1881 Visit to Craigston Castle

Transactions OF THE BANFFSHIRE FIELD CLUB. THE STRATHMARTINE BanffshireTRUST Field Club The support of The Strathmartine Trust toward this publication is gratefully acknowledged. www.banffshirefieldclub.org.uk 95 SATURDAY, JULY 16, 1881. CRAIGSTON CASTLE. THE excursion of the Banffshire Field Club to Craigston Castle, which had been postponed from June 25th on account of the stormy character of the weather, took place on Saturday last. A large party of ladies and gentlemen left Banff about eleven o'clock to avail them- selves of the kind invitation of Captain Urqnhart, conveyed through the Eev. Mr Walker, The Parsonage, Banff, to visit Craigston, and inspect its treasures of art and antiquity. On arriving at the castle, they were joined by other members of the Club with their friends, raising the number of the whole party of visitors to about forty. A group of eager listeners soon formed on the lawn in front of the house around the Rev. J. Milne, one of the vice-presidents of the Society, and conductor for the day. Mr MILNE began by giving an account of the genealogy and history of the family of Urquhart. This family, he said, can be traced to Adam, appointed Sheriff of Cromartie by David II in 1357. The family has been sometimes represented as descended from William, who held the office of Sheriff of Cromartie in 1296, when Edward I. ordered a list of the Sheriffs of Scotland, the first extant, to he drawn up; but this William appears to have been called Montalto in Latin —that is Mowat in English. Adam is the first Urqu- hart known to history. In 1365, he obtained a charter of the lands of Fishrie and Clachforby in King-Edward, and they appear to have remained long in the family. Alexander Urquhart of Cromarty was served heir to the lands of Fishrie and others in 1561, and in 1616, Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty would appear to have been a proprietor in King-Edward, for along with John, his granduncle and tutor, and Mr William Guild, minister of the parish, he presented two silver com- munion cups to the church of King-Edward. This Sir BanffshireThomas became involved in deb Fieldt after he was emanci Club- pated from the Tutor's governorship, and Fishrie not unlikely had been disposed of by him or his son, the genealogist, who lost all his possessions by his adhering to the cause of Charles II., after his father's execution. After Adam, the founder of the family, the first in succession worthy of notice is Thomas, who had 25 sons 96 and 11 daughters. Seven of his sons fell in the battle of Pinkie in 1547. Local tradition has it that he did not know some of his own family when he met with them. One of the 25 was the Alexander already mentioned as having been served heir to Fishrie in 1561. He married Beatrix Innes of Auchintoul, by whom he had two sons, Walter, afterwards head of the family, and John of Craigfintray, who acquired great possessions. He is commonly known as the Tutor of Cromarty—that is, guardian to his older brother's grandson, Thomas, knighted in 1617 by King James VI., at Edinburgh. The Tutor erected a monument to the honour of God and the memory of his mother, Beatrix Innes, in the church of King Edward in 1590. It had contained a recumbent figure of the deceased lady, bnt of it now only the head remains. The tomb itself is still entire, and an inscription in Latin is legible. Besides erecting this tomb as an ornament to the church, he appears to have built an aisle on the south side of the church, and enclosed at the end of it a burial ground for himself and his descendants. It was he who built Craigston Castle, founded, as the inscription near the entrance says, March 14, 1604, and finished 8 Dec., 1607. Possibly the stone is not so old as the castle, but it appears to give the correct date of the building. The Tutor died in 1631, in his own house, and was buried in his own aisle in King-Edward Churchyard. Having already provided for his oldest son, John of Laithers, he left his estate of Craigfintray with the Castle to his grandson, also named John. His own son John, returning to Aberdeen from his father's funeral, was taken ill at Percock, near Oldmeldrum, and died a few days after, and was laid beside his father. He had borrowed money to the extent of £40,000, for which his friends and sundry county gentlemen were cautioners, upon his deathbed he exacted a promise from his son to be kind to his widow, his own mother, and to see his debts paid; but his mother's brother, the laird of Innes, took him in charge, and, having given him his daughter to