  and  its  Abbey  ;  Hay,  Hist,  of  Arbroath. 


382  LAND  OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

ence  in  the  town  of  Arbroath,  and,  as  before  noticed,  were  the 
last  portions  of  the  family  inheritance  that  David,  the  last  laird, 
parted  with,  it  not  being  until  the  year  1725  l  (ten  years  after 
the  sale  of  Edzell),  that  these  were  disposed  of.  Since  then,  as 
above  noticed,  Lady-Bank  and  its  chapel  have  been  swept  away  ; 
and  the  other  properties  have  passed  through  various  hands. 

Nor,  from  the  small  portion  which  the  Lindsays  owned  in 
Kinnell,  will  our  space  admit  of  detailing  the  historical  peculi- 
arities of  that  interesting  parish;  suffice  it  to  say,  that  the 
farm  of  Blacklaw  near  Braikie,  of  which  the  seventh  Earl  of 
Crawford  was  possessed  in  1535-6,2  was  their  only  property.3 
But  the  more  extensive  lordship,  or  barony  of  Panbride,  which 
Sir  Walter  Lindsay  of  Edzell  held  for  forty  years  from  1463, 
has  greater  claims  to  our  attention.4 

The  church  was  in  the  diocese  of  Brechin,  dedicated  to  St. 
Bride  or  Bridget,  and  gifted  to  the  Abbey  of  Arbroath  by 
William  the  Lion.  The  first  recorded  proprietors  of  this  barony 
were  a  Norman  family,  named  Morham,  who  also  had  a  gift 
of  it  from  King  William.5  They  had,  perhaps,  survived  as  pro- 
prietors of  the  district  until  the  year  1309,  when  Eobert  the 
Bruce  gave  a  grant  of  it  to  his  brother-in-law,  Sir  Alexander 
Frazer.6  He  fell  at  Dupplin  in  1332,  and  from  that  period, 
until  1341,  when  David  II.  returned  from  France,  and,  it  is 
said,  gave  the  barony  to  the  ancestors  of  Boethius,  the  his- 
torian, we  know  nothing  of  its  proprietors. 

The  origin  of  Boethius'  family,  as  given  by  himself,  is  suffi- 
ciently romantic,  and  not  much  to  be  credited ;  but  it  is  certain, 
whether  his  ancestors  came  to  Panbride  at  the  above  date 

1  Crawford  Case,  p.  203.  2  Douglas,  Peerage,  i.  p.  378. 

3  Kinnell  kirk  was  in  the  diocese  of  St.  Andrews,  and,  with  its  chapel,  which 
stood  at  Balishan  or  Bolshan,  is  rated  at  20  merks.    The  kirk  had  perhaps  been 
dedicated  to  St.  Madoc,  as  a  fountain  near  the  church  bears  the  familiar  name  of 
Maidie's  Well. —  Ut  sup.  p.  178  n.  a. 

4  For  the  connection  of  the  Maules  with  Panbride,  see  Jervise,  Epit.  ii.  pp.  310  sq. 
8  Chalmers,  Caledonia,  i.  p.  591  ;  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  pp.  19  sq.     The  surname  of 

Morham  survived  in  the  district  till  within  these  few  years.  A  tombstone,  belong- 
ing to  a  "David  Moram,"  dated  1656,  is  in  the  adjoining  kirkyard  of  Monikie  (see 
Jervise,  Epit.  i.  p.  110).  e  Robertson,  Index,  p.  1. 


BOETHIUS'  FAMILY  AND   PANBRIDE.  383 

.  or  not,  that  a  family  named  Boyis  or  Boyce  was  only  one 
of  several  that  were  designed  therefrom  in  the  subsequent 
century,  and  that  a  person  of  the  name  of  Eamsay  married 
the  heiress  of  Boyce.  This  occurred  in  1495,  but  Forbes 
of  Brux,  three  years  before  this,  had  given  a  charter  upon 
a  fourth  part  of  the  Seatoun  of  Panbride  to  Alexander 
Boyes;  and  in  1560  Alexander  Boys,  portioner  of  Panbryde, 
was  one  of  the  assize  to  determine  an  application  for  service.1 
In  the  interval,  this  barony  appears  to  have  been  divided 
among  different  parties,  and  to  have  frequently  changed  hands, 
for  contemporary  with  the  Boyces  were  the  Earl  of  Huntly,2 
Sir  Walter  Lindsay  of  Edzell,  and  the  Bamsays.  Crichton  of 
Sanquhar  was  possessor  of  the  barony  in  1507,3  Scrimgeour  of 
Dundee  in  151 1,4  and  Carnegie  of  Southesk  from  15525  down 
to  the  period  of  the  forfeiture.6  On  the  sale  of  the  forfeited 
estates  in  1763-4,  the  barony  of  Panbride,  with  others,  was 
purchased  with  the  Southesk  estates  by  Sir  James  Carnegie  of 
Kinnaird,  but  soon  after  re-sold  to  William,  Earl  of  Panmure, 
and  the  Maules  have  been  sole  proprietors  of  the  parish  ever 
since.  Their  family  burial  aisle  is  at  the  church,  and  their 
principal  messuage,  Panmure  House,  which  Ochterlony,  near 
the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  enthusiastically  describes 
as  "  new  built,  and,  as  is  thought  by  many,  except  Halyruid- 
house,  the  best  house  in  the  kingdome  of  Scotland,  with  deli- 
cate gardens,  with  high  stone  walls,  extraordinaire  much  plant- 
ing, young  and  old :  many  great  parks  about  the  new  and  old 

1  Reg.  de  Panmure,  ii.  p.  308 ;  Reg.  Nig.  Aberbr.  p.  341. 

2  (A.D.  1449-50)— Douglas,  Peerage,  i.  p.  643. 

s  Ibid.  i.  p.  449.  *  Ibid.  i.  p.  465.  B  Ibid.  ii.  p.  512. 

6  In  1691,  when  the  barony  of  Panbride  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Earls  of  Southesk, 
it  consisted  of  the  teinds  of  Balmachie,  and  the  following  farms  : — Kirktoune,  Barne- 
zeards,  Bowdens-Acre,  Mill  and  Milne  Lands,  Fisherland,  on  which  there  was  a 
boat.  There  were  seventeen  tenants  who  paid  a  gross  rental  of  18  bolls  2  firlots 
1  peck  and  1  lippie  wheat ;  108  bolls  2  lippies  bear ;  61  bolls  2  tirlots  meal ; 
£195,  10s.  lOd.  Scots  money  ;  74  capons  ;  112  hens  ;  68£  chickens.  "The  other  half 
of  Panbride,  life-rented  be  Mr.  James  Martin,"  embraced  eight  tenants  and  one  boat, 
and  the  gross  rental  of  this  half  amounted  to  20  bolls  1  firlot  2  pecks  wheat ; 
149  bolls  2  flrlots  bear ;  40  bolls,  3  firlots  meal ;  £65, 6s.  8d.  Scots  money  ;  60  capons  ; 
144  hens  ;  and  104  chickens.—  (Southesk  Rental-Book,  quoted  ut  sup.  p.  122.) 


384  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

house  :  brave  hay  meadows,  well  ditched  and  hedged  :  and,  in 
a  word,  is  a  most  excellent,  sweet,  and  delicate  place."  l  This 
house  was  founded  in  1666  by  George,  second  Earl  of  Panmure, 
and  continued  to  be  built  and  embellished  by  his  successors. 
It  has  since  been  remodelled  in  an  elegant  and  extensive 
manner,  and  is  one  of  the  finest  houses  in  the  county. 

During  the  occupancy  of  Panbride  by  Sir  Walter  Lindsay 
of  Edzell,  who  was  joint  Sheriff  of  the  southern  parts  of  Angus 
with  Monorgund  of  that  Ilk,  Archibald  Eamsay  "  of  Panbride  " 
was,  as  already  stated,  greatly  harassed  by  them  for  the  non- 
payment of  certain  teinds,  in  lieu  of  which  his  lands  and 
fishings  were  destroyed.  The  lands  of  Scryne,  which  passed 
through  the  de  Valoniis  and  Maule  families,  were  also  pos- 
sessed by  Walter  Lindsay,  a  descendant  of  Evelick,  in  1  5  1  6.2 


ie,  JSafotw,  SStmfitrtr,  Bcfrmirftnt,  antj  $t'tatrl«. 

Next  to  the  lands  of  Little  Pert,  near  Montrose,8  the  thane- 
dom  or  barony  of  Downie  was  the  earliest  acquired  of  the 
Lindsay  possessions  in  Forfarshire.  As  was  customary  in  early 
times,  a  family  assumed  their  surname  from  this  place,  and  one 
of  them,  Duncan  de  Dunny,  appears  as  a  perambulator  of  the 
boundaries  between  the  lands  of  Tulloch  (Tulloes)  and  Conon, 
in  1254  ;4  and  to  this  family  or  place  the  surname  of  Downie 
or  Downey,  which  is  still  common  in  Forfarshire,  may  owe  its 
origin.  The  family  of  de  Dunny  had  probably  been  vassals  of 
some  lord  of  greater  influence  than  themselves  —  perhaps  of  the 
lords  of  Abernethy  ;  for,  excepting  this  Duncan,  we  have  met 
with  no  other  person  named  de  Dunny.  When  the  male  line  of 
the  Abernethies  failed,  the  Lindsays  succeeded  to  this  property 
through  the  marriage  of  Sir  David  of  Crawford  with  one  of  the 
three  co-heiresses.5 

1  Spottisivood  Misc.  i.  p.  346.  2  Lives,  i.  p.  447. 

3  Ut  sup.  p.  339.  *  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbrothoc,  p.  325. 

8  Lives,  i.  p.  48.     In  consequence  of  this  alliance,  the  first  Earl  of  Crawford 
quartered  his  paternal  arms  with  those  of  Aberuethy,  which  is  said  to  have  been  one 


DOWNIE,  DUNFIND,  DOWNIEKEN.  385 

Sir  Alexander,  the  first  Lindsay  of  Glenesk,  was  the  third 
son  of  Sir  David  Lindsay  of  Crawford,  to  whom,  sometime 
before  1331,  this  thanedom  was  resigned,  as  at  that  date  he 
mortified  a  small  sum  from  thence  to  the  Canons  of  the  Priory 
of  Eestennet ; *  and,  at  a  later  period,  his  son,  the  Earl  of 
Crawford,  gave  an  annual  of  twelve  marks  from  the  same  lands 
to  the  altar  of  Our  Lady  at  Dundee,  for  the  purpose  of  having 
mass  celebrated  for  the  souls  of  his  predecessors,  and  his  own 
prospectively.  Through  some  cause  now  unknown,  the  name 
of  the  Earl  of  Sutherland  occurs  in  connection  with  Downie  in 
1371 ;  but,  in  the  course  of  two  years,  it  was  again  in  possession 
of  Lindsay  of  Glenesk,  who  not  only  succeeded  to  the  lands, 
but,  according  to  the  charter,2  to  the  bondagia,  or  services 
exigible  from  bondi  or  husbandmen.  He  was  also  owner  of  the 
nativi  or  serfs  of  the  district,  and  of  the  seqiwle  or  their  children, 
who,  at  the  period  alluded  to,  were  as  much  the  born  slaves  of 
the  proprietors  of  Caledonia,  and  as  much  subject  to  be  trafficked 
among  as  were  the  negroes  in  America.  It  is  needless  to 
observe  that  in  these  old  Scottish  customs,  so  analogous  to 
those  of  all  uncivilised  states,  the  same  innate  wants  and 
common  practices  of  nations  are  as  striking  as  is  the  affinity 
in  style  of  their  warlike  and  domestic  implements. 

The  thanedom  of  Downie  included  the  lands  of  Dunfind  and 
Downieken,  which,  when  coupled  with  those  of  Pitairlie  and 
Auchenleck,  comprehended  nearly  the  whole  of  the  extensive 
parish  of  Monikie,  and  at  all  of  these  places  there  were  towers 
or  fortalices.  No  trace  of  the  castle  of  Dunfind 3  is  now  visible; 
that  of  Downieken  was  in  existence  when  Monipennie  wrote, 
about  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century ;  and  the  foun- 

of  the  earliest  instances  of  quartering  arms  in  Scotland. — (Borthwick,  Remarks  on 
British  Antiquities,  p.  75  ;  Nisbet,  Heraldry,  i.  p.  64.) 

1  Lives,  i.  p.  114. 

2  For  similar  grants,  see  Robertson,  Index,  pp.  81.  162 ;  85.  201 ;  134.  4. 

8  Dunfind  (vulg.  Denfind)  is  popularly  believed  to  signify  the  Fiend's  Den  ;  and 
the  "briggant"  who  was  burnt  at  Dundee  in  1440,  for  having  "ane  execrable 
faschion  to  tak  all  young  men  and  children  and  eat  them"  (as  told  by  Pitscottie, 
Hist.  Scot.  i.  p.  164),  is  said  to  have  lived  here  "with  his  wayfls  and  bairnis." 

2  B 


386  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

dations  of  Downie  Castle  are  yet  to  be  seen  on  a  mound  at  Old 
Downie.  A  mutilated  stone,  bearing  the  Lindsay  chequey  and 
Abernethy  lion,  is  at  the  farm-house  of  Carlungie,  and  is  said  to 
have  been  taken  from  the  castle  of  Downie.  Of  the  castle  of  Pit- 
airlie  a  stone,  bearing  the  initials  and  date,  "  A  •  L  :  I  •  C  •  1631," 
is  built  into  a  wall  at  the  farm  offices.  These  refer  to  Alex- 
ander Lindsay  and  his  wife.  He  died  sometime  before  1655  ; 
for  on  the  29th  of  March  of  that  year  his  son  Alexander  was 
retoured  his  heir  in  the  lands  of  Pitairlie  and  Guildie,  and  part 
of  the  Muir  of  Downie ;  as  also  in  the  Earl  of  Crawford's  lodg- 
ing, the  Craig  of  St.  Nicolas,  and  fortalice,  the  advocation  of 
certain  chaplainries  in  the  churches  of  Dundee,  and  an  annual 
of  100  merks  "furth  of  the  late  king's  greate  customes"  of  the 
same  burgh.1 

Part  of  the  castle  of  Monikie  stood  till  lately,  but,  like 
Pitairlie,  only  one  stone  of  it  is  now  traceable,  bearing, 
"  D  •  L :  B  •  E  •  1587,"  which  show  the  Lindsays  to  have  occu- 
pied Monikie  at  a  later  period  than  is  popularly  assigned  to 
them.2  The  subterraneous  vaults  or  cellars  of  the  castle  are 
said  still  to  exist ;  and  the  farmer,  who  pulled  down  the  walls, 
only  began  to  thrive  at  that  time,  having,  it  is  said,  come  on  a 
secret  store  of  gold  and  silver  which  the  Lindsays  concealed  in 
the  walls  before  they  took  their  hasty  departure  ! 

The  castle  of  Auchenleck,  or  Affleck,  is  still  a  fine  ruin,  of  a 
similar  construction,  and  perhaps  age,  to  that  of  Inverquharity. 
This  property  was  also  under  the  superiority  of  the  Lindsays, 

1  Inquis.  Spec.  Forf.  No.  343. 

2  The  kirk  of  Monikie,  in  the  diocese  of  Brechin,  was  early  given  by  William  the 
Lion  to  the  Monastery  of  Arbroath,  and  is  rated  in  the  ancient  Taxatio  at  forty 
pounds.     No  fountain  near  the  church  bears  the  name  of  any  saint,  but  Kane's  Well 
(?  St.  Keyna)  adjoins  the  site  of  the  old  chapel  of  Ardeastie.     Three  sculptured  stones 
were  dug  from  this  place  some  time  ago  :  two  of  these  bear  ">J<  1  •  H  -S."  and  a 
human  heart  pierced  by  three  nails,  etc.  ;  the  other,  "  M  •  A  •  E."  with   a  human 
heart  pierced  by  a  sword  and  three  nails,  etc.    The  finest  of  these  was  found  in  course 
of  agricultural  improvements  by  the  tenant,  the  late  Mr.  Fullerton,  in  the  spring  of 
1852.    The  Earls  of  Panmure  resided  at  one  time  at  Ardeastie,  and  the  last  Lord  Pan- 
mure  was  born  there.     A  door  lintel  in  one  of  the  cottages  bears,  "C  •  I  •  C  •  P  :  1688  " 
(Countess   Jean  Campbell  of  Panmure).     "D  -I  •  A  -1625,"  is   on  another  stone 
surmounted  by  a  fleur-de-lis. 


AUCHENLECK,  PITAIRLIE,  AND  CARLUNGIE.        387 

the  Earl  of  Crawford  having  renewed  the  marches  of  Auchen- 
leck  in  1459.1  The  family,  who  designed  themselves  of  that 
Ilk,  were  hereditary  armour-hearers  to  the  Crawfords.2 

The  Lindsays  of  all  these  places,  however,  are  supposed  to 
have  been  descended  from  Sir  John  of  Pitaiiiie,  who  fell  at 
the  battle  of  Brechin  in  1452.  The  family  subsisted  in  Pit- 
airlie  till  1639  ;  and  David,  who  designed  himself  of  that  place, 
was  minister  of  Finhaven  and  Inverarity  in  1576.3  In  his  son 
the  representation  of  the  family  of  Pitairlie  had  perhaps  ended, 
and  passed  to  the  Lindsays  of  Cairn  in  Tannadice,  who  sur- 
vived down  to  the  early  part  of  last  century.  Carlungie  and 
Balhungie  were  owned  by  Lindsay  of  Balgavies  down  to  at 
least  1606  ;  but  the  barony  of  Dunfind  became  the  property  of 
Durham  of  Grange  in  1544.4  The  thanedoin  of  Downie,  and 
the  lands  of  Monikie  and  Pitairlie,  passed  at  various  periods 
to  the  family  of  Panmure,  who  are  still  proprietors  of  them.5 

The  antiquarian  features  of  this  district  are  interesting, 
and  have  often  been  described  ;  but  of  these  the  cross  of  Camus, 
and  the  story  of  the  battle  of  Barry,  are  the  most  prominent. 
It  is  uniformly  said  that  the  Danes,  who  landed  on  this  shore 

1  Ut  sup.  p.  208. 

2  The  predecessors  of  the  Auchenlecks  in  this  property  had  perhaps  been  a  family 
surnamed  Napier,  for  in  1296  "Matheu  le  Naper,  de  Aghelek,"  of  the  county  of 
Forfar,  swore  fealty  to  Edward  I. — (Nisbet,  Heraldry,  i.  p.  60.) 

3  Reg.  of  Ministers,  and  ut  sup.  p.  207. 

4  Douglas,  Baronage,  p.    473.     The  Durhams  of  Grange,  now  represented  by 
those  of  Largo  in  Fifeshire,  were  a  family  of  considerable  importance  in  old  times, 
having  had  a  gift  of  Grange  in  the  parish  of  Monifieth,  from  Robert  I.     They  were 
also  councillors  of  the  Earls  of  Crawford  ;  and  their  burial-place  was  at  the  church  of 
Monifieth.     A  superb  monument,  bearing  fine  sculptures  of  the  armorials  of  the 
families  to  whom  they  were  allied,  was  erected  there  by  the  cashier  to  James  vi.     It 
was  demolished  long  ago,  and  the  stones  built  into  various  parts  of  the  church ; — 
one   of  these   bears— "HIC  •  SITVS  •  SEPVLCHRUM  •  HOC  •  SIBI  •  POSTERISQVE  • 

8VIS  •  EXTRVENDVM  •  CVRAVIT  •  VIR  •  CLARV8  •  PIV8  •  AC  .  PROBV8  •  DVRHAMK  • 
DE  •  PITCARR  •  AROENTARIV8  •  QVONDAM  •  R  •  IAO  •  VI  •  8EMPITERN.fi  •  MEMORISE  • 
CVrVS  •  MAIORES  •  EADEM  •  VJEC  •  WOMEN  •  ET  •  ARMA  •  OERENTES  •  HAC  •  IN  • 
PAROCHINA  •  REGNO  •  HO  •  B  •  I*1  •  8E8E  •  DKIN  •  POSVERVNT  •  VBI  •  EXINDE  • 

HVC  •  VSQVE  •  CLARVERVNT."—  (Jervise,  Epitaphs,  L  pp.  109-10.) 

6  Reg.  de  Panmure,  ii.  pp.  189  sq.,  et  al.  John,  Masterof  Crawford  in  1494,  sold 
and  gave  sasine  of  the  lands  of  Cambiston  and  Carlungie  to  Thomas  Maule  of  Pan- 
mure,  who  fell  at  Flodden  (ib.  ii.  pp.  257  sq.) ;  but  there  is  another  sale  and  charter 
of  the  lands  and  mill  of  Cambiston  in  1526  from  David  Earl  of  Crawford  to  Robert 
Maule  of  Panmure  and  Isobell  Mercer  his  wife  (ib.  ii.  p.  301). 


388  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

in  1010,  were  repulsed  by  the  Scots  with  so  great  slaughter, 
that  the  adjoining  burn  of  Lochty  ran  with  human  blood  for 
the  space  of  three  days  I1  According  to  tradition  most  of  the 
great  barons  of  the  kingdom  were  engaged  in  this  affray, 
and  among  them  the  Hays  of  Errol,  the  Keiths  of  Dunnottar, 
and  the  Hassas  of  Glenbervie  in  the  Mearns.  Two  brothers  of 
the  last-named  family  are  recorded  to  have  fallen  in  the  en- 
gagement, and  being  the  last  male  descendants  of  a  race  of 
landowners,  who  (as  inscribed  on  a  curious  monument  in  Glen- 
bervie burial  vault)  flourished  in  that  parish  from  A.D.  730, 
their  only  sister  Helen  became  sole  heiress,  and  marrying 
Oliphard,  the  hereditary  Sheriff  of  the  Mearns,  was  maternal 
progenitor  of  the  noble  family  of  Arbuthnott. 

The  Hays  and  Keiths  are  commonly  said  to  have  gained 
their  laurels  at  Barry,  and  the  death  of  the  Danish  chief, 
popularly  named  Camus,  is  attributed  to  the  hand  of  the  latter 
baron,  who  is  said  to  have  killed  him  in  single  combat,  at  or 
near  the  place  where  the  Cross  now  stands,2  It  has  already 
been  seen  that  the  story  of  the  rise  of  the  Hays  is  entirely 
fanciful.  So  also  is  that  of  the  Keiths ;  originally  Normans, 
their  remote  progenitor  was  Hervei,  the  son  of  Warin,  who 
came  thither  with  David  L,  from  whom  he  had  charters  of  the 
lands  of  Keith  in  East  Lothian,  and  by  this  circumstance 
alone  he  and  his  descendants  assumed  their  surname.3  With 
regard  to  their  possessions  in  the  Mearns,  it  may  be  added, 
that  it  was  only  when  Sir  William  Keith  married  the  daughter 
and  heiress  of  Sir  John  Frazer  of  Cowie  that  the  family  ac- 
quired property  there.4 

1  "  Lochty,  Lochty,  is  reed,  reed,  reed, 

For  it  has  run  three  days  with  bleed  ! " — (Provincial  Rhyme.) 

For  the  archaeological  remains  of  Monikie  sec  Proc.  Soc.  Ant.  Scot.  ii.  pp.  447-8, 
and  for  the  battle  at  Barry  see  Warden,  Angus,  ii.  pp.  244,  276,  402. 

2  The  cross  of  Camus  was  removed  from  the  position  it  had  occupied  from  time 
immemorial  about  six  feet  due  south,  being  now  in  the  middle  of  the  new  carriage 
drive  between  the  Panmure  Testimonial  and  Panmure  House.    It  was  removed  in 
1853,  in  presence  of  Lord  Panmure  and  his  brothers. 

3  Douglas,  Peerage,  ii.  p.  184  sq.  ;  Chalmers,  Caled.  i.  p.  518. 

4  Crawford,  Peerage,  p.  319  ;  Douglas,  Peerage,  L  p.  188  ;  Nisbet,  Her.  ii.  App.  i. 


CAMUSTON  AND  ARCHAEOLOGICAL  REMAINS.        389 

But  although  the  stories  of  the  rise  of  these  old  families 
are  groundless,  and  no  satisfactory  origin  can  be  ascribed  to 
the  Cross  of  Camus,  there  is  every  evidence  of  the  neighbour- 
hood having  been  the  scene  of  at  least  one,  if  not  a  series,  of 
dreadful  conflicts,  whether  arising  from  the  invasion  of  the 
Danes  or  some  intestine  quarrel.  Sepulchral  tumuli  are 
scattered  over  the  district — stone  coffins  are  found  in  clusters 
throughout  the  farm  of  Carlungie,  and  skulls  and  other  parts 
of  human  skeletons  are  frequently  turned  up  by  the  plough. 

But,  it  would  appear,  although  the  story  of  Camus's  murder 
is  generally  considered  fabulous,  that  the  Cross  had  been 
raised  as  a  sepulchral  monument  to  some  person ;  for,  on  the 
ground  being  investigated  by  Sir  Patrick  Maule,  in  presence  of 
several  county  gentlemen,  about  the  year  1620,  a  skeleton  in 
good  preservation,  of  large  dimensions,  and  wanting  only  a 
small  part  of  the  skull,  was  found  buried  below  the  stone.1 
When  the  Cross  was  removed,  an  urn  and  a  gold  bracelet  were 
found  beneath  or  near  it.  Camuston,  the  name  of  the  place 
where  the  Cross  stands,  is  the  name  of  many  other  places 
throughout  Scotland,  and  t(  Cambestowne "  is  the  old,  and 
sometimes  even  present,  orthography  of  the  place  in  question. 
It  had  probably  been  the  residence  of  the  old  lairds  of  Downie, 
as  "  the  word  seems  to  be  the  same  as  Chemmyss  and  Kames, 
and  means  the  chief  residence  of  a  proprietor;  but  is  to  be 
distinguished  from  Kaim,  the  crest  of  a  hill."2 

1  Keith  is  said  to  have  carried  off  a  part  of  the  skull  with  his  sabre,  and  so  killed 
the  chief! 

2  See  Chalmers,  Sculptured  Monuments  of  Angus  (p.  13),  in  which  Camus  Cross 
is  figured,  and  everything  correctly  given  that  is  worthy  of  being  preserved  regarding 
it.      The  well-known  "  Panmure  Testimonial " — a  column  of  105  feet  in  height, 
which  the  tenantry  of  Panmure  erected  to  commemorate  the  liberality  of  the  late 
Lord  Panmure— has  a  prominent  position  on  Downie  Hills,  a  short  distance  west  of 
Camus  Cross.     It  commands  the  view  of  five  or  six  counties  ;  but,  contrary  to  most 
descriptions,  contains  neither  a  bust  of  Lord  Panmure,  nor  any  inscription  setting 
forth  the  object  of  its  erection.     Ut  sup.  p.  146. 


390  LAND   OF  THE   LINDSAYS. 

(Etfjtebeaton,  Btougfjlg  Castle,  attfc  ISrtcfjtg. 

The  property  of  Ethiebeatoii,1  which  lies  in  the  parish  of 
Monifieth,  and  within  two  miles  of  the  barony  of  Downie,  also 
came  to  the  Lindsays  at  an  early  date,  having  been  given  by 
Thomas,  Earl  of  Angus,  to  Sir  David  of  Crawford,  about  the 
year  1349,2  but  over  which  the  Angus  family  held  the  supe- 
riority, as  in  the  forfeiture  of  Archibald,  sixth  Earl  of  Angus, 
in  1528  Crawford  protested  that  the  said  forfeiture  should  "be 
na  hurt  nor  preiudice  to  him  anent  his  landis  qlkis  he  haldis 
of  the  said  Erie  of  Angus,  that  is  to  say  the  landis  and  barony 
of  Affebeton,"3  etc.  His  son  of  Glenesk  succeeded,  and  through 
him  it  passed  to  the  Earls  of  Crawford,  who  continued  to 
hold  it  from  that  period  till  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,4 
with  the  exception  of  a  short  time  about  1580,5  when  Bruce 
of  Earlshill  had  connection  with  it,  perhaps  through  pecuniary 
loans. 

The  Gallow  Law,  or  hill,  where  the  lords  of  the  district 
are  locally  believed  to  have  executed  offenders  in  feudal 
times,  is  still  a  prominent  object  on  the  estate ;  and,  like  many 
other  mounds  of  the  same  sort,  had  most  probably  been  the 
site  of  the  baron's  court.  It  is  also  a  popular  notion,  that  this 
property  belonged  at  one  time  to  Cardinal  Beaton,  and  so 
acquired  the  distinguishing  appellation  of  Beaton.  So  far 
from  this  is  the  fact,  however,  that  it  was  so  called  more  than 
two  hundred  years  before  the  Cardinal's  birth,  and  his  name 
does  not  occur  in  connection  with  it  at  any  time. 

It  is  true  that  an  early  lay  proprietor,  if  not  the  first,  bore 
the  famous  surname  of  Beaton.  He  was  Sheriff  of  Forfarshire 
in  1290,  and,  swearing  fealty  to  Edward  in  1296,  held  so 
steadfastly  by  his  oath,  that  Kobert  the  Bruce  confiscated  his 

1  Commonly  pronounced  Effiebeaton. 

2  The  first  Earl  of  Angus  in  the  Stewart  line  of  succession  was  Sir  John  Stewart  of 
Bonkyl,  who  died  in  1331  ;  the  second,  Thomas,  second  Earl,  died  1361.     Sir  David 
Lindsay  of  Crawford  succeeded  soon  after  1304,   and  probably  died  before  1357. 
See  Douglas,  Peerage,  i.  pp.  65,  372-3.  3  Acts  Part.  ii.  p.  329. 

4  Lives,  i.  p.  447.  5  Douglas,  Baronage,  p.  511. 


BROUGHTY  FERRY  AND  BRICHTY.  391 

lands,  and  gave  them  to  Alexander  Senniscall,1  from  whom 
they  passed  to  the  Earls  of  Angus.  In  Senniscall's  two 
charters,  the  name  is  variously  spelled  "  Archibetoun,"  and 
"Achykilbichan."2 

The  Lindsay  connection  with  the  stronghold  of  Broughty, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Tay,  was  of  short  duration ;  it  was  only 
granted  by  James  in.  to  the  Duke  of  Montrose  at  the  time  he 
was  made  Sheriff  of  Angus,  and  it  was  again  taken  from  him, 
along  with  his  Sheriffship,  by  James  iv.  It  was  then  given  to 
Lord  Gray,  who  sided  with  that  prince  against  his  unfortunate 
father  at  Blackness,  and  at  the  still  more  fatal  rencounter  of 
Sauchieburn.3  The  origin  of  the  name  of  Broughty  is  variously 
accounted  for,  but  Portincraig  (though  now  confined  to  the 
opposite  headland  in  Fifeshire)  was  the  oldest  name  of  it,  as 
appears  from  a  description  of  the  boundaries  of  certain  lands 
and  fishings,  bequeathed  by  Gillebrede,  Earl  of  Angus,  for  the 
founding  of  a  hospital  at  this  place.4  After  the  forfeiture  of 
Umphraville,  the  grandson  of  Countess  Maud,  the  estates  of 
the  Earls  of  Angus  were  given  by  Bruce  to  William  de  Lind- 
say, then  High  Chamberlain ;  but  neither  his  name,  nor  that 
of  any  of  his  family,  with  the  exception  of  the  Duke  of 
Montrose  above  noticed,  appears  otherwise  in  connection  with 
Broughty. 

The  Lindsays,  however,  were  old  proprietors  of  the  lands 
and  mill  of  Brichty,  in  the  adjoining  parish  of  Murroes,  and  this 
has  often  been  confounded  with  their  ownership  of  Broughty 
Castle.  The  lands  of  Brichty,  from  our  earliest  notice  of  them, 
belonged  to  John  de  Hay  of  Tillybothwell,  who  resigned  them 
to  the  de  Montealtos  of  Fern,  from  one  of  whom,  Eichard, 
Chancellor  of  the  Cathedral  of  Brechin,  they  were  acquired  by 


1  (A.D.  1309)— Robertson,  Index,  p.  1. 

2  There  was  once  an  old  chapel  near  by. 

3  The  noble  family  of  Gray  were  proprietors  down  to  the  time  that  Patrick  Lord 
Gray  resigned  Broughty  Castle  and  conterminous  lands  in  favour  of  Fothringham  of 
Powrie,  ancestor  of  the  present  proprietor  of  Powrie.  — ( Ut  sup.  p.  189.) 

4  Reg.  Vet.  de  Aberbrothoc,  p.  37. 


392  LAND  OP  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  of  Glenesk,  in  1379,1  They  continued 
long  in  the  family,  and  Euphemia,  sister  of  the  first  Earl  of 
Crawford,  had  a  liferent  from  Wester  Brichty  given  in  141 2 ;2 
and  again  in  1449,  Alexander  Lindsay,  Earl  of  Crawford,  gave 
a  charter  of  the  lands  of  Wester  Brichty  to  Fothringham  of 
Powrie.3  The  Lindsays  were  perhaps  followed  in  the  rest  of 
this  property  by  the  Arbuthnotts,  as  Hugh,  the  son  of  Eobert 
Arbuthnott  of  that  Ilk,  who  married  the  heiress  of  Balma- 
kewan,  was  designed  "  of  Brychtie," 4  about  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century. 


SECTION   III. 

THE  LINDSAY  PROPERTIES  IN  MEARNS,  OR  KINCARDINESHIRE. 

Fasky  or  Fasqne — Phesdo— Kinneff  and  its  old  castles — Barras — Caterline  church 
and  churchyard — Dunnottar,  its  church  and  castle — Present  church  and  tradi- 
tions —  Fetteresso  —  Uras  —  Lumgair  —  Beuholm  —  Blackiemuir,  Balmakewan, 
Morphie — Canterland. 

COMPARED  with  the  possessions  of  the  Lindsays  in  Angus,  those 
in  Kincardineshire  were  limited,  both  as  regards  their  extent 
and  the  time  they  were  in  the  hands  of  the  family.  Still, 
many  of  these  estates  were  of  great  importance,  on  account  of 
both  their  value  and  their  local  position ;  and  some  of  them 
were  owned  by  the  Lindsays  at  a  remote  date,  while  their 
historical  associations  (though  not  immediately  connected  with 
the  name  of  Lindsay)  are  interesting  to  all  lovers  of  national 
history.  The  most  prominent  of  these  transactions — such  as 
the  defence  of  Dunnottar,  and  the  concealing  of  the  regalia  in 
the  kirk  of  Kinneff — are  well  known  by  the  writings  of  many 
popular  authors.  These  particulars  will  not  therefore  be 
repeated ;  but  our  observations  will  be  confined  to  such  points 
only  as  relate  to  the  possession  of  these  lands  by  the  Lindsays, 

1  Information  from  the  late  Earl  of  Crawford  and  Balcarres. 

'2  Robertson,  Index,  p.  166.  16. 

3  Crawford  Case,  p.  48 ;  Jervise,  EpU.  i.  p.  125. 

*  Nisbet,  Heraldry,  ii.  App.  p.  89. 


FASQUE  AND  PHESDO.  393 

and  to  a  few  of  the  less  generally  understood  facts  regarding 
their  old  proprietary  history.  The  district  of  Neudos,  though 
situated  in  the  Mearns,  being  part  of  the  parish  of  Edzell, 
necessarily  fell  under  that  head,  where  it  has  been  noticed  j1 — 
we  shall  therefore  commence  with  the  neighbouring  lands  of 


or  JFasque,  antj 

The  former  of  these  estates  lies  in  the  parish  of  Fettercairn, 
and  the  latter  in  Fordoun.  The  Wittons,  now  part  of  the  estate 
of  The  Burn  (to  which  they  were  added  by  the  late  Lord 
Adam  Gordon),  and  the  fine  property  of  Fasky,  or  as  now 
more  generally  called  Fasque,  were  portions  of  the  lordship  of 
Edzell  from  an  old  date.  We  are  not  aware  when  the  first 
of  these  was  acquired ;  but  that  of  Fasky,  including  Balfour, 
was  purchased  by  Sir  Walter  of  Beaufort,  in  147 1,2  from 
George,  Lord  Lesly  of  Kothes ;  and,  perhaps,  as  The  Wittons 
lie  contiguous,  they  had  come  to  the  family  at  the  same 
time.  The  Easter  and  Wester  town  of  Balfour,  and  the  lands 
of  Milndeulie  (Dooly)  are  mentioned  as  Edzell  property  in 
the  Eetours  of  1699,  when  the  last  laird  succeeded  his 
father;  but  Fasky  was  alienated  from  Edzell  about  1510,  and 
given  by  James  IV.  to  Sir  John  Ramsay,  the  ex-Lord  Bothwell, 
in  lieu  of  his  south-country  estates,  of  which  he  was  deprived 
for  his  adherence  to  the  cause  of  James  in.  Ramsay  had  the 
lands  of  Balmain  at  the  same  time,  and  his  descendants  were 
proprietors,  and  designed  baronets  therefrom,  till  1806,  when 
the  family  in  the  direct  line  failed  in  the  sixth  baronet.3  The 
fine  property  and  mansion-house  of  Fasque  were  purchased 
in  the  year  1829  by  Sir  John  Gladstone,  father  of  the  present 

i  Ut  sup.  p.  22.  a  Crawford  Case,  p.  150. 

3  He  was  succeeded  in  tlie  baronetcy  by  his  kinsman,  the  heir-at-law,  Sir  Thomas 
Ramsay,  at  whose  death  in  1830  the  title  became  extinct ;  and  in  the  estates  by  his 
nephew,  Alexander  Burnet  of  the  house  of  Leys,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Ramsay, 
and  was  created  a  baronet  of  the  United  Kingdom  in  1806.  He  was  followed  by  his 
son,  who  died  in  1852,  and  whose  grandson  now  enjoys  the  title  and  remaining 
portion  of  the  family  estates :  the  latter  succeeded  his  father  as  fourth  baronet 
of  Balmain  in  1875. 


394  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

baronet,  and  also  of  the  present  Premier,  the  Eight  Honour- 
able William  Ewart  Gladstone. 

At  a  later  date,  Sir  John  Gladstone  bought  the  lands  of 
Phesdo,  Auchcairnie,  and  Pitnamoon ;  but  with  the  last  of 
these,  which  belonged  to  the  Earls  of  Eoss,  the  Lindsays  never  had 
any  connection.  All  these  lands  lie  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  the  old  Palace  of  Kincardine  ;  and  soon  after  Bruce  ascended 
the  throne,  he  gave  six  acres  of  arable  land  in  the  tenement  of 
Auchcairnie,  "adjacent  to  our  manor  of  Kincardine,"1  to  his 
faithful  follower,  Sir  Alexander  Frazer  of  Cowie  and  Kinnell. 
Phesdo,  or  as  anciently  written  Fas-dauche  ("  the  arable  land, 
or  davoch,  in  the  forest  "),  lies  close  to  the  Palace,  and,  about 
the  same  time  as  Frazer  acquired  the  acres  alluded  to,  Bruce 
gave  the  temporalities  of  Phesdo  to  the  Abbey  of  Arbroath.2 
Alexander,  a  descendant  of  John  Lindsay,  who  acquired  the 
adjoining  estate  of  Broadland  about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  is  the  first  of  the  name,  and,  indeed,  the  first  lay 
proprietor  of  any  name,  with  whom  we  have  met  in  connection 
with  Phesdo.  He  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Falconer  of 
Haulkerton,3  and  owned  Phesdo  and  Auchcairnie ;  the  former 
of  these,  and  perhaps  both,  were  held  by  his  family  down  to 
about  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  old 
manor-house  of  Phesdo  stood  on  a  rising  ground  adjoining  the 
Auchcairnie  lands,  and  commanded  a  fine  prospect  of  the 
Howe  of  the  Mearns,  but  all  trace  of  it  is  now  gone. 

