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EACH
of the great
rivers of Scotland—Clyde, Tweed, Forth, Tay,
Dee and Spey—has special characteristics and attractions. The Clyde takes
its rise in an agricultural district, but completes its course by passing
through a dense population. The Tweed is a placid river, flowing gently
amid a pastoral country, and past castles full of historical associations.
It seems ever to be murmuring :—
"With many a curve
my banks I fret,
By many a field
and fallow,
And many a
fairy foreland set
With willow-weed and mallow."
The Forth,
with numerous curves and windings, though
never a turbulent stream, is replete with fragments of Scottish history,
from Stirling even to Edinburgh and Leith. The Dee, rising in the distant
Grampians, may thus be appropriately described :—
"I come from haunts of coot
and hern,
I make a sudden sally,
And sparkle out among the fern
To bicker down a valley
By
thirty hills I hurry down
Or slip between the ridges,
By twenty thorps, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges."
It begins near the Royal
Castle of Balmoral, and terminates in the Royal City of Aberdeen. The Spey
is reckoned the most rapid river in Scotland, and passes through typical
Highland scenery :—
"I chatter over stony ways,
In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,
I babble on the peebles."
The valley of the Tay, from
the source of that river in the west to its debouchment at Dundee, is
peculiarly rich in historic memoirs. Taking its rise in the remote
borderland between Perthshire and Argyllshire, the Tay flows through a
country which exhibits many of the varieties of Scottish river-scenery,
from the wild and wooded glen to the fair and fertile Carse, and displays
within its course the mountain torrent, the silent tarn, the rugged
cascade, and the broad-bosomed, silvery loch. As its pathway lies through
the very heart of Scotland, and amid some of its grandest scenes, the
multitudinous contrasts which it thus shows are not inexplicable.
The rising hill-lands of
Perthshire rapidly encroach upon the magnitude of the Grampians; and
though the country is so broken up by plateaus that it does not seem
extremely elevated, still the peaks which are thrown up here and there to
a respectable altitude indicate with sufficient clearness that the
locality is in the immediate vicinity of a vast mountain range. The
volcanic forces whose energy formed the Grampians years ago are visible
here also; and the scattered bens of Perthshire, thus heaved up by Titanic
skill, have exercised a powerful influence in the development of Scottish
landscape.
The hills have drawn
towards them the thunderous clouds, whose intercepted showers have become
the sources of countless mountain-streams. The valleys have collected
these into vast lochs, themselves the reservoirs of mighty rivers, which
dash impetuously through their rocky beds to join the fathomless sea. And
thus, by Strath and Carse, by Clachan and City, the Tay pursues its
majestic course towards the ocean. Stretching over half the breadth of
Scotland, the stream leaves the uplands and moors of Western Perthshire,
and, winding its devious way through gloomy shades and by sunny leas,
finally becomes a navigable river, flowing through a pastoral country on
its way to the North Sea. The lower reaches of the Tay being not only
richer but also more accessible than the remoter portions of the valley,
are therefore intimately connected with the history of the country, and
even now exhibit traces of the fierce contests which took place in the
locality betwixt the myriad invaders of the soil and the aborigines.
Betwixt the City of Perth and the sea-coast the whole stretch of country
on each side of the Tay is dotted with Towers and Keeps, with ancient
fortresses and modern mansions, which show unmistakably the progress of
civilization in Scotland.
No Tayside family has been
longer or more honourably connected with the Gowrie district than that of
the Grays of Gray. The lands they possessed were in themselves fertile,
and by their proximity to the town of Dundee a ready market was found for
their agricultural produce. Hence their importance to the locality may be
understood. Three seats are now associated with their name—Fowlis Castle,
Gray House, and Kinfauns Castle, the first of these being the most
ancient.
The Castle of Fowlis
occupies a commanding position upon an elevated table-land at some
distance to the north of the river bank, and is skilfully placed so as to
resist an attack. The approach from the roadway near which it is situated
might easily be defended, and the steep ascents of the Den of Fowlis on
the one side, and the brae on the other, would render assault from these
quarters extremely difficult. With such recommendations in times of war,
it was not without its attractions in "piping times of peace." The view
from the upper windows is very lovely. Looking southward the spectator has
presented to his vision a succession of fertile fields, which descend from
the altitude on which the Castle is erected by easy gradations until they
reach the brink of the river. Far beyond the silvery stream, which extends
its broad expanse at this point to the greatest width (nearly three miles)
of all its course, the dim outline of the Fifeshire coast may be seen,
from the ancient spires of St Andrews to the still more ancient Tower of
Abernethy, with all the intermediate monuments of progress, the ruins of
Lindores Abbey, and the palatial mansions of Newport-on-Tay.