wife, prevented him from paying his father's debts. The poor cautioners were compelled by the creditors to pay the debt, much against their will, which made them, says Spalding, ' to pray mony male- diction, and the young man contracted a consuming sickness, whereof he died, at the place of Innes in 1634, leaving behind him a son called John to the care of his mother and her father, the laird of Innes. who became governor of the estate of Craigston. Father, son, and grandson all died within three years, and were in- terred in the aisle in the church of King-Edward. He Banffshireto whom John of Craigfintray haFieldd been tutor was noClubw Sheriff of Cromarty, and had been knighted in 1617 by King James VI. He had a son, Thomas, who was knighted in 1641 by Charles I. at Whitehall. He is by far the most renowned of the family. He was educated at King's College, Aberdeen, and afterwards travelled on 91 the continent, and became well acquainted with foreign languages. Returning to his own country, he became a devoted Royalist, and in 1639 carried despatches to the King from the northern Royalists. After 1649 he adhered to the cause of Charles II., and fought at Worcester 1651, where he was taken prisoner and shut up in the Tower. There he wrote the pedigree of the Urquharts, tracing the family far beyond Edward's Sheriff, William Mowat, even up to Adam. The pedigree follows the Hebrew genealogy up to Japhet, but after him there is a succession of names not found in history. One of these, Esormon, was surnamed Ourochartos—that is, fortunate and well beloved. Hence his descendants are called Urquharts. Sir Thomas wrote also the ' Jewel,' a work in praise of the Scottish nation. His object in writing these and other works seems to have been to induce the Parliament to set him at liberty, but his hopes were not fulfilled. However, he escaped from prison to the continent, where he died in 1661, through excessive delight at hearing of the restoration of Charles II. He died miserably poor, and the remnants of the estates of the Cromarty family were sold by his brother to the Mackenzie family, who became Earls of Cromartie (Here the following epigram was interjected by a member of the Club as a specimen of Sir Thomas's poetical powers. It is thought his best:— 'Take man from woman, all that she can show Of her own proper, is nought else but wo.') The Tutor of Cromarty, John of Craigfintray, was three times married, and the Craigfintray or Craigston went to his descendants by his first wife. By his third wife, Elizabeth Seaton of Meldrum, he had a son, Patrick of Meldrum. His oldest eon, Adam, was the progenitor of the Meldrum and Byth Urquharts; and his second son, James of Knockleith, was the father of Captain John of Craigston, who died in 1756, and was buried in the Craigston aisle in King-Edward Church- yard. In 1696, the Poll Book of Aberdeenshire shows that there was then no proprietor in King-Edward of the name of Urquhart. In 1696, lands held at one time or other by the family ; Sir John Guthrie held Fishrie and Clachforby; the Duke of Gordon held the Baronie of Craigston, including Millseat and Coldwell; James Leslie had Byth ; Patrick Duff had Castleton, including Mains, Luncarty, and Auchmill. In 1721, Banffshirethe Castle of Craigston was thFielde jointure house of thClube old Lady Breka, and the Manor of Eishrie belonged to the Laird of Dipple. In 1732, according to the author of the ' View of the Diocese of Aberdeen," Craigston was then possessed by Duff, son to Duff of Keith more in Murthlack. Some old leases in the possession of Mr Barclay, Strocherie, show that in 1743 Miss Helen Duff, a minor daughter of James Duff, was proprietrix of Craigston, and it is not till 1772 that the Urquharts 98 again appear as granters of leases of Craigston lands. In 1846, Mary, only daughter o£ William Urquhart of Craigston, married William Pollard of Castle Pollard, in Ireland, and the estate is now held by her second son, Francis Pollard Urquhart. Mr Milne then directed the attention of the party to the general plan and style of Craigston Castle, and to the tablet near the entrance, according to which, as has been already noted, the house was finished in 1607. ' It is a broad, square mass of building, having some fea- tures in common with Fyvie Castle. It has a deep arch joining the two towers or wings, but is altogether much plainer. The original design had been to have square turrets at the corners, but the plan had been departed from even after the corbels for the towers bad been provided.

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