No  record,  or  even  tradition,  of  the  Lindsays  lives  in  this 
district ;  but  the  following  incident  (which  is  preserved  in  the 
family)  regarding  their  confiscation  of  the  property,  is  neither 
devoid  of  interest,  nor,  it  may  be  presumed,  wanting  on  the 
score  of  authenticity.  The  last  Lindsay  of  Phesdo  "and 
another  gentleman  being  out  sporting  near  Montrose,  the 
one  with  his  greyhound,  the  other  with  his  hawk,  the 

1  Crawford,   Officers  of  State,  p.  274.      See  APPENDIX  No.  XVI.  for   a  brief 
notice  of  this  Palace. 

2  Robertson,  Index,  p.  29.  23. 

3  Douglas,  Peerage,  ii.  p.  55. 


PHESDO  PROPERTY.  395 

greyhound  of  the  one  killed  the  hawk  of  the  other, '  which 
presently,'  says  the  Kev.  William  Lindsay,  his  great- 
grandson,  'occasioning  a  fray  among  the  servants,  it  ran 
through  the  whole  clan  on  both  sides,  which  used  to  be 
pretty  numerous  on  suchlike  occasions.  A  bailie,  which 
is  a  magistrate  of  good  authority  in  Scotland,  rushing  too 
hastily  in,  to  appease  it,  had  his  arm  cut  off  by  John  Lind- 
say, who  was  in  the  heat  of  the  quarrel, — for  which  he  took 
the  advantage  of  law  and  confiscated  his  estate.' " x  The 
representative  of  the  Phesdo  family  was  Captain  Ignace 
Lindsay,  who  fought  in  all  the  wars  of  Poland  from  1791  to 
1830,  and  was  resident  in  France,  an  exile,  in  1849.  Accord- 
ing to  this  veteran's  account,  his  great-grandfather  was  the 
first  emigrant  from  Scotland  to  America,  and  the  rank  of 
nobility  was  secured  to  his  descendants  in  Poland,  by  the  Diet 
of  1764.2 

It  is  probable  that  Phesdo,  after  its  confiscation  from  Lind- 
say, came  into  the  possession  of  the  Keiths,  for  about  1612, 
Robert  Stuart  of  Inchbreck  is  said  to  have  married  a  daughter 
of  Sir  Alexander  Keith  of  Phesdo?  The  Keiths  had  probably 
been  followed  by  Archibald,  second  son  of  Sir  Alexander  Fal- 
coner of  Haulkerton,  ancestor  of  the  unfortunate  Sir  John,  who, 
on  being  charged  with  malversation  in  his  office  of  Warden  of 
the  Mint,  committed  felo  de  se  at  his  residence  of  Phesdo  in 
1 68 2.4  His  son,  James,  was  a  lawyer  of  great  eminence — "  one 
of  the  privy  council  of  King  William  and  Queen  Anne,  and  one 
of  the  first  treaters  for  an  Union."6  He  died  in  1705,  at  the 
age  of  fifty-seven  ;  and,  in  an  elegy  on  his  death,  it  is  said 

"  that  he  came  almost, 
Astrea-like,  for  to  enlight  dark  dayes 
Of  vices  all,  with  his  clear  ahyning  rayes." 


i  Lives,  ii.  p.  280.  8  Ibid.  ii.  p.  281. 

8  Prof.  Stuart,  Antiq.  Essays,  p.  13. 

4  Brunton  and  Haig,  Acct.  of  Senators,  Coll.  of  Justice,  p.  445. 

5  Epitaph  in  Old  Greyfriars,  Edinburgh. 


396  LAND  OF  THE   LINDSAYS. 

Lord  Phesdo's  last  surviving  son  died  in  1764,  and  his  estates 
passed  to  the  Honourable  Captain  George  Falconer,  fifth  son  of 
the  fifth  Lord  Haulkerton,  who  was  long  in  the  Eoyal  Navy. 
He  died  Commander  of  the  "  Invincible  "  man-of-war,  in  1780, 
and  his  widow  became  the  wife  of  John  Mill  of  Fern.1 


Itfntuff,  anfo  Bartag. 

The  parish  of  Kinneff  (the  old  church  of  which  is  famous 
as  the  place  where  the  Eegalia  of  Scotland  were  concealed 
during  the  civil  broils  of  the  seventeenth  century)  contributed 
largely  at  one  time  towards  the  maintenance  of  the  house  of 
Crawford.  David  de  Lindsay,  lord  of  Kinneffe  (and  perhaps 
of  Neudos)  was  witness  in  1410,  along  with  Alexander  ye 
Lindsay  Earl  of  Crawford,  and  Sir  William  ye  Lindsay  lord  of 
Eossie.2  The  brave  "  young  Alysawnder  the  Lyndyssay," 
youngest  son  of  Sir  Alexander  of  Glenesk,  was  designed  of 
Kinneff,  and,  as  before  mentioned,  bore  arms  at  the  battle  of 
Otterburne,  routed  the  Duke  of  Lancaster  near  Queensferry, 
and  died  on  the  field  of  Verneuil  in  1424.3  The  castle  of 
Herbertsheil,  of  which  no  remains  are  now  traceable,  is  said 
to  have  been  tenanted  by  Lindsays,  and  may  have  been  the 
residence  of  the  hero  of  Verneuil.  Besides  this  castle,  however, 
there  were  several  others  in  the  parish  ; 4  but  of  all  these  a 
mere  fragment  of  Whistleberry  alone  remains.  Besides  Her- 
bertsheil, the  Fishertown,  and  other  lands  in  Kinneff,  the 
Lindsays  were  also  possessed  of  Barras  before  the  beginning  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  and  had  perhaps  been  followed  therein 
by  Douglas,  a  cadet  of  the  noble  house  of  Angus;  for  in  1640, 
it  was  sold  by  Sir  John  Douglas  to  his  brother-in-law,  George 

i  Ut  sup.  p.  237.  2  Reg.  Ep.  Brech.  i.  p.  32. 

3  Ut  sup.  pp.  33  sq.,  etc. 

4  See  Old  Stat.  Account,  vi.   pp.   197  sq.,  which  is  more  than  ordinarily  in- 
teresting in  historical  points.     Though  bearing  the  minister's  name,  it  was  framed 
by  the  schoolmaster,  Mr.  Niddrie,  who  came  to  the  parish  about  1750. 


KINNEFF  AND  BARRAS.  397 

Ogilvy  of  Lumgair,  the  future  defender  of  Dunnottar  and 
preserver  of  the  Eegalia.1 

Kinneff  was  originally  granted  by  William  the  Lion  to  a 
Norman  lord  named  John  de  Montfort,2  who  was  a  considerable 
benefactor  to  the  Abbey  of  Arbroath ;  and  a  relation — perhaps 
a  brother — was  parson  of  Kinneff,  and  witnesses  one  of  John's 
grants  from  his  lands  of  Glaskeler  (?  Glaslaw),  in  the  same  neigh- 
bourhood, in  121 1-1 4,3  while  a  "  Eobertus  de  Monteforti"  was 
rector  of  Kinneff,  and  a  witness  in  1300.  The  Montforts,  who 
were  first  settled  in  the  Lothians,  survived  in  the  Mearns  till 
about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  as  in  1361  Chris- 
tian, the  relict  of  "John  de  Monteforti,"  gave  the  lands  of  Kinneff, 
Slains,  Eausyde,  and  Eicarton,  to  a  person  bearing  the  rather  odd 
name  of  Simon  de  Schaklok.4  This  charter  was  granted  at  Mon- 
trose  by  David  II.,  but  whether  Schaklok  was  followed  by  John 
Dolas  is  matter  of  doubt.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  in  1398, 
the  first  Earl  of  Crawford  had,  at  least,  the  Kinneff  portion 
from  Dolas ;  and,  although  the  Earl  granted  a  wadset  of  that  to 
Gilbert  Graham  of  Morphie,  it  continued  under  the  superiority 
of  the  Lindsays  down  to  the  time  of  Andrew  Gray's  succession 
in  1446.5  Two  years  after,  we  find  Eobert  Bisset  of  Kinneff, 

1  There  are  several  interesting  monuments  within  the  church  of  Kinneff — one  to 
the  memory  of  Governor  Sir  George  Ogilvy  of  Barras  and  his  Lady,  and  another  of 
old  date  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Granger,  who  aided  Mrs.  Ogilvy  in  preserving  the  Regalia. 
The  oldest,  however,  belongs  to  Graham  of  Largie  and  Morphie,  who  died  in  1597. 
Another  is  to  the  memory  of  a  family  surnained  Honeyman,  who  were  ministers  of  the 
parish  for  four  generations,  from  1663  to  1781.    The  first  of  these  was  brother  to  that 
Andrew,  Bishop  of  Orkney,  who  received  the  shot  of  the  fanatic  Mitchell  in  his  arm, 
when  he  was  accompanying  Archbishop  Sharpe,  for  whom  it  was  intended,  to  his 
carriage  at  the  head  of  Blackfriars'  Wynd,  Edinburgh,  in  July  1668.    (See  Jervise, 
Epit.  i.  pp.  169  sq.)  The  following  "reff,"  from  the  kirk  of  Kinneff,  is  worth  noting  : — 
In  Ada  Dom.  Concilii,  Nov.  12,  1495,  Alexander  Stratoun  of  the  Knox  (of  Benholm) 
had  a  remission,  "  for  art  et  part  of  the  reff  of  ane  horse  out  of  Lovnane,  et  for  the 
reff  of  ane  chalisse  out  of  the  kirk  of  Kynne/,  et  for  the  stouthe  reff  of  certane  gudis 
pertening  to  the  King  et  the  merchandis  of  Edinburghe  of  the  bark  et  schippis, 
quhilk  brek  beside  Kynneff,  et  for  arte  [et  parte  of  the  said  action]  is  alanerly,"  etc. 

2  Chalmers,  Caled.  i.  p.  591. 

»  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbrothoc,  p.  46;  Reg.  Prior.  8.  And.  p.  120. 

4  Rey.  Mag.  Sig.  p.  56.  172 ;  cf.  Robertson,  Index,  p.  55.  4.  A  Walter  Shakloc 
in  1329  grants  a  charter  over  a  third  part  of  Inieney  to  Henricus  de  Rossy. — Reg. 
Vet.  Aberbr.  p.  339, -confirmed  by  King  Robert.— 76.  p.  340.) 

8  Robertson,  Index,  p.  83.  172. 


398  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

and  in  1491  Walter  Byssate,  taking  part  in  assizes  in  the  Mearns 
with  other  gentlemen  of  the  neighbourhood.  The  Barras  por- 
tion of  Kinneff  had  perhaps  come  to  the  Lindsays  from  Sir 
Alexander  Auchenleck  of  that  Ilk,  to  whom  that  property  was 
resigned  by  the  co-heiresses  of  Melville  of  Glenbervie  towards 
the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century.1  In  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  Master  Eobert  Eait  (probably  an  ecclesiastic)  was 
served  heir  to  his  next  younger  brother  in  the  estate  of  Barras.2 
The  name  of  Kinneff  is  said  to  have  arisen  from  one  of  the 
kings  Kenneth  having  had  a  hunting-seat  in  the  parish,  and 
the  kirk  is  sometimes  called  the  "  church  of  Saint  Kenneth."  3 
The  remains  of  an  old  house  near  the  kirk  were  known, 
towards  the  end  of  last  century,  as  St.  Arnty,  or  St.  Arnold's 
Kill,  and  previous  to  the  Reformation  the  church  of  Bervie  was 
a  pendicle  of  Kinneff.  Kinneff  was  in  the  diocese  of  St. 
Andrews,  but  the  kirks  of  Katerin  (Caterline)  and  Kingornie 
were  in  that  of  Brechin.  Both  were  gifted  to  the  Abbey  of 
Arbroath  towards  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century — the  former  by 
William  the  Lion,  and  the  latter  by  Bishop  Turpin  of  Brechin.4 
The  church  of  Caterline  has  disappeared,  but  the  grave- 
yard is  still  used  as  a  place  of  interment ;  and  the  ambry  of 
the  old  kirk,  with  the  fragment  of  a  stone  bearing  the  rudely 
incised  figures  of  a  cross  and  sword,  are  preserved  in  the  sub- 
stantial wall  which  encloses  the  burial-place.  The  oldest  tomb- 
stone (unfortunately  without  date,  much  mutilated,  and  bearing : 

"  TVMVLVS   •   METELLANE   •    LIVINGSTONE   •    SPONSE   •    QVONDAM    • 

ROBERTI  •  DOVGLASII")  is  remarkable  as  belonging  to  the 
parents  of  the  adventurous  Lady  of  Governor  Sir  George 
Ogilvy,  through  whose  well-known  and  ingenious  scheme  the 
ancient  symbols  of  Scottish  royalty  were  so  effectively  pre- 
served from  the  grasp  of  Cromwell. 

1  Acta  Dom.  Condi.  Jan.  21,  1422. 

2  Inquis.  Gen.  Scot.  No.  6546 ;  cf.  Inquis.  de  Tutela,  Nos.  519,  520. 
»  Wodrow,  Biog.  Coll.  i.  p.  234 

4  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbrothoc,  p.  5  ;  Reg.  Nigr.  Aberbr.  pp.  118,  204,  459  ;  Reg.  Ejiisc. 
Brech.  i.  pp.  112  sq. ;  ii.  pp.  256  sq. 


CATERLINE,  DUNNOTTAR,  URAS,  AND  LUMGAIR.     399 

Both  Kingornie  and  Caterline  are  places  of  some  note. 
The  "  chapel  well "  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  former,  and  the  church  is  said  to  have  been  originally 
founded  by  David  li.,  in  gratitude  for  being  landed  there  in 
safety  with  his  consort  Johanna  in  May  134 1.1  About  the  time 
of  the  Eevolution,  the  small  property  of  Kingornie  belonged  to 
the  father  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Arbuthnott,  who,  on  being 
ejected  from  his  living  at  the  parish  church  of  Arbuthnott,  took 
up  his  abode  on  his  paternal  estate,  and  there  his  illustrious 
son  spent  his  earliest  years ;  but  there  is  now  no  trace  of 
the  old  kirk,  and  its  name  does  not  occur  in  the  Register  of 
Ministers  for  1567.  The  earliest  proprietors  of  Caterline  were 
the  Fitz-Bernards,  ancestors  of  the  Sibbalds  of  Kair ;  one  of  the 
latter,  about  the  year  1206,  gave  the  green  cove  of  the  Eath,  and 
mill  of  Caterline,  to  the  monks  of  Arbroath,2  and  another  was 
rector  of  Benholm  and  holder  of  the  barony  of  Mondynes  in 
1625.3  The  site  of  the  Eath,  or  fort,  is  still  known  as  "Eath 
field,"  and  situated  near  a  small  inlet  of  the  sea,  called  Breidin's 
Bay.4  An  Episcopal  church,  with  parsonage,  school,  and  school- 
house,  was  built  at  Caterline  in  1848,  under  the  dedication  of 
St.  Philip,  and  the  first  clergyman,  Eev.  James  Stevenson,  a 
native  of  Brechin,  rests  in  the  churchyard,  having  died  in  1868. 

Uunnottar,  Eras,  anti  3Lnmjjair. 

The  interesting  property  of  Dunnottar,  with  which  and  its 
castle  the  name  and  actions  of  the  ancient  family  of  Keith- 
Marischal  were  very  closely  connected  for  nearly  four 
centuries,  fell  into  the  hands  of  Sir  William  Lindsay  of  the 
Byres,  as  the  dowry  of  his  wife,  Christiana,  daughter  of  Sir 

1  Dalrymple,  Annals,  ii.  p.  228.  There  was  a  kirk  here  in  Alexander  m.'s 
time.  It  is  returned  in  the  ancient  Taxatio  at  20s. 

s  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbrothoc,  p.  44,  etc.  3  Reg.  Epis.  Brech.  ii.  243. 

4  The  kirk  of  Caterline  was  perhaps  dedicated  to  one  of  the  SS.  Katherine.  There 
was  a  chapel  at  Barras  dedicated  to  St.  John.  A  portion  of  Barras  was  held  under 
the  superiority  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John.  A  hill  still  bears  the  name  of  "St.  Johii," 
and  the '"Temple  lands"  are  also  pointed  out  to  this  day.— (Tnq.  Spec.  Kincard. 
No.  110.) 


400  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

William  Keith,  by  Margaret  Eraser,  the  heiress  of  the  thane- 
dom  of  Cowie  and  other  possessions.  Lindsay's  occupancy  of 
Dunnottar  was  short ;  for,  between  the  years  1382  and  1397,1  he 
exchanged  it  with  his  father-in-law  for  the  lands  of  Struthers, 
in  Fife.  From  the  brevity  of  their  ownership,  no  traditions 
of  the  Lindsays  exist  here  or  at  Uras,  of  which  and  Lumgair  it 
will  be  shortly  seen  that  they  were  lords  at  an  early  period. 

During  the  ownership  of  Lindsay,  and  down  to  the  year 
1390,  there  was  no  castle  at  Dunnottar  such  as  was  raised  at  a 
later  date,  yet  in  1336  it  must  have  been  a  fortified  place,  when 
Sir  Andrew  Moray,  the  Regent,  took  the  fortalices  of  Kinclavin, 
Dunnottar,  Kinneff,  and  Laurieston  after  the  departure  of  the 
English  king,  and  levelled  them  to  the  ground.2  Present  tradi- 
tion points  to  an  aperture  in  the  existing  Keep,  by  which 
Wallace  is  said  to  have  entered  and  massacred  a  party  of  the 
English,  who  had  fled  to  the  rock  for  safety ;  but  the  building 
on  the  rock  at  that  time  had  probably  comprised  little  more 
than  the  church,  within  which  the  invaders  had  taken  refuge. 
The  parson  of  Dunnottar,  Walter  de  Keryngton,  swore  fealty  to 
Edward  at  Berwick-on-Tweed  in  1296.3  In  the  old  Taxatio 
"  the  church  of  Dunotyr,  with  the  chapel,"  was  rated  at  twelve 
marks.4  The  storming  of  the  kirk  by  Wallace,  which  occurred 
about  1297,  is  thus  described  by  Blind  Harry : — 

"  Ye  Byschop  yan  began  tretty  to  ma, 
Yair  lyffs  to  get  out  off  the  land  to  ga. 
Bot  yai  war  rad,  and  durst  not  weyll  affy : 
Wallace  in  fyr  gert  set  all  haistely, 
Brynt  up  the  kyrk  and  all  that  was  yarin, 
Atour  the  rock  the  laiff  ran  with  gret  dyn ; 
Sum  hang  on  craggs  richt  dulfully  to  de  ; 
Sum  lap,  sum  fell,  sum  flotyret  in  the  sea, 
Na  Sothroune  on  lyff  was  lewyt  it  yat  hauld, 
And  yaim  within  yai  brynt  in  powder  cauld." 

The  kirk  was  rebuilt,  but  again  burned  down  by  Edward  III., 
the  rock  being  then  occupied  by  the  Scots.  In  1351,  Matthew 

1  Liises,  i.  pp.  52,  412. 

2  Extract,  e  Cron.  Scoc.  p.  171.  3  Flagman  Rolls,  p.  169. 
«  Reg.  Prior.  S.  Andr.  p.  37  ;  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  p.  240. 


DUNNOTTAE,   CHURCH   AND   CASTLE.  401 

was  rector  of  the  church.1  About  that  period,  and  for  some 
time  previously,  the  "  craig  "  of  Dunnottar,  as  the  rock  was  then 
termed,  belonged  in  property  to  the  Earl  of  Sutherland,  who 
had  it  and  other  lands  in  the  Mearns,  in  dowry  with  his  wife, 
Lady  Marjory,  sister  of  David  II.2  He  owned  Dunnottar  at  the 
time  of  Edward's  siege,  and  fell  at  the  battle  of  Halidon  in 
1333,3  while  commanding  the  van  of  the  army. 

The  Earls  of  Sutherland  were  succeeded  in  Dunnottar  by 
Matthew  de  Gloucester — of  whom  or  his  family  we  have  been 
unable  to  learn  anything  beyond  the  fact  that,  through,  dis- 
loyalty, he  latterly  forfeited  the  Uras  part  of  his  property. 
Long  prior  to  this,  however,  in  1341,  Gloucester  resigned  Dun- 
nottar into  the  hands  of  Thomas  Eait,  who,  about  this  time, 
became  a  large  proprietor  in  the  Mearns — a  fact  that  proves 
the  family  to  have  been  settled  in  the  district  at  least  half  a 
century  before  the  time  ascribed  to  them  by  Nisbet.  That 
famous  genealogist  says  that  the  name  of  Eait  was  originally 
brought  to  the  district  in  Eobert  m.'s  time,  by  a  fugitive  knight, 
who  killed  the  Thane  of  Calder,  and  fled  for  protection  to 
Keith-Marischal ;  and  that  his  son  marrying  the  heiress  of  Hall- 
green,  his  descendants  subsisted  there  down  to  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century.4 

It  was  not,  therefore,  until  the  resignation  of  Eait,  which 
occurred  during  the  second  half  of  the  fourteenth  century,  that 
the  Keiths  had  connection  with  Dunnottar.  Sir  William  Keith, 
father-in-law  of  Sir  William  Lindsay,  married  Margaret  Eraser, 
daughter  of  the  Thane  of  Cowie,  and  thus  became  a  Kincar- 
dineshire  baron ;  and  until  about  1394,  when  he  erected  a  castle 
beside  the  chapel,  on  the  craig,  or  rock,  of  Dunnottar,  he  is 

1  Reg,  Nigr.  Aberbr.  p.  25.  2  Robertson,  Index,  p.  49. 

3  Chalmers,  Caledonia,  i.  p.  627. 

4  The  same  industrious  and  generally  exact  author  says  that  the  family  of  Rait 
came  from  the  country  of  Rhetia  in  Germany,  from  which  they  assumed  their  name, 
and  had  their  first  possessions  in  Caledonia,  in  the  county  of  Nairn,  from  Malcolm  iv. 
— (Heraldry,  i.  p.  123.)    Several  of  the  name  swore  fealty  to  Edward  in  1296,  and 
some  of  them  migrated  into  Forfarshire,  where  they  were  small  proprietors  and 
clergymen  during  the  seventeenth  century.     Major  Rait,  C.B.,  of  Anniston,  near 
Inverkeillor,  is  supposed  to  be  the  representative  of  the  Hallgreen  branch. 

2c 


402  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

supposed  to  have  resided  at  Cowie,  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
bourhood, where  the  possible  site  of  a  castle  is  pointed  out  on 
a  cliff  by  the  sea-side.1 

The  summary  manner  in  which  Keith  thus  invaded  conse- 
crated ground  threatened  his  total  overthrow,  as  he  was  excom- 
municated by  the  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews  for  it,  and  only  restored 
by  the  Pope's  Bull  on  making  various  penitential  grants,  and 
erecting  another  place  of  worship.  This  church  was  built  on 
the  site  of  the  present  one,  which,  though  now  inconveniently 
situated  for  the  town  of  Stonehaven,  stands  on  a  delightful 
mound  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Carron,  and  is  reached  through 
an  avenue  of  fine  old  trees.  It  was  dedicated  to  St.  Bridget, 
and  in  the  graveyard  containing  the  ashes  of  the  famous  founder 
of  the  Marischal  College  of  Aberdeen,  and  many  of  his  noble 
relatives,  there  is  also  a  plain  but  interesting  monument  to  the 
memory  of  the  martyrs  of  the  Covenant,  a  hundred  and  sixty 
or  seventy  of  whom  were  confined  in  a  narrow  damp  cell  of 
the  castle,  called  since  then  the  "  Whigs'  Vault."  2 

It  was  in  the  year  1390,  soon  after  the  forfeiture  of  Matthew 
de  Gloucester,  that  Sir  Alexander  de  Lindsay  of  Kinneff, 
younger  son  of  Catherine  Stirling  of  Glenesk,  came  into  posses- 
sion of  the  lands  of  Uras,  Lumgair,  and  others  in  the  neighbour- 
hood.3 The  first  of  these,  which  passed  from  Duncan  de  Walays 
of  Barras,  and  Matthew  de  Eychles,  portion  ers  of  the  same,  was 
subsequently  resigned  by  Lindsay  to  Oliphant  of  Aberdagie, 
and  Ogilvy  of  Auchterhouse,  so  that  it  was  only  at  the  close  of 

1  The  church  of  "  Fethiressach  "  and  chapel,  or  the  kirk  of  Cowie,  were  in  the 
diocese  of  St.  Andrews,  and  are  rated  at  twenty  marks  in  the  ancient  Taxatio.    The 
church  was  inscribed  to  St.  Caran,  and  the  chapel  to  the  Virgin  Mary.    The  latter  was 
given  to  Marischal  College,  Aberdeen,  by  Earl  George,  founder  of  that  University, 
and  the  ruins,  which  stand  on  a  cliff  by  the  sea-side,  are  exceedingly  picturesque. 
The  old  kirk  of  Fetteresso  is  also  a  ruin.     In  Spottiswoode  Miscellany,  i.  pp.  287-94, 
the  reader  will  find  some  Latin  verses,  by  a  hitherto  unknown  poet  of  the  name 
of  Andrew  Stephens,  or  Stephenson,  who  was  schoolmaster  at  Fetteresso.     The 
poems  are  ia  praise  of  Bishop  Forbes  of  Edinburgh,  dedicated  to  Archbishop  Spottis- 
woode, and  dated  Fetteresso,  April  16,  1634. 

2  Anderson,  Black  Book  of  Kincardine,  pp.  7  sq.    See  a  popular  Guide  to  Dun- 
not  tar  Castle,  etc.,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Longmuir,  pp.  60  sq. 

*  Robertson,  Index,  pp.  87,  94,  96,  124,  125,  130,  131,  144. 


KINNEFF,   LUMGAIR,   AND   BAKRAS.  403 

the  fifteenth  century,  that  Keith  Marischal  had  any  interest  in 
Uras ; a  and,  whether  by  mortgage  or  otherwise,  during  the 
possession  of  the  third  Earl  Marischal,  Patrick  Crichton  of 
Cranston  Eiddell  had  retours  of  that  barony.  But  it  again 
fell  to  the  Keiths,  and  was  given  in  wadset  in  1672  to  the 
father  of  Eobert  Keith,  Bishop  of  Caithness  and  Orkney,  author 
of  the  Catalogue  of  the  Scottish  Bishops  and  other  meritorious 
books.  The  Bishop  was  born  there  on  the  7th  of  February 
1681,  and  was  lineally  descended  from  Alexander,  the  youngest 
son  of  the  third  Earl  Marischal.2 

Besides  being  an  early  acquired  part  of  the  Lindsay  pro- 
perty, Lumgair  is  further  remarkable  as  the  first  Kincardine- 
shire  estate  of  the  Ogilvys  of  Ban-as,  the  first  of  whom,  William, 
second  and  only  surviving  son  of  Ogilvy  of  Balnagarrow  and 
Chapelton  (a  cadet  of  the  house  of  Inverquharity),  sold  his 
patrimony  in  Angus  and  had  a  wadset  right  of  Lumgair  from 
Earl  Marischal,  who  was  then  superior.  He  married  a  niece 
of  Strachan  of  Thornton,  by  whom  he  had  the  brave  governor 
of  Dunnottar  Castle.  He  and  his  wife  were  buried  at  Duimot- 
tar,  and  the  following  inscription  is  on  their  grave-stone: — 
"  Heir  lyes  a  famovs  and  worthy  gentillman,  William  Ogilvy 
of  Lumger,  and  Catherin  Straquhan,  his  spovs,  he  being  76 
yeirs  of  age,  he  departed  this  lyfe  in  peace,  3  Jany  1650,  and 
shee  being  89  yeirs  of  age,  departed  hir  lyfe  the  28  of  Febr 
1651."  The  first  of  the  Falconers  is  said  to  have  had  charters 
of  Lonkyir  (Lumgair)  from  David  I. ; 3  but  the  earliest  authentic 
notice  of  that  family  occurs  only  in  the  time  of  William  the 
Lion,  when  William  Auceps,  or  William  the  Falconer,  granted 
(A.D.  1218-22)  certain  lands  to  the  kirk  of  Maringtun  or  Mary- 
ton.4 

1  Keg.  Mag.  Sig.  pp.  66,  no.  218;  162,  no.  4. 

2  Keith,  Catalog,  p.   xx.     A  farm   called  Chapelton  lies  about  a  mile  and  a 
half  west  of  Uras  ;  and  from  Ragman  Rolls  (p.  165)  it  appears  that  John  Vicar  de 
Urres  swore  fealty  to  Edward  in  1296.  8  Chalmers,  Caled.  i.  p.  541. 

4  Reg.  Vet.  Ab  rbr.  p.  100  ;  A.D.  1218-22— Walter  de  Lunkyrr  witnessed  a 
deed  of  rendition  of  the  lands  of  Drumsleed  by  Gregory,  Bishop  of  Brechin.—  (Reg. 
Kp.  Br.  ii.  p.  272.) 


404  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 


The  lands  of  Benholm  were  anciently  held  by  a  family  who 
designed  themselves  de  Benham,  from  at  least  the  beginning  of 
the  thirteenth  century  till  towards  the  close  of  the  fourteenth. 
"  Master  Thomas  de  Bennum  "  was  rector  of  the  schools  of 
Aberdeen  in  1262,  and  a  relative  named  Hugh  became  Bishop 
of  Aberdeen  ten  years  after.1  The  family  of  Hew  de  Benham 
failed  in  a  female,  who  became  the  wife  of  Allan  Lundie,2  a 
cadet  of  the  old  family  of  that  name,  branches  of  which  settled 
in  Fife  and  Forfarshire  during  the  reigns  of  Malcolm  iv.  and 
William  I.3  The  kirk  was  in  the  diocese  of  St.  Andrews  ;  and 
during  the  time  of  Lundie,  the  monks  of  Arbroath  had  a  gift 
of  a  chalder  of  victual  from  these  lands.  This  occurred  in 
1398;  and  towards  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
Lundies  ended  in  Eobert,  whose  daughter  and  heiress,  Elizabeth, 
was  married  to  Lord  Altrie,  second  son  of  the  fourth  Earl 
Marischal.  Altrie  died  before  1606,  leaving  two  daughters, 
who  were  respectively  married  to  Hay  of  Delgaty  and  Erskine 
of  Dun.4  Sir  John  Lindsay  of  "Woodwrae  and  Balinscho  held 
part  of  the  estate  for  several  years  down  to  1587,5  when  he 
resigned  his  portion  of  it  in  favour  of  Eobert,  Lord  Altrie, 
whose  daughter,  Margaret  Keith,  Erskine's  widow,  became 
Lindsay's  second  wife.6  After  the  death  of  Altrie,  John  Gordon 
possessed  Benholm  7  for  a  few  years  ;  but  it  again  fell  to  Keith, 
Earl  Marischal,  and  in  the  year  1633  appears  to  have  been 
divided  among  the  co-heiresses  of  Alexander  Keith  of  Phesdo 

1  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  193.     Hugh  Benham  or  Benam  was  Bishop  of  Aberdeen  from 
1272  till  1282,  and  in  the  latter  of  these  years  he  died  in  Loch  Goul  "  of  a  sudden 
suffocation,  or  catarrh,  so  says  Boethius  ;  yet  the  Epistolare  seems  to  say  that  lie 
was  slain  in  an  ambuscade,  in  lacu  Goule  insidiis  occubiit."  —  (Coll.  on  Aberdeen 
and  Banff,  p.  162.) 

2  Reg.  Mag.  Sig.  p.  178,  no.  3  ;  Robertson,  Index,  p.  125.  3. 

3  Chalmers,  Caledonia,  i.  p.  533.  4  Douglas,  Peerage,  i.  p.  61. 
5  Crawford,  Peerage,  p.  31.  6  Ut  sup.  p.  347. 

7  (A.D.  1661)—  Acts  of  Part.  vii.  p.  97.  See  Pitcairn,  Crim.  Trials,  iii.  562  sq.,  for 
a  curious  case  of  masterful  theft  or  stouthrief  from  the  house  of  Benholm  in  October 
1622,  on  the  eve  of  the  death  of  George,  Earl  Marischal,  who  died  at  Dunnottar  in 
April  1623. 


BENHOLM,    BALMAKEWAN,    AND  MORPEJIE.          405 

and  Benholm,1  but  the  whole  position  of  the  property  lies  at 
that  period  in  much  obscurity.  About  1656  Mr.  James  Scott 
of  Logic  purchased  the  estate  of  Brotherton,  and  then,  or  soon 
after,  one  of  his  sons,  Eobert  Scott,  bought  the  estate  of  Ben- 
holm  and  its  castle.  The  greater  part  of  the  parish  of  Benholm 
now  belongs  to  Hercules  Scott,  Esq.  of  Brotherton,  but  Benholm 
Castle  has  had  a  different  destination.  Falling  to  Captain 
George  Scott  of  Hedderwick  and  Benholm  through  his  mother 
Mrs.  Isabella  (Robertson)  Scott,  heiress  of  Benholm,  and 
daughter  of  Eobert  Scott  of  Benholm,  the  estate  of  Benholm 
was  sold  about  twenty-five  years  ago  to  Mr.  Matheson,  and 
given  in  exchange  to  Lord  Cranstoun  for  his  entailed  estates 
in  Eoss-shire.  An  equivalent  acreage  of  Benholm  being  on 
this  account  entailed,  it  passed  in  1869,  on  the  death  of  Charles 
Frederick,  eleventh  and  last  Baron  Cranstoun,  to  the  Baroness 
de  Virte,  eldest  daughter  of  the  late  Eoderick  Macleod,  Esq., 
M.P.,  of  Cadboll,  county  Cromarty,  as  heir  of  entail.  The 
entail  was  subsequently  thrown  off,  and  the  property  thus 
dealt  with  was  sold  to  Mr.  William  Smith,  Stone  of  Morphie. 
The  unentailed  portion  passed  to  Lady  Cranstoun,  widow  of 
the  tenth  Baron  Cranstoun,  and  her  daughter.2 

Blacfcfenwtr,  Baltnafofcran,  fStorpfjtc,  antj  (Eantetlanti, 

are,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  the  only  other  lands  of  the 
Lindsays  in  Kincardineshire,  and  none  of  these  were  held  by 
the  family  for  any  length  of  time.  Blackiemuir,  which  is  of 
limited  extent,  but  could  boast  at  a  late  date  of  a  bleaching 
and  print-field,  lies  on  the  banks  of  the  Luther,  in  the  parish 
of  Conveth  or  Laurencekirk,  and  was  acquired  by  the  first 

1  Inquis.  Spec.  Kincard.  No.  189 ;  Prof.  Stuart,  Essays,  p.  xiii. 

2  The  tower  or  old  manor-house  of  Benholm,  which  was  probably  built  by  Lord 
Altrie,  is  much  in  the  style  of  Auchenleck  and  Inverquharity,  about  eighty  feet 
high,  and  the  walls  about  five  and  a  half  feet  thick.    The  battlement  is  broad  and 
massive,  with  turrets  at  each  corner,  overtopt  by  a  pent-house.     In  Symson's  pre- 
face to  Frazer  of  Coil's  Discourse  on  the  Second  Sight,  the  eldest  son  of  the  laird  of 
Nether  Benholm  is  quoted  as  an  authority  to  show  the  existence  of  taibhsef 


406  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

Earl  of  Crawford  in  1390;1  but  the  term  of  its  occupancy  by 
the  family  is  otherwise  unknown.  It  had  been  held  under  the 
superiority  of  either  the  Abbot  of  Arbroath  or  the  Prior  of  St. 
Andrews,  .the  greater  part  of  the  district  having  been  given  to 
the  former  establishment  at  an  early  date,2  and  the  lesser 
part  gifted  to  the  latter  by  Eoger  de  Wyrfaud,  who  had  the 
"  territory  of  Cunveth  "  from  Eechenda,  daughter  and  heiress 
of  Wyrfaud  de  Berkeley 3 — hence,  perhaps,  the  origin  of  the 
name  of  Conveth,  which,  according  to  Skene,  means  "  duty  paid 
to  an  ecclesiastical  superior."  4 

The  lands  of  Balmakewan  lie  in  the  parish  of  Mary  kirk. 
They  were  owned  by  Allan  Fawsyde  from  at  least  1329  to 
1371,5  as  about  that  time,  perhaps,  they  were  acquired  by  a 
family  who  designed  themselves  de  Balmaquin.  This  race 
failed  in  the  male  line  about  1450,  when  Hugh  Arbuthnott, 
second  sou  of  Eobert  of  that  Ilk,  married  the  heiress,  and  thus 
came  to  the  estate.6  It  probably  continued  in  the  Arbuthnott 
family  till  the  time  of  its  acquisition  by  Lord  Menmuir,  the 
first  Lindsay  of  Balcarres,  who  was  proprietor  of  it  in  1580. 
Andrew  Eaitt  was  served  heir  to  his  father  David,  Principal 
of  King's  College,  Old  Aberdeen,  in  Over  and  Nether  Bal- 


1  Reg.  Mag.  Sig.  p.  194,  no.  2. 

2  The  Wisharts  of  Pitarrow  held  the  lands  of  Mill  of  Conveth,  Hilton,  and  Scots- 
town,  from  Abbot  Adam  of  Arbroath,  A.D.  1242.—  (Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  p.  206.) 

s  Lyon,  Hist,  of  St.  Andrews,  ii.  pp.  289-90;  Reg.  Vet.  Aberbr.  pp.  72,  231, 
279,  285-6. 

,*  Laurencekirk,  the  present  name  of  the  parish,  was  assumed  from  the  kirk  of  Con- 
veth having  been  dedicated  to  St.  Laurence.  (On  the  name  or  word  Conveth,  see  Skene, 
Celt.  Scot.  iii.  p.  232.)  The  old  church  stood  perhaps  about  a  mile  east  of  the  town 
of  Laurencekirk,  but  Rev.  W.  R.  Fraser,  in  his  History  of  Laurencekirk,  pp.  211  sq., 
concludes  that  the  old  church  occupied  the  site  of  the  present,  and  that  there  is  no  trace 
of  church  or  churchyard  elsewhere  except  at  the  chapel  Knap  on  Scotstown.  From 
the  time  of  the  annual  fair  it  is  plain  that  the  dedication  was  to  St.  Laurence  the 
Martyr,  whose  feast  is  August  10.  (See  Jervise,  Epit.  i.  pp.  288  sq.)  The  village 
owes  its  existence  to  the  late  Lord  Gardenstone,  a  Lord  of  Session,  who  obtained  a 
charter  for  erecting  it  into  a  free  burgh  of  barony  in  1779.  Ruddiman,  the  gram- 
marian, taught  the  parish  school  here  for  some  time  ;  so  at  a  later  date  did  Ross, 
the  author  of  Helenore,  or  the  Fortunate  Shepherdess.  Dr.  Seattle,  author  of  The 
Minstrel,  was  born  here  in  1735.  This  place  was  also  famous  for  the  manufacture  of 
a  kind  of  snuff-box,  similar  to  that  of  Cumnock  in  Ayrshire. 

6  Robertson,  Index,  pp.  37.  9 ;  60. 15.  «  Nisbet,  Heraldry,  ii.  App.  p.  89. 


MORPHIE  AND  CANTERLAND.          407 

makewan,  December  17,  1636,1  and  a  son  of  Barclay  of  John- 
stone  was  designed  of  Balmakewan  at  a  later  date. 

