The 'Murder' of Margaret Warden

 The case of Mary Elder, tried for murder of her servant Margaret Warren, has been summerised in many places in the nearly two centuries since the event. The case attracted authors like William Roughead in Twelve Scottish Trials (1913) and Haunted Dundee by A. H. Millar (1923). Even before that, there was a popular ballad floating around Dundee and south Angus entitled 'The Wife o' Denside', which had no doubt about the guilt of Mary Elder. (The version from Haunted Dundee is copied below.) The case also gained wider notoriety by a broadside pamphlet printed in Edinburgh soon after the trial there in 1828. Among the spectators in the court room was a certain Sir Walter Scott.

   The basic facts in the case is that Margaret Warden, a twenty-five year old servant to Mary Elder and David Smith of West Denside, Monikie, near Dundee, had died suspiciously after being adminsitered some drinks by elder. The poison was supposed to have been administered on 5th September, 1826, with Margaret dying three days later. The details were summarised in the contemporary broadside:

the deceased turned unwell on Tuesday, and that the prisoner
gave her something to drink of a whitish colour, in a
large dram glass, with a peace of sugar to take after it, about nine
o'clock at night, which she swallowed, and went to bed. That she
turned ill before morning, complaining much of her inside, and suf-
fering from thirst; and, on drinking water, which she always cried
for, saying her inside was burning, she immediately threw it up:
That the prisoner, on Thursday night, a witness observed, came and
asked the deceased if she thought a drap whisky would be good
for her, to which the witness, Jean Norrie, a fellow servant,who
slept with the deceased, replied, that she had got enough of that,
or something else, she could not tell what, for such purging and
vomiting she never before had seen. That Margaret Warden's
mother was sent for and came to see her on Friday forenoon, the
day she died, and said to this witness, in presence of her mother and. I
Ann Gruar, another witness, 'you ken wha has been the occasion
of my lying here, but dinna say nathing; they will get their re-
wards, but I forgive them.' That she died that night at 9 o'clock,
and her body appeared of a blackish colour.

   The background to the household was the key to what transpired. David Smith was a great deal older than his forty-two year old wife and does not seem to have been involved in what transpired. Margaret Warden was one of several servants who stayed there. She was also pregnant, allegedly by a son of the household, George Smith. There was another son and two daughters in the family. One daughter lived with her parents; the other was the farm foreman's wife. Apart from Margaret Warden, there was another female servant under the same room, Jean Norrie, though there were other servants and employees who did not sleep in. 

   In the year previous to her death, Margaret had her first pregnancy and went back home to her mother in Baldovie. Mary Elder visited her several times, and, following some harsh words and discussion, had her back at Denside after the child was born. Whether the father of this bairn was Margaret's son is not known. In 1826, Margaret and George Smith became romantically involved, and Mary was outraged and put the servant out of the house. After a fraught meeting at her mother's house, full of anger and accusation, Mary stated she would go to Dundee and 'would get something for Margaret' there. Margaret went back to Denside that night. It was inferred that Mary was bringing something which would terminate the pregnancy. 

Modern building at West Denside

   On the evening of Tuesday 5th September, 1826, Mary Elder came to Margaret in the presence of Jean Norrie, around 10 o'clock, and gave her a drink in a dram glass. It was a thick white mixture. Margaret drank it and also took a small lump of sugar to dispell its bitter taste. She was seriously ill during the night and next morning she was too sick to work. Jean asked that night if their mistress had been attending to her. 'Rather too weel,' Margaret said. When Jean said she feared her friend was dying, Margaret replied, 'Some folks would be glad o' that.' On Elder suggesting that Margaret take some whisky, Jean voiced her suspicions and said that Margaret 'had got eneuch o' that or some ither thing, she could not tell what, for sik a purgin' an' vomitin' she never saw'. Margaret said the goodwife had already given her whisky, which was burning her insides. In private, Jean advised Margaret to take nothing further from their mistress. 

When it was clear that Margaret's condition was life-threatening, her mother was sent for a doctor was summoned from Broughty Ferry. When he arrived, Dr Taylor asked if she had been given any medicine and was told she had only been administered castor oil. He asked why no doctor had been summoned earlier and was told that the patient was 'a light-headed cutty' whose complaints were not taken seriously. When it seemed clear there was no hope or treatment for her, the doctor left, believing his patient was dying with cholera. In her final hours, Margaret informed her friend Jean that the person responsible for her condition would 'get their reward'. At nine in the evening she died, just as she was trying to tell her mother what 'medicine' Mary Elder had administered to her.

   Margaret Warden was buried on Sunday 10th September. Rumours began circulating in the area that Margaret's death was connected with the fact that she was pregant by George Smith. Several weeks later she was disinterred and the body disected in the kirk-yard. Some particles of poison were taken from her stomach. Dr Taylor said that the accused had repeatedly enquired if Margaret's violent vomiting would cause an abortion, adding, 'I dinna care though such a thing [a miscarriage] should happen, for the gude man would tear down the house if he ken'd it.' Mary Elder was questioned by the sheriff in Dundee and, despite denying poisoning her servant, was placed in jail there. 

