WHO WAS LADY ANNE? A study of the ownership of the Tillicoultry Estate, Clackmannanshire, and the role and influence of the Wardlaw Ramsay Family By Elizabeth Passe Written July 2011 Edited for the Ochils Landscape Partnership, January 2013 Page 1 of 24 CONTENTS Page 2 Contents Page 3 Acknowledgements, introduction, literature review Page 5 Ownership of the estate Page 7 The owners of Tillicoultry House and Estate and their wives Page 10 The owners in the 19th century - Robert Wardlaw - Robert Balfour Wardlaw Ramsay - Robert George Wardlaw Ramsay - Arthur Balcarres Wardlaw Ramsay Page 15 Tenants of Tillicoultry House - Andrew Wauchope - Alexander Mitchell - Daniel Gardner Page 17 Conclusion Page 18 Nomenclature and bibliography Page 21 Appendix: map history showing the estate Figures: Page 5 Fig. 1 Lady Ann’s Wood Page 6 Fig. 2 Ordnance Survey map 1:25000 showing Lady Ann Wood and well marked with a W. Page 12 Fig. 3 Tillicoultry House built in the early 1800s Page 2 of 24 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My grateful thanks are due to: • Margaret Cunningham, my course tutor at the University of Strathclyde, for advice and support • The staff of Clackmannanshire Libraries • Susan Mills, Clackmannanshire Museum and Heritage Officer, for a very useful telephone conversation about Tillicoultry House in the 1930s • Elma Lindsay, a course survivor, for weekly doses of morale boosting INTRODUCTION Who was Lady Anne? This project was originally undertaken to fulfil the requirements for the final project of the University of Strathclyde’s Post-graduate Certificate in Family History and Genealogy in July 2011. My interest in the subject was sparked by living in Lady Anne Grove for many years and by walking in Lady Anne’s Wood and to Lady Anne’s Well near the Kirk Burn at the east end of Tillicoultry. These names first appear on the1899 Ordnance Survey 6 inch to the mile map. My research showed that the woods were named for Lady Anne Lindsay, the wife of Robert Wardlaw Ramsay, who bought the Tillicoultry Estate in 1814. The project also tries to build up a picture of the owners’ local involvement and concentrates on the period from first ownership by the Wardlaw Ramsay family until the end of World War I: this was influenced by the time constraint of the project and an awareness that there are living family members one would wish to contact before including personal detail. The first documented reference to the Tillicoultry Estate is in 1261 when Aleuin de Mes, resigned it to the king.1 This estate has changed hands a surprising number of times through the centuries. Legend has it that the laird killed the pet ram of St Serf (circa 600) who foretold that no son born of the estate would succeed his father.2 This seems to have held true until the ownership by the Wardlaw Ramsay family in the 19th century. Evans offers a 1 Charter by King Alexander III 1262. NAS Papers of the Erskine Family, Earls of Mar and Kellie. GD124/1/513. catalogue entry. 2 Roger, Charles (1853) A week at Bridge of Allan. Comprising an account of the spa and a series of six excursions to the interesting scenery of central Scotland. 3rd.ed. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black. Accessed via http://books.google.com/books? id=jKMHAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=fals e, last accessed 2.7.2011. Page 3 of 24 more pragmatic evaluation: 'The estate was frequently regarded as a marketable commodity rather than an aristocratic adornment.'3 The study has established who owned the estate and the names of their spouses and then investigates whether the owners in the 19th century did just treat it as a source of income, or if they were involved with the local community. LITERATURE REVIEW Nothing has been written exclusively about the Tillicoultry Estate. The First and Second Statistical Accounts of Scotland give information on the succession of ownership which is widely replicated but have been found to be inaccurate.4 Watson (1881) and Gibson (1883) write widely about Tillicoultry but draw on the Statistical Accounts and concentrate on the textile industry.5 Most of those writing about Tillicoultry, such as the ministers writing The Statistical Accounts and Carvel, who wrote A Century of Coal, wrote on behalf of their employers or patrons and perhaps inclined to give a positive picture.6 William Gibson, a 19th century mill owner and independent quite pointedly describes the destruction of a 'druidical circle' by an adjacent sand quarry as an act of vandalism and 'Had the present proprietor [Robert Balfour Wardlaw Ramsay] resided at Tillicoultry instead of Whitehill, this surely would never have been allowed to go on.’7 3 Evans, F.J. (1971) Tillicoultry through the ages. Written for the centenary of the burgh. Typescript Clackmannanshire Archives. Z70 F06. 