Strathendrick, and Its Inhabitants from Early Times. An
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FhntccfraviiEEtrr Annan S_Saas from a Pnafflaropli "by JaTm Smart Hi <^{jQtj£<ruJ* STRATH END RICK AND ITS INHABITANTS FROM EARLY TIMES JU Jtcconnt of the parishes of Jfintru, ^alfron, gttllearn, IBrumen, |5urhanan, anb giUmaronock JOHN GUTHRIE SMITH, F.S.A.Scot. Author of "THE PARISH OF STRATHBLANE " GLASGOW JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS publishers to the StnibersitD 1896 I take this opportunity of thanking all those who have helped in preparing this volume for the press. It is a grief to me that I have not been able to assist in the completion of this, the last work of my father, but at this distance from Scotland, it was out of the question to make an attempt requiring not only intimate acquaintance with the district, but also access to family records, charters, and other relics of the past. On behalf of my brothers and sisters as well as myself I thank all who have taken part in the preparation of 'Strathendrick.' H. GUTHRIE SMITH. Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, Decern her 1895. NOTE. The late Mr. Guthrie Smith had been engaged on this volume since the completion of The Parish of Strathblane in December 1886. At the time of his death, in October 1894, he had accumulated an immense mass of material, and had also put into their final form a considerable number of chapters. The Ecclesiastical History of each of the parishes except Kilmaronock was quite complete, and that of Kilmaronock was in progress. The histories of some Strathendrick families, such as the Grahams of Fintry, the Galbraiths of Culcreuch, and the Napiers, had also been perfected. On many of the other sections he had bestowed great labour : and it was decided after much consideration that this volume should be published. It is printed very nearly as Mr. Guthrie Smith left it. Had he lived much more would have been added, especially about the lands and their owners ; but the editors have not thought it right to add or alter, except in the few instances specially mentioned. The chapter on the Topography of Strathendrick has been written by Colonel Stirling of Gargunnock, who has had access to Mr. Guthrie Smith's notes. The section on the Buchanan Genealogies has been prepared by Mr. A. W. Gray Buchanan, from geneological trees and memoranda carefully written out by Mr. Guthrie Smith. The Lyon King of Arms, Mr. Buchanan- Hamilton of Leny, Mr. David Murray, LL.D., Mr. J. Dalrymple Duncan, F.S.A., Mr. Robert Renwick, Mr. T. L. Galbraith of Blackhouse, and many others, have assisted in various ways : while the Register-house, the Kirk Sessions, and the Strathendrick Heritors have most generously granted permission to examine their records. In The Parish of Strathblane the inscription on each stone in Strathblane Churchyard was printed. It was intended to follow a similar plan in the viii NOTE History of Strathendrick, and Mr. Guthrie Smith had superintended the tran- scription of the tombstones in the different churchyards. As, however, many of the family histories are not in a sufficiently advanced state to admit of being printed, it has been thought desirable to omit the Tombstone Records. This decision was arrived at with great regret. The Views of Strathendrick were chosen by Mr. Guthrie Smith, and have been engraved from photographs kindly lent by Mr. Robert Kidston, Stirling, who was with Mr. Guthrie Smith when he selected these views. The proofs have been read by Mr. James Parker Smith, M.P., Mr. A. W. Gray Buchanan, and Mr. James J. MacLehose. The Memoir of Mr. Guthrie Smith is written by the late Mr. Colin Dunlop Donald. When the publication of this work was decided upon, it was in reliance on the help which Mr. Donald was, of all men, the best qualified to give. His death following so soon upon that of his friend has delayed the appearance of this volume. Glasgow, March 1896. CONTENTS HACE MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR xvii CHAPTER I THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF FINTRY I CHAPTER II THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF BALFRON 22 CHAPTER III THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF KILLEARN 50 CHAPTER IV THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF DRYMEN 73 CHAPTER V THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF BUCHANAN 9 8 CHAPTER VI THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF KILMARONOCK 125 b ix x CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER VII THE GRAHAMS OF FINTRY '53 CHAPTER VIII THE GALBRAITHS OF CULCREUCH 165 CHAPTER IX THE NAPIERS OF MERCHISTON AND EDINBELLIE NAPER, AND OF CULCREUCH - 175 CHAPTER X THE NAPIERS OF BALLIKINRAIN 191 CHAPTER XI FINNICK 207 CHAPTER XII THE ESTATES OF AUCHENECK AND DALNAIR 214 CHAPTER XIII THE TEMPLE LANDS OF LETTER 222 CHAPTER XIV PARKHALL 226 CHAPTER XV BALGAIR 229 CONTENTS xi PAGE CHAPTER XVI THE GLENBOIGS 241 CHAPTER XVII BALGLAS ----- 244 CHAPTER