  The trial took place on Monday 19th February, 1827, and it attracted wide attention from people in Edinburgh, among them Walter Scott, who wrote in his journal:

Dined at Sir John Hay's, where met the Advocate
and a pleasant party. There had been a Justiciary trial
yesterday, in which something curious had occurred. A
woman of rather the better class, a farmer's wife, had been
tried on the 5th for poisoning her maid-servant. There seems
to have been little doubt of her guilt, but the motive was
peculiar. The unfortunate girl had an intrigue with her son,
which this Mrs. Smith was desirous to conceal, from some
ill-advised puritanic notions, and also for fear of her husband.
She could find no better way of hiding the shame than giving
the girl (with her own knowledge and consent, I believe)
potions to cause abortion, which she afterwards changed for
arsenic, as the more effectual silencing medicine. In the
course of the trial one of the jury fell down in an epileptic
fit, and on his recovery was far too much disordered to permit
the trial to proceed. With only fourteen jurymen it was
impossible to go on. But the advocate, Sir William Eae,
says she shall be tried anew, since she has not tholed an
assize. Sic Paulus ait—et rede quidcm. But, having been
half-tried, I think she should have some benefit of it, as far
as saving her life, if convicted on the second indictment.
The advocate declares, however, she shall be hanged, as
certainly she deserves. But it looks something like hanging
up a man who has been recovered by the surgeons, which
has always been accounted harsh justice.

   

Defence lawyer Francis Jeffrey in 1825

   The defence at the trial contended that the young woman had committed suicide. Despite plenty of witnesses piling up corrobarative circumstantial evidence, and the widespread belief that Mary Elder had the motivation, means and opportunity to get rid of her awkwardly pregnant servant, the jury did not wholehertedly agree. Witnesses included Dr Dick, an old friend of the accused who said that Mary had asked him to procure arsenic for rats which were plaguing the farm. The lads who slept in the bothy at Denside vehemently denied there was any rodent problem there. The eloquent closing defence given by Francis Jeffrey was delivered to jurors at one in the morning.

  Next day the jury delivered the verdict 'not proven'. Some culpability was suspected, but guilt could not be established. Or it may be that they mostly believed she was trying to end the life of the unborn child rather than its mother, and for this she did not deserve death. For one, Walter Scott was outraged by this:

At Court, and waited to see the poisoning woman. She is clearly guilty,
but as one or two witnesses said the poor wench hinted an
intention to poison herself, the jury gave that bastard verdict,
Not Proven. I hate that Caledonian medium quid. One who is
not proven guilty is innocent in the eye of the law. It was a face
to do or die, or perhaps to do to die. Thin features, which had
been handsome, a flashing eye, an acute and aquiline nose, lips
much marked, as arguing decision and, I think, bad temper
— they were thin and habitually compressed, rather turned down
at the corners, as one of a rather melancholy disposition.
There was an awful crowd; but sitting within the bar, I had
the pleasure of seeing much at my ease ; the constables
knocking the other folks about, which was of course very
entertaining.

   Scott also remarked, more pithily, after the trial, 'Well, sirs! All I can say is, if that woman was my wife, I should take care to be my own cook.'

  A. H. Millar transcribed the ballad about the supposed murderer in 1884 from an old bed-ridden lady named Barbara Hodge, living at Downfield in Dunee, who was one of the witnesses at the trial. She had formerly been a servant alongside lamented Margaret Warden at Denside. And she had no doubt about her former employer's guilt.

THE WIFE O’ DENSIDE.

Ye'll a’ ha’e heard tell o’ the Wife o’ Denside,
Ye’ve surely heard word o’ the Wife o’ Denside,
Wha pushioned her maid to keep up her pride,
An’ the Deevil is sure o’ the Wife o’ Denside.

The Wife o’ Denside, the little wee buddie,
She tried to tak’ up the trade o’ the howdie,
But ah! ha, ha! her skill was but sma’,
For she pushioned baith lassie an’ bairn an’ a’.



Her tippet was brown and her veil it was black,
An’ three lang feathers hung ower her back,
Wi’ her purse by her side fu’ o’ guineas sae free
That saved her frae death at the Cross o’ Dundee.



Oh! Jeffrey, oh! Jeffrey, ye hinna dune fair,
For ye’ve robbed the gallows o’ its ain lawfu’ heir.
An’ it hadna been you an’ your great muckle fee
She’d hae hung like a trout at the Cross o’ Dundee!

Further Reading

Nigel Gatherer, Songs and Ballads of Dundee, John Donald, Edinburgh, 2000.

Forbes Inglis, Murders and Misdeeds: Angus and Dundee, 1765-1900, The Pinkfoot Press, Balgavies, 2013.

A. H. Millar, Haunted Dundee, Malcolm C. McLeod, Dundee, 1923.

William Roughead, Twelve Scottish Trials, William Green & Sons, Edinburgh & London, 1913.  

Besom Jimmy Homesick Blues - A Lost Lost Angus Hawker and Songsmith

What connects Bob Dylan and the Ancient City, Brechin?

The correct answer is, of course, nothing. Nothing, directly that is. Despite having once owned Aultmore House near Nethy Bridge, the bard was not known to have slipped across the country for the sake of sitting on a dreich day in venerable Glebe Park watching Brechin City. Blowin' in the Wind indeed (apologies!) 

So, no direct connection. But there is a very tangental one, if you'd care to follow me. 

In the late19th century Brechin was home to a characted named Besom Jimmy, whose birth name was James Henderson, whose only known gift to posterity was a song called Come A' Ye Tramps and Hawkers. Jimmy was evidently a hawker himself, though I don't know whether he was as well-travelled as the protagonist of his ballad boasts. In fact, I know nothing more about him (though any facts would be gratefully received). 

Jimmy is all but forgotten, but his song achieved an amorphous afterlife which is typical of the kind of popularity which folk songs sometimes achieved, being spread much more far and widely than most other types of popular music in the 20th century, entirely through repitition from one performer to another. 

