^^^MMB^^^pii^:SsS^ Columbia ®nitJer^tt|) intI)eCttpofIlfttit0rk THE LIBRARIES THE HISTORY AND TRADITIONS OF THE LAND OF THE LINDSAYS IN ANGUS AND MEARNS. Edhihtirgh, : Prinfed hy Thomas and Archibald ConstahJe, FOR DAVID DOUGLAS. LO.NDOX HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. CAMBRIDGE MACMILLAN AND BOWE.S. GLA.SO0W JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS. ^i'l M » 'A ^-?^'-^ THE i^i0torr ann Cratiition^s OF THE LAND OF THE LINDSAYS IX ANGUS AND MEARNS WITH NOTICES OF ALYTH AND MEIGLE BY THE LATE ANDEEW JERVISE, F.S.A. Scot. DISTRIfT KXAMINKR OF REOISTEES ; AUTHOR OF "MEMORIALS OF ANOUS AND MEARXS, " EPITAPHS AMD INSCRIPTIONS," ETC. TO WHICH IS ADDKD AN APPENDIX CONTAINING EXTRACTS FROM AN OLD RENTAL-BOOK OF 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 BAFT. , DRUMLITHIE ; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, SCOTLAND ; AND MEMBER OF THE CAMBRIAN A RCH/EO LOGICAL ASSOCIATION. 9CConb (£l)itiou EDINBUKGH: DAVID DOUGLAS 1882 >0 .v Ea tl)e fBEinotg of THE LATE RIGHT HONOURABLE aiexantier aEilliam (CrabjforU iLtntisau, TWENTY-FIFTH EARL OF CRAWFORD, EIGHTH EARL OF BALCARRES, AND SECOND BARON WIGAN, AUTHOR OF THE "LIVES OF THE LINDSAYS" AND OTHER VALUABLE WORKS, QEf)i0 SecontJ ffilii'tian IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. EDITOR'S PREFACE 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 re\ision 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 vm 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. JA^IES GAMMACK, M.A. Thk Parsonage, Drumlithie, October 1882. PREFACE TO THE FIRST 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.^ 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 Avith which these notices were received, the author was after- wards indulged 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 liy his trustees to the custody of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Edinlmrgh (Proceedings, iii. p, 237, new scries). X PREFACE. volume. The lands, of \vhich it is intended to preserve the History and Traditions, have been purposely selected, and M'ere, 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 clierished 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 tlie 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 stoiy 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. Tlie 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 PREFACE. 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.^ He is also under deep obligation to the Hon. Lord Lindsay," not only for many important particulars which he has been pleased to communicate regarding liis 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 l)eing 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 liis tifty-second year. - 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 fonnd 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 Kental-Book of Edzell and Lethnot, from which copious extracts have been taken, was lately rescued from total destruction in a farm " botliie " 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 tw^o 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 tlie 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 oliligation 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 inimerous correspondents, for their kindness in forwarding his inquiries. ANDREW JERVISE. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. EDZELL.— .Section I. TAGE Origin of name — Old clergymen — Bell of St. Lawrence — Ancient use of bells — Old kirkyard — Drummoi-e Hill— Castle of Poolbrigs — Old kirk — Episcopal riots — Bonnyman, parish teacher — Re- markable death of a parish minister, .... I 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 Dal bog, . . . . . .14 EDZELL.— Section III. Families of Adzell and Abbe — Knockquy Hill — De Glenesh 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 — Sii" 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 Spyiiie — "OfFeris " for the same — Montrose in Glenesk — Cromwell's soldiers at Edzell — John Lindsay of ,n. XIV CONTENTS. PAGE Canterlancl'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 dajs of ' ' Edzell " — Story of a "treasure-seeker," ..... 42 EDZELL.— Section V. • Edzell Castle — Its situation — (Jeneral 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 AuchmuU, . . . ,60 CHAPTER II. GLENESK.— Section L 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" — lUiberality of parish ministers — Change of views — Chapel built on the Rowan — Rev. Peter Jolly — New church at Tarfside — Free Church at the Birks of Ai-doch — Memorial windows — Description of old parish church — Ross, the author of Helenore — His abode, biography, and poetry — Present church and manse — Drowning of the brotliers Whyte — Benevolence of Rev. David Inglis— Lines on a stranger, . . .72 GLENESK. -Section IL Invennark 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 Feniybank explored — R I Ai'chpeological remains — Querns at Edzell, . . .100 CONTENTS. XV GLENESK.- Section IV. PAGE View of Glenesk — Want of woocl — 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 Ai'doch — 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 CHAPTER 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, jjarish 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 lordshiji of Brechin — Da-\dd, 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, 1.38 NAVAR AND LETHNOT.— Section III. Aspect of Navar — The Wirran — Story of the melder-sifter — Archaeo- logy of Lethnot — Dunuyfeme — ' ' Lady Eagil's chair " — Cobb's Heugh — Streams of the district — Superstition aneiit the white adder — Superstitions of Lethnot — The Cateran, . . .150 CHAPTER IV. FINHAVEN AND OATHL AW.— Section I. Fiahaven — 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. Han-y Stuart, ..... 161 XVI CONTENTS. FIX HAVEN AND OATHLAW.— .Skction II. PAGE Forest of Plater — Ancient Scotch forests — Keeper of the forest — Ancient forestei-s of Plater — Snccession 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 remams of the battle — Crawford's violence, re- pentance, and royal pardon, . . . . 1G9 FINHAVEN AND OATHLAW.— Section III. Karl David and his rewards for loyalty — Raised to the Dukedom of Mon- trose — His princely splendour — Suifered for James III. — Power curtailed — New ducal patent granted — In favour with James iv. — Private soitows — 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 incarceratus " — Earldom passes to the Lmdsays 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 Camegies — Song, "He winna 1)0 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, . . . . . . . .21.3 CONTENTS. xvii CHAPTEE V. FERN— Section I. I'Ar.e 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 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, . . . 226 FERN— Section III, Vayne — Fern divided — Noranside — Greenhills of Fern — Caraegies of Balinhard — Their pedigi-ee and history — Of Kinnaird — Earls of Southesk — Their loyalty — Kinnaird Castle — The present Earl, . 23G 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 Stii'k" — Bravery of Mackintosh — Spoil recovered — Ledenhendrie in danger, and hia precautions — Winter's monument — Archceology of Fern — Primi- tive dwellings, ....... 25y 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. John h xvni CONTENTS, PAGE (billies of ( JlasgoM- — Mr. Robert Gillies of Brechin — Mr. John Gillies, Historiographer-Royal of Scotland — Lord Gillies — Dr. Thomas Gillies, ....... 268 CARESTOX.-Se;ti()n IT. Office of Dempster — Dempsters of Careston — Of Muiresk — Lindsays of Careston — Of Bailnabreich — 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. Tlie "Castle of Fuirdstoue" — Careston Castle described — Ochtcrlony's account — Its decorations — Thorough repair —Traditions of Cares- ton — Retreat of Montrose from Dundee to Careston — Later acts of Montrose — His execution, . . . . .200 'CHAPTER 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- (reneral Sir David Leighton, K.C.B. — The Guthries of Menmuir and Brechin — Tigerton, ...... 299 MENMUIR.— Section II. Lauds 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, . . 30(i CONTENTS. XIX MENMUIR— Section III. PAGE Balliall and the family of Glen— Balhall passed to the Lindsays — Patronage of Menmuii' passed to Balhall—" The Parson of Men- muir " — Succession in Balhall — TheCramonds — The Lyells — The Erskiues of Dun— Moss of Balhall— Death of Lyon of Glamis — Expiation of perjury — Cairns— Murder of the shoemaker of Tigerton — Archteological remains — Stracathro — The Caterthuns described — Origin veiled in mystery, and a field for superstition —Witchcraft— Fairy child, . .... 318 CHAPTER A^III. ^liivcclliuicous l^imbs of the pULisaPB: Section L IN NORTH-WESTERN PARTS OF FORFARSHIRE AND IN 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 — Glenqueich held by the Lindsays — Preceded by the Stuai'ts, 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 — Dunkeuy — Ruthven, Queich, Alyth — Corb, Inver- queich — Murder of Lord Lindsay — Haunted Lady — Meigle — Its early proprietorship — Its later — Church and burial-place, . 394 Section IL 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. PAC.B prietary and ecclesiastical history — Line of the Giithries — Bishop Guthrie — Forfarshire Guthries — Guthrie Castle — Carbuddo — In- verarity — Its lords — Fotheringhams of Powrie— Meathie Lour — • Kiiinettles — Evelick — Arbroath connection^Kinnell— Panbride — Boethius family — Panmure House — Monikie, Downie, Dun- tind — Pitairlie — Cross of Camus — Ethiebeaton, Broughty Castle — Brichty, ........ 364 Sectiox in. 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 — Benholni — Blackiemuir, Balmakewan, Marphie — Canterland, . 3!)2 Appendi.x, ........ 409 Index, . . . , . . . . .441 LIST OF AUTHORS. Abercromby (Pat.), Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation. 2 vols. Edinb. 1711. Acta Auditoi'iun. ,, Doininorum Concilii (1478-9.5, and 1466-95), 2 vols. Kec. Couam. 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. 3 vols. Edinb. 1863. Angus and Mearns, Memorials of. See Jen'ise. Angus or Forfarshire. See Warden. Antiquaries of Scotland, Proceedings of. Old and new series. 1855 — ,, Transactions (Archteologia Scotica). 2 vols. 1792-1818. Arnot (H.), Celebrated Criminal Trials in Scotland, 1536-1784. Edinb. 1785. Auchinleck Chronicle, MS. Balmerinach, Liber S. Marite de. VA. 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 Minirtes. 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. 1SG3. xxil LIST OF AUTHORS. Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland. Pub. Eec. Off. 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. Clialmers (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-{5. 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 Hailcs], Annals of Scotland, 1057-1370. 3 vols. Edinb. 1797. Davidson (Rev. Dr. John), Inverurie and the Kaildom of the (Jarioch. 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. ' TransJ by Trail. Dund. 1793. (Reprinted in Warden's Angus, ii. p. 234 .scq.). 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. Fraser (Wm. ), History of the Cainiegies, Earls of Sovithesk, 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. Giithric (Wm.), History of Scotland. 10 vols. Lond. 1767-S. LIST OF AUTHORS. xxiii Hardyng (John), Clironicle in Metre. Ed. Ellis. Lond. 1812. Haydn (.Jos.), Dictionary of Dates, and Universal Index of Biograiiliy. 2 vols. Lond. 1870. Holinshed (E..), Scottish Chronicle. 2 vols. Arljroath, 1805. Inquisitionum retornatarum abbreviatio. Inquis. Spec. Inquis. Gen Inquis. de Tutela. 3 vols. Lond. 1811. Irish Academy (Royal), Proceedings of. Diil>l. 18-41 — Irving (David), Lives of Scottish Writers. 2 vols. Edinb. 1851. Jacobite Minstrelsy, with Notes. Glasg. 1829. Jamieson (.John), Scottish Dictionary. Ed. Johnstone. 4 vols. Eilliib. 1840-41. Jervise (And.), Epitaphs and Inscriptions. 2 vols. Edinb. 1875-70. ,, Memorials of Angus and Mearns. Edinb. 1861. Johnston (Arthur), Mus;e Auliciv, Parerga, etc. 2 vols. Aberd. 1637. KiNCAEDiNESHiKE, Black Book of. See Anderson. Laing (Alex.), Wayside Flowers. Edinb. 1850. (4th Ed. 1878.) Leech (John), Epigi'ammata and Poems. Lond. 1620. Lindsay (Lord), I/ives 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 vShctland in 1774. Ed. Jas. Anderson. 2 vols. Edinb. 1879. Lnnan (Rev. Al.), ms. Diary in Diocesan Liljrary, 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. Edinli. 1841. Melvill (Jas.), Autobiography and Diary, with Continuation. Ed. Pitcairn. Edinb. 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, ISIS. "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 Pvagman Roll (Herald. vol. ii. App. ii. ). OcHTERLOXY (.John), Account of the Shire of Forfar, 1684-5. (Reprinted in Spoftim-oofle Mkrellnny, p. 317 i^fq., and Warden's Angus, ii. p. 252 seq.). Ord, History of the Aiiti(^uities of Cleveland. Pennant (Th.), Tours in Scotland, 176'J and 1772. ."} vols. Warr. and Chest. 1774-6. Peter (D. M'G.), Baronage of Angus and Meanis. Edinb. 1856. Pitcairn (Rob.), Criminal Trials in Scotland, 1488-1624. 3 vols. Edinb. 1833. Pratt (Rev. John), Buchan. Aberd. 1870. PuUeyn (Wm.), Chnrchyard Cleanings and Epigrammatic Scraps. Lond. N. d. Presbytery of Brechin from 1639 to 1660, Extracts from the Records of. Dundee 1876. ,, of Brechin, Current Registers. M.S. Ragman Rolls, 1291-6. Bann. Club. Edinb. 1834. Rambles in Forfarshire. Ste Myles. Records (Presbytery) of Brechin. MS. Register of Ministers, Exhorters, and Readers, and of their Stipends, 1567. Maitl. Club. Edinb. 18.30. ,, of Ministers and Readers in the Kirk of Scotland, 1574. Wodrow Society. Edinb. 1844. ,, (Parochial) of Brechin, Dunnottar, Edzell, Lethnot, Lochlee, Men nuiir, 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. Abei-d. 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.), Agi'icultural Survey of Kincardineshire. Lond. n.d. (Wm.), Index of Missing Scottish Charters. Edinb. 1798. ,, Peei-age Cases. Edinb. 1790. Rogers (Rev. Ch. ), Monuments and Monumental Inscriptions in Scotland. 2 vols. Lond. 1871. ,, Rental-Book of the Cistercian Abbey of Coupar- 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. Longmnir. Edinb. 18G6. Rotuli Scotire in Turri Lond. 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 AUTHOEB. XXV Rymer (Th.), Fcedera, etc., 1101-1025. 19 vols. Loml. 1704-32. Scots Magazine. Edinb. 1739. Scott (H. ), Fasti Ecclesia) Scoticanae. 3 vols. Edinb. 1866-71. Scottish Journal of Topography, Anticpiities, 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. Wm.) and Prof. Cheetham, Diet. Christ. Antiquities. 2 vols. Loud. 1876-80. Smith (Dr. Wm. ) and Prof. Wace, Diet. Christ. Biography. Vols. i. ii. Loud. 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 (James), 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 (Androw of). The Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland. Ed. Laing. 3 vols. Edinb. 1872-9. York Buildings Company IMemorandum-Book. ms. o o <^ o •3 « ~ 5 p5 3 c: - >. . . .-J — "^ '-5 « "2 wH c: o o ^^ c o *!; H K 3 3 o "2 o <: 2 o 2 s « _.- = •2 p ^ -'3 QH "^ ct St^ ^ 3^ .^ X ;: K ::: o c •s o _^S. -1- £ S .c . P4 03 ta HTS A r3 ^ C~ o CO s '^_ iJ J-e ® S .2 G S- 6 "3 "3 -J-s t s o -S t-l 1^ R ^■^ £ a5 o •53 II o < •-5 WP5 1 dc2 < ' o 02 ^ "tr S o ■ t- ^ ^ '"'o^ _E2 Is — "3 o-o o ^ S ^s fe'^^'^ o o ceis ^ «^ "SS 3 S! P^ 1= =: ^-^•' P - ?■* — •5-g t?0 C^g c ■* ^ h-* ^ — ce ^ts^ 'S ci 03 ■^ 't^ , Ti c '^ iJ ■So" ^ ^ P§o ^f^ = „ W '^^ .^S ^ - -rf +^ r 1 P Sd gjd J^J Q ^ — oToS LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. CHAPTER I. SECTION I. My travels are at home ; Ajid oft in spots with rici??s o' ersp7-ead , Like Lysotts, use the antiqitarian 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 tins 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 7^««rt^io (1275), which was rated at a slightly subsequent period, it is spelled "Adel."^ In Eolt's Life of John Lindesay, (twentieth) Earl of Crauford, 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 Mil southward.- In all documents posterior to the 1 Registrum Vet. Aherhrothoc, pp. 7, 48, 240; Ref/. Prior. S. Andr. p. 36. 2 Perhaps the present spelling arose from s being often 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); EghiU (1571); Adzell (1579); Egle'(1653); Edgill (1654); Edgell (1655) ; Edzdel (1678) ; Eggel (1686) ; Egell (1687). A 2 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 Reformation. 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 — ECCLESIA8TICAL 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 tlieir 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 topograpliically seems most appropriate and applicable. Before the Eeformation 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 wliicli were appropriated for the repair of the parent cathedral in 1378, after its conflagration in Bishop Landel's time.^ 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 Eeaders for 1572, an Andro Spens appears to have held the office of " exhorter," with a stipend of about thirteen shillings and fourpence sterling.- 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. 137S) — Lyon, History of St. Andrews, ii. p. 312. - On the 10th of January 1552-3 Sir David Broun (all churchmen being called.'?// 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 tliat cathedral. — {Reg. K2nsc. Brech. i. p. 227.) i LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. the most probable site of St. Drostan's Monastery .^ 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, Eechenda, the daughter and heiress of Humphrey of Berkeley, when they gifted their Mearns estates 'to the Abbey of Arbroath.- Gilbert was parson in 1267, and "Walter de Lychtoun rector in 1435. David Broun and William Clerk were respectively vicar and chaplain in 1522,^ the former probably residing in Brechin, and the latter ministf^ring in a chapel within or connected with the parish churcli. From about 1571 there is preserved a traceable succession of ministers.^ Beyond the instance already mentioned, we are not aware that the revenues of the church were ever applied either for tlie 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 tlie 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 Heg. de Panmure, i. pp. lii sq. ; Lives, i. pp. 103, 424. In this and all subse- quent reference to the delightful work entitled Liivs of the Lindsays, by Lord Lindsay, the late Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, it will be merely noticed as Lives. 2 (a.D. V2Z^)-Reg. Vet. Aherhrothoc, p. 198. 3 Crawf. Case, p. 158; Reg. Episc. Br. i. pp. 8, 79, 227 ; ii. p. 301. * 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} 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 S. 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. Columljkill 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. IMeddan 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.^ 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. \A.^l)—S2-ialding Club Misccl. 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. Eoman 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 afar more solitary situation than in days of yore. It occupies the same site, it is true, by the side of tlie West Water, but the church is removed, the huge castle is roofless and untenanted, and the thriving village is fully a mile distant. Tlie abrupt heights of Dunlappie,^ and the isolated liill of Drummore still rise on tlie 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 iJun-lcaha, Fort of the (c) bed, {h) nionuiuent, or («) 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,^ although, so far as known, no trace of their castle of Poolbrigs - (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 tliat 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 Balmadetliy in Fearn, with Orem, the son of Hew of Abernethy, for the lands of Balberny, in Fife, in Malcolm iv.'s time.— (^Douglas' Peerage, ii. p. 466.) And Anegus de Dunlopyn was a charter witness, 1178-80. — (flei/. Vet. Aherbr. p. 62.) In the ancient Taxalio Dunlopin was rated at four marks [lieg. 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. Sjiec, 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. 8 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 poJDulation 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 tlie 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." ^ 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, wliere 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- > EdzcU Par. Reg. Nov. 12, 16i8, et sq. EDZELL OLD KIRK AND MINISTERS. 9 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.^ 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."^ 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 tlie 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 f 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 ;* 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 • of • edzell • mr. • iames ■ THOMSON • MINR. • MADE • AT • SCLAT • FORD • BY • lOHN • EASTON • 1726." Oil the hand-bell :— "edzell • parish • lOA • easton • fecit . 1726." The bell on the new kirk bears the date of 1819. 2 Old Stat. Acct. Scot. x. p. 112. 3 Booke of the Universall Kirk of Scotland, p. 25, ■* Menmuir Par. Reg. Aug. 11, 1650. 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 Eevolution. 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," ^ 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 tliose 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. P^eg. Nov. 2, 1715 ; Fraser, Hint. Catiicgies, i. p. 179. EDZELL MR. GRAY S ORDINATION, 1 1 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.^ 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 j^eace, 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 Clmrch congre-fation 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," ^ 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 flourished 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 lire 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 ! ^ He was a big grufif man, and when in full Sunday habit sported " a three- 1 Edzell Par. Reg. 1706. - 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 tlirown loosely over his shoulders, and fastened at the neck witli 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 yotider hallow d f arte ! — the pious work Of navies once famed, fiow dubious or forgot, And buried midst the wreck of things which were ; There lie interr'd the more illustrious dead. Strange things, the Tieighbours 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, u?irung, ?ifitouch'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 — Chapelrj' 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 w^ealth 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 ;^ 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 liis 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 wT)rds 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.^ 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 ^ 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 :— " .... ymine . tvo . LVMEN." — The following are the only other words and letters decipherable : — VITA • ET CHRISTVS . . NV . H^C • lOANES • L ER . GERMANVS • O ORIS • 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 liand — he trembled from head to foot, and fell senseless on the cold clamp 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. Eestored 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 wall remind the reader of the extra- ordinary case of the lady's kinsman. Sir "William Lindsay of Covington, who, under like circumstances, w^as 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.^ 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 of those who walked 1 Lives, ii. p. 287. EDZELL MAJOR 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. Running 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 : — " Au' when the Major was a-deein', The de'il earn 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, tlie 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 WOODS 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 haK 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 Historie " 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 heau-id4al 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 whicli truth and fiction are strangely and un- accountably mingled.^ 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 Torfteus' Historij of Orkney. He was born in the village of Edzell, in March 1747.^ 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 Straiton, afterwards minister of Oathlaw {Br. Presh. 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 y^'of for the forsaid soume, during hir lyfetyme, according to the Letter will of the defunct." " 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 shoj) 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 wliose 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,^ and dying at Birsay, was buried in the church below the pulpit. A correspondent informs us that 1 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 Histoi^y 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.^ 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.^ 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 Retours ; 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. L^nlike 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. Joseiih 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 eiglity-lifth year, "bears a kindly recollec- tion of Mr. Low, to whom he was greatly indebted for the education he received." EDZELL NEUDOS. 23 carcline, 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 ail 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," ^ and in that of the sixteenth, David Ogilvy was " rector de Newdosk."^ 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 y® people of Newdosk over the watter in a coble, 20s." ^ 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. S]}. Club, V. p. 213. - Beg. Episc. Brech. ii. p. 165. 3 Edzell Par. Beg. 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 j^oison 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 Kirkton, 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 still called the " Dookit Park." Tliough now known as Balfour,^ 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 Clieyne 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 ISTew- dosk," 2 to 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.^ 1 Bal-fuar, " cold town" — a not inapt name foi" the place. * Robertson, Jnd. pp. 33. 37 ; 34. 15 ; 79. 130. 3 Inquis. Spec, Forfar. Nos. 71, 82. EDZELL DALBOG FINELLA. 25 The Cliapeliy of Dalbog^ was on tlie east side of the parish, due west of ISTeudos, 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 liamlet 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 1840. 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 tlie circle, but was so filled with gravel, that although it was carefully searched, no relics were found. The building was about eigliteen inches broad, a foot high, and nearly five feet long, and, at tlie 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^iuman 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. Bail-hog, " 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 ; lieg. 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.^ 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 tlie 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 catikered 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 Stirlin'— 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 too-ether, as they are at present, from the earliest record ; and 1 Acta Bom. Cone. Mar. 14, 1492, sq. EDZELL FAMILY " DE GLENESK." 27 being both known by the common name of Glenesk, 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, Rossy of that ilk,^ 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 Forfarshire, 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,- The latest, and only other notice of them with which we have met, is that of Eichard in 1467,^ on 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 Morguud, granted to the 1 Reg. Vet. Aberbr. pp. 42, 163 sq. - (a.d. 1451)— 3/wc. Sp. Club, iv. pp. 4, 5. 3 Cravjford 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.^ 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 jNIonastery ; and a ]\Iaurice Abbe, who lived in the time of Gilchrist, the great Earl of Angus, is designed " de Abereloth," or Arbirlot.^ 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"^ 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.'* Knocquy, now known as Knochioy, 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 Beff. Vet. Aherbr. 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." * Robertson, Index, p. 18. 79. EDZELL — ADZELLS, ABBES, STIRLINGS. 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 ;i 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 Gle7iesk 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 Rossy, about 1260 ;^ 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 chevalie, 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.- 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, iu 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 Stirling's 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 Jteg. Vet. Aberbr. p. 336. See also Reg. de Panmure, ii. p. 141, a.d. 1256, wliere 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 Bolls, from which it appears that several of the name swore fealty to Edward at the same time with cle Glenesh — a circumstance which perhaps had led Xisbet to commit the error before referred to. The date of the death of the last Stirlino; of Glenesk is unknow^n ; 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 Eobert 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- Eobertson, which flourished in considerable pomp until about a century ago.^ This mode of Lindsay's succession to Glenesk, though borne out by substantial e\ddence, 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 1 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 strew^n, 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 Eobert, Duke of Albany, the marriage having taken place in 1378.^ 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,^ 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,^ 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." ^ 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. 1 48. "^ Lives, i. p. 73. 3 Extr. e Cron. Scoc. p. 19-1. ■• 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 lie 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.