The  lands  of  Morphie  and  Canterland,  in  the  parish  of  St. 
Cyrus,2  were  also  in  the  family  for  a  limited  time.  The  first  of 
these  was  acquired  by  Sir  David  Lindsay  of  Edzell  in  1588, 
and  is  called  Morphyfraser,  from  the  fact  of  its  having  been 
granted  to  Frazer  of  Cowie,  the  trusty  follower  and  relative 
of  Bruce.  Margaret  Bruce,  Frazer's  spouse  and  the  King's 
sister,  is  designed  therefrom  in  1329,3  and  so,  about  the  same 
period,  is  Marjory  Murray,4  and  the  Stewarts  of  Evandale  held 
the  lands  from  about  1460  to  14 93.5  Sir  Thomas  Erskine  of 
Brechin  was  proprietor  of  Morphyfraser  at  a  rather  later  date ; 
for  in  1537  he  granted  these  lands  to  Forester  of  Corstorphine,6 
but  in  the  middle  of  the  same  century  we  find  a  Eobert  Graham 
of  Morphy,  and  soon  after  a  John  as  heir-apparent,7  while  in 
1599  Eobert  Grahame,  younger  of  Morphy,  grandson  of  Sir 
Henry  Grahame  of  Morphy,  Knight,  marries  a  daughter  of 
David  Carnegie  of  Colluthie.  It  is  probable  that  from  these 
the  estates  of  Morphy  passed  to  the  Lindsays,  by  one  of  whom 
they  were  sold  to  Sir  Eobert  Graham  of  Morphy,  in  1629.8 
They  were  subsequently  destined  by  will  to  the  Barclays  of 
Balmakewan,  who,  by  the  deed  of  entail,  had  to  take  and 
carry  the  name  and  arms  of  the  Grahams  of  Morphie.  The 

1  Inquis.  Spec.  Forfar.  No.  68. 

2  The  church  of  St.  Cyrus,  or  Ecclesgrig  (perhaps  Gregory's  Church),  was  dedicated 
to  St.  Cyr  or  Cyricus,  and  stood  in  the  old  churchyard  by  the  sea-side.     The  church 
was  given  to  St.  Andrews  by  Bishop  Richard  (Reg.  Prior.  S.  Andr.  p.  138),  and  the 
chapel,  which  was  inscribed  to  St.  Laurence,  and  stood  at  Chapeltown  of  Laurieston, 
was  in  the  same  diocese.    (For  the  church,  chapel,  and  abbey  lands,  see  Reg.  Prior.  S. 
Andr.,  pass. )    George  Beattie,  author  of  the  popular  local  poem  of  "  John  o'  Arnha'," 
was  a  native  of  the  parish,  and  lies  buried  in  the  Nether  churchyard,  where  some 
admirers  of  his  genius  have  erected  a  monument  to  him.     Sir  Joseph  Mutar  Straton 
of  Kirkside,  K.C.B.,  who  died  in  1840,  aged  sixty-three,  is  also  interred  in  the  same 
romantic  burial-place.    He  bore  a  prominent  part  in  the  wars  of  the  Peninsula  and  at 
Waterloo. — (Jervise,  Epitaphs,  i.  p.  36.) 

s  Robertson,  Index,  p.  38.  33.  *  Ibid.  p.  62.  24. 

8  Ada  Aud.  pp.  8,  179  ;  Reg.  Nigr.  Aberbr.  p.  115 ;  cf.  ibid.  p.  138  for  a  William 
Graham  de  Morfy  in  1464. 

8  Douglas,  Peerage,  i.  p.  600,  calling  the  place  Morfy-fressal. 

i  Reg.  Ep.  Brech.  ii.  pp.  227,  385. 

8  Crawford  Case,  p.  184  ;  Fraser,  Hist.  Carnegies  of  Southesk,  i.  pp.  65  sq. 


408  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

present  proprietor  is  F.  Barclay  Graliame,  eldest  surviving  son 
of  the  late  Mr.  Barron  Graliame,  who  died  in  1877. 

The  adjoining  property  of  Canterland,  in  the  same  parish, 
also  belonged  to  Sir  David  of  Edzell.  It  was  long  in  the  hands 
of  a  family  surnamed  Eamsay,  who  held  it  under  the  superiority 
of  the  Cathedral  of  Brechin,  to  which  they  paid  six  chalders 
of  meal  annually.1  It  was  afterwards  possessed  by  a  col- 
lateral member  of  the  Keiths,2  and  from  this  family  it  perhaps 
passed  to  the  Lindsays.  John,  nephew  of  the  reputed  mur- 
derer of  Lord  Spynie,  was  the  last  Lindsay  of  Canterland  ;  and 
the  laird  of  Edzell  and  Glenesk  having  died  in  1648  without 
male  issue,  he  was  succeeded  in  these  large  estates  by  John  of 
Canterland.  This  laird  was  Sheriff  of  Forfarshire,  a  friend  of 
the  Covenant,  and  otherwise  a  person  of  great  worth ;  but 
despite  his  anxious  endeavour  to  redeem  the  fallen  state  of  his 
house,  and  retrieve  the  fortunes  of  his  family,  the  losses  that 
he  sustained  through  the  quartering  of  Montrose's  soldiers  on 
his  lands,  the  heavy  fine  imposed  upon  him  for  his  adherence 
to  the  Covenant,  and  many  other  serious  inflictions,  already 
alluded  to,  completely  baffled  his  efforts.  He  died  in  1671,  a 
much  harassed  and  disappointed  person,  and  had  two  successors 
in  Edzell — his  son  and  grandson — from  the  latter  of  whom  the 
family  possessions  of  Edzell  and  Glenesk  passed  to  the  Earl  of 
Panmure  in  1714  ;  and  the  once  powerful  race  of  the  Lindsays 
of  Glenesk  is  now  represented  as  landed  proprietors  in  their 
native  shire  by  the  family  of  Kinblethmont  alone,  who,  as  before 
seen,  are  sprung  from  a  sister  of  the  last  Lord  Spynie. 

1  Ada  Aud.  p.  34.  2  Douglas,  Baronage,  p.  443. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 


No.  I.— PAGE  11. 

Extract  from  Parish  Register  of  Edzell  concerning  the  Jacobite 
Baffle  of  in*. 

"October  30,  1714. — This  day  Mr.  Gray  came  to  preach,  but  he  no 
sooner  advanced  towards  the  church  than  he  was  interrupted  and  stopt  in 
his  passage  by  a  great  many  persons  outhounded  and  hired  by  David 
Lyndesay  of  Edzell  to  mob  and  rable  him,  and  those  that  were  with  him, 
who  did  violently  beat  severals  of  those  who  came  with  Mr.  Gray  to  join  in 
divine  worship  with  big  staves  to  the  effusion  of  their  blood,  and  thrust  at 
the  breasts  of  others  of  them  with  naked  knives  and  durks,  and  violently 
beat  them,  and  did  strik  them  with  stones  and  rungs,  and  bruised  them  to 
that  degree  that  some  of  them  fainted,  others  lay  as  dead  on  the  ground  for 
some  time,  and  others  of  them  they  drove  into  the  West  Waiter  running  by 
the  church,  which  was  very  deep  by  reasone  of  much  rain  that  had  fallen 
the  night  befor  and  that  morning,  and  forced  them  to  wade  and  pas  hither 
and  thither  in  the  said  watter  until  they  were  almost  drouned,  and,  having 
suffered  them  to  come  out  of  the  water,  they  cut  their  cloaths  and  struck 
them  severely  upon  the  head,  so  that  they  had  not  there  health  for  many 
moneths  thereafter.  They  also  forced  Mr.  Gray's  servent,  after  having  dis- 
persed his  hearers,  to  flee  with  his  horse,  so  that  Mr.  Gray  himself  was 
oblidged  to  wade  through  the  water  with  the  hazard  of  his  life  in  his  return  to 
the  pkce  of  his  residence  for  the  time  :  All  this  the  said  rablers  did,  to  the 
great  scandale  of  Religione  and  prophanation  of  the  Lord's  day;  and  to  engage 
them  to  this  day's  work  the  said  David  Lindesay  of  Edzell,  to  his  Eternal 
disgrace,  gave  the  rablers  mony  with  ale  and  brandie  to  intoxicate  them 
that  morning  befor  they  came  down  from  the  house  of  Edzell ;  and  after 
the  said  rablers  (to  wit,  John  Balfour,  Frances  Low,  Thomas  Cowie,  David 
Findlay,  all  domestick  servants  to  the  said  Laird  of  Edzell  ;  William 
Buchin  in  Strouan,  John  Dury  in  Duryhill,  John  Kinninment,  piper,  James 
Stewart,  servant  to  Thomas  Broun  in  Mains  of  Edzell,  Jannet  Buchan  and 
Katharine  Beatie,  als  his  servitrixes  ;  Magdalen  Shuan,  daughter  to  Robert 
Shuan  in  Hilsyd  of  Edzell ;  Agnes  Mathers,  daughter  to  James  Mathers  in 
Sleatfoord  ;  Isabel  Mathers,  spouse  to  the  forsaid  John  Kinninmint ;  James 
Davidson,  taylor  in  Sleatford  ;  John  Low,  younger,  maltman  there  ;  William 
Low,  merchand  there ;  James  Stewart,  cotterman  to  William  Bellie,  in  Bon- 
hard  ;  James  Smith,  servant  to  David  Smith,  in  Dalfouper),  returned  to  the 
house  of  Edzell,  and  had  given  an  account  to  the  said  David  Lindsay  of 


412  LAND   OF  THE   LINDSAYS. 

Edzell  and  some  others  in  company  there  mett,  of  their  expedition,  they 
were  much  applauded  by  that  company  ;  which  maltreatment  the  said  Mr. 
Gray  having  laid  before  the  Presbytery  of  Brechine,  they  ordered  him  to 
raise  criminal  letters  against  the  said  David  Lindesay  and  the  foresaid 
rablers,  and  prosecute  them  befor  the  Justiciary  Court  at  Edinburgh  ;  but 
befor  the  day  of  comperance,  the  said  Laird  of  Edzell  agreed  the  whole 
matter  with  the  said  Mr.  Gray,  whereby  former  differences  were  com- 
pounded, and  the  said  Mr.  Gray  entered  peaceably  to  discharge  his  minis- 
terial functions  in  the  parish  of  Edzell  on  the  30  day  of  January  1715," 
when  the  Episcopalians  delivered  over  to  him  the  "  communion  vessells  and 
vestments  "  which  they  had  all  along  retained  and  made  use  of.1 

List  of  the  "  communion  vessells  and  vestments "  of  the  church  of 
Edzell,  on  19th  January  1710,  as  given  over  by  "  the  airs  "  of  the  deceased 
Eobert  Annandale,  late  church  officer,  to  James  Wood  and  George  Will, 
elders,  and  by  them  given  in  "  to  Eobert  Smith,  serv*  to  the  Ld.  of  Edzell, 
to  wit : — 

Two  bigg  pewter  plates. 

It.  two  cups. 

It.  two  napkins. 

It.  two  table  cloaths,  the  largest  of  q^  torn  and  cut  by  myr  [minister  ?]. 

It.  a  mortcloath  w*  a  harden  garb  [quaere — discipline  dress  ?] 

It.  two  flaggons  pewter. 

It.  a  little  plate. 

It.  two  keys  of  the  church  doors,  the  on  of  the  Lds.  loft,  the  oyr  of  the 

middle  church  door. 

It.  two  new  cups  belonging  the  sd  church  are  in  Lethnot.    The  forsd  parts 
delivered  as  said  is  to  be  keept  by  the  sd  Eobert  Smith,  till  the  Ld's 
return  from  Glenesk,  or  another  officer  be  entered. 
It.  two  bigg  Bibles,  the  on  the  Lds.  the  oyr  the  churches." 


No.  II— PAGE  52. 

Extracts  from  Rental-Book  of  Edzell  and  Lethnot  for  1672  and  1699, 
mostly  in  the  handwriting  of  David,  the  penultimate  Lindsay  of 
%  Edzell? 

James  Bellie  payes  yearlie  22  merks,  8  chickens,  and  4  poultrie. 
William  Estine,  10  lib  for  poultrie  duetie  and  tind  money,  &c.,  and  payed 

of  me  for  all  fees  ;  received  a  rix  dollerare  in  Ion  from  me  June  15, 

'99  :  also  a  boll  of  meall  not  compted  for. 
George  Will 
John  Moleson,  8  lib  6s.  8d.  and  chickens. 

1  These  disturbances  are  given  as  "the  reason  why  there  is  such  a  blank  in  this 
Regi  store." 

2  Mr.  Jervise  received  the  original  MS.  from  the  late  Mr.  Leighton,  farmer,  Drum- 
cairn,  had  it  carefully  made  up,  and  sent  it  to  the  late  Earl  of  Crawford  at  Haigh 
Hall,  Lancashire. 


APPENDIX  II.  413 

John  Finlaw,  10  merks,  and  6  chickens. 

Alexander  Davidsone,  10  lib  for  duetie,  and  all  oyr  things. 

John  Low,  smith,  for  his  land  20  lib  and  6  chickens,  8  lib  of  srniddie  rent. 

George  Mathers. 

Isabell  Donaldson  and  Margaret  Watt,  the  first  vjs.  4d.,  the  other  1  lib. 

James  Christie,  in  Hillsyde  of  Ballinoe,  10  lib,  and  six  poutrie. 

David  Forsyth,  yr.,  5  lib  and  poutrie. 

HOLL  OF  SCLAITFOORD,  possessed  be  James  Hutcheon,  12  bolls  of  meall,1 
40  lib  of  silver  duetie,  10  merks  of  tind  money,  12  poutrie,  6  capons. 

[One  or  more  leaves  are  wanting  here,  but  the  following  six  entries  evidently 
refer  to  feuars  of  Slateford,  now  Edzell  village.] 

That  part  possessed  be  John  Lyell,  12  lib,  and  6  chickens. 

(Ibid.) — John  Livingstoune,  22  merks,  4  putrie,  and  8  chickens. 

(Ibid.) — John  McKye,  5  bolls  of  meal,  and  1  boll  of  bear ;  2  merks  of  tind 
silver,  and  6  putrie. 

(Ibid.) — Alexr.  Low,  6  bols  of  meal ;  40s.  tind  silver,  8  lib  for  the  smiddie, 
8  putrie,  for  Findly's  land,  26  lib  vjs.  4d.,  and  2  lib  tind  silver,  6  putrie. 

(Ibid.) — David  Buchane  10  merks,  or  a  hook  in  harvest,  and  6  chickens. 

(Ibid.) — Robert  Anandail. 

WOOD  OF  DALBOGG,  possessed  be  John  Burnett,  payes  yearlie  300  merks 

allenerlie,  together  with  80  lib  for  the  salmond  fishing. — Nota:  This 

room  is  forhand  duetie. 
MILL  OF  DALBOGG — Tho.  Donne,  28  bols  meal,  and  12  bols  bear  ;  8  lib  of 

tind  silver,  12  capons,  and  oblig  to  uphold  the  mill,  and  a  swine  yearlie. 
MEANS  OF  DALBOGG — Geo.  Will,  16  bols  meal,  and  8  bols  bear;  8 lib  of 

tind  silver,  12  poutrie,  and  a  swine. 
DENHEAD — John  Burne,  6  bols  meall,  2  bols  bear ;  5  merks  tind  silver,  8 

putrie,  ane  quarter  of  butter. 
BONSAGARD — Walter  Lindsay,  8  bols  of  victual  qrof  10  firlots  bear,  and  5 

bols  and  a  half  of  meal ;  8  putrie,  and  8  pund  of  butter  ;  five  merks 

tind  silver. 

.     .    .    Alexr.  Mill,  3  bols  of  meal,  and  1  bol  of  bear  ;  2  merks  and  a 

half  of  tind  silver,  4  putrie. 
COWIEHILL — John  Will,  10  bols  meal,  5  bols  bear  ;  10  lib  of  tind  silver, 

and  12  putrie  and  ane  coustom  wedder. 
LITL  TULLO — James  Dargyie,  5  bols,  2  firlots  of  meal,  10  firlots  bear ;  5 

merks  of  tind  silver,  and  20  merks  of  silver  duetie,  and  quarter  of 

butter,  6  putrie. 

1  The  Fiars'  prices  of  Forfarshire  are  not  recorded  before  the  year  1780  ;  but  the 
following  is  a  statement  of  the  value  of  various  kinds  of  victual,  according  to  the 


Fiars  of  Fifeshire  :— 

1H72.                    Scots. 

Ster. 

1699.                      Scots. 

Ster. 

Whytt,  per  boll 
Bear          .        . 

£5    0    0=£0    8    4 
468       072} 

Wheat 
Bear 

£12    0    0=£1    0    0 
9  13    4       0  16    Ij 

Aits  and  Meall  . 

3  13    4 

0    6    11 

Oats  *  Meal  p.mOU.i 

(Rye  7  13    4 

0   12      9; 

Peas  and  Beans 

4  13    4 

079} 

Meal  by  weight 

868 

0  13  10. 

Ry     . 

400 

068 

Peas  and  Beans 

10    0    0 

0  16    8 

Malt  .        .        ( 

568 

0    8  10J 

Malt  . 

10     0    0 

0  16    8 

414  LAND    OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 

(Ibid.) — The  other  prt  possessed  be  James  Hodden  alias  Christison,  3  bols 

2  firlots  of  meal,  of  bear  6  firlott ;  5  uierk  of  tind  silver,  6  putrie,  and 

a  quarter  of  butter. 
MUICKELL  TULLO — David  Walker,  14  bols  of  meal,  6  bols  of  bear;  10 lib 

of  silver  dutie,  10  lib  of  tind  silver,  8  putrie.1 
MERGTIE — Andrew  Smart,  120  lib  duties,  8  lib  tind  silver,  12  putrie,  6 

capons,  and  qr  butter. — Nota:  Tak  renewed  for  5  years  (1674)  pays 

8  lib  of  grassum,  and  100  libs  of  watch  money. 
— John  Christison,  shipheird  in  Mergie,  5  merks  money. 
BLAIRHEAD — James  Lyndesay,  40  lib  of  dutie,  8  putrie,  and  of  butter  8  lib. 
SHEERSTRIPES  COTTER  LAND — George  Will,  and  James  Lyndsay  ther,  ilk 

on  of  them  4  lib  of  money. 
PAROCHINE  OF  NEWDOSK  payes  yearly  of  tind  silver  26  lib. — Nota:  Att 

Wittsunday  I  [i.e.  the  laird  of  Edzell]  sett  a  year's  tak  to  Mr.  Thomas 

Smart  of  the  tiuds  of  this  parochine  for  600  marks. 

PAROCHINE  OF  LETHNOTT. 

CLOCHIE  possessed  by  Da :  Toshe  payes  yearlie  20  bols  of  meal,  5  bols  of 

bear  ;  6  lib  of  tind  silver,  40  lib  of  silver  dutie,  8  putrie. 
(Ibid.) — Androw  Smart  ther,  20  bols  meal,  5  bols  bear  ;  6  lib  of  tind  silver, 

50  marks  of  dutie,  8  putrie. 
DRUM  CARNE — Alexr.  Davidsone,  8  scor  and  ten  merks ;  16  putrie,  and 

ane  quarter  of  butter. 
(Ibid.) — that  part  possessed  be  James  Smart,  6  bols  bear,  3  bols  of  oats  ; 

4  lib  of  tind  silver,  and  8  putrie — pays  a  mark  of  watch  money. 
(Ibid.)— James  Gold,  8  bols  bear  ;  4  lib  of  tind  silver,  8  poutrie. 
MILL  OF  LETHNOT — James  Black,  28  bols  meal,  and  2  bols  of  bear ;  12 

capons. — The  taksman  has  option  to  pay  50  merks  for  8  of  the  bols 

of  meal. 
TILLIDIVIE — John  Will,  17  bols  meal,  3  bols  bear ;  6  bols  of  tind  silver, 

8  putrie. 
ARGEITH,  part  of — George  Bellie,  40  merks  of  dutie,  8  putrie,  2  lib  of 

butter. 

(Ibid.) — Andrew  Dirra,  40  merks,  8  putrie,  and  a  quarter  of  butter. 
(Ibid.) — John  Low,  20  merks  of  dutie,  4  putrie,  and  2  lib  of  butter. 
(Ibid.) — Thomas  Smart,  elder,  20  merks,  8  putrie,  2  lib  of  butter. 
(Ibid.) — Thomas  Smart,  younger,  20  merks,  8  putrie,  and  2  lib  of  butter. 

1  Mr.  Jervise  saw,  in  the  hands  of  the  descendants  of  a  family  named  Low,  receipts 
for  rent  on  the  farm  of  Muckle  Tullo,  dated  1690,  et  sub.  Among  these  receipts 
he  found  the  following  tack  (of  1696)  iu  the  handwriting  of  the  penultimate  Lindsay 
of  Edzell  :— 

"  I  david  Lyndesay  of  Edzell  Binds  and  oblidges  me  my  airs  exrs  and  successors 
qthomever,  that  John  Low  and  James  Low  in  mickl  Tullo,  shall  peacablie  possess 
and  bruick  ther  possession  ther,  for  the  space  of  five  years  nixt  to  com,  they  alwayes 
paying  ther  yearlie  duties  and  mys  as  formerlie,  usd  &  wontd  :  in  witt.  wherof, 
I  have  subscrived  this  my  obligatione  at  Edzell,  the  sixt  day  of  Junn  j^vic  nyntie- 
six  years.  D.  LYNDESAY. 

"  Notta,  that  within  ther  taks  jlk  on  of  them  are  to  pay  a  wedder  sheep." 


APPENDIX  II.  415 

BOGYTOTTNE — Alexr.  Mertyne,  40  lib  of  silver  dutie,  8  putrie,  and  half  a 

stone  of  butter. 
OLDTOUNE — Robert  Gibb,  40  lib  of  silver  dutie,  8  putrie,  and  half  a  stone 

of  butter. 
WITTOUNE— Walter  Mitchell,  9  bols  and  a  half  of  meal,  and  4  bols  and 

a  half  of  bear  ;  7  merks  of  tind  silver,  8  putrie. 
(Ibid.)  the  other  part — Andrew  Smart,  9  bols  and  ane  half  of  meall,  and 

4  bolls  and  a  half  of  bear  ;  7  marks  tind  silver,  and  8  putrie. 
BROCKLAW — David  Mertyne,  43  lib  of  tind  silver  dutie,  8  putrie,  and  4  lib 

of  butter. 
(Ibid.)  other  part — Da.  Cattnes,  eldir,  21  merks  6s.  and  8d.  ;  4  putrie,  and 

1  lib  8  ounce  butter. 

Edzell,  January  the  tenth  day  jmvic  and  nynti  nyn  years. 

BONHARD— Isobell  Fyfe  (reliq  to  John  Donaldson),  thirtie  bols  of  meale, 
five  bols  bear,  ten  inarkes  tind  monij  ;  two  bols  horse  corne,  eight 
poutrie  fowls,  six  capones. 

PRIESTOUNE — John  Carnegie  and  John  Wobster  in  Mille  of  Dillappie, 
payed  yearlie  of  old  twelve  bols  of  meal,  six  bols  of  beare,  ten  marks 
of  tind  silver,  eight  poutrie,  six  capons,  and  should  have  bleitched  all 
the  Linnin  cloath  maid  in  the  house.  Nota :  now  set  to  the  above 
named  men  for  sixteen  bols  of  meals,  and  eightein  bols  the  flFyft  year 
of  thir  tak. 

COATTERTOUNE  OF  EDZELL — ilk  Coatter  payes  yearlie  two  marks  tind 
silver,  4  lib  of  butter  for  ilk  cow,  and  twelve  chickens — Georg  Chirs- 
tison,  Georg  Duncan,  Alexander  Dirrow,  Georg  McKeye,  James  Watt, 
John  Croll,  William  Hall. 

WESTSYD  AND  ACHRY— James  Auchinfleck,  yor,  eighteen  bols  meal,  six 
bols  bear,  three  bols  horse  corne,  three  cairtful  of  straw,  tuo  spindell 
and  ane  half  of  yarne ;  ten  libs  of  tind  silver,  fourtein  poutrie,  and 
nyne  capones. 

SANDIHILLOCK— James  Presock,  12  bols  meale,  6  bols  bear,  2  bols  of  horse 
corne,  2  cairtfull  of  straw,  qch  is  48  bottle — ten  marks  of  tind  silver, 
8  poutrie,  6  capons  ;  60  heirs  of  yarne. 

BURNROOT — Alexander  Smart,  12  bolls  meale,  and  6  bols  bear  ;  and  for 
a  pairt  of  another  tak,  6  bols  meal  and  on  bcl  bear,  3  bols  horse  corn, 
3  cairtful  of  straw  ;  ten  lib  of  tind  money,  8  poutrie,  6  capons  ;  60  heirs 
of  yarne. 

STRUINE  AND  INVERESKENDIE,  both  rooms  possessed  be  John  Will- — 24  bols 
meal,  12  bols  bear,  wherof  ther  is  8  bols  converted  to  50  marks  of 
money,  20  marks  of  tind  money  ;  16  poutrie,  6  capons  ;  120  heirs  of 
yarne  ;  3  bols  hors  corne,  3  cairt  full  of  strae. 

(Ibid.)— CORNMILL,  WALKMILL,  CAMELL,  FEICKSTOUNE— James  Auchin- 
fleck, 51  (bolls)  meal,  15  bolls  bear  ;  40  libs  mony  dutie,  18  libs  6s.  8d. 
tind  silver ;  4  dozen  and  a  half  of  capones,  4  dozen  and  a  half  of 
poutrj,  or  20  merk  ;  60  heirs  of  tind  yarne. 


416  LAND  OF  THE   LINDSAYS. 

MEROIE — Andrew  Smart,  120  lib  money  rent ;  18  poutrie,  2  stones  of 
butter,  a  wedder  under  the  wool ;  and  100  lib  for  ilk  5  years  tacks  of 
Grassum. — Nota :  He  payes  so  much  more  for  Title  to  be  cleared  by 
his  tacks. 

NEWDOSK  payes  of  Viccarradge  yearlie,  26  lib. 

PARIOCHIN  OF  LETHNOT. 

CLOCHIE  (Whole) — John  Lowson,  20  bols  of  meall,  10s.  boll  bear ;  73  lib 

6s.  8d.  of  silver  duetie,  12  lib  of  tind  money  ;  2  wedders,  16  poutrie. 
DRUMCAIRN — David  Gibb,  120  lib  of  silver  duetie,  16  poutrie,  4  lib  of  butter 

2  wedders  under  the  wool. — Nota:  he  payes  100  merks  of  Grassum  foi 

5  years  tack. 
(Ibid.)  Upper — the  Minister,  8  bolls  of  bear,  4  lib  of  tind  money  ;  8  poutrie, 

and  a  wedder. — Nota :  Ilk  undelyvered  boll  is  10  merks  of  pryse. 
(Ibid.)  the  other  part — James  Smart,  6  bols  of  bear,  3  bolls  of  oats,  4  lib 

of  tind  money  ;  8  poutrie  and  ane  wedder. — Nota :  Ilk  undelyvered 

boll  is  5  lib  of  pryse  ;  he  payes  also  cess  and  watch  money. 
MILNE  OF  LETHNOT — James  Black,  28  bolls  of  meall,  2  bolls  of  bear,  12 

capons. — Nota :  he  is  at  liberty  to  pay  33  lib  6s.  8d.  for  8  bolls  of  meall. 
TILLIDIVIE — John  Archebald,  17  bolls  of  meall,  3  bolls  of  bear ;  6  lib  of 

tind  money,  8  poutrie,  and  ane  wedder. 
ARGTTH — David  Smart,  26  lib  13s.  and  4d. ;  8  poutrie,  4  lib  of  butter,  at 

2  terms  and  Grassum  cess  and  watch  money. — Nota :  the  cess  is  one 

inerk  of  each  20,  and  ye  watch  money  6s. 
(Ibid.) — Androw  Dirroc,  26  lib  13s.  4d.  ;  8  poutrie,  24s.  of  tind  money  at 

2  terms,  wt  Grassum,  cess,  and  watch  money. 
NEWBIGGING  AND  DRUMFURIES— John  Smart,  53  lib  6s.  8d.  ;  12  poutrie, 

4  lib  of  butter,  his  sheep  to  be  cleared  by  his  tack,  2  wedders ;  and 

Grassum,  cess,  and  watch  money. 
BOGTOONE — Alexr.  Martin,  40  lib  of  money  ;  8  lib  of  butter,  8  putrie,  and 

ane  wedder  ;  Grassum,  cess,  and  watch  money. 
OLDTOUNE — David  Tosh,  40  lib  of  money,  8  lib  of  butter,  8  poutrie,  and  ane 

wedder ;  Grassum,  cess,  and  watch  money,  25  lib  8s.  6d. 
WITTOUNE — Walter  Mitchell,  9  bolls  2  fir.  of  meall,  4  bolls  2  fir.  of  bear  ; 

4  lib  13s.  4d.  of  tind  money  ;  8  poutrie,  and  a  wedder  ;  cess  and  watch 

money,  of  Grassum,  8  lib  for  3  years. 
(Ibid.)— James  Will,  9  bolls  2  fir.  of  meall,  4  bolls  2  fir.  of  bear  ;  4  lib  13s. 

4d.  of  tind  money  ;  8  poutrie,  and  ane  wedder ;  20  merks  of  Grassum 

for  5  years  tack. 
BROCKLAW — David  Martin,  43  lib  of  silver  duetie  ;  8  poutrie,  4  lib  of  butter, 

ane  wedder  under  the  .wooll ;  40  lib  for  ilk  5  years  tack  of  Grassum. 
(Ibid.) — John  Durro,  14  lib  6s.  8d.,  4  poutrie,  and  ane  pound  and  half 

butter ;  2  wedders  in  the  5  years  tack,  and  Grassum,  ane  years  duety 

in  the  tacks. 


APPENDIX  m.  417 


No.  III. — PAGE  53. 

THE  following  from  the  late  John  Eiddell,  Esq.,  Advocate,  who  was 
facile  princeps  in  genealogy  and  peerage  law,  is  interesting  and  important 
bearing  date  Nov.  13th,  1853  : — 

"  Janet  Lindsay,  sister  of  the  last  David  Lindsay  of  Edzell  (who  sold 
Edzell  and  fell  so  low),  and  the  Honourable  Colonel  James  Ramsay  (third 
son  of  William,  third  Earl  of  Dalhousie,  and  immediate  younger  brother 
of  William,  afterwards  fifth  Earl  of  Dalhousie,  who  died  without  issue), 
being  young  people,  and  living  in  the  usual  free  manner  of  the  time  at 
Edzell,  contracted  a  mutual  attachment,  which  in  an  unguarded  moment 
led  to  the  seduction  of  Janet  by  the  Colonel  (though  perhaps  under 
promise  of  marriage),  the  issue  of  which  illicit  intercourse  was  a  child 
'  Beattie  '  or  '  Betty '  Ramsay. 

"  In  all  probability,  at  least  not  unnaturally,  a  marriage  was  to  have 
sanctioned  the  union,  but  the  Colonel  was  hastily  called  to  join  his  regi- 
ment, that  of  Macartney  in  Spain  (a  known  celebrated  corps),  where  he  fell 
without  lawful  issue,  at  the  fatal  battle  of  Almanza,  in  1707. 

"Had  he  left  male  issue  (legitimate),  these  would  have  been  Earls 
of  Dalhousie,  he  being  of  the  direct  line,  and  their  honours  limited  to  heirs- 
male,  while  the  subsequent  and  present  line  are  more  remote  cadets,  sprung 
from  Captain  John  Ramsay,  younger  son  of  William,  first  Earl  of  Dalhousie, 
so  created  in  1633. 

"  It  can  be  proved  by  authentic  evidence,  that  I  have  seen,  that  never- 
theless Janet  Lindsay  did  not  thereafter  live  or  die  in  '  obscurity  and 
shame,'  as  inadvertently  stated  by  Mr.  Jervise  (of  course  from  not  being 
aware  of  the  particulars)  in  his  '  History  and  Traditions  of  the  Land  of 
the  Lindsays '  [see  p.  44  of  first  edition].  On  the  contrary,  both  she  and 
her  daughter,  '  Beattie  Ramsay,'  continued  to  live  at  Edzell,  and  were 
kindly  supported  there  by  the  family,  Colonel  John  Lindsay,  paternal  uncle 
to  Janet,  even  leaving  a  legacy  to  Beattie. 

"Janet  also  eventually  married  respectably,  as  would  seem,  Colonel 
Whitmore,  an  Englishman  (and  had  issue,  tho'  I  don't  know  what 
became  of  them),  both  of  whom  are  mixed  up,  and  figure  in  family  transac- 
tions when  they  became  embarrassed,  together  with  David,  last  of  Edzell. 

"  Beattie  would  appear  to  have  followed  her  mother  to  England,  and 
she  married  there,  and  left  descendants  :  her  heir  of  line  again  married  an 
English  officer,  who  was  in  Scotland  early  in  the  present  century,  and  con- 
sulted me  in  respect  of  his  wife's  Edzell  and  Dalhousie  descent  and  supposed 
rights  through  Beattie  Ramsay,  which,  of  course,  were  worth  nothing, 
through  the  illegitimacy  of  the  latter. 

"  Most  unfortunately  I  have  not  preserved  note  of  the  names  of  these  last, 
but  the  officer  in  question  showed  me  a  fine  miniature  likeness  of  Colonel 
Ramsay — a  handsome  man — which  must  have  come  to  his  wife  as  a 
descendant  of  Janet  Lindsay  and  Beattie  Ramsay — a  kind  of  heirloom 
de  facto. 

2  D 


418  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

"  The  above  I  believe  to  be  correct,  and  is  supported  both  by  authentic 
evidence,  and  by  information  given  me  at  the  time,  long  ago,  by  the 
deceased  Dr.  Carmichael  Smythe,1  the  heir  of  line  of  the  Lyndsays  of  Edzell, 
through  the  Watsons  of  Aitherny,  an  intelligent  and  well-educated  man, 
and  evidently  good  authority  here.  He  was  an  eminent  Physician. 

J.  K. 

"P.8.—  The  Watsons  of  Aitherny,  I  need  not  add,  were  descended  from 
the  eldest  sister  of  Janet — Margaret  Lindsay. 

"Dr.  Carmichael  Smythe,  grandfather  (through  his  son  the  late  Aide- 
de-camp  of  the  King)  of  the  present  Sir  James  Carmichael  of  Nutwood, 
Bart.,  rather  pathetically  mentioned  the  Edzell  contre-temps  of  Janet 
Lindsay,  making  every  allowance  for  the  error,  which  I  dare  say  (possibly 
bond  fide)  the  gallant  Colonel  might  have  fully  rectified  had  he  not  been 
so  prematurely  cut  off  in  the  pressing  service  of  his  country  at  Almanza — 
so  precipitately  taking  him  from  the  lady." 


No.  IV.— PAGE  61. 

The  Durays  of  that  Ilk,  Dempsters  to  the  Lairds  of  Edzell. 

THE  small  farm  of  Durayhill,  with  several  other  parts  of  the  parish, 
were  church  lands  belonging  to  St.  Andrews,  situated  in  the  regality  of 
Kescobie,2  and  the  family  of  Duray,  dempsters  of  the  Lairds  of  Edzell,  long 
occupied  Durayhill,  and  designed  themselves  "  of  that  Ilk."  It  was  then  a 
separate  farm,  but  is  now  held  in  lease  along  with  the  farm  of  Upper 
Dalfouper. 

The  origin  of  the  Durays  or  dempsters  of  Edzell  is  unknown.  Their 
name  occurs  for  the  first  time  in  the  Parochial  Register  under  the  22d  of 
December  1644,  when  "  John  Dirrow  of  Dirrowhill  was  appointed  to  goe 

to  the  presbiterie  for competent  knowledge  to  go  to  the  Generall 

Assemblie  which  is  to  be  h  olden  at  Edinburgh,  ye  22d  Jan.  1645."  The 
last  time  any  of  them  acted  along  with  a  Laird  of  Edzell  was  at  the  memor- 
able "  rable  "  of  1714  ;  and,  in  disposing  of  the  lands  of  Edzell,  David 
Lindsay  gave  Duray  right  to  "  a  desk  in  the  church,  upon  the  east  side  of 
the  Lindsay's  isle."  Owing,  perhaps,  to  the  prominent  lead  which  Duray 
took  in  this  "  rable,"  the  kirk-session  were  led  to  challenge  his  right  to  the 
pew  ;  and  notwithstanding  that  he  produced  a  document  confirming  the 
grant  from  the  last  laird's  "  brother-german,"  he  was  found,  to  have  usurped 
the  same,  and  was  thereupon  turned  out  of  it. 

This  dispute  occurred  in  1734,  and  the  decision  was  so  fatal  to  the 
family,  that  they  left  the  district  soon  after,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  this  person  was  the  last  of  them  resident  in  Edzell.  Though  the  cir- 
cumstance is  not  recorded,  they  may  have  been  expelled  therefrom  by  the 
York  Buildings  Company,  who  had  no  desire  to  harbour  those  in  their 

1  "  Claimant  then  of  the  Hyndford  Peerage,  about  which  he  consulted  me." 
a  Jnquis.  Spec.  Forfar,  No.  304,  June  2,  1648. 


APPENDIX   IV.   V.  419 

lands  who  were  friendly  to  the  exiled  Stewarts.  This  cause  of  Duray's 
removal  is  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  some  of  their  distant  relatives  believe 
they  "left  the  district  and  settled  about  Stonehaven  ;"  this  is  so  far  con- 
firmed by  a  John  Durie  being  there  during  the  stirring  movements  of  "the 
forty-five."  This  person  was  a  merchant,  and  so  determined  a  supporter  of 
the  Stewarts,  that  he  appeared  in  the  parish  church  of  Dunnottar  with  a 
guard  of  armed  men,  and  read  some  treasonable  papers  before  the  congrega- 
tion.1 

But  as  to  whether  this  rebel  was  of  the  Durays  of  that  Ilk,  we  have  no 
means  of  ascertaining.  It  is  certain  that  the  old  stock  is  now  out  of  the 
district,  but  a  tombstone  in  the  kirkyard  still  bears  this  record  of  their 
feudatory  holding  : — 

"  Here  lyes  James  Duray,  son  to  John  Duray  of  that  Ilk,  who  departed 
this  Life,  February  13th  1743,  aged  36. 

Remember,  passenger,  as  you  go  by, 

This  gravestone  under  which  I  ly, 

Read,  and  remember  what  I  tell, 

That  in  the  Cold  Grave  thou  must  duel, 

The  worms  to  be  thy  company, 

Till  the  Last  Trumpet  set  you  free." 


No.  V. — PAGE  66. 
List  of  Sculptures  in  the  Flower  Garden  of  Edzell. 

[THIS  garden  is  about  an  acre  in  extent.  The  walls  are  of  polished  ashlar, 
and  compartments,  representing  the  fess  chequy  of  the  Lindsays,  and  the 
three  stars  of  the  Stirlings  of  Glenesk,  are  placed  betwixt  each  of  the  figures 
under  noticed.  Engravings  of  certain  parts  of  the  wall  are  in  Mr.  Billings's 
Baronial  and  Ecclesiastical  Antiquities  of  Scotland,  vol.  ii.] 

THE  EAST  WALL 

contains  allegorical  representations  of  the  following  Celestial  Deities  and 
their  respective  signs,  sculptured  on  oval  panels  in  low  relief,  about  eighteen 
inches  in  height. 

SATCRN  is  represented  in  Roman  costume,  with  a  sword  by  his  side,  and  a 
scythe  in  his  right  hand.  He  holds  a  boy  up  in  his  left,  emblematical 
of  his  having  devoured  his  own  legitimate  issue  as  soon  as  born,  with  a 
view  that  his  kingdom  might  revert  to  the  Titans,  from  whom  it  was 
taken,  and  given  to  him.  He  wears  a  chain  round  his  neck,  in  allusion 
to  his  captivity  by  Titan,  from  which  he  was  released  by  his  son 
Jupiter.  The  figure  of  a  goat,  perhaps  that  of  Amalthea,  by  whose 
milk  Jupiter  is  said  to  have  been  suckled,  is  at  the  feet  of  Saturn. 


lJunnottar  Session  Record,  Sep.  21,  1746. 


420  LAND    OF   THE  LINDSAYS. 

This  figure  is  represented  with  a  wooden  leg,  a  circumstance  which  has 
led  some  to  suppose  that  it  represents  VULCAN,  who,  on  falling  from 
the  heavens  on  the  Isle  of  Lemnos  with  great  violence,  broke  his 
leg,  and  was  thus  rendered  lame  for  life.  The  sign  Tj,  and  other 
accessories,  are  those  of  Saturn. 

JUPITER,  2/ ,  in  Koman  costume,  but  without  a  beard,  has  a  sword  in  his 
right  hand  ;  the  left  rests  on  a  shield,  charged  with  a  fine  carving  of 
Cupid  shooting  an  arrow  from  a  cross-bow,  etc.  The  feet  of  Jupiter  rest 
on  two  fishes. 