We can trace the song being sung in the trenches of World War One by a fellowGordon Highlander (possibly George Robertson Stewart), who passed it on to his comrade Jimmy MacBeath of Portsoy. This Jimmy was a character who earned his living on farms and going around the markets on north-east Scotland, singing for agricultural workers. The American folk collector Alan Lomax encountered Jimmy at Elgin and took him to Turriff to record him. Lomax described him as a 'sporty little character, with the gravel voice and urbane assurance that would make him right at home in skid-row anywhere in the world: as sharp as a tack, dapper, tweed suit, quick blue eyes, as fast on his feet as a boxer'. An EP of his reportoire including our song was released in 1960, although Lomax recorded him singing Come A' Ye Tramps and Hawkers in 1951.

Another version of the song had been recorded in 1956 in Dundee. The singer this time was Davie Stewart, a traveller and musician from Buchan, who lived in Dundee for a while in the 1950s. He too was an ex-Gordon Highlander and a friend of Jimmy MacBeath. Among the folk luminaries who have also recorded the song are Robin Hall and Jimmie MacGregor, the Dubliners (with Luke Kelly singing), and Bert Jansch.

 The ealy Dylan, a folk polymath, absorbed elements of the Scots song via the influence of Canadian folk singer Bonnie Dobson (according to the book The Formative Dylan by Todd Harvey).

Bonnie Dobson

   Dobson's version of the late-Victorian New Brunswick ballad Peter Amberley incorporated elements of Come A' Ye Tramps and Hawkers and was the basis of Dylan's 1962 composition The Ballad of Donald White. Despite this Scottish-sounding name, Bob's song was about a fellow American. The thread of tradition had wound a circuitous path to reach him, and who's to say whether the celebrated Nobel laureate has ever heard of Besom Jimmy of Brechin?

The Perambulation of Parishes and Riding of the Marches

 The old custom of perambulating - carefully walking - the boundaries of parishes, burghs and estates is no longer practised in Britain, except in a few places. (In Scotland, Lanark is one example of where it still occurs.) Boundaries would have been important, in temporal and spiritual terms, since pre-historic times and we know that Roman and Anglo-Saxon societies had formalised rituals for marking the perimeters of lands. Perambulations in medieval Angus typically relied on prominent natural landmarks (rivers, hills, forests) and man-made features (roads, bridges, mercat gates) as boundary markers. Perambulations combined legal, social, and spiritual functions. In Scotland, we have less early records of this important collective recognition of where community territory ended. This post looks at the scattered local records, and if they do not tell a complete tale, at least they give some small glimpses into the far past.

  One theory (among many) about the purpose of Pictish sculptured stones is that they had a territorial significance. If not quite as crude as 'keep off this land', they may have visually advertised which kindred or important landowner owned the particular estate on which they were situated. There's nothing to say that - if this was indeed the case - that the stones might have contained other meanings, served other purposes. 

                                                                Kinblethmont Pictish Stone

                                                    

   Coincidentally or one, one of the early records of officials formally marking the boundaries of lands comes from the estate of Kinblethmont, Inverkeilor parish, which was a possession of Arbroath Abbey, which seems to have been a Pictish estate, jusdging by the presence of a Class I Pictish stone there. The first record of the perambulation here was in 1219, and one point of interest is the thorough Gaelic character of the names of the men who took part in the proceedings:

Gilpatrick mac Ewen, Dunachy filium Gilpatrick, Malcolmum fratrem Thayni de Edevy, Gillecryst fil' Ewen Costr', Gillecryst hominem com' de Anegus, Keraldum fratrem Ade Judicus, math'm filium mathei filii Dufyth de conan.

Another list has the following:

Hugh of Cameron, sheriff of Forfar, Angus son of Earl Gillebride of Angus, Robert of Inverkeilor, W de Monte Alto, Adam of Nevay, Donald son of Macbeth MacYwar, John ab of Brechin, Morgrund his son, Adam de Bonvill’ [Benvie?], Robert of Rossie, Duncan of Fearn, Adam steward of Arbroath, Thomas son of Richard son of Adam Garmund, Gille Isu, thane of Idvies, Nicholas brewer of the king, Roger, mareschal of the bishop of Brechin, Walter de Balliol.

   The records of Arbroath Abbey record another perambulation of Kinblethmont in 1227, and the names again are a mixture of Celtic and English-Norman. The centuries after the Scottish take-over of Pictland (if it was such) are fascinating for the glimpses of personal names from different ethnicities in Angus:

Kerald Judex de Anegus, Adam Judex domini Regis, Angus filius comitis, W de Monte Alto, Duncanus de fernevell, Giladr’ mac leod, Ricardus flandrensis, Gilescop mac camby, Patric fothe serviens domini episcopi sancti Andree, David senescallus de Rostynoth.

   The dispute seemingly continued because at the king's court in Forfar in 1227 the 'good men of Angus' were summoned to swear an oath to the vailidity of the 1219 perambulation.

   Nearby, the lands of Conon were also owned by Arbroath Abbey and a perambulation took place here in 1254, and the list of those present shows a decline in Gaelic names:Magister Nicholas of Hedon, dean of Moray, Sir John Wishart, Sir Henry the knight, socius of Peter Maule, Duncan of Fethyn, Roger of Balcathie, Duncan the judew, Mael Isu of Idvies, Eustace of Glasterlaw, Duncan of Downie and many others. Although some men were upper class, others were from their households or officials of local government.

