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PRIOR to the fifteenth
century it is difficult, except in a general way, to trace the ownership of
lands in and around the parish. The district, so far as may be inferred from
old records and royal charters, comprised a greater extent of territory than
that of the parish. In the tenth century Fettercairn was a thanedom, ruled
by Maormors or Earls residing at Greencairn. At a later period other
thanedoms appear as surrounding ones, viz., Newdosk, Kincardine, and
Aberluthnot or Marykirk. But from subsequent disposals and settlements of
lands, Fettercairn seems to have been the central and leading thanedom. The
older records of Scotland, down to the accession of Robert the Bruce, were
lost during the disputes for the crown in 1291-2. The most of these were, by
order of Edward I., carried off to Berwick. Of the few that were left, one
is a charter of lands in the Mearns by William the Lion in the twelfth
century to Gulielmus Auceps, i.e., William the Hawker, ancestor of the
Falconers. Another charter of Luthra, or lands of the Howe, along the north
side of the Luther, including Balbegno, was granted by William the Lion, at
the Castle of Kincardine, to Ranulph, the king's falconer, son of Walter of
Lumgair. According to several authorities, the first of the Carnegics was
constable to "William the Lion's house at Fettercairn," and for that service
he got the lands of Phesdo and Pitnamoon. Other charters in the same reign
conveyed lands, chiefly in the parishes of Laurencekirk and Fordoun, to the
De Berkeleys (Barclays) and to the Abbey of Arbroath, founded by William the
Lion. It is interesting to note that the first royal charter, to the town of
Stirling, by Alexander II. on the 18th August,
1226, was granted and dated at Kincardine. In the reign of Alexander III.
(1249-86), Reginald de Chen, Sheriff of Kincardine, rendered accounts of
rents and taxes due to the king by thanes, whose names are not recorded,
from the lands of Fettercairn. It is one of only two or three places noticed
in vol. i. of the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland where a certain tax was paid
by the thanes, in addition to their rents, under the name of "waytinga"—a
duty which had come in place of the burden of entertaining the king for a
night in his progresses. It was the practice of Alexander III. to move with
his court from one castle to another and look after the administration of
justice, consuming the agricultural produce of the adjoining demesnes and
occupying his leisure with hawking and other field sports. At a later period
this duty or tax was known as "Cuidoiche," a Celtic term, otherwise called "Conveth,"
a feast or a night's entertainment. This vague and burdensome exaction was
afterwards converted into a definite food contribution from each ploughgate
of land; but like cane, it ceased to be exigible when the vassal or occupant
obtained feudal investiture. From 1262 to 1290, the entries in the Rolls are
in the following terms, viz.:—" Ex compoto Reginald de Chen, vice comitis de
Kincardyn factum, . . . waitinga unius noctis de Fetherkern, &c." Or,
Entered per account of Reginald de Chen, Sheriff of Kincardine, ... . his
lodging of one night at Fettercairn, <fcc. The items in detail are:—"
Redditus vaccarum, porcorum, casei, brasei, farine ordei, gallinarum,
prebende, &c." Or, Revenues, proceeds of cows, swine, cheese, malt,
barley-meal, poultry, horse provender, <fec. Fettercairn also contributed
for the "waytinga" an annual charge of eleven merks. The account also
includes the expense (seven merks) of fencing a new park at Kincardine. The
price of a cow was 5s., a sheep 1s., a pig 1½d., a hen 1d., a chalder of
barley 10s., of oats 15s., and of wheat £1, all in Scots money, which at
that period was comparatively high in value. In the year 1359 William Keith,
Sheriff of Kincardine, accounted for the thanage rents of "Fethir-kern,
Kincardyn and Aberluchmoir or Aberluthnot, the park of Kincardyn and
pertinents thereof in the hands of William Earl of Sutherland, who married
Margaret, the sister of David
II.