MARS,  $,  also  in  Koman  costume,  bears  a  battle-axe  in  his  left  hand,  and  an 
oval  shield  on  his  right  arm,  with  a  dog1  at  his  feet.  The  initials 
"IB"  are  cut  on  the  blade  of  the  axe.  Perhaps  they  are  the  initials 
of  the  sculptor. 

The  SUN  ®  wears  an  antique  crown  and  Roman  dress.  Eight  hand  rests  on 
a  shield  charged  with  the  Sun,  in  full  splendour.  The  shield  rests  on 
the  head  of  a  lion.  The  left  hand  holds  a  sceptre. 

VKNUS  $  holds  a  dart  over  her  left  shoulder,  and  a  burning  heart  in  her 
right  hand.  A  lamb  lies  at  her  feet. 

MERCURY  Avith  the  sign  $  and  usual  accompaniments  of  winged  caduceus 
in  his  right  hand,  and  helmet  and  sandals.  Two  nude  figures  are 
dancing  in  the  back-ground  on  the  right,  and  a  clothed  female  on  the 
left  holds  up  her  right  arm  with  something  like  a  flower  in  her  hand. 

The  MOON,  or  Luna  and  Diana,  as  this  goddess  is  variously  termed,  is 
represented  by  a  female  figure  holding  a  lance  in  her  right  hand,  and 
the  characteristic  sign  of  a  crescent  (w)  in  her  left.  Her  feet  rest  on 
a  fish.  This  figure  is  over  the  entrance  door  to  the  summer-house — so 
placed,  perhaps,  from  the  fact  that  the  ancients  supposed  her  to  have 
the  care  of  all  houses  and  doors  during  night.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  Jupiter  by  Latona. 

SOUTH  WALL. 

[The  Sculptures  on  this  wall  represent  the  Sciences  only,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  Theological  Virtue  "  Charity,"  which  was  misplaced  during 
recent  repairs.  These  carvings  are  in  bold  relief,  the  finest  of  any  in  the 
garden,  and  from  the  occasional  introduction  of  objects  in  the  distance, 
suggest  a  comparison  with  the  famous  gates  of  the  Baptistry  of  Florence, 
which  brought  to  Lorenzo  Ghiberti  so  much  deserved  fame.  The  Sciences 
are  in  square  panels  with  circular  tops,  and  each  measures  about  two  feet 
by  three.] 

"  DIALECTICA." — A  seated  female  in  the  act  of  reasoning.  Two  frogs  at  her 
feet,  a  dove  on  her  head,  and  a  serpent  twisted  round  her  right  arm. 
There  is  also  a  small  figure  in  the  back-ground. 

"  RHETORICA." — A  seated  female,  holds  a  caduceus  in  the  right  hand,  and  a 
roll  in  the  left,  with  several  volumes  at  her  feet. 


1  Has  this  dog  a  wooden  leg,  or  is  one  of  the  hind  legs  hid  by  the  shaft  of  the 
battle-axe  ? 


APPENDIX  VT.  421 

"  G-EOMETRIA  "  is  represented  by  a  female,  with  a  castellated  crown  and 
flowing  robes.  She  is  describing  a  globe.  A  square,  compass,  and 
books  lie  at  her  feet. 

"  ARITHMETICA." — Female  figuring  on  a  slate.  Two  nude  figures  in  back- 
ground, with  staves,  carrying  burdens  on  their  back.  These  figures 
are  perhaps  the  most  delicately  executed  pieces  in  the  garden. 

"  MUSICA. — Female  figure  (head  and  neck  broken  off)  playing  on  a  guitar. 
A  harp  and  other  musical  instruments  lie  beside  her  ;  and  her  left  foot 
rests  on  books. 

WEST  WALL. 
[The  Sculptures  on  this  wall  represent  the  Theological  and  Cardinal 

Virtues.     They  are  about  the  same  size  as  the  Sciences,  but  inferior  in 

execution.] 

"...  E."  (Faith),  with  cup  in  right  hand,  wrapt  in  a  massive  flowing  dress, 

and  a  serpent  at  her  feet. 
"  SPES  " — Female  figure  standing  erect,  with  right  hand  at  breast,  and  left 

outstretched.    An  anchor  and  antique  spade  lie  at  her  feet. 
"  CARITAS  "  (misplaced  on  south  wall)  represented  in  the  common  manner, 

by  a  female  with  a  child  in  each  arm,  and  one  at  each  knee. 
"  PRUDEN  ..."  (Prudence),  examining  her  face  in  a  mirror,  with  a  serpent 

coiled  round  the  left  hand. 
"  TEMPERANTIA  "  pours  water  from  a  jug  into  a  glass.     An  antique  jar 

stands  on  each  side  of  the  figure. 
"...  TITIA  "  (Justice),  with  sword,  balance  and  scales. 
"  FORTITVDO  "  pulling  down  an  ornamental  column,  with  the  capital  of  it 

lying  at  her  feet.     The  hair  of  this  figure  is  put  up  in  a  net. 


No.  VI— PAGE  159. 

Lethnot  and  its  Traditions. 

THE  following  account  of  the  circumstances  connected  with  the  story 
about  the  minister  and  the  black  cat,  may  not  be  so  amusing,  but  it  has 
at  least  the  merit  of  being  true  :— The  minister  was  not  Mr.  Thomson,  who 
was  the  last  Episcopalian  minister  of  the  parish,  and  was  deposed  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Brechin  in  1719  for  having  taken  part  in  the  Mar  rebellion, 
and  thereby  broken  the  condition  on  which  he  had  been  allowed  to  retain 
the  living,  and  who  was  succeeded,  not  as  the  legal  minister  of  the  parish, 
but  as  the  Episcopal  clergyman  of  the  district,  by  the  Kev.  David  Eose, 
great-grandfather  of  the  distinguished  Sir  Hugh  Rose,  now  known  as  Lord 
Strathnairn.  The  minister,  to  whom  the  story  relates,  was  the  Rev.  John 
Row,  the  last  minister  of  Navar  as  a  separate  pnrish,  and  the  first  of  the 
united  parishes  of  Navar  and  Lethnot.  He  died  in  1746,  and  was  buried 
within  the  kirk  of  Lethnot,  a  neat  mural  tablet  with  an  elegantly  composed 
inscription  in  perfect  preservation  marking  the  spot  where  his  body  lies. 


422  LAND   OF  THE   LINDSAYS. 

He  was  a  strong-minded,  resolute,  but  thoughtful  and  sagacious  man,  who 
had  a  difficult  position  to  fill  during  the  unsettled  times  betwixt  1715  and 
1746,  and  filled  it  well.  He  was  earnest  in  promoting  education  in  his 
parish,  and  strove  to  discourage  as  far  as  possible  the  superstitious  ideas 
and  practices  which  still  were  strongly  prevalent.  At  that  time,  and  for 
long  after,  the  popular  feeling,  as  is  well  known,  forbade  the  burial  of 
suicides  in  the  kirkyard.  In  one  instance  the  minister  made  a  strong  effort 
to  obtain  the  rites  of  ordinary  sepulture  for  the  body,  and  succeeded  so  far 
as  to  have  it  buried  in  the  kirkyard  after  the  sun  was  set,  "  between  the 
sun  and  the  sky,"  as  the  old  saying  is.  There  was  a  superstitious  belief 
that  whoever  stepped  over  a  newly-made  grave  would  meet  with  some  great 
misfortune  within  a  short  time.  Mr.  Kow,  thinking  this  a  good  opportunity 
of  teaching  his  people  a  practical  lesson  as  to  the  absurdity  of  such  a  belief, 
jumped  three  times  over  the  grave.  Returning  immediately  thereafter  to 
the  manse,  which  then  stood  close  to  the  present  south-west  gate  of  the  kirk- 
yard, he  went  up-stairs  to  his  study,  or  chamber,  as  it  was  the  custom  to 
call  it.  It  was  not  yet  so  dark  as  to  prevent  his  perceiving  that  some  strange 
animal  was  in  the  room.  Going  outside  the  door,  he  called  down-stairs  to 
his  servant-girl  to  bring  a  lighted  candle  and  a  stick.  She  brought  the 
candle,  but,  instead  of  the  stick,  a  long-shafted  straw  fork.  The  mysterious 
animal  turned  out  to  be  a  large  black  cat,  which  on  seeing  the  light  bolted 
out  at  the  open  door.  The  minister,  stepping  back  a  pace  or  two  to  get  the 
chance  of  a  stroke  at  it  with  his  somewhat  unwieldy  weapon,  came  against 
the  frail  wooden  railing,  which  gave  way,  and,  unable  to  recover  his  balance, 
he  fell  backward  into  the  lobby  beneath  and  broke  his  neck.  This  is  the 
true  story  of  the  black  cat  of  the  manse  of  Lethnot.  The  writer's  informant 
was  an  old  lady  who  lived  till  well-nigh  ninety  years  of  age,  and  died  in 
Edinburgh  only  last  year,  retaining  to  the  last  her  wonderful  bodily  vigour 
and  full  possession  of  all  her  mental  faculties.  She  was  the  daughter  of  a 
former  minister  of  Lethnot,  and  in  her  youth  was  well  acquainted  with  the 
woman,  by  that  time  of  course  aged,  who  as  the  minister's  servant-girl  held 
the  light  for  him,  and  whose  name  was  Helen  Cobb,  known  as  the  last  gude- 
wife  of  the  now  deserted  homestead  of  Ledbakie. 

Probably  the  minister's  untimely  end,  occurring  under  such  circumstances, 
had  the  effect  of  confirming  belief  in  the  old  superstitions.  It  is  certain  at 
all  events  that  for  years  after  his  death,  suicides  continued  to  be  refused 
the  rites  of  Christian  burial.  Some  time,  it  is  supposed,  between  1760  and 
1780,  the  remains  of  two  such  poor  unfortunate  persons,  a  man  and  a  woman, 
were  taken  to  the  top  of  Wirran,  the  highest  hill  in  the  parish,  and  there 
interred.  There  are  people  yet  alive  who  can  point  out  their  graves. — 
(Montrose  Standard,  28th  October  1881.) 

(Rev.  F.  Cruickshank,  Manse  of  Lethnot,  sends  the  following,  of  date 
10th  Aug.  1882  : — "  The  stone  of  the  brothers  Leitch,  covered  with  turf  for 
a  year,  and  yesterday  cleaned,  is  now  quite  legible.  The  date  we  were 
doubtful  about  is  7th  Oct.  1757.") 


APPENDIX  VII.  423 

No.  VII.— PAGES  202,  210,  356,  379. 
Epitaphs,  relating  to  the  Lindsays,  in  various  Churchyards  in  Foi-farshire. 

A  MONUMENT  of  native  freestone,  to  the  memory  of  a  family  of  the  name 
of  LINDSAY,  is  built  into  the  south  wall  of  the  church  of  Rescobie.  Like  the 
fine  marble  tablets  to  the  same  race  at  Maryton  and  Lunan,  this  is  upheld 
from  an  annuity  payable  by  the  town  of  Arbroath,  which  was  especially 
granted  for  the  purpose.  The  canopy  is  supported  by  two  pillars,  with  these 
bearings  :— "  Gules,  a  fesse  chequed  arg.  and  az. ;  in  chief  a  mullet ;  in  base 
waves  proper." 

"  Monumentum  hoc,  in  memoriam  suorum  parentum  Mr.  David  Lindsay 
Pastor  de  Mary-Toune :  Extruendum  curavit. — Juxta  hunc  lapidem  deposits 
sunt  reliquiae  Dorn  :  Henrici  Lindsay  quondam  de  Blairifedden  qui  obiit 
anno  Dom  :  .  .  .  aetat.  72.  Et  uxoris  ejus  Alison  Scrimseur  familiar 
Scrimseur  de  Glasswal  quae  obiit  anno  Dom.  1651  aetat.  .  .  .  necnon  filii 
eorum  dom.  Davidis  Lindsay  Pastoris  de  Rescobie  qui  obiit  anno  Dom.  1677 
aetat.  62  &  ejusdem  duarum  conjugum  Marjorse  Lindsay  filiae  Lindsay  de 
Kinnettles  &  Beatricis  Ogilvy  filiae.  .  .  .  Ogilvy  de  Carsbank,  quae  obiit 
anno  Dom.  1716  aetat.  suae  89.  Ibidem  loci  quoque  sepulti  sunt  nonnulli 
ejusdem  Davidis  liberi  quorum  nomina  cceli  injuria  &  prioris  cippi  vetustate 
perierunt. — Hoc  monumentum  positum  fuit  anno  ,  &  instauratum  anno 
1752." 

A  superb  marble  tablet  in  the  church  of  Maryton  bears  the  Dowhill 
family  arms  and  motto,  and  a  long  inscription  to  "  DAVID  LYNDESIUS  ex 
prisca  Lyndesorum  familia  de  Dowhill,"  who  was  thirty-three  years  minister 
of  the  church  of  Maryton,  and  the  last  Episcopal  incumbent.  He  died  on 
the  16th  of  September  1706,  in  the  sixty-second  year  of  his  age.1  There  is 
also  a  marble  tablet  within  the  church  of  Lunan,  analogous  in  design  to  that 
at  Maryton.  It  is  erected  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  ALEXANDER  PEDEY,  the 
last  Episcopal  clergyman  of  that  parish,  and  his  wife  MARJORY  LINDSAY, 
who  may  have  been  a  near  relative — perhaps  a  sister — of  the  parson  at 
Maryton. 

Inscription  from  a  freestone  tablet  in  Farnell  churchyard,  to  the  memory 
of  Dean  CARNEGIE,  founder  of  the  family  of  Craigo,  and  his  wife  HELEN, 
daughter  of  Bishop  Lindsay  of  Edinburgh,  who  was  also  the  owner  of  Dun- 
kenny  (ut  sup.  pp.  202,  356)  : — 

"Sepulchrum  M8tri  Davidis  Carnegy  de  Craigo  Decani  Brichinen  :  Rec- 
toris  hujus  Ecclesiae  qui  primo  fuit  Ecclesiastes  Brichinen  annos  2  postea 
hujus  ecclesiae  pastor  fidelissimus  annos  36  qui  placide  ac  pie  in  Domino 
obdormivit  anno  Dom.  1672  aetatis  suae  77.  In  hac  Urna  sirnul  cum  eo 


1  May  1,  1673,  Mr.  David  Lindsay,  younger  son  of  Mr.  David  Lindsay,  minister 
of  Rescobie,  was  presented  to  the  -Kirk  of  Marieton  by  the  Archbishop  of  St. 
Andrews. — (Presb.  Jiec.  of  Brech.  voL  iii.  fol.  57.) 


424  LAND    OF   THE    LINDSAYS. 

recubant  prior  ejus  Uxor  Helena  Lindesay  ac  decem  eoruni  liberi ;  placuit 
hie  inscribere  anagramma  a  Seipso  composituni 

Magistro  Davidi  Carnegy  • 

anagramma . 
Grandis  Jesu  due  me  gratia  • 

distichon . 

Dum  dego  in  terris  expectans  Gaudia  cceli 
Me  ducat  semper  tua  Gratia  Grandis  Jesu." 

Tablets  bearing  the  following  inscriptions  are  in  Chapelyard,  the  family 
burial-place  of  Balmadies.  This  cemetery  is  near  the  Aldbar  Railway 
Station,  and  the  door  lintel  bears  "  ANNO.  MDCLXIX."  From  that  date, 
till  1849,  a  complete  record  of  the  lairds  and  ladies  of  Balmadies  can  be 
gleaned  from  the  tombstones  here  : — 

"  Mrs.  Margaret  Lindsay  daughter  to  Sir  Alexander  Lindsay  of  Evelick 
first  married  to  the  laird  of  Findourie  and  thereafter  to  James  Piersone  of 
Balmadies  to  whom  she  bore  seven  sons  she  died  about  the  56  year  of  her 
age  on  the  11  or  12  of  May  1714  and  here  interred  on  the  18  a  virtuous 
and  religious  lady — Memento  mori." 

"  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Arbuthnot  sister-german  to  the  present  laird  of  Fin- 
dourie died  of  a  decay  about  the  18  year  of  her  age  a  beautiful  virtuous 
and  religious  young  lady  and  was  here  interred  some  years  before  her 
mothers  death — Memento  mori."  1 


No.  VIIL— PAGE  206. 

Large  Tree  at  Finhaven. 

THE  following  entry  is  taken  from  the  Session  Book  of  Oathlaw,  as  written 
about  1875  :— 

"  The  Parish  of  Finhaven  was  at  one  time  celebrated  for  containing  the 
largest  tree  in  Scotland.  This  was  a  chestnut  that  grew  beside  the  old  castle 
of  Finavon.  When  it  was  cut  down,  the  late  Mr.  Skene  of  Caraldstone 
caused  a  table  to  be  made  of  the  wood  of  the  tree,  on  which  an  engraved 
plate  of  brass  contained  the  following  inscription  and  statement  of  its 
dimensions  : — '  This  Table  was  made  out  of  the  Chestnut  Tree  which  grew  at 
Finhaven  in  Angus-shire,  whose  dimensions  as  taken  and  attested  by  several 
Justices  of  the  Peace  of  that  County  on  the  20th  April  1745,  were  as  follows, 
although  at  that  time  that  tree  was  mostly  divested  of  its  bark,  being  killed 
by  the  severe  frost  in  1740.  Root  end  of  trunk  £  foot  above  ground,  42 
ft.  8£  in.  ;  middle  of  trunk  30  ft.  7  in.  ;  top  of  trunk  where  the  branches 

1  There  is  an  account  of  the  expenses  of  this  young  lady's  funeral  among  the 
Findowrie  Papers.  It  contains  many  curious  items  well  worthy  of  preservation,  but 
want  of  space  compels  us  to  omit  it.  The  total  cost  of  the  funeral  amounted  to 
£332, 10s.  4d.  Scots,  or  £27,  14s.  2£d. 


APPENDIX  VIII.  425 

broke  out  35  ft.  9  in. ;  the  biggest  branch  23  ft.  9  in.  ;  the  smallest 
do.  13  ft.  2  in.  From  these  measurements  the  tree  would  appear  to 
have  been  upwards  of  500  years  old,  or  probably  planted  when  the 
castle  was  built.'  The  table  is  now  in  Aboyne  Castle,  where  I  have 
seen  it,  and  have  read  the  Inscription. 

"  GEORGE  STUART,  Session  Clerk." 

INVENTORY  OF  FUENITUKE  IN  THE  CASTLE  OF 
FINHAVEN  IN  1712. 

The  folloiving  Inventory  of  the. Furniture  in  the  Castle  of  Finhaven,  in 
the  time  of  the  "false  Carnegrj  "  (ut  sup.  pp.  198  sq.\  was  printed  in 
the  Dundee  Advertiser  of  June  6,  1851,  as  from  the  original  in 
possession  of  the  late  John  Wedderburne,  Esq.,  Auchterhouse. 

Octo.  27,  1712.    Ane  inventar  of  ye  ffurniture  of  ye  Houss  of  Phin- 
haven  as  follows. 

Imp.    In  ye  skool  chamber  two  bedsteads  and  a  bairns  table. 

2  It.  In  ye  rid  roume  a  standing  bed  wt  rid  hangings,  a  straw  pal- 
liace,  a  ffether  bed,  a  bolster,  three  pair  of  blankets,  a  pillow,  on  chamber 
pott  of  pewter,  a  chamber  box,  six  rid  chairs,  a  table. 

3  It.  In  ye  pentted  roume  a  bedstead  wt  green  hangings,  a  straw  pal- 
liace,  a  fether  bed,  a  bolster,  two  old  down  pillows,  three  pair  of  blankets, 
a  green  cloath  upon  the  bed,  a  peuter  chamber  pott,  six  green  chairs,  a  table 
and  green  cloath  upon  it,  the  roume  hung  wt  green  hannings,  a  box  and 
a  pan. 

4  It.  In  ye  gold  collured  roume  a  bed  hung  wt  gold  coullered  hanngins, 
a  tuardelie,  a  straw  palliace,  a  ffether  bed,  a  bolster,  tuo  pillous,  a  quilt 
above  the  ffether  bed,  four  pair  of  blankets,  a  silk  quilt,  tuo  learn  chamber 
pots,  seven  gold  coullered  chairs,  a  glass,  a  table  and  tuo  stands,  the  roume 
hung  wt  gold  coullered  hangins,  ane  jorn  chumlow,  wt  toaings,  chuffle,  and 
purring  jorn. 

5  It.  In  ye  closet  a  bed  wt  yellow  hangins,  a  ffether  bed,  a  bolster,  a 
pillow,  tuo  pair  of  blankets,  a  yeellow  cowring,  a  carpit  chair,  a  box  and 
a  pan  in  ye  closet,  and  hung  wl  yeallow  hangings. 

6  It.  In  ye  great  roume  a  bed,  a  straw  palliace,  a  ffether  bed,  a  bolster, 
a  silk  quilt,  a  lame  chamber  pott,  two  pillowes,  three  pair  of  blankets,  seven 
green  chairs,  a  glass,  a  table  and  stands,  ye  roume  hung  wt  arras,  a  skreinge 
wt  a  box  and  a  pan,  a  quilt  above  ye  ffether  bed,  a  chimlow,  toaings,  chuffle, 
and  purring  jorn. 

7  It.  Ye  closet  bed  hung  wt  green  hangings,  a  ffether  bed,  a  bolster, 
a  pillow,  tuo  pair  of  blankets,  a  green  cloath  upon  ye  bed,  a  peuter  chamber 
pott,  a  table  wt  a  green  cloath,  three  carpit  chairs,  ye  closet  hung  wt  green, 
and  an  old  arm  chair. 

8  It.  The  busting  roume  wt  a  busting  bed  shewed  wt  green,  wt  a 
turdilue,  straw  palliace,  a  ffether  bed,  a  quilt  above  the  bed,  a  bolster, 
tuo  doun  pillows,  three  pair  of  blankits,  a  holland  quilt,  a  chamber  pott 


426  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

of  lame,  the  roume  hung  wt  arras,  a  glass  indented,  wt  table  and  stands, 
an  olive  wood  cabinet,  wt  nyne  carpit  chairs  and  ane  armed  ane,  and 
eighteen  pictures  on  ye  chirnblow  pease,  and  eleven  big  ones  in  ye  roume, 
a  chimblow,  toaings,  chuffel,  and  purring  jorn,  a  pan  and  chamber  box. 

9  It.  In  ye  high  dyning  roume,  the  roume  hung  wt  guilded  leather,1 
twelve  kean  chairs,  a  cloak,  a  big  table,  a  little  skringe,  a  broad  before 
ye  chimblow  wt  chimblow,  toaings,  chuffle,  and  purring  jorn,  wt  a  pictur 
on  ye  wall. 

10  It.  In  ye  drawing  room,  ye  roume  hung  wt  arras,  a  guilded  glass,  wt 
fyfteen  carpit  chairs,  six  picturs  on  ye  wall,  three  bottels  and  tuo  picturs 
on  ye  braise,  a  chimlow  broad,  wt  a  chiinlow,  toaings,  chuffle.  and  purring 
jorn. 

11  It.  In  ye  ffyne  roume,  hung  wt  arras,  a  japanned  cabinet,  table,  glass, 
and  stands,  wt  a  little  japanned  dressing  glass  and  dressing  box,  tuo  pouder 
boxes,  tuo  patch  boxes,  tuo  big  brusshes,  tuo  little  brusshes,  and  a  little 
japanned  box,  a  big  pictur  and  tuo  lesser  on  ye  walls,  seven  chairs. 

12  It.  In  ye  closet  hung  wt  blew  and  whyte  hangins,  a  ffether  bed,  a 
bolster,  a  pillow,  tuo  pair  of  blankits,  a  stool,  and  a  pan. 

13  It.  In  ye  nurssrie,  Mrs.  Annes  bed,2  a  caff  bed,  a  ffether  bolster,  four 
pair  of  blankits.     It.  In  Peggies  3  bed,  a  caff  bed,  a  ffether  bolster,  four 
pair  of  blankits  and  a  cowring.     It.  In  ye  Ladys  womans  bed  a  ffether  bed 
and  bolster  and  pillow,  three  pair  of  blankits.     It.  In  Agnis  Ogilvies  bed 
a  ffether  bed,  bolster,  four  pair  of  blankits,  and  a  couring  ;  a  big  press,  tuo 
stools,  whereof  on  carpit,  and  a  chair,  tuo  big  chists  and  a  little  one,  a 
bairns  chair  and  a  bairns  pan,  tuo  chamber  potts,  and  a  dressing  jorn. 

14  It.  In  ye  loa  dynning  roume  hung  wt  arras  hannings,  a  big  table 
and  two  littel  ons,  and  a  by  table,  tuelve  Russia  leather  chairs,  eight  picturs 
on  ye  wall,  a  chimlow,  toaings,  chuffel,  and  purring  jorn. 

15  It.  In  ye  Laird  and  Ladys  roume,  a  bed  wt  blew  shewed  hanngins, 
a  straw  palliace,  tuo  ffether  beds,  a  boughting  blankit,  a  bolster,  tuo 
pillous,  four  pair  of  blankits,  a  holand  quilt,  a  green  cloath  above  ye  bed, 
tuo  peuter  chamber  potts,  a  cabinet  and  a  chest  of  drawers,  tuo  tables, 
five  chairs,  a  bairns  chair  and  a  kein  stooll,  ten  big  picturs,  and  tuentie 
peaper  ons,  tuo  big  glasses  and  ane  littel  one,  three  picturs  on  ye  brease,  a 
clock,  wt  chimlow,  toaings,  chuffel,  and  purring  jorn,  a  broad  for  ye  chimlow. 

16  It.  In  ye  kitchen  tuo  big  potts  and  a  littel  one  of  coper,  three  brass 
pans,  tuo  sause  pans,  a  couer,  tuo  girdles,  tuo  brainders,  a  droping  pan, 
a  standirt,  five  spitts,  a  scummer,  a  laidle,  a  hacking  knife,  five  candlesticks, 

1  A  small  portion  of  these  hangings  was  in  possession  of  the  late  Rev.  Harry 
Stuart,  Oathlaw.      The  leather  was  beautifully  embossed  with  figures  and  land- 
scapes ;  the  part  remaining  shows  representations  of  Ceres,  Pan,  and  other  heathen 
deities.     Mr.  Stuart  had  also  a  chest  of  drawers,  which  was  part  of  the  Finhaven 
furniture.     They  are  called  Earl  Beardie's  Drawers,  but  are  of  much  later  manu- 
facture than  his  time. 

2  Afterwards  Lady  Ogilvy  of  Inverquharity. 

3  i.e.   Margaret.     She  was  afterwards  the  wife  of  Lyon  of  Auchterhouse.     It 
was  on  leaving  her  residence  in  Forfar  that  her  brother  of  Finhaven  stabbed  the 
Earl  of  Strathmore,  and  took  refuge  from  justice  in  her  "peat-house."     Ut  sup. 
p.  200. 


APPENDIX  VIII.  427 

tuo  gullies,  and  ane  ess  gully,  a  ffrying  pan,  a  pair  of  toangs,  a  mortar 
and  pistell,  a  hand  bell,  two  pair  of  snuffers  and  nyne  pleats,  eight  asshits, 
ane  doussing  and  ane  half  of  broth  trunchers,  four  dusing  of  plain  trunchers, 
three  baisons,  and  ane  pynt  stoup,  a  sowing1  sidish,  a  coll  riddle  and  tuo 
backits,  a  stooll,  tuo  raxis,  a  copar  kettel. 

17  It.  In  ye  woman  house  a  bed  wt  a  caff  bed,  ane  bolster,  ane  old  chist 
and  ane  new  on,  wt  ye  standirts  of  a  table,  a  woull  baskit. 

18  It.  In  ye  milk  house  three  kirns,  six  milk  cougs,  three  chessers, 
a  big  table,  a  reaming  dish  and  sidish,  three  washing  cuidds  and  a  big  on. 

19  It.  In  ye  brew  huss  three  gallon  trees,2  on  eighteen  gallon  tree,  seven 
five  gallon  trees,  tuo  tuentie  pynt  rubbers,  two  guill  fatts,  a  masking  fatt, 
and  a  caldring,  a  barm  stop,  a  tumill,  a  skimmer,  a  toun  cog,  a  wirt  dissh,  a 
wirt  skeel. 

20  It.   The  roume  oposite  to  John  Strachans,  a  bed,  a  ffether  bed, 
bolster  and  pillow,  tuo  pair  of  blankets  and  a  couring,  and  a  caff  bolster  at 
ye  futt,  a  table. 

21  It.  In  ye  servants  roume  a  bed  wt  a' caff  bed  and  ffether  bolster  and 
tuo  pair  of  blankits  ;  in  ye  other  a  caff  bed  and  caff  bolster,  and  tuo  pair  of 
blankits,  a  table  and  a  chair. 

22  It.  Ye  porters  roume,  a  bed  wt  tuo  pair  of  blankits  and  a  caff  bed 
and  a  bolster,  a  table  and  a  chair  and  a  couring. 

23  It.  In  ye  bottle  house  tuo  bufe  toubs,  tuo  butter  toubs  wt  covers. 

24  It.  In  ye  seller  tuo  hearing  trees,  wt  ane  other,  a  big  chist,  a  souing 
toub. 

25  It.  In  ye  cupboord,  delivered  as  follows — tuo  silver  servers,  a  silver 
tanker,  four  silver  salts,  sheugar  box,  tuo  spise  boxes  of  silver,  tuo  silver 
cadel  cups,  two  silver  brandie  disshes,  a  silver  pottanger,  tuo  silver  juggs, 
tuo  silver  tumblers,  tuelve  silver  hefted  knives,   eighteen   silver  fforks, 
forteen  silver  spoons  and  a  big  silver  one,  thirtie-tuo  glasses  in  ye  cup- 
boord, and  three  learn  dishes  standing  high,  tuo  glass  dicanters,  ane  oyle 
glass  and  a  vinegar  glass,  four  christall  salts,  four  drinking  glasses,  tuo  learn 
trunchers,  a  peuter  dicauntor,  a  big  queech. 

26  Novr.  ye  3th  1712.     It.  of  chopen  bottles  twentie  three  doussing  and 
three. 

27  Ane  particular  account  of  qt  linnings  my  lady  hase  delivered  to  Mrs. 
Adam  at  her  entree,  Novr.  ye  22d,  1712. 

Impr.  Off  linning  sheets  forteen  pair,  and  four  pair  of  ffyne  sheets. 
It.  Of  course  sheets  eighteen  pair. 
It.  Of  pillavers  fortie  eight. 
It.  Of  bed  sheet  tuo. 

It.  Of  neapons  thirteen  doussing  and  seven,  whereof  5  doussing  and 
seven  ffyne. 

It.  Of  toualls  ffyfteen. 
It.  Of  table  cloaths  tuelve. 

1  "  Sov)ens— flummery  made  of  dust  of  oatmeal  remaining  among  the  seeds, 
steeped  and  soured."— -{Jamieson,  Scot.  Diet.,  in  voce.) 

2  Gantrees,  or  stand  for  holding  barrels.— </&.) 


428  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

It.  Three  pair  of  old  sheets  for  mending  the  rest,  qch  she  is  to  compt  for. 
It.  Two  cupboard  table  cloaths. 

In  another  but  incomplete  inventory,  dated  1st  November  1709,  the 
first  and  second  entries  give  a  detail,  but  imperfectly,  owing  to  the  manu- 
script being  considerably  defaced,  of  wearing  apparel,  thus  : — 

ten  fyne  schirts  wt  .  .  course  shirts  .  .  seven  pair  of  stockens, 
with  .  .  pair  of  silk  ones  and  a  pair  of  cotton  ones. 

my  ladies  cloaths,  eight  fyne  shirts,  eight  course  ones,  eight  hand 
kirchiffs,  six  aprons  and  tua  tueelirg  ones,  four  busten  west  coats,  six  soot 
of  night-cloaths,  six  soot  of  piners  and  a  combing  cloath,  three  hoods . 


No.  IX.— PAGE  223. 

Extracts  from  Petition  and  Complaint  of  Mr.  George  Tytler,  Minister  of 
Fern,  to  the  Heritors  of  the  Parish,  against  John  Dildarg,  School- 
master.— January  15,  1778. 

IT  appears  that  John  Dildarg  was  appointed  schoolmaster  of  Fern  about 
1763-4.  According  to  Mr.  Tytler's  complaint,  he  was  so  unqualified  for 
the  office  of  precentor  that  "  singing  psalms  was  like  to  wear  out  of  the 
church,"  and  he  became  so  turbulent  that  no  person  would  "  entertain  him 
as  a  lodger."  He  also  intermeddled  with  the  minister's  affairs,  threatened 
"law  processes  against  him" — tried  to  detract  from  his  character,  and 
"  weaken  his  hands  in  the  exercise  of  his  ministry,"  etc.  But  the  more 
immediate  cause  of  the  quarrel  beiwixt  him  and  the  minister,  which  will 
be  sufficiently  shown  by  the  following  curious  extracts,  arose  from  Dildarg's 
propagating  the  doctrine  of  the  "  unlawfulness  of  eating  blood."  "  Lifted 
up,"  as  the  Complaint  bears,  "  with  a  conceit  of  his  own  knowledge,"  the 
schoolmaster  wrote  a  discourse  on  the  subject  of  blood-eating,  and  tried  to 
make  proselytes  of  all  under  his  influence.  The  Complaint  proceeds  thus  : — 

"That  he  carried  the  point  of  blood-eating  so  far,  that  he  attempted 
not  in  a  private,  but  in  a  very  public  manner,  even  in  the  presence  of 
minister,  elders,  and  communicants  (among  which  last  he  thought  he  had 
formed  a  party),  anent  admission  to  the  Lord's  Table,  to  get  it  enacted  that 
none  should  be  received  into  communion  that  did  not,  or  would  not  promise 
to  abstain  from  eating  blood,  and  because  his  proposal  was  rejected,  he  has 
not  joined  in  communion  here  these  four  or  five  years  at  least ;  but  that  this 
is  no  real  matter  of  conscience  with  him,  as  he  pretends,  may,  without  breach 
of  charity,  be  alleged,  because  he  scruples  not  to  join  with  other  congregations, 
particularly  with  that  of  Brechin,  where,  considering  the  many  butchers, 
there  will  be  more  blood  eaten  in  a  week  than  in  Fern  in  a  twelvemonth. 

"  That  over  and  above  what  is  mentioned,  that  he  (Dildarg)  began  many 
years  ago  to  set  up  conventicles  in  private  houses,  and  more  publicly  in  the 
school-house,  on  Sabbath-days  and  other  days,  when  he  could  get  a  con- 


APPENDIX  IX.  429 

veniendum,  where  he  preached  and  prayed,  and  expounded  the  Scriptures  ; 
and  it  was  the  ordinary  way,  as  I  have  been  credibly  informed,  to  tell  them 
— '  Thus  the  minister  says,  but. that  is  what  I  say' ! 

«  *  *  *  *  TI^  towards  the  end  of  last  year  my  wife  sending  a 
portion  of  blood  and  puddings  to  a  poor  cripple  old  woman  in  the  parish, 
Dildarg,  either  following  or  overtaking  the  servant  on  the  way,  and  finding 
it  was  blood,  said  that  my  wife  or  I  might  as  well  send  some  lewd  person  to 
commit  fornication  or  adultery  with  her,  as  send  her  blood  to  eat,  and  in 
the  most  serious  manner  exhorted  her  to  throw  it  out  (as  he  has  persuaded 
some  in  the  parish  to  do),  and  for  this  purpose  lectured  over  to  her  the  17th 
of  Leviticus.  At  the  same  time  also  he  took  occasion  to  detract  from  the 
character  of  a  certain  gentlewoman,  and  to  magnify  a  common  dame  whose 
reputation  in  this  country-side  is  none  of  the  finest. 

"  That  upon  hearing  this,  your  complainer  wrote  to  Dildarg  on  a  slip  of 
paper,  whether  he  had  said  such  things — not  in  expectation  of  his  returning 
me  an  answer,  but  to  let  him  understand  that  I  knew  what  he  had  said. 

"  That  he  returned  me  (this)  written  answer,  of  date  December  13th  last 
1777)  : — '  I  am  surprised  at  a  line  which  you  sent  me,  wherein  you  require 
me  to  give  you  an  answer  thereto.  I  am,  sir,  under  no  obligation  to  answer 
this  line  :  for,  if  I  have  spoken  any  evil  of  you  or  your  wife,  it  was  your 
business  to  prove  it.  You  are  no  Roman  Inquisitor,  and  therefore  you  cannot 
oblige  me  to  become  my  own  accuser,  and  if  you  had  not  insinuated  that  I 
scandalised  a  woman  of  quality,  I  should  not  have  taken  the  least  notice 
of  it.  Whoever  told  you  this,  told  you  a  manifest  falsehood.  Seeing  you 
have,  sir,  copied  after  the  infallible  church  in  your  expiscating  questions  in 
order  to  make  me  my  own  accuser,  I  hope  you  will  not  be  offended  at  me 
for  copying  after  you.  I  have  two  or  three  questions  to  propose,  and  I  hope 
you  will  give  a  plain  and  direct  answer  to  them. — 1st.  Did  you  say  to  any 
of  the  parishioners  in  the  summer  or  harvest  1776,  that  I  did  nail  my  cat  to 
the  wall  of  my  house  in  order  that  I  might  show  the  nature  of  a  sacrifice  ? 
If  you  did,  I  desire  you  will  inform  me  who  the  hellish  person  was  who 
invented  such  a  lie  ;  for  all  the  devils  in  hell  could  not  have  contrived  a 
greater  falsehood. — 2nd.  Did  you  hear  your  wife  about  the  same  time  call 
me  a  rascal  and  villain,  or  words  to  the  same  import,  to  any  person  ? — 3rd. 
If  your  wife  did  give  me  such  names,  tell  me  if  her  character  is  agreeable  to 
the  character  of  a  bishop  or  deacon's  wife,  1  Tim.  iii.  11. 

"  I  did  aver  to  Jean  Lyal  that  the  eating  of  blood  was  as  sinful  in  the 
sight  of  God  as  either  adultery  or  fornication,  and  I  affirm  the  same  thing 
again,  sir ;  for  you  nor  no  man  shall  intimidate  me  from  maintaining  the 
truth,  and  I  have  as  good  reason  to  judge  what  is  truth  as  you  or  any  other 
man  ;  and  I  will  oppose  every  error  which  I  hear  broached  and  propagated, 
be  the  consequence  what  will.  It  is  my  duty  to  contend  earnestly  for  the 
faith  which  was  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  and  to  oppose  every  error  that 
is  subversive  of  this  faith.' " 

At  a  meeting  of  Presbytery  held  on  January  G,  1779,  Mr.  Dildarg  being 
complained  against  by  Mr.  Tytler,  was  rebuked  and  admonished  by  the 
Presbytery,  and  promised  amendment. 


430  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 


No.  X.— PAGE  234. 

THROUGH  the  kindness  of  David  Deuchar,  Esq.,  of  Morningside,  Edin- 
burgh, we  axe  enabled  to  give  the  following  notes  upon  the  estate  and  family 
of  Deuchar. 