^ 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 o-reat 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. Erom 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 ii., 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." ^ 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 Eeast of St. George in 1395, in presence of King Pdchard and " Good " Queen Anne — and his dreadful onset ^vith the natural son of tlie Wolf of Bade- noch (his own near relative, through his aunt's marriage with Eobert de Atholiu) at Glcnbrierachan 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 I'atrick Gray narrowly escaping with their lives.- 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 Erskme, 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. j). 97. 2 Extract, ex Cron. l^coc, p. 203, calls the place Glenbroch : Acts of Pari. 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 cunimyn sene, Tuk on thame the flycht bedeiie, And til the se thame sjjed 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 sehyppis 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 cabin 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 ethehaiiyd war, Til thare sehyppis made thaim to fare. And pressyd noucht mar for to tak land, Qwhill that the Duk wes thare bydand."' 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 lichtsome 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,^ 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. - 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,i and next the lands of Edzell and Knocknoy ; ^ 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 Rothes, in the year 1471.^ 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 M^ell-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 ' Dye is said to be the old uame of the West Water, and is synonymous with the Gaelic f?!". of Glen- muick." The latest edition o{ 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 lit, 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.^ 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 Mrs, Margt. Garden in Invermark, for the use of the mortcloth to Bellastreen, her father, 18s. &i\."— {Lochlee Pur. Records.) GLF:NESK — EPITAPHS BY ROSS. 87 He was the Husband, Father, Neighbour, Friend, And all their special properties sustain'd. Of prudent conduct, and of morals sound, And who, at last, with length of days was crown'd." Another, Avhich 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." ^ 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 Loch lee, 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 Locblee is a miiral tablet with Latin motto, also said to be the composition of Eoss, 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 purcliasiug 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 Eev. Mr. Inglis's mother, who died in 1808, was the first interred in the new burial-place. Since then, with the excejition of old residenters who still have u 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 tlie 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 Glcnmark, while collecting their father's sheep. This last occurrence is told on tlieir tombstone in elegant Latin, which was \yritten under the direction of their brother, the late Eev. 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 Hock of sheep intended for sale at the ensuing Cullew Market,^ 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 Cartachy, in the middle of October. GLENESK — THE BROTHERS WHYTE. 89 intended to cross the Mark is so narrow tliat almost any person might easily effect the leap ; hut 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 hahit 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 brotlier, 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.^ 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 tlie 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 bona 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, 7iote. GLENESK HIGHLAND HOSPITALITY. 91 bottle," and good-humonredly supplied tlie demand ; nor was it until the hour of his departure, when the hill 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 Avho resided with him for some time, after having spent a few of his earlier years in the Eoyal 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 ruind an lane ; An the birks that twined his lady's bower For ever too are gane. But, though his power has left thae glens. An it her lords dwell there, The Lindsays warlike deeds an name Will live/or evermair. Old Ballad. Invermark Castle --Later occupants — Dilapidation — Iron yett — Age of castle — To cbeck 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 drawbridge, 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.^ 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 ' See above, p. 75. GLENESK — INVERMARK 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 OF THE LINDSAYS. lioiises of the period, is reached by a shattered stair, but presents notliing 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 slaugliter 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.-^ 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 jilan — • That they should take who have the power, And they shoidd keep who can." Although the garrison of Invermark had greatly tended to diminish the number of these desperate invasions, it does not appear to have been altogetlier 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. . . . Tlie nynthe is Mounthe Keiue, vvich layes from Inuermarkie to Canakyle, on Deeside, and eon- taines ten myles of monthe."— (-Sir /a?/ies Balfour's MS., 1630-57, Adv. Lib.; Coll. Aberd. and Banff, p. 77.) GLENESK — THE CATER AN 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,^ 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 nnrecovered " — 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 he 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." ^ Some of these disasters were recorded in rhyme, but all recollection of the verses has long since died away, and the following was w^ritten by a modern poet on hearing one of these traditions related : — " Mountbattock, how dark is the clourl on thy brow, How grateful its gloom to the valley below ; 1 Edward's Description of Angus in 1678, and Ocliterlony's Acct., c. 1682. "The Angusians," says Edward, "especially tliose 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 j 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 nt suj). p. 75. OG LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. For tlie 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 — Locliaber no more !" ' But, according to tlie 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 Lalng, Wai/side Flojcers, p. 52, second edition. GLENESK — REMAINS ON THE ROWAN. 97 on the approach of Bruce, Buchan's troops immediately fled.i These warriors are locally said to hoYefougJit a bloody hatth 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 Bow-in ! ^ 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 Barras near Old Meldrum (which was fought on the 2 2d of May in the following year), when he defeated Buchan with great slaughter, and harried his posses- 1 Dalrymple, Annals of Scot. ii. p. 26 ; Tytler, Hist, of Scot. i. p. 232 ; Buchanan, Hist. Scot. i. p. 225 ; Holinshexl, 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 LAXD OF THE LINDSAYS. sions. Tlius every circumstance combines to show that Bruce never /oj/^iHiere ; 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." ^ Tliis 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." ^ 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.^ 1 Lives, i. p. 343, wliere Lord Meumuir'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, Avhen the South Sea Company tried to find silver in the mine at Craig Scales ; 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 Grade'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 mjme in Glenesk, belonging to the Laird of Edzell. "—(.Spoi- tisvjoode 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 tnottlderifig 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 " — Petrifjing cave — Rocking-stones — Druidical remains — Colnieallie — 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 Balnamoon 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,^ 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 liole 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. * Edward, Description of the County of A7iff2is, 1678, now scarce, reprinted in Warden, Angus, il 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." ^ Specimens of those ancient memorials are found in almost every known country, and uniformly bear names indicative of their singular property. In Phoenicia they are called Bmty-liay " 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- cJiriotliir, or " trembling stones ; " ^ while in England, and some parts of Scotland, they are denominated logan-stoncs, 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 Gilfumman. These were in the parish of Kirriemuir, on the small estate of Hillhead, 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 Uoivn to pieces hy gunfoivder, at the late period above noticed, and employed in huilding 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.^ Mason, in his excellent tragedy 1 Windele, Notices of Cork, p. 271. 2 These stones are thus described in the Neio Stat. Account of Forfarshire (p. 176): " One of them is a blocli 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 Histwy of tJie Druids, which was written in a series of letters to Lord Molesworth, and considered the best authority on the subject that has hitherto appeared, is now believed to have been vastly overrated as an authoritj'. 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 ratlier 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.^ Still it is probable that such places may have been used for both purposes ; and this appears the more likely from the fact, tliat 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.^ 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 Magaziiie, and died on the 27th of February 1821, aged lifty-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. - This is scarcely what St. Clement Alex, means in his Protrepticus (or Vohor- tntio), 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 iu 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.^ 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-mcallie, 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 tojxlrcssing. 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 £ccl. Hist. lib. v. c. 22. On tlie Orientation of churches see Dr. Wm. Smith and Archd. Cheetham, DicL Christ. Ant. ii. p. 1526, and on tlie relations of churches to cemeteries see ib. i. pp. 329 sq., 365 sq. 106 LAXD OF THE LINDSAYS. The circles of Colmeallie 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 the 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 gi-ound, 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 faiTa-house and the Powpot Bridge (about two miles north-west of Colmeallie), he removed a number of stones varying in length and breadth from eighteen to twenty-four inches. They tvere 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 ARCH^OLOGICAL REMAINS. 107 much the same space atid form as the hiyer 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 ilint 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 nmch corroded, but had part of the wooden hilt in it.^ 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 Ivilford 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 ModlagJi, 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 ' Now iu 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 tliicker 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. Eragments of qv£rns, 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 late Mr. Wyllie, the tenant of Mains ; ^ 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 Vv'as 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 Brechiu. 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,^ but no example of this sort, so far as we are aware, has ever been found in our district. SECTION IV. / 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— Depopnlation — • 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 Panniure — The new road — The Bum : its situation, history, and imiirovements— 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. 33 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 tliau 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,^ 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 Accoiait, c. 1682. " A gamekeeper has long resided on tliis 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 tliat 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 07ie of the highest inhabited places in Scotland, since the mining village of Leadhills in Lanarksliire, 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 ternunal one at The Bum, adjacent to the Dooly Tower, are very conspicuous— all exhibiting marks of a much colder climate than the jaresent." By the Ordnance Survey the summit of Craigmaskeldie, is 2224 feet high alx)ve 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 ; and, 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 liigher 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,^ 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 M'^as known by the familiar name of Johnnie Gordon) died during 1 Ada Dom. Concil. 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 whicli 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 Anirus 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 imder 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. Tlie track of the Lee lias 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 tlie 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 j " But still, at the darksome Lour of night When lurid phantoms fly, A hapless bride in weeds of white Illumes the lake and sky !" H 114 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. Passing Inchgruuclle, 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 luany 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." ^ 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.^ 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 tlie 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 Droiistie," 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." 2 Lochlee Par. Reg. April 18, 1706, etc. GLENESK ROYAL VISIT AND QUEEN's WELL. 115 ever partaken of the good things of the i^lace cannot be affirmed ; but in his poetical address to his old friend Eoss, after complimenting him on the superiority of his poem of Hclenore, 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 frae 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 il 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.^ 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 Kegister) 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.^ 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 east 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 " Eglite passage from the river Tay to Deeside across the mountains, " is Mounthe Garamell [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 tlie bridges in Glenesk, see Jervise, Ejiit. 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 tlie 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 Rowan 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 Rear-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 witliin 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 Rowan, 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 Rev. 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 ! Stretcli'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, ]\Ir. 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.^ 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 Fernybaiik shooting lodge was erected iu 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 covdd 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.^ 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 Mooran,^ 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 Carneskcorn, are sliaded 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 Panniure, 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. JEidif." 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 Dalhousiu. GLENESK — THE BURN, LORD A. GORDON. 121 landscape, and unconsciously suggested the presence of some " auld Mause," " that for siua' price Can cast her cantrips an' gie sage advice, Can overcast the niglit, an' cloud the moon. An' mak' the deils obedient to her croon !" Within a mile and a half of Auchmull, the Xorth 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.'^ 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 Edinburr/h, vi. pp. 3 si|. 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," M'ho, in less than a score of years, " created a desert into an Arcadian grove !"^ 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.^ It was from the grandfather of 1 Robertson, Agricultural Survey of Kincardineshire. ^ 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 ro])es made from the roots of trees dug from the north moss of Arnhall. —{Inf. from the late W. R. Valentine, farmer, Bogmuir, who had seen the old tack of Inch, and was a descendant of Pressock.) GLENESK — GANNOCHY BRIDGE. 123 the present Earl of Soutliesk, 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. Tlie 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 shaggj' 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 a safer 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.^ It was then only half its present width, and Dillydyes, Bogge-side, Moss-eud, 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 Panmure 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 w^ily 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 th'ee 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 CA6TLE. CHAPTER III. Ititbitr anil 5l^cthitot. SECTION L Lone NaVar's church-deserted tombs. Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, Where heaves the turf in many a inouldering heap, Each in his narrow cell for ever laid. The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. Gray's ' Elegy.' Navar and Letlmot— Letlmot 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. As sliown 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 Eeformation, 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 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,^ afterwards first Earl of Crawford, and large mortifications were made out of some of the lands — such as from Drumcairn and Finnoch^ — 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 ill. 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."^ 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,* and to these families both Prebendaries may have been related.^ William Wrycht succeeded Angus in the kirk of Lethnot, and on his decease, in the year 1-ilO, the second Earl of Crawford pre- sented his " beloved cousin," Andrew de Ogilvy, clerk of the diocese of Dunkeld,^ 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 Navar) may mean "whirling streams," and is not inappli- cable to the motion of the bums which run through the district, but this etymology is very doubtfuL 1 Reg. Episc. Brech. 1. p. 21. 2 Drum-cairn, "the ridge of cairn." — Fionach, "the white field." 3 Crawford Case, p. 45 ; and Original Dukedom of Montrose Case, p. 15. * 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 lands of Inverpeffer, near Arbroath, from William the Lion, about a.D. 1200, and assumed his surname from that property. ^ /j^^. 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,^ with the use of a horse and cart, was given to carry stones to the building of the camjxinile 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.^ From Mr. Lindsay, the present minister (Mr. F. Cruickshank, A.M.) is the eleventh in succession.^ 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 tlie 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.* This failed, 1 Reg. Ep. Br. i. p. 74 : " unum magnum equum album." 2 Lives, i. p. 386. 3 Scott, Fasti, vi. pp. 832, 852. * 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 1748 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, " — 16 72 • N," and " 1 7 • 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;^ but the memory of Mr. John Eow, to whom the latter belongs, is still gratefully remembered. He w^as 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 1 Scott, Fasti, vL p. 832. LETHXOT- -REV. JOHN ROW. 129 trial and danger, lie performed witli all tlie 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.^ 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 paiishes of Navar and Lethnot, 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 con\anced all who observed them that he had neither run unsent, nor spent his strength in vain. He died upon the 24 day of Dec 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 Sepf 1746, and was interred beside him." The above monument to Mr. PiOW, and another erected by his successor in the parish, Eev. William Davidson, in memory of two of his sons, are within the church, while a very sul)- 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 comrnemo- 1 See the history of the bridge, being a paper read by the parish minister to the Presbytery, in Montrose Standard, 7th October 1879. I 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 y° passing Bell ? A soul just gone to Paradise or Hell. To darkness tends yo broad but slippry way — 0, frightful gloom, deny'd each cheering Ray ; While, such as walk in paths divinelj' bright, Shall shine within y" Courts of endless light. James Black, Bom 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 Schoolmr. 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— 11 "^6 — niori." ^ The melancholy occurrence, lamented in the following epitaph, took place before there was a bridge at Stonyford.^ 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,^ 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. ^ Bridge erected in 1787. 3 Jervise, Epit. i. p. 295, has the year 1757; the inscription itself is now illegible. LETHNOT — THE KINGS 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. 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 soitow 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 jMary Gumming and Ann Grant, the wife and daugliter of the once locally popular rebel veteran, Peter Grant, or Duhrach, 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 : — " ^ Erected to the memory of Peter Grant, some time farmer in Dubrach, who died at Auchendryne, the 11th of Feb. 1824, aged 110 j^ears. His wife, Mary Gumming, died at Westside, parish of Lethnot, in Forfar- shire, 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, Dii.hrach. He was a staunch supporter of " the Stuart race," fought in their cause as a serjeant-major at Gulloden, 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 clnistened, 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 tlie 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 Luhrach, who was then in the 106th year of his age. Astonished to see one who had lived to such an age still enjoying good healtli and strength, they got into conversation with liim, and were invited to enter his cottage, where he told them " some o' his 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 Diibraclis great age, " that there was no time to lose in the matter." ^ 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 ! " Duhrach latterly left Navar and went to his native district, where he died in little more than a year, when, in terms of 1 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 — CHITRCH 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 ]\Iaule) 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, ZcuIt/ 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 has to mak' them a kind o' cronies !" ^ 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 tliere 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-hoiise 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, Ejjit. i. p. 219. 134 LAND OF THK LINDSAYS. Da. Wyllio in Tillio.'^rMet* Jon. & Andr. Cobbs in Tilliebirnie George Cobb in Acbfearoy John Cobb in Room.i 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 annnaUy for ringing it on Sundays, fast-days, and at funi'rals.- Towards tlie middle of the seventeenth century, however, when Mr. John Fyfe came to the church of Navar, 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 ^Ir. 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.^ 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 • ROTTEUnAM • 1055. 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. Trior 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 tlie name is changed by marriage, Mrs. Binny being a daughter of the late Mr. W' yllie. - The payment mentioned yearly in the parish register is £1, 4s. Scots. 3 See Act. Pari. v. p. 473 — Act against mill going on Sunday in 1641. NAVAR — THE BELL AND ITS FORTUNES. 135 and killed him on the s^jot. This, as a matter of course, \vas 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 nierks Scots, or about £.55, lis. lid. 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 y^'of," 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 y^of, these to be preferred before any vther." ^ The first person whom we have found taking advantage of this excellent mortification was the Rev. 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.^ This occurred in 1663, and his examjDle 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. 11th, 1853. The deed was executed on May 12th, 1658, and recorded in the Books of Presbytery of BrerMn, July 17th, 1706 (vol. vi. f. 5, 6). See also Black, Brechin, p. 279. 2 Fresb. liec. of Brech. vi. 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 siglit 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 175G on the farm of Blairno,^ which his parents rented prior to their removal to the Wards near Montrose (at th-e 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 Blaimo, had a son baptized named Jonathan." — {Lethnot Par. Reg.) NAVAR — GOVERNOR JON. DUNCAN. 137 "'Among tlie 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,^ " 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 still 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 occui-red on the 11th 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. ^ Bombay Courier, Aug. 17, 1811. Kindly comnmuicated, with other informa- tion, by the late Dr. Jame.s Burues, K.H., Ph. Gen. at Bombay. In Contcjnplation and oilier 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 clnirch, 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.^ 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 Eeforma- 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),^ while, at a subsequent period, Nathro belonged to the second Earl of Panmure, and afterwards to a Charles Eobertson, sometime tenant in Trusto.^ 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. " Reg. de Panmure, ii. p. 328 (1649). 3 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 grazhig farm of .Tilly birnie, 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. Adamson. 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.i 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.^ 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 dc 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 ; Re<^. Ejnsc. Brech. i. ji. 4 (1267) ; Reg. de Panmure, ii. p. 205. - Called indifferently the battle of Barras, Old Meldrum, and Inverurie,- -Barras, where the battle took place, lying between the other two. HO LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. Margaret de Brechin, the only sister of the forfeited noble ; and now that tlie 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.^ By Margaret de Brechin (the niece of Bruce), Barclay left an only sou and daughter, — the latter married Sir Eobert Fleming of Biggar, and her only sur- viving child, Marion, became the wife of William Maule of Banmure. The last-mentioned David Barclay served in the Prussian wars, for which he had a safe-conduct from Edward iii. to pass through England. Dying sometime after the year 1364, he left an only daughter, Margaret, who was married to Walter, second son of Robert ii., by Euphemia Ross. 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, liis torture being protracted over three days.^ 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 ^laule 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, An7ials, i. p. 113. - For his connectiou with BrechLu and ueighbouriug parishes, see Jie^. Episc. Brech. i. and ii. xxiss. NAVAR — LORDS OF NAVAR AND BRECHIN. 141 Sir Thomas's heirs got Leiichlands, Hatherwick, Claleck, Jack- ston, and Stadockiiiore, wliich were formerly parts of the estate of Brichiiie." 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 fiill satisfaction of her terce." ^ 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 tliem to David, fourth Earl of Crawford, afterwards Duke of Montrose.^ 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 Ross 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, duis 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 Boss, second son of James iii.,^ but whether he did so immediately does not appear. From these lands the Duke of Boss assumed his secondary title of Lord of Brechin and Navar. The Duke of Boss 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. - Lives, i. p. 153. ^ Acta Lorn. And. p. 123. U2 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.^ 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 15-tl, 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, Petty ndreiche, and iSrathrow,^ which was granted by John Erskine of Dun to Robert his second son, and in 1550-1 he excambed the lordship of Brechin and Navar with John, fourth Lord Erskine, fur the lands of Pit- todrie and Balhagardy in Aberdeenshire.^ 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. • Misc. Spalding Club, ii. pp. Ixxiii sq., 177 sq. 2 Dun Charters ; J/t'sc. Spalding Club, iv. p. 4G. * On the Erskines of Pittodrie as related to the Erskines in Forfarshire, see Ilisc. 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/ in tlie Duchy of Normandy, and bear quite the same arms. One of these, Ansold Sire de Maule, and Eectrude 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 tlie Church. Guarin de ]\Iaule, 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- laud 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 Eowlis.^ 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.