The annual thanage rent of
Fettercairn was valued at £26 3s. Scots; and at a later period the total
rents of the above three thanages were put down at £71 0s. 8d. Scots and six
rynmarts or cows. These three thanages, granted for life to the Earl of
Sutherland, were, at his death in 1370, given on military tenure to Sir
Walter Lesley and his wife Euphemia, daughter of William Earl of Ross. She
succeeded her father as Countess of Ross. She survived her husband and in
1382 married Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, the notorious "Wolf of
Badenoch," son of Robert II., and by this union he
became for a time, along with his wife, conjoint holder of the lands, and a
thane of Fettercairn. He had grants, in his own name, of lands in the
North-Eastern Counties and in Perthshire, where stands to this day his great
stronghold, the Castle of Garth. He deserted his wife, her Fettercairn and
other possessions, for which the Bishop of Moray reproved him, and with a
band of "wyld and wykked Helandmen," as Wynton calls them, he sacrilegiously
burned and destroyed the Elgin Cathedral, the Chanonry, and the houses of
the clergy.
The Countess of Ross was
succeeded by her son Alexander, who died in 1406, leaving his titles and
possessions, including the Fettercairn thanedoms, to Euphemia, his only
child and daughter by his wife Isabella, daughter of the Regent Duke of
Albany. This lady, known as the Nun-Countess, before entering a convent
proposed to resign in favour of her maternal uncle, John Earl of Buchan,
instead of her paternal aunt, Margaret, wife of Donald, Lord of the Isles.
The island chief asserted his claim, and to enforce the same invaded the
mainland and, with 10,000 men, encountered the Earl of Mar with the men of
Aberdeen, Angus and Mearns, at Harlaw in 1411. His defeat in that bloody
battle checked his conquering marches, and prevented his becoming not only
lord of Kincardine and Fettercairn, but king of all Scotland. The lands of
Fettercairn and Kincardine reverted to the Crown; but James I., about 1436,
granted them to John, a son of Alexander, Lord of the Isles, whom the king
created Earl of Ross, with the additional title of Lord Kincardine. Whether
this Earl of Ross continued during his lifetime in possession of the lands
in whole or in part is doubtful, but an entry dated 1450 bears that a ward
of lands in the barony of Kincardine was held by Walter Ogilvy of Beaufort
for John, the young Earl of Ross, till his majority. In 1460 the rents of
the three thanages reverted to the Crown, and John de Strathachin of
Thornton, as receiver of rents, rendered an account of the "fermes of
Fethyrkerne, Ballinbegynoch, Balerchnoch (Barna), Balnakedyll, Foderay (Fasque),
Bordelands, Fasdaivoch (Phesdo), and Wysemanystoun." Rynmarts or cows formed
a part of the rents. In 1463 he fell into arrears, hut after three years
recovered himself, and, in conjunction with David Guthrie, acted as
receiver. From 1475 to 1484 Alexander Guthrie of that ilk, Sheriff of Forfar,
collected the thanage rents of Fettercairn alias Kincardyn, which in 1480
amounted to £51 14s. 2d. and 3 marts. Henceforth the designation of the
conjoined thanages is that of Fettercairn, like as in later times the lands
of Kincardine have formed a part of the Fettercairn estate. In 1475 the
lands of "Wodfield, Fresky, and Pitnamone, with the mills of Kincardyn and
Fethirkerne, and also the lands of Essly, Balmane, and the two Strethis in
the thanage of Fettercarne, with the annual rents of Kincardyn,"were
confirmed by Charter of James III. to George, Lord Leslie of Rothes; which
lands he and his predecessors held of the Earl of Ross, previous to the
forfeiture of John Earl of Ross. These possessions then became the Barony of
Balmain.
The Kirklands of Fettercairn
were held from 1438 onwards by a Thomas Ogston, Baillie of Lanark, a
descendant of the Ogstons who took their name from Ogston in Morayshire. By
his wife, a daughter of Irvine of Drum, he had two daughters: Jane, to whom
he left his property of Tilwhilly in Banchory Ternan, and Elizabeth, who
with her husband, Adam Hepburn of Craigs, was infefted in " the town and
lands of Kirkton of Fetter cairn,'' which, as stated in a previous chapter,
was, by favour of James IV., in 1504 erected into
a free burgh, with the usual privileges. They were succeeded by a cousin,
John Ogston, who married a daughter of Barclay of Mathers, descended of
David Barclay, the chief actor in the horrible deed on the hill of Garvock,
about 1420, of throwing Melville of Glenbervie, the sheriff of the Mearns,
into a boiling kettle, and acting out the king's hasty sentence that he be "
sodden and suppit in bree."
John Ogston's successor was
Alexander, who married Margaret, daughter of Alexander Strathauchin of
Thornton and widow of John Ramsay, the first laird of Balmain. Alexander
Ogston was succeeded by his son Walter, who in 1608 sold his property to his
relative, David Ramsay of Balmain, for 9350 merks Scots, and died in 1615.