Westward on the north side
of the river lies the famous Carse of Gowrie, extending its green and
fruitful glade far as the eye can reach, and dotted with innumerable
points of historic interest—Invergowrie, Errol, Kinfauns, and many
others—which awaken recollections of Scotland’s days of chivalry. And
through the verdant slopes which line each bank the path of the Tay may be
traced by the gleaming streak of reflected light which glistens in the
sunshine and marks its meanderings. Eastward the towers and spires of the
ancient City of Dundee may be seen, now pleasantly situated upon the
eminences that in former days shut her in from the world, but which the
irresistible tide of progress has brought within her boundaries. The
towering mount which overhangs the burgh, and which Dundonians proudly
denominate "the Law," stands forth in stern majesty, closing the view in
that direction. Further northward the Sidlaw Hills show their summits
above the rising ground, and around towards the margin of the Carse the
sharply defined range of mountains, of which King’s Seat and Dunsinnan are
the most noticeable peaks, serve to limit the view.
It will be seen that from
the spot occupied by Fowlis Castle the
deep valley lying between the spur of the Sidlaw Hills on which it is
built, and the "blue Lomonds" in Fife, which show their faint outlines in
the hazy distance, is quite commanded, and lies like a panorama at the
feet of the beholder. And there are not many spots in Scotland which
exhibit so much richly varied landscape at one glance of the eye. The
woods of Camperdown and the orchards of Errol, the green waving fields of
Gowrie, and the cultivated mounds of Newburgh and Balmerino, the
glistening river, and the mystic and far-distant ocean—
"All form
a scene
Where musing Solitude might love to
lift
Her soul above the sphere of earthliness,
Where Silence undisturbed might watch alone."
Nor need the glamour of the
scene be limited only to those portions of it which are at one view
perceptible. By ascending the beautiful acclivity to the north of the
Castle the lovely vale of Strathmartine may be seen stretching to the very
base of the Sidlaws. Beyond the Lomonds on the south lies the peaceful
Loch Leven, the lake of Romance and Chivalry; and hidden by the range
which terminates with the Hill of Kinuoul, on the western side, the
ancient City of Perth sits queen-like by the rapid-flowing Tay.
Here, in the centre of this
scene of surpassing loveliness, fraught with the memory of noble deeds of
daring, the ancient Castle of Fowlis once reared its turrets. The portion
of the Castle still remaining gives but a very imperfect notion of its
former extent. Probably this only formed one wing, and in an old plan,
made in 1696, "the Lady’s Tower" encloses an internal staircase which runs
from basement to top-rafters, and was on one side of a quadrangular
building, the other erections being designed for the accommodation of the
servants. A carved stone from the Castle was found built into a modern
house, and bearing the date "1640," which suggests that this portion, at
least, was erected by Andrew, eighth Lord Gray, who succeeded to the title
and estate in 1612, and 1663 was the date of his death. The earlier
Castle, of which nothing now remains, belonged to a much earlier period.
The origin of the name of
Fowlis is much disputed. One theory is that it is derived from the title
of a Norman-French knight who had settled in Kent some time previous to
the Conquest in 1066, and who stoutly resisted the invasion of England by
William of Normandy. Having aroused the vengeance of the Conqueror, he was
compelled to flee to the north; and throwing himself upon the generosity
of Malcolm Ceanmòr, he found his confidence in that monarch was not
misplaced. The Knight of Feuilles (leaves) was welcomed by the King in his
Palace of Hurley-Hawkin, near Fowlis Castle, and Malcolm bestowed upon him
the lands adjoining his own dwelling, which have since borne the name of
the stranger knight. It is more probable that the name is a corruption of
the Gaelic Foil-es,
signifying a deep valley, such as the Den of
Fowlis.
The fanciful tradition as
to King Malcolm’s generosity is directly contradicted by the genealogy of
the Gray family prepared by Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms. He
claims that the family is descended from a common progenitor of the ducal
houses of Suffolk and Kent, the baronial houses of Gray and Warwick, and
the houses of Dorset, Tankerville, and Stamford. This ancestor, Anschetit
de Croy, one of the companions-in-arms of William the Conqueror, who gave
him large grants of land in the County of Oxford and elsewhere. From this
person there descended Sir Andrew Gray of Chillingham, Northumberland
County, and who had so faithfully aided Robert the Bruce in his claim for
the Crown of Scotland that in 1306 the King conferred upon him the Manor
of Longforgan, Perth County, other lands in Forfarshire, and the lands of
Browfield and Broxmouth, Haddingtonshire. The lands of Fowlis did not come
into the Gray family till the end of the fifteenth century.