^ 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 lordsliip 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 Pannuxre, ii. p. 77 sq. : Anderson, Scot. Nat. ii. pp. 370 sq. 3 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 tliat 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 jMarquis 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 ]\Iaules of Panmure is sufticiently traced in the principal heraldic books, and especially in the magnificent Eegistriim 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 164G.^ It is enough to say that most of them \vere 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., M'hom 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.^ 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 Pauimire, i. and ii. , with the charters, etc. , in full; Warden, Angus, i. 379 sq. ; Burke, Peerage, etc., 1S81, pp. 330 sq. ■^ Gordon, Scots Affairs ; Lord Hailes's Collections, etc. NAVAR — MAULES OF PANMURE. H5 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 Eeligion [that he] gave liis 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 Pdght 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." ^ 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 tlie 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 tweuty-seven years' service as Member of Par- liament for Forfarshire, was created a Peer of Ireland in 1743 by the title of Earl Panmure 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.^ Earl Panmure died unmarried on the 4th January 1782. His surviving sister, Lady Jean Maule, was married to George, Lord Eamsay, 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 PANMURE. 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 lil^eral 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.^ 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 ^ For a detail of the late Ijord Panmiire'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 JVIaule is the only member of the whole family now remaining. Of the sons, the youngest, the Hon. William Maule, married Elizabeth, daugliter of Tlionias 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, M'ith those of the other members of the family, in the monumental tower on the Rowan in Glenesk. The Hon. Fox ]\Iaule, 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 Llontague, daugliter of George, second Lord Abercromby. Her Lady- sliip 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. 149 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 nmch 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 IG, 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 Eoyal 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 Eorfarshire, 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 in/ant years Than lies upon that truth we live to learn. Schiller. Aspect of Navar — The Wirran — Story of the melder-sifter — Archaeology of Lethnot — Dunnyfeme — "Lady Eagil's Chair"— Cobb's Heugh— Streams of the district — Superstition anent the white adder— Superstitions of Lethnot— The Cateran. Although Navar and Letlinot are less favoured than Glenesk on the score of extent and the imposing features of lofty and rugged mountains, tlie general aspect of the whole is equally highland, and when traversed in a fine summer day, or viewed fiom 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, M'hich embraces an extended view of four or five miles. But, like Glenesk, the district is singularly destitute of trees ; for, with the exception of tlie 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 halfmoon- shaped bridge of Letlinot — 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 Wirran^ 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, "a 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 hoio and precious contents to the view of the credulous. INIany 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 meldcr, 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, Eobertson 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 preliistoric times, it cannot now be said in how far it may have been a place of sepulture.^ Craigen- dowie has, perhaps, its true etymon in the Gaelic Craigan- duhk, 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 ^ There are still circles on the farms of Braco and Blaimo. 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 Newbiggiu'," 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 eartli 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.^ 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,^ 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,^ 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 ivhite 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 riiythmical saying — " Nae woncler though the maidens o' Leadbeakie are dun, For three months o' 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 reseml>lance 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 iaihhsc, or the second-siglit ! 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 wliite 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 ^Tath of his master, he fled from liis service, and taking up his abode among liis 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 wJiite 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 I This ivitch 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 stept, 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 Eev. Mr. Thomson ^), 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 Ions; a cravincr 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 V — 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 Mr. 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 honafide 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 tlie 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 CATERANS. 159 amidst inucli 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 ! ^ 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 tooming 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 ^ Although currently ascribed to Mr. Thomson, these stories are scarcely in accord- ance with his real chuTacteT (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. vv'as the last Episcopal minister of Lethnot, and being a determined supporter of the rebellion, vras deposed, by order of Government, for praying " for the heads and patriots of the Rebel Anuy, 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 nov? 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. — {Decreet- 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 tlie 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, witli 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 slie 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 Eesurrection dawn, When thou shalt wake, the heaven and earth shall burn, And be rejoined to thy immortal pawn." ' ' Jervise, Ejiit. ii. pp. 296 sq. ; Rogers, Scott. Mon. and Tvmbst. ii p. 242. CHAPTER IV. Jinhaticn ixnh (Dathlali). SECTION I. //ere they lie had realms arid lands, Who tiow ivant strength to stir their hands. Beaumont. Finhaven — Etymologies— Church a preLend 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. The districts of Finliaven or Tinavon and Oathlaw are, for the most part, divided from each other by the burn of Lemno.^ 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 Fodlia-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 (\"ulg. pron. Lemla) is perhaps from the Gael. Leuni-na, " the small limping or leaping stream," which may correspond with the bounding peciiliarity of its motion. Levenach, however, is an old spelling, as it also is of Lethnot. The point where the Lenmo falls into the Esk frequently changes, as it is now doing. 1G2 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. highest part of the hill, and the greater part of the arable land of Finhaveu 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 Brechin, 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,^ and there was a chaplainry of St. Leonard's belonging to it in 1587.^ A fountain called " Nine-well" is situated on the hill above the old kirk, and some believe this to be a corruption of tlie name of St. Xinian, 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 IMaidens," 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 vii. of Scot- land, who made them large presents. Their feast is on the 15th 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 Eeformation.* 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. - " By vjU- viij/. & iiij* mo. anno payable to the minister of the paroche of ffin- evine, be vertew off ane antient gift dated the 20th of Fabry. 1299," presented and approved by the Commissioners of Exchequer, anno 1659. — [Burgh Papers of Forfar.) 3 Reg. Episc. Beech, ii. p. 36. " Coll. on Aberdeenshire, i. pp. 595-6. riNHAVEN — OLD CHURCH. 1G3 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 Holy Trinity at Edinburgh,^ 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, il. 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 hioh, and bears the incised fisfures of a cross and dagger, resembling those on a stone at the church of Kingoldrum.'^ 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 — " \)ic • facet • Ijonorabih's fair tits rcc^Ertj' • bt ; = = = liicnrifas • "be • Cnlicbg" • qi)i • oiii't • z° ' tiic." Here the inscription abruptly terminates, but the vicar was jirobably a Bruce, as may be inferred from the sliield on the monument, and a James Brouss was prebendary of Lethnot in 147G. The time of the erection of tlie last kirk of Finhaven or Aikenhatt is unknown, but the plan included a nave and aisle. The aisle was on llie 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 wliieli 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 Eichard the lord of Fern. As " rector ecclesise de Fothynevyn," lie witnesses his brother's resignation of Brichty, in favour of Sir Alexander Lindsay of Glenesk,- 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.^ I See Plate xx. of Mr. Chalmers, Sculptured Monuments of Angus, etc. - Fraser, Hist. Carneyies of Southesk, ii. pp. 492-3. 3 Reg. £2}isc. Brech. i. p. 196 ; ii. pp. 49, 104. FINHAVEN — 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 vves 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 lyftyme, sic like as he war dayly present as of before."^ The revenues of a toft and tenement of land, adjoin- ing to the city of Brechin, were given to the chaplain of tlie 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.^ The next parson of Finhaven, witli 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 sujDpression, or of the removal of the church to Oathlaw. It is supposed that Oathlaw, which is perhaps a corruption of the Gaelic Auch-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. Einsc. Brech. ii. p. 192. 1G6 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. of the cliurcli of Finhaven. It does not appear in that or in any otlier character, however, in the old Taxatio ; but since a well in the neighbourhood bears the name of " St. Mary," it is probable that a ku-k or chapel, dedicated to the Alrgiu, 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 Mail 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 ecclesise de Phinheavin, vocaicc Oioaihlaw." ^ 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 tlie convenience of the bulk of the parishioners ; for the old place of worship was so inconveniently situated tliat 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 Carestou, 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 only 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.^ 1 Inquis. Spec. Forfar. No. 230. ' Unless he was buried at Aikenhatt. 3 Fraser, Hist. Carnegies of Soiithcsk, 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 Register 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, Death, shall strike a Dart at thee." Mr. Eaiker, 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 IMaster, and attentive to his own concerns." The stone also bears these lines : — - " Rests before this stone the mortal clay Of Thomas Raikek, 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 ]\Iartiu. 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 oicn 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. Jervisc hy a friend in the district.) 168 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. Mr. Anderson that the Parochial Eegister, 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. AVhether they were incited or not by the laird, as the rioters were at Edzell, is unknown ; Ijut live of them fearlessly attacked ]\Ir. 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 lie was not allowed to enter again till the rebellion was over." Tlie 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." ^ 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 Eev. 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- ciiltural labourers, in which he had the honour of securing the interest of the late Prince Consort, through the publication (1853) of \\\Q Agricultural Labourers; as they ivcre, are, and should he in their Social Condition. His subsequent audience with His Eoyal 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 Onthlaw Par. Reg. 1716. FINHAVEN — ANCIENT FORESTS. 169 SECTION II. A race renoion'd of old. Whose war-cry oft has waked the battle-swell. Scott's ' Don Rodeeick.' 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 jiardon. 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.-^ 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 Restennet, for example, had power from Piobert the 1 These lands were all within the barony and forest of Plater, viz. :— Jnquis. Spec. Forfar. No. 130 Sandyfoord and Boigwilk, and Kilhill (1621). 172 Ballinscho, Woodhead, and Barnsdaillfaulds (1628). 240 Bow (1638). 310 Sheilhill (1649). 342 Cairn and Sherifbank (1655). 363 Westdobies and Whitewall (1656). 416 Quilks (1665). 170 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. Bruce to cut wood there at all convenient seasons;^ 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.^ By such mea,ns, 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.^ Monrommon, of which the Tullochs were made liereditary keepers by liobert i., was also a royal forest,* 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 tlie south side of the hill (jf Finhaven to the hill of Kirriemuir^ — a distance of at least seven miles as the crow flies ; and tradition says that it was so dense that the w^ild-cat could leap the whole distance from tree to tree. It perhaps stretched eastward as far as the river ISToran, for the lauds tliat lie betwixt that stream and Finliaven are called Marh-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 Kestennet, in the time of Alexander ill. (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.^ Four oxengates, or about fifty-two acres, of arable land were also given out of it by David ii. to Murdoch del 1 (a.D. 1317)— Robertson, Index, p. 4. 43. 2 (A.D. 1291)— JMiUi Scotice, vol. i. 3 On these royal forests, see Warden, Angus, i. pp. 161 sq. ; and for the Forest Laws of Scotland, see Acts Pari. i. pp. 323 sq. ■* 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. * Chalmers, Caledonia, i. p. 791. FINHAVEN — ^FORESTERS OF PLATER. 171 Rhynd, for a reddendo 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 wortliy 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 Thirlstane, 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." 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.^ The next person associ- ated with it is " Philip the Forester," ^ through whose bold- ness Bruce gained admission to the castle of Forfar in 1308, while it was strongly garrisoned by the English.^ 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) — Robertsou, Index, p. 81. 161. It is said that during the guardian- ship of the kingdom by Sir Andrew Mun-ay, he and the Earls of Fife and March abode here for a sliort period during tlie 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.) " Reg. Vet. Aberbrothoc, p. 266. ^ Dalrymple, Annals, i. p. 203. 4 Barbour, Bruce, ii. pp. 38, 39. 5 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 Carsegow^nie to his natural sou, Sir Eohert,^ 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,^ 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 13G9,^ 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 tlie 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 Eobert ii.. Sir Alexander Lindsay of Glenesk had the patronage of the church, together with the office of Keeper of the forest of I'later.^ 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 P)ruce, for a William de Anaund occurs among the Forfar- shire barons, who swore fealty to Edward at Berwick in 1296.^ 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,^ was the 1 (A.D. 1322)— Robertson, Index, p. 18. 82. 2 (a.d. \Z2i)-lhid. p. 23. 3 Reg. Mag. Sigill. p. 65, No. 215; Eobertson, Index, pp. 52. 9 ; 86. 215. •» Reg. Mag. Sigill. p. 133, No. 63 ; Robertson, Index, pp. 120. 63 ; 129. 31. * Ragman Rolls, p. 126. « (A.D. 1335)— Tytler, Hist. 0/ Scot. ii. p. 42 ; Extracta e Cron. Scot. p. 168. FINHAVEN EARLS "LODGING IN DUNDEE. 173 son of this William, and tlie immediate progenitor of Sir David of Finhaven. It is certain, however, that, ^^'hether 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.'^ Whether the Earl of Buchan's grant to the monks of Arbroath w^as 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 Finhaven, 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 Glcncsk branch of the family existed, this was their principal country residence ; and here, or in their palace at Dundee, the " Tigei-" 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 "BattfijEorti Emtigag, C^arl of Crainforti," had altogether a princely appearance.^ 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. ^ 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 cliurch of Kettins, near Coupar- Angus, from Robert ill. 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 Hoiiff, 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 tlie 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,^ 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 Tliomson, History of Dundee, for an account of this burning (p. 308), and for some notice of tlie ecclesiastical and other antiquities of Dundee. FINHAVEN — DOUGLAS LEAGUE. 175 The principal incidents in the life of Earl Uavid, 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 Robert 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 i., 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.^ 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 tjie 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 w^ere 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 iniluence 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, Foedera, x. p. 307. 176 LAXD 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."' This he treated with contempt ; but as his biographer says, " the sacrilege met with its reward, and w^ithin a twelvemonth." This was in the bloody fight that occurred at Arbroath on Sunday, the 23d ^ 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 Huntly, 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 diflBcult 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. Pi.eg. 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 not a Sunday. The Regist. Episc. Aberd. i. p. 264, ii. pp. 2, 200, 210, gives January 15, 16, and 17 for the obit. 1\x& Auchinleck Chronicle, p. S8, 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. .S'coc, 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 ARBEOATH. 177 dangers which might occur so long as the food eaten under liis 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 Arhroath 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.^ This event naturally increased the bitterness of hostility, and the Lindsays, who w^ere 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 w^as the loss w^hich 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 waves and children, taught the remotest adherents of the Justiciary of Arbroath how terrible was the vengeance they had provoked."- 1 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, tliat 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 Ogilvys, 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.^ 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." ^ The Lindsay party burned the Conventual church of Ar- 1 Lives, i. p. 130 ; Hxtr. 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. Tliis tradition is given in a slightly modified form in tlie Old Stat. Acct. ii. pp. 493-4. FINHAVEN — DOUGLAS LEAGUE. 179 broatli before they left the town, aud 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 tlie graves of those who fell on the occasion. The mel^c 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 Eome 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,^ 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) iu 1452, this is the only admissible date, aud it accords with Ascension Day (Balfour, Annals, i. p. 181), May 18th, following, for the battle of Brechin. ISO LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. ou his lawless intrigue, urged liim to break tlie covenant that he had made with Crawford and Eoss. 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.^ 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 atthetail 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,^ 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. ; Auchinleck Chronicle, p. 47. - Tliis 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. Kote F. FINHAVEN — BATTLE OF BRECHIN. 181 was undaunted, and the contest began on botli sides with the utmost determination. The skill and valour disj^layed 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.^ 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 was 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 liis 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 resj)ective 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 liimself 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 !" when 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 tliat you have got the better of me, let me see that you beat Crawford !" — {Old Stat. A act. 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 «« ^ 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 Finhaven. 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,^ This celebrated cup measures, exclusive of the figure at the top,^ 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, n.) Huntly had also received Badenoch before the battle, as the charter is dated 28th April lib\.—{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 Arckwological 1 list itutc held in Edinlurjh, 1856, is after a sketch by C. Elphinstone Dah'ynii»le, Esq. FINHAVEX — ^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 Moraj'shire, between Elgin and Forres. In the course of the sederunt, one of their number, Gordon of Cobairdy, got up to mend the fire, and in doing so saw at the bottom of the peat-bunJcer, 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 incjuiry, 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 : — ' Titubautem firmavit Huntleus — Breichin, Mali 20 (or 28) 1453,' — but in characters apparently of the seventeenth century."^ 1 Lives, i. p. 138. The later history of the Assuauley Cup is interesting. At her death, Mrs. Gordon bequeathed tlie cup to her cousin, Charles E. Dalryniple, 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 ciqi, 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.^ 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 and 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, M-hich was dealing destruction on all sides ; for he and his rebellious followers burned Walter Carnegie's castle of Kinnaird,- and ravaged the lauds of the the Family of Gordon (i. p. 70), had given the true account of its acquisition. On being exhibited at the meeting of the Arclireological Society of London, held in Edinlnirgh 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., Edinbur(jh.) 1 Supr. p. 179, note. ^ Crawford, Peerage, p. 446; Fraser, Hist, Carnegies, ]i. 17. FINHAVEN — CRAWFORD PARDONED. 185 traitor Collace, witli those of the other Angus baroiis who had home 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 Lordsliip of Brechin, with the hereditary ofhce 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, tbe Earl of Huntly, and other advisers, for the j)urpose of quelling Craw^ford, 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 wdiom 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 or THE LINDSAYS. hands to the King maist dolorously, crying ' INIercy ! ' 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 aniang the company, that nane almaist could contain themselves from tears." ^ 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 — Eecounts 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 toast! 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 Eriars of Dundee, in his fore- bears' [ancestors'] sepulchre." ^ 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. - Lives, i. p. 143. riNHAVEN EARL DAVID LINDSAY. 187 SECTION III. They rose to poiver, to wealth, to fame ; They gaitied a proud, a deathless na7ne, — First in thejield^irst in the state — - But, ah I the giddy tide of fate Rcflozv'd, and s^vept them from their throne. And thus they ^came Alisfortune's own ! ' Tzvixt truce and war, such sudden change Was not infrequent, nor held strange. Earl David and his rewards for loyalty— Kaised to the Dukedom of Montrose — His princely splendour — Suffered for James til — Power curtailed — New ducal patent granted — In favour with James IV. — Private sorrows— Fell at Floddeii — 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 incarceratus" — 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 — 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 tlie guar- dianship of his uncle, Walter of Beaufort ; and 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 tliat 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, hereditary 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.^ 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 witli 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 Rol:)ert i., and from which they long designed themselves. The patent of the Original Dukedom of Montrose is printed in full in Lives, i. 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 ISth 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. — (firig. 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 iioro of tlie 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 kiUed in a miller's barn by a pretended priest, while lying there wounded by a fall from his horse.^ The forfeiture of estates and titles with which the followers of James ill. were visited, was very partial in the case of the Duke of Mon- trose ; for, unlike the otliers, 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 Forfarshire 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 novo was issued to " David Earl of Crawford and Lord Lindsay," for life, on the 19th of September 1489. From 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 dc novo of his title.^ He closed his splendid career in peace and honour at his castle of Finhaven in 1495, and was succeeded by his second son John. Though blessed with earthly honour and power greatl} 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,^ a circumstance that will ^ 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 Cajjtain Wemyss of Wemyss Castle. 2 Orig. Dukedom of Montrose Case, p. 5. 3 Ibid. p. 31. 190 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. be more particularly noticed in a subsequent Chapter.^ 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 otlier friends, fell in the rash enterprise of their Sovereign, and thus, by his sudden death, all proceedings were closed against him. His uucle and successor. Sir Alexander of xVuchtermonzie only lived till 1517, wdien he was succeeded by his son David, who, unfortunately, was placed in much the same position as his uncle the Duke of ]\Iontrose, 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,^ 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 jMaster," who accordingly succeeded, and married a daughter of Cardinal Beaton.^ 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. Jolm of Ameas, or other partis beyond sey." — (Pitcaim, Crim. Trials, i. p. 106.) 2 Su2}r. p. 40. 3 Her mother was Marion Ogilvy, daughter of the first Lord Ogiivy of Airlie. FINHAVEN — PARENTAL NEGLECT. 191 castle of Finliaven in April 1546 (just a month before the Cardinal's assassination), and her dowry, which amounted to the large sum of four thousand marks, is said to have been the largest bestowed on any bride down to that time. The Earl, after following a far from commendable course of life ^ (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 seliish 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 ; ^ 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 ITtli 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 Melguud Castle, which was built by the Cardinal. He acquired the estate iu 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 Misc. Sp. Club, ii. pp. 37, 38. - Pitcairn, Crim. Trials, i. pp. 79, 85. 192 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. he was tried with tlie 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 marriafje of the King with Anne of Denmark, Crawford was set at liberty with the rest, and died soon after.^ 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 w-as attending College at St. Andrews, his " pedagogue " informs the amiable Lord iMenmuir that it is "three years since the Master gat any clothing, saif one stand (suit) at the King's beand in our toAvn. 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 this 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," ^ Having lost his mother, and being so little cared for by his father, if this Earl had been other than reckless, it micrht 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 baud of unprincipled clansmen, who ^ 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. - 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 ii. 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.^ 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, Edom, 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.^ 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 18S2, it was taken to the family vault at Haigh Hall, Wigan. riNHAVEN — 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.