In  the  end  of  last  century,  David  Deuchar,  seal  engraver  and  etcher, 
Edinburgh,  the  first  of  Morningside,  appears  to  have  instituted  inquiries 
into  the  pedigree  of  the  Deuchars  ;  and  again,  in  the  beginning  of  the  pre- 
sent, his  son  Alexander  Deuchar,  seal  engraver  and  genealogist,  bestowed 
great  care  in  documentary  research  and  personal  inquiry  on  the  subject. 
Happily  their  collections  are  in  great  measure  preserved,  and  now  for  the 
most  part  belong  to  Miss  Deuchar,  2  Henderson  Row,  Edinburgh.  From 
these  it  appears  that  the  family  came  into  possession  of  the  estate  of 
Deuchar  about  1230,  and  were  the  Deuchars  of  that  Ilk  until  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  Prior  to  1640  David  Deuchar  of  Deuchar  had 
got  into  difficulties,  and  had  cut  down  and  sold  some  valuable  wood 
upon  the  property.  This  failing  to  relieve  him,  he  sold  or  otherwise 
resigned  part  of  the  estate  to  David  Deuchar  in  Nether  Balgillo,  younger 
son  of  his  brother  James  ;  subsequently  he  made  over  the  remainder  of  the 
estate  to  the  said  David  Deuchar  his  nephew,  probably  reserving  for  himself 
a  life-annuity  therefrom.  He  died  without  male  issue,  but  he  left  a  daughter 
or  daughters.  The  last  in  the  line  of  David  Deuchar  (in  Nether  Balgillo) 
that  owned  the  estate  of  Deuchar,  was  George  Deuchar,  his  great-great- 
grandson,  who  disposed  of  it  by  public  sale  in  Forfar  on  17th  March  1819, 
to  the  late  Mr.  Marnie,  to  whose  daughters  it  now  belongs.  After  the  sale 
of  Deuchar,  George  for  some  time  held  the  farm  of  Pittrichie  in  Aberdeen- 
shire  ;  about  1830  he  appears  to  have  been  Inspector  of  Cleansing  in  Dundee  ; 
and  soon  thereafter  was  land-steward  at  Errol  Park  in  the  Carse  of  Gowrie. 
Subsequently  he  emigrated  to  Australia  with  his  wife  and  daughters,  and 
died  there.  But  before  he  parted  with  Deuchar,  he  was  in  reduced  circum- 
stances, and  under  trustees.  This  branch  is  still  represented,  in  the  female 
line,  by  the  family  of  George  Deuchar  in  the  colonies,  and  by  that  of  his 
brother,  John,  who  settled  in  Aberdeenshire,  and  whose  eldest  son,  John, 
with  the  other  members  of  the  family,  went  to  Australia,  where  they  have 
left  a  numerous  progeny.  The  sons  of  the  second  John  carry  on  the  male 
representation  of  this  line  of  the  Deuchars. 

The  elder  branch  (according  to  this  view)  descended  from  John  Deuchar, 
elder  son  of  the  said  James  Deuchar,  and  distinguished  as  the  Bashan  branch 
(so  named  from  Bashan,  Bushen,  Beauchamp,  Boshen,  Bolshan,  Balshione, 
Balishan,  or  at  times  The  Hill,  in  Kinnell,  Forfarshire),  is  now  represented 
by  Patrick  Deuchar,  Esq.,  merchant,  Liverpool,  who  would  thus  lineally  be 
The  Deuchar  de  eodem.  His  great-grandfather,  Alexander  Deuchar,  came 
from  the  farm  of  Hill  of  Bolshan  or  Bashan,  above  referred  to,  and  was 
lapidary  in  Edinburgh.  His  grandfather,  David  Deuchar,  purchased 
Morningside,  and  entailed  it  upon  his  youngest  son,  and  failing  heirs-male, 
upon  the  next  in  succession  in  inverse  order  to  primogeniture.  His  father, 


APPENDIX   XI.  431 

the  late  Alexander  Deuchar,  well  known  in  Edinburgh  as  seal  engraver 
and  genealogist,  who  died  on  12th  August  1844,  was  the  eldest  son,  and 
has  still  surviving  a  son  and  two  daughters.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  we  may 
soon  see  published  a  History  of  the  Family  of  Deuchar. 


No.  XL— PAGE  315. 

Letter  from  Sir  David  Carnegie,  of  Pitarrow,  Bart.,  to  James  Carnegie, 
Esq.  of  Balnamoon. 

[THE  laird  of  Balnamoon,  to  whom  the  following  curious  letter  was 
addressed,  was  father  of  the  "rebel  laird"  of  1746.  The  writer  was  the 
first  Baronet  of  Pitarrow,  father  of  Margaret  Carnegie,  wife  of  the  patriotic 
Fletcher  of  Salton,  and  mother  of  Lord  Milton,  an  eminent  Scotch  lawyer. 
Carnegie's  grandson,  Sir  James,  succeeded  to  the  Southesk  estates  on  the 
death  of  the  last  Earl  in  1729,  and  from  him  the  present  Baronet  of  Southesk 
is  the  fourth  in  succession.] 

"  To  the  much  honoured  the  Laird  of  Ballnamoon — These. 
Sir, 

As  I  hear  that  in  absence  of  the  Earle  of  Northeske  yow  manage  all 
sea  wrack  to  the  best  advantage  for  him  And  being  certantly  informed  that 
the  Sea  has  cast  in  severall  casks  not  only  of  the  best  of  Brandie,  which 
they  that  have  teasted  of  doe  assure  me  :  And  which  brandy  does  nowayes 
belong  to  ye  ships  seawrackt  at  Montrose.  And  also  being  told  thafc 
severall  casks  of  ye  best  ffrench  wyne  of  the  same  nature  were  lykewayes 
cast  ashore  and  seased  by  you  for  ye  Earles  use.  Sir  my  sade  sicknes  these 
four  moneths  bygone  and  yet  continuing  (having  weakened  me  extremely 
beyond  expression) ;  my  body  craves  for  its  support  ye  best  of  Liquors 
indispenseable  ;  I  doe  earnestly  intreat  I  may  have  two  gallons  of  the  best 
brandie  and  als  much  of  the  best  ffrench  wyne  at  ye  current  pryce  ye  rest 
of  ye  best  shall  be  sold  at ;  This  Sir  as  I  know  my  Lord  will  be  heartely 
satesfied  with  ;  so  when  with  you  I  plead  ye  benefite  of  blood  relation  It 
saves  me  the  pains  of  farther  persuasives.  Only  you  will  friendly  consider 
the  great  need  I  presently  stand  in  ;  for  my  present  subsistance  and  Life  ; 
And  qch  sir  from  you  will  be  ye  most  seasonable  kyndnes  you  can  express 
to  me  ;  So  your  answer  by  this  bearer  is  expected  by 

Sir, 
Your  Affectionat  humble  servant 

D.  CARNEGIE. 
"Pittarrow  12  Apryle  1708." 


432  LAND   OF   THE   LINDSAYS. 


No.  XII.— PAGE  315. 

Notice  of  the  Family  of  Arbuthnott  of  Findowiie. — From  Notes  from 
Findourie  Papers,  by  the  late  P.  Chalmers,  Esq.  of  Aldbar. 

ROBERT  ARBDTHNOTT  l  of  that  Ilk,  third  of  the  name,  was  the  immediate 
progenitor  of  the  family  of  Findowrie.  He  succeeded  his  father  James,  and 
was  thrice  married  :  first  to  Elizabeth  Carnegie,  Kinnaird's  daughter,  by 
whom  he  had  three  sons  and  one  daughter  ;  secondly,  to  Margaret  Pringle 
of  Gallowshiels,  by  whom  he  had  no  issue  ;  and,  thirdly,  to  Helen  Clephane, 
daughter  of  the  laird  of  Carslogie,  who  bore  him  four  sons  and  four 
daughters.  On  the  9th  of  February  1574,  Robert  of  that  Ilk,  and  his  third 
wife,  had  charters  of  the  lands  of  Findowrie,  in  conjunct  fee  and  liferent, 
and  to  David  Arbuthnott,  their  eldest  son,  in  fee,  from  Robert  Cullaiss  of 
Balnamoon,2  who  had  sasine  of  Findowrie  on  December  3rd,  1558,  from 
David  Fenton,  feudatory  of  Ogil.3  Robert  Arbuthnott  of  that  Ilk  was 
succeeded  in  Arbuthnott  by  his  son,  great-grandson,  and  great-great-grand- 
son.4 The  last  of  these  was  son  to  James  Arbuthnott  of  Arrat,  near 
Brechin,  and  father  of  the  first  Viscount  of  Arbuthnott. 

In  1616,  Robert,  the  son  of  David  of  Findowrie,  married  Margaret 
Graham,  daughter  of  Sir  William  Graham  of  Claverhouse,  and  widow  of 
George  Somyr,  [younger]  of  Balzeordie.5  This  laird  was  an  early  acquaint- 
ance of  the  future  Marquis  of  Montrose,  who  addressed  the  following 
friendly  note  to  him,  many  years  before  he  embarked  in  those  perilous 
enterprises  for  which  his  name  is  now  so  famous  : — 

"  To  my  loueiiige  frende  the  larde  of  findoury. 

"  Loueing  frende — I  wreatte  to  you  some  tyme  since  to  heave  keipet  ane 
apoyntment  but  I  harde  ye  wer  from  home.  Wherfor  I  must  intreet  you 
now  to  take  the  peans  to  meite  me  at  auld  Montrois  upon  monday  about 
thrie  houres  efternone.  In  doing  whych  ye  shall  obliege  me  to  remaine 

Yr  louing  frende 

MOINTROIS. 

"At  Kinarde,  the  17  of  Sep1**  1631."  6 

Circumstances,  however,  cooled  Montrose's  friendship  towards  Arbuth- 
nott ;  for  it  appears  from  the  subjoined  statement  of  "  Losses "  which  the 
latter  sustained  through  him  and  his  soldiers,  that  his  lands  and  tenants 


1  The  reader  is  referred,  to  Douglas,  Peerage,  i.  p.  80,  article  ARBUTHNOTT,  for 
the  ancient  history  of  this  family,  also  ut  siip.  pp.  315  sq. 

2  Reg.  Episc.  Brech.  ii.  p.  285.  3  Tb.  ii.  p.  280. 

4  In  1597,  the  Arbuthnotts  of  Findowrie  owned  the  Mains  of  Lauristoun,  and 
the  town  and  lands  of  Rosehill,  in  the  Mearns  ;  Birghill  in  Aberdeenshire,  Wester 
Umzver  in  Fife,  and  Brathwich  in  Forfar. — (Findowrie  Writs.) 

5  Several  carved  stones,  bearing  the  initials  and  arms  of  this  laird  and  lady,  are 
built  into  the  walls  of  the  farm-steading,  dated  1638. 

6  The  body  of  this  letter  and  the  superscription  are  written  by  Montrose's  servant 
— the  signature  his  own. 


APPENDIX  XII.  433 

were  not  only  harried  to  a  large  extent,  but  his  private  residence  was  also 
burned  and  pillaged. 

The  son  and  grandson  of  the  last-mentioned  laird  were  also  staunch 
supporters  of  the  Covenant,  and  fined  by  the  Earl  of  Middleton  in  the  large 
sum  of  .£2400.  And,  as  appears  by  a  letter  from  the  Earl  of  Strathmore, 
commander  of  the  Angus  regiment,  while  located  in  Strathblane,  on  the 
18th  of  June  1685,  the  laird  of  the  period,  Robert  Arbuthnott,  was  a  person 
of  so  great  consequence,  that  he  was  chosen  by  the  Earl  to  command  a 
company  of  horsemen  during  that  stirring  period.1 

This  laird  was  succeeded  in  1698  by  his  son  Alexander,  who  died  before 
the  18th  of  September  1707,  as  of  that  date  his  son,  by  a  daughter  of 
Lindsay  of  Evelick,  was  served  his  heir.  On  the  death  of  the  son  2  of  the 
last-mentioned  Alexander,  the  male  succession  failed,  and  the  estates  were 
carried  to  the  family  of  Balnamoon,  through  the  marriage  of  the  heiress 
with  James  Carnegy  "  the  rebel  laird,"  in  the  hands  of  whose  descendants 
(through  a  female)  Findowrie  still  continues. 


Statement  of  Losses  sustained  by  the  Laird  of  Findowrie  and  his  Tenants 
through  the  Marquis  of  Montrose,  in  1646. — (From  the  Findowrie  Papers.) 

At  Brechine  the  sextein  day  of  October  the  year  of  god  Imvjc  and 
fourtie  sex  yearis.  In  presence  of  James  Guthrie  of  Pitforthie,  John 
Simmer  fiear  of  Brathinsch,  David  Livingstoune  in  Dunleppie,  James  Ross 
in  Dalbog,  George  Straton  in  Achdovie,  and  Johne  Lyone  in  Aldbar,  as  ane 
quorum  of  the  Commissioneris  appointit  be  the  Committee  of  the  rnonyis 
and  process  for  the  north  conforme  to  the  Commissione  grantit  to  them  for 
uptakinge  of  the  Losses  conteinit  in  the  said  Commissione,  Of  the  qlk 
quorum  the  said  David  Livingstoune  wes  electit  preses.  Compeirit  person- 
allie  Robert  Arbuthnot  fier  of  Findawrie  and  his  fatheris  tenantis  and  ser- 
vandis,  and  his,  and  gave  in  thar  particular  Losses  qlk  they  suffered  be  the 
commone  enemie  be  burning  out,  spuiling  and  robbing,  as  wes  provin  sum 
by  Witnesses  and  sum  by  oath  of  pairties,  as  follows 

Item  compeirit  Jon  Brown  in  Findawrie  and  gave  in  his  particular  Losses 
quhairupon  being  Dewlie  sworn  deponit,  qlkis  Losses  extendis 
to X1469  0  8 

Item  Jon  Williamsone  in  Muriehillock  deponit  and  gave  in  his 

Losses  being  dewlie  sworne  qlk  extendis  to        ...     704    4    0 

Item  David  Williamsone  in  Markcus  gave  his  oath  and  gave  in 

his  Losses  qlk  extends  to 368     3     4 

Item  James  Sym  at  the  myln  of  Markous  gave  his  aith  and  gave 

in  his  Losses  qlk  extends  to 24    0    0 

1  A  stone  built  into  the  wall  of  the  farm-house  of  Findowrie  belongs  to  this 
laird's  time.     It  bears  the  following  quaint  observation:— "  Hie  •  ARGVS  •  NON  • 
BRIARI'  •  ESTO  •  MAT  •  12  •  1684  •  R  •  A :  E  •  R." 

2  Ap.  22, 1745— d.  Alex.  Arbuthnot  of  Findowrie.— (Scoff  Mag.) 

2  E 


434  LAND   OF   THE    LINDSAYS. 

Item  the  said  David  Williamsone  compeirit  for  David1  William- 
sone  his  brother  being  seik  and  gave  in  his  Losses  (qlk  be 
his  gryt  aith  he  declarit  that  he  knew  to  be  of  veritie)  qlks 
Losses  extends  to  .  .  ,  •  .  .  .  £32  0  0 

Item  compeirit  Thomas  Cothill  cotter  in  Muriehillock  and  gave 

in  his  losses  and  thairupon  gave  his  aith  qlk  extends  to  .  32  0  0 

Item  Martha  Aikenheid  in  Muriehillock  gave  in  hir  losses  and 

gave  hir  aith  thairupon  qlk  extends  to  «  '  .  ;  25  0  0 

Item  Isobell  Findlie  thair  gave  in  hir  losses  and  gave  hir  oath 

yrupon  qlk  extends  to 41  10  0 

Item  Thomas  Skair  in  Litill  Markous  compeirit  and  gave  in  his 

losses  and  gave  his  oath  yrupon  qlk  extends  to  .  .  68  19  4 

Item  Jon  Allane  in  Findawrie  comperit  and  gave  in  his  losses 

qurupon  he  gave  his  oath  qlk  extends  to  ...  191  3  4 

Item  David  Myller  thair  gave  in  his  losses  qlk  extends  to  22     6     8 

Item  Johne  Cramond  thair  compeirit  and  gave  in  his  losses  qlk 

extends  to  70  13  4 


Summa  Lateris  is      .  -  £3059    0    8 

JHONE  LYONE  DAVID  LEVINGSTOUNE 

T.  LINDSAY  notar  GEORGE  STRATON      J.  GOUTHRIE 

clerk  heirto         J.  Ross  JHONE  SYMMER 

Followes  the  Losses  susteinit  be  the  said  Robert  Arbuthnot  himself  by 
burning  of  his  place  of  Findowrie,  barnes  byres  office  housses  and  comes 
in  his  barne  and  barneyard,  and  by  burning  of  his  Ludging  in  Brechine 
(victual  housses  and  stabillis)  and  by  destroying  of  his  cornes  upon  the 
ground,  Robbing  and  Spulzes  of  his  Nolt  scheip  horss  and  uther  gudis  and 
geir  comittit  be  the  comone  enemie  and  his  complices,  as  wes  judiciallie 
provin  concerning  the  fulrack  of  the  houss  be  trasdesmen  and  such  as 
wes  not  provin  the  said  Robert  Arbuthnot  fiear  of  Findawrie  gave  his  aith 
thairupon. 

That  the  Losses  above  specifiet  according  to  the  particularis  given  be 

them  extends  to  the  soume  of £3984    8     8 

Item  mair  he  deponit  that  he  had  of  cunyeit  money  qlk  wes 

taken  from  him  be  the  said  enemie  out  of  his  hous          .         2000     0     0 
Forder  we  to  quhome  this  Commission  wes  grantit   and 
undersubscryvained    Declairis    that  according  to    oure 
knowledge  and  so  far  as  we  could  have  informatione,  that 
he  lost  be  the  forsaid  enemie  of  Insicht  plenishing  with 
sum  Jewellis  and  silver  wark  worth  the  soume  off  .         .         2000     0     0 
Summa  Lateris  is         .    .£7984    8     8 
Summa  totalis  11043     9     4 


1  Kic  in  orig. 

-  An  error  of  £10  is  in  this  summation,  and  is  repeated  in  the  siimma  totalis. 


APPENDIX  XII.  435 

We  undersubscryvand  testifie  that  we  haue  takin  the  oathis  of  the  pair- 
ties  and  witnesses  above  writtin  concerning  the  particularis  of  the  losses  given 
in  be  the  foirsaid  persones. 

GEORGE  STRATON      DAVID  LEVINGSTOUNE 
T.  LINDSAY  notar  JHONE  LYONE  J.  GOUTHRIE 

clerk  heirto         J.  Eoss  JHONE  SYMMER 

The  following  is  the  deliverance  on  the  above. 

Aberdene  19  October  1646. 

The  Comittee  of  moneyis  and  process  for  the  north  considering  the  con- 
ditione  of  Robert  Arbuthnott  of  Findawrie  in  the  burning  and  wasting  of 
his  haill  landis  within  the  schrefdome  of  fforfar  done  and  occasioned  by  the 
rebells,  doe  thairfor  suspend  all  payt  of  maintenance  for  the  saidis  landis  of 
the  said  schyre,  Whill  order  be  gevine  be  parliament  or  thair  comitties 
respect9  for  uplifting  thairof,  Inhibiting  and  discharging  in  the  mean 
tyme,  the  collectors  of  the  maintenance  within  the  said  schyre  frome  all 
troubling  or  molesting  of  the  said  Robert  Arbuthnott  or  his  tenants 
thairfor 

J.  BURGHLY,  I.P.D.  Com. 


Letter  from  Mr.  J.  Rait,  Aberluthnot  (MaryJevrk)  to  the  laird  of  Findowrie, 
on  supplying  a  Vacancy  in  the  Church  of  Menmuir  in  1642. 

Richt  Honoble  Sir 

I  heir  the  kirk  of  Menmuir  is  vacand  If  ye  think  it  expedient  my  sone 
Mr.  Wm.  would  offer  his  trevellis  ther.  He  hes  an  inclination  to  come 
furth  and  fears  if  we  get  not  him  setled  besyde  ws  at  home  he  be  drawn 
furth  to  setill  in  the  north  pairtes  qlk  I  wold  not  desyr  for  inonie  causes 
Alwyis  Sr  if  ye  think  it  a  thing  liklie  ye  may  use  yor  moyen  I  know  ze 
have  a  straik  of  all  ye  parochineris  Quhan  ye  come  to  ye  Mearnis  I  wold 
wis  ze  cam  yis  way  and  wisit  me  qn  we  shall  confer  at  griter  lynth 
Committing  yow  and  all  yours  to  ye  tuition  of  God  almichtie 
Remenis 

Yor  assured  cussing  to  serve  yow 
Aberluthnot,  Aprilis  1642.  MA.  J.  RAIT. 

In  the  following  Presbyterian  Licence  to  eat  flesh  on  forbidden  days 
(which  is  copied  from  the  Arbuthnott  papers),  the  name  of  this  laird  and 
his  contemporary  of  Findowrie  occurs  :— "  The  Lords  of  Councell  give  full 
licence  and  libertie  to  Ro*.  Vicecownt  of  Arbuthnott,  Sr  Jon  Carnegy  of 
Craig  Sir  Alex.  Carnegie  of  Balnamone  William  Rait  of  Halgrein  and 
Robert  Arbuthnot  of  Fyndowrie  and  such  as  shal  be  in  cache  of  yair  Com- 
panies To  eat  and  feed  vpon  flesche  during  this  forbidden  tyme  of  Lentron 
viz.  frome  the  day  of  to  the  day  of  nixt 


436  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

thairefter.  And  alsua  vpon  Wednisdayes,  Frydayes,  and  Satterdayes,  for 
the  space  of  a  yeir  after  ye  dait  heirof  And  that  withowt  any  cryme 
quarrell  skaithe  or  danger  to  be  sustinet  be  thaim  or  ony  of  thame  in  thair 
persons  goods  or  geir  Notwithstanding  of  quhatsumevir  act  of  parliament 
statute  or  proclamacion  made  in  the  contrare  whairanent  and  all  paynes 
therein  contenit  The  saids  Lords  dispensis  simpliciter  Given  at  Ednr.  the 
day  of  Marche  1642  yeares.  (Signed) — LOUDON  CANRIUS.  ARGYLL, 
MORTON,  EGLINTOUN,  SOUTHESK,  Sr  THOMAS  HOP,  J.  CARMICHAEL, 
AL.  GIBSONE  of  Durie,  ROBERT  INNES  of  that  Ilk." — (Misc.  Sp.  Club,  ii. 
p.  115.) 


No.  XIII.— PAGE  339. 

Epitaph  on  the  Tombstone  of  Bishop  Edgar  in  the  Abbey,  Arbroath. 

QUOD  inori  potuit  admodum  reverendi  Prsesulis  Henrici  Edgar,  filii 
Davidis  Edgar  de  Keithock,  sub  hoc  saxo  requiescit ;  qui  per  annos  triginta 
sex  sacra  inunia  Aberbrothock  fideliter  obiit,  animam  spei  beatse  immortali- 
tatis  plenam  restituit  Augusti  vicesimo  secundo,  anno  JErss  Christianas 
millesimo  septingentesimo  sexagesimo  octavo,  aetatis  vero  suse  septuagesimo 
primo. 

Dominus  dedit,  Dominus  abstulit, 
Nomen  Domini  benedictum." 


No.  XIV.— PAGE  346. 

The  Iron  Yets  or  Gates  of  the  Castles  of  Inverquharity  and  Invermark.— 
(From  Willis's  Current  Notes,  London,  Aug.  1855.) 

THESE  iron-grated  yets  or  gates  were  formerly  used  as  inner  doors  to  the 
principal  entrances  of  old  castles  in  Scotland  ;  several  of  them  remain,  and 
present  perfect  representations  of  their  construction  and  strength.  Their 
general  application  appears  to  have  followed  upon  the  disuse  of  the  port- 
cullis, and  they  were  well  adapted  as  effective  safeguards  against  the  invasion 
of  the  Cateran,  or  Highland  robber,  as  well  as  a  sure  defence  against  the  pre- 
meditated assaults  of  one  baron  upon  the  home  and  dependants  of  another. 
All  baronial  buildings  situated  near  any  pass  in  the  Highlands,  or  usual 
road-way  or  thoroughfare  in  the  Lowlands,  were  provided  with  them,  and 
remain  an  incontestable  proof  of  the  general  insecurity  consequent  on  the 
lawless  state  of  North  Britain  till  a  very  recent  date.  .  .  . 


APPENDIX   XIV.  437 

The  lands  and  castle  of  Inverquharity  were  held  by  the  ancestors  of  the 
present  baronet  from  a  period  anterior  to  the  year  1405,  and  were,  about 
sixty  or  seventy  years  ago,  alienated.  The  castle  is  now  a  ruin.  The  "  Irne 
yet,"  for  which  the  licence  was  obtained,  is  still  there  in  its  original 
position.  These  iron  gates,  hung  on  strong  hinges,  and  secured  by  two  or 
three  bolts,  varying  in  diameter  from  two  to  four  inches,  were  not  unfre- 
quently  aided  in  their  repellative  quality  by  a  thick  bar  of  oak,  one  end  of 
which  being  placed  in  an  aperture  in  the  wall,  passed  immediately  behind 
the  gate  to  an  opposite  niche  chiselled  in  the  stone-work  to  receive  it.  At 
many  other  fortalices  in  the  same  district,  such  gates  as  here  described  are 
remaining ;  and  among  them  that  at  Invermark  Castle,  in  the  romantic 
valley  of  Glenesk,  aifords  a  satisfactorily  picturesque  specimen  ;  that  castle 
having  been  erected  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  "  irne  yet "  or  gate 
being  a  type  of  the  one  at  Inverquharity,  and  of  all  others  which  I  have 
noticed,  is  represented  at  the  commencement  of  this  paper,  and  shows  the 
same  style  of  gate  to  have  long  prevailed. 

I  am  not  aware  that  gates  of  this  or  a  similar  construction  can  claim  an 
earlier  antiquity  in  Scotland  than  the  reign  of  James  n.  or  in.  On  this 
point  possibly  some  of  your  correspondents  can  inform  me  ;  but  connected 
with  the  one  above  engraved,  there  is  a  peculiarity  which  may  be  briefly 
noticed.  Towards  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  while  the  extensive 
lordship  of  Glenesk  was  held  by  the  old  family  of  Lindsay  of  Edzell,  Sir 
David  Lindsay  and  his  brother  Lord  Menniuir,  founder  of  the  noble  house 
of  Balcarres,  discovered  in  the  glen  minerals,  including  gold,  silver,  brass, 
and  tin,  which  were  leased  to  a  skilful  German,  and  it  is  stated  the  gate 
above  depicted  was  the  work  of  a  native  blacksmith,  from  iron  ore  raised 
and  smelted  in  Glenesk  ;  in  fact,  the  whole  of  the  iron  about  the  castle  of 
Invermark,  of  which  the  gate  is  almost  the  only  vestige,  is  also  recorded  to 
have  been  obtained  and  worked  from  and  upon  the  same  soil.  Subse- 
quently, these  mineral  discoveries  were  attempted  to  be  continued  by  the 
York  Buildings  Company,  but  their  operations  failing  of  success,  the  works 
were  abandoned. 

The  tower  or  castle  of  Invermark,  now  roofless  and  a  ruin,  appears  to  owe 
much  of  its  dilapidated  condition  to  neglect,  as  between  the  time  that  the 
estate  was  sold  by  the  last  Lindsay  of  Edzell  to  James  fourth  Earl  of 
Panmure,  by  whom,  as  a  Jacobite,  it  was  forfeited  within  the  year  following 
the  purchase,  and  the  sale  of  the  lands  by  the  Government  to  the  York 
Buildings  Company,  the  castle  is  noticed  as  gradually  falling  to  decay.  In 
1729,  the  Burlawmen,  or  those  appointed  to  value  the  lands  and  houses  on 
the  forfeited  properties  of  the  Stuart  adherents,  in  reference  to  this  edifice, 
made  a  report,  that — "  the  present  value  of  the  castle  of  Innermark,  of  stone 
and  slate  roof,  is  three  hundred  and  sixty-four  pounds  ;  and  the  reparations 
necessary  thereto,  is  one  hundred  and  ninety  pounds,  twelve  shillings,  which 
it  must  have  in  all  haste  to  prevent  its  going  to  ruin."  The  repairs  sug- 
gested by  the  report  were  immediately  made,  and  the  factor  or  manager  of 
the  Panmure  portion  of  the  York  Buildings  Estates  made  it  his  occasional 
residence.  Two  of  his  female  descendants  were  its  last  occupants,  they 


438  LAND  OF  THE  LINDSAYS. 

having  continued  to  inhabit  the  castle  till  1803,  when  the  stone-work  of 
the  offices,  and  the  timber  of  the  interior  of  the  tower,  were  taken  to  build 
the  adjoining  nianse  for  the  use  of  the  parish  minister. — A.  J. 


No.  XV. — PAGE  370. 

Inverkeillor  Church. 

THIS  church  seems  to  have  been  originally,  like  many  of  the  old  Scotch 
churches,  a  long,  narrow  aisle  standing  east  and  west,  with  all  the  lights  on 
the  south  side  in  preference  to  the  north.  A  Norman  arch  in  good  preser- 
vation still  remains  in  the  east  gable,  and  the  dimensions  of  the  original 
fabric  can  easily  be  traced  by  the  thickness  of  the  walls,  but  there  is 
nothing  to  indicate  the  age  of  the  building.  The  church  has  been  extended 
both  in  height  and  in  area  at  various  times,  without  much  regard  to 
symmetry  ;  in  external  appearance  it  possesses  no  attraction.  Recently  it 
has  undergone  a  thorough  repair,  having  had  two  feet  put  on  the  walls  ; 
the  old  roof  has  been  replaced  by  a  modern  one  of  higher  pitch,  showing 
the  main  beams  and  ties  in  the  interior.  The  pews  have  also  been  renewed 
and  remodelled.  The  whole  wood-work  of  the  interior  is  stained  in  oak 
and  varnished.  The  pulpit,  communion-table,  and  font  (the  last  being  the 
gift  of  Mrs.  Lindsay-Carnegie,  of  Kinblethmont)  are  neat  in  design  and 
executed  in  good  taste.  Interesting  monuments,  relating  to  some  of  the 
local  families  and  of  clergymen  who  have  served  the  cure,  are  preserved  in 
the  walls.  Of  these  some  are  specially  quaint  in  sculptured  ornaments,  and 
in  the  composition  of  the  record  they  bear.  One  begins  with  a  verse  of 
Scripture  cut  in  the  original  Hebrew  characters,  another  bears  an  in- 
scription in  Greek,  while  another  is  peculiar  in  that  its  Latin  inscription 
is  throughout  a  playing  with  the  word  "  Durie  " — the  name  of  the  clergy- 
man that  it  commemorates.  The  oldest  of  these  monuments  is  of  date  1624, 
and  in  excellent  preservation.  The  Norman  arch  above  referred  to  was 
used,  previous  to  the  last  repair,  as  the  entrance  to  the  burying-ground  of 
the  Northesk  family,  several  of  whose  members  are  interred  here.  [For 
the  above  we  are  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  the  Rev.  James  Hay,  D.D. 
parish  minister.] 


No.  XVI.— PAGE  394. 

Notice  of  the  Palace  of  Kincardine. 

THE  ruins  of  the  Palace,  or  Castle,  of  Kincardine  stand  on  a  wooded 
eminence  which  rises  about  thirty  feet  above  the  level  of  the  adjoining 
lands,  at  the  foot  of  the  Cairn-o'-Mount  road.  The  walls  are  composed  of 


APPENDIX  XVI.  439 

chisel-hewn  but  mostly  hammer-dressed  stones  of  a  hard  and  durable  sand- 
stone, and  no  part  is  more  than  eight  feet  high  ;  the  walls  had  been  of  great 
strength,  being  constructed  on  the  same  sloping  principle  as  harbours  and 
military  fortifications.  The  ground-plan  is  still  traceable,  and  it  appears 
that,  independent  of  the  foundations  of  the  strong  gateway  and  tower  (which 
project  twenty  or  thirty  feet  from  the  main  building,  and  a  surrounding 
ditch  and  defensive  outworks),  the  size  of  the  Palace  had  been  about  thirty- 
six  yards  square,  with  an  inner  court  filled  more  or  less  with  buildings.  It 
was  inhabited  on  all  sides  except  the  north,  which  is  composed  merely  of  a 
wall,  in  which  there  seems  to  have  been  an  entrance  of  great  width  leading 
to  the  court  ;  but  the  principal  entrance  was  on  the  west.  There  was  also 
a  door  on  the  east,  about  five  feet  broad,  and  two  spacious  apartments 
measuring  about  fourteen  by  fifty  feet,  and  fourteen  by  thirty-five  feet,  are 
on  each  side  of  it.  Two  other  apartments  on  the  south  are  twenty-two  by 
sixty,  and  twenty-two  by  fourteen  feet  in  size.  The  front  wall,  though 
mostly  composed  of  the  watch-towers,  embraces  several  variously-sized  apart- 
ments. The  outer  walls  vary  from  eight  to  ten  feet  in  thickness — the  inner 
are  about  three,  and  some  parts  of  the  front  so  much  as  twelve  feet. 

The  time  of  the  foundation  of  this  Palace  is  unknown.  Tradition  asserts 
that  it  was  in  existence  in  the  time  of  Kenneth  in.,  and  some  writers  call 
it  the  scene  of  his  murder.  It  was  certainly  of  note  in  William  the  Lion's 
time,  and  was  the  residence  of  Edward  I.,  both  on  his  going  to  and  returning 
from  the  North  in  1296,  and  the  scroll  of  Baliol's  resignation  was  prepared 
therein.  Perhaps  the  last  charter  dated  therefrom  is  one  to  Thomas  Rait, 
by  Robert  n.,  in  1383,  when  he  had  certain  portions  of  Lumgair  from  that 
king. 

Kincardine  was  the  seat  of  the  County  Courts  down  to  James  vi.'s 
time.  It  was  then  a  place  of  considerable  importance,  with  a  church  and 
market.  The  churchyard  is  still  preserved  ;  and  the  fair,  which  was 
removed  to  Fettercairn  at  the  transference  of  the  Courts  to  Stonehaven, 
is  known  by  the  name  of  St.  Catherin,  to  whom  the  old  kirk  of  Kincardine 
was  dedicated.1  A  cross  of  hewn  freestone  gifted  to  Kincardine  by  the 
Earl  of  Middleton,  bearing  his  arms  and  initials,  "  E :  I :  M,"  and  date 
"  1670,"  is  still  at  Fettercairn.  It  ought  to  be  mentioned,  that  the  pre- 
servation of  the  ruins  of  both  the  Palace  and  the  old  kirk  is  owing  to  the 
praiseworthy  conduct  of  the  late  Sir  John  Stuart  Forbes  of  Fettercairn, 
who,  on  hearing  of  stones  being  taken  from  the  Palace  to  fill  drains,  put 
an  immediate  and  effectual  stop  to  the  sacrilegious  proceeding. 


nij.  Spec.  Kincnnl.  No.  70. 


INDEX. 


ABBE,  old  name  in  Edzell,  3,  27,  29, 

30. 

Douenaldus,  cle  Brechin,  28. 

John,  son  of  Malise,  27. 

Maurice,  de  Abereloth,  28. 

Morgound,  son  of  John,  27. 

Aberbothrie    (now    Kinloch)    lands, 

362,  363. 

Abercrombie,  George,  2d  Lord,  148. 
-  Hon.  Lady   Montague   (Lady 

Panmure),  148. 
Aberdeen,  Bp.  Thomas  (Spence)  of, 

38  ;  Sheriffship,  185 ;  town  of,  284, 

299  ;  General  Assembly  of,  301. 
Aberdour  church,  burial-place  of  St. 

Drostan,  73. 
Aberlemno,   161,  211,  212;  church 

and  bell,  225. 

Abernethies  of  Downie,  384. 
Abernethy,  Hew  of,  7  n.,  307. 
Margaret,  Countess  of  Angus, 

236. 

Orem,  son  of  Hew,  7  n.,  236. 

Abernethy  arms,  48  n,  384  n,  386. 

in  Strathearn,  162. 

Abirnithy,  Sir  Hugh  of,  378. 
Aboyne,  Charles,  4th  Earl  of,  201. 
Adam,  Judex,  269. 

Abbot  of  Arbroath,  406  n. 

Adamson,  John,  of  Careston,  287. 

Margaret,  a  witch,  353. 

Adder    stone     and    legends,     155  ; 

white,  156. 
Adecat,  280. 

Adzell  family,  27  ;  name  lost,  29. 
Aikenhatt   (Finbaven),  kirk  of,  161, 

164  ;  manse,  164. 
Airity  burn,  377. 
Airlie,  arms  of  Earls  of,  292  ;  church 

of,  354  n.  ;  family  of,  344. 

David,  7th  Earl  of,  353. 

James,  Lord  Ogilvy  of,  244. 

Aitherny,  visit  of  Lady  of,  to  Edzell, 

53. 


Albany,  Duke  of,  235,  240. 

Aldbar,  239,  320. 

Alexander  i.,  377  n. 

in.,  227,  307,  362,  378. 

Alford,  Forbes  of,  286. 

Miss  Forbes  of,  286. 

Alison,  Mr.,  of  Holm,  22. 

Allardis,  John,  344. 

Altar  of  St.  Catherine  in  Brechin 
Cathedral,  165. 

of  Our  Lady  in  Dundee,  385. 

Altrie,  Lord  (Sir  Robert  Keith  of 
Benholm),  347,  404. 

Alyth  burn,  358  ;  church  and  chapel 
of,  358;  forest  of,  170,  358  ;  parish 
of,  357  ;  property  of,  361. 

Anandia  (Anaund,  Annand),  Sir 
David  de,  172,  173. 

Janet,  of  Melgund,  173. 

William  de,  172. 

Anderson,  Dr.  Joseph,  22  n. 

Mr.,  of  Monksmill,  215. 

Eev.  Mr.,  of  Oathlaw,  167,  168. 

Angus  or  Anegus,  Eve  de,  126. 

John  de,  126. 

Angus,  Earls  of,  376,  390  n. 

Sheriffship  of,  187. 

Archibald,  6th  Earl  of,  390. 

Gilchrist,  Earl  of,  232,  344. 

Gilibrede,  Earl  of,  344,  391. 

James,  13th  Earl  of,  284. 

Malcolm,  Earl  of,  244. 

Margaret,  Countess  of,  344. 

Matilda,  or  Maud,  Countess  of, 

391. 

Thomas,  2d  Earl  of,  390. 

(Jmphraville,  Earl  of,  391. 

Angus  Hill,  291. 

Anne,  Queen,  286,  395. 

Arbirlot  got  Navar  bell,  136. 

Arbroath,  abbacy  purchased,  145  ; 
abbey-keeper  for  life,  243  ;  abbey 
and  gifts  to,  4,  27,  28,  171,  226, 
239,  344,  357,  369,  370,  371,  381, 


442 


INDEX. 


382,  394,  399,  404,  406  ;  battle 
of,  175  sq.,  280,  345,  350,  381  ; 
cliffs  and  caves,  381  n.  ;  Commen- 
dator  of  the  abbey,  353 ;  letter 
from  barons  at,  139,  227  ;  marches 
of  abbey  lands.  280  ;  museum, 
136. 

Ardeastie,  386  it. 

Ardo,  280,  281. 

Ardoch,  birks  of,  97,  117  ;  in  Perth- 
shire, 218. 

Argyll,  Archibald,  5th  Earl,  244  n. 
—  Archibald,   8th  Earl  and    1st 
Marquis,  196,  295. 

Armilla  found,  219. 

Arnhall,  barony  of,  122  n.,  247  ; 
Chapel  ton  of,  122 ;  mansion- 
house  of,  122  ;  moss  of,  58  ;  pro- 
perty of,  122,  247. 

Arran,  James,  3d  Earl  of,  211. 

Arrat,  142. 

Arrow-heads,  98,  106,  107. 

Arthur,  King,  358. 

Assuanley  Cup,  182sq. 

Athole,  Walter  Stuart,  Earl  of,  138, 
140,  312. 

Countess  of,  140. 

Atholia,  Robert  de,  31. 

Athyn  (Ethie)  church,  370  n. 

Auchcairnie,  394. 

Aucheen,  107  ;  mill  of,  114  n.,  118. 

Auchinleck  of  that  Ilk,  207,  208, 387. 

Sir  Alexander,  398. 

castle  of.  345,  386,  405  w. 

Auchinlochy,  221,  246  «. 

Auchmull,  24,  47,  70,  71,  119,  120. 

Auchnacree,  226,  246  n. 

Auchquhanden,  241. 

Auchterhouse,  341. 

Auchterless,  Dempsters  of,  282,  312. 

Auchtermonzie,  187. 

Auld  Ha'  at  Neudos,  24. 

Ayre,  Richard,  239. 

