SECTION IX. Description of the Northern Parts Inland. The last part of our survey and particular description is the northermost part of Fyfe, and is accounted from the valley of Edin to Tay. It is a continuation of the Montes Ocelli or Ochill Hills from Kinross-shire and Perth, unto the north-east point of Fyfe. In Fyfe they are generally green and fertile, and interlined with excellent straths of very good arable land: for the abundance and goodness of wheat, bear and oats produced here, and for the numbers of sheep and black cattle bred here, this part of Fyfe may compare with the like quantity of ground in any of the best parts of Great Britain. In breadth, from south to north about four miles; in length, from west to east about ten or eleven miles at most. The westmost place of note among these hills, and to the south, is the kirk of Aringosk, which being only a chapel, was anno 1282 given to the abbacy of Cambuskenneth, by Gilbertus de Frisly dominus de Forgy and anno 1527, Margaret Barclay lady of the barony of Aringosk, with consent of Sir Andrew Murray her husband, and Sir David Murray her son, erected the chapel into a parish church. The barony, of Aringosk belonged to the Frislays till about 1332, that Sir Richard Barclay married the heiress of that name, and got these lands and Kippo. Then 1491, the said Earl of Moray, as the seat of their parliament in 1335, from which so much was expected for the deliverance of this distracted country, but which the animosities and mutual disgusts of the nobles broke up, without having concerted any plan of defence. said Sir Andrew Murray of Balvaird got them by marrying Margaret Barclay1. East of this is Balvaird, an old well built castle belonging to the Murrays since anno 7. reg. Roberti II. and is now the heritage of the Viscount of Stormount, the lineal representative of the Murrays of Balvaird. Then Balcanquhall is in view, the seat of an old family of that same name 3: of this family was the most learned divine Dr. Balcanquhall. And east of this, among the hills, above Strathmiglo, is Glentarkie, a pretty new house belonging to one Watson 4. East of this, and to the north of Auchtermuchtie, among the hills, is Lumwhat, which was formerly the Bonnars', and now is the heritage of Captain Leslie, a cadet of the Earl of Rothes 5. North of Lumwhat, and in a glen, is Pitcarlie, an old tower, of old the seat of Patrick Lesly, first Lord Lindoris, then of Mr. John Bayne, writer in Edinburgh, and now of Mr. James Taylor, writer to the Signet there6. North-west of Pitcarlie, upon an high ground, in the very borders where Fyfe and Strathern meet, was the cross Macduff, of which I have given you the description in a former part of this book7. The pedestall or a big stone in which the cross was fixed, is in that ground still. North-east of this, and near the river or firth of Tay, is first, Mugdrum, the estate anciently of the Orms, now one of the seats of Cheap of Rossie 8. East of it and also upon Tay, is the village of Newburgh, of one street from west to east. It was erected into a burgh of barony in favours of the monastery of Lundoris (whose it was) by king Alexander 1, 2 These lands are mostly divided among feuars, but the Earl of Mansfield is superior. 3 Now the property of Sir John Hope, Bart. 4 Now the property of David Skene, Esq. of Hallyards. 5 Now the property of John Arnot, Esq. The property of James Cathcart, Esq. 7 See Part III. Sect. III. Chap. I. The seat of David Balfour Hay, Esq. of Leys. der III. anno regni 171. It had only of old a chapel of ease dedicate to St. Catharine, but 1635, it was taken off the parish of Ebdie and erected into a parish. Almost contiguous to Newburgh east, and anciently within Earns-sidewood, are the ruins and seat of the abbacy of Lundoris, a right sweet situation, and of a most rich soil, witness the vastly big old pear trees there. This monastery was founded by David Earl of Huntington,, when he returned from the Holy Land, anno 8. reg. Willielmi; some say anno 1178, and dedicated to St. Mary and St. Andrew *. The 3 F 2 1 Charles I. erected it into a royal burgh, and it retains all the privileges of a royal burgh, except that of a voice in the choice of a member of parliament. A few yards northward from the town, and nearly connected with it by buildings, although beyond the limits. f its jurisdiction, lies the shore of Newburgh; which consists of three continuous piers, projecting into the south deep of the river Tay, with several dwelling-houses, storehouses, and other conveniencies for commerce. These piers form very safe stations for the vessels employed in the trade on the river; and although none of any burden can properly be said to belong to Newburgh, and but few are freighted to it, except with coals or lime, they are seldom to be seen without ships, as the generality of vessels, bound for Perth, must wait at Newburgh the flow of the tide; and not a few of them, must unload part of their cargoes there, before they can, even with the tide, proceed farther up the river. Hence arises a good deal, if not of trade, at least of stir, at the shore of Newburgh, which proves of advantage to the place at large. The smacks employed in the salmon trade, also lie to there, at all seasons, and take in all kinds of goods for the London market. A good many of the people of Newburgh are employed in the seafaring line, and the fisheries, but the greatest number following any one occupation are weavers of coarse linens, the exportation of which constitutes the principal trade of the place. 2 The story of David Earl of Huntington is romantic, and though it may be true, is considered as liable to suspicion. He was brother to William the Lion, and heir presumptive of the crown of Scotland, having married Matildis daughter of Ranulph Earl of Chester, he immediately departed for the Holy Land, under the banners of Richard Cœur de Lion. Many were the disasters of this zealous prince. Shipwrecked on the coast of Egypt, he was made captive. His rank unknown, he was purchased by The monks were of the order of St. Benedict. They were rich, had twenty-two churches, and many lands, in several shires. I find, anno 1208, they had an abbot and twentysix monks. This abbacy was erected into a temporal lord ship, a Venetian, who brought him to Constantinople; there some English merchants accidentally recognised him; they redeemed and sent him home. After having surmounted various difficulties, he was in imminent hazard of a second shipwreck on the coast of Scotland. He ascribed his deliverance to the Virgin Mary, and, in memory of her efficacious intercession, founded a monastery at Lindoris. Some of the ruins still remain; but what may have been the extent of the buildings of the abbey, in former times, one cannot judge, as part of the grounds, which they once occupied, is now converted into arable land. Remains of the church, however, are still extant, which shew, that it must have been a large, if not an elegant building. Parts, also, of the garden walls are still standing, which suggest no mean idea of the wealth of the clergy who inhabited it, and strongly mark the pains they had taken to secure the delicacies and luxuries of the table. Within these walls, and for a small space beyond them, on one side, the ground continues to be occupied by fruit trees, which, having been long since planted, exhibit appearances of decay, that, viewed in conjunction with the mouldering fragments of structures, half covered at top with ivy, and surrounded at bottom with thorn and hazel, give an air of melancholy grandeur to the place at large. Formerly strangers, who visited the ruins of the abbey, had a stone coffin pointed out to them, which was placed within the area of the church, on the north wall, towards the east end, which was said to have contained the remains of the last Earl of Douglas; but, in consequence of depredations lately made upon the walls, it is now covered over with rubbish.—The last of the Douglasses certainly died at Lindoris. James Earl of Douglas had forfeited, and had been banished in the reign of James II. He was well received in England, where the value of so illustrious a traitor, of great influence on the borders, was duly estimated. Supported by English power, he had made several unsuccessful inroads into his country. At last, wearied with banishment, he and the exiled Albany resolved to attempt their re-establishment in Scotland, now peculiarly open to invasion, from the tyranny and weak councils of James III. They gathered some hundreds of horse and infantry, hoping that their friends and followers would soon swell their array. And advancing towards Lochmaben during a fair, Douglas swore in the spirit of the times, that he would lay his offering on the high altar of that place on St. Magdalen's day |