^ 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,^ 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 yoimger 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 11th of August 1848, he being, in consequence, the twenty-fourth Earl of Crawford, and the Premier Earl on the Union Roll. 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 Toyal standard at Nottingham, with a large troop of cavalry that lie 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 Reading, 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 WaUer. 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 jSIarston 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 Fronde 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 liis 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."^ George, third Lord Spynie, was duly served heir- male on November 8, 16G6." Such are a few of the leadincj 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 pov/er of redemption to the granters on payment of the sums advanced.^ In 162-5, 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 y^ landis and baronie of Phinhewin," of all which he had pos- session in the month of April 1630.* 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. ^ Inquis. Spec. Forfar. No. 424. 3 Crawford Case, p. 85. * Ibid. p. 88. 198 LAND OV THK 1,1\1>SAYS. liis l>vollu'r-in-l;nv, tlio soroml l-",;irl ot" Kimioiil.' 11(\ n^aiii. was followed by the Eavl of I^Jovthosk, who (UsihukhI thoni in favour of his second son, the HonouraMe .lames Carnegie, on the 2 2d of May 1672. Having thus traeed tlie inlevesting history o[' (lu> Lordship of Finhaveu and its owners, from the earliest period to the decline of the ancient family of Lindsay, we shall ninv tal, but, unlike his neplunv of Northesk, was a strong opponent of the Union ; by substitu- tion for deceased members he had also been in Parliament in 1G85-6, and 1702. lie had a family of two sons and two daughters; one of the latter was married to Lyon of Auehti>r- 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 170 7, had, with consent of his brother, charters of the barony of Finhavcn in 1710, and bore a conspicuous, though far from commendable, part in the stirring movements of " the tifteen." 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 tlunne of several depreciatory Jacobite ditties. In one of the ballads of Sheriflmuir he is represented as " the best llyer " from the field 1 Jnquis. Spec. Forfar. No. 230. ^ Fraser, Hisi. Cam. of Soutlicsk, ii. p. 425. FIXHAVEX — CAEXEOIES SUCCEED. 199 of battle, and i^ impeached in t;. Jiich follow* ^ ..;^ been bought over by the Government. The third verse refers to the ejection of the Rev. Mr. Grub, the last Episcopalian minister of Oathlaw; and, since it is record' • ^' ' Mr. Grub was "never admitted to the parish -by any C iicatoiy," it is probable, from the pointed allusion in the ballad to Car- negie's being gnilty of simony, that Grab had been originally of Carnegie's choice, though the laird supported the subseqnent induction of Mr. Ander-jon, a Koyalist, and thereby had most probably obtained some direct or indirect pecuniary favour. The song is quaintly entitled l^e totnna fee (SuilJit fcg fSe. O heavens, he 'g ill to he gnidit, Hiij toUeagtiea and he are dividit, Wi' the Conrt of Hanover he ''a aidit — He winna l*e guidit by me. They ca'd him their joy and their darling. Till he took their penny of arling ; Bnt he '11 prove as falae as Mac-iarlane — He winna be gaulit by me. He was hroaght south by a merling, Got a hundred and fifty x>ocin/ls sterling, Which T»ill make him bestow the aald carlin — He winna be gnidit by me. He 'a anger'd hia goo^lson and Fintry, By gelling hia king and his conntry, And pot 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, Auehterhouse, and Strathmore, too ; God send him a heavy glengore, too, For that is the death he will die. But the circum.stance 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,^ from the taunts and gibes that he received from John Lyon of Brigton regard- ing his treachery in the cause of the Chevalier, ^lie 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 Caruegie 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 Fiidiaven. ]5eing 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 w^as 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 Inver- 1 See the trial, as given in Arnot, Criminal Trials, pp. 178-191. riNHAVEN LATE PROPRIETORS. 201 quliarity, 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 1779. 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 tlie 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 bis maternal nephew, James Carnegie, W.S. The latter was second son of Thomas, the fourth laird of Craigo, was designed of Finhaven and ISToranside, 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 18G7. 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 fourtli 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 Eobert Carnegie of Kinnaird, and uncle of the first Earls of Southesk and North esk, on the one hand,^ 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.^ 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. Vll. riNHAVEN — THE OLD CASTLE. • 203 SECTION IV. Those stately toiuers, those heights sublime. That mocked the gnawing tooth of time, How fair and firm they once did seem. How fleeting thou, inconstant stream f 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." ^ 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. ' Spottisiv. 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 w^as 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 approaclied 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 riNHAVEN — THE RUINS. 205 the prophecy of the famous Knight of Erceldon, to whom the following couplet is attributed, he fulfilled or not : — " When Finliaven Castle rins to sanrl,* 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 Ein- 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 Ladie craved pity ; but nane wad he gie — The poor aged minstrel must die ; An' Crawford's ain hand placed the grej- 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.^ 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 Careston 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 Einhaven 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 Einhaven, 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. Vlll., 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 Craw^ford 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 Finhaven 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 w^eaving 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 aflairs, and defend his stronghold if attacked at disadvantage during his absence."^ 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 ofi&cio 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 Briefc 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 Haucrh, 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.^ 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.^ The lands of Markhouse, which adjoin those of Finhaven 1 Lives, i. pp. 112-13. - Pitcairu, Vrim. Trials, i. p. 28. On these cadet families, see Lives, i. p. 430 ; ii. pp. 281 sq. ^ 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 liis 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.^ "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.^ 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 Arbuthnott Papers. 2 Southesk Papers. For the present proprietorship of Marcus see below, p. 316. 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 Aberlemno ; 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 Pitscandjie 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 tlie 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.^ 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.^ 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 century^), 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 Itescobie, Feb. 2, 1718; Lives, i. p. 442, ii. p. 282 ; Eetours Spec. Forfar. Nos. 172, 356.) ■- See Appendix No. VII. 3 1636, July 19; "Gevin to Alexr. Wellom, sometyme of Woodwrae, 12s." — {Brechin Sess. Records.) 1638, June 26 ; To ditto, 27s. — {Ibid.) Elisabeth Volnm, 1732. — (Jervise, JSjiit. i. p. 374.) Pitcairn {Crim. Trials, iii. p. 347*) has on an assize in 1549, " Alexander Wallein [Vallene or Vallaiice] of Woodwra." FINHAVEN WOODWRAE, BALGAVIES. 211 about sixty years ago ; and, with the exception of the okl 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 aw^ay 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.^ 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."- 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., ^^assm. 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 ahnost wliolly razing his residence to the foundation. This castle, which liad 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, " dum shro 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 Craw^ford, in 1605^ — 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 tlie Hilton of Guthrie, Langlands, and Innerdovat, but embraced Little Markhouse, the Haughs, Cunningair, and other parts of Fin- liaven, 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.^ 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 Pitcaim, Orim. Trials, iiL p. 248, for the royal remission granted to David Earl of C^a^\-ford, in June 1613. - Inquis. Spec. Forfar. Nos. 20 (1601\ 49 {lfi06), etc. ^ For its subsequent proprietorsliip, see Warden, Angus, ii. pp. 310 sq. FINHAVEN BALGAVIES. 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.^ 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 aryo7u flies, with rapid course, And states, and empires, ''7ieath it roll away ! But thou, rare treasure, long hast stood its test, • To please the curiozis of a modern age. Anon. Vitrifications on Finliaven Hill— Site described- -Theories of the vitrification— Camp at Battle-dykes — Local names — Archaeological remains. Such were the Lindsays of Pinhaven 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 Eoman Camp of Battle-dykes, and traces of ancient se- pulture. Of all these, the vitrified fort (or site as it is now more 1 Xew Stat. Acci., 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/ 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 witliin a hundred feet of the perpendicular side of the hill.^ 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 botli 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. ^ To prevent all misunderstanding, the reader is requested to bear in mind that this description of the vitrified site is solely referable to its jjj-esew^ appearance, as no idea can now be formed of its original state. Tliis 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 olf 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, Anc/us, i. pp. 43 sq. FINHAVEN VITEIFICATIONS. 215 occupied by the well;^ 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 mountam. 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 Fiuhaven. 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.^ 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 ^ Arclioiologia Scoticce, vol. iv. FINHAVEN SPECULATIONS ON VITRIFYING. 217 many traces of freestone and others not common to tlie dis- trict ; and, as observed by Dr. Jamieson, tlie stones appear, in some instances, to have been laid in regular courses, and banded together. The Eev. Mr. White of Selborne ^ 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,^ 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,^ and for 1 Natural Hist, of Selborne, Letter iv. ^ 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 born 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 tlie 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 entii-e 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." ^ 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 ^ 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. FINHAVEX — 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.^ 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 Armilloe.^ 1 Information from tlie late Mr. George Stuart, parochial schoolmaster. 2 See Wilson, Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, i. pp. 467, 469 ; ii. p. 250. FINHAVEN CASTLE. CHAPTER V. Jem. 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 7nen of genius. Etymology and old conditiou 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 Feru belonged to the provostry of Tain,^ 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 Bun'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. Inncn. This is probably a corruption of the name of St. Ninian, the apostle of the 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,^ fearn being the Gaelic name of that tree. William Eattray, third son of Sir Adam Eattray of Craig- 1 ^fS. Rental of Assumption. — Mait. Club. - But see Ne^v Stat. Acct., Forfarshire, p. 518. FERN — EARLY HISTORY. 221 hall, was rector of the parish church of Fern in 1357/ and John Gray in 1394.^ 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 Feme, " iv merkis, or ellis half a chalder of vitale," for the Mill of Feme ; and David Lindesay, and Pauls of Fentoune (? of Ogil), " viii merkis, ii wedderis, and a Scottis bow, the price of the bow x s., for the teyndis of Duchre."^ Patrick Muir is said to have been parson in 1584, and Alexander Noray, rector, had died before 1613."* 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.^ Thomas Schevand, the contemporary reader of Fern with Mr. Melville, had a yearly salary of about tliirty-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. Aherhr. p. 42. 3 Acta Dom. Concil. Oct. 25, 1488. ■1 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, bnrgess 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, abont 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.^ 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 Eev. John Ferguson, was appointed in 1874. It maybe remarked, that although little attention had been paid for long to the parochial registrations there,^ 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 Rexord, vol. iii. fol. 6. - " The minister of Fame rebuked for not having a session or book to insert minutes of transactions." — [Prcsby. Book, June 14, 1649.) FERN 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. Henr}' 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.^ The eldest, James, com- piled the greater part of the second edition of the Encyclopcedia Britannica, and wrote many other works of acknowledged merit; but, being an unsuccessful rival of Montgolfier and Lunardi, he is be§t 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, w^ho 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.^ 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 biograi>hical notice of him i^uljlished 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 PmdotropMa, or the Art of Nursing and Bearing 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 thejirst ofScotian swains 1 taught a Grecian poet English strai7is, Still court the Nine, secure of lasting praise, If BucHAX 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 loA'-ely 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 : — "IC BEN GEGOTEN INT TAER MCCCCCVI."^ 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 : — " Deatli daily walks his active round, On Time's uncertain stage ; He breaks up every /allow (jround — - 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 • robertvs • maxwell • me • fecit • EDR. 1728." P 226 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. of ]\Iarcli 1845. The burial-places of the families of Gall, sometime proprietors of the small estate of Aiichnacree, 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 11. 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 Lindsaj's — 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 tlie 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 Mount — 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 reiflfn 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.^ 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 1 2 1 9.^ 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. * Reg. Vet, Aberbrothoc, p. 162; Reg. Cup. Abb. p. )cvii. FERN — FAMILY DE MONTEALTO. 227 Besides the lordship of Fern, the Montealtos were pro- prietors of Both, in the parish of Carmyllie, and A^bot 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, ^ or, in other words, became patron of that church, which was afterwards given by William Maule of Pan- mure to the cathedral of Brechin.^ Michael de Montealto was one of the Justiciaries of Scotland proper in 1242,^ 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 I^orway in 1281, after witnessing the cele- bration of the nuptials of Margaret, daughter of Alexander iii., with King Eric* — 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 glide Sir Patrick Spens, Wi' the Scots lords at his feet." Eobert de Montealto was sheriff of Forfarshire in 1262,^ and a witness to the foundation charter of the Domus Dei, or Maisondieu Hospital of Brechin in 12G7.^ 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.'^ In 1322 William de Montealto of Kinblethmont gave a charter of the 1 Reg. Vet. Aberbr. p. 189 (a.d. 1250) ; on Both, see Jieg. de Panmure, i. p. xxi, ii. pp. 173, 363 sq. ; Reg. Episc. Brech. i. p. 14. 2 Eobertson, Index, p. 51. 42. ^ Chalmers, Caled. 1. j). 532. 4 Tytler, Hist, of Scot. i. p. 48. ^ Warden, Angus, ii. p. 226. 6 Reg. Episc. Brech. i. p. 7 ; Reg. de Panmure, ii. p. 207. 7 A cts of Pari. 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 tlie church of Kinnettles in 1264 and 1265 {Reg. Ei). Brech. i. p. 7; Reg. Vet. Aberbr. p. 269). 228 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. lands of Brechin to Sir Gilbert de Haya of Errol : ^ 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.^ 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.^ Two years prior to this date, however, Eichard had resigned all claim to the barony of Fern in favour of his son, William, whose charters of it were confirmed at the Abbey of Cupar, by Eobert ii. ; * 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 ]\Iowat) recurs in connec- tion with the barony of Lunan.^ John is the last of the Mowats whom we have found connected with Fern ; he had charters of Syanford (now Shandford) from Eobert in.,^ but from this period, until about 1450, there is a hiatus in the proprietary history of Fern that we are unable fully to supplyJ 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. - Fraser, Hist. Carnegies of Southesk, ii. pp. 492, 537. 3 Robertson, Index, pp. 122, 123. •* Reg. Mag. Sig. p. 149. 108. 5 Rohertson, Index, p. 124. 15. • « Ihid. p. 139. 5. 7 Sir William de Moute 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, daugliter of Eobert ii., and yet, in the same year, John Crawmond de Fern was a charter witness.^ 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 Vayne 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 Luudy. 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. E})isc. 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 Noran, 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 Deuchar, bears the salient points of the tradition.' 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, Buchan, 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. ^ 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 : — "JBa • ©Efaqbl^grc • Iji's • staertie. ^t • Bannackburn • 31 • serfacli • tlje • Br&s • ©f , qbljilit • 11)0 . Uncjtis • Ijati • na . tsss,"^ 1 This sword is now in possession of Miss Lucinda Marshall Deuchar, Edinburgh, daughter of the late Alexander Deuchar, seal engraver, alonj with the family papers 232 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. Such are the traditions relative to the old family of Deuchar.^ 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.^ 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 Royals. The sword belonged to David, the first seal engraver, who gave it to his son Alexander. The quotation in the te.xt 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. Duchre. Deucher. Deuquhare. Doucher. Ductor. Deuchor. DeuquhjTe. 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, thov;gh 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 ; ^ and a " Kobert 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.^ 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 cryme in tyme to cum."^ 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.* 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;^ from at least 1691 to 1710, they paid an annual of nearly fifteen shillings and ninepence sterling to the Carnegies as superiors.^ 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 Ada Auditorum, June 4, 1478. 2 Ihid. July 6, 1476. 3 Ibid. July 5, 1476. 4 Ibid. Mar. 17, 1478. ^ Deuchar Vouchers, quoted ut siqi. p. 232. 6 Old Rental-Book of Southesk, quoted ut suj}. p. 122. 234 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. century, of the proprietor of Noranside for a small money payment, if asked.^ 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, w^as 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."^ 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 portioners of Windsor is confounded by tradition with the fact of their having once possessed the foitrth part of Waterstone.^ 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 Windesbur is witness to Walter de Berkeley's charter of the lands of Newton, near Inverkeillor.* 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 Montcaltos. Waterstone, or Waterstown (a farm now divided betM'een the parishes of Fern and Careston, but wholly a part of the former parish ^ until the erection of the latter into a separate parochial district) was anciently an independent property, and 1 Deuchar Vouchers. ^ See Appendix No. X. 3 [nquis. Spec, Forfar. No. 11. 91. ■* Reg. Vet. Aberbrothoc, p. 329. ^ 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 lordshij) 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,^ 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 charter 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,^ 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."^ This commonty was of great extent, and well worth claiming, having extended over a large 1 Chamb. Rolls, i. p. 343. 2 Reg. Episc. Brech. i. p. 141, ii. p. 79. * Ihid. 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 JNIalcolm iv., Duncan Earl of Fife excambed "Balmadethy and Dunloppie," with Orera, the son of Hugh of Abernethy, for the lands of Balbernie in Fife.^ In 1362, it was granted by the heiress, Margaret Abernethy, Coun- tess of Angus, to William de Fassingtouu 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 L in 1296.- 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 in. The brave Carnegie, wha but he — The'^Piper o Dundee. Jacobite Ballad. YajTie — Fern divided — Noranside — Greenhills of Fern — Camegies 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, ii. p. 466. - Ragman Roll, p. 134. FERN — NORANSIDE. 237 Southesk between 1593 and 1595.^ 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 wdiose 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 Noranside, 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 1 797.^ 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 Eoss-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 ,2 and those of Balhall in Menmuir soon there- after.* He was father of the first Mill of Fern, who was also laird of Old Montrose. In 1786, while a mere youth. Mill of 1 Deuchar Vouchers, quoted ut sup. p. 232. " Inventory of the Title Deeds of Fern, kindly communicated by the late Hon. William Maule. 3 Douglas, Baronage, p. 34. * Title-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 Craiguathro, 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.^ 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 Balinhard, 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 Wniiam the Lion's time, and got the lands of Fesdow and Pitnemoone for his service,- 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 1 Ut mp. p. 142, etc. 2 Transcript of Martin de Clermont's MS. , by Macfarlane, in Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, in whicli is contained this fabulous account of the origin of the family of Camegie. The original MS. is in the Register House, Edinburgh. FERN — FAMILY DE BALINHAED. 239 Arbroath and Balmerino.^ 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 Baliuhards 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, M'liose 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.^ 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.^ Eight years afterwards he acquired from Mariota de Kinnaird* 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. '- A copy of the charter is in the British Museum, and runs thus : — " David [ii.] : 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, i. p. 215. ) 3 Crawford, Peerage, p. 446. The surname of Air subsisted in the parish of Famell until the late period of 1851, when the last of the name (an unmarried female) died at an advanced age. * 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.^ 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 Eegent 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." ^ In consequence of this outrage "Walter made complaint to James li. 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. Tlius he endeavoured to supply, to some extent, the loss of his family papers.^ 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 hy 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 ^ro hue 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 14S9. The seal bears an eagle displayed standing on a hutt 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 c\ip 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 oflBce 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 "Camegye of Kinnarde " are thus pictorially blazoned : — Arg. An eagle, displayed, Az. ; armed, beaked, and membered, Gu. ; on its breast an antique covered cup. Or. - Peerage, p. 446. 3 Fraser, Hist. Carnegies of Southesk, i. pp. 17 sq. FERN SIR ROBERT CARNEGIE. 241 and many kinsmen, at Flodden. It was not, however, till the time of Sir Robert, the fourth in descent from Duthac, that the family rose to importance.^ Sir Eobert adopted the law as a profession. In 1.547 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 Robert 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 Ramsay, 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 Robert, 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. 35, ch. 404, wherein Catherine Fothringhani 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. — (Fraser, Hist. (Jarnegies 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 INIajesty's provision " while he resided at Kinnaird, the bridge over the Pow, betwixt Kinnaird and Old Montrose, was first erected.^ Charles I. and ii. were also at Kinnaird.^ 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 Kinnaird; and in 1633 he received the higher honour of Earl of Southesk from Charles i., with remainder to his heirs-male for ever.^ 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 claiiduntur 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 ). Wlien it was fully determined that Charles ii. 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. 2 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,^ 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,^ who, when on his way a prisoner to Edinburgh, shortly before his execution, took i'arewell 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. xi. pp. 539 sq. 2 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 Eraser, Carneyiis of Southesk, ii. p. 357. 244 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. was suppressed, however, and the greater part united to Far- nell, in 1787.^ The first Earl was succeeded, as before said, by his second son, James, who, from his swarthy complexion, is huown in the family genealogy as "the black Earl." He waited long on Charles ii. while an exile in Holland, was a commissioner at the English Parliament of 1G52, and present at Cromw^ell's ])roclamation at Edinburgh in 1G57. He was one of the best swordsmen of his time, killed the Master of Gray in a duel near London in the memorable year 16G0, 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 witli his coach and four, one stormy niglit, 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 iDf the castle, wliere 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 Famell 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. sto})ped here on Friday, the 6th of July 1296, when on his subjugating expedition through the kingdom. The lands of Famell were alienated from the see of Brechin by Alexander Campbell, bishop of that diocese, who, in 1566, transferred them to Archibald, fifth Earl of Argj-ll. In 1578 they were sold to James, Lord Ogilvy of Airlie, and in 1623 they were purchased from him by Da\'id, Master of Carnegie, the eldest son of Earl David. On his death, in 1633, they became part of the Southesk estates, and the whole ])arish, 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 tlie abundance of arn, or alder trees, in this water-course, since Fern-'n-ald, or alt, in Gaelic means "the stream of anis." 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 the church bears : — "iohannes- byrgerhvys - ME • FECIT ■ ANNO • 1662." FERX — KINNATRD CASTLE. 245 Bucket Well, which lay in the Dcirs 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 Cou7it de Grammont, and has obtained some currency, though disproved by the testimony of Bishop Burnet, a friend or acquaintance of the persons chiefly concerned.^ 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 laud."^ 1 Burnet, Hist, of his Oion 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 1821, 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 II5 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 euclosure are the family arms, with quaint inscriptions under- neath, one of which informs the reader that Earl Charles's widow, the Lady ]\Iary Maitland, of the house of Lauder- dale, "put up thir coats, and built this gate, in the year 1704."! 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, 17i f. ; beech, 15 f. ; silver-fir, 15 f. (was 11 f. in 1850); oak, 14 f. ; elm, 14 f. ; horse-chestnut, 12:J 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 S 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 3i feet since 1850. The pre- sent Earl has also i)lanted 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 suiDeriority 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, Balquham and Cornablews, Ferniertown, Kirk-den, Boggie, Reid-foord, Dubbytown and Court-foord, Cathro-seat, W^aterstown, Milne of Waterstown, Easter Hiltown, Windsour, Ladinhendry, Auchlochie, and Trustoe. 