   One of the pragmatic reasons for perambulations was to settle disputes between adjoining estates when there was some dispute about them. With or without the need for perabulations, disagreements about the extent of lands proliferated. The monks of Arbroath Abbey and Sir Thomas of Rattray disagreed about the extent of Kingoldrum. Rattray and his wife acknowledged the extent of the land in justiciary court on 1253. The monks were not shy in pursuing landowners who impinged on their territory. Also in 1253, Alan Durward was forced to accept the abbey's statement about the border between their lands and his. The following year, the abbey pursued Peter Maule regarding the boundaries between their lands of Conon and Tulloch and his territory of Panmure. The two parties met on Cairnconon Hill on 22nd June 1254, and neutral men were present, including Sir William de Brechin, Gilbert de Haya and Robert de Montealto.

   The following centuries have a peppering of references to perambulations in different parts of the county, including one of the lands of Auchterlony in 1397, when one of the participants was Michael Durham of Grange.

   The larger burghs in Angus also made great show of inspecting their marches from medieval times onwards, with much religious pomp and ceremony. Dundee's march ceremonies went into abeyance at the Reformation, but it was brought back in a more secular form in 1582, with a resolution stating that the provost, bailies, council and deacons of craft should annually on the 3rd of May pass through the burgh. They would visit all communities and made note that the gates, wynds, vennels, passages and middens were all in good order. The ceremony (if it might be called that) continued through the 17th century. On 21st April 1668 the records state:

The Counsell ordaynes that all those in the roll for ryding of the townis merches be warnit to that effect, each person under the payne of fyve poundis Scots, to be payit by each contravener absenting himself the tyme of ryding the merches prescryit by the former acts.

   On 12th May 1668:

The Provest maid report that the townis merches were redden this day aucht dayes, and that they had found on merch stone in the Magdalen gair out of the way, and thairfor ordayned to provyd ane other to be put out in the place thairof; as also gives power to the provest, bailies, and the Dene of Gild to meet with the laird of Monorgane for righting the passage of the water of Dichty in relation to their mylnes; as also ordayne the thesaurer to provyd ane march stone to be placed quhair thair was on formerlie; as also ane other marh stone at Baldovalne mylne. It was ordered that the interruption maid at the ryding vpon ane bark as they did ryd downe to the Craif be the eastmost end of their march be extracted, and layed up in the townis chest.

   The riding of the marches was a formal and splendid event in Arbroath, perhaps a result of its long association with the abbey. On 12th March 1778 the provost, bailies and council, with by their officers, e deacons of the trades, and by the land labourers or carters, all on horseback, and with the accompaniment of music, perambulated the burgh bounds, the proceedings of the day being wound up with considerable festivity. Anciently, the ceremony of riding the marches was frequently performed. It was one of the customary celebrations in connection with St. Thomas’s Day. 

   Forfar has long been fortunate to possess extensive lands held by the town council for the benefit of the community, dating back to time immemorial. Traditionally, the riding of the marches—was conducted every three years until the outbreak of the First World War. However, it has never been revived in its original form. In more recent times, these ridings evolved into inspections of  farms and properties. An annual water inspection was introduced and has, to some extent, taken the place of the traditional riding. Although no formal riding has taken place since before 1914, the council has occasionally dedicated a day to visiting and inspecting all the farms within the town’s holdings.

  In 1965  a symbolic riding of the marches was organised. The chosen date was July 3, concluding Visitors’ Week. Flags and banners adorned public buildings as, at 9:30 a.m., the  officials gathered at the Cross—once the site of the ancient Mercat Cross, the traditional assembly point for burghal processions—outside the town and county hall. They were warmly welcomed by a large crowd of townsfolk and visitors. The town clerk read the proclamation of the riding. The procession, headed by a piper and followed by supporters, set off and marked certain significant points by planting a tree.

The first stop was at North Mains Farm, then they went to the Lemno Burn where the Forfar marches with the lands of Carsegray. A second tree was planted at Pitreuchie. They then climbed Balmashanner Hill and a third tree was planted. The fourth and last tree was planted by the Dean Bridge, where the town’s lands meetthose of the Earl of Strathmore. 

The Forfar Perambulation at Balnashanner Hill

Works Consulted

Anonymous, The Municipal History of Dundee (Dundee, 1878).

Sir Robert Douglas, The Baronage of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1798).

Rev. James Ogilvy Haldane, Kingoldrum Parish, New Statistical Account, Volume XI (1845).

Matthew H. Hammond, A Prosopographical Analysis of Society in East Central Scotland. circa 1100 to 1260, Unpublished Phd. Thesis (Glasgow, 2005).

F. Marian Macneill, The Silver Bough, Volume 4, The Local Festivals of Scotland (Glasgow, 1968).

An Away Day With the Fairies in Brechin

 Is there something odd about Brechin? No, obviously not. But is there something supernaturally strange about the burgh? Maybe.

I only ask after uncovering the folk tale related below, which features Brechin as the favoured destination of a fairy queen and her hapless mortal abductee. Enjoy the tale for itself. I will be asking questions afterwards.

Brechin c. 1833

   In the book Dunblane Traditions, by John Monteath, first published in 1835, we are given many quaint historical traditions of the south Perthshire town. Also included (and this was a general nineteenth century trend) were picturesque pen portraits of eccentric and amusing characters who formerly inhabited the locality.