Alexander Ogston was a Commissioner to the first General Assembly in 1560
"for the Kirks of the Mernes." He also attended the Assembly in 1567, and
likewise that of 1592, which was held in Aberdeen. "Walter Ogstone, at
Fetter-carne, subscribed the Band anent the Religion."
Resuming the narration of
lands brought down to 1480, it may be stated that in the same year Alexander
Guthrie, Sheriff of Forfar, accounted for £6, as grassum of Baller-nach (Barna),
payable by William Levingstone of Drumry (Drumhendry) and others. He and his
heirs were owners of Drumhendry. At that time the Bishop of Brechin received
tithes of lands in the Mearns. A record in the Episcopal Register shows that
tithes had been exacted from the lands of "Petnamone, Molendinum (Mill) de
Kyncardyn, Fesky, Molendinum de Feddircarn, Balmane, Litil Strath, Mekil
Stratht, et Esly," in the lordship of Balmane. Owing to a dispute that had
arisen, a reference was made to the Regent, the Duke of Albany, and to the
Pope, in 1463, regarding the right of the Bishop to the second tithes of
Fettercairn; and these dignitaries settled the same in his favour.
At Edinburgh, on the 25th
July, 1481, a return of the rents of Fettercairn was made as follows :
"Balbegnoch, assigned to
William and James Strathachin for 5 years, 12 lbs. with services, and 36
poultry."
"Fothra, to David Clerc, land
of, 40s. and ½ a poultry."
"Thanstone, to David
Strathaquhin, son and heir of James Strathaquhin of Thornton, 10 lbs. 1
mart, and 30 poultry."
"Fothra, let to Alexr.
Wilson, Golfride Strathaquchin, Alexrr Robertson, 4 lbs. 2/3 mart, and 12
poultry."
"Balnokedill, to Andro and
William Thomson, John Findlasonr David Mill, 6 lbs. grassum and 8 poultry."
"Mill of Luthre, to William
and Walter Bane, John Lyell, William and John Fullartoun, 5 lbs., grassum 8
lbs."
"Balerno, in hands of David
Strathachin and William Jamieson,.half and half £6 14s. 4d., and 18
poultry."
"Balmakewan, in hands of
George Barclay, 10 lbs."
"The whole lands of
Balnakedill, Fothray, and-Mill of Luthre, let by King's letters to John
Strathachin of Thornton and David his son, as the tenants repudiated the
terms of lease."
In 1487-8 the king granted to
David Strathachin certain lands in Fordoun and Marykirk, with two parks, and
the old Castle of Kincardine. In 1494 a sasin of Nether Craig-niston (Coldstream)
was granted to a John Tulloch, and the same again in 1501. In this year
William, Earl Marischalr was sheriff of Kincardine, and he intromitted with
the lands of Fettercairn. For nearly two hundred years from 1488, Andrew
Wood of Balbegno and his successors were Thanes of Fettercairn, and from
1510, when John Ramsay had a grant of Fasque and Balmain, the proprietary
domains of Fettercairn and Kincardine were curtailed in extent much the same
as is now the estate of Fettercairn. Yet the thanage extended beyond these
lands; for in 1520 the sheriff of the county, Robert Rate, accounted for
"Two toothpicks as the duplication of blench ferme of Glensauch in the
thanage of Fettercairn." And in 1562 Queen Mary confirmed to Alexander
Lindsay and Elizabeth Falconer his spouse the lands of Broadland and Phaisdo,
in the thanage of Fettercairn. In 1593 the lands of Fettercairn again
reverted to the crown; but in 1601 the king granted to Alexander
Strathauchin, with other lands,. those of Thornton, the Castle, Castlested,
parks and crofts-of Kincardine, with Huntersait, Crichieburn, Arnbarrowr the
muirs and mosses from the Cairn 6' Mount and the Ferdour water down to the
lands of Over Craigneston. In 1606 David Tulloch was served heir to an
uncle, Alexander Tulloch in the barony of Craigneston, the-Mains, Mealmill
and Netherseat of the same, Inchgray, &c. Later in that year, Alexander
Strathauchin de Thornton was served heir to his grandfather, Alexander
Strachan, in lands, muirs, mosses and pastures in Marykirk and For-doun,
including Crichieburn; in lands
"Near the town of Kincardine,
the croft called Hillcroft, and Aikerriggs thereof, the Wealcroft,
Chancellor's croft, Dencroft,. 2 Calsey crofts, Lonie croft, Bakehouse
croft, and Lorimer croft,. Burne croft, Halscroft, h of Boig's croft, and
Coryismani'sy Beattie's croft, Annabadie's croft, 4 crofts of Craigisland of
which 2 are called Hall croft and Hen croft, and 2 Hill Croft and Archer
croft, the croft called James Pittercheidi's land, Countess croftr
Countaishaugh croft; Loichetraist, Blaikindennis, Dewresunisr Wealcroft, £
of Umbrahi (?) croft called Bowmanis; all in town and constabulary of
Kincardine, with lands, crofts and tenements-of Gallowhilston, Palframanston,
Langhauche, Suitter croft, Temple croft, Skinner croft, Gois croft, Twa
Chaippil crofts, Lonie croft, Aiker and Newlands with multures in said town.