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, J 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 Soutliesk 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." ^ 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 tlie 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 Soutliesk 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 Kinnaird.^ 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 to Charlotte, daughter of the Rev. 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 Soutliesk, succeeded to the baronetcy and estates. In the same year he was appointed Lord- Lieutenant of Kincardineshire, but resigned the ofiice 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 9 2d Highlanders, and for three years in tlie 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 tLe noble family of Graham, from which they were designed " Dominus de Aid Munros," so early as i;i60. 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, Anrjus, i. 1 si|. ; Fraser, Hist. Carnegks of Southesk, ii. 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 tliis 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 niony a deed was done Whilk nae ane dared to tiame. All is dot ji^aistis, and elrische fatttasyis, Of browiiyis and of bogillis full this buke. Gavvin Douglas. Castle of Vayne — Ascribeii to Cardinal Beaton — A word for the Cardinal — View of the castle — Superstitions — Kelpie's footmark and "the De'il's Hows" — The Brownie — Brandydeu — " The Ghaist o' Feme-den " — Tlie 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 wliole 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.' 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." - The castle of Yayne 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. , viL 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. • Archaeologia, xxxiv. p. .S,*). See the estimate of his life and character by Dr. Grub, Eccl. Hist. Scot. i. pp. 27-8. FERN— CASTLE OF VAYNE. 251 or staircase in the soutli-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 Eobert 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 Eobert'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 : — " DISCE • MEO • EXEMPLO • FORMOSIS • POSSE • CARERE." The second stone, now over the garden door, runs thus : — " VS • PLACtTIS • ABSTINVISSE • BONIS NNO • DOM. 1678 ;" and the third presents this quaint observation : — " NON • SIMALE • NVNC • ET SIC • ERAT ANNO • DOM. 1678,"^ 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 uunc, 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 iinal 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 1 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' Brauclieden ; But of a' the places i' the parish, The deil burns up the Vayue !" 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 miglit lure his victim to the river ! FERN — THE BROWNIE. 253 The people of Waterstone were at one time much annoyed in tliis 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 lauds 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.^ 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 whicli makes a good red ochre. But of all the spirits of this locality, the Brownie and the Gliaist 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. 375. 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.^ These particulars, and their aversion to the receipt of remuneration, are described iu the following exquisite lines of Mr. Erskine's Supplemental Stanzas to Collins's Ode on the Hvjldand Siqjcrstitioiis : — " 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, W^ith 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 Janiieson, Scottish Diet., in voce. FERN— GHAIST O' FERN E- 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.^ 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 dc Montecdtos ; of the site of the most ancient house of Fern no conjecture can be formed, but, in all proba- bility, as was tlie 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, ^ The GhaisVs Stane, or the piece of rock to which tliat worthy was chained, still lies in the burn in the vicinity of the kirk ! 256 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. as already seen, this occurrence was far from unique, it was wedded to verse by some local bard, in the following rude effusion of Clje ©l^aist o' jFcrne^tiEn. 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 wai k As four-an'-twenty men ! Gin there was ony strao 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 an' like to dee, — *' ! for a canny wily wife ! " Wi' miclit 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 elaise 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 Feme-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' scaddin' through the glen : " Oh !" says the Mammy to the Ghaist, " Arp we come near the Den ? For, oh ! I 'm f ear'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' Feme-den !" ^ 1 For this ballad, Mr. Jervise was indebted to the late Rev. Mr. Harris of Fern, vho 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 sj^irit; determined to know the cause of his wanderings, " About himsel' wi' hazel staff, He made ane rouudlie 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, Arnold's Seat, As Ferna's sons gaed out to Saitghs, 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 — Archfeology 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 Kttle 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 i.t 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 Aiidrca Ferrara,^ 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,^ 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 Stirk^ 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 stip. p. 122. - 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 calffh&i 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 / 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 w^ho 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, 2G2 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,^ 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 tlieir 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's Estates, helonging to Lord Fanmure, 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. Tliis 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 : — "L W. 1732. — This stone was erected by Alexander Winter, tennent in the Doaf [? Doal] in memory of JaAies Winter, his father's brother, who died on Peathaugh, in the parish of Glenisla, the 3d January 1732, aged 72. Here Ij'es James Vinter, who died in Peathaugh, Who fought most valointly at y^ Water of Saughs, Along w'' Ledenhendry, who did command y^ day — They Vauquis the Enemy and made them runu 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,"^ 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 existelice.^ 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 * York Buildings Co. Mem. Book, MS. p; 455. 2 Accounts of " the Battle of Sauglis " have been written by the Rev. Mr. Harris, entitled Ledenhendrie; and by the late Mr. Alex. Laing, Stracathro, in a ballad called The Raid of Feam. 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.^ 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 coffin 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.^ 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 Tern 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, ^ Fosbroke, Encyc. of Antiquities, p. 544. a yew Stat. Acct. Forfar, pp. 313-4 ; Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. iii. p. 8L 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. SECTION I. Sir Alexander Carnegy built a very fytie little church, and a fyne minister s manse, upon his own expenses, and doted a stipend, and gave a glebe thereto, out of his ow?i 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 td 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 kiUed in t]ie 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 niile 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.-^ 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 ; Neiv Stat. Acct. Forfar, p. 518. CARESTON — ITS EARLY HISTORY. 2G9 tower, fortalice, manor-place," etc. But, according to Lord Spynie's charter of the lands in IGOG, this passage admits of a more likely interpretation, and merely signifies that a jpart of the lands of Careston was so called.^ In the Preface to the old Rcgistrum dc Aherh'othoc, 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 undei' 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.'"^ 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- firmed 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 tcnnentis, and seriowslic 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. 2 Reg. Vet. Aberbr. pp. xxvi, 91, c>t al. ; Acts Pari. 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 severell and distinct paroche be it selff." ^ 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 tyme 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."^ 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 Hight 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 Pari., a.d, 1641, v. p. 568 ; Fraser, Camegies of Southesh, i. 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). 2 Acts of Pari. 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,^ 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 Eamsay 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.^ 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. GiUies' 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 Ly ell, was presented in 1800, married the Hon. Catherine, youngest daughter of John, seventh Viscount Arbuthnott, and died 1853. The present minister, the Eev. W. L. Baxter, A.M., appointed in 1862, is the third since Mr. Ly ell's death.^ 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. Bee.) 2 Preshy. 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 clotli 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 Ij'cs 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 ^larch 1753, aged 72 years. Six of his children are likewise buried here, of which five died in infancy, and one, viz*. 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 GUlies." (Ps. 37 ; Phil. L 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 wliose bounds he taught a school for some time ;^ 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 Ptebellion."^ 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 GrandtuUy, 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 1 Presbytery Rec. of Brechin, May 30, 1716. ^ md^ S 274 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. the district ; for although Mr. Gillies was admitted to the parish church without any disturbance, an EpiscojDal 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."^ 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. CAEESTON — REV. DK. JOHN GILLIES, SEN. AND JUN. 275 rudely cut on the outside of the minister's pew, was perliaps 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 Whiff eld, Historical Collections of the Success of the Gospel, and other works, was born two years before the time of his father's settlement in Angns, 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. Eobertson 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 M-hen 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 het was !" Mr. Gillies was counsel for some of the political martyrs of CARESTOX — LORD GILLIES. 977 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 liis 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, Eobert 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 Miidie of Newton and Pitforthy, many years afterwards, Lord Gillies was left a handsome legacy Ijy 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 Iiobert 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 mucli altercation, the Doctor, raising him- self on tip-toe, gruffly inquired of his antagonist, " Don't you know who / am, sir ? — / 'in 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 tlie 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 ofhce of j)ostmaster. 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 ofi&ce of "judex," or Dem'pster 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,^ 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 CoUaces became portioners of Menmuir.^ In 1370, 1 Ragman Rolls, p. 128. - 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.^ 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." The office of heritable Dempster to the Parliaments was confirmed to Andrew Dempster of Careston by Kobert IL in 1379,^ 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 extract of the Sherefs Court of the sammyn," which the " lordis Auditoris thinkis that he suld be pait efter the forme of his infeftment, maid be King Eobert vuder the gret sele schawiu et producit." * 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 IIL, 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.^ 1 Reg. Xigr. Aberhr. pp. 31, 114. 2 [,7 supra, p. 17fi. ■* Douglas, Baro7iage,-p. 531. ^ ^cta Auditorum, July 18, 1476, p. 53. 5 Heg. EjJisc. Brech. ii. pp. 106, 109. CARESTON— DEMPSTER AND HIS NEIGHBOURS. 281 Althongli 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 iiij'^'^ 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.^ 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 Ada Dom. Concilii, Ap. 22, 1479, p. 29. " Ibid. Dec. 9, 1494. 282 LAXD 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 in. in 1481, from which period the family were promiscuously designed of Auchterless and Muiresk.^ 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.^ 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.^ 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.^ 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.^ 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.^ In 1629, 1 Douglas, Baronage, p. 532. - Ibid. 3 Reg. £jjisc. Brech. ii. pp. 230, 285, 291. Thomas Dempster, the celebrated author of Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum, etc., was of the Muiresk family, and commonly, but erroneously, said to have been bom 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. * Crawford Case, p. 84. ^ lUd. 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 ;^ but in 1630, these, and the lands of Shielhill, in the parish of Kirriemuir, and Easter Balnabreich, were sold by him to John Eamsay,^ 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 cliarter of half the lands of Balnabreich ; ^ 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.* Sir John Stewart of Grandtully and Murthly, succeeded the Carnegies in Careston by purchase, in 1707. His arms, with the date 1714, stiU 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 li. and iii. ; his eldest brother, the seventh Lord High Steward, was the illustrious personage from whom " the Eoyal 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 Etliie was served heir of conquest to his immediate younger brother, Eobert 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."— (/6icZ. No. 371, A.D. 1658.) 2 Crawford Case, p. 91 ; see Inquis. Sjyec. Forfar. Nos. 431, 432. 3 Douglas, Peerage, ii. p. 514. •* iV^ew Staf. Acct. Forfar, p. 529. 284 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. ultimate ]\Iarquis of Douglas, and thirteeuth 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 tlie 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, and by this title had his place as a Peer of the United Kingdom. The Countess of Home died in 1877, and his Lordship was 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 ii. 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 wdth 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 sTcene — 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." ^ 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.^ So far from the ivhole 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," ^ 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 lacumi 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.* The first of the race, who figured in the subsequent achieve- 1 Douglas, Baronage, p. 555 : Nisbet, Heraldry, i. p. 324. - PMgman Rolls, p. 154 : Nisbet, Heraldry, App. ill. p. 44. 3 Robertson, Index, p. Ifi. 24 ■* Douglas, Baronage, p. 556. 286 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. ments of the kingdom, was Adam de Skene, who married a daughter of Keith Marischah 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 1680.^ 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.^ 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 Eobert 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, tlie 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 ^ Douglas, Baronage, p. 559. - ^Vew 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, w^ith the aid of the Ptutherfurd 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 288 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 M 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 tliocht 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 Eife), 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 CAEESTOX. 289 power of the latter machine in separating the grain from the chaff was attributed to supernatural agency, and called the BcviVs Wind ! 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 durincj 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.^ 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 hen, or inner apartment of their house, was laid with green turf, or strewn with rushes gathered from the banks of the Noran. 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 the kitchen's cheerless grate display' d. No cheerful light the long-closed sash convey' d. Crabbe. O, the 7iame of gallant Grahame — Alderne, Kilsythe, and Tibber, owned its fame, Tummeirs rude pass can of its terrors tell. Scott. The " Castle of Fuirdstoue "— 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 1612, as the castle or tower of " Bannabreich." ^ 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.^ Perhaps, as the Gaelic Bal-na-hreith implies "the town of judgment, or sentence,"^ 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 ^ John Guthrie of Balnabreich appears as -witness to a mortification by Sir Thomas Maiile 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 lauds of Camistown on behalf of Sir Thomas, grandson of the preceding, in 1560 {lb. 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 son of David Carnegie of CoUuthie, " cum turre fortalicio hortis," etc. [lb. ii. p. 370). 2 New Stat. Acct. Forfar, p. 518. ^ Or "the speckled town." CAEESTOX — 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."^ Though two centuries have nearly elapsed since Guynd gave this expressive account of the castle of CaVeston, yet had the house not been long tenantless and uncared for — had the the excellent avenue, that extended from the river at Gateside 1 Spottisiu. 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 Carestou, 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 wdio 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.^ 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 ^ Besides tlie armorial bearings of Carnegie, wliicli are in the centre, this cluster also comprises those of the families of Wemyss of that Ilk ; Blair of Balthyock ; Hallyburton of Pitcur ; Foulis of Colingtou ; 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 Eoyal 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 cornucopise 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 Robert the Second : — " TmS • HONOmS • SINGE AND • FIGVRIT • TROPHE • B(JK 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,^ 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 FAST." 294 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. of dilapidation long met the eye at all corners. It is true that tlfe 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 suj)erstitious belonging to other quarters ; and of prehistoric traces and historical peculi- arities, the district, unfortunately, is extremely meagre.-^ 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, Montrose 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 neighl)Ouring 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.-^ 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, ]\Iontrose crossed the North Esk and West Water, and passed along the braes of Menmuir and Fern, with the intention of crossing the Tay at Dimkeld ; 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. 29G LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. his baggage and weakest soldiers to Brechin, he marched 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 — KETREAT 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 wiiich 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 tiie 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 w^ell 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'ouUiez, 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 Eoss-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 ! ^ 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.^ 1 Arnot, Criminal Trials, p. 234. 2 Jolm Hill Burton, Hist. Scot. vii. ; Napier, Life and Times of Montrose. CHAPTER VII. Mtnmxxix. SECTION I. The family tomb, to whose 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 Eoyalists — 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 Dunkelcl, 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. Itcn, 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 Moim-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 " tliere.-^ 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 " ^ — 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 llegister 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 Hallyburtou, 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 witli our God [was] openlie read, subscryvit and sivorne unto he the haille congregatioune." 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.) - (a.d. 1550)^ -BooA of the 0§icialof St. Andrews, Pref. p. xxix. MENMUIR POLITICAL TROUBLES. 301 Glasgow, ou the 21st November 1638, and agaiu 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 conventioun becaus of y® troubles ; " and on the 1 3th of the following February, " no conventioun again until y® 17 of August, becaus y® enemie was still in y® fields, so that the minister durst not be seen in y® parish." But on the 17th 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 y^ intelligence of the approach of y^ enemie, the people fled out of y® kirk in the midst of the sermon." On the 1 7th of No- vember 1645, after the total defeat of the Eoyalists, 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 Ludowick 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. wliilk could subscrive." Two years later/ after Montrose's unsuccessful attempt to restore Charles ii., the thanlvsgi\ang 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 Straehan, taken prisoner, and afterwards hanged at Edinburgh. A few months later,^ 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 ; " ^ 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.^ 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 lUd. Aug. 11, 1650. 3 Tbid. Dec. 22, 1650. * The King's advocate was apprised of "the said ryot," and issued "counsell letters against the robbers." — {Brechin Preshy. 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." ^ 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,^ 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." ^ 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 Anglice sonat) a Balyordie, tumtdus. Regnat hyems, aestas fuerat ; miracula non sunt, .^stas si brumd 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 1 Parish Reg. Feb. 18, and April 18, 1716. 2 old Stat. Ace. v. 150. ' 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 Pairweather." After the erection of this monument in 1825, the Colonel was pro- moted to the rank of Lieutenant-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 Brechin, having with his three sisters been born in Market Street, where his father erected a house, and David first saw the lights 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 MENMUm — 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 20tli January 1795, and rose step by step till he attained the highest position. When he died at Cheltenham, on 1st June 18G0, at tlie 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,^ 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 Eev. Dr. Thomas Guthrie of Edinburgh, famous as the advocate of Eagged 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 stone, To mind you of Mortality, Behold the scull and bone : Likewise the darte, that wounds the hart, And syath that cuts the Thread Of life, and cofEn for to hold, The bodie when its dead." 1 The father of the first Guthries in Menmuir was tenant of Balbimie Mill, near Brechin, and is represented as residing with his son in Menmuir, Sept. 21, 1731. — Mem. Book of Fork 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 Brechin ; and, from the fact that the Earl bore the singular sobriquet of the " Tiger," the name of Tigcrtown is said to have been conferred upon this particular place. SECTION II. Of the anliejit lordis and ladies gaye, Qtiha livit in their latidis full manie a daye, Thoch I doe wryte, little guid I ca7i say. Old Poem. Lands of Menmuir— Royal residence — Kilgery — Exploit of Peter de Spalding — Hermitage of Kilgery chapel — Balzeordie — Somyrs of Balzeordie— Slaughter of Graham of Leuchland — Connection of the Camegies in Menmuir — Menmuir thanage — belonged to different families — The Collaces became reduced — yet known to literature — Leech a connection — Camegies of Balnamoon related to the Arbuthnotts— Purchased Balzeordie and Balrovvuie — "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 Forfar in 1290, claims deduction in his accounts for that year, for Ixvi lb. 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 tlie oi^pression of the said husbandmen, by Sir Hugh de Abirnethy, knight,^ 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 13s. 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 iii., for, in the Chamberlain Eolls of that period, Eda Montealto, sheriff of the county, takes credit for the payment of one mark, or thirteen shillings and f ourpence sterling, to the King's gardener at Menmoreth.^ 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 perhapis 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.^ 1 Chamberlain Rolls, vol. i. p. 79. ^ ji,i^ ^-q 1263. 3 The etymology of Kilgery is unkno'ivii, 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.^ 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 tow^n 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 Pitmudie), 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 bog, a portion of the Forest of Kilgery, and various pits in the neighbourhood, called sauiers, are said to be those in which the wood was salted. ^ Hailes, An7ials, ii. p. 88 ; Fraser, Hist. Carnegies 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). MENMUIR — SPALDING, HERMITAGE OF KILGERY. 309 By treaty with [peace Spaldyng] and treason, The Wednesdye before Easter's reuerence, When. that traitour, without long susi)ence, Betrayed the towne, and into Scotland went : By Scottes slain, as to a traytour appent." ^ 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.^ 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),^ 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.* This Somyr or Symmer is so designated in 1450,^ and thus his 1 Hardyng, Chronicle, p. 308. See also Barbour, Bruce, B. 17, vol. ill. 2 On the soutli-west corner of the Menrns Hill, adjoining L\mdie, " 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. * Fraser, Hist. Carnegies of Southesk, ii. pp. 518 sq. 5 lieg. 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 ivcstern half of Balzeordie, Chapeltoun, and the foggage of Ivilgery; 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.^ George, son of the first-named William, was next proprietor, and died previous to IGth 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 schaifiis" of Balrownie, and for similar injuries and outrages committed over her property of Burnetoune of Balzeordie.^ Keither 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."^ In 1580 the laird of Balzeordie, also George, was Chancellor of Assize when Lord OlijDhant was tried for the slaughter of Stewart of Schuttingleis;* and it may be remarked that Eobert, the son of the laird of the 1 Fraser, ffist. Camegies of Southesk, ii. pp. 45S sq., giving an account of the Synimers or Somyrs of Balzeordie from 1450. 2 Acta Auditor. Dec. 16, 1494. 3 Ibid. June 4, 1478. ■* Pitcairn, Crim. Trials, i. pt. ii. p. 90. MENMUIE, SOMYRS OF BALZEORDIE. 311 period, was beheaded by "the Maiden" in 1G18, 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 streking him throw the body with ane rapper-suord," on the 29th of April 1616.^ 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.^ 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.^ 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, Crim. Trials, iii. p. 437. - Session Records. 3 Wodrow, Hist, of the Church of Scot. i. p. 276. 4 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 ii. to Andrew Dempster of Auchterless and Careston, and to Findlay, the son of William, and John de Ciillas. 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 " Eostynot," of four pounds, by way of the tenth penny, to which charter, among other notables, " David de Grahame dominus de Aldmouros" appears as a witness.^ 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 tliat held sway over his misguided son.^ 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 Atliole 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.) - Dukedom of Montrose Cccse, p. 401. "Lord Fife has the Collace charter in 1488 of half the vert and venison of Kilgerry, and therefore it may be supjiosed that that right went to Careston at the same time. The charter of the Somyr half went to Southesk, probably through the Doig marriage." — (Xote from the late P. Chalmers, Esq. of Aldbar.) MENMUm — COLLAGE OF BALNAMOON. 313 the march-stones, which the bishop had placed between these properties by order of an assize of county gentlemen.^ 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." ^ 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."^ 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 ii.,* and in 1519 David Eollok witnessed the retour of Eobert Maule of Panmure as heir to Sir Thomas, his father.