   The subject of this story was an old tailor nicknamed the Black Laird, who stuck to his old manner of clothing (blue bonnets and hodden grey clothes) long after the nation had moved on. Before the incident we are going to relate, the Laird had suffered an unsolicited encounter with the Devil, but afterwards he was loathe to communicate what had happened. His next supernatural encounter was decribed by Monteath as follows:

The Laird had been at Alloa on a visit to a friend, who accompanied him in the evening so far as Menstry, when, after a parting gill, they separated—the Alloa tailor returning by the way he came, and the Laird by the Brae of Menstry, as the nearest way home. At a green brae, adjacent to the farm-house of Loss, the Laird saw, by the clear moonlight, a vast number of little women in green-gowns collecting ivingle-straes, which they tied in small bunches. The Laird observed them with attention, while he leaned on the beam of a pleuch, which by chance was there, with the sock and coulter in the fur, as it had just been left by the ploughman not an hour before.

When the pigmies had collected about a handful each of the wingle-straes, one of them, a bonny little kimmer, stepped a-side to the Laird, and bade him just do with the pleuch-heam as he would observe her do with the handful of wingle-straes, and he should have a good supper before he went home. The Laird promised obedience, and accordingly, when he saw the Fairy Queen get astride upon her bunch of wingle-straes, he mounted his plough-beam. The Queen then waved her wand, crying, "Brechin to the Brithal," and instantly the whole group. Laird and all, having repeated Brechin to the Brithal, ascended in the air on coursers fleet as the wind, and white as the driven snow. 

They soon arrived at Brechin, entered the sumptuous apartments by the key-holes, preceded by the Fairy Queen; where, invisible to all the guests, they fared of the very best and savoury viands, and drank of the most delicious and costly wines. Having liberally partaken of everything good at Brechin, the Queen waved her switch and cried out, "Cruinan to the Dance," when presently the whole re-passed the key-holes "like a sough o' wind," and found their coursers below them on the outside, panting
for the dance at Cruinan. 

Up again they got, high in the air, and were instantly on the wings of the wind, flying to the dance, but just as they had returned to the spot whence they started the Laird, highly elated with the success of the adventure, could not help exclaiming, "Weel done, Watson's auld Pleuch-beam!" which, unfortunately for the Laird, had the effect of undoing the charm, and leaving him astride on the identical auld pleuch-beam, and exactly in the same position he had been previous to the commencement of his flicht to Brechin. The pretty  green-coated fairies, at the same time, disappeared, leaving the Laird to plod his way homeward in the best manner he could—a task which, with his good supper and wine, he felt no difficulty in accomplishing. 

It was of no use hinting to the Laird, when he told this story, that the Menstry gill with the Alloa tailor might possibly have occasioned his jiicht to Brechin during a nap on Watson's auld pleuchheam— and that instead of an old plough he had, in all likelihood, ascended on a gill-stoup. " Na, na," the Laird would reply to any such as ventured to question the truth of his story—" I couldna be mista'en, and ye ken weel aneuch there's mony ane been carried awa' by the fairies, an' never heard o' mair—forbye Davy Rae's wife o' Tullibody, that was seen ridin' on a clud twenty years after she was stown frae her ain man's side, ae Halloween night when he was sleepin'.

Brechin c. 1774

    Leaving aside the veracity of the man's kidnapping, we might first of all wonder where the scene of the abduction was. A prime candidate is the Hill of Airthrey, a notorious fair knowe located to the west of Menstrie. This place features in several other folk tales, including one in which a farmer's wife was kidnapped by the fairies which lived in the hill. He only managed to free her, some time later, when he made a random, odd physical gesture which broke the fairy spell. In another story, a farmer named Davy Rae made a compact with the fairies on the hill to steal away his errant wife.

   But why was Brechin the destination for the fairy adventure, I wonder? Is there anything which specially links Dunblane with Brechin. Both of course were centres of early Christianity: Brechin possibly had a Pictish monastery which was replaced with Irish clerics, while Dunblane seems to have been founded as a British ecclesiastic site dedicated to St Blane. The austere order of Culdees may have been prominent in both places before regular Roman priests and monks took over the establishments. 

   That apart, the matter is a mystery. There may be some special piece of buried lore about the Good People inhabiting the Ancient City of Brechin, but if there is, the tradition is as elusive as the fairies themselves, and I've never heard of it!

Tales of the Whales - Part Four

   To look back on Dundee's whale fishing industry is to wipe away the soot from a dirty window and peer in at a long gone where where everything is different. Not only is the idea of whale hunting abhorrent to modern sensibilities, the attitudes of those involved in the trade are sometimes difficult to discern. When the fishery was at its height the burgh was an odd mix of high poverty, entrepreneurial energy and religious intensity.  A story in George Martin's Dundee Worthies (Dundee, 1934, pp. 127-8) exemplifies this. The Greenland area was flourishing for Dundee ships in the first part of the 19th century. One whaling ship owner was a well to do merchant who resided in a mansion in the Nethergate. One of his chief employees was John Duncan, who was perturbed when his master's vessel did not return to the Tay after a whaling expedition at the dame time as other local vessels. After some delay it finally appeared on a Sunday morning and John eagerly went to tell his employer. A servant said the family were at breakfast, but John insisted on interrupting with his news. 'Mr T,' he burst out. 'The Greenland has come in and is anchored in the roads. ' His boss upbraided him for relaying this matter of business on the Sabbath, then his commercial senses kicked in and he asked, 'John, my man, did ye hear is she was weel fished?'  John Duncan, however, said he would take his boss's initial advice and leave the matter until the Sabbath was done and walked out of the mansion without a further word.