Ancient Extent, 20s. ; New Extent, 33s. Also 2 crofts in villa de Fetter-cairne.
A. E., 3s. 4d. ; N. E., 6s. 8."
This long list of crofts and
holdings, the curtilages of the castle, shows that in the service of the
court a large number of people were employed. No trace remains of the town
and its crofts, save the tree-grit and disused graveyard of St. Catherine,
with the old road winding between the fertile and well-tilled fields of
Castleton farm. Ten years later, in 1616, Alexander Strathauchin had an
additional grant of Crichieburn and lands, resigned by Captain Alexander
Wishart of Phaisdo, the commonty between the Cairn o' Month, Ferdour water,
and the hill above Braelands of Balbegno, west from Feskie, called West
Feskie, the lands of Dilbrek(?) and Cardounwell, as pendicles of Broadland,
with fresh water fishings on the Northesk, Luther and Ferdour; with power to
hold free fairs annually, one on the Muir of Hunteisait and Arnebarrow, or
the Muir of Ord, and on that piece of muir between Arnebarrow and the water
of Ferdour called Todlowis, on 28th July and eight days after; the other on
the Muir of Kincardine, on the 26th August and eight •days after. John Earl
of Rothes, in 1636, had a grant of Pitnamoone with the mills of Kincardine
and Fettercairn, formerly held by his great-grandfather George Earl of
Rothes, and in the following year William, Earl Marischal, was appointed
constable of Kincardine, its crofts and Oallowhilston, with the advowson of
the chapel of St. Catherine.
James Straquhane, who in 1635
is so designated as of Fettercairn when acquiring possession of the lands of
Oaigniston, was probably a son of the above-named Alexander Stathauchin. The
site of his house in Fetter-eairn, burnt in 1645 by the soldiers of
Montrose, cannot now be determined, although a spot west of the
mansion-house garden looks, from its hard and uneven surface, like the site
of some old buildings. If after the burning James Straquhane betook himself
to the Castle of Kincardine, it could only be for a few months, as it too
was burnt down and finally reduced to ruins by his kinsman John Middleton,
afterwards Earl Middleton, on the 16th March, 1646. . This event ended the
connection of the Strachans with Fettercairn and Kincardine. Middleton's
mother was Catherine Strachan, and the cause might be a big family quarrel;
but the presumption is that the Strachans were Royalists, and that he, at
the head of the Covenanting forces, sought to make himself master of the
situation, and owner of the lands, like as he had just done at Montrose's
castle and lands of Aid Montrose. Two years later, after his turning round
and gaining the favour of Charles I., the lands and barony of Fettercairn
were confirmed to him by a Royal Charter, dated 29th July, 1648, being that
he "John Middleton, sup-emus dux exercitus locum tenens generalis
(Lieutenant-General of the army), and Grizel Durham his wife, and the
longest liver of them in conjunct fee, and the heirs legitimately procreated
between them, are granted the Barony of Fettercairn in the County of
Kincardine, formerly belonging to James Strachne." This grant, no doubt,
included the town and lands of Kincardine. They were Middleton's property in
1670, according to the date on the Market Cross of Fettercairn, as the part
of it bearing this date was erected by him at the old town of Kincardine.
Besides, in the interval from 1648 to 1670, no other owner appears, and
these lands have ever since formed part of Fettercairn estate. |
