INVERALLAN IN STRATHSPEY.
[xxix] The lands of Inverallan were among the earliest possessions of the Grant family, and the first which they acquired in Strathspey. They were possessed in the reign of King Robert the Bruce by John le Grant, and have ever since been inherited by the Grants, with one interruption caused by the lands having been provided to co-heiresses. The dispute which arose afterwards, respecting the possession of the lands, lasted for upwards of two centuries. It is fully instructed by documents in the Grant Charter chest, and the facts are of interest for understanding the history of this early inheritance of the Grants in Strathspey.As a separate estate, the lands of Inverallan were composed of three davochs. They were situated on the west side of the river Spey, and extended several miles up the river from the vicinity of Castle Grant. In these three davochs are comprised the lands of Kildreke or Dreggie, Glen beg, Craggan, and Gaich. They appear to have formed part of the territory of the De Moravias in the early part of the thirteenth century, as between the years 1223 and 1q42 Walter de Moravia granted the church of Inverallan to Andrew, Bishop of Moray, for the upholding of the cathedral church of Elgin, Registrum Moraviense, p. 111 but about 1288 they appear as the possession of Augustine, the son of the late Robert of Augustine, who styles himself Lord of "Inverallan in Strathspe." Ibid. p. 142. A person of the name of Augustine appears in the time of Andrew de Moravia, Bishop of Moray, as his servitor. He was probably the father of Robert and other three Sons, Benedict, a friar of Kinloss, John, and another, whose name was either Sir William or Sir Walter. [Ibid. pp. 66, 86, 129, 135.] In 1316, John of Inverallan, son to Gilbert, brother of Augustine, disponed the lands to John le Grant, the father of Patrick le Grant, Lord of Stratherrick, to whom reference has already been made. Patrick le Grant inherited them, and bestowed one-half of them, the davoch land of Dreggie and the half davoch land of Glenbeg, with his daughter Elizabeth le Grant, about the year 1357, upon William Pylche, a burgess of Inverness. Vol iii. of this work, p. 10.
The son of William Pylche and Elizabeth le Grant was William Pylche, [xxx] Lord of Culcabock and Inverallan. He married a lady named Elizabeth Pylche, and both he and his wife died before 1453, his widow having before her death resigned into the hands of Archibald Douglas, Earl of Moray and Master of Douglas, her lands of the half-town of Inverallan, half-town of Glenbeg, and half town of Dreggie, within the earldom of Moray and regality of Ballokhill, in favour of John Hay of Mayne. The Lord of Culcabock and Inverallan had two daughters, Elizabeth and Marjory Pylche, who were infeft in the lands of Gaich, Dreggie, and Glenbeg, prior to the year 1430, and they again, in their widowhood, in 1482, resigned in the hands of the King, in favour of Alexander Hay 0f Mayne, their lands of Inverallan, Gaich, Glenbeg, Craggan, and Dreggie, with the lands of Culcabock, Knockintennaill, and the Hauch, which lands, it is said, had belonged to them hereditarily. These two heiresses, however, reserved the liferents of their respective portions of the lands.
But Elizabeth Grant, Lady of Stratherrick, the grand-daughter of Patrick le Grant, after disponing, in 1419, her lands of Stratherrick to her son, James Mackintosh, in 1433 conveyed all her other lands and possessions to her grandson, John Seres. She was heiress to her grandfather, Patrick le Grant, and as he had only bestowed half of the lands of Inverallan upon his daughter Elizabeth, on her marriage with William Pylche, he other half appears to have descended to John Seres. But from this point, owing probably to the sub-division amongst co-heiresses, the history of the lordship of Inverallan is one of contention.