^ Latterly, the family fortunes of the Collaces became so greatly reduced, that in 1G32, John, the grandson of tlie pre- vious laird, and the last known male descendant of the family of Balnamoon, was first returned as heir,^ and then he sold the lands to Irving of Brucklaw,^ 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. - Pitcairu, Crini. Trials, i. pt. i. p. 431. ' Ibid. * C7aw/ord Peerage, pp. 422, 423. 5 Reg. de Pan. i. p. 292. « Inifuis. Spec. Forfar. No. 210. 7 i^id. 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 Leocha^us. 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 iu 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." ^ The first Carnegie of Balnamoon and Careston, as before 1 Leech, Poems, p. 6L This excellent translation is by a yoimg lady (Miss Spankie, cousin to the late P. Chalmers, Esq. of Aldbar). MENMUm — CARNEGIES OF BALNAMOON. 315 noticed, was Sir Alexander, broth er-german of the first Earls of Southesk and Northesk, and of Sir Eobert 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 Palnamoon and others to Stewart of Grandtully in 1707.^ 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 tliey assume the additional patronymic of " Arbuthnott."- This gentleman also added by purchase the lands of Balzeordie ^ 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, ]\Iary Anne, daughter of David Hunter of Blackness, who predeceased him on Nov. 12, 1854, 1 See Appendix No. XI., for a cnrions letter to this laird from Sir David Car- negie of Pitarrow. 2 The first Arbuthnott of Findowrie was Robert, son of Arbuthnott of that Ilk, who died in I-fi/O. 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,^ 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 Pioyalists 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 tliere in safety.^ 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,^ or the illiterate Goth who is said to have cut the fine old books of his ancestors to fit the crazy wooden shelves.* 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 m sup. pp. 78, 100. 3 Chambers's Edin. Journal, New Series, No. 30. * 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 w^ould 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 w^ere 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 If Mr. Gillies and the " Storj'-leller " have confounded "the rebellaird " 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 imcle, 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, &Xiut, about twenty years ago, a large boulder was discovered at the north-west corner of the White Catertliun, and upon the two large fragments a series of cup-markings is distinctly traceable ; Init there is nothing to elucidate their meaning or the special use to which the boulder had been applied ; ^ 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 purjjoses 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 live 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,^ tlie assertion is generally questioned. The late Mr. D. J). Black, author of the History of Brechin, cut through a portion of the wall some years ago, but found only a few remains of charred wood and burned bones.- 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 v:ite]i 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 ajoron- 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 cause\vays 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 Bitddimans Mag., Augiist 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, tlie clergyman was prevented from preaching the Word of (lod to his parishioners upon the 2d and 23d of December, because he had to attend "the committee appoynted by the provincial assemblie/w the tryal of witches and cliarmers.'" 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, sclie being set upe at a pillar before him 1 " ^ 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 agency ^ — 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 Diartj, p. 58. - Ross describes this superstitious process iu liis Helenore. 332 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. those tiny elves. Nor, even at this day, has the " deid licht " perhaps entirely ceased to tiutter, and throw its ominous gleams across the marshy patches of the East and West Lucks-o'- Pagan ! Threescore years have not much more tlian passed away since a humble couple, who resided at Tigerton, were blessed ^\ ith 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 hevjitchcd, or, that the rickety child was a suhditutc for the healthy one, whom \\\Q fairies 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 2)laced over a blaze of ivliins, fiy to his native region — if an heir of mortality, he would withstand the fire, and receive, at worst, a slight burn, or scanm ! 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 the 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. MENMUIE UNHALLOWED ORDEAL. 333 they placed him upon the tougs, aucl held liim over the tlaiiie I He screamed and struggled, as older people would do in like circumstances ; but, as he never attempted tofiy out of the chimney, he was declared by the cruel hags, in council assembled, to be merely a human creature after all !! CHAPTER VII. ^lisccllaneoits J^anlijs of the Xinlisaijs. His lands, I ween, stretch' d far an' vide — Frae liieland 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 swayhas 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 Lindsayii, 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 fir4 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 ildnl, such of their lands as lay in the Mearns. SECTION L LINDSAY PROPERTIES IX 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 hy 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 Inverquliaritj' — Baronets of Inver- quharity — Balinscho or Benshie — Scrymgeours and Ogilvys — Lindsays of LINDSAYS OF KEITHOCK. 335 Balinsclio— Two chestnut-trees -The Fletchers— Chapel of St. Niniau 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. Brccfjm, ndi^adi, ant ilittk ^crt. 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 ; and his son, the first Earl of Crawford, endowed a chaplainry in its chapel of St. Beternan (probably St. Ethernan or Eddran)/ 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 Brecliin 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 Eichard Lindsay owned the house and land called the Forket Acre, the rent of which, with other pro- perties, was mortified to the Cathedral by James iv.- 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 Load, 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.^ This Alexander Lindsay was one of a long line of 1 Lives, i. p. 103. Sec Smith and Wace, Diet. C'h. Biog. ii. p. 2"2. 2 Reg. Ep. Brech. ii. pp. 19, 159 ; Black, Hist. Brech. p. .32. 3 Eraser, Hist. Carnrgies of Southesk, i. p. xv ; ii. p. 527. •33G LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. hereditaiy blacksmiths of the same name, who, for the making and mending of plouglis 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 Hanghmuir.^ It is probable that they continued to enjoy the office of common blacksmith down to at least the year 161G, at M'hich period the name occurs for the last time in the minute-book of the Ham- mermen,- 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 l>rechin,"^ had annuities furtli of the lands of Craighead of Finhaveu. 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 ;* 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 Beardie'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 tlieir 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 wliicli were bound to pay tliese dues were Balnabrecli, Kindrokat [Kintrockat], Petpollokis, Pitteiidrecli, Haucli de Brechin [Haughmuir], Buthirgille [Burghill], Pettintoschall ["The Haugh of Pantaskall, at the west end of Balbirnie milti."— [Paper in the Southesk charter-chest, reijarclinfj the viater for driving the mill of Balbirnie and the 7iew mill of Pantaskall, a.D. 1574)], Balhirny, and the mill thereof, Kincragie, and Leuchlandi. — {Inqv.is. Spec. Forfar. No. 594, Suppl., ii. ; Misc. Sp. Club, V. p. 291 ; Fraser, Hist. Carnegies of Southesk, ii. p. 527, App. ) - Quoted vt sup. p. 45. " Inquis. Spec. Forfar. No. 456, * I'itairlie, in Mnnikie, is uniformly failed Pitcairlie in the Lives, LINDSAYS AND EDGARS OF KEITHOCK. 337 third son of Sir David of Edzell, became proprietor of the hinds 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- jierty, but she and her descendants long thereafter retained that of Cairn in Tannadice.^ 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 1 60G ; and it is probable, from the name of Carnegie of Kinnaird being connected with the lands in a proprietary relation in 1593," that the general embarrassment, which the Lindsays were then lal)0uring under, had extended to Keithock, and, like their chief and others of the clan, they had been forced to mortgage their property. Li 1617 we find John Oudnay "de Keithik " one of the jurors appointed to inquire into the extent of the lordship of Brechin and Navar.^ 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),* 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 Ptome 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 1 Inquis. Spec. Forfar. No. 342 (a.d. 1655). ^ Douglas, Peerage, ii. p. 513. 3 (Mar. 7)—Inq. Valorum, No, 10. * Nisbet, Heraldry, i. p. 281. Y 338 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. Prince Charles, but by tliose 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 tliat another attempt was to be made for tlic exiled family. Sir liobert 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 Rome; and that he had but a small salary. This was just what Sir Eobert wanted, and he wrote to Edgar offering a liandsome 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 Eobert, 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 Eobert's letter. He thanked him for the ten thousand pounds, which he liad 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." ^ 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 2 2d of August 1768, in the seventy-first year of his age.^ 1 Quoted by Mr. R. Cliamliers, Hisi. of Rebellion 1745-46, p. 419. - The following is his baptismal entry in the Brechin Records : — " Ai)ril 2, 1(598 ; LINDSAYS OF LITTLE PERT. 339 Alexander, the penultimate laird of Keitliock, 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 the Act of Indemnity in 1756 allowed him to return to Scotland. He married Catherine, daughter of Mr. Ogilvj^ minister of Tannadice, and, down to his last breath, when quaf&ng 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.^ 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.- 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.-^ 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 Keytliiek, husband to Elizabeth Guthrie, had a son baptised, named Hendrie. Witnesses, Hendrie Maull of Kellie, Hendrie Graham of Menorgan, Hen- drie Guthrie." The entry in the Keithock Family Bible, now in the possession of Miss Watson (having a fuller entry, but counting by a difl'erent style), is : "Henry Edgar was born on Friday the 8th, and christened on Monday the 11th Aprile 1698. His godfathers," etc. See also Scott. House Edgar, p. 26, and infra, Appendix No. XIII. 1 Both author and editor are indel ited for much of this information to Miss Watson, Pitt Street, Edinburgh (daughter of the late Bishop Watson of Dunkeld, and great- granddaughter of Alexander Edgar of Keithock). See Scott. House of Edgar, passim. - Lives, 1. p. 42. •■' 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 1S36, 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.^ 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.^ The first of those parts that lie on the north-west of the shire are the lands of ©lenquirrl) aiit) fEcmus. The first designed Lindsay of these places w^as James, son of the first Lindsay of Little CouU, one of whose descendants, Ptobert, succeeded the eldest brother of his grandfather in Barnyards on lOtli September 1692. The Lindsays continued in Glenquiech till about tlie middle of last century, and failed in the Eev. David Lindsay, Episcopal minister of St. Andrews. They were all staunch Jacobites, and the last landed proprietors of their name in Angus. Roljert, who was served heir to his father in 1 664,^ "expected to the day of his death the happy horn- 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 lie 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 ser\dce, 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 clergpnan 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 1 Wodrow, Hist. iv. p. 323. - Ut sup. pp. 208 sq. 3 Inquis. Oen. No. 4783. In ilay 1876 a stoneware jar or bottle full of coins, belonging to tlie reigns of Charles ii. and William in., was discovered at Glenquiech. —Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot xi. p. 550. LINDSAYS OF GLENQUTECH AND MExMUS. 341 (tor the moment) oblivious cicerone. " Sir 1 " replied Johnson, " I honour him ! " ^ The predecessors of the Lindsays in Glenquiech and Memus- were the Stuarts, Earls of Buchan,^ 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 Rose " 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 Rose,' she cried, ' I come to follow you ! ' " * IHurtfjill. This property, which lies in the parish of Tannadice,''^ was also owned by Lindsays at an early date. In ancient docu- ments it is called " Murtletyre," " Murlettre," and " IMurethlyn." According to the Great Seal Register, Sir John Lindsay of Thuirstown acquired this property from John Wallays of Rick- 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. 2^-1. ■-; 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 Glands in 1363, lor 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.— {i^egr. Mag. SUjill. 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- seqiient 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, Ejnt. i. pp. 180 sq. 3 Inquis. Spec. Forfar. No. 106, Apr. 21, a.D. 1619. 4 Glenquiech and part of Memus are now the property of J. A. Sinclair Maclagan, Esq., while the remainder of the estate of Memus belongs to John Ogilvy, Esq. of Inshewan. 5 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. Eunan'.s Seit"(St. Adamnan). 342 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. among those that were destroyed by the burning of the monastery of Fail, lie had these renewed according to the fol- lowing finding of the Assize : — " At a sheriff's-court of the King's tenants of Forfarshire, held at Perth on the 21st Jul}', in the thirty-first of David ii. (1360), it was found by an assise that the writs wliich 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 l)Owman in the King's army, and three suits yearly at the Court of the Sheriff of Forfar : and that, in tliat finding, the King renewed his charters."^ Murthill was resigned by Sir John Lindsay in 1370,- 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 ii.,^ and in this family Murthill continued till at least Guynd's time, about 1682.* Sl)ieltiill, in the immediate neighbourliood, 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.^ 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. Uarl. 4628, MSS. Brit. Mus. -• Robertson, Index, p. 91. 267. '^ Ibid. pp. 53. 30; 118. 17. •• Sjiot. Misc. i. 32.5. ^ Crawford Case, p. 91. LINDSAYS OF SHTETJIILL. 343 l)y the name of St. C'oliii, 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' C"arit3% Meet at the birken bush o' Inverquharity," ' rolling theii' 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 (lorgon, which forms the base of a sun-dial : — " Yon bonny brig quhan folk wald 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 Jcelpie nam't." Cn&Etquljatitg, 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 ii. ;- and about 1300, the first Earl of Crawford resigned the Newton in favour of a John Dolas.^ Inver- 1 Erroneously printed Inverartti/ in Chambers's Fo^yular Rhymes. 2 Eobertson, Index, p. 65. 14. "- Ibid. p. 148. 29. 344 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. quharity proper, liowever, 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/ 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, Ijut from the respective seniority of Walter of Lintrathen (founder of the house of Airlie), and that of this Sir John being doubtful,^ 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 (Jilbert, 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.^ The traditionary account of the origin of the Ogilvj^s is this : — Karl Gilclirist was married to a sister of AVilliam tlie 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. " Lives, i. p. 133. Sir Walter OgiUy accjuired Lintratlien hy marriage witli 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 tlie Earls of Crawford. — {Crawford-Case, p. 43.) =* Re//. Vet. de A be rb rot hoc, ji. 29. OGILVYS OF TNVEEQUHAEITY. 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 snrncnnc 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 tlie 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 liaronet, is ninth in the succession. But although tlie 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 tlie 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, v/hatever difficulty may arise regarding the age of the building, •UG LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. the time of the erection of the yatc. is satisfactorily accounted for by the following royal " Licence."^ 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 hane 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 witli ane Irne yhet Quharfor we straitly bid and commaunds that naman take on hande to make him impediment stoppinge iia 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."- Bnlinsrljo, or 33£nsI)iE.'' 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.* It is probable that the Ogilvys succeeded Scrymzeour, as about 1.595, by way of revenge, perhaps, for Inverquharity's slaughter of Lindsay of Blairiefeddan, Sir John Lindsay of 1 For tlie use of this curious document the author was obliged to tlie courtesy of tlie present Baronet. - September 25, 1444, or 1467, the seventh year respectively of the reigns of James ir. and in., during which Alexander Ogilvy, second Baron of Inver(iuharity, survived. See Appendix No. XIY., and supra, p. 93. 3 The following list of variations is given; — " Balenscho, Balensho, Balenshoe, Balinscho, Balinsho, Balinshoe, Ballinscho, Ballinsho, Ballinshoe, Benshie." ■* 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 Fanilly, culleded h)/ the late P. Chalmers, Esq. of Aldbar.) Thomas Scrymgeour of Wester Ballinschoe was served heir to his uncle, a burgess of Dundee, in 1647. — {liu/uis. Gen. No. 3358 ; Nisbet, Heraldry, i. p. 283.) LINDSAYS OF BALINSCHO. 347 Woodwrae is said to have killed Ogilvy of Balinsclio, and thus forcibly possessed himself of the lands.^ 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 Balinsclio, was designed indifferently of AVoodwrae, in the parish of Aberlemno, and of Woodhead, near Balinscho.- He had, perhaps, been twice married, as, according to the family genealogy,^ his wife was Catherine, eldest daughter of Lord ]\Ienmuir ; and, according to a second authority, she was Margaret Keith, daughter of Lord Altrie,'* 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 Balinscho 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 1G28: 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 1 Lives, i. p. 314. ■-' Inquis. Spec. Forfar. No. 172, a.d. 1628. 3 Crawfiyrd Case, p. 125. * Spalding Club. Miscell. iv. p. Ixxvi ; Douglas, Peerage, i. p. 380. 348 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. field of Ltitzeii in 1G32, but recoveriug, 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."' 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 liuilt 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, Mho married the youngest daughter of young 0'>ilvy of Airlie, fell at Inverlochy during the civil wars, and was perhaps the first of his name in Balinscho. Tliough not of old standing in Scotland,- 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),^ being direct descendants of Sir Bernard Fletcher of the county of York, w^here the family subsisted for many ages. Sir George Fletcher and his brother -lames held Kestennet, 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 Itujiiis. Sjpec. Forfar. No. 370, September 7, 1658— Robert Fletcher of Balin- shoe li.as retours as heir of Robert Fletcher of Baliiishoe. Again, No. -388, May 1, 1662, Robert Fletcher of Balinshoe is retoured as heir to his father Robert — perhaps three generations of Roberts. ^ Douglas, Baronage, p. 281. PROPRIETORS OF BALINSCHO. 349 purchased from them by the magistrates of that burgh about the year 1669.^ 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, l)rother 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 tlie 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 lirn, measuring I Old iitat. Acct. vi. p. 513. 350 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. about three feet in height, and of coiTesp(Hiding 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. Clofaa. 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 ]\rar, in the year 1327.^ 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 A^'olf of IJadenoch) resigned them in favour of Sir David Lindsay of Glenesk, the newly-created Earl of Crawford, in the year 1398.^ In 1445-46, when Thomas Ogiivy, 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,^ and George, Lord Spynie, succeeded his father in the half of the same lands and barony so late as 1646.'* 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. - Robertson, Index, p. 142. 84. "* Dukedom of Montrose Case, p. 222. ■* Iiiquis. fi^j^ec. Forfarshire, No. 290. FEUD BETWEEN CLOVA AND INVERQUHARITY. 351 arrangement being made in the time of the fourth baron uf 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." ^ In strict fulfilment of the conditions of the " Indenture," the laird of Clova, now weaned over to tlie 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 (^gilvys 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 proliibited ])y the peremptory mandate of ^oyalt3^ 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 Inveiiochy, 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 • • 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 Llces, i. pp. m sij., wliei'e the Iiiflenture is printed nearly in lull. 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 tire. Amid.st the confusion and smoke attendant on the burning, the luckless baron fled to tlie 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 JJraedownie. 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."^ 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,- This circum- taiice 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 lioyal 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 Pitcaini, Crim. Trials, i. pp. 263-4. - How, Autohiofj. "JR. 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;^ 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." ^ Clova was anciently dependent on the Abbey of Arbroath, and was a pendicle of Glamis, by the clergymen of which parish, after the Reformation, 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 persous." — {Cortachy Par, Reg. Nov. 20, 1659.) - Ibid. June 8, lCt)2. 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 propei', 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,^ it is probable that the lairds of the eighteenth century were descended of these. Indeed, so convinced were the descendants of tlie Lindsays of Eottal, Gella, and the Lethnots, of their being the nearest heirs to the Glenesk branch of the family, that steps w^ere taken by some of them, on the death of Lady Mary Lindsay, to lay claim to the titles of the old Earls of Crawford.^ Z\)c (ITastle of Bai'Uie was situated in the parish of Airlie,^ 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.* David Lindsay, the son of 1 Lives, i. p. 440. - 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. F'orf., 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. Jer^-ise on the antiquities and history of Airlie, Baikie, etc. ■» Old Stat. Ace. xi. p. 211. ;• <;-; 'ill, ,-;' -;^ CASTLE AND CHAPEL OF BAIKIE. 355 Margaret Fenton, and Lailifi' 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 Glamis had charters of it in 1489.^ After the execution of the unfortunate Countess of Strathmore for the alleged crime of witchcraft,- tlie accounts of the Lord High Treasurer show that a payment of forty pounds was made for the "reipar of the Glammys and Baky,"^ 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,* stood in the Kirk-shade near Lindertis; and in 1362, William de Fenton enriched it with a gift of the adjoining lands of Lunros.^ 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.*^ 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. pji. 330 sq. 2 Pitcairn {Crim. Trials, i. pp. 187* sij., 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.— 7?>ic?. i. p. 291*. 3 Pitcairn, Grim. Trials, i. p. 290*. •» Inquis. Spec. Forfar., a.d. 1695, No. 536. " Reg. Mag. Sig. p. 25, No. 30. It is now called Linross. ^ Douglas, Baronage, p. 284. 35G 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 1G34. 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 1G37, Jenny Geddes is said to have thrown her stool at his head, exclaim- ing — " De'il colick ye! will ye say mass at ray lug?" ^ 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.^ This son only survived till 16-43, 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.^ The Lindsays were followed in Dunkenny, sometime before 1661, by Peter Blair;* and, in Ochterlouy'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,^ and a George Lammie in 1628-9.^ 1 A mutilated tombstone, within the ohl 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 • D\Tikennie • 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 akiii to the old family in name. - Lives, 1. p. 435. 3 Ut sup. p. 202, and Appendix No. VII. ; Fraser, Hist. Carnegies of Southesk, ii. p. 438; Inq. Siiec. Forfar. No. 269. * Acts of Pari. vii. p. 95. 5 Sjjald. Club Miscell. iv. p. 237. ^ Pteg. Episc. Brech. ii. p. 244. RUTHVEN, QUEICH, AND ALYTH. 357 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 ii.,'^ received a grant of the lands of Eothven, and Balwyndolocli from Thomas, Earl of Mar. Sir Alexander Lindsay of Glenesk succeeded to these in 1.369,^ and they continued in the Crawford family until about 1510, when Alexander Cricliton, 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.^ 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 tlie 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.^ All subsequent history of the church is lost till the sixteenth century, when we find Walter Lindsay, David Cumyng, and Thomas Maxwell the vicars.^ The church was perhaps dedicated to St. Monan, as a field near the kirk bears the name of Symonadcs : 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 archteologist, and in this case from their position must be older than the weem.^ 1 Robertson, Index, p. 44. 54 ; Reg. Mag. Sig. p. 30, no. 57. 2 Douglas, Peerage, i. p. 374. 3 _,Yew Stat. Acct., Forfar, p. 419. * Reg. Nig. de Aberbroihoc, p. 41, A.D. 1125. 5 Scott, Fasti, vi. p. 758. 6 See Prof. J, Y. Simpson, Ancient Sculpturings, iu 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.^ 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 Ruthven. Euins 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.^ 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 liis subjugating expedition in 1296. It is known in that Prince's itinerary as "Entrekoyt chastel,"^ and had then been entire, though it was a ruin when Robert ii. granted it to his nephew James de Lindsay in 1.374.'* At the 1 New Stat. Acct. Perthsh. p. 11] 9. 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. " 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. Scot. ii. pp. 75 sq. '^ 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 ;^ and, during the subse- quent reign of Eobert, John de Eoos held the office of Justiciary of the Forests of Alyth and Cluny.^ 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,^ 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.^ 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 III., 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. 3 Douglas, Baronage, p. 551. ■* Acta Dom. Concil. Mar. 1, 14S9. 3 GO 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."^ This painful occurrence, not unparalleled in the family annals, took place in the autumn of 1489,^ 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 Ki2)pendavie.^ 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.^ 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 1 Lives, i. p. 171 n. " Ibid. i. p. 169. 3 Acta Dom. Feby. 4, 1492, p. 271 ; June 27, 1494, p. 341. 4 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, thougli 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, wlien 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,^ — 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 Vt supra, pii. 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.,' 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,^ 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.^ Meigle was also a part of the lordship of Crawford, which the scapegrace, Lord Lindsay, overran and uplifted the j-ents 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.* It is also worthy of notice, tliat shortly before the death of the Duke, he mortified certain lands to the church of Meigle in honour of his benefactor James IIL^ The earliest recorded lords of Meigle were the family already noticed, who assumed their surname from tlie 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.^ Roger de Miggel, a descendant of Simon, along with some other Perthshire barons, swore fealty to Edward in 1296.'' Michael de Migell, probably in the reign of Alexander in., had bestowed on the Abbey of Cupar the marsh of Meigle.^ Margaret, 1 Robertson, Index, p. 142. 83. ^ Thomson, History of Dundee, p. 286. » Robertson, Index, pp. 120. 55 ; 121. 75 ; 192. 24. * Acta Auditorum, Feby. 19, 1487. * Lives, i. p. 155. * Lyon, History of St. A ndrews, ii. p. 305. ' Ragman Rolls, p. 128. 8 Reg. Abb. Cupar, i. pp. 343, 344. MEIGLE LANDS AND CHURCH. 363 daughter of John de Eattry, 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 liy charter under the Great Seal by Eobert il., dated 23d January 1383.