BAD  ENOCH,  182w. 

Baikie  (Bakie),  castle  of,  354,  355  ; 

chapel  of,  355. 
Baillie,  General,  294,  297. 
Balbirnie  at  Brechin,  336. 

in  Fife,  236. 

Balbirnie,  proprietor  of  Inverichty, 

207. 

Balcarres,  Colin,  Earl  of,  57  n. 
Balcasky,  John  de,  359. 
Baldovan,  345. 
Baldowry,  371. 


Balfour,  24,  310,  393. 

Easter  and  Wester  towns,  393. 

Balgavies,  Lindsays  of,  210  sq.,  340. 
Balhagardy,  142. 

Balhall,  237,  303,  318  sq.,  321  sq.  ; 
moss  of,  322. 

Balhungie,  212,  387. 

Balinhard,  Carnegies  de,  238  sq.  ;  of 
Arbirlot,  238,  239;  estate  ac- 
quired by  the  Maules,  239. 

Christian  de,  239. 

Gocelynus  de,  238. 

John  de  (two),  239. 

Balinscho,  169  n.,  210,  346  sq.  ; 
chapel  of,  349. 

Baliol,  John,  285,  326  n. 

Ballichie,  313. 

Balligilleground  in  Bolshan,  28. 

Ballumbie,  310. 

Balmadethie  (Balmaditie),  in  Fern, 
7  w.,  236,  246  n. 

Bahnadie's  cemetery,  424. 

Balmain,  393. 
Ramsays  of,  393. 

Balmakewan,  278,  406. 

Over  and  Nether,  406. 

Balmashanner  Hill,  execution  on, 
21. 

Balmerino,  Abbot  William  of,  227. 

Abbey  of,  239. 

Balmyle,  lands  of,  362. 

Balnabreich,  270,  282,  290,  336  n. 
—  Easter,  232. 

Balnacraig,  232. 

Balnamoon,  estate  of,  241,  312  sq. ; 
bequest  of  Lady  of,  273  ;  library 
of,  317  ;  place  of  family  burial, 
303  ;  rebel  laird  of,  78,  100,  287  ; 
his  cave,  100,  316  ;  his  hiding  in 
Glenmark,  100,  101. 

Balquhadlie,  Lindsays  of,  229. 

Easter  and  Wester,  246  n. 

Balquharn,  Lindsays  of,  229  ;  castle 
of,  255,  309. 

Balrownie  bridge,  130 ;  circle  at, 
104,  107. 

Balruthie,  143. 

Baluny  in  Kettins,  377  w. 

Balvaird,  Mr.  John,  minister  of 
Edzell,  52  n. 

Balwyllo,  27,  237. 

Balwyndoloch,  357. 

Balzeordie,  barony  of,  315  n. ;  lairds 
of,  310  sq.,  315. 

Bandooh  in  Inverkeillor,  370  n. 

Bane,  Donald,  died,  170. 


INDEX. 


443 


Banks,  Sir  Joseph,  20. 
Barbour,  John,  the  poet,  321. 
Barclay,  Sir  David,  Lord  of  Brechin, 

138,  139. 
-  David,  140. 

Margaret,  140,  312  n. 

Barclays  of  Balinakewan,  407. 
Barnsdaillfaulds,  169  n. 
Barnyards  of  Tannadyce,  208,  340. 
Barras,  in  Kinneff,  396,  398. 

in  Meldrum,  battle  of,  139. 

Barrelwell,  327. 
Barry,  Dr.,  22. 

battle  of,  230,  387,  388. 

Barryhill  fort,  358. 

Battiedykes,  camp  at,  210,  213,  218. 

Battock,  Mount,  95,  118. 

Baxter,  Rev.  W.  L.,  271. 

Bean,  a  family  in  Piperton,  315  n. 

Beardie's  well  in  Brechin,  336. 

Beaton,  Cardinal,  41,  173,  190,  229, 

249   sq.,    364,    390;  at  Melguud 

Castle,    173,    225  ;    word   in  his 

favour,  249. 

Margaret,  Countess  of   Craw- 
ford, 41,  190,  229,  361,  364. 
of  Ethiebeaton,  Sheriff  of  For- 

farshire,  390. 
Beattie,  Dr.,  87,  115,  129,  406  n. 

George,  the  poet,  407  n. 

a  mis-sworn  retainer,  323. 

Beattie's  Cairn,  323,  324. 
Bell  of  Lethuot,  136. 

of  Lochlee,  87. 

of  Navar,  134  sq. 

St.  Columba's,  5. 

St.  Laurence's,  at  Edzell,  4,  9. 

St.  Meddan's,  5. 

—  St.  Ternan's,  5. 
Bells,  form  and  use,  4,  5. 

passing,  5. 

Belmont  at  Meigle,  363. 

Benham   (Benatn,  Bennum),  family 

de,  404. 
—  Hugh,  Bp.  of  Aberdeen,  404. 

Master  Thomas  de,  404. 

Benholm,  castle  and  lands  of,  404, 

405  ;  rector  of,  399. 

Nether,  405  n. 

Bennet,    Sir   William,   of   Grubbet, 

166,  200. 
Benvie,  143. 
Berkeley,  Humphrey  de,  4. 

Walter  de,  234,  370  n. 

Wyrfaud  de,  406. 

Bervie,  398. 


Berwick,  castle,  187,  281,  308. 

North,  355  n. 

Bethune  (Betun),  Elizabeth,  of  Vayne, 

229. 

David  de,  306. 

Binny,  Mrs.,  in  Tilliearblet,  133  ». 
Thomas,  of  Fern  and  Maules- 

den,  148,  225,  237. 
Birsay  and  Harray,  parish,  21. 
Bisset,  Robert,  of  Kinneff,  397. 

Walter,  398. 

Black,  David  Dakers,  135,  136,  330. 
James,  in  Wood  of  Edzell,  123  ; 

builds    Gannochy    Bridge,     109  ; 

monument  to,  129,  130. 
Black's  Pot,  154. 
Black  Shank,  154. 
Blackiemuir,  405. 
Blacklaw  in  Kinnell,  382. 
Blackness,  312,  335,  391. 
Blacksmiths    (Lindsay)    of  Brechin, 

335,  336. 
Blair,  Alexander,  of  Balthyock,  304. 

Rev.  David,  75. 

Dame  Giles,  270,  304,  315. 

Peter,  of  Dunkenny,  356. 

of  Balthyock,  arms  of,  292  «., 

293. 

Blairiefeddan,  Lindsays  of,  210. 
Blairno,  136. 
Blandford  Rectory,  379. 
Blawart  Lap,  326,  327. 
Boethius  (Boyce,  Boyes),  family  of, 

382. 

Alexander,  383. 

Bogardo,  214. 

Boggie,  246  n. 

Boigwilk,  169. 

Bolshan  (Balishan),  178,  234,  240  it. 

Bonnyman,     Mr.,    schoolmaster    at 

Edzell,  12  ;  his  grave,  19. 
Both,  227. 

Bothers  (Cairnbank),  280. 
Both  well,  Francis  Stewart,  Lord,  192. 
Bouncle,  Peter,  reader,  23. 
Bow  in  Plater  Forest,  169  n. 
Bowers  .of  Kincaldrum,  373  «. 
Boyd  faction,  187. 

Boysack,  Lindsay-Camegies  of,  367. 
Braedownie,  352. 
Braeminzeon,  354. 
Braid  Cairn,  110  H. 
Brako,  310. 
Brandenburg,  347- 
Brandyden,  255. 
Branny,  113. 


444 


INDEX. 


Brechin,  David  de,  28,  96,  139. 

Henry  de,  139. 

Margaret  de,  139. 

Walter,  Lord  of,  140. 

Sir  William  de,  139. 

Brechin,  Bank  of,  335  ;  battle  of, 
179  n.,  180  sq.,  240,  306,  312, 
387  ;  Bishop  and  Chapter,  184, 
235,  280,  327  n.,  337,  408  ; 
"  Burrow  rudis  "  of,  313  ;  Castle, 
149  ;  Cathedral  and  its  endow- 
ments, 3  n.,  138,  227,  280,  308  n., 
335,  371,  408;  Cathedral  tower 
built,  127  ;  common  muir  of,  312, 
320,  371  ;  Grammar  School  of, 
271  ;  prebends  of,  32,  126,  162, 
335  ;  see  of,  125,  162,  244  n.,  375, 
382,  386,  398  ;  town  of,  297,  304, 
309. 

and  Navar,  lordship  of,  28,  138 

sq.,  141,  143,  185,  187,  235,  269, 
335,  337. 

Breidin's  Bay,  399. 

Brichty,  228,  229,  391. 

Wester,  392. 

Bricius,  judex  of  Angus,  269. 

•  parson  of  Neudos,  23. 

Bride's  Bed,  113. 

Bridge  of  Balrownie,  130. 

Gannochy,  109,  120,  123,  130. 

Lee,  111,  114 n. 

Lethnot,  129. 

Stonyford,  130. 

Upper  North  Water,  339. 

Broadland,  394. 

Broadtack,  burn  of,  284. 

Brochdarg  the  wizard,  156. 

Brodie,  Mr.,  of  The  Burn,  122,  123. 

Brotherton,  405. 

Broughty,  391. 

Castle,  188,  360. 

Brouss,  James,  prebendary  of  Leth- 
not, 164. 

Brown,  Sir  David,  vicar  of  Edzell, 
3,  4. 

Brown,  Mr.,  minister  of  Tarfside,  79. 

Brownie,  The,  252  sq. 

of  Bodsbeck,  254. 

—  of  Claypots,  254. 

of  Fern,  254. 

Bruce,  John,  in  Ledenhendrie,  265. 

Rev.  John,  in  Guthrie,  375. 

Margaret,  407. 

Lady  Marjory,  40. 

of  Earlshill,  390. 

Princess  Elizabeth,  175. 


Bruce,  King  Robert  the.  See 
Robert  I. 

Sir  Robert,  of  Finhaven,  172. 

Brucetoun,  246  n. 

Bruff  Shank,  228,  309. 

Buchan,  Alexander,  Earl  of,  171,  173. 

Henry   David   Erskine,    12th 

Earl  of,  224. 

Mr.,  minister  of  St.  Kilda,  274. 

William  Comyn,  Earl  of,  171. 

Stuarts,  Earls  of,  341. 

Buchanan,  George,  346  n. 

Buist,    Rev.    John,    of    Tannadice, 

167  «. 

Burial,  premature,  at  Edzell,  15. 
|    Burn,    The,     110,     120    sq.,    393  ; 

woods  of  The,  110,  112,  121. 
Burnes,  Dr.  James,  137«. 
Burnet,  Alexander,  of  Levs,  376, 393  u. 

Bp.  Gilbert,  242.  * 

Burns,  widow  of  Robert,  147. 

Burnside  estate,  304. 

Burntown  of  Balzeordie,  310. 

Bute,  Lord,  283. 

Buttergill  (Buthirgille,   Burgh-hill), 

336  ». 
Byres,  Lindsays  of  the,  194  sq. 

CAIRN  in  Forest  of  Plater,  169  M. 

in  Tannadice,  337,  387. 

Cairnbank  (Bothers),  280. 

Cairn  Caidloch,  llOn. 

Cairncross  district,  73. 

Calder,  George,  of  Assuanley,  182, 
183  n. 

Thane  of,  401. 

Caldhame,  castle  of,  294  ;  property 
of,  315  n. 

Calletar,  155. 

Cambiston  (Camuston),  387  M.,  389. 

Campbell,  Alexander,  Bishop  of 
Brechin,  244  n. 

Catherine,  Countess  of  Craw- 
ford, 41. 

David,  minister   of   Careston 

and  Menmnir,  271,  302. 

Jean,    Countess   of   Panmure, 

386  n. 

Magdalene,  311. 

of  Lundie  killed,  229. 

Camus,  Cross  of,  387,  388,  389. 
Canterland,  408. 
Carald  stone,  268. 
Carbuddo,  375,  376. 
Cardinal's  Pool  at  Neudos,  24. 
Cardny,  Marion  de,  228. 


INDEX. 


445 


Cardnye  estate,  285. 

Careston    Castle,     193,     290     sq.  ; 

church,  269  sq.,  303  ;  estate,  138, 

279   sq.,  312,  315,   367  ;   parish, 

236,  268  sq.  ;  school,  166  ;  sculp- 

turings,  292,  293. 

Nether,  268,  282,  288. 

Carlochy,  113. 
Carlungie,  212,  387,  389. 
Carnegie,  Sir  Alexander,  1st  of  Balna- 

moon,241,  242  w.,  269,  283,  290  n., 

297,  300,  304,  311,  313,  315. 
Sir  Alexander,  1st  of  Pitarrow, 

243,  315. 
Alexander,  5th  of  Balnamoon, 

315. 

Alexander,  of  Cuikstoune,  27 1  n. 

Alexander  Blair,  of  Kinfauns, 

198. 
Barbara,  Lady  Douglas  of  Glen- 

bervie,  201. 
Charles,  4th  Earl  of  Southesk, 

246. 

Charles,  younger  of  Finhaven, 

198. 

Hon.  Charlotte,  377  n. 

Sir  David,  1st  Earl  of  South- 
esk, 202,  243,  249,  283,  315. 

Sir  David,   1st  Bart,   of  Pit- 
arrow,  243,  431. 

Sir  David,  4th  Bart,   of  Pit- 
arrow,  247. 

David,  Dean  of  Brechin,  202, 

356,  423. 

purchased  Craigo,  202, 356. 

David,    Lord   Carnegie,    243, 

244  n. 

David  of  Colluthie  and  Kin- 

naird,  241,  243,  290  n.,  407. 

David,  1st  of  Cookston,  271. 

David,  of  Ethie,  369. 

David,  younger  of  Balnamoon, 

315. 

David,  2d  Earl  of  Northesk,  369. 

Duthac  de,  239,  240. 

Elizabeth,  wife  of  Arbuthnott, 

432. 

Hercules,    ancestor     of     the 

families  of  Cookston  and  Craigo, 
202. 

James,  2d  Earl  of  Southesk, 

243,  244,  288. 

James,  5th  Earl  of  Southesk, 

246. 

Sir  James,   3d   Bart,  of   Pit- 
arrow,  247,  383. 


Carnegie,  Sir   James,  5th  Bart,    of 

Pitarrow,  248. 
Sir  James,  6th  Bart,  of  Pitarrow 

and    6th  Earl  of  Southesk,  248, 

249. 
James,  1st  of  Finhaven,  198. 

James,   2d    of   Finhaven,   his 

character,   198   sq.  ;  kills  Strath- 
more,  166,  199;  last  at  Finhaven, 
201,  203. 

Sir  James,  of  that  Ilk,  241  ??. 

James,  3d  of  Balnamoon,  315. 

James,  4th  of  Balnamoon,  315. 

James,  6th  of  Balnamoon,  315. 

[Cam.  Arb.] 
James,  W.S.,  of  Finhaven  and 

Noranside,  201,  237,  238. 
Sir  John,  1st  Earl  of  Ethie  and 

Northesk,    202,    241,   242,    243, 

283  n.,  315,  369,  378. 
Sir  John,  2d  of  Balnamoon,  315. 

Sir  John,  of  Craig  and  Ulis- 

haven  (Usan),  243. 

Sir   John,    6th    of    Kinnaird, 


241. 
John,  of  that  Ilk  and  of  Seaton, 

241  n. 

John,  3d  of  Kinnaird,  240. 

John,  4th  of  Kinnaird,   241, 

370  n. 

John  de,  239. 

Magdalene,     Marchioness     of 

Montrose,  243. 

Magdalene,    of    Claverhouse, 

243  n. 

Margaret,  of  Boysack,  367. 

Margaret,    daughter   of    Pit- 
arrow,   and  wife   of  Balnamoon, 
315,  429. 

Mrs.,  of  Balnamoon,  273. 

—  of  Kinnaird,  239  sq. 

of  that  Ilk,  239. 

Patrick,  of  Lour,  200,  378. 

Robert,  3d  Earl  of  Southesk, 

245,  251. 
Robert,  1st  of  Dunnichen,  241, 

242  n.,  283  n.,  315. 

Sir  Robert,  5th  of  Kinnainl, 

202,  240  n.,  241,  370  n. 

Miss  Stewart,  of  Boysack,  367. 


Thomas,  of  Craigo,  201. 

Walter,  of  Guthrie,  371. 

Walter,  2d  of  Kinnaird,  184, 

240. 
William,  minister  of  Careston, 

271. 


446 


INDEX. 


Carnegie-Arbuthnott,  James,  6th  of 

Balnamoon,   the    "  Rebel   Laird," 

315,  316,  431. 

James,  315. 

James  Knox,  315. 

Miss,  316. 

Carnegie,  arms  of,  239  n.  ;  estate  in 

Carmylie,  239  ;  of  that  Ilk,  239. 
Carnegies  of  Balnamoon,  313  sq. 

of  Craigo,  202,  356. 

of  Lour,  378. 

of  Turin,  378. 

Carneskcorn,  120. 

Carril,  26S,  291. 

Carron  stream,  402. 

Carsegownie,  172. 

Cat,  hill  of,  115. 

Catanach,  Jean  (Mrs.  Ross),  83. 

Cateran,   the,  94,  95,  96,  154,  159, 

260  sq.,  309. 

Caterline,  308  n.,  398,  399. 
Caterthun,   150,  1'51,  214,  307,  328, 

329,  330  sq. 
Cathro-seat,  246  n. 
Cave,  Bonnymune's,  100. 

petrifying,  in  Glenesk,  101. 

Celt,  bronze,  107. 

Cemeteries  and  churches,  104. 

Chalmers  (Camera)  of  Aldbar,  232. 

Patrick,  314  n.,  346  n. 

Robert  de,  232. 

Chapelton  of  Dunlappie,  307,  309  ?!., 

310. 

of  Uras,  403  «. 

Charles  i.,  144,  242. 

ir.,  242,  244,  298,  302,  340  «., 

352 

Prince,  316,  338. 

Charteris  Hall,  193. 

Cheltenham,  305. 

Chevalier,  The,  242,  302,  337,  338. 

Cheyne,  Ronald,  24. 

Christian,  David,  in  Auchrony,  76. 

Churches  connected  with  cemeteries, 

104. 

Claleck,  140. 
Claypots,  3«. 
Clemens  Alexandrinus  quoted  and 

explained,  104. 
Clephane,  Helen,  432. 
Clerk,  William,  chaplain  of  Edzell, 

4. 

Clochie  in  Lethnot,  126. 
Clova,  350,  351,  353. 
Milton  of,  351  ;  property  of, 

350  sq. 


Clova,  Ogilvy    of,     178,    207,    345, 

350  sq. 

Cluny  Castle,  359  n. 
Cobb,  Andrew,  in  Tillibirnie,  133. 

George,  in  Acbfearcy,  133. 

James,  in  Ledbreakie,  133. 

John,  in  Room,  133. 

John,  in  Tillibirnie,  133. 

Cobb's  Heuch,  153,  154. 

Cobisland,  3  n. 

Cockpen,  149. 

Collace    of    Balnamoon,    181,    184, 

279,  303,  306,  312  sq. 

•  John,  313. 

John  de  (Cullas),  312,  314. 

Patrick,  314. 

Robert,  313. 

Robert  (Cuilaiss),  432. 

Thomas  de,  312,  314. 

William,  professor  at   St.  An- 
drews, 314. 
Collins,  "  Ode,"  254. 
Colmeallie,  standing-stones  of,    22, 

104-106,    211  ;    names    of    fields, 

105;  other  remains,  105,  107. 
Comyn,  Earl  of  Buchan,  96,  97. 

Alexander,  171. 

Conon,  lands  of,  384. 

Constable,     George,      of     Wallace 

Craigie,  374  n. 
Conveth  (Laurencekirk),  405,  406  ; 

mill  of,  406  n. 

Cookston  (Cuikston),  304,  370  n. 
Coortford  or  Coorthill  Bridge,  230, 

231,  246  n. 

Coorthill,  on  the  Modlach,  107. 
Corb  Castle,  358. 
Cornablews,  246  n. 
Cortachy,  138,  345,  352,  354  ;  kirk, 

265  ;  minister  of,  331. 
Cotton  Muir,  326. 
Coull,  Little,  208,  340. 
Coupar,  Isabel  (Mrs.  Low),  20  n. 
Covenanters,  294  sq.,  300  sq.,   339; 

their    memorial     at     Dunnottar, 

402. 
Cowie,  295,  402. 

thanedom  of,  400,  401. 

Craig  Scales,  99. 

Craigendowie,  152,  159,  160  ;  guid- 

man  and  guidwife  of,  160. 
Craighall,  361. 
Craighead  of  Finhaven,  336. 
Craigmaskeldie,  110«.,  112,  113. 
Cramond  (Crawmond),  Hercules,  320. 
Rev.  James,  222. 


IXDEX. 


447 


Cramond,  John,  de  Fern,  229. 

Laurence  de,  320. 

William,  of  Aldbar,  239. 

Craraonds  of  Aldbar  and  Melgund, 

320. 
Cranstoun,  Charles  Frederick,  llth 

baron,  405. 

Lord,  405. 

Lady,  405. 

Crathlinthus,  son  of  Finella,  25. 
Crawford,    Countess   of,    178,    345, 

359. 
Crawford -Lindsays,  33. 

Councillors  of,  207,  378. 

Crichton,  Admirable,  359  n. 

Alexander,  357. 

Chancellor,  140,  175. 

—  of  Sanquhar,  383. 
Crichtoun,  Adam,  of   Kippendavie, 

360. 
Cross  on  the  Rowan,  97. 

of  Camus,  387-389. 

Cruick  Water,  327. 

Cruickshank,  Rev.  F.,  of  Navar  and 

Letlmot,  127,  159w. 
Cruok,  East,  310. 
Cuikston  and  chapel,  243. 
Cullew  Market,  88. 
Culloden,   battle   of,    247    «.,   316, 

339. 

Cuminche,  Hugo,  309. 
Gumming,  Mary,  131. 
Cumyng,  David,  vicar  of  Ruthven, 

357. 

Cunningair,  212. 
Cupar  Abbey,  228,  281,   339,   355, 

362. 
Curmaud  Hill,  100. 

DAILLY  parish,  271. 

Dalbog,    castle   of,    2,    7,    25,    26  ; 

chapel  of,  22,  24;  circle  of,  104  ; 

lands  of,  26  ;  mines  of,  26  ;  wood 

of,  26. 

Dalbrack,  copper  found  at,  99. 
Dalforth,  kiln  hillock  of,  107. 
Dalhousie     Castle,     149  ;    peerage, 

(tt>e    Maule ;    marquisate    lapsed, 

148. 
Dalrymple,   C.  Elphinstone,    182  n., 

183  n. 

Danes,  the,  230,  268,  325,  387,  389. 
Darngate,  Arbroath,  381. 
David  I.,  403. 
ir.,   170,  312,  342,   357,  359, 

382,  387,  399. 


Davidson,   Rev.   Alex.,  in  Glenesk, 

79. 

Rev.  William,  of  Lethnot,  129. 

Dean  (Den)  Strath,  123  n. 
Dean  of  Edinburgh,  356. 
Deer  Forests,  110. 
Deil's  Den,  245. 

How,  253. 

Dekysoun,  Jacobus,  371. 

Demidoff,  Prince,  148. 

Dempster,  Andrew,  of   Auchterless 

and  Careston,  312. 

Andrew,  of  Careston,  280.  * 

David  (1),  of  Careston,  280. 

David  (2),  of  Careston,  280  sq. 

David  (3),   "  fiar  of  Peathill," 

282. 

Findlay,  312. 

—  Haitian  (de  Emester),  279. 

Mr.,  minister  of  Edzell,  10. 

Thomas,  historian,  282  n. 

-  Walter  (1),  235. 

Walter  (2),  280,  310. 

William,  last  of  Careston,  282. 

Dempsters    of  Careston,   235,   269, 

279 sq. 

of  Dunichen  and  Skibo,  282  n. 

of  Menmuir,  279. 

Dempster,  office  of,  61,  269,  279  sq., 

283. 

official  at  Edzell,  61. 

Denburn  stream,  377. 

Denmark,  Princess  Anne  of,  192. 

Dennyfern,  castle  of,  153. 

Denoon,  214. 

Deuchar,  Alexander,  seal  engraver, 

231,  429. 
David,  seal  engraver,  etc.,  232  «., 

234,  429. 

Major  David,  232  n. 

George,  last  of  Deuchar,  234, 

428. 

James  of,  233. 

John,  234,  428. 

Miss  L.  M.,  231  ». 

—  Patrick  (1),  in  Liverpool,  234, 

429. 

Patrick  (2),  of  that  Ilk,  233. 

Commander  Patrick,  232  ;/. 

Robert  of,  233. 

William,  231. 

William  de,  232. 

Deuchar  estate,  229  sq.,  246  //.,  428; 

etymology  doubtful,  232. 
Douchars  of  Fern,  210  ;  of  that  Ilk, 

226,  230  sq.,  235,  429. 


448 


INDEX. 


Devil's  wind,  289. 

Dichty,  the,  254. 

Dickson,  Jaines,  Kirriemuir,  259  n. 

Ditferan,  burn  of,  155. 

Dildarg,  John,  222,  429. 

Dillydyes   (Dalladies),    Chapeltoune 

and  bill  of,  122  n. 
Doig,     Christian,     Lady     Carnegie, 

247  n.,  311. 

David,  311. 

Dolas,  John,  343,  397. 

Donald,  Lord  of  the  Isles,  240. 

Donald's  cairn,  325. 

Donaldson,    Robert,     in     Droustie, 

114n. 

a  suicide,  311  n, 

Donaldson's  Den,  311  n. 
Dookit  Park,  at  Neudos,  24. 
Dooly  Tower,  24,  121. 

lands  (Milndeulie),  393. 

Douglas,  Sir  Alexander,  of  Glenber- 

vie,  201. 
Archibald,  Baron  Douglas  of, 

284. 

Miss  C.,  her  death,  118. 

Hugh,    "  son   of   late   Earl   of 

Morton,"  274. 
— —  James,  9th  Earl,  180,  185. 

James,  2d  Marquis,  283. 

Sir  James,  of  Drumlanrig,  47. 

Rev.   James,   Baron    Douglas, 

284. 

Jane  or  Janet,  Countess,  141. 

Lady  Jane,  284. 

Sir  John,  of  Barras,  396. 

William,   8th   Earl,   killed   at 

Stirling,  141,  179. 
— —  leagued  with  Crawford,  175  sq., 

205. 

Douglas  of  Tilwhilly,  138. 
Douglas  Cause,  283. 

league,  175  sq. 

Peerage  merged  in  Home,  284. 

Downie,  Duncan  (de  Dunny),  384. 
Downie,  barony  of,  384  ;  castle  of, 

385  ;  muir  of,   386 ;  servants  to 

Balnamoon,   313  ;    thanedom   of, 

385,  387. 
Downieken,  285. 
Drostan,  St.,  his  monastery,  4,  97w., 

see  Saints  ;  well  at  Neudos,  2-1. 
Droustie,  72,  73,  74,  102,  114. 
Droustie's  Meadow,  97. 
Druidical  Circles,  Ballownie,  104. 

Colmeallie,  22,  1 04. 

Dalbog,  104. 


Druidical  Circles,  Tornacloch,  25. 

in  Fern,  229. 

Drum,  in  Glenesk,  110. 

Drumcairn,  in  Lethnot,  126. 

Drumcuthlaw,  in  Fern,  265. 

Drumlithie,  295. 

Drummond,  Lilias,  Countess  of  Craw- 
ford, 191. 

Lord,  190. 

Drummore  Hill,  6,  7,  108. 

in  Fern,  229. 

Drymie  Forest,  170. 

Dubb  of  Fern,  260. 

Dubbytown,  246  n. 

Dubrach  (Peter  Grant),  131  sq. 

Duff,  General  Sir  Alexander,  286. 

Dulbdok,  Dulbrothoc,  25. 

Dumbarton  Castle,  281. 

Dun,  184,  321,  322. 

Duncan,  Gov.  Jonathan,  136,  137. 

Dundas,  General  Francis,  321  n. 

Sir  Lawrence,  21. 

of  Arniston,Lord  President,  200. 

Dundee  churches,  126,  139,  174, 
186,  362  ;  church  endowments, 
174  ;  connected  with  the  Earls  of 
Crawford,  173  sq.,  362,  367  ;  cus- 
toms of,  228  ;  hospital  in,  173, 
174  ;  represented  by  George  Kin- 
loch,  363  ;  stormed  by  Montrose, 
294; 

Duneval,  Inverness- shire,  328. 

Dunfind,  385,  387. 

Dunjardel,  Inverness-shire.  328. 

Dunkeld,  Bishops  of,  300,  363  ; 
diocese  of,  220,  299.  386  n. ;  town 
of,  295. 

Dunkenny,  355,  356. 

Dunlappie,  6,  7,  236,  307  ;  chapel  of, 
125,  309  n. ;  woodside  of,  77,  80. 

Dunmore,  Alexander,  6th  Earl  of, 
249. 

Dunnottar,  242  n.,  295,  340,  392, 
399  sq.,  404 n.  ;  castle,  397,  400, 
401  ;  churches,  400,  401,  402 ; 
Keiths  of,  388,  399  sq.,  401. 

Dunny,  Duncan  de,  384. 

Dupplin,  battle  of,  382. 

Duray  of  Durayhill,  4,  418,  419. 

hereditary  doomster  of  Edzell, 

61,418. 

Durham,  of  Grange,  207,  387. 

of  Largs,  387  n. 

of  Pitcarr,  387  n. 

Durrisdeer,  in  Nithsdale,  359. 

Duskintry  (Dunscarney),  154. 


INDEX. 


449 


"  EAGIL'S  LOTJP,"  100. 

Eagle  Craig,  113. 

Eagle's  Rock,  361. 

Earl  Beardie,  181  sq.,  206  ;  his  tree, 
206  ;  his  stone,  183. 

Eassie,  kirk  of,  356  ;  parish  of,  355. 

Ecclesgreig,  church  of,  29. 

Edgar,  Alexander,  338,  339  ra. 
-  David,  337,  339  n. 

Henry,     Bishop    of     Fife,    at 

Arbroath,  338,  436. 
—  James  (1),  337. 

(2),     "  The     Secretary," 

337  sq. 

John,  339. 

Thomas,  337. 

Edgars  of  Keithock,  337  sq. 
—  of  Wadderlie,  337. 

Edgehill,  battle  of,  196. 

Edinburgh,  Greyfriars'  Churchyard, 
277. 

Edward,  Robert,  minister  of  Murroes, 
101. 

Edward  i.  receiving  oaths  of  fealty, 
126,  143,  227,  236,  244  n.,  279, 
327  n.,  358,  359  n.,  379  n.,  400, 
401. 

in.,  140,  400. 

Edzell,  anciently  round  the  castle 
and  kirk,  7,  8  ;  baths,  65  ;  bells 
at,  4  sq.,  8  ;  castle,  and  situation, 
60  sq.,  94,  109,  204  ;  church  in 
diocese  of  St.  Andrews,  and  dedi- 
cated to  St.  Lawrence  the  Martyr, 
3,  4  ;  decorations  of  the  castle, 
64  ;  destroyed,  according  to  tra- 
dition, 7  ;  dilapidations,  67  sq.  ; 
Episcopacy  in  the  castle  and 
parish,  76,  411 ;  etymology  of,  2; 
garden  wall,  44,  66,  419;  hospi- 
talities, 66  ;  kirk-session,  9,  10, 
11,  55;  kirkyard,  6;  Lindsay 
burial  vault,  and  its  traditions, 
14  sq.  ;  land  acquired  by  the 
Lindsays,  31  ;  land  sold,  56,  57 
n.,  145,  408  ;  mains  of,  28,  108  ; 
old  church,  8.  9,  125  ;  overrun  by 
armies  (in  1651),  52,  (and  in  1640), 
301  ;  parish  of,  3sq.,  73;  values 
at  time  of  purchase  and  at  present, 
57  n.,  67  n.  ;  village  and  market, 
45. 

Effock,  glen  and  water  of,  115. 

Elder,  Andro,  300. 

Elliot,  Andrew,  Lieut. -Governor, 
248. 

2 


Elliot,  Agnes  Murray,  Countess  of 
Southesk,  248. 
—  Sir  Gilbert,  of  Minto,  248. 

Ellis,  Mrs.,  322. 

Elwynus,  parson  at  Edzell,  4. 

"  Entrekoyt  Chastel,"  358. 

Episcopacy  in  Careston,  274 ;  in 
Edzell,  10,  64,  68,  76  ;  in  Fern, 
Clova,  and  Birse,  81  ;  in  Glenesk, 
68,  69,  76  sq. ;  in  Menmuir,  306, 
311. 

Errol,  Francis,  8th  Earl  of,  192. 

Erskine,  Alexander  (1),  322. 

Alexander  (2),  322. 

Alice,  322. 

Sir  Allan  de,  of  Wemyss,  318. 

Augustus  John  William  Henry, 

322. 

Lieut. -Col.  Charles,  376. 

David,  321. 

David,   Lord  Dun,   5 «.,   316, 

321. 
—  Capt.  James,  316. 

John  (1),  321. 

John  (2),  321. 

John  (3),  321. 

John  (4),  The  Superintendent, 

9,  141,  142,  250,  376. 

John,  4th  Lord,  142. 

John,  of  Dun,  360. 

Hon.  John  Kennedy,  322. 

Margaret,  Lady  Cassillis,  and 

Marchioness  of  Ailsa,  322. 

Sir  Robert,  of  that  Ilk,  Cham- 
berlain of  Scotland,  321. 

Robert,  "the  fiar,"  142. 

Sir  Thomas,   of  Brcchin,  376, 

407. 

Sir  Thomas,    of  Haltoun,  141, 

142. 

Capt.  William  Henry  Kennedy, 

322. 

Cr.pt.  William  John,  321. 

Erskines  of  Dun,  138,  320  sq., 
339. 

Esk,  The  North,  2,  112,  295. 

Ethie,  241. 

Earl  of,  283  n. 

Ethiebeaton  (Achykilbichan,  Affe- 
beton,  Archibetoun),  390. 

Etymologies,  their  value  and  diffi- 
culty, 2,  3. 

Evelick,  family  of,  379,  380,  381. 

Execution,  last,  by  decree  of  sheriff- 
depute,  21. 

Eychles,  Matthew  de,  402. 


450 


INDEX. 


FAIL,  Monastery  of,  342. 
Fairies,  330  sq. 
Fairweather,  Ann,  304. 
Falconer,  Sir  Alexander,  395. 

Archibald,  395. 

—  Elizabeth,  of  Haulkerton,  394. 

—  Hon.  Captain  George,  238,  396. 
James,  395. 

Sir  John,  395. 

William  the,  403. 

Falconer,  origin  of  name,  403. 
Falconers  of  Haulkerton,  395. 

—  of  Lumgair,  403. 
Falkirk,  battle  of,  316. 
Farmerton,  258. 
Farnell,  243,  244. 
Farquharson,  Catherine,  87  ». 

Peter,  in  Anchronie,  1 14  n. 

Fasington     (Fassingtoun),    William 

de,  236. 

Fasky  (Fasque),  393. 
Fawside,  in  Kinneff,  397. 
Fawsyde,  Allan  de,  406. 
Fechtenburg,  a  German  miner,  98. 
Fenton  (Fentoune),  John,  208. 

-  David,  of  Ogil,  432. 

Lord,  of  Baikie,  354. 

Margaret,  355. 

of  Ogil,  235. 

Paul  of,  221. 

William  de,  355. 

Fentonhill,  355. 

Ferguson,  Rev.  John,  222. 

Fermertoun,  246  n. 

Fern,    archaeology   of,   265  ;  barony 

of,  232,  234,  237,  238,  243,  246 n., 

249  ;  bell   of,   225  ;    church   and 

ministry,  220  sq.  ;  estate,  236  sq. ; 

etymology  of,  220,  225  ;  gallows 

or  laws  of,  236  ;  Ghaist  of,  255  ; 

house  of,   255  ;  lordship  of,  226  ; 

parish,  236,  295  ;  raid  of,  258  sq. ; 

school,  273. 
Feme,  John  of,  221. 
Ferneval,  Duncan  de,  244  n. 
Fernybank,  remains  found  at,  106, 

152,  211. 

Ferrier,  David,  his  history,  68,  316. 
Fesdow  (Fesdo),  238. 
Fettercairn  village,  295,  440;  visited 

by  Her  Majesty,  115. 
Fetteresso,  402. 
Fichell,  354  n. 

Fife,  Alexander,  3d  Earl  of,  286. 
Duncan,  5th  Earl  of,  7  n.,  236, 

287. 


Fife,  Duncan,  12th  Earl  of,  171  n. 

James,  4th  Earl  of,  286,  287. 

—  Henry  Edgar,  Bishop  of,  338. 

Findlater,  Earl  of,  319  n. 

Findowrie,  Arbuthnotts  of,  432  sq. ; 
joined  to  Balnamoon,  315-317  ; 
place  of,  324,  432,  433. 

Finella  murders  King  Kenneth,  25. 

Finhaven,  ancient  remains  of,  163, 
164,  424;  Carnegies  of,  198  sq.  ; 
castle  of,  192  «.,  203  sq.,  351  ; 
church  rebuilt,  32,  162  ;  etymo- 
logy of,  161  ;  inventory,  425  sq. ; 
large  tree,  424  ;  old  church,  161, 
162,  330  ;  prebend  of  Brechin,  32, 
162,  164,  335;  proprietors  of, 
169  sq.,  197  sq.,  282,  367  ;  rectors 
of,  164sq.  ;  vitrified  site,  213  sq. 

Finnoch,  126. 

Fishertoun  of  Kinneff,  396. 

Fithie,  241. 

Fitz-Bernards  of  Caterline,  399. 

Fitz-Clarence,  Lady  Augusta,  322. 

Fleming,  Sir  Robert,  of  Biggar,  140. 

Fletcher,  Sir  Bernard,  of  Restennet, 
348. 

Sir  George,  348. 

James,  of  Letham  Grange  and 

Fern,  237. 

•          James,  348. 

Robert,  of  Balinscho,  348  n. 

Fletchers  of  Balinscho,  348  sq. 

of    Saltoun    and    Inverpeffer, 

348,  431. 

Flodden,  battle  of,  286,  372,  387  «. 

Flower-garden  at  Edzell,  66,  67,  419. 

Fodriughay  (Fothringham),  Henry 
de,  377  n. 

• Thomas,  377  n. 

Fogo,  Mr.,  minister  of  Edzell,  9. 

Forbes,  Arthur,  of  Balfour,  48  n. 

of  Alford,  286. 

of  Brux,  383. 

Bishop    A.    P.,   his   memorial 

church  at  Tarfside,  81. 

Duncan,  Lord  Advocate,  200. 

Dame  Isabella,  48  n. 

John,  of  Pitsligo,  177. 

Sir  John,  of  Foveran,  286. 

Sir  John  Stuart,  439. 

Lord,  builds  memorial  church 

at  Tarfside,  81. 

William,  Bishop  of  Edinburgh, 


402. 

William,  of  Craigievar,  282. 

Ford,  James,  of  Finhaven,  201. 


INDEX. 


451 


Fordouu,  Roman  camp  at,  218. 
Fordyce,  John,  vicar  of  Athyn,  370  M. 
Forester,  of  Corstorphine,  407. 
Forests,  ancient,  169  sq.,  307. 
Forfar  Castle  taken,  171. 
Forfarshire,   sheriffs   of,    187,    189, 

306,  307,  341,  342,  360,  370,  372, 

384,  390,  391. 

courts  of,  283. 

Forket  Acre,  335. 
Forrester,  Janet,  282. 
Forth,  The,  295,  296. 
Fotheringham,  Catherine,  241  n. 
Jean,  315. 

—  James,    minister  of  Kinettles, 

379. 

John  of,  221. 

Nicholas,  of  Powrie,  26,  38. 

of  Powrie,  207,  377,  392. 


Fotheringham,  mansion-houseof,377. 
Foulis  of  Colington,  292  n. 