   Another, slighter anecdote from Dundee Worthies demands attention. A Dundonian lad called Jimmy was a new recruit to the whalers and was given his first major responsibility of taking the ships' wheel. He was told to steer straight according to a particular star in the sky. After about an hour the Captain noted that the ship was not ploughing the depth of water it should have been in. He went on deck and accosted the recruit: 'Why the - didn't ye steer for the star as I told you?' And Jimmy replied, 'Och! I lost yon star, but I found anither!' (p. 152)

Previous Posts on Whaling

Tales of the Whales Part One

Tales of the Whales Part Two: The Rise of Dundee and Montrose

Tales of the Whales Part Three: Strangers Brought Home

Ochterlony's Account of the Shire of Forfar - Part Three

  This is the third part of John Ochterlony's Account of the Shire of Forfar, written around 1682, and gives a fascinating, if brief and selective, picture of the county of Angus in the period.

 Links to previous parts of this work are at the bottom of this post.

Idvie. — The Laird of Gardyne of that Ilk, formerly spoken of, hath the most part of the Baronie of Gairdyne, except the house and maines which belong to a gentleman of the name of Ruthvene. Baronie of Idvie to Sir John Wood of Bonnietoun. Pitmowes, belonging to John Ogilvy, a grand-child of a second son of the House of Airlie; a good house well planted, and lyes pleasantly on the water of Evenie. Mr Ballvaird, minister. In the Diocese of St Andrews; Archbishop, patrone.


Guthrie. — The most part of the parish belongs to the Laird of Guthrie of that Ilk, a very ancient gentleman, and chief of his name; his house is well planted, good yards and orchards, good land, well grassed, and lyes pleasantly on the head of the water of Lounane in Strathbegg; Pitmowea and Commissare Wisehart have some interest there. Garbuddo, a gentleman of the name of Erskine, a cadet of the  House of Dun, lyes at a great distance from the kirk, and had a chapple of their own, wherein the minister of Guthrie preached every third or fourth Sabbath-day, but is now ruinous. It is abundantly served of peat and turf, not only for their own use, but for the service of the whole countrey 
about; is a murish cold countrey, and at a great distance from all gentlemen's houses and kirks about it. Mr Strachan, minister. In the Diocese of Brechine; Guthrie, patrone.






Panbryde, alias St Brigid.—The whole parish, except the Barronie of Panbryd, which belongs to the Earl Soutbesk, appertaines to Earl Panmure, wherein stands the house of Panmure, new built, and, as is thought by many, except Halyruidhouse, the best house in the kingdome of Scotland, with delicate gardens, with high stone walls, extraordinare much planting, young and old; many great parks about the new and old house, with a great deal of planting about the old house ; brave hay meadows well ditched and hedged; and, in a word, is a most excellent, sweet, and delicate place. The familie is very ancient and honourable, and has been alwayes very great, and were reckoned, before they were nobilitat, the first Barons of the shyre. They have allwayes been very famous for the loyaltie and good service to their Princes. Patrick Earl Panmure, grandfather to the present Earl, having served King James the Sixth and King Charles the First, of blessed memorie, loyallic, faithfullie, and truelie, in the qualitie of Bed-Chamber man, was advanced by King Charles the First to the dignitie of ane Earl, and did continue in his service and duetie to his Sacred Majestic in all his solitudes and troubles,through all the parts of the kingdome, in tlie tyme of the Rebellione; and afterward in all places of liis confinement, and at the Isle of Weight, till the bloodie traitors who afterwards imbrued their hands in his sacred blood, thrust

him from his attendance, but was the last Scotsman that attende his Majestic. 

It is lykwayes known liow the late Earl, his sone, being a colonell of horse, behaved himself when this present King, his Majestic, was in Scotland, both at Dunbar, Inverkeithing, and other places, and how his estate was robbed and spoylt by the usurper's forces here, and he fyned in a vast soume of money, whereby he was forced to redeem his estate from forrfaultrie. The place is also famous for that great battle fought there betwixt the Scots and Danes, wherein the Scots obtained a great victorie, and is called the Battle of Panmure.

There was one of the Lords of Panmure killed at the famous battle of Harlaw, and most of all his name in his Prince's service against rebells and usurpers. Balmachie, belonging to a gentleman of the name of Carnegy, of the Familie of Southesk. Mr Maule, minister. In the Diocese of Brechine; Earl Panmure, patrone, and has newly re-edified his buriall-place with a chamber above, with a loft in the kirk, most sumptous and delicate, lie hath at Panmure a most excellent breed of horse and cattle.

Barrie. — It belongs to severall heritors. Earl Panmure hath ane interest therein, and the whole parish pay him feu, hath a Bailiery, and keeps Courts there, Woodhill, Kid, a pleasant place. Grange of Barrie, Watsone. Ravensbay, pertaining to the Laird of Gairdyne of that Ilk. Pitskellie, Alexander. Carnoustie to Mr Patrick Lyon, Advocat; the rest are but small heritors. It is ane excellent countrey, good cornes, and well grassed. It is famous for that great battle fought betwixt the Scots and Danes in the Links of Barrie, wherein the Scots obtained the victorie, with great slaughter of both Scots and Danes, which is to be seen at this day by the great heaps of stones casten together in great heapes in diverse places of that Links, which is said to be the buriall of the dead there slain. Those of the Danes who escaped the slauchter of that battle fled with their general Camus, and were overtaken by the Scots four myles from that place, and defeated: their general Camus being slaine upon the place, with many others. Camus 
with all the dead were buried tnere, and a great high stone cross erected upon him, which is still extant, and gives name to the place, being called Camustone, and the pillar, the Cross of Camustone; it belongcth to the Earl of Panmure.