^ 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 Eomanesque 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 — Eobert Nicolson, once parson of Meigle, and William Lindsay, second son of James Lindsay of Dowhill - — 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 returnino; from the Crusades.^ SECTION II. MISCELLANEOUS LINDSAY PROPERTIES IN THE SOUTHERN PARTS OF FORFARSHIRE. KinWethmont— First Lord Spynie, his marriage and death — Second Lord Rpynie— Re]H'esented by Lindsay-Caruegies of Boysack — Early jjroprietors of Kinbletli- niont— Inverkeillor — Guthrie proprietary and ecclesiastical historj' — Line of the Guthries — Bishop Guthrie — Forfarshire Guthries — Guthrie Castle — Carbuddo — Inverarity — Its lords — Fotheringhams of Poiirie — Meathie Lour — Kinnettles — Evelick — Arbroath connection — Kinnell — Panbride — Boethius family — Panmure House — Monikie, Downie, Dunfind — Pitairlie — Cross of Camus — Ethiebeaton, Broughty Castle — Brichty. Jiinblctfjmont. 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 VL 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 Nno Stat. Acct. of Alyth. These remarkable stones are figured and described in Chalmers, Sculptured Monmnents of Anfjus, etc., and Stuart, Scitljitured Stones of Scotland, vol. i. See also Jervise, JSjnt. ii. pp. 287 sq., and P)-oc. Sac. Ant. Scot. ii. pp. 242 sq., Warden, Angus, i. pp. 34 sq., for a full account, while Dr. Josejih Anderson (Scotland in Early Christian Times, pass., 2d Ser.) argiies for the Christian interpretation of such symbols. KINBLETHMONT AND LORD SPYNIE. 365 Vice-Chancellor advanced the lar2;e sum of ten thousand "old 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 faithfuU 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,^ 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. R." - 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.^ 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. Acta Pari, iii. p. 650. " Lives, i. p. 319. 3 ■^qq Jiiq_ Sjxc. Forfar. No, 130. 3GG LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. Lord Spynie married Jean Ljon, 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. I '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 newborn."^ 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 5tli of July 1607.^ 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 " Reid John " and " Black Sandie " Ogilvy were charged with " bering, wering, and schuting of hagbutis and pistolettis, and for hurting of Alexander, Lord Spynie."^ 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, Crim. Trials, ii. pp. 529 sq., iii. pp. 61 sq., for the official inquiries and illustrative documents regarding Spynie's death. - Warden, Angus, ii. pp. 30 sq., for the Lords of Spynie. 3 (July 26, 1600)- Pitcairn, Crim. Trials, ii. pp. 130 ,sq. LINDSAY-CARNEGIE OF SPYNIE AND BOYSACK. 367 quyet maner furth of his duelliug place of Kinbrakmonth [Kinblethmont] to the place of Gairdyn," when they " hurt and deidlei woundit the said nobill lord in the held, and left him lyand for deid/' and shot one of his servants.'^ 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.^ He left two sons, in both of whom the male succession failed, and it then devolved on their eldest sister, Margaret, who Avas married to AVilliam 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 ISTorthesk. 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, Crim. Trials, ii. p. 136. • Ibid. ii. p. 146. 3 Inq. Spec. Forfar. Nos. 130, 290. 3G8 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. son, Henry Alexander Fullarton Lindsay-Carnegie, who has married Agnes, eldest daughter of James Eait, 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 Xorthesk, at the memorable engagement of Trafalgar, and was in other severe actions Avith honour. He rose to the rank of Commander in theXavy, 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 wdth 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 Pioyal Navy," he writes, " who most handsomely volunteered his services with this expedition, was in action wdth 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 Kinblethmout, it being, in part at least, in the hands of "Walter Lindsay of Beaufort,^ 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 1 Reg. Ep. Brech, i. pp. 141, lGi-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 Kinblethmont.^ 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," ^ but its true etymon is, perhaps, in the Gaelic Kin-Uath-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 — Kynhlath- mtrnd. Eichard 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.^ 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," * but to what family he belonged has not been ascertained. He was probably followed by a branch of the old family of Montealto of Eearn, 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,^ 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. 3 (a.D. 1189)— i?e^. Vet. Aberhrothoc, p. 99. 4 Ibid. p. 274. 5 Rey. Mag. Sly. pp. 149. 108 ; 150. 115 ; ut suirra, p. 228. 2 A 370 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. designed of Kinblethmont from, at least, the year 1470/ 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.^ ©utljric nnb (Carbutili0. The early history of the lands of Guthrie is obscure : they were probably Crown property when William the Lion granted the churcli and its patronage to the Abbey of Arbroath.* The next notice of them is in the Chamberlain liolls in 1359, when the Sheriff of Forfar returns that there is nothins 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 Ada Auditorum, p. 68 ; Reg. de Pammire, ii.jp. 282, 300 ; Reg. Nigr. Aberbr. p. xxxiv. - Thomas Guthrie de Kinblethmont witnesses the excambion of Cookston for Ardovie, betwi.vt Sir R. Carpegie of Kinnaird, and George Speid, ancestor of the present laird of Ardovie. — {Ardovie Charters.) Sir Robert succeeded his father Joha Carnegie in Kinnaird in 1.513. 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 ; Exclieq. 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. A berbrothoc, 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 wndows 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 {id szip. pji. 201, 237), and Rait of Anniston, also bury here. — (Jervise, Epit. i. pp. 321 sq.) ■» Reg. Mg. Aberbrothoc, p. 128; Reg. Ejnsc. 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.'^ From this it appears that Sir Henry Eamsay 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 l-i-lO, 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.^ 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.^ 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,* 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 Lucliris or Lathress in 1372, Johannes Mowet in 1410, "NVillelmus Hawik in 1434, and Jacobus Dekysoun in 1474, while Andreas Schull appears as vicar in 1450.^ The surname of Guthrie does not appear in 1 Chamh. Rolls, i. p. 344. 2 Airly Charter.i; Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. v. pp. 346 sq. 3 Mr. HaiTy Maule of Kelly writes :—" Sir David Gutlme of that Ilk [was] designed first Captain of tlie 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."— (/«/t)rMa. of King Charles the First, and the Barony of Guthrie [was] sold to John Guthrie, Bishop of Mun\ay, 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 e.xtinct.- — {Information to Mr. Jervise hy 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, nnnister of Fenwick, author of the Christian's Saving Interest, was a son of Pitforthy; and William Guthrie, tlie hi.storian 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'll 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. * See the Guthrie Family Genealogy prejiared by Mr. George Constable of Wallace Craigie (Scott's " Monkbams " in the Antiquary) ; it is summarised by Mr. Jervise in his E2ntaj)hs, ii. pp. 148 sq., 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 Eev. 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 : 1637." 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 Eobert 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."^ 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 followiug, 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 hxmdred and eighteen." 376 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. alone remains.^ The family of Guthrie had but little property in Carbuddo, their ownership being probably limited to the advocation of the kirk, six acres of land adjoining it, and pastuje for six cows, " with their falloues."^ 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 gi'eat bulk of it became the property of Sir Thomas Erskine of Brechin. In 1543 Sir Thomas resigned it in favour of his nephew. Superintendent Erskine of Dun,^ in the hands of whose descendants it continued tiiri833, 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, EnbExatitg anli fHcatf)ic=5Lciur, 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.* Though Alexander Burnet of Leys was in possession of the village of Inverarity in 1500,^ 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-haith 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 stouy field." 2 Inquis. Spec. Forfar. No. 5, A.D. 1550. ^ Spalding Clvb Miscdl. iv. p. 44. * Robertson, hidex, p. 161. 5. ^ Douglas, Baronage, p. 41. INVEKARITY, 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.^ 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 Arith) 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 Reformation, were served by one and the same minister ; ^ 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 Fothringliam is a coiTuption 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. Aherhr. 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, mamed 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 ; lipot. Misc. i. p. 323. 378 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. of Lour that we have found are a Henricus de Xeuith, knight, who, for failure of service, resigned the property into the hands of Alexander ill. ; and next, Hugh of Abirnithy, who received a charter in 1264, in the lands which liad shortly before come into the King's hand from the foresaid Henricus.^ 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.- In the year 1466, a family there bore the name of Lur of that Hk, and doubtless had been of considerable influence in their time, as they were councillors of the Earls of Crawford ; ^ — they had also been vassals of theirs, for the lands and teinds were in possession of the Duke of Montrose in the year 1492.* 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 Etliie assumed the title of Lord Lour. The lands were afterw^ards given by the second Earl of Northesk to Patrick, his third son, from whom the present Carnegies of Lour and Turin are descended.^ 55mncttlc3,6 Although the estate of Kinnetilcs 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. ^ Lives, i. p. 117. ■• Acta Bom. Concil. Jan. 15, 1492. s Fraser, Jlist. 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 l>eh)nging to it. s The kirk of Kinnettles was in the diocese of St. Andrews, and is rated in the ancient Taxutio 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. Eobert, a cadet of the knightly house of Evelick, descended from a younger brother of the third Earl of Crawford, was the first Lindsay of Kinnettlcs. Marjory Lindsay, the wife of the minister of Rescobie (men- tioned on the tombstone at that church)^ 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,^ 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.^ 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 Fotliringham, 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 tlmt 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. lie died in 1810. 1 See Appendix No. VII. 2 Lives, i. p. 439 ; ii. p. 283. » Scott. Jour. i. p. 280. 380 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. Account of the Shyre of Forfar, so frequently quoted in this volume ; ^ the latter was first the wife of Arbuthnott of Fin- dowrie,^ 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 1666. Besides the son who came by his death in the painful manner already noticed, he had his successor. Sir Alexander, whose sou, 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 Pted, and, dying in 1788, was buried in AYestminster 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 Plight Honour- 1 Printed in the Spottisu-oode Misrellany, i. pj). 317 sq. : and in Warden, Angus, ii. pp. 233 sq. On the Piersons and Ocliterlonies, see Jervise, Ejiit. 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. Srbraat]^, Blaritlato, antJ PaniriUc. 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 ; ^ 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.^ Though small, these properties gave Edzell an influ- 1 Ut supra, pp. 175 seq. 2 For an interesting accoiint 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 ^ (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 tlie 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,^ was their only property.^ 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.^ 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.^ 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.*^ 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 notliing 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. ~ 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. T\Iadoc, as a fountain near the church bears the familiar name of Maidie's Well. — Ut suj]. p. 178 n. ". ■» For the connection of the Maules with Panbride, see Jervise, Epit. ii. pp. 310 sq. 5 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, EjjU. i. p. 110). ^ Robertson, Judex, 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 Kamsay married the heiress of Boyce. This occurred in 1495, hut 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 Paubryde, was one of the assize to determine an application for service,^ 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,^ Sir Walter Lindsay of Edzell, and the Eamsaj's. Crichton of Sanquhar was possessor of the barony in 1507,^ Scrimgeour of Dundee in 1511,^ and Carnegie of Southesk from 1552^ down to the period of the forfeiture.® 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 walis, extraordinaire much plant- ing, young and old : many great parks about the new and old 1 Reg. de Paninure, ii. p. 308 ; Reg. Nig. Aberhr. p. 341. 2 (a.d. 1449-50)— Douglas, Peerage, i. p. 643. 3 Ibid. i. p. 449. ■» Ibid. i. p. 465. 5 Ibid. ii. p. 512. ^ 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 firlots meal ; £195, 10s. lOd. Scots money ; 74 capons ; 112 hens ; 6S| 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 j^ecks wheat ; 149 bolls 2 firlots bear ; 40 bolls, 3 firlots meal ; £65, 6s. 8d. Scots money ; 60 capons ; 144 hens ; and 104 chickens. — (Southesk Rental-Book, quoted ut s%ip. \). 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." ^ 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, Arcliibald 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.^ Ptonifete, BotoniE, Sunfintj, Bolnnitken, an"b Pitairlie. Next to the lands of Little Pert, near Montrose,^ 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 ;* 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 dc 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.^ 1 Spottiswood Misc. i. p. 346. - Lives, i. p. 447. 3 Ut sjtp. p. 339. •* Beg. Vet. Aberbrothoc, p. 325. * Lives, i. p. 48. In consequence of this alliance, the first Earl of Crawford quartered his paternal arms with those of Abernethy, which is said to have been one it'lM 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,- to the hondagia, or services exigible from hondi or husbandmen. He was also owner of the nativi or serfs of the district, and of the sequele 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 w^ere 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 warhke 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 ^ 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. 54.) 1 Lives, i. p. 114. 2 For similar grants, see Robertson, Index, pp. 81. 162 ; 85. 201 ; 134. 4. 3 Dunfind (vulg. Denjind) is popularly believed to signify the Fiend's Den ; and the "briggant" who was burnt at Dundee in 1440, for having "aue 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 waylls 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 cliequey 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 " f urtli of the late king's "reate customes" of the same burgh.^ 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 jNIonikie 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. KejTia) 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 • R." 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 onetime 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,^ The family, who designed themselves of that Ilk, were hereditary armour-bearers to the Crawfords.^ The Lindsays of all these places, however, are supposed to have been descended from Sir John of Pitairlie, 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 Fiuhaven and Inverarity in 1576.^ 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.^ The thanedom of Downie, and the lands of Monikie and Pitairlie, passed at various periods to the family of Panmure, who are still proprietors of them.^ 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. ' The predecessors of the Aiichenlecks in this property had perhaps been a family sumamed Napier, for in 1296 "Matheu le Naper, de Aghelek," of the county of Forfar, swore fealty to Edward i. — (Nisbet, Heraldry, i. p. 60.) * Reg. of Ministers, and ut sup. p. 207. ■* Douglas, Baronage, p. 473. The Diirhams 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 • postekisqve • SVIS • EXTRVENDVM • CVRAVIT • VIR • CLARVS • PITS • AC - PROBVS • DVRHAME • DE • PITCAUR • ARGENTARIVS • QTONDAM • R • lAC ■ \1 ■ SEMPITERN^ • MEMORIiE • CVIVS • MAIORES • EADEM • H^ffiC • NOMEN • ET • ARMA • GERENTES • HAC • IN • PAROCHINA • REGNO • HO • R • 1"' • SESE • DEIN • POSVERVNT • TBI • EXINDE • HVC • VSQVE • CLARVERTNT."— (Jervise, Ejntaphs, i. pp. 109-10.) ^ Beg. 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 (ih. ii. pp. 257 sq.) ; but there is another sale and charter of the lands and mill of Cambiston in 1526 from Da\dd Earl of Crawford to Robert Maule of Panmure and Isobell Mercer his wife {ib. ii. p. 801). 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 !^ 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. Tw^o 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.^ 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 w^as Hervei, the son of Warin, wlio came thither with David i., 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.^ 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.* 1 "Lochty, Lochty, is reed, reed, reed. For it has run three days with bleed ! " — {Provincial Rhyme.) For the archaeological remains of Monilcie see Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. 11. pp. 447-S, and for the battle at Barry see Warden, Angus, 11. pp. 244, 276, 402. - 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 la 1853, in presence of Lord Panmure and his brothers. * Douglas, Peerage, ii. p. 184 sq. ; Chalmers, Caled. i. p. 518. ■* Crawford, Peerage, p. 319 ; Douglas, Peerage, i. p. 188 ; Nisbet, Her. ii. App. i. CAMUSTON AND ARCH^OLOGICAL 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.^ 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 " 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."^ 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 wliich 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 su}}. p. 146. 390 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. d^f^iebeaton, ISroucjIjtjj Sastle, anti Bricfjtu. The property of Ethiebeatoa/ which lies in the parish of Moiiifieth, 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,^ 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 liiui anent his landis qlkis he haldis of the said Erie of Angus, that is to say the landis and barony of Affebeton,"^ 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,* with the exception of a short time about 1580,^ 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 Eobert 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. ^ Acts Pari. ii. p. 329. * Lives, i. p. 447. 5 Douglas, Baronage, p. 511. BROUGHT Y FERRY AND BRICHTY. 391 lands, and gave them to Alexander Senniscall,^ from whom they passed to the Earls of Angus, In Seuniscall'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 iii. 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.^ 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.* 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. ) ^ lieg. Vet. de A berbrothoc, p. 37. 392 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. Sir Alexander Lindsay of Glenesk, in 1379.^ They continued long in the family, and Euphemia, sister of the first Earl of Crawford, had a liferent from Wester Brichty given in 1412;^ and again in 1449, Alexander Lindsay, Earl of Crawford, gave a charter of the lands of Wester Brichty to Eothringham of l*owrie.^ 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," * about the middle of the fifteenth century. SECTION in. THE LINDSAY PROPERTIES IN MEARNS, OR KINCARDINESHIRE. Fasky or Fasqne — Phesdo— Kinneff and its old castles — Barras — Caterline church and churchyard — Duunottar, its church and castle — Present church and tradi- tions — Fetteresso — Uras — Lumgair — Benholm — Blackiemuir, Balmakewau, 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 Duunottar, 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 Infonnation from the late Earl of Craioford aiid Balcarres. • Robertson, Index, p. 166. 16. ^ Crawford Case, p. 48 ; Jervise, E2)it. 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 ;^ — we shall therefore commence with the neighbouring lands of iFasfeg or jFasque, antj IJ^esUo. 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 1471,^ from George, Lord Lesly of Eothes ; 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 Ptetours 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 Kamsay, the ex-Lord Bothwell, in lieu of his south-country estates, of which he was deprived for his adherence to the cause of James ill. Eamsay 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.^ The fine property and mansion-house of Fasque were purchased in the year 1829 by Sir John Gladstone, father of the present 1 Ut sup. p. 22. 2 Crawford Case, p. 150. 3 He was succeeded in the 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 tlie 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,"^ to his faithful follower. Sir Alexander Prazer 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 temporaEties of Phesdo to the Abbey of Arbroath.^ 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 Ealconer of Haulkerton,^ 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 JMontrose, 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. fi5. PHESDO PROPERTY. 395 greyhound of the one killed the hawk of the other, ' which presently,' says the Eev. 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.' " ^ 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, Ptobert 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 fdo de se at his residence of Phesdo in 1 682.* 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." ^ 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 shyning rayes." 1 Lives, ii. p. 280. 2 j^id^ n p. 281. 3 Prof. Stuart, Antiq. Essays, p. 13. ■* Brunton and Haig, Acct. of Senators, Coll. of Justice, p. 445. 5 Epitaph ia Old Greyfriars, Edinburgh. 396 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. Lord riiesdo'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 Royal Navy. He died Commander of the " Invincible " man-of-war, in 1780, and his widow became the wife of John Mill of Fern.^ l&innt% anil Barrag. The parish of Kinneff (the old church of which is famous as the place where the liegalia 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 y^ Lindsay Earl of Crawford, and Sir William y^ Lindsay lord of Rossie.'^ 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.^ 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 ; * 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 1 m sup. p. 237. 2 jieg_ Ep. Brech. i. p. 32. 3 Ut sup. pp. 33 sq., etc. * See Old Stat. Account, vi. pp. 197 sq., which i.s 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 Kegalia.-^ Kinneff was originally granted by William the Lion to a Norman lord named John de Montfort,- 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 1211-14,^ 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 13G1 Chris- tian, the relict of "John de Monteforti," gave the lands of Kinneff, Slains, Fausyde, and Eicarton, to a person bearing the rather odd name of Simon de Schaklok.* 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.^ Two years after, we find Kobert 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 j^reserving the Regalia. The oldest, however, belongs to Graham of Largie and Morphie, who died in 1597. Another is to the memory of a family surnanied Honeyman, who were ministers of the parish for four generations, from 1663 to 17S1. 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 Acta Dom. ConciUi, 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 Kynneff, 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. s Reg. Vet. Aberbroihoc, p. 46; Heg. Prior. S. And. p. 120. 4 Reg. Mag. Sig. p. 56. 172 ; cf. Robertson, Index, p. 55. 4. A Walter Shakloc in 1329 grants a charter over a third part of luieney to Henrlcus de Rossy. — Reg. Vet. A berbr. p. 339, —confirmed by King Robert. — lb. p. 340. ) * 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 MelviUe of Glenbervie towards the beginning of the fifteenth century.^ 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.^ 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." ^ 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 Eeformation the church of Bervie was a pendicle of Kinneff. Kinneff was in the diocese of St. Andrews, but the kirks of Kateriu (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.* 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 • EOBERTi • 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. " Inquis. Gen. Scot. No. 6546 ; cf. Inquis. cle Tiitela, Nos. 519, 520. 3 Wodrow, Biog. Coll. i. p. 234 ■• Reg. Vet. Aherhrothoc, p. 5 ; Reg. Aigr. Aherbr. pp. 118, 204, 459 ; Reg. J'1469 8 Item Jon Williamsone in Muriehillock deponit and gave in his Losses being dewlie sworne qlk extendis to . . . 704 4 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 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 :—" HIC • argvs • NON • BRIARI' • ESTO • MAT • 12 • 1684 • E, • A : E • R." 2 Ap. 22, 1745— d. Alex. Arbuthnot of Findowrie.— (<%o^^ Mag.) 9 K. 434 LAND OF THE LINDSAYS. Item the said David Williaiusone coinpeirit for David^ 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 £Z2 Item conipeirit Thomas Cothill cotter in Muriehillock and gave in his losses and thairupon gave his aith qlk extends to . 32 Item Martha Aikenheid in ISIuriehillock gave in hir losses and gave hir aith thairupon qlk extends to ... . 2.") (i Item Isobell Findlie thair gave in hir losses and gave liir oatli yrupon qlk extends to 41 10 Item Thomas Skair in Litill ^larkous 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 ... 1!)1 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 Latens is . . - i;3059 8 JiioNE Lyone David Levingstouxr T. LixDs.VY notar George Stratox J. GomiRiE clerk heirto .J. Boss .Thoxe Symmeu FoUowes the Losses susteinit Ije the said Robert Arbuthnot himself by burning of his place of Findowrie, barnes byres office housses and cornes 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 Arbutlinot fiear of FindaAvrie 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 1 1 o Forder we to quhonie this Conmiission 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 ofi' . . 200(i o Summa Lateris is . £7984 8 8 Summa totalis . . 11043 9 4 1 Sic in orig. - An error of £10 is in this sniiiniation, Mini is repeated in tte summa totalis. APPENDIX XII. 435 We imdersubscryvand 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 Stratox David Levingstoune T. LixDSAT notar Jhoxe Ltoxe J. Gouthrie clerk heirto J. Ross 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 Eobert 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 scliyre, Whill order be gevine be parliament or thair comitties respect® 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 Eobert Arbuthnott or his tenants thairfor J. BuRGHLT, I.P.D. Com. Letter from Mr. J. Bait, Ahcrluthnot (Marylcirl) 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. Avould offer his trevellis ther. He hes an inclination to come fiirth and fears if we get not him setled besyde ws at home he be drawn fnrth to set ill in the north pairtes qlk I wold not desyr for monie causes Alwyis S'" 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 aluiichtie Remenis Yor assured cussing to serve yow Aberluthnot, Aprilis 1642. :NIa. 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, S'" Jo'i Carnegy of CraicT 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 llesche 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 tbaim or ony of thame in thair persons goods or geir Notwithstanding of quhatsuinevir act of parliament statute or proclamacion made in the contrare whairanent and all paynes therein contenit The saids Lords dispensis simijliciter Given at Ednr. the day of Marche 1642 yeares. (Signed) — Loudon Canrius, Argyll, Morton, Eglintoun, Soothesk, S"" Thomas Hop, J. Carmichael, Al. Gibsone of Darie, Egbert Innes of that Ilk." — {Misc. ii. 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 si|. David (3), "liar of Peathill," 282. Find%, 312. Haldan (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 ii. of Menmuir, 279. Dempster, office of, 61, 269, 279 sq., 283. official at Edzell, 61. Denburn stream, 377. Denmark, Princess Anne of, 102. Dennyfern, castle of, 153. Denoou, 214. Deuchar, Alexander, seal engravei', 231, 429. David, seal engraver, etc., 232 «., 234, 429. Major David, 232 h. George, last of Deuchar, 234, 428. James of, 233. John, 234, 428. Miss L. M., 231 n. 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. Deuchars of Fern, 210 ; of that Ilk, 220, 230 sq., 235, 429. 