4 Sinclair, Sir John ed.,(1791-1799) The Statistical Account of Scotland Volume IX Dunbartonshire, Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire, with a new introduction by I.M.M. MacPhail ,1978, Wakefield: E P Publishing; The Ministers of the Respective Parishes (1842) The Statistical Account of Clackmannanshire Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons. 5 Watson, George (1881) Tillicoultry in Olden Times.Reprinted Alloa: Clackmannan District Libraries 1994; Gibson, William (1883) Reminiscences of Dollar, Tillicoultry and other districts adjoining the Ochils, with notes on progress, scientific discovery, and invention of new spinning machinery, during the last hundred years. 2nd. ed. Reprinted 1990 Stevenage, Herts: The Strong Oak Press. 6 Carvel, John L. (1944) One hundred years in coal. The history of The Alloa Coal Company. Edinburgh: T and A Constable Ltd. privately printed. 7 Gibson, William (1883) page 155. Page 4 of 24 OWNERSHIP OF THE ESTATE Tillicoultry Estate was a small estate of about 4,000 acres made up of hill grazing in the Ochils and agricultural land on both sides of the River Devon. Wealth also lay underground as ironstone and coal which were mined with increasing efficiency until the late 1950s. Tillicoultry was particularly famous for weaving; numerous mills used the power of Tillicoultry Burn and later the readily available coal, although the estate owners were not directly involved with the textile industry. The estate had a complex pattern of ownership. It was given as part of a marriage settlement on at least two occasions.8 James, Lord Colvill, had in the early 17th century feued out the greater proportion of the estate to his 'auld, kindly, native tenants'9 and this may explain why so frequently only ‘parts and portions’ of the estate changed hands. Fig. 1 Lady Ann’s Wood The earliest map of Tillicoultry is John Adair’s of 1681;10 it shows a grand house with enclosed grounds close to a burn. There are only fleeting references to this early house and one must assume that it was dismantled and the new house, built between 1800 and 1820, used the same foundations. The 19th century house was a plain classical house, south facing with at least 27 rooms.11 Robert Wardlaw had the steeply sloping grounds to the east of the burn laid out as woodland with walks for his wife, Lady Anne Lindsay. It became 8 Fraser, William (1885) The Douglas book. vol. 1 Douglas Memoirs. Edinburgh. pages 305 and 381. accessed on-line via MEMSO http://sources.tannerritchie.com.proxy.lib.strath.ac.uk/ last accessed 17.5.2011. 9 Sinclair, Sir John ed,(1791-1799) The Statistical Account of Scotland Volume IX Dunbartonshire, Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire. with a new introduction by I.M.M. MacPhail 1978 Wakefield: E P Publishing 10 abt. 1681 John Adair A Mappe of Clakmanan shire. http://maps.nls.uk/counties/detail.cfm?id=72 last accessed 10.7.2011. 11 C-1871-WAUCHOPE, Andrew, GROS, 02_04_1871 WAUCHOPE, ANDREW [Census 1871 468-00 008_00 021]. Page 5 of 24 known as Lady Ann’s Wood and there is also a little stone well, known as Lady Ann Well within the woods.12 The name Lady Ann’s Wood first appears on the 1899 Ordnance Survey13 Fig.2 Ordnance Survey map 1:25000 showing Lady Ann’s Wood and well marked with a W. 12 Lyall,The Rev. George (1929) Tillicoultry Parish Church: Being a brief sketch of the History of the Church from 1199-1929. Tillicoultry: W.M. Bett. page 17. 13 Ordnance Survey (1901) 1899 6 inch second edition Sheet CXXX1V. Page 6 of 24 THE OWNERS OF TILLICOULTRY HOUSE AND ESTATE AND THEIR WIVES 1261 resigned by Aleuin de Mes son of deceased Aleuin de Mes14 1261 William, Earl of Mar15 abt. 1386 Sir John Swinton of Swinton granted land by the Earl of Douglas on his marriage to Margaret, Countess of Douglas and Mar16 abt.1413 John Stewart, Earl of Buchan and Elizabeth Douglas who he was about to marry, from the Duke of Albany17 1483-1634 Family of Lord Colville of Culross18 1615 James, Lord Colville of Culross19 married:1 Isobel Ruthven on 22 August 157020 2 Helen Shaw bef. May 159921 1634 William Alexander of Menstrie, Earl of Stirling22 married: Janet Erskine, daughter of Sir William Erskine of the Balgonie Family23 1659 John Nicolson of Carnock, Stirlingshire24 1675 Andrew, Lord Rollo and Margaret Balfour from John, Lord Burghley, Margaret’s father25 1687 Sir Thomas Nicolson and Andrew, Lord Rollo in dispute over ownership of the estate26 14 Charter by King Alexander III 1262. NAS Papers of the Erskine Family, Earls of Mar and Kellie. GD124/1/513. catalogue entry. 15 Ibid. 16 Fraser, William (1885) The Douglas book. vol.1 Douglas Memoirs. Edinburgh. page 305. accessed on-line via MEMSO http://sources.tannerritchie.com.proxy.lib.strath.ac.uk/ last accessed 17.5.2011.