Within these two or thrie yeares the Cross, by violence of wind and weather, did fall, which the Earl caused re-erect and fortifie against such hazard in tyme to come. The remainder of the Danes that escaped that battle fled north-ward, where they were overtaken by the Scots at a place in this shyre called Aberlemno, ten myles distant from Camus-one, and there beat, and all of them, either killed or taken ; and there it is probable some great man was killed, there being ane cross erected there, and called the Crosstoun of Aberlemno ; they have both of them some antique pictures and letters, so wome out with tyme, that they are not legible, or rather, the characters are not intelligible in thir tymes. Barrie lyes midway betwixt Dundie and Arbroth, six myles distant from either. Mr Carnegy, minister. In the Diocese of St Andrews; the King's Majestie, patrone.



ANCIENT FAMILIES IN THE SHYRE.


Noblemen. — Earls Strathmore, Southesk, Airlie, Panmure, Lord Gray. Gentlemen. — Lairds of Edzell, Dun, Pitcur, Pourie, Fotheringhame, Fintrie, Claverhouse, Innerrarritie, Bonnietoune, Ouchterlony of that Ilk, Gairdyne of that Ilk, Auchinleck of that Ilk, Grange, Durhame, Balmashanner, Guthrie of that Ilk,Baljordie, Balfour, Ogilvy, Strathmartine, Nevoy of that Ilk, Buthvene, Deuchar of that Ilk, Thometoune of that Ilk.

Many great families are extinct in this shyre within these few years, as Earls Buchan, Dundie, Crauford, Lords Spynie, Olyfant, besydes many considerable barrens and gentlemen, whose estates are purchased by privat persones, and by merchants and burgesses of the severall burghs of the shyre.

The shyre is aboundantlie furnished of all things necessaro for life, such abundance of comes and cattle, that the consumption within the countrey is not able to spend the sixth part thereof.

I will add no more for our Familie of Ouchterlony of that Ilk but what I have said in the generall description of some places we have and had concern in, but that I have ane accompt of the marriages of the Familie these fifteen generations, viz. 1st, Stewart of Rossyth, in Fytfe; 2d, Maull of Panmure; 3d,

Ogilvy of Lentrathene, predecessor to the Lords of Ogilvy; 4th, Gray, of the Lord Gray; 5th, Drummond of Stobhall, now Perth; 6th, Keith, Lord Marishall; 7th, Lyon, Lord Glames; 8th, Cunninghame of Barnes: 9th, Stewart of Innermeath; 10th, Olyphant, of the Lord Olyphant; 11th, Scrimgeor of Dudope; 12th, Beatoun of Westhall; 13th, Peirsone of Loclilands; 14th, Carnegy of Newgait; 15th, Maull, cousine-germane to the deceist Patrick Earl of Panmure. All these are daughters of the above written families. The lamilie is very ancient and very great, having above fourteen score clialders of victuall, which was a great estate in those days.

My grandfather told me he saw a letter from Sir William Wallace, Governour of Scotland, directed to his trustie and assured friend, the Laird of Ouchterlony of that Ilk, requiring him in all haste to repair to him, with his friends and servants, notwithstanding his pass was not out; which pass did bear allowing him to travaill from Cunningharaehead to Ouchtermergitie, now Balmadies, which was his place of residence, about his lawfull affairs, and to repair to him againe in a short tyme therein prescrived—"for its lyke," sayes he, "we will have use for you and other honest men in the countrey within a

short tyme ;"—and accordingly the Barns of Air were burnt shortly thereafter.

The letter and pass are both together. Probablie the Laird of Drum, who purchased the estate, hath these and other antiquities of our Familie; but they cannot be had for the present. The armes of our Familie are thus blazoned—bears Azure, a lyon rampant, Argent, within a border Gules entoure, of eight buckles Or above the shield, ane helmet mantled Gules and doubled Argent ; and on the torse for a crest, ane eagle displayed Azure, with ane escallope in hir beek Argent, and the

motto above the crest — deus mihi adjutor.

Part One

Part Two

The Ballad of Lord Spynie

Few people know much about the noble title of Spynie or those who bore that name. There were several Lord Spynie's in the late 16th and early 17th century, though the title went extinct after a few generations. It was held by a branch of the powerful Lindsay family who were powerfully represented in the county for several centuries.

The first Lord Spynie, Alexander Lindsay, was a sometime favourite of King James VI, though he fell out of favour with that mercurial monarch (more on this below). He was the fourth son of the 10th Earl of Crawford and also a grandson of the famous/infamous Cardinal Beaton, a pre-eminent prelate from Fife who spent much of his life in Angus.

His early career was fairly standard for a well-connected nobleman of the era and he became vice-chamberlain to the king. He was also embroiled in a complicated adultery involving the wife of Alan Leytoun, a laird from Fife. This lady, Helen Hunter, was also involved romantically, or at least carnally, with his brother, David Lindsay, 11th Earl of Crawford.

Lindsay's fortune was largely linked to his accompanying James VI on his marriage expedition to Denmark. Before the trip Lindsay was able to assist the king with a loan of 10,000 gold coins, financing the expedition and assuring his own advancement. The king promised him a peerage on their return to Scotland:

Sandie. Quhill (till) youre goode happe furnels me sum better occasion to recompense youre honest and faithfull service utterid be youre diligente and cairfulle attendance upon me, speciallie at this tyme, lett this assure you, in the inviolabill worde of youre awin prince and maister, that quhen Godd randeris me in Skotlande, I sall irrevocabilie, and with consent of parliament, erect you the temporalitie of Murraye in a temporall lordship, with all honours thereto appertaining, and left this serve for cure to your present disease. From the castle of Croneburg, quhare we are drinking and dryving our in the auld manner. J.R.” In fulfillment of this promise, and in acquittance of the 10,000 gold crowns lent to him, the king granted a charter of the lordship of Spynie, Kinnedder, Rafford, and other lands in the counties of Elgin, Banff, and Inverness, formerly belonging to the see of Moray, united into the free barony of Spynie, with the title of Baron Spynie, to Alexander Lindsay and his heirs and assignees, dated 6th May 1590.