44« INDEX. Devil's wind, 289. Diclity, the, 254. Dickson, James, Kirriemuir, 259 n. Ditferan, burn of, 155. Dildarg, John, 222, 429. Dillydyes (Dalladies), Chapel toiuie and 'hill of. 122 «. Doig, Ciiristian, Lady Carnegie, 247 H., .Sll. David, 311. Dolas, John, 343, 397. Donald, Lord of the Isles, 240. Donald's cairn, 325. Donaldson, Robert, in Droustie, 114 ». a suicide, 311 «. Donaldson's Den, 311 «. Dookit Park, at Neados, 24. Dooly Tower, 24, 121. lands (MilndeuHe), 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, ISO, 185. James, 2tl 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. ^B — leagued with Crawford, 175 sq., 205. Douglas of Tilwhilly, 138. Douglas Cause, 283. league, 175 sq. Peerage merged in Home, 284. Downie, Duncan (de Diinny), 384. Downie, barony of, 384 ; castle of, 385 ; muir of, 386 ; servants to Balnamoon, 313 ; thanedoni of, 385, 387. Downieken, 285. Drostan, St., his monastery, 4, 97»., see Saints ; well at Neudos, 24. Droustie, 72, 73, 74, 102, 114. Droustie's Meadow, 97. Driiidical Circles, Ballownie, 104. Colmeallie, 22, 104. Dalbog, 104. Druidical Circles, Tornacloch, 25. in Fern, 229. Drum, in Glenesk, 110. Drumcairn, in Lethnot, 126. Drumeuthlaw, 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. Duudas, General Francis, 321 ??. 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. Diinfind, 385, 387. Dunjardel, Inverness-shire. 328. Dunkeld, Bishops of, 300, 363 ; diocese of, 220, 299. 386 a. ; town of, 295. Dunkenny, 355, 356. Dunlappie, 6, 7, 236, 307 ; chapel of, 125, 309 H. ; woodside of, 77, 80. Dunmore, Alexander, 6th Earl of, 249. Dunnottar, 242 h., 295, 340, 392, 399 sq., 404 H. ; 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 Loup," 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 w. ■ David, 337, 339 ?i. 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 l. receivini;- oaths of fealty, 126, 143, 227, 236, 244 w., 279, 327 n., 358, 359 «., 379 « 401. III., 140, 400. Edzell, anciently round the and kirk, 7, 8 ; baths, 65 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 71., 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 jiurchase and at present, 57 »., 67 n. ; village and market, 45. Effock, glen and water of, 115. Elder, Andro, 300. Elliot, Andrew, Lieut.-Goveruor, 248. 400, astle bells 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 Carestou, 274 ; in Edzell, 'lO, 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. lohn, 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 Brechin, 376, 407. Sir Thomas, of Haltoun, 141, 142. Capt. William Henry Kennedy, 322. Capt. William John, 321. Erskines of Dun, 138, 320 sq., 339. Esk, The North, 2, 112, 295. Ethie, 241. Earl of, 283 /(. Ethiebeaton (Achykilbichau, 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, 2 F 450 INDEX. Fail, Monastery of, 342. Fairies, 330 sq. Fairweather, Ann, 304. Falconer, Sir Alexander, 39j. Archibald, 39o. Elizabeth, of Haulkerton, 394. Hon. Captain George, 238, 390. 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 Auchronie, 114 ». Fasington (Fassingtoun), William de, 236. Fasky (Fasque), 393. Fawside, in Kinneff, 397. Fawsyde, Allan de, 406. Fechtenbiirg, a German miner, 98. Fenton (Fentoune), John, 208. David, of Ogil, 432. Lord, of Baikie, 354. Margaret, 355. of Ogil, 235. Paul of, 221. W^illiam de, 355. Fentonhill, 355. Ferguson, llev. .John, 222. Fermertoun, 246 n. Fern, archaeology of, 265 ; barony of, 232, 234, 237, 238, 243, 246 ?i., 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, 23(5, 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), 23S. 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, 4tli Earl of, 286, 287. Henry Edgar, Bi.shop 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 ; inveutoiy, 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, 164 sq. ; vitrified site, 213 sq. Finnoch, 12(1. Fishertoun of Kinneff, 396. Fithie, 241. Fitz-Bernards of Caterline, 399. Fitz-Clarence, Lady Augusta, 322. Fleming, Sir llobert, of Biggar, 140. Fletcher, Sir Bernard, of Kestennet, 348. Sir George, 348. James, of Letham Grange and Fern, 237. James, 348. Robert, of Balinscho, 348 h. Fletchers of Balinscho, 348 sq. of Saltouu and Inverpeflfer, 348, 431. Flodden, battle of, 286, 372, 387 n. Flower-garden at Edzell, 66, 67, 419. Fodringhay (Fothringham), Henry de, 377 n. Thomas, 377 ?J. 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, Loid Advocate, 200. Dame Isabella, 48 )i. 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 Fordoun, Roman camp at, 218. Fordyce, John, vicar of Athyn, 370 a. Foi-ester, 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. coiirts 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-house of, 377. Foulis of Coliugton, 292 n. of Woodhall, 201. FouUartonn (Fowlartonne), James, 125. William of, 309. Fowlis, Easter, 143. Fox, widow of Hon. Charles James, 147. Fraser, Eev. W. K., of Maryton, 406 n. Frazer, Sir Alexander, 382, 394. Alexander, of Cluny, 285. Sir John, of Cowie, 388, 407. Margaret, 400, 401. Fullarton, Archihald, vicar of Athyn, 370 n. John, 307. 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 Aiichnacree, 226. Callow patli road, 219. Gannochy bridge, 109, 120, 123; building of, 123, 130, 153. Garden, Mr. Charles, of Bellastreen, 86. Mr. John, factor of Glenesk, 68 H., 75, 87 n., 92. John, of Midstrath, 87 n. Mrs. Margaret, 86 n. Rev. Robert, of St. Fergus, 87 «■ 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 Middleton, 201, 202, 237. Gardynes of that Ilk, 207. of Lawton and Middleton, the burial-place of, 370 ii. Garrioch, Andrew de, 232. Garvoek hill, 214. Gateside, Careston, 291. Gearyburn, 307, 329. Geddes, Jeanie, 356. Gella, 354. George i., 303. " Ghaist o' Ferne-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. Eight. Hon. AVilliam Ewart, 394. Glamis, John, 3d Lord, 355. John, 8th Lord, 366. Lord, killed in Stirling, 191. Lyon of, 209. Glamis Castle, 355 ; estate of, 341 «.; 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 parish, 275. Glasslet, 354. 452 INDEX. Glasswell, 344. Gleig, blacksmith, 325 n. Glen, Sir David, 318. Sir John, of Inchmartin, 318. John, of Balhall, 318. Sir Patrick, 318 ». Glenbervie, Hassas of, 388. Gleneffock, 111, 281. Gleuesk, Sir Johu de, 30. John de (Glenesch), 29, 30. Morgund de, 30. Glenesk, district of, 72 sq., 109 sq.; family name, cle 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 u. ; wars in, 90-98, 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 u. George, 1st Duke, 183 h. George, 5th Duke, 305. Janet, of Inverqueich, 360. John, of Beuholm, 404. Johnnie, in Glenlee, 111. of Pitlurg, 181 «. 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 Meuorgan, 339 n. Sir Henry, 401. Margaret, 432. of Fintry, 315. of Largie and Morphie, 397 ri. Sir Robert, 407. Robert, yr. of Morphie, 407. Sir William, of Claverhouse, 432. William, 407 «. Grahame, Mr. Barrou, 408. Grahame, David de, 312. F. Barclay, 408. Mr., in Stromness, 21. of Leuchland, 311. Grahams of ^lorphie, 407. Grandtully. 273, 283, 294, 315. Grange, Durham of, 207. Granger, Mr. and Mrs., at Kinneff, 397 n. Grant, Sir Archibald, of Monymusk, 68. Aun, 131 sq. Sir George Macpherson, Bart., 202. Peter, " Dubrach," 131 sq. Th. Macpherson, 202. Grassmarket, Edinburgh, 373. Grassy walls, 218. Gray, Rev, Andrew, at Careston, 271. Andrew, of Kinneff, 307. Janet, spouse of David Earl of Crawford, 14. Rev. John, at Fern, 221. Mr., appointed to Edzell and opposed, 10, 11, 411. Patrick, Slieriff and Keeper, 360. Greencairn, 214. Greenhill, Alexander, 237. Charles, 238, 277, 278. David, of Craignathro, 238. Gregory, Bp. of Brechin, 403 n. Griffith, Admiral, 308. Grinter, at Arbroath, 381. Grij/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 71. George, of that Ilk, 371. James, laird, 273. James, of Balnabreich, 290 ?/. James, laird's son, killed, 372. James, martyred, 373. James, minister of Arbirlot, 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 Luuan, 241. Patrick, of that Ilk, 373. Abbot Richard, of Arbroath, 372. Robert, Kinblethmont, 370 n. Thomas, Kinblethmont, 370. Rev. Dr. Thomas, 82, 305. William, historian, 374 n. William, of Raveusbie, 372. William, minister of Fenwick, 374 n. Guthrie, baronj' of, 371 ; bell, 375; castle of, 374; church of, 371, 375 ; estate of, 370 : Hilton of, 212. Guthrie, etymology, 374 n. Guthriea of Carbuddo, 370. of Colliston, 370, 374 h. of Craigie, 373, 374. of Gaigie, 373, 374. of Guthrie, 370 sq. of Kinblethmont. 370. of Kincaldrum, 371, 372, 378. in Menmuir, 305. of Pitforthy, 374 n. of Taybank, 373, 374. Haddingtox, arms of, Earl of, 292 n., 293. Haercairn, 184, 209. Haerland Faulds, 209. Haerpithaugh, 265. Halch (Halche,Hauch)of Tanuadyce, 207, 208. Halgreen, 401. Halidon, battle of, 401. Halket, David de, of Pitfirran, 355. HaUyburton, George, 300. Hon. George Douglas Gordon, 201. of Pitcur, 292 a. 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. Rev, Thomas, at Fern, 221. William, 11th Duke, 183 ?). Hamilton, dukedom of, 284. Presbytery of, 273. Harlaw, battle of, 231, 286. Harris, Rev. David, 222, 257 n., 265 n. Hart, Gen., of Doe Castle, 91. Hassa, Helen, 388. Hassas, of Glenbervie, 388. Hatherwick, 140. Hatton Park, in Menmuir, 307. Hauch de Bi'echin, 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. Hepburns, of Luffnes, 7 »• Herbertsheil, castle of, 396. Hermitage of Kilgery, 309. " He winna be guidit by me," ballad, 199. Highland superstitions, ColHns's ode on, 254. Hilton, in Fern, 246, 206. of Conveth, 406 n. Hoddara parish, 271. Hole of Weems in Clova, 352. Holyrood, 365. Home, Lord, Baron Douglas of Douglas, 284. Honeyman, Andrew, Bp. of Orkney, 397 n. Honeyman, family in KinnefiF, 397 n. Hopetoun, Earl of, 275. Houff of Dundee, 174. Huddlestone, Robert, notice of, 103 n. Huntei-, 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 Crordou, Earl of, 176, 177, ISO sq., 383. George, 6th Earl and 1st Mar- quis of, 192. George, Sth Marquis, and 5th Duke of Gordon of, •JOl. Huntly Hill, 184. Idvie, 241. Imrie, paper by Col., 121 it . Inch of Arnhall, 122 n. Inchgrundle, 113. Inchmartiu, 318. " Incident, The," 196. Inglis, Rev. Dav., minister of Loch- lee, 75, 79, 89 ; his hospitality and mother's grave, SO. Innerdovat, 212. Innermeath, Lord, 370 ». Innes, Alexander, of Crombie, 48 h. Inscrii)tions at Lochlee, S3 sq. Tnverarity, barony of, 212; church of, 377, 379 n. ; estate of, 376 ; Hilltown of, 376 ; Kirktown. 376, 377. Invercarron, 298, .■>02. Invereskandy, 17. Invericlity, Balbirnie of, 207- Inverkeillor, 370 n., 438. Inverlochy, 295, 351. Inverlunan, barony of, 228. Invermark, account of, 92 sq. ; castle, 14, 47, 75, 1)0; former amenities, 110 ; grated iron door, 14, 93, 345, 437 ; Lodge, S3, 111; silver mines, 99. Inverpeffer, Adam de, 12(5. 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. II., 179, 309, 346. • III., 126, 187, 188, 189, 280, 312, 346, 359. 372, 391, 393. IV., 165, 189, 335, 360, 391, 393. VI., 211, 346 H., 364, 373; at Edzell, 64 ; at Kinnaird, 242. vni., 222, 338. Jerrayn, H. W., Bishop of Brechin, 81. Jock Barefoot, 206, 294. Johanna, consort of David it., 399. John XXII., Tope, 277. John, Colonel, 368. Vicar de Ures, 403. Johnny Kidd's Hole, 101. •Johnson, Dr., at .St. Andrews, 341. Johnston, Artliui-, ))net, 242. John, 350. Jolly, Alexander, in Witton, 133. ' James, in Mill of Aucheen, 114 H. Rev. Peter, 79, 80, 81 ; minis- trations and death, 81 ; in a snowstorm, 118. •Joly, Sir Andrew, 74. •Jones, Catherine (Mrs. Kennedy- Erskine), 322. William, of Henlys, 322. •Judex, office of, 269. Kames (Chenimyss), 389. Katerin (Caterline), 388, 389. Keen, jSIount, 110 «. Keith, Alexander, 403, Alexander, of Phesdo, 395. Christina, 399. George, 4th Earl Marischal, 402 a., 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, 2S6, 388, 401 sq. Keith-Marischal, 286, 399 sq. Keithock, camp at, 218 ; estate, 315, 336 sq. ; Gallow.s Hill, 236 ; Little, 275. Keithock's toast, 332. INDEX. 455 KeUy castle, 149. Kelpie, 252 sq., 343. Kelpie's footmark, 252. needle, 155 n. Kemp castle, 212. Kemphill, 212. Kennedy, Bishop James, 175, 178. Kennedy-Erskiues, 322. Kenneth III., King, murdered, 25, 376 H., 439. Ker, Mr. Robert, minister at Letli- 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, 1G9«. Killievair Stone, 326, 327. Kilsyth, battle of, 196, 301. Kinalty, 342. Kiublethmont, 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, il.P., 363 ; bronze statue of, 363. Sir John, 363. of Kinloch, 363. Kinloch chapel, 363. Kinnaird, Mariota de, 239. Kinnaird, barony of, 240 ». ; castle aiKl 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 «. ; parish, 221, 352. Kinnettles, 378 sq. ; church, 378, 379 ; estate, 378 sq. ; rector of, 227 ". Kinneff, 392, 396-98 ; castle, 400 ; church of, 398. Kintrockat, 336 n. Kirkden, 246 ». Kirkhill (nosv Belmont), 363. Kirkshade, 355. Kirriemuir, regality of, 282. Kuicrhts of St. John of Jerusalem, 23, 24, 337, 363, 399 n. Kuocquy, Kuocknoy, 28. Knox, John, 249, 331. Knycht, John, rector and canon, 164. Kynathes (Kinnettles), 378 n. Kyneithin, 344. Lady, buried and revived at Edzell, 15. Lady bank, 381, 382. chapel, 381. Laiug, 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 «., 407 «. Lauriston, Stirlings of, 29 w. Law-ishade, 290. Lead in Glenesk, 99. Leadbeakie farm, 155. Leamington, 277. Ledenheudrie, 168,246«., 260,263. Lee, the, 112-114. Leech, John, Latin poet, 314. local poet at Menniuir, 303. Leighton, Sir David,K.C.B., 304,305. 1 David, 304. Thomas, 304. Mr., of Bearhill, 305. Mr., Drumcairn, 412 «. Leightonhill, 184. Leitch, Kev. Andrew, 222. John, Bonnington, two brothers (David and John), drowned, 130, 422. Lemno Burn, 1, 204. 456 INDEX. Lennox, Ludovick 2d Duke of, 211. Leslie (Lesly) Hon. Col., 275. Norman de, 378. AValter, 299, 300 n. Lethnot, church of, 12G, 128, 135, 319 ; episcopacy in, 76, 127 ; estates, 57 n., 67 n. ; etymology doubtful, 120 n., 161 n. ; font at, 127 ; ministers, 126-7 ; iiarish, 74, 76, 125, 150, 184, 2.59; rent- book, 412 ; St. Mary's Well, 127 ; superstitions and archeology, 151 sq., 331 sq. ; prebend of Brechin, 126 sq. Easter and Wester, 354 ; in Clova, 353, 354 ; mill of, 126, 153, 157. Leuchars, 241 «., 247. Leuchlands, Graham of, 311. place of, 140, 336 n. Leven, David 6th Earl of, 275. Leys in Inverkeillor, 179. Lighton, James, in Drumcairn, 133. Lillock, 233. Limesay, Limes-eye, Lindescye, 33. See Lindsa}'. Randolph de, 33. Lindertis, 349, 355. Lindsay, Alexander, 2d Earl of Crawford, 175, 396. Alexander, 4th Earl of Craw- ford, 173, 386 ; called Earl Beardic 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, 30, 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, 17.3, 195/1., 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. Alexandei', 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 Cuildie, 386. Alexander, of Pitairlie, 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 ??. Andrew, of Fichell, 354 n. 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, andDukeof Montrose, 141, 187sq., 229, 240, 335, 358, 362, 371, 378, 391 ; born at Finhaven, 173 ; buried at Dundee, 174. David, Sth Earl of Crawford, 190, 387 m. Da\4d, 9th Earl of Crawford, 14, 26, 38, 190, 211, 319, 351; famil3% 42 : marriages, 41 ; sue- INDEX. 457 ceeds to the peerage and restoi-es it to the heir, 38 sq. ; work at Edzell, 65, G7 ; 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, 190. David, 11th 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 Ed/.ell, 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 r2th 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 Invurarity, 165, 387- David, pastor of Maryton and Kescobie, 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, 28.3, 342, 347. Lindsay, George, 22d Earl of Craw- ford, 195 n. Lady Helen, Countess South- esk, 242. Helen, daughter of Bisliop Lindsay, 202, 356, 423. Heury, of Blairifedden, 423. Henry, "de Carraldstoun," 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 DowhiU, 363. James, of Glenqueich and Memos, 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, W5 n., 196. Sir John, of Brechin, ISO, 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. ,Tohn, minister of Lethnot, 127. John, of Phesdo, 395. John, 1st of Woodwrae, 210, .346, 347, 404. John, of Balhall, 319. John,ofBlairiefeddan,210,.346. John, of Canterland and Edzell, 50 sq., 95, 408. John, of Edzell, 75 n. Jolin, inDalbog Mill, 53 n. Johannes, de Markhouse, 209. John, Lord Menmuir, 42, 43, 98, 195 n., 319, 347, 406. John, the factor of Edzell, 20 «. John K. B., and llear-Admiral, 380. 458 INDEX. Lindsay, John,i-esidenter iiiBrecUiu, 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 Aitlieruy, 53 s(|. Margaret, Countess of Athole, 42. Margaret, of Fiillarton, 367. Mrs. Margaret, of Balniadics, 424. Marjory, minister's wife at Lunan, 423. Marjory, minister's wife at Kescobie, 379, 423. Lady Mary, 195 »., 354. Patrick, of Barn3-ards, 203. Philip, (le la Halche, 208. Kicliard, 335. Kobert, 1st of Evelick, 379. Robert, 340. Robert, of Balhall, 42, 43, 319. Ur. 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, 47, 193, 211 sq., 191, 376. Walter, younger of Edzell, 38; fell at Flodden, 190. Walter de, an Anglo-Norman, 33. Walter, Vicar of Piuthven, 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 Dunuottar, 400, 401. ~ William de, of Ercildoim 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, Pwev. William, 395. of Balquhadlie, 43. of Little CouU, 340. Lindsay-Carnegie, of Boysack, 367. Henry Alexander Fiillarton;36S. James, 367. James Fullarton, 367, 368. William Fullarton, 367. Lindsays of Baikie, 354, 355. of Balgavies, 210, 340, 3S7. of Balhall, 303. of Balinscho, 346. of Bakiuhadlie, 229. . of Balquharn, 229. of Balungie, 387. of Blairiefeddan, 210. of Cairn in Tannadyce, 3.']7, 387. of Carbuddo, 376. of Carlungie, 387. of Dowhill, 363, 423. of Evelick, 379-81. of Glenqueich, 208, 340. of Guthrie, 371, 378. of luverarity, 376, 378. of Inverquharitj", 344. of Kiublethmont, 364. of Kinneff, 396. of Kinnettles, 378 sq. of Lethnot in Clova, 354. of Little Coull, 208, 340. of Markhouse, 21U, 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, John de, 341 n. Lok, Mr. John, rector of Finhaven, 164. Longhaven, 322. Loughaugh, 32G. Longmiiir, Dr., editor of Hdrnmrc, 85. Lour, Lord, 378. Lour of that Ilk, 207, 378 ; Little, 378. Lour. See Meathie Lour. Louttit, George, schoolmaster, 22 n. Lovat, Dowager Lad}', 41. Low, Rev. George, of Harray and Birsay, his History, 20-22 ; his literary jiroductions, 20. John, kirk-officer at Edzell, 20 n. Lucliris (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. Luudie, Allan, 404. Luudie, Laird of, killed, 43, 319 ; barony of, 228. Lundin, Anna (Maitland), 198. Dame Margaret of that Ilk, 198. Luudres, Robert de, 357. Lunkyrr, Walter de, 403 n. Liitzen, 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 Soi)hia 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 Glarais, 322, 323, 341 n. John, of Brigton, 200. Patrick, of Ogil, 263 n. Rev. Dr., of Glamis, 257 n. Rev. Sylvester, of Kirriemuir, 311. of Auchterhoiise, 198. M 'Arthur, Donald, 324. M'Heurio, Mr., at ISIeumuir, 302. M'Inroy, Col., of The Burn, 123. M'Kenzie,Rev. Wm., Glenmaick,S5. 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 ii., 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 h. Thomas 9th Earl of, 357, 371. March, Patrick 9th Earl of, 171 w. 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 w., 316, 340; old castle of, 209. Little, 212. Marnie, Mr., bought Deuchar, 430. Marstou Mooz-, battle of, 19(5. 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. jNIaule, Ansold Sire de, 142. Lady Christian, 148. Fox, 11th Earl of Dalhousie and 2d Baron Panmure, 144 n., 148. Guarin de, 143. Hon. Harry, 144, 145, 371, 374. Henry, 144, 339 ?i. George, 2d Earl of Panmure, 384. 4G0 INDEX. Maiile, James, 4th Earl of Panmure, bought Edzell, etc., 56, 145, 159 n., 408. Lady Jean (Lady Ramsay), 140. John de, 239 n. Hon. Lauderdale, 14S. Sir Peter de, 143, 144, 147. Sir Peter, 143. Patrick, 1st Earl of Panmure, 141, 142, 144, 270, 389. Ptectrude, 142. Robert de, 143. Robert, of Panmure, 387 «. Sir Thomas, 143, 2d0 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. WUliam, 148, 237- William, Earl Panmure and Viscount Maule, 146, 349, 383. William Ramsay, 1st Baron Panmure of Brechin and Navar, 60, 71, 287 ; his character and charities, 147 ; as galjerlunzie, 119 ; as kind landlord, 119, 132 ; constituted Mason Lodge at Tarf- side, 117; recovered the Navar bell, 135, 130 ; took Panmure name and arms, 140 ; his monument at Monikie, 140. Maule, origin of name and early his- tory, 142 sq. ; lords of Brechin and Navar, 109. See Brechin. Maxwell, Thomas, vicar, 357. May us of Arnhall, 122 n. of Fern, 240 n. Mearns Hill, 309 n. Meathie-Lour, 377-79. Megill (Miggel, Migell), John de, of that Ilk, 303. Michael de, 362. Roger de, 362. William de, 362, Meigle, Simon de, 302. property of, 302. Mekill-Mylne of Brechin, 311. Melder-sifter, story of the, 151. Melgund Castle, 173, 191, 225. Melmaker, John, vicar of Athyn, 370 m. Melville, Rev. Andrew, 42, 221, 331. Rev. James, 221, 300, 314, 346 ?;. Richard de, of Gleubervie, 309. Richard, of Baldovie, 340 h. Melville, family of, 22 J n. Melvilles of Glenbervie, 397. Memus, 340, 341. Menmuir, Lord, 9, 126, 319, ^ arehffiology of, 325 sq.; Brew- lands of, 310; chambei'lain of, 378 ; church and parish, 221,230, 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, 300, 307 ; superstitions, 331 sq. Menzies, Lord, 273. Royal forester, 359. Mercer, Isobell, 387 n. Merton, Nicol de, 379 n. Micliael, John de St., 139. Middleton, Earl of, 9, 52. 295, 311, 315 ?i., 433, 440. John, of Caldliame, 295. Mill, Alexander, of Glenmark, 114 n. Major James, 238, James, 339 n. John (1) of Fern, 237, 320, 396. John (2), 237, 238. R jbert, bought Balwyllo and Balhall, 237. Millar, David, minister of Edzell, 13. Millden, shootingdodge, 118. Milne Eye of Disclune, 122 n. Mines of Glenesk, 24, 44, 93, 98, 99. Mis-sworn Rig, 323. Mitchell tired at Archbishop Sharpe, 397 n. Mitchells of Nether Careston, 288. Modlach Hill, 107 ; St. Andrew's Tower on, 117. Moir, Bishop, 81 «. Molison, James, in Craigendowie, 133. John, in Oldtown, 133. Monawee, 1 10 ?i. Mondynes, barony, 399. Monitieth church given to Arbroath Abbey, 344; vault at church of, 387 ra. Monikie, 384, 387 ; castle, 330 ; church, 380 ;;. INDEX. 461 Monipennie, quoted or referred to, 290, 291, 385. Monks' Pool, 11 4. Monorgund of that Ilk, 384. Monrommou Moor and Forest, 170. Moils Grampius, 218. Montague, Lord, 284. Lady, 284. Lady Lucy Elizabeth, Countess of Home, 284. Montealto, Bernard de, 227. Eda, 307. John de, rector of Finhaven, 164, 228. John, 228, 229. Laurence de (1), rector of Kinuettles, 378 w. 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 Kinblethmout, 227. William de, knight, 226. William de (others), 227, 228. Montealtos, family and name, 226 u. of Fern, 39 L Montfort, John de (1 and 2), 397. Lord, defeated, 171 n. Robertus de, 397. Roger de, 143. Montgomery, John, mason, 114 «. 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 Eail 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. Morphyfraser, 407- Morrice, William, 271. Mortification, the Fyfe, 134, 135. Mortimer, Roger de, 143. Morton, Master of. 366. Mount Keen, 110 n. Mowat's Cairn, 228 ; Seat, 228. Mowbray, Sir John, 96. Mowet, Johannes, 371. ^Sluckle Cairn, 154. Muir, Rev. Patrick, of Fern, 221. Rev. Mr., of St. Vigeaus, 110 ii. Muir Pearsie, 260 n. ISIuiresk, 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 v. 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) INIattheu le, 387 w. 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 «. ; ministers of, 125 sq. ; lordship of, 138. Sec Brechin. Neudos (Nevvdosk, Keudonase), 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 n. 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. Xoray, Rev. Alexander, of Fern, 221. .Rev. llobert, of Letlinot, 128, 135. North Esk, 29, 112, 114, Ho; beauties of, 120, 121. Northesk, Admiral Lord, 3C8. David 2nd Earl of, 378. David 4th Earl of, 198. Northesk, burial-place of family of, 370 n. Nottingham, rendezvous at, 190. 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, Jolin, 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 ??., 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 Anchterhouse, 341, 402. James, Lord of Deskford, 318, 319. Sir James, of Findlater, 310. Janet, of Barnyards, 208. "Reid John," 366. Sir John, of Inverquharity, 210. 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 Inshewan, 341 w. ■ Lord, of Airlie, 240 n. Lord, in France, 339. Lord, 352. Mariota (Marion), 196 n., 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, 310. William, of Balnagarrow and Chajjclton, 403. William, of Lumgair, 403. Ogilvy, family origin, 344 ; glen of, 345 ; estates of, 344. Ogilvj's of Airlie, 344, 350 sq. ; of Bal- inscho, 346, 347 ; of Barras, 403 ; of Invenjuharity, 344 sq., 350 sq. Old Meldrum, battle of, 97. Old :\lilne, 246 n. Oliphant, James, 4th Lord Oliphant, 310. Oliphard, head sheriff of the Mearus, 388. Ordeal for a fairy cliild, 332. Orientation of churches, 105. Ormond, Earl of, 185. Otterburn, battle of, 35, 396. Oud nay, John, de Keithik(Keithock), 337. Panbride, baron^', 382-84 ; estate of, 241, 383, 384; list of farms on, 383 n. ; Seatoun of, 383 ; vault, 148, 383. Ranter 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., 3S4. Perth, county representation, 148 ; town of, 296, 300. Peti.ullock (Petpollokis), 141, 336 h. Pettintoscall (Pettintoschall, Pau- taskall), 281, 336 n. Petty ndreiche (PittendrecL), 142, 336 n. Phesdo, 394-96. Phesdo, Lord, 395, 396. Philip, the forester, 171. Philiphaugh, battle of, 196, 298. Pickering Castle, Yorkshire, 330. Piersou,Janies,ofBalniadies,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 «. 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, 3U8, 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, Piev. 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 11. Eaedykes, camp at, 218. Raglan, Lord, 148. Paiker, Eev. Thomas, 167. Kait (Raitt), Agnes, 368. Major A.,'401. Andrew, 406. Bishop, 80. Principal David, 406. Mr. J., Marykirk, 435. James, of Annistouu, 368. :\Iaster 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 Glenmark, 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 Auchterliouse, 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 Berkele}', 4. Redford in Menmuir, 322. Redhhus de, 30S n. Spalding's Loan and stables, 309. Spankie, Miss, 314 n. iSpeid, George, of Ardovie, 370 h. W^illiam, in Blamo, 133. Spence, Robert, 375. Spens, Andro, reader at Eflzell, 3. Elizabeth, 38. Spot, Mnian 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, 305. Stadockmore, 140. Standing-stones, Colmeallie, 22, 104- 106. Staney Loch, 154. " Stannin" stane o' Benshie," 349. Starney- Bucket Well, 244. Steele, Rt. Hon. Thomas, of Eve- lick, 381. Sir Thomas Montague, ELC.B., 381. Major-General Thomas, 381. Steill-Strath, 122 n. Stephen, Andrew, poet and school- master, 402. Stevenson, Bev. James, 399. Mr, at Careston, 292. Stewart, Alexander, 4th Lord High Steward, 2S3. Francis, in Nathrow, 133. Stewart, Sir John, of Grandtully, 315. of Grandtully, 273, 283, 286. of Schuttingleis, 310. Stewarts, origin of family, 283 ; of Evandale, 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. Strathbegg, 374. Strathmore, Charles Gth Earl of, killed at Forfar, 200. Claude nth 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 r>., 219 n. 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, lo3. Tain Provostry, 220. Tammy's Pot,'249. Tannadice, cairn in, 337 ; ministers of, 331 ; thanedom of, 235, 3-tl n. Tarf, in flood, IIG ; gold in, 99. Tarfside, 73, 78 n., 112, 116; chapels at, SO ; masonic lodge, 116 ; i)ar- sonage at, 116 ; school at, 116. Tay, the, 295. Tayler, Alexander, minister of Kin- nettles, 379 n. Tealing, 377 n. Teniiet, burn of, 115. Temple lands, 2, 399 «.; of Kinbleth- mont, 369 ; Newdosk, 24. Thomas, Robert, of Noranside, 237. Thomson, Rev. ^Ir., of Lethnot, 157 sq. Rev. Mr., of Lintrathen, 85. George, schoolmaster, Glen- muick, 85 /;. villager in Edzell, 21. Tigerton, 306, 322. Tilliquhillie, 138. Tillyarblet, Easter and Wester, 138. Tillybardin schoolmaster, 130. Tillybirnie, 139. Tilly togles, 123 i>. Tippermuir, 296. Toast, Keithock's, 339. Toland, On the Druids, 103; his 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 h., 263 sq. Den of, 263. Tulliedelph, Charlotte, 345. Tulloch, lands of, 384. Tiillochs, keepers of Monrommon moor, 170. Turret, water of, US. Turpin, Bishop of Brechin, 28, 398. Tyrie, Mr., of Sandwick, 21. Tytler, Rev. George, 222, 22.3, 429. Dr. Henry William, 223, 279 James, 223. Unich, 112 ; the falls of, 112. Uras (Uri.s, Owres), 233,400, 401, 402, 403. Urrey, Sir John, 295, 297. Ury, 295. Valentine, W. R., in Bogmuir, 122 n. Vallauce, Vallene. See Wellem. Valoniis, Christian de, 147. William de, of Panmure, 143. Vayne, Lady, 249. Vayne, castle, 204, 225, 245, 249 sq. ; jiroperty, 229, 236 sq. Verneuil, battle of, 35, 396. Vitrifications, 214 sq. Voisel, Major de, 68. Volum, Elisabeth, 210. See Wei- lem. Wada and his wife Bell, 330. Waddell, Rev. Wm., of Fern, 222. Waird, The, of VajTie, 251. Wak-milne, 246 n. Walker, Harry, 288. Wallace, Sir William, at Dunnottar, 400. Wallays, Duncan de, of Barras, 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 (MUl) of, 246 n. place of, 294. Waterstoue (Walterstone, Walterys- toun, Waterstown), David de (i), 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 Shielhill, 343. Wedderburn of Balindean and Bal- inscho, 349. Weddei'burn-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, 1G6, 210, 309. Wellem (Welloin, Wallein, Valloiie, Vallance, Volume), 210, 210 h. ' John de, 359. Wellford in Fern, 220. Weniyss, Captaiu, of Wemjss Castle, 189?i. Euplieme, 241. Rev. George, 222. Rear-Admiral J. E., 1 17. Sir Joliu, 319. of that Ilk, 292. \Yestdobies, 169 n. West Water, 2, 8, 154. Wliarrel, Loch, 154. AVhigs' Vault at Duimottar, 402. Whistlcbcrry, 396. White, Ilev. G., of Selborne, 217. White (Quhit), Henry, rector of Finhaven and Lord of Session, 165. White Lady, the, 294. White Hill, 154. Wliiteside, 274. Whitewall, 169 n. Whytc, David and Archibald, drowned, 88, 89. James, 89. Rev. John, 88. "Wicked Master," the, 36, 39 sq., 95, 351. William i., 230. III., 340 ?i., 395. the Lion, 143, 238, 344, 357, 362, 369, 370, SIT n., 382, 397, 398, 403, 404. Williams, Mr., engineer, 215. Wilson, Dr. D., on querns, 108; on A-itrificatiou, 217. Rev. Mr., of Fern, 222. Windsor (Windesour, Wyndesour), Walter de, 234. Windsor, the Law of, 266. Winter, Alexander, 264. James, 259 sq. Wirran, hill of, 150, 328 ; Shank of, 152 ; springs of, 154. Wishart, Alexander, in " Scleetf ord, " 53 71. 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, HOh. 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 «., 347. Woodhouselee, Lord, 216. Woodmyres, 122 h. 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, 400. 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. 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