The documents which narrate the transfer of these lands from the Pylche ladies to the Hays of Mayne, indicate that the whole of the lands of Inverallan were in the possession of these co-heiresses, and were by them made over to the Hays in 1482. In 1433 John Seres became the heir of Elizabeth le Grant, and in 1464 he obtained sentence before the Lords Auditors against Angus Gibbonson, for unjustly spoiling, occupying, and detaining the lands of Inverallan and Gaich to his injury, and ordering these lands and their profits to be restored to him. In 1482 Patrick Seres, son of the late John Seres, was infeft in the lands of Inverallan, on a precept by William Crawford of Federeth, called the superior of the lands. Patrick Seres shortly thereafter resigned them in favour of John Grant, son [xxxi] and heir-apparent of Duncan Grant of Freuchie, who was then infeft in the lands on a precept from the superior. John Grant died on 30th August 1482, and on a precept from the same superior, his son, John Grant, was infeft in the lands in the following year. On the other hand, Alexander Hay of Mayne received the lands after their resignation by Elizabeth and Marjory Pylche, from King James the Third, by charter dated 25th October 1482, and was infeft on the 30th of the same month by James Dunbar of Cumnock, Sheriff of Inverness.
The question was thus one both of superiority and possession. The claim of superiority lay between the Crown and the Crawfords of Federeth, that of possession between the Grants of Freuchie and the Hays of Mayne. For a time there is no appearance of a collision having taken place. But in 1511, after the death of Alexander Hay of Mayne, his heir not having entered to the lands within the specified time, the non-entry of the lands was conferred by the Crown on a person named Robert Douglas. Douglas found John Grant of Freuchie in possession of certain of the lands, and pursued him for the rents and dues thereof before the Lords of Council. In the action the Crown laid claim to the mails of half the lands of Gaich, half the lands of Glenbeg, and half the lands of Dreggie, but their Lordships decided in favour of John Grant of Freuchie on the production by him of charter and sasine of the lands.
In the later contest with the Hays of Mayne, the Grant family were, so far as legal proceedings were concerned, unsuccessful, but the contention was prolonged through several generations. During that period, on account of successive deaths among the Hays, and also their impecuniosity, the lands frequently fell into the wardship of the Crown, and the ward was gifted to various individuals. One of these was Alexander Hay of Easter Kennet, Clerk to the Privy Council, and Clerk-Register, who assigned his gift in 1566 to John Grant of Freuchie, then in actual possession of the lands of Inverallan as tenant. The Clerk-Register was related to William Hay of Mayne, heir to the lands of Inverallan, and interested himself in getting him established in them. At this time, too, William Crawford of Federeth challenged the right of superiority to the lands claimed by the Crown, but his claim was rejected. From the repeated mention of these lands in the Exchequer [xxxii] Rolls during this period it is ascertained that their estimated annual value was £26, 13s. 4d. Scots.
In 1583 John Grant, fourth Laird of Freuchie, entered into negotiations with William Hay of Mayne, with a view to settle all disputes by a purchase of the lands, and it was agreed between them that the Laird of Freuchie should get the lands of Inverallan. In return, and for the "extinctione of pley, trouble, or expense," he was to infeft the Laird of Mayne in the lands of Arndilly, pay the sum of three thousand merks, and, as the donator and assignee of the Laird of Mayne's maritagium, release him to marry whomsoever he pleased. Original Heads of Condescendence at Castle Grant To this arrangement the consent of Alexander Hay, Lord Clerk-Register, was necessary, and for this the Laird of Freuchie wrote him a few days after the conclusion of the agreement. Vol. ii. of this work, p. 36.