XVIII BURNESCHOGILL—BLAIRSCHOIGILL—BRANGSCHOGILL—BRANSHOGLE- 248 CHAPTER XIX THE LEDLEWANS AND BLAIROER - - 252 CHAPTER XX THE DISTRICT OF STRATHENDRICK 2 S 8 CHAPTER XXI THE BUCHANANS OF BUCHANAN z8 3 CHAPTER XXII THE BUCHANANS OF LENY AND CADETS 290 CHAPTER XXIII THE BUCHANANS OF DRUMMIKILL AND CADETS 3°9 CHAPTER XXIV THE BUCHANANS OF CARBETH AND CADETS 346 Xli CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER XXV THE BUCHANANS OF ARNPRYOR 364 CHAPTER XXVI THE BUCHANANS OF SPITTAL 368 CHAPTER XXVII THE BUCHANANS OF AUCHMAR 373 INDEX OF PERSONS 379 INDEX OF TLACES 4° 2 INDEX OF MISCELLANEA 4° 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE ' - frontispiece PORTRAIT OF J. GUTHRIE SMITH SEAL OF REV. JOHN STODDERT, MINISTER OF FINTRY, STRATHBLANE, AND CAMPSIE, 1608 xxvnl OLD CHURCH, KILLEARN 5° THE BUCHANAN MONUMENT, KILLEARN S 6 BRIDGE OVER KELTY, CHAPELLAROCH 74 DRYMEN BRIDGE 9 6 BEN LOMOND FROM DUBH LOCHAN I2 ° SEAL OF ROBERT GRAHAM OF FINTRY - J 54 SEAL OF WALTER GALBRAITH l6 7 CULCREUCH l68 SEAL OF JOHN NAPIER OF MERCHISTON '77 xiii xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE SEAL OF THE CHAPTER OF TORPHICHEN, 1461 223 SEAL OF JAMES SANDELANDIS, LORD OF ST. JOHN, PRECEPTOR OF TORPHICHEN, 1555 -223 SEAL OF GEORGE CONYNGHAME OF HAG - - 224 SEAL OF DONALD, EARL OF LENNOX - - 252 THE POT OF GARTNESS - 264 GALLOWS STONE AT CATTER HOUSE, DRYMEN 270 THE PLACE OF BUCHANAN, FROM A DRAWING BY J. P. NEALE, 272 ENGRAVED BY M. J. BARENGER, 1787 MAP OF STRATHENDRICK - - 276 TREE OF THE LAIRD OF BOQVHANNANIS HAIL BRAINCHES, 1602 - - 284 TREE OF THE LENYS OF THAT ILK AND OF THE BUCHANANS OF LENY - 292 HOUSE OF MOSS IN WHICH GEORGE BUCHANAN, POET, WAS BORN, 10 FROM A DRAWING BY J. DENHOLM, ENGRAVED BY R. SCOTT - 3 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. For more than four hundred years a family of Smith, first as kindly tenants, and afterwards as lairds, were settled in the parish of Strath- blane at Craigend, a small estate perched on the top of the ridge that separates the valleys of the Blane and the Allander, close to the Castle of Mugdock. The tradition in the family is that when surnames came into use they took their name from their occupation of the smiths and armourers of the Barony of Mugdock, and this is to some extent con- firmed by the fact that the remains of charcoal furnaces and scoriae of iron have been found at Craigend. The lands of Craigend were feued out by James, second Marquis of Montrose, in 1657, and acquired by Robert Smith, the first laird. They had also the sinister name of Gallowknowe, and the hill to the north of Craigend Castle is believed to have been the hanging place of the Barony. Just under the site of the gallows is a small tarn in which female culprits were drowned. In this quiet corner of Stirlingshire the Smiths lived for genera- tions the easy bovine life of small country lairds. The most stirring event recorded in the family is that John, son of one of them, enlisted, and was wounded at Laffeldt in 1747. On his return home he opened a bookseller's shop in Glasgow, and set up the first circulating library in the city. The firm he founded still flourishes as John Smith & Son, but there are no Smiths in it now. The first of the family who gave a lift to its fortunes was Archibald, son of James, the third laird. Archibald Smith, when a young man, was in Virginia, and was driven out of it by the American War penni- c xvii xviii HISTORY OF STRATHENDRICK less. He afterwards embarked in the West India trade and prospered. Among other concerns he was a partner in the great old firm of Leitch & Smith. In 1799 he was Dean of Guild, and in 1S00 he bought Jordanhill from Andrew Houston, whose firm of Alexander Houston & Co. had a few years before made the greatest failure a private firm ever made in Glasgow. His portrait, by Raeburn, was in the Glasgow Exhibition of 1894, a quiet benign face with much sagacity and just a hint of dourness, altogether a fine specimen of the great master. By his wife, Isobel Ewing, who died in 1855, an undoubted centenarian, he had James of Jordanhill ; Isabella, who married John M'Call of Ibrox ; William of Carbeth Guthrie ; and Archibald, West India Merchant in Glasgow. William Smith, who was born in 1787, married, in 1810, Jane Cuningham, daughter of Alexander Cuningham, and by her had two sons, Archibald, Advocate, Sheriff-Substitute of Lanarkshire ; and Cun- ningham, Merchant in Glasgow, one of the kindliest and gentlest of men. He married, secondly, in 1829, Sarah, daughter of Henry Wallis of Maryborough, County Cork. By her he had (1) Henry Wallis, D.D., Minister of Kirknewton and East Calder. Dr. Smith married Elizabeth Dunlop, youngest daughter of James Macnair of Aucheneck, and died in 1885, leaving issue; (2) John Guthrie; (3) William, of the Royal Artillery, Major-General, retired, married Emma Crazier, and has issue; (4) James George, Merchant, sometime of Bombay, now of Liverpool, married Christina Laura, daughter of Walter Buchanan of Shandon, sometime M.P.