The following statements
are founded upon veritable documents. In 1180 the church and lands of
Fowlis belonged to William of Maule, who is said to have received them
from King David I. as a reward for his bravery at the Battle of the
Standard in 1138. He purposed founding a family of Maules of Fowlis, but
he had no son, and as one of his daughters married Roger of Mortimer,
Sheriff of Perthshire, the estate and Castle fell to their share. Though
so intimately connected with the history of Gowrie, there are few records
found of the family, save that they were known as Lords of Aberdour, and
that the possession of the Castle of Fowlis descended in direct line for
several generations. It seems probable that the Mortimers were descended
from Roger, second Baron of Wigmore, who aided Edward II. in his flight
after Bannockburn, and received from Edward III. the empty title of Earl
of March, which became extinct with the fifth earl in 1424. The Mortimers
of Fowlis continued till the death of another Roger, who left only one
daughter, Janet, who married Sir Andrew Gray of Broxmouth in 1397, thus
bringing the Grays of Fowlis into existence.
The first of the new race
was directly descended from the companion-in-arms of Robert Bruce already
mentioned. He was created a Lord of Parliament, with the title of Lord
Gray of Gray and Fowlis, 1437; by his wife, Janet Mortimer, he had one son
and six daughters; and by his second wife, Elizabeth Buchanan, he had four
sons and one daughter. At his death in 1449-50 he was succeeded by his
eldest son, Andrew, second Lord Gray. This nobleman became a man of mark
in history, as Scotland was then in a perturbed state through the death of
Robert III. in 1406, and the capture of his son James I. in that year, and
his long imprisonment for 18 years in England. While still Master of Gray
during his father’s life-time the second Lord Gray was chosen as one of
the noblemen who were sent as pledges for the ransom of King James. ‘For
three years—1424--1427----he was kept a prisoner in England. After his
return he rose rapidly in the favour of James I.
When Charles VII. of
France, whose kingdom had been ravaged by the English army, sought to form
a matrimonial alliance with Scotland for defensive purposes, he suggested
the marriage of the Dauphin with the Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of
James I., the Master of Gray was sent as one of the Commissioners to
effect this union, which took place in June 1436; and after the death of
Charles VII. in 1461 he was succeeded by the son of this marriage as Louis
XI. After his father’s death in 1449—50 the Master of Gray became Lord
Gray, was appointed Ambassador to England, and in 1452 made a pilgrimage
to Canterbury. After his return to Scotland he was received into the Royal
Household, and obtained a license from James II. on any part of the estate
which he might select. The Castle of Fowlis by this time had become too
small for the accommodation of the numerous Gray family; and Lord Gray
selected a site on the plateau near the river, a little south-west of the
Foulis Castle. The second Lord Gray died in 1469, and it is likely that he
had begun the new Castle before that, but it was not completed in his
time. The successor was his grandson, Alexander, third Lord Gray, who
increased his influence by two judicious marriages, connecting him with
the Keiths, Earls Marischal, and the Earl of Atholl, and was appointed
Justice-General of Scotland. At his death in 1514 he left a numerous
family. His eldest son, Patrick, became fourth Lord Gray, after he had
reached the age of manhood.
It was the lot of this Lord
Gray to see the completion of the Castle, probably during his father’s
life-time. He had been married to Lady Jane Gordon, daughter of the Earl
of Huntly; and as the Castle had not then been named, he devised the
designation of "Castle Huntly," which it still bears. This Castle was sold
in 1614 by Andrew Gray, eighth Lord Gray, to the first Earl of Kinghorne,
when the name was changed to "Castle-Lyon" after that Earl’s family. It
remained in the possession of the. Lyons, Earls of Strathmore and
Kinghorne until 1776, when it was sold to Mr George Paterson. He was
married to the Hon. Anne Gray, and he resumed the old name of Castle
Huntly, bestowed on it by her ancestors. This splendid baronial pile still
(1927) belongs to the Patersons.
The new Castle Huntly
became, of course, the principal residence of the Lords Gray for a long
period, and it is not necessary to deal with each of them. It is
interesting, however, that the desertion of Fowlis Castle, according to a
local current superstition, was followed by a total change in the policy
of successive Lords Gray. It has been pointed out that loyalty to the
reigning monarchy had been habitual with them, but that was changed
shortly before they left the ancestral Castle. The Lord Gray of the time
introduced a system of double-dealing in public affairs. Though an
intimate friend of James III., he conspired to remove him from the throne;
and he took part with the Prince (afterwards James IV.) at Sauchie Burn,
where the King was assassinated. One of his successors, though a Reformer,
sought to promote the appointment of Cardinal Beaton as Regent after the
death of James V.; but he was not even true to him, for he signed a bond,
which was found in St Andrews Castle, by which Lord Gray bound himself to
hand over certain Scottish Castles to the English invaders under the
Protector Somerset.