   In 1590, Lindsay was accordingly made Lord Spynie, taking his title from lands near Elgin. Although his lands were in north and his family were largely located in Angus, he took as his principal seat Aberdour Castle in Fife, which came to him via his wife Jean Lyon. Jean was a daughter of the house of Glamis and Spynie was her third husband. She had achieved some nororiety by being implicated (by relatives of Angus) of her second husband's death, possibly involving poison or witchcraft. Given the climate of the times, she was lucky to escape death.

Aberdour Castle

   The relationship between young Lindsay and the king has been open to question by historians, with some thinking that Alexander was a lover of king James. This has never been proven, despite much innuendo and analysis and I stand guilty to a certain extent myself by not coming to any cast iron conclusion in my recent book on King James. It is true that the ruler almost certainly had male lovers when he took over the kingdom of England, most notably the Earl of Somerset and the Duke of Buckingham. His love life in Scotland is less clear. In his youth he was clearly besotted by his French relative Esme Stuart, but subsequent affairs (if there were any) were well disguised. 

   The Englishman Thomas Fowler reported in the late 1580s that the king was believed to be overly influenced by young men who slept in his chamber. Fowler said one such man, Alexander Lindsay, was ‘the king’s best beloved minion’. Another source states that Lindsay was ‘his nightly bed-fellow’, while Sir James Melville stated that Lindsay made other jealous because he was ‘in great favour with his Majesty, and sometimes his bedfellow’. 

   Physical proximity to the king of course was no guarantee that physical intercourse took place and we will never know if the two men were intimate. It has been argued that the fact that James pressed for Jean Lyon to marry hos favourite Lindsay is evidence that there was noting between the men. Yet the king provided the same matrimonial encouragement to other men he was almost certainly physically involved with.

   Lord Spynie's fall from grace with his majesty had nothing to do with his marriage, but an accusation that he was conspiring - or at least allied with - one of the king's most turbulent subjects, Francis Stewart, the Earl of Bothwell. The latter was a long-term thorn in the side of King James, and had threatened the monarch with violence in order to support his own ends. He would also, perhaps wrongly, be implicated in the North Berwick Witch trials at the end of the 16th century. Spynie sheltered Bothwell at his house at Aberdour and was accused of supporting this rebellious subject by another courtier. No official action was taken against Spynie and he remained a member of the privy council, but he lost the trust of the monarch.

  As well as Aberdour, Spynie maintained his lands in Angus, where his principal house was Kinblethmont in Inverkeillor parish. The house was severely damaged and ransacked in November 1602 by the Master of Ogilvy and his kinsmen as part of a long-running, though intermittent local feud between the Ogilvys and the Lindsays. (I detailed some of this inter-family violence in an earlier post here.) Luckily, Spynie and his wife had left the house two hours before the raid. 

 

Kinblethmont in the late 18th century

   Spynie's death, ironically, did not involve his kindred's traditional enemy, but members of his own immediate family. On 5 June 1607 he was at the foot of the stairs of his lodging in the High Street of Edinburgh and he witnessed a violent encounter between David Lindsay, 12th Earl of Crawford, and another David Lindsay, of Edzell. The latter was the son of Walter Lindsay of Balgavies who had been murdered by Crawford. Attempting to intervene between his relatives, Spynie was fatally stabbed by the laird of Edzell.

           The death of Spynie became the subject of the ballad bellow, which is one of the few genuinely old ballads which deal with people or themes which are associated with Angus. In true traditional fashion, the ballad mixes up the facts to make the story more entertaining. The ballad would have us believe that Spynie was a dastardly wooer who seduced and then abandoned his distant female relative, a daughter of the Lindsay house of Edzell. The lady's outraged brother then killed Spynie in Edinburgh and, to escape justice, fled to Glenmark Castle in Angus before fleeing even further north. Such a narrative is romantic nonsense.

Lord Spynie, ye may pu' the rose

an spare the lily flower,

when ye gae through the garden green

to woo in lady's bower;

an' ye pu' the lichtsome thyme,

an' leave the lonesome rue,

for lang an' sair will the lady mourn

that ye gae there to woo!

For ye will look an' talk of love,

And kindly kindly smile,

An' vow by grace and a' that's gude,

And lay the luving while.

'Tis sair to rob the bonnie bird

That makes you melodie. -

'Tis cruel to win a woman's luve, 

An' no' hae luve to gie!

I wadna hae your wilfu' hand

Though a' the earth were thine,

Ye've broken many a maiden's peace,

Ye've mair than broken mine.

I wadna hae your faithless heart,

'Tis no your ain to gie,

But gin ye ever think o' heaven,

O, ye maun think o' me!

 

Arms of the first Lord Spynie

  Spynie's eldest son Alexander fought in the Swedish army under Gustavus Adolphus and later became an ally of Montrose. He died in 1657. According to the ascerbic Sir John Scot of Scotstarvet, in his Staggering State of Scottish Statesmen, the second Lord Spynie was 'a noble spendthrift and exquisite in all manner of debauchery'. George Lindsay, 3rd Lord Spynie, was a royalist adherent during the civil wars and died childless in 1671.