-  of  Woodhall,  201. 
Foullartoun    (Fowlartoune),   James, 

125. 

-  William  of,  309. 
Fowlis,  Easter,  143. 

Fox,  widow  of  Hon.  Charles  James, 

147. 
Fraser,    Rev.  W.    R.,   of   Mary  ton, 


Frazer,  Sir  Alexander,  382,  394. 

—  Alexander,  of  Cluny,  285. 

-  Sir  John,  of  Cowie,  388,  407. 

-  Margaret,  400,  401. 
Fullarton,  Archibald,  vicar  of  Athyn, 

370  n. 

-  John,  367. 

-  Col.  William,  of  Spynie,  367. 

-  William,  of  Fullarton,  367. 
Fyfe,  Rev.  John,  gave  bell  and  mor- 

tification to  Navar,  134,  135. 

GALL,  MARTHA,  71. 

—  proprietors  of  Auchnacree,  226. 
Oallow  path  road,  219. 
Gannochy   bridge,    109,    120,    123; 

building  of,  123,  130,  153. 
Garden,  Mr.  Charles,  of  Bellastreen, 

86. 

-  Mr.   John,  factor  of  Glenesk, 
68  ».,  75,  87  n.,  92. 

—  John,  of  Midstrath,  87  «. 

-  Mrs.  Margaret,  86  n. 

—  Rev.  Robert,  of  St.  Fergus,  87  n. 
Gardens  of  Legiston,  372. 

-  of  Troup,  86. 


Gardens  of  Tulloes,  372. 
Gardenstone,  Lord,  406  n. 
Gardyne,  Colonel  Charles  Greenhill, 
202,  237. 

-  David  Greenhill,  201,  202. 

James  Carnegie,  201,  202,  237. 

Thomas,    of    Middletou,   201, 

202,  237. 

Gardynes  of  that  Ilk,  207. 
of  Lawton  and  Middleton,  the 

burial-place  of,  370  n. 
Garrioch,  Andrew  de,  232. 
Garvock  hill,  214. 
Gateside,  Careston,  291. 
Gearyburn,  307,  329. 
Geddes,  Jeanie,  356. 
Gella,  354. 
George  i.,  303. 

"  Ghaist  o'  Ferue-den,"  a  ballad,  256. 
Gilbert,  parson  of  Edzell,  4. 
Gilchrist,   Earl  of  Angus,  25,   232, 

344. 

Gilchrists,  344,  345. 
Gilfumman,    rocking-stone   of,  102, 

103. 

Gillanders,  Rev.  Mr.,  of  Fern,  222. 
Gillies,  Adam,  Lord  of  Session,  276, 

277. 

Colin,  277,  279. 

Dr.  John,  224,  273,  275. 

—  Rev.  John,  271  sq. 

—  John,  the  historian,  275. 

-  Margaret,  279. 

—  Mary,  279. 
Robert,  273,  275. 

Robert  Pearse,   277,  278,  316, 

317. 
Dr.  Thomas,  278. 

—  Thomas,  278. 
William,  279. 

Glaciers,  traces  in  Glenesk,  110  n. 
Gladstone,  Sir  John,  Bart.,  393,  394. 
Right.    Hon.    William    Ewart, 

394. 
Glamis,  John,  3d  Lord,  355. 

John,  8th  Lord,  366. 

Lord,  killed  in  Stirling,  191. 

Lyon  of,  209. 

Glamis  Caatle,  355  ;  estate  of,  341  M.; 

feuds,  359  ;  parish  of,  353  ;  secret 

chamber  in,  206. 
Glascorry,  mill  of,  151. 
Glasgow,  George,  4th  Earl  of,  195  n. 
Glasgow,  General  Assembly,  300. 

south  pariah,  275. 

Glasslet,  354. 


452 


INDEX. 


Glasswell,  344. 

Gleig,  blacksmith,  325  «. 

Glen,  Sir  David,  318. 

Sir  John,  of  Inchmartin,  318. 

John,  of  Balhall,  318. 

Sir  Patrick,  318?*. 

Glenbervie,  Hassas  of,  388. 

Gleneffock,  111,  281. 

Glenesk,  Sir  John  de,  30. 

John  de  (Glenesch),  29,  30. 

Morgund  de,  30. 

Glenesk,  district  of,  72  sq.,  109  sq.  ; 
family  name,  de  Glenesk,  26, 
27,  29  ;  history  of  district,  68, 
110  sq.  ;  present  state,  109  sq.  ; 
proprietary,  26,  56,  67,  145,  184, 
240  ;  traces  of  glaciers  in,  110».  ; 
wars  in,  96-98,  228. 

Glennie,  the  name  of,  27. 

Glenqueich,  Lindsays  of,  210,  340, 
341. 

present  proprietor,  341  n. 

Glenlee,  111. 

Glenmark,  traditions  of,  lOOsq. 

Queen's  well  at,  115. 

Gloucester,  Matthew  de,  401,  402. 

Gold,  Alexander,  in  Argeith,  133. 

Gordon,  Lord  Adam,   121,  123,  393. 

Mrs.  Alexander,  183. 

Duchess  of,  123. 

Sir  Ernest,  183. 

Elizabeth,  heiress  of   Huntly, 

181  n. 

George,  1st  Duke,  183  n. 

George,  5th  Duke,  365. 

•  Janet,  of  Inverqueich,  360. 

John,  of  Benholm,  404. 

Johnnie,  in  Glenlee,  111. 

of  Pitlurg,  181?t. 

Thomas,  in  Lightney,  133. 

Gow,  Neil,  147. 

Gowrie,  arms  of  the  Earl  of,  292  n., 

293. 

Gracie's  Linn,  99. 
Graham,  Gilbert,  of  Morphie,  397. 

Hendrie,  of  Menorgan,  339  n. 

Sir  Henry,  401. 

Margaret,  432. 

of  Fintry,  315. 

of  Largie  and  Morphie,  397  «. 

Sir  Robert,  407. 

Robert,  yr.  of  Morphie,  407. 

Sir   William,   of   Claverhouse, 

432. 

William,  407  n. 

Grahame,  Mr.  Barron,  408. 


Grahanie,  David  de,  312. 

F.  Barclay,  408. 

Mr.,  in  Stromness,  21. 

of  Leuchland,  311. 

Grahams  of  Morphie,  407. 
Graudtully,  273,  283,  294,  315. 
Grange,  Durham  of,  207. 
Granger,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  at  Kinneff, 

397  n. 
Grant,  Sir  Archibald,  of  Monymusk, 

68. 

Ann,  131  sq. 

Sir  George  Macpherson,  Bart., 

202. 

Peter,  "  Dubrach,"  131  sq. 

Th.  Macpherson,  202. 

Grassmarket,  Edinbiirgh,  373. 

Grassy  walls,  218. 

Gray,    Rev.    Andrew,   at   Careston, 

271. 

—  Andrew,  of  Kinneff,  397. 
Janet,  spouse  of  David  Earl  of 

Crawford,  14. 

Rev.  John,  at  Fern,  221. 

Mr.,  appointed  to  Edzell  and 

opposed,  10,  11,  411. 
Patrick,    Sheriff  and   Keeper, 

360. 

Greencairn,  214. 
Greenhill,  Alexander,  237. 

Charles,  238,  277,  278. 

David,  of  Craignathro,  238. 

Gregory,  Bp.  of  Brechin,  403  n. 

Griffith,  Admiral,  368. 

Grinter,  at  Arbroath,  381. 

Grip's  Chamber,  113. 

Gripsdyke,  88. 

Grub,   Rev.  Mr.,  of   Oathlaw,  167, 

199. 

Guinevra,  Queen,  358. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  wars   of,    286, 

347,  367. 

Guthrie,  Dr.  Alexander,  305. 
Alexander  (1),  (2),  (3),  372. 

—  Cristiane,  310. 

Sir   David,   371,  371   n.,   372, 

374. 
Elizabeth,   wife   of   D.  Edgar, 

339  n. 

George,  of  that  Ilk,  371. 

James,  laird,  273. 

James,  of  Balnabreich,  290  n. 

James,  laird's  son,  killed,  372. 

James,  martyred,  373. 

James,    minister   of    Arbiiiot, 

373. 


INDEX. 


453 


Guthrie,  John,  Bp.  of  Moray,   373, 

374  n. 
John,  of  Balnabreich,  290  n. 

—  John,  in  Petpowoks,  281. 

John,  372. 

John  Douglas  Maude,  373. 

Margaret,  of  Lunan,  241. 

Patrick,  of  that  Ilk,  373. 

Abbot   .Richard,   of  Arbroath, 

372. 

Kobert,  Kinblethmont,  370  n. 

Thomas,  Kinblethmont,  370. 

Rev.  Dr.  Thomas,  82,  305. 

William,  historian,  374  n. 

William,  of  Bavensbie,  372. 

William,  minister  of  Fenwick, 

374  n. 

Guthrie,  barony  of,  371  ;  bell,  375; 
castle  of,  374;  church  of,  371, 

375  ;  estate   of,   370  ;  Hilton   of, 
212. 

Guthrie,  etymology,  374  n. 
Guthriea  of  Carbuddo,  376. 

—  of  Collision,  370,  374  n. 
of  Craigie,  373,  374. 

—  of  Gaigie,  373,  374. 

of  Guthrie,  370  sq. 

of  Kinblethmont,  370. 

of  Kincaldrum,  371,  372,  378. 

in  Mennmir,  305. 

of  Pitforthy,  374  n. 

of  Taybank,  373,  374. 

HAPDINGTON,  arms  of,  Earl  of, 
292  n.,  293. 

Haercairn,  184,  209. 

Haerland  Faulds,  209. 

Haerpithaugh,  265. 

Halch  (Halche,Hauch)of  Tannadyce, 
207,  208. 

Halgreen,  401. 

Halidon,  battle  of,  401. 

Halket,  David  de,  of  Pitfirran,  355. 

Hallyburton,  George,  300. 

Hon.  George  Douglas  Gordon, 

201. 

of  Pitcur,  292  n. 

Hamden,  engagement  at,  368. 

Hamilton,  Lady  Anne,  Countess  of 
Southesk,  245. 

Elizabeth,  Countess  of  Craw- 
ford, 187. 

James,  3d  Earl  and  1st  Duke, 

145,  196. 

James,  1st  Lord,  187. 

James,  at  Menmuir,  300. 


Hamilton,   John,    1st    Marquis   of, 

353. 

Eev.  Thomas,  at  Fern,  221. 

William,  llth  Duke,  183  n. 

Hamilton,  dukedom  of,  284. 

Presbytery  of,  273. 

Harlaw,  battle  of,  231,  286. 
Harris,    Rev.  David,    222,    257  «,, 

265  n. 

Hart,  Gen.,  of  Doe  Castle,  91. 
Hassa,  Helen,  388. 
Hassas,  of  Glenbervie,  388. 
Hatherwick,  140. 
Hatton  Park,  in  Menmuir,  307. 
Hauch  de  Brechin,  336  n. 
Haugh  of  Insche,  311. 
Haughmuir,  336,  336  n. 
Haughs,  212. 
Hawik,  Willelmus,  371. 
Hawkit  Stirk,  The,  260. 
Hay,  Sir  Gilbert  de,  of  Errol,  228. 
John    de,     of    Tulybothevyle 

(Tillybothwell),  228,  391. 

Mr.,  reader,  Lochlee,  74. 

William  de,  230. 

—  of  Delgaty,  404. 
Hay,  family  traditions,  230,  388. 
Hay  Mudie,  Mrs.,  of   Newton   and 

Pitforthy,  278. 
"  Hazard"  sloop  of  war,  316. 
Helenore,  or  the  Fortunate  Shepherd- 
ess, tale,  83. 
Hepburn,  Harry,  313. 
Hepburn  s,  of  Luffnes,  7  »• 
Herbertsheil,  castle  of,  396. 
Hermitage  of  Kilgery,  309. 
"  He  winna  be  guidit  by  me,"  ballad, 

199. 
Highland  superstitions,  Collins's  ode 

on,  254. 
Hilton,  in  Fern,  246,  266. 

of  Conveth,  406  n. 

Hoddam  parish,  271. 

Hole  of  Weems  in  Clova,  352. 

Holyrood,  365. 

Home,    Lord,     Baron     Douglas    of 

Douglas,  284. 
Honeyman,  Andrew,  Bp.  of  Orkney, 

397  ». 

Honeyman,  family  in  Kinneff,  397  ». 
Hopetoun,  Earl  of,  275. 
Houff  of  Dundee,  174. 
Huddlestone,     Robert,     notice     of, 

103  n. 

Hunter,  Alexander  Gibson,  317. 
David,  of  Blackness,  315. 


454 


INDEX. 


Hunter,  Mary  Anne,  315. 

Huntingdon  and  Garioch,  David, 
Earl  of,  139,  174. 

Huntly,  Sir  Alexander  Seton  Gordon, 
Earl  of,  176,  177,  180  sq.,  383. 

George,  6th  Earl  and  1st  Mar- 
quis of,  192. 

George,  8th  Marquis,  and  5th 

Duke  of  Gordon  of,  201. 

Huntly  Hill,  184. 

IDVIE,  241. 

Imrie,  paper  by  Col.,  121  n. 

Inch  of  Arnhall,  122  n. 

luchgrundle,  113. 

Inchmartin,  318. 

"  Incident,  The,"  196. 

Inglis,  Rev.  Dav.,  minister  of  Loch- 
lee,  75,  79,  89 ;  his  hospitality 
and  mother's  grave,  80. 

Innerdovat,  212. 

Innermeath,  Lord,  3/0  H. 

Innes,  Alexander,  of  Crombie,  48  ». 

Inscriptions  at  Lochlee,  83  sq. 

Inverarity,  barony  of,  212;  church 
of,  377,  379  n.  ;  estate  of,  376  ; 
Hilltown  of,  376  ;  Kirktown,  376, 
377. 

Invercarron,  298,  302. 

Invereskandy,  17. 

Inverichty,  Balbirnie  of,  207. 

Inverkeillor,  370  n.,  438. 

Inverlochy,  295,  351. 

Inverlunan,  barony  of,  228. 

Invermark,    account    of,    92     sq.  ;    i 
castle,    14,  47,  75,  110;    former 
amenities,  110;  grated  iron  door, 
14,  93,  345,  437  ;  Lodge,  83,  111; 
silver  mines,  99. 

Inverpeffer,  Adam  de,  126. 

William  de,  126. 

Inverqueich,  castle  and  property, 
357  sq. 

Inverquharity,  castle  of,  345,  346, 
405  n.  ;  iron  yett,  93,  345,  436  ; 
Ogilvies  of,  344,  350  sq.  ;  pro- 
prietors, 343  sq. 

Investiture  by  bell  and  feudal  sym- 
bols, 5. 

Iron  yetts,  14,  93,  345,  436. 

Irving  of  Brucklaw,  313. 

Isla,  358. 

Isles,  Donald,  Lord  of  the,  284,  286. 

JACKIE  STIRLIN',  31. 
Jackson,  Margrat,  20  n. 


Jackston,  140. 
Jacobitism,  10,  76,  78,  168. 
Jamieson,  Dr.,  85,  216,  343. 
James  I.,  140. 

IT.,  179,  309,  346. 

in.,   126,  187,   188,  189,  280, 

312,  346,  359,  372,  391,  393. 
iv.,  165,  189,  335,   360,   391, 

393. 
vi.,   211,    346  n.,    364,    373; 

at  Edzell,  64  ;  at  Kinnaird,  242. 

VIIT.,  222,  338. 

Jerrayn,  H.  W.,  Bishop  of  Brechin,  81 . 
Jock  Barefoot,  206,  294. 
Johanna,  consort  of  David  n.,  399. 
John  xxii.,  Pope,  277. 
John,  Colonel,  368. 

Vicar  de  Ures,  403. 

Johnny  Kidd's  Hole,  101. 
Johnson,  Dr.,  at  St.  Andrews,  341. 
Johnston,  Arthur,  poet,  242. 

John,  350. 

Jolly,  Alexander,  in  Witton,  133. 
James,   in    Mill    of    Aucheen, 

114a. 

Rev.  Peter,  79,  80,  81  ;  minis- 
trations  and    death,    81  ;    in    a 

snowstorm,  118. 
Jo]y,  Sir  Andrew,  74. 
Jones,    Catherine    (Mrs.    Kenned}- 

Erskine),  322. 

William,  of  Henlys,  322. 

Judex,  office  of,  269. 

KAMES  (Chemmyss),  389. 
Katerin  (Caterline),  388,  389. 
Keen,  Mount,  110». 
Keith,  Alexander,  403. 

Alexander,  of  Phesdo,  395. 

Christina,  399. 

George,  4th    Earl    Marischal, 

402  ».,  404. 

.  Hervei,  son  of  Warin,  388. 

Margaret,    at    Balinscho,    347, 

404. 

Robert,    Bishop    of    Caithness 


and  Orkney,  403^ 

William,  3d  Earl  Marischal,  403. 

Sir  William,  388,  400,  401. 

Keith,  family  and  traditions,    230, 

286,  388,  401sq. 
Keith-Marischal,  286,  399  sq. 
Keithock,    camp    at,    218;    estate, 

315,  336  sq.  ;  Gallows  Hill,  236  ; 

Little,  275. 
Keithock's  toast,  332. 


INDEX. 


455 


Kelly  castle,  149. 
Kelpie,  252  sq.,  343. 
Kelpie's  footmark,  252. 

•  needle,  155n. 

Kemp  castle,  212. 

Kemphill,  212. 

Kennedy,  Bishop  James,  175,  178. 

Kennedy-Erskines,  322. 

Kenneth  HI.,  King,  murdered,  25, 

376  ?*.,  439. 
Ker,  Mr.  Robert,  minister  at  Leth- 

not  and  Glenesk,  75. 
Keraldus,  Judex,  269,  290,  291. 
Keryngton,  Walter  de,  400. 
Kettins,  church  of,  174. 
Kilblein,  forest  of,  285. 
Kilford,  ford  and  pool,  107. 
Kilgery  forest,  170,  307,   309,  310, 

312. 

Kilhill,  169«. 
Killievair  Stone,  326,  327. 
Kilsyth,  battle  of,  196,  301. 
Kinalty,  342. 
Kinblethmont,  226,  364  sq.,   408  ; 

etymology    and    position,     369  ; 

mains  of,  368. 
Kincaldrum,  372. 
Kincardine,  castle  of,  238,  394,  438  ; 

church,  439. 

Kinclevin,  lordship  of,  188,  400. 
Kincraig,  141. 

Kincraigie,  near  Brechin,  336  n. 
Kinfauns,  193  ;  barony  and  lordship 

of,  282. 

Kingenny  forest,  170. 
Kinghorn,  Earl  of,  369. 
Kingornie,  398,  399. 
King's    Bourne,    Palace,    and   Seat, 

218. 

Kinloch,  Sir  George,  363. 
George,     M.P.,    363  ;    bronze 

statue  of,  363. 

—  Sir  John,  363. 

of  Kinloch,  363. 

Kinloch  chapel,  363. 
Kinnaird,  Mariota  de,  239. 
Kinnaird,  barony  of,  240  «.  ;  castle 

and    park,    245 ;    church,    243  ; 

house    of,    184,  241,  242;  lands 

of,  239  sq.,    343  sq.  ;  parish  of, 

243,  244. 
Kinnell   castle,    312;    church    and 

aisle,  178  n.  ;  parish,  221,  352.     . 
Kinnettles,   378  sq. ;  church,    378, 

379  ;  estate,   378  sq.  ;  rector   of, 

227  n. 


Kinneff,   392,  396-98  ;  castle,  400  ; 

church  of,  398. 
Kintrockat,  336  n. 
Kirkden,  246  n. 
Kirkhill  (now  Belmont),  363. 
Kirkshade,  355. 
Kirriemuir,  regality  of,  282. 
Knights  of  St.   John  of  Jerusalem, 

23,  24,  337,  363,  399  n. 
Knocquy,  Knocknoy,  28. 
Knox,  John,  249,  331. 
Knycht,  John,  rector  and  canon,  164. 
Kynathes  (Kinnettles),  378  n. 
Kyncithin,  344. 

LADY,  buried  and  revived  at  Edzell, 

15. 
Ladybank,  381,  382. 

chapel,  381. 

Laing,  Alexander,  at  Stracathro,  265. 

Malcolm,  historian,  349. 

Laing-Meason,  Gilbert,  349. 
Laird's  Stone  in  Clova,  352. 
Lancaster,  Duke  of ,  defeated,  34,  396. 
Lamb,  Andrew,  Bishop  of  Brechin 

and  Galloway,  356. 
Lamby,  John,  356. 
Lammie,  George,  356. 

John,  356. 

Lammies  of  Dunkenny,  356. 
Langlands,  212. 
Latch  road  in  Brechin,  335. 
Lauderdale,  John,  Duke  of,  198. 
Laurencekirk,  405,  406  n. 
Lauriston,    400 ;    chapel   of,    29  n., 

407  n. 

Lauriston,  Stirlings  of,  29  n. 
Law-shade,  290. 
Lead  in  Glenesk,  99. 
Leadbeakie  farm,  155. 
Leamington,  277. 

Ledenhendrie,  168,246/1.,  260,263. 
Lee,  the,  112-114. 
Leech,  John,  Latin  poet,  314. 

local  poet  at  Menmuir,  303. 

Leighton,  Sir  David,K.C.B.,304,305. 

David,  304. 

Thomas,  304. 

Mr.,  of  Bearhill,  305. 

Mr.,  Druuicairn,  412  n. 

Leightonhill,  184. 

Leitch,  Rev.  Andrew,  222. 

John,  Bonnington, 

two  brothers  (David  and  John), 

drowned,  130,  422. 
Lemno  Burn,  1,  204. 


456 


INDEX. 


Lennox,  Ludovick  2il  Duke  of,  211. 

Leslie  (Lesly)  Hon.  Col.,  275. 

Norman  de,  378. 

Walter,  299,  300  n. 

Lethnot,  church  of,  126,  128,  135, 
319 ;  episcopacy  in,  76,  127  ; 
estates,  57  n.,  67  n.  ;  etymology 
doubtful,  126  n.,  161  n.  ;  font  at, 
127  ;  ministers,  126-7  ;  parish, 
74,  76,  125,  150,  184,  259 ;  rent- 
book,  412  ;  St.  Mary's  Well,  127  ; 
superstitions  and  archaeology,  151 
sq.,  331  sq.  ;  prebend  of  Brechin, 
126  sq. 

Easter  and   Wester,   354  ;    in 

Clova,  353,  354  ;  mill  of,  126,  153, 
157. 

Leuchars,  241  n.,  247. 

Leuchlands,  Graham  of,  311. 
—  place  of,  140,  336  n. 

Leven,  David  6th  Earl  of,  275. 

Leys  in  Inverkeillor,  179. 

Lighton,  James,  in  Drmncairn,   133. 

Lillock,  233. 

Limesay,  Limes-eye,  Lindes-eye,  33. 
See  Lindsaj'. 

Randolph  de,  33. 

Lindertis,  349,  355. 

Lindsay,  Alexander,  2d  Earl  of 
Crawford,  175,  396. 

Alexander,  4th  Earl  of  Craw- 
ford, 173,  386 ;  called  Earl  Beardie 
and  Tiger,  181  sq.,  206;  caused 
battle  of  Arbroath,  175  sq.,  280, 
345  ;  fought  and  lost  the  battle  of 
Brechin,  180  sq.,  240 ;  his  violence, 
205,  306  ;  in  Douglas  league, 
175  sq.  ;  submission,  185  ;  tomb 
in  Dundee,  174,  186. 

Alexander,  7th  Earl  of  Craw- 
ford, 39,  190,  234,  350,  382; 
of  Auchtermonzie,  187,  190. 

Alexander,  15th  Earl  of  Craw- 
ford, 193. 

•  Alexander,  23d  Earl  of  Craw- 
ford and  6th  Earl  of  Balcarres, 
194. 

Alexander,  25th  Earl  of  Craw- 
ford and  8th  Earl  of  Balcarres, 
194,  412«. 

Sir  Alexander,  of  Crawford  and 

Glenesk,  24,  31,  32,  162,  164, 
172,  173,  195  n.,  228,  232,  322, 
335,  339,  357,  370,  385,  390,  391, 
396 ;  married  Catherine  Strivelin 
or  Stirling,  31,  32. 


Lindsay,  Sir  Alexander  of  Kinneff, 
34,  396,  402 ;  defeated  the  English 
at  Queensferry,  34,  35. 

Sir  Alexander,  1st  Baronet  of 

Evelick,  379,  380,  424. 

Sir  Alexander,  2d  Baronet  of 

Evelick,  380. 

—  Sir  Alexander,  3d  Baronet  of 
Evelick,  380. 

Alexander,  of  Broadlands,  394. 

Alexander,  of  Canterland,  47, 

302. 

Alexander,  Master  of  Craw- 
ford, killed,  189,  190. 

Alexander,  of  Fichell,  354  n. 

Alexander,  Lord  Lindsay,  his 


widow,  360,  362. 
Alexander,  "  The  Wicked  Mas- 
ter," 26,  39  sq.,  190. 
Alexander,    of    Pitairlie    and 

Guildie,  386. 

Alexander,  of  PitairKe,  386. 

Alexander,   of     Kinblethmont 

(1st  Lord  Spynie),  364. 

Alexander,  of  Vayne,  38. 

Alexander  de,  357. 

Alexander,    a   natural   son    of 

the  Earl,  27. 
Alexander,  "Jacobite  intruder" 

at  Careston,  271. 
Alexander,  blacksmith,  Brechin, 

335. 

Anna  (Mrs.  Thomson),  159  n. 

Andrew,  of  Fichell,  354  ». 

Sir  Charles,   last   of   Evelick, 

380. 
Charlotte  Amelia,  of  Evelick, 

380. 
David,   1st  Earl  of  Crawford, 

126,  173,  174,  293,  335,  343,  350, 

362,    371,   376,    385,    397,    406  ; 

built  the  "  Lodging  "  in  Dundee, 

173,  175  ;  died  at  Finhaven,  175  ; 

buried  at  Dundee,  175. 
David,   3d  Earl  of  Crawford, 

177. 
David,   5th  Earl  of  Crawford, 

and  Duke  of  Montrose,  141,187sq., 

229,    240,    335,    358,    362,    371, 

378,  391  ;  born  at  Finhaven,  173  ; 

buried  at  Dundee,  174. 
David,   8th  Earl  of  Crawford, 

190,  387  n. 
David,  9th  Earl  of  Crawford, 

14,  26,  38,   190,  211,  319,  351  ; 
:    family,  42  ;    marriages,  41  ;   sue- 


INDEX. 


457 


ceeds  to  the  peerage  and  restores 
it  to  the  heir,  38  sq.  ;  work  at 
Edzell,  65,  67  ;  death,  94. 

Lindsay,  David,  10th  Earl  of  Craw- 
ford, 40, 210, 347, 361, 366;  marries 
Margaret  Beaton,  41,  190,  361  ; 
replaced  in  the  peerage,  40,  1 90. 

David,  llth  Earl  of  Crawford, 

46,  64,  191,  192,  203. 

-  David,  12th  Earl  of  Crawford, 

47,  192,  212  ;  life  as  the  Master, 
47,     192,      212;    the    "Prodigal 
Earl,"  193,  197. 

David,  Bishop  of  Brechin  and 

Edinburgh,  202,  314,  356. 

Sir  David  (1),  of  Edzell,  9,  35, 


37,  229,  376  ;  marriages,  38,  229  ; 
death,  38. 

Sir  David  (2),  of  Edzell,    42, 


202,  337,  407,  408  ;  early  charac- 
ter, 42  sq.,  320  ;  furnaces  for 
smelting,  26,  44,  93,  98  ;  made 
Lord  Edzell,  45,  47,  48,  49,  93  ; 
persecuted  by  the  12th  Earl,  193. 

David,   "  Young  Edzell,"  46  ; 

caused  Lord  Spynie's  death,  46, 
47,  70,  71,  94,  100. 

David,    penultimate    laird    of 


Edzell,  52,  408. 

David,  last  laird  of  Edzell,  10, 


52,  55-58,  71,  75,  99,   382,  414  ; 

strongly  Jacobite,  9. 

Gen.  Sir  David,  of  Evelick,  380. 

David,    of   Aird  and     Strath- 

nairn,  35. 

—  David   de,   lord  of    Kinneffe, 

396. 
David,    of  Pitairlie,  parson  of 

Finhaven  and  Inverarity,  165,  387. 
David,  pastor  of  Maryton  and 

Rescobie,  423. 
David,    Episcopal  minister    at 

St.  Andrews,  340. 

David,  minister  at  Edzell,  10. 

David,  of  Keithock,   38,  336, 

337. 

David,  minister  of  Leith,  364. 

David,  221. 

Elizabeth,    Lady    Drummond, 

42. 

Elizabeth,  of  Evelick,  379. 

"Sleepin'  Effie,"  17. 

Euphemia,  sister  of  1st  Earl  of 

Crawford,  392. 
George,  14th  Earl  of  Crawford, 

193,  197,  283,  342,  347. 


Lindsay,  George,  22d  Earl  of  Craw- 
ford, 195n. 

Lady  Helen,  Countess  South- 

esk,  242. 

Helen,  daughter  of  Bishop 

Lindsay,  202,  356,  423. 

—  Henry,  of  Blairifedden,  423. 

Henry,  "deCarraldstoun,"  283. 

Henry,  of  Kinfauns,  13th  Earl 

of  Crawford,  166,  193,  194,  197, 

282,  288,  291. 

Captain  Ignace,  395. 

James,  24th  Earl  of  Crawford 

and  7th  Earl  of  Balcarres,   194, 

195??. 
James,  26th  Earl  of  Crawford, 

and  9th  Earl  of  Balcarres,  195. 
Sir  James,   of  Crawford,   173, 

174. 

James  de,  358,  362. 

James,  of  Dowhill,  363. 

James,      of    Glenqueich      and 

Memus,  340. 
James,  parson  of  Fettercairn, 

42. 

Lady  Janet,  202,  360. 

Janet,  53. 

—  Lady  Jean,  193. 
Jean  Maria,  55,  320. 

John,  6th   Earl   of    Crawford, 

38,  189,  190,  281,  387  n. 
John,  of  the  Byres,  17th  Earl 

of  Crawford,  194,  1C5  ».,  196. 

Sir  John,  of  Brechin,  180,  336. 

Sir  John,  eldest   son  of    13th 

Earl,  282,  283. 

Sir  John,  of  Pitairlie,  387. 

Sir  John,  of  Thuirstown,  341, 

342. 

John,  of  Dunkenny,  356. 

John,  minister  of  Lethnot,  127. 

John,  of  Phesdo,  395. 

John,   1st  of  Woodwrae,   210, 

346,  347,  404. 

John,  of  Balhall,  319. 

John,  of  Blairiefeddan,210, 340. 

John,  of  Canterland  and  Edzell, 

50  sq.,  95,  408. 

John,  of  Edzell,  75  n. 

John,  in  Dalbog  Mill,  53  n. 

Johannes,  de  Markhouse,  209. 

John,  Lord  Menmuir,  42,  43, 

98,  195  n.,  319,  347,  406. 

John,  the  factor  of  Edzell,  20  w. 

John  K.  B.,  and  Rear-Admiral, 

380. 


458 


INDEX. 


Lindsay,  John,  residenter  in  Brechiu, 
336. 

Katherine,  319,  347. 

—  Lady,  221,  229. 

Ludovick,  16th  Earl  of  Craw- 
ford, 193,  195,  196,  301. 

Margaret,  of  Evelick,  379,  380, 

424. 

Margaret,   Lady  of  Aitherny, 


at 


at 


53  sq. 

Margaret,  Countess  of  Athole, 

42. 

Margaret,  of  Fullarton,  367. 

Mrs.  Margaret,  of  Balmadies, 

424. 

Marjory,    minister's   wife 

Lunan,  423. 

Marjory,    minister's   wife 

Rescobie,  379,  423. 

Lady  Mary,  195  «.,  354. 

Patrick,  of  Barnyards,  208. 

Philip,  de  la  Halche,  208. 

Richard,  335. 

Robert,  1st  of  Evelick,  379. 

Robert,  340. 

Robert,  of  Balhall,  42,  43,  319. 

Dr.    Thomas,    Archbishop    of 

Armagh,  379. 

Walter,  of  Beaufort  and  Edzell, 

27,  36,  187,  229,  368,  380,  382, 
383,  384,  393. 

Sir  Walter  of  Balgavies,  42,  4", 

193,  211  sq.,  191,  376. 

Walter,  younger  of  Edzell,  38 ; 


fell  at  Flodden,  190. 

Walter  de,  an  Anglo-Norman, 


33. 

Walter,  Vicar  of  Ruthven,  357. 

Walter,  of  the  house  of  Eve- 
lick,  384. 
—  Sir  William,  of  the  Byres,  399. 

Sir  William,  ye  lord  of  Rossie, 

396. 

Sir  William,  of  Covington,  16. 

Sir  William,  of  Dunnottar,  400, 

401. 

William  de,  of  Ercildoun  and 

Luffness,  33. 

William  de,  High  Chamberlain, 

391. 

William,  brother  of   General 

Sir  David,  380. 

William,  son  of   General   Sir 

David,  380. 

William,  Bishop  of    Dunkeld, 

363. 


Lindsay,  Rev.  William,  395. 

of  Balquhadlie,  43. 

of  Little  Coull,  340. 

Lindsay-Carnegie,  of  Boysack,  367. 

Henry  Alexander  Fullarton^eS. 

James,  367. 

James  Fullarton,  367,  368. 

William  Fullarton,  367. 

Lindsays  of  Baikie,  354,  355. 

of  Balgavies,  210,  340,  387. 

of  Balhall,  303. 

of  Balinscho,  346. 

of  Balquhadlie,  229. 

.  of  Balquharn,  229. 

of  Balungie,  387. 

of  Blairiefeddan,  210. 

—  of  Cairn  in  Tannadyce,   337, 

387. 

of  Carbuddo,  376. 

of  Carlungie,  387. 


—  of  Dowbill,  363,  423. 

of  Evelick,  379-81. 

of  Glenqueich,  208,  340. 

of  Guthrie,  371,  378. 

of  Inverarity,  376,  378. 

of  Inverquharity,  344. 

of  Kinblethmoiit,  364. 

of  Kinneff,  396. 

of  Kinnettles,  378  sq. 

of  Lethnot  in  Clova,  354. 

of  Little  Coull,  208,  340. 

—  of  Markhouse,  210,  340. 

of  Phesdo,  392  sq. 

of  Pitairlie,  386,  387. 

of  Pitscandlie,  210. 

of  Woodwrae,  210,  340. 

Lindsay's  Hall,   171 ;   residence   in 

Brechin,  336. 

Linross  (Lunros),  355. 

Lintrathen,  waterworks  for  Dundee, 
5  n. 

Livingstone,  Sir  Alexander,  175. 

Livingstones  of  Balrownie,  303. 

Loch  Goul,  404. 

Lochlee,  church  feeling,  76  sq.  ; 
district  and  parish,  79  sq.,  319; 
joined  to  Lethnot,  74,  75, 125, 128  ; 
ministers,  74  sq.,  125;  mountains 
of,  112  ;  population  changing,  111 
sq. ;  old  kirk,  74,  82 ;  school- 
masters, 75,  95 ;  Episcopal  Church, 
76  sq.  ;  Free  Church,  82,  116. 

Lochnagar,  113. 

Lochty  in  Menmuir,  322. 

in  Monikie,  388. 

Logie  estate,  363. 


INDEX. 


459 


Logy,  Johnde,  341  n. 

Lok,  Mr.  John,  rector  of  Firvhaven, 

164. 

Longhaven,  322. 
Loughaugh,  326. 

Longmuir,  Dr.,  editor  of  Helenore,  85. 
Lour,  Lord,  378. 
Lout  of  that  Ilk,  207,  378  ;  Little, 

378. 

Lour.     See  Meathie  Lour. 
Louttit,  George,  schoolmaster,  22  n. 
Lovat,  Dowager  Lady,  41. 
Low,  Rev.  George,  of   Harray  and 

Birsay,  his    History,    20-22 ;   his 

literary  productions,  20. 

John,    kirk-officer   at   Edzell, 

20  re. 

Luchris     (or     Lathress),    vicar     of 

Guthrie,  371. 

Lucks-o'-Pagan,  East  and  West,  332. 
Lumgair,  400,  402,  403. 
Lunan,   Rev.    Alexander,   diary  of, 

80. 
Lunan,  barony  of,  228  ;  monuments 

at,  423. 

Lundie,  Allan,  404. 
Lundie,    Laird    of,  killed,  43,  319; 

barony  of,  228. 
Lundin,  Anna  (Maitland),  198. 

Dame   Margaret  of   that  Ilk, 

198. 

Lundres,  Robert  de,  357. 
Lunkyrr,  Walter  de,  403  «. 
Ltttzen,  battle  of,  348. 
Luvall  of  Ballumbie,  310. 
Lychton  Hill,  142. 
Lychtoun,  Walter  de,  rector  of  Ed- 
zell, 4. 

Lyell,  Charles  of  Kinnordy,  343. 
—  Rev.  David,  271,  272. 

Miss  Sophia  Georgianna,  343. 

Hew,  342. 

Patrick,  of  Balhall,  320. 

Thomas,  of  Dysart,  320. 

William,  of  Dysart  and  Bon- 

ington,  320. 

Lyon,  David,  of  Kinnell,  335. 
Jean,  Lady  Spynie,  366. 

Sir  John,  of  Glamis,  322,  323, 

341  ». 

John,  of  Brigton,  200. 

Patrick,  of  Ogil,  263  n. 

Rev.  Dr.,  of  Glamis,  257  n. 

Rev.  Sylvester,  of  Kirriemuir, 

311. 
of  Anchterhouse,  198. 


M 'ARTHUR,  Donald,  324. 
M'Henrie,  Mr.,  at  Menmuir,  302. 
M'Inroy,  Col.,  of  The  Burn,  123. 
M'Kenzie,  Rev.  Win.,  Glenmuick,85. 

Sir  George,  216,  217. 

Lord  Privy  Seal,  363. 

Mackintosh,  Sir  James,  136. 
Maclagau-Sinclair,  J.  A.,  341  n. 
M'Leod,  Roderick,  of  Cadboll,  405. 

of  Assynt,  298. 

Maiden,  The,  311. 
Maison  Dieu,  Brechin,  139. 
Maitland,  Chancellor,  364. 

—  Lord,  64. 

—  Lady  Mary,  Countess  of  South- 
esk,  245. 

-  Robert,  198. 
William,  217. 


Malcolm  n.,  284. 

iv.,  236,  404. 

Malherbe,  family  of,  27. 

Mansfield,  William  Murray  1st  Earl 

of,  171  n. 
Mar,  Donald  12th  Earl  of,  350. 

Countess  Isabella,  350. 

John  7th  Earl  of,  142,  159  n. 

Thomas  9th  Earl  of,  357,  371. 

March,  Patrick  9th  Earl  of,  171  n. 
Margaret,  Princess  of   Norwav,  30, 

227. 

Margie,  burn  of,  153. 
Marischal  College,  founder  of,  402. 
Monk,  the,  113,  114. 
Markhouse  (Marcus),    170,   208  sq., 

253,   315,  315  n.,  316,   340;  old 

castle  of,  209. 

Little,  212. 

Marnie,  Mr.,  bought  Deuchar,  430. 
Marston  Moor,  battle  of,  196. 
Mary  of  Guise,  40. 

-  Queen,  64,  65,  241. 
Maryton,  403. 

Mason,  William,  on  the  Druids,  103. 
Mason  Lodge  at  Tarfside,  117. 
Matheson,  Mr.  (of  Attadale),  405. 
Maule,  Ansold  Sire  de,  142. 

Lady  Christian,  148. 

Fox,   llth   Earl  of  Dalhousie 

and  iM  Baron  Panmure,  144  »., 

148. 

Guarin  de,  143. 

Hon.  Harry,    144,    145,   371, 

374. 