The acme of treachery was
reached by the Master of Gray, who was known by that designation till
1609, when he became sixth Baron Gray. His early years were spent in
France during the young Queen Mary’s residence there, and he was in close
touch with the Guises and other French friends of the Queen. He betrayed
Mary’s secrets to the Scottish Privy Council and the Governor Arran;
concluded an agreement with Elizabeth and James to the exclusion of Mary
from the throne, while acting as Ambassador to England; and formally
protested against the condemnation of Mary, but secretly advised her
assassination. He was exiled from Scotland for impeding the marriage of
the King with Anne of Denmark in 1587, but returned shortly after, and
joined with the traitor Francis Stewart Hepburn, who attempted in 1592 to
capture the King at Falkland. Gray ultimately escaped the punishment of
death for treason, but was exiled to France, where in 1612 he died.
Through the marriage in
1763 of the Hon. Jane Gray to Francis, Earl of Moray, the proprietorship
of Fowlis Castle would have passed to that family; but after Cromwell’s
invasion the fines he levied on the Royalists told so heavily upon the
Gray family that the Castle and grounds had to be sold in 1669 to Sir
William Murray of Ochtertyre, Baronet. The family of the Murrays of
Ochtertyre could claim a very respectable antiquity. The first of the name
died in 1476, and the third holder of the title is enumerated amongst the
slain on Flodden Field. It will thus be seen that the new inhabitants of
Fowlis were not mere "new rich" people, elevated to unwonted dignity by
successful speculation, but had been connected with Perthshire for a
considerable period. Originally the family name had been "Moray," and they
claimed descent from Sir David Moray of Tullibardine, one of the ancestors
of the Atholl family; but that Sir William who purchased Fowlis Castle
changed the spelling of the surname to "Murray." He was created a Baronet
of Nova Scotia, and was succeeded by his son, Sir Patrick, who largely
added to the family possessions. By prudence and economy he had amassed a
considerable fortune, which he expended in acquiring land. There were not
wanting those who whispered that his employment by King William III. to
subsidise the Highand Chieftains had been one of his most profitable
speculations. Though in possession of several seats, he selected Fowlis
Castle as his residence, and beneath its roof-tree his eleven children
were born. He reached the patriarchal age of 80 years, and was succeeded
in 1735 by his eldest son, William.
This nobleman had made an
unfortunate matrimonial alliance with a daughter of Hugh, eleventh Lord
Lovat, which involved him in the troubles of the 1715 Jacobite Rising; and
though he escaped immediate punishment, his prospects of success under the
Hanoverian Government were completely blighted. The parsimony of his
father, who had at least the sense to choose the successful party, had
plunged Sir William into debt; and though he only survived his parent four
years, that could not be a happy period. His widow died at Fowlis Castle
in 1771, having reached the age of 81 years, during which she had been
intimately connected with the two great Jacobite Risings of 1715 and 1745,
and had buried her husband and her son, had witnessed the marriage of her
grandson, and the birth of her great-grandson, each of whom held the title
of "Murray of Ochtertyre." She had herself borne nineteen children,
several of whom now sleep with her in the old Kirk of Fowlis beside the
Castle.
With her death a
considerable alteration took place in the dignity of Fowlis Castle. Her
grandson, Sir William, had married one of the daughters of the unfortunate
Earl of Cromartie, who endured sentence of death for his concern in the
Jacobite Risings. The matrimonial alliances which the family had lately
made had developed an increase of the thirsted-for position which often
accompanies wealth; and Sir William, no longer content with Fowlis Castle,
set about building the House of Ochtertyre, which soon eclipsed by its
magnificence the older structure. The Castle was thus abandoned, and the
seat of the family was transferred to its territorial locality near Crieff.
His son, Sir Patrick, afterwards sixth Baronet, was born at Ochtertyre,
and the Murrays have resided there since about 1770. The present (1927)
holder of the title is Captain Sir William Keith Murray of Ochtertyre,
who, on the death of his father in 1921, became ninth Baronet.
And so the Castle of Fowlis,
with all its honour-able memories and dishonourable recollections, falls
out of the regard of existing dilletantism.
"‘Tis thus the mighty falls.
There is the moral of all human tales;
‘Tis but the same rehearsal of the past,
First freedom, and then glory—when that fails,
Wealth, vice, corruption—barbarism at last,
And History, with all her volumes vast,
Hath but one page." |