Henry,  144,  339  n. 

George,  2d  Earl   of  Panmure, 

384. 


460 


INDEX. 


Maule,  James,  4th  Earl  of  Panmure, 

bought  Edzell,  etc.,  56,  145, 159  n., 

408. 
Lady    Jean    (Lady    Ramsay), 

146. 

John  de,  239  n. 

Hon.  Lauderdale,  148. 

Sir  Peter  de,  143,  144,  147. 

Sir  Peter,  143. 

•  Patrick,  1st  Earl  of  Panmure, 

141,  142,  144,  270,  389. 

—  llectrude,  142. 

Robert  de,  143. 

Robert,  of  Panmure,  387  n. 

Sir  Thomas,  143,  290  n. 

Sir  Thomas,    fell   at   Brechin, 

143. 
Sir  Thomas,  father  of  Robert, 

313,  387  n. 
Thomas,    of  Pitlevie  and  Ar- 


downie,  146. 

—  Lieut.  Thomas,  146. 

—  Walter  de,  239  n. 

William  de,  of  Fowlis,  143. 

William  de  Panmure,  140,  227. 


-  Hon.  William,  148,  237. 

William,  Earl  Panmure  and 

Viscount  Maiile,  146,  349,  383. 

William  Ramsay,  1st  Baron 

Panmure  of  Brechin  and  Navar, 
66,  71,  287;  his  character  and 
charities,  147  ;  as  gaberlunzie, 
119  ;  as  kind  landlord,  119,  132  ; 
constituted  Mason  Lodge  at  Tarf- 
side,  117;  recovered  the  Navar 
bell,  135, 136 ;  took  Panmure  name 
and  arms,  146  ;  his  monument  at 
Monikie,  146. 

Maule,  origin  of  name  and  early  his- 
tory, 142  sq.  ;  lords  of  Brechin 
and  Navar,  169.  See  Brechin. 

Maxwell,  Thomas,  vicar,  357. 

Mayns  of  Arnhall,  122  n. 

of  Fern,  246  n. 

Mearns  Hill,  309  n. 

Meathie-Lour,  377-79. 

Megill  (Miggel,  Migell),  John  de,  of 
that  Ilk,  363. 

Michael  de,  362. 

Roger  de,  362. 

William  de,  362. 

Meigle,  Simon  de,  362. 

property  of,  362. 

Mekill-Mylne  of  Brechin,  311. 

Melder-sifter,  story  of  the,  151. 

Melgund  Castle,  173,  191,  225. 


Meltnaker,  John,  vicar  of  Athyii, 
370  ra. 

Melville,  Rev.  Andrew,  42,  221,  331. 

Rev.  James,  221,  300,  314, 

346  n. 

Richard  de,  of  Glenbervie,  369. 

Richard,  of  Baldovie,  346  n. 

Melville,  family  of,  221  n. 

Melvilles  of  Glenbervie,  397- 

Memus,  340,  341. 

Menmuir,  Lord,  9,  126,  319. 

archaeology  of,  325  sq. ;  Brew- 
lands  of,  310;  chamberlain  of, 
378  ;  church  and  parish,  221,  236, 
295,  299  sq.,  305  sq.,  319,  322; 
Kirktown  of,  310;  lands  and 
estate,  306  sq.,  311  sq.,  318  sq.  ; 
ministers,  271,  299  sq.  ;  royal 
residence,  306,  307  ;  superstitions, 
331  sq. 

Menzies,  Lord,  273. 

Royal  forester,  359. 

Mercer,  Isobell,  387  n. 

Merton,  Nicol  de,  379  n. 

Michael,  John  de  St.,  139. 

Middleton,  Earl  of,  9,  52.  295,  311, 
31 5 n.,  433,  440. 

John,  of  Caldbame,  295. 

Mill,  Alexander,  of  Glenniark,  1 14  n. 

Major  James,  238. 

James,  339  n. 

John  (1)  of  Fern,  237,  320, 396. 

John  (2),  237,  238. 

Robert,  bought  Balwyllo  and 

Balhall,  237. 

Millar,  David,  minister  of  Edzell,  13. 

Millden,  shooting-lodge,  118. 

Milne  Eye  of  Disclune,  122  n. 

Mines  of  Glenesk,  24, 44,  93,  98,  99. 

Mis-sworn  Rig,  323. 

Mitchell  fired  at  Archbishop  Sharpe, 
397  n. 

Mitchells  of  Nether  Careston,  288. 

Modlach  Hill,  107  ;  St.  Andrew's 
Tower  on,  117. 

Moir,  Bishop,  81  n. 

Molison,  James,  in  Craigendowie, 
133. 

John,  in  Oldtown,  133. 

Monawee,  llOw. 

Mondynes,  barony,  399. 

Monifieth  church  given  to  Arbroath 
Abbey,  344 ;  vault  at  church  of, 
387  n. 

Monikie,  384,  387 ;  castle,  386 ; 
church,  386  n. 


INDEX. 


461 


Monipennie,  quoted  or  referred  to, 

290,  291,  385. 
Monks'  Pool,  114. 
Monorgund  of  that  Ilk,  384. 
Monrommon  Moor  and  Forest,  170. 
Mons  Grampius,  218. 
Montague,  Lord,  284. 

Lady,  284. 

Lady  Lucy  Elizabeth,  Countess 

of  Home,  284. 
Montealto,  Bernard  de,  227. 

Eda,  307. 

•  John   de,  rector  of  Finhaveu, 


164,  228. 
—  John,  228,  229. 
Laurence    de    (1), 


rector    of 


Kinnettles,  378  n. 

Laurence  de  (2),  227  ». 

Michael  de,  227. 

Richard    de,    164,    228,  369, 

391. 

Robert  de  (1),  sheriff,  227. 

Robert  de  (2),  226. 

William  de,  of  Kinblethmont, 


227. 

—  William  de,  knight,  226. 

William  de  (others),  227,  228. 


Montealtos,  family  and  name,  226  n. 

of  Fern,  391. 

Montfort,  John  de  (1  and  2),  397. 

Lord,  defeated,  171  n. 

—  Robertus  de,  397. 

Roger  de,  143. 

Montgomery,  John,  mason,  114  n. 
Montrose,  David  Duke  of,  126,  141, 

188. 

Duchess  of,  26,  111. 

Earl  of,  43. 

John   Marquis   of,    195,    196, 

243  sq.,   301,  352,  433  ;  in  Glen- 

esk,  50,  82,  95,  96;  death,  51. 
burgh    of,     188,     304,    316; 

grammar  school,  271. 

Old,  248. 

Mooran  burn,  120,  121. 
Moore,  Professor,  275. 
Moray,  Sir  Andrew,  400. 

Angus  Karl  of,  326. 

Archibald     Douglas    Earl   of, 

185. 
See   of,    became    a    temporal 

lordship,  365. 
Morham  of  Kinnell,  382. 
Morphie,   cruives  of,  43  ;  lands  of, 

407,  408. 
Morphyfrascr,  407. 


Morrice,  William,  271. 

Mortification,  the  Fyfe,  134,  135. 

Mortimer,  Roger  de,  143. 

Morton,  Master  of,  366. 

Mount  Keen,  110  ». 

Mowat's  Cairn,  228  ;  Seat,  228. 

Mowbray,  Sir  John,  96. 

Mowet,  Johannes,  371. 

Muckle  Cairn,  154. 

Muir,  Rev.  Patrick,  of  Fern,  221. 

Rev.  Mr.,  of  St.  Vigeans,  110  n. 

Muir  Pearsie,  260  n. 

Muiresk,  Dempsters  of,  282. 

Mulgrave  Castle,  Yorkshire,  330. 

Munro,  Sir  Thomas,  349. 

Murison,  James,  minister  of  Edzell, 
etc.,  12. 

Murlingden,  277. 

Murray,   Alexander,    Lord   of   Ses- 
sion, 381. 

Lady  Amelia,  of  Evelick,  380. 

—  Sir  Andrew,  171  n. 

John,    minister     of   Careston, 

271. 

John  Archibald,  Lord  Hender- 

land,  381. 

Lord,  64. 

Marjory,  407. 

Lady      Susan,     Countess      of 

Southesk,  249. 

William,  of  Henderland,  381. 


Murthill,  321,  342. 

NAPIER  (Naper)  Mattheu  le,  387  n. 

Nasmyth,  Violet,  201. 

Nathro,  138,  142;  burn  of,  155. 

Navar  annexed  to  Lethnot,  75,  125  ; 
bell-tower,  133 ;  church  and 
churchyard,  133,  136  ;  dedication 
unknown,  127;  etymology  doubt- 
ful, 126  n.  ;  ministers  of,  125  sq.  ; 
lordship  of,  138.  See  Brechin. 

Neudos  (Newdosk,  Neudonase),   22, 

23,  393,  396 ;  parish  of,  73 ;  patron, 
St.  Drostan,   23,   73;  thanedom, 

24,  35. 

Neuith,  Henricus  de,  knight,  377. 
Newbigging,  circle  in  Lethnot,  152, 

153. 

New  Milne,  246  «. 
Newton  of  Inverkeillor,  234. 
Nicolson,   Robert,   Bishop  of   Dun- 

keld,  363. 

Nine  Maidens  of  Glamis,  162. 
Nine-well  at  Finhaven,  162. 
Ninian's  Heuch,  St.,  381. 


462 


INDEX. 


Noel,  Lady  Catharine,  Countess  of 

Southesk,  248. 

Noran,  225,  230,  249,  250,  252,  254. 
Noranbank,  316. 
Noranside,  237. 

Noray,  Rev.  Alexander,  of  Fern,  221. 
Rev.  Robert,  of  Lethnot,  128, 

135 
North    Esk,    29,     112,    114,    115; 

beauties  of,  120,  121. 
Northesk,  Admiral  Lord,  368. 

David  2nd  Earl  of,  378. 

David  4th  Earl  of,  198. 

Northesk,  burial-place  of  family  of, 

370  «. 

Nottingham,  rendezvous  at,  196. 
Nudry,  William  of,  309. 

OATHLAW,   church  and  aisle,    166  ; 

dedication,  166  ;  etymology,  165  ; 

Jacobitism,    168  ;    old  bell,    166  ; 

parish  of,    161    sq. ;  united  with 

Finhaven,  165,  166. 
Ochterlony,    John,    of    the    Guynd, 

quoted  and  referred  to,  203,  222, 

245,  251,  270,  291,  342,  356,  377, 

379,  383. 

Ochterlony  estate,  208. 
Odin  Stone,  155. 
Ogil,  laird  of,  231,  235. 
Ogilvy,  Alexander,  of  Inverquharity, 

93,  176  sq.,  280,  345,  346. 
Andrew  de,  prebend  of  Leth- 
not, 227. 

Beatrice,  423. 

Catherine,  339. 

Sir  David,  351. 

David,  of  Milton,  352. 

David,  tenant  of  Trusto,  263  n., 

264. 
David,  rector  of  Newdosk,  23. 

Governor  Sir  George,  397  n., 

398,  403. 

George,  of  Carbuddo,  376. 

—  George,  of  Lumgair,  396,  397. 
.  Rev.  George,  minister  of  Men- 

muir,  303. 
Gilbert,  first  of  the  name,  344. 

heiress    of,  of    Auchterhouse, 

341,  402. 

James,  Lord  of  Deskford,  318, 


Ogilvy,  Sir  John,   1st  Bart,    of  In- 
verquharity, 344. 

Sir  John,  4th  Bart,  of  Inver- 
quharity, 200. 

Sir  John,   9th  Bart,  of  Inver- 
quharity, 345. 

Sir  John,  of  Airlie,  5. 

Sir  John,  of  Lintrathen,  371. 

John,  of  In  she  wan,  341  it. 

—  Lord,  of  Airlie,  240  n. 

Lord,  in  France,  339. 

Lord,  352. 

Mariota  (Marion),  196  «.,  250. 

minister  of  Tannadyce,  339. 

Thomas,  of  Clova,   178,   345, 

350,  351. 

Sir  Walter  de,  318. 

Sir  Walter,  of  Carcary,  344. 

Walter,  of  Lintrathen,  344. 

Walter,  of  Owres  (Uras),  233, 


319. 

Sir  James,  of  Findlater,  310. 

—  Janet,  of  Barnyards,  208. 

"Reid  John,"  366. 

Sir  John,  of  Inverquharity,  210. 


310. 
William,  of  Balnagarrow  and 

Chapelton,  403. 

William,  of  Lumgair,  403. 

Ogilvy,  family  origin,  344 ;  glen  of, 

345  ;  estates  of,  344. 
Ogilvys  of  Airlie,  344,  350  sq. ;  of  Bal- 

inscho,  346,  347  ;  of  Barras,  403  ; 

of  Inverquharity,  344  sq.,  350  sq. 
Old  Meldrum,  battle  of,  97. 
Old  Milne,  246  n. 
Oliphant,  James,  4th  Lord  Oliphant, 

310. 
Oliphard,  head  sheriff  of  the  Mearus, 

388. 

Ordeal  for  a  fairy  child,  332. 
Orientation  of  churches,  105. 
Ormond,  Earl  of,  185. 
Otterburn,  battle  of,  35,  396. 
Oudnay,  John,  de  Keithik(Keithock), 

337. 

PANBRIDE,  barony,  382-84  ;  estate 
of,  241,  383,  384;  list  of  farms  on, 
383  n.  ;  Seatoun  of,  383  ;  vault, 
148,  383. 

Panter  of  Newmanswalls,  239. 

Paphry,  burn  of,  155. 

Pass  to  Aboyne  from  Glenesk,  115. 

Patronages,  church  of  Arbroath,  145. 

Patterson,  Col.  William,  379  n. 

Pedey,  Rev.  Alexander,  Lunan,  423. 

Pennant,  Mr.,  20,  21. 

Penobscot  river,  368. 

Perceval,  Mr.,  M.P.,  276. 

Pert,  184. 


INDEX. 


463 


Pert,  Little,  339  sq.,  384. 

Perth,  county   representation,  148  ; 

town  of,  296,  300. 
Petpullock  (Petpollokis),  141,  336  n. 
Pettintoscall    (Pettintoschall,    Pan- 

taskall),  281,  336  n. 
Petty  ndreiche     (Pittendrech),    142, 

336  n. 

Phesdo,  394-96. 
Phesdo,  Lord,  395,  396. 
Philip,  the  forester,  171. 
Philiphaugh,  battle  of,  196,  298. 
Pickering  Castle,  Yorkshire,  330. 
Piersou,James,ofBalmadies,380,424. 

Mr.,  of  the  Guynd,  380. 

Pinkie,  battle  of,  286. 

"Piper  o'  Dundee,  The,"  song  of,  247. 

Piper's  shade  at  Neudos,  23. 

Piperton,  315  n. 

Pirie,  Mr.,  minister  of  Lochlee,  75. 

Pitairlie,  336,  386,  387. 

"  Pit  and  gallows,"  60. 

Pitarrow  branch  of   the   Carnegies, 

243,  247. 

of  the  Wisharts,  337. 

Pitforthie,  280,  281. 

Pitforkie,  270. 

Pitmois  (Pitmuies),  282. 

Pitmudie,  308,  310. 

Pitnamoon  (Pitnemoone),  238,  394. 

Pitscandlie,  Lindsays  of,  210. 

Pittodrie,  142. 

Plater,    forest   of,     169    sq.,    209; 

keeper  of,  171  sq. 
Poisoning  of  wells,  24. 
Poland,  John  (Edgar)  in,  337. 
Polayne  (Paulin),  Hew,  172. 
Poolbrigs  castle,  7. 
Portincraig,  391. 
Powpot  bridge,  106. 
Powrie,  344. 

Fotheringhams  of,  207. 

Premature  burial  at  Edzell,  15. 
Presslie,  Rev.  William,  at  Tarfside, 

81. 

Preston,  battle  of,  316. 
Prince  Consort,  115,  168,  352. 
Princess  Anne  of  Denmark,  364. 
Pringle,  Margaret,  of  Galashiels,  432. 

QHYTEFIELD  CHAPEL,  369. 
Queen,  the,  visits  Clova,  352 ;  Fetter- 
cairn,  115  ;  Glenesk,  115. 
Queen's  Well,  115. 
Queich  Castle,  358;  property,  357- 
61. 


Querns,  108. 
Quilks,  169  n. 

RAEDYKES,  camp  at,  218. 
Eaglan,  Lord,  148. 
Raiker,  Rev.  Thomas,  167. 
Kait  (Raitt),  Agnes,  368. 
Major  A.,  401. 

—  Andrew,  406. 

Bishop,  80. 

Principal  David,  406. 

Mr.  J.,  Marykirk,  435. 

James,  of  Annistoun,  368. 

Master  Robert,  398. 

Thomas,  401,  439. 

Raits,  family  of  the,    and  place  of 

burial,  401. 
Ramsay  (Ramesay),  Allan,  the  poet, 

381. 

Archibald,  of  Panbride,  384. 

Elizabeth,  of  Colluthie,  241. 

Lord    George,    married    Lady 

Jean  Maule,  146. 

George,     Baron     Ramsay     of 

Gleumark,  149. 

Sir  Henry  de,  371. 

Sir  John  (ex-Lord   Bothwell), 

393. 

General  John,  381. 

John,  of  Balnabreich,  283,  342. 

John,    minister    of    Careston, 

271. 

Malcolme  de,  of  Auchtei house, 


342. 
Ramsays  of  Balmain,  393  ;  of  Can- 

terland,  408  ;  of  Dalhousie,  146  ; 

of  Panbride,  384. 
Rattray,   Sir    Adam,   of    Craighall, 

220. 

—  John  de  (Rattry),  363. 
—  Margaret,  362. 

William,  220. 

"  Rebel  laird  "  of  Balnamoon,  316. 
Rechenda,  heiress  of  Humphrey  de 

Berkeley,  4. 

Redford  in  Menmuir,  322. 
Redhead,  chapel  on  the,  370  n. 
Regalia  at  Dunnottar  and   Kinneff, 

52,  396-98. 

R*8cis8ory  Act,  188  «.,  189. 
Restennet,  Priory  of,  169,  I/O,  312, 

385. 

Revel  Green  at  Inverquharity,  185. 
Rhynd,  Murdoch  del,  1 70. 
Richard,    Bishop   of   St.    Andrews, 

407  n. 


464 


INDEX. 


Rickartoii,  397. 

Riddell  of  Haining,  321. 

Ring,  finger-,   found   at   Auchmull, 

71. 

Ritchie,   Rev.   Alexander,    at  Oath- 

law,  167. 

Robb,  Mr.,  Moiitrose,  287. 
Robert  i.,  96-98,  169,  285,  308,  318, 

382,  387  n. 
n.,   140,   172,   175,  229,  280, 

283,   293,  321,  323,  341  n,,  342, 

358,  359,  363,  439. 

-  in.,  362,  401. 
Robertson,      Charles,     in      Trnsto, 

138. 

Dr.  Joseph,  3. 

of  Dalkbane,  319. 

—  of  Nathro,  152. 

Dr.  William,  D.D.,  276. 

Rocking-stones,  101-104. 
Rollo,  Sir  David,  313. 

James,  of  Duncrub,  313. 

Rollok,  David,  313. 
Romans,  the,  326  n. 

Rose,  Rev.  David,  Episcopal  minis- 
ter, 77  sq.,  114  n. ;  his  family  and 
work,  77,  78. 

Right  Hon.  George,  77,  81. 

Mrs.  Margaret,  77. 

Ross,  Alexander,  teacher  at  Lochlee, 
76  sq.,  83  sq.,  114  n. ;  memorial 
to,  83;  the  poet,  85  sq.,  114, 115, 
406  n.  ;  school-house,  84. 

Euphemia,  Queen  of  Robert  n., 

140. 

Helen,  85. 

Mr.,   minister  of  Lochlee,   75, 

85,  114n. 

Prince  James,  Duke  of,   and 

Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  141. 

Thomas,  Manchester,  289. 

William  Earl  of,  172,  179. 


Rossy,  Henricus  de,  397  n. 

Walter  de,  29. 

of  that  Ilk,  27. 

Rothes,  Earl  of,  378. 

George,  Lord  Leslie  of,  393. 

Rottal,  354. 

Row,  Mr.  John,  128,  129. 

Rowan,  78,  80,  115  ;  battle  on,  96, 

97  ;  chapel  on,    78,    80  ;  Maule's 

Cairn  on,  117,  148. 
Roy,  General,  218. 
Ruddiman,     Thomas,     grammarian, 

406  n. 
Ruthven,  357,  361. 


ST.  ANDREWS  COLLEGE,  192;  diocese, 
3,  23,  244  n.,  377,  378  n.,  398, 
402  n.,  404,  407  n. ;  priory  of,  362, 
406. 

St.  Aidan,  at  Menmuir,  299. 

Andrew,    tower    on  Modlacli, 

117. 

Arnold,  at  Fern,  341  n.  ;    at 

Kinneff,  398. 

Braul    (Rule),    at    Stracathro, 

327  n. 

Beternan(Ethernan),atBrechin 

Cathedral,  335. 

Bridget,  at  Dimnottar,  402.     ' 

Caran,  at  Fetteresso,  402  n. 

Catherine,in  Brechin  Cathedral, 

165  ;  atCaterline,  399  n. ;  at  Kin- 
cardine, 439. 

Columba,  his  bell,  5  ;  contem- 
porary with  St.  Drostan,  72. 

Colm  (Columba),  at  Shielhill, 

343. 

Cyrus,  407  n. 

Cyrus  (Cyricus),  of  Ecclesgreig, 

407. 

Donald,  Donewalde,  at  Den  of 

Ogilvy,  162. 

Drostan,   at  Aberdour,  73 ;  at 

Lochlee,  72  sq.,  97,  101,  114;  at 
Neudos,  23,  73. 

Eunan  (Adamnan),    at   Fern, 


341  n. 

—  Fillan,  at  Gleneffock,  115. 
-  George,  at  Dundee,  362. 

Innen,  at  Fern,  220. 

John,    at   Barras,   399  n.  ; 


at 


Baikie,  355. 

Kenneth,  at  Kinneff,  398. 

Keyna,  at  Ardeastie,  386  n. 

Laurence,  at  Both,  7 ;  at  Edzell, 

4,    9  ;  at  Kinblethmont,  369  ;  at 
Laurencekirk,  406  n.  ;  at  Lauris- 
ton,  407. 

Leonard,  at  Finhaven,  162. 

Mary   the   Virgin,    at   Alyth, 

363  ;    at  Cowie,    402 ;    in    Dun- 
dee, 385  ;  at  Dunlappie,  309 ;  at 
Guthrie,   371  ;  at  Lethnot,   127  ; 
at  Oathlaw,  166,  219. 

Meddan,  at  Airlie,  5,  354  n., 

358  n. 

—  Moloch,  at  Alyth,  358. 

Monan,     at     Ruthven,     357, 

358  n. 

Mungo,  at  Aberdeen,  300  n. 

Murdoch,  at  Redhead,  370  n. 


INDEX. 


465 


St.  Nicholas,  at  Aberdeen,  299;   at 
Dundee,  174. 

Nine  Maidens,  162. 

Ninian,    at   Alyth,     358 ;     at 

Arbroath,  381;  at  Balinscho,  349. 

Our  Lady  of  Victory,  at  Dun- 
dee, 362,  385. 
-  Peter,  at  Meigle,  363. 

Philip,  at  Caterline,  399. 

Runiou  or  Rumold,  at  Farnell, 

244  n. 

Thomas  a  Becket  of   Canter- 
bury, at  Arbroath,  323. 

Tovine,  at  Aberdeen,  300  n. 


Sandyford,  169  n. 

Satan   supposed    to   visit    Lethnot, 

158. 

Satyre,  122  n. 
Sauchieburn,   battle    of,    189,    360, 

391. 
Saughs,  battle    of,   258  sq.  ;    water 

of,  154. 

Scevole  de  St.  Marthe,  224. 
Schaklok  (Schakloc),  Simon  de,  397. 

Walter  de,  397  ». 

Schaw,  Robert,  300. 
Schull,  Andreas,  371. 
Scotsman's  Cairn,  309  n. 
Scotstown,  near  Laurencekirk,  406  n. 
Scott,   Captain  George,  of   Hedder- 

wick,  405. 

Hercules,  of  Brotherton,  405. 

—  Mrs.  Isabella  (Robertson),  405. 

—  James,  of  Logic  and  Brother- 
ton,  405. 

Rev.  John,  75  ;  sudden  death, 


78  ;  strong  political  and  religious 
feelings,  75,  78  sq. 

Robert,  of  Benholm,  405. 

Sir  Walter,  Bart.,  211. 

Scrimgeour  (Scrimseur,  Sciymzec-ur, 

Scrymgeour),  Alison,  423. 
•  Henry,  grammarian  and  profes- 
sor, 346. 

—  Isabella,  346  " 

-  Margaret,  346  n. 

-  of  Balinscho,  346. 

—  of  Dundee,  383. 
of  Lillok,  233. 


—  of  Tealing,  377«. 

Thomas,  of  Wester  Balinscho, 

346  n. 

— -  family,  377  n. 
Scrimsoure-Fotheringham,     Thomas 

Frederick,  377  n. 
Walter  Thomas  James,  377  «. 


Scryne  (Skryne),  lands  of,  229,  384. 
Seat,  St.  Arnold's,  341  n. 

St.  Eunan's,  341  H. 

Seatowu,  Easter,  346  n. 

Selkirk,  forest  of,  170. 

Senniscall,  Alexander,  390. 

Serjan'  hill  at  Edzell,  2. 

Seynclau,  Welandus  de,  369. 

Shand,  Mr.,  of  The  Burn,  120,  123. 

Shandford  in  Fern,  228,  246  n.,  309. 

Shanno,  47. 

Sharpe,  Archbishop  James,  397  n. 

Sherif-bank,  169  n. 

Sheriffmuir,  battle  of,  246. 

Shevand,  Thomas,  reader,  221. 

Shielhill,  169  n.,  283,  342,  343. 

Sibbalds  of  Kair,  399. 

Silver  found  near  Invermark,  99. 

Sim,  Rachel,  325  n. 

Simpson,  Rev.  Alexander,  80  n.,  81. 

Sinclair,     Sir    John,    his    Statistical 

Account,  277. 

"Sir  James  the  Rose,"  ballad,  341. 
"  Sir  Patrick  Spens,"  ballad,  227. 
Skein,  Gilbert,  minister  of  Careston, 

271. 
Skene,  Adam  de,  285. 

—  Alexander,  287. 
Captain,  286. 


David,  272. 

-  Major  George,  284,  286. 
—  George,  the  famous  laird,  286, 
287. 

— .  George,  of  Careston,  272,  286. 
—  James,  286. 

Johannes,  285. 

Patrick  de,  285. 

Robert  de,  285,  286. 

Skene,  origin  of  the  name,  284. 
Skenes     of    Careston    and    Skene, 

284  ». 

Skinner,  Thomas,  minister  of  Cares- 
ton,  271. 

Slains  in  Kinneff.  397. 

Slateford,  Edzell  village,  8. 

Slavery  in  Scotland,  385. 

Smith,  Colvin,  painter,  279. 

John,  276. 

Margaret  (Mrs.  Robert  Gillies), 

275. 

William,  of  Beuholm,  405. 

Smyth,  John,  309. 

Snecks  near  Edzell,  58. 

Snuff-boxes  of  Cumnock  and  Lau- 
rencekirk, 406  n. 

Socrates  quoted  on  orientation,  105. 


2  0 


466 


INDEX. 


Solander,  Dr.,  20. 

Somerville,  Dean,  306. 

Somyr    (Symtner),    Colin,    of    Bal- 

zeorclie,  311. 
George,  of  Balzeordie,  310,  311, 

432. 

Robert,  310. 

William  (1),  of  Balzeordie,  309. 

William  (2),  of  Balzeordie,  310. 

Soulis,  William   de,   conspiracy   of, 

28,  139. 
Southesk.     See  Carnegie. 

estates   attainted,    233,   237, 

247 ;  estates  re-purchased,    237  ; 
genealogy  traced,  238  sq. 

South  Sea  Company,  99. 

Spalding,  Peter  de,  308,  309. 

.  Radulphus  de,  308  n. 

Spalding's  Loan  and  stables,  309. 

Spankie,  Miss,  314  n. 

Speid,  George,  of  Ardovie,  370  n. 

William,  in  Blarno,  133. 

Spence,  Robert,  375. 

Spens,  Andro,  reader  at  Edzell,  3. 

Elizabeth,  38. 

Spot,  Ninian  de,  299. 

Spynie,  Alexander  Lindsay  1st  Lord, 
how  he  got  the  title,  347,  365, 
368 ;  is  slain,  46  sq. ;  consequences 
of,  47  sq.,  127  ;  redress  for  the 
slaughter,  48-50  ;  his  lands,  269. 

Alexander  Lindsay  2d  Lord, 

367,  369. 

George  Lindsay  3d  and  last 

Lord,  52,  197,  350,  408. 

castle  of,  373  ;  New,   church 

of,  365. 

Stadockmore,  140. 

Standing-stones,  Colmeallie,  22,  104- 
106. 

Staney  Loch,  154. 

"  Stannhv  stane  o'  Benshie,"  349. 

Starney-Bucket  Well,  244. 

Steele,  Rt.  Hon.  Thomas,  of  Eve- 
lick,  381. 

Sir  Thomas  Montague,  K.C.B., 

381. 

Major-General  Thomas,  381. 

Steill-Strath,  122  n. 

Stephen,  Andrew,  poet  and  school- 
master, 402. 

Stevenson,  Rev.  James,  399. 

Mr.,  at  Careston,  292. 

Stewart,  Alexander,  4th  Lord  High 
Steward,  283. 

Francis,  in  Nathrow,  133. 


Stewart,  Sir   John,  of   Grandtully, 

315. 
of  Grandtully,  273,  283,  286. 

of  Schuttingleis,  310. 

Stewarts,   origin  of  family,  283  ;  of 

E vandal  e,  407. 
Stirling,  Catherine,  heiress  of  Edzell 

and  Glenesk,  31,  402. 

Sir  James,    Lord  Provost   of 

Edinburgh,  248. 

Sir  John,  32. 

—  Walter  de,  30. 
Stirlin',  Jackie,  31. 
Stirling  Castle,  141,  179,  337  ; 

town  of,  366. 
Stirlings  of  Edzell  and  Glenesk,  29 

sq.  ;  of  Lauriston,  29  sq. 
Stone  hatchet,    107,    108;  rocking, 

101,  102. 
Stonehaven,  402. 
Stopbridge  at  Edzell,  7,  8. 
Stracathro,  184,  326  n. 
Strachan,  Colonel,  298,  302. 
of  Thornton,  367,  403. 

estate,  248. 

Stralsund,  siege  of,  347. 
Straquhan,  Catherine,  403. 
Strath  begg,  374. 

Strathmore,    Charles   6th    Earl    of, 

killed  at  Forfar,  200. 

Claude  llth  Earl  of,  349. 

Patrick  1st  Earl  of,  209. 

Strathnairn,  229. 

Straton,  Sir  Joseph  Mutar,  407  n. 

Stratoun,  Alexander,  of  Knox  and 

Benholm,  397  n. 
Struthers  in  Fife,  400. 
Stryvelin,  Alexander  de,  29  n. 

Johannes  de,  29. 

Walter  de,  30. 

Stuart,  Alexander,  son  of  Robert  II., 

228. 

-  Elizabeth,  229. 

Rev.  Harry,  of  Oathlaw,  167, 

168. 
George,  Oathlaw  school,  214  n., 

219  w. 
Princess  Jane,  341  n. 

-  Dr.  John,  144  n. 

Marjory,  second  wife  of  Edzell, 


32. 


Robert,  of  Inchbreck,  395. 


Sutherland,  Earl  of,  385,  401. 
Swift,  Dean,  379. 

Swinburne,  Lieut.-Colonel,  of  Marcus 
and  Noranbank,  316. 


INDEX. 


467 


Symers,  Rev.  Alexander,  127,  129. 
Symmer,  Rev.  George,  222. 
Symmers  of   Balzeordie,  247,   303, 
310. 

TABERAN  Loan,  153. 

Tain  Provostry,  220. 

Tammy's  Pot,  249. 

Tannadice,  cairn  in,  337  ;  ministers 
of,  331  ;  thanedom  of,  235,  341  n. 

Tarf,  in  flood,  116  ;  gold  in,  99. 

Tarfside,  73,  78  n.,  112,  116;  chapels 
at,  80  ;  masonic  lodge,  116  ;  par- 
sonage at,  116  ;  school  at,  116. 

Tay,  the,  295. 

Tayler,  Alexander,  minister  of  Kin- 
nettles,  379  n. 

Tealing,  377  n. 

Tennet,  burn  of,  115. 

Temple  lands,  2,  399  n.;  of  Kinbleth- 
mont,  369  ;  Newdosk,  24. 

Thomas,  Robert,  of  Noranside,  237. 

Thomson,  Rev.  Mr.,  of  Lethnot, 
157  sq. 

Rev.  Mr.,  of  Lintrathen,  85. 

George,     schoolmaster,    Glen- 

muick,  85  n. 

villager  in  Edzell,  21. 


Tigerton,  306,  322. 

Tilliquhillie,  138. 

Tillyarblet,  Easter  and  Wester,  138. 

Tillybardin  schoolmaster,  130. 

Tillybirnie,  139. 

Tilly togles,  123  n. 

Tippermuir,  296. 

Toast,  Keithock's,  339. 

Toland,    On  the  Druids,    103;    Lis 

life  and  letters,  103  n. 
Tornacloch,  25. 

Torphichen,  regality  of,  23,  24. 
Trafalgar,  battle  of,  368. 
Traill,  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel,  22  n. 
Treasure-seeker  at  Edzell,  58. 
Trinity  Muir  Fair,  45. 
Trusto,  246  n.,  263  sq. 

-  Den  of,  263. 
Tulliedelph,  Charlotte,  345. 
Tulloch,  lands  of,  384. 
Tullochs,    keepers   of    Monrommon 

moor,  170. 

Turret,  water  of,  118. 
Turpin,  Bishop  of  Brechin,  28,  398. 
Tyrie,  Mr.,  of  Sand  wick,  21. 
Tytler,  Rev.  George,  222,  223,  429. 

Dr.  Henry  William,  223,  279 

James,  223. 


UNICH,  112  ;  the  falls  of,  112. 
Uras  (Uris,  Owres),  233,400,  401, 

402,  403. 

Urrey,  Sir  John,  295,  297. 
Ury,  295. 

VALENTINE,  W.  R.,  in  Bogmuir, 
122  n. 

Vallance,  Vallene.     See  Wellem. 

Valoniis,  Christian  de,  147. 

William  de,  of  Panmure,  143. 

Vayne,  Lady,  249. 

Vayne,  castle,  204,  225,  245,  249  sq. ; 
property,  229,  236  sq. 

Verneuil,  battle  of,  35,  396. 

Vitrifications,  214  sq. 

Voisel,  Major  de,  68. 

Volum,  Elisabeth,  210.  See  Wel- 
lem. 

WADA  and  his  wife  Bell,  330. 

Waddell,  Rev.  Wm.,  of  Fern,  222. 

Waird,  The,  of  Vayne,  251. 

Wak-milne,  246  n. 

Walker,  Harry,  288. 

Wallace,  Sir  William,  at  Dunnottar, 

400. 
Wallays,    Duncan    de,     of    Barraa, 

402. 

—  John,  of  Rickarton,  341,  342. 
Waller,  General,  defeated,  196. 
Wallis,  Jannet,  130. 
Walnut-trees  at  Balinscho,  348. 
Walpole,  Sir  Robert,  338. 
Warnabalde,  ancestor  of  the  Earls 

of  Glencairn,  4. 
Wateresk,  345. 
Waterhead,  154,  266. 
Waterston,  Milne  (Mill)  of,  246  n. 

—  place  of,  294. 

Waterstone  (Walteratone,  Walterys- 
tonn,  Waterstown),  David  de  (1), 
235. 

David  de  (2),  235. 

David,  portioner  of,  235. 

-  Hew  of,  235. 

-  John  de,  235. 
Watson,  Bishop,  339  n. 
Rev.  James,  222. 

—  Miss,  Edinburgh,  339. 

-  Mr.,  of  Sbielhill,  343. 
Wedderburn  of  Balindean  and  Bal- 
inscho, 349. 

Wedderburn-Ogilvy,    Col.   Thomas, 

361. 
Weir,  Major,  19. 


468 


INDEX. 


Well,  St.  Colm's,  343  ;  St.  Drostan's, 
23  ;  St.  Fillan's,  115  ;  St.  Mary's, 
166,  219,  309. 

Wellem  (Wellom,  Wallein,  Valleiie, 
Vallance,  Volume),  210,  210  w. 

-  John  de,  359. 

Wellford  in  Fern,  220. 

Wemyss,  Captain,  of  Wemyss  Castle, 


Eupheme,  241. 
•  Rev.  George,  222. 
Rear-  Admiral  J.  E., 
Sir  John,  319. 
of  that  Ilk,  292. 


117. 


Westdobies,  169  n. 

West  Water,  2,  8,  154. 

Wharrel,  Loch,  154. 

Whigs'  Vault  at  Dunnottar,  402. 

Whistleberry,  396. 

White,  Rev.  G.,  of  Selborne,  217. 

White    (Quhit),    Henry,    rector    of 

Finhaven   and    Lord   of   Session, 

165. 

White  Lady,  the,  294. 
White  Hill,  154. 
Whiteside,  274. 
Whitewall,  169  n. 
Whyte,      David      and      Archibald, 

drowned,  88,  89. 

•  -  James,  89. 

--  Rev.  John,  88. 
"Wicked  Master,"  the,  36,  39  sq., 

95,  351. 
William  I.,  230. 

—  HI.,  340  n.,  395. 

—  the  Lion,  143,  238,  344,  357, 
362,  369,   370,  377  n.,  382,  397, 
398,  403,  404. 

Williams,  Mr.,  engineer,  215. 
Wilson,  Dr.  D.,  on  querns,  108;  on 
vitrification,  217. 

-  Rev.  Mr.,  of  Fern,  222. 
Windsor  (Windesour,  Wyndesour), 

Walter  de,  234. 


Windsor,  the  Law  of,  266. 
Winter,  Alexander,  264. 

J  ames,  259  sq. 

Wirran,  hill  of,  150,  328  ;  Shank  of, 

152  ;  springs  of,  154. 
Wishart,  Alexander,  in  "Scleetford," 

53  n. 

Bishop,  298. 

•  Margaret,  406  n. 

Young,  of  Pitarrow,  46,  7  I . 

Wisharts  of  Pitarrow,  406. 
Witchcraft,  156  sq.,  330  sq. 
Witton,  farmer  of,  157. 
Wittons,  part  of  The  Burn,  393. 
Wolf  of  Badenoch,  350. 
Wolf  Craig,  HOw. 
Wolf,  last,  in  Scotland,  151. 
Wolgast  in  Pomerania,  347. 
Wood,   Major  James,    17,   58 ;    his 

popular    character,     death,     and 

burial,  17,  18, 19  ;  true  and  better 

character,  19,  20  ;  his  wife,  19. 
Wood,  Nicolas,  wife  of  Bishop  Guth- 

rie,  373. 
Woodhead,  near   Balinscho,    169  n., 

347. 

Woodhouselee,  Lord,  216. 
Woodmyres,  122  n. 
Woodwrae,  Lindsays  of,    210,  340, 

347. 

Wrycht,  William,  126. 
Wyllie,  Ann,  in  Westside,  133. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.,  Mains  of  Edzell, 

108,  130. 

David,  in  Tilliearblet,  133. 

Wyrfraud,  Roger  de,  406. 

YORK  BUILDINGS  COMPANY,  67,  69, 

70,  75,  92,  233,  247. 
Young,  Donald,  262. 

John,  346  n. 

Sir  Peter,  346  ».,  370. 

ZIEGLEK,  HANS,  German  miner,  98. 


THE  END. 


samfaersttjj 

THOMAS   AND  ARCHIBALD   CONSTABLE,    PRINTERS  TO   HER  MAJESTY. 


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