A year or two elapsed before the final terms were arranged. The Laird of Mayne married in the interval, and as his spouse was Jean Grant, a daughter of one of the principal scions of the family, Patrick Grant of Ballindalloch, Original Contract of Marriage, dated 1585, and subscribed by William Hay of Mayne, and Alexander Hay of Easter Kennet, Clerk-Register, with the names of two sons of the latter, Mr. John Hay and Daniel Hay as witnesses, at Castle Grant. it may be supposed that the choice was not altogether his own, though it probably was approved by all parties concerned for the sake of insuring the interment of. old feuds, and procuring a stable foundation for present and future amity. During the same period the old Laird of Freuchie died, and the completion of the acquisition of Inverallan was devolved on his grandson and successor, John Grant, the fifth Laird. On 26th June 1587 a contract was entered into for the absolute sale of the lands of Inverallan, Glenbeg, Gaich, Craggan, and Dreggie, to John Grant of Freuchie, for six thousand merks. A charter of the lands was granted the same day in his favour by the Clerk-Register as fiar, and William Hay of Mayne as liferenter. it states that they were to be held of the Crown in fee and heritage for ever, and a charter of confirmation of the grant was obtained from King James the Sixth on 14th February 1592, who, in the same document, confirmed another charter of the adjacent lands of Auchnarrows, Downan, and Port. Original Charter at Castle Grant. These lands, with those of Inverallan, [xxxiii] were shortly afterwards included in a new incorporation of the barony of Cromdale. Shortly before his death, this Laird also satisfied William Hay of Mayne in respect of his claim for the ejection of his grandfather, by the Laird's grandfather, from his lands of Mayne. Original Discharge, dated 17th November 1621, at Castle Grant.
These arrangements ought to have terminated, and to all appearance (lid terminate, the unhappy and prolonged litigation betwixt the Grants and the Hays of Mayne respecting Inverallan. But the contest was after wards unexpectedly re-opened by James Hay, the eldest son of the marriage of William Hay of Mayne and Jean Grant of Ballindalloch. On her marriage Jean Grant had received, as a liferent portion, the rents of the davoch land of Dreggie, and the half davoch land of Gaich, and, in, 1625, after the death of her husband, she sold her liferent rights in these lands to her eldest son. Original Disposition at Castle Grant. Another son, Patrick lay, is a witness. Owing, apparently, to the want of some necessary precaution in making up the titles, James Hay was able to lay claim to the possession of the lands with some measure of success, and, in 1653, James, the seventh Laird of Freuchie, grandson of the Laird who had bought the lands from William Hay, found it his interest to compromise the matter, rather than renew the litigation. He accordingly agreed with James Hay, then designed "in Auchroisk," the Hays having ceased to be connected with Mayne, that the latter should dispone to him all right and title which he had to the barony of Glenbeg, or any part thereof, either as heir to his father or other predecessors, or by his mother's liferent, deliver over all his evidents of the lands, and discharge all claims connected therewith; and also, that he should procure the renunciation of Auchroisk by the Clerks of Auchroisk, and denude himself of his rights therein in the Laird's favour. On his part, James Grant of Freuchie was to pay to James Hay £800 Scots, out of which Grisel Hay, sister to James Hay, and spouse to John Caddell, was to have her liferent portion, other four hundred merks on the performance of the conditions stipulated, and to give him a four years' tack of the lands of Cummingston, an estate on the Mulben property in Banffshire. Original Agreement at Castle Grant This agreement effectually brought to [xxxiv] a termination this disagreeable and unprofitable petty feud, and since this settlement, the lands have remained peacefully in possession of the Grants.
The stream which flows down from Tobair-Alline, where it takes its rise, through Glenbeg, and which from that circumstance is now called the Glenbeg Burn, It is also sometimes called the Craggan Burn and the Inverallan Burn. evidently, in earlier days, bore the name of the Allan, and gave the designation of Inverallan to the district which surrounds the lower part of its course. At its confluence with the Spey there appears to have been, in former days, a strong fort, whence, probably, the earlier Lords of Inverallan bore sway over their little territory, and dispensed feudal justice to their dependants.
The parish of Inverallan embraced a larger portion of the territory of Strathspey than was contained in the lands known as Inverallan. Among other lands in the parish were Tullochgorm, Curr, Clurie, Auchnahandet, part, at least, of the three Finlargs, and Freuchie itself, some of which fall to be treated in other connections, as portions of the Grant possessions. The original parish of Inverallan was united to the adjacent parish of Cromdale, both in the presbytery of Abernethy. A new church was built in the town of Grantown, and was generally designed and known as the church of Grantown. But the presbytery of Abernethy, on 26th March 1816, appointed the church to be called the church of Inverallan. On an application by the late Earl of Seafield, and others interested, the Court of Teinds, on 24th May 1869, erected the district assigned to the church of Inverallan into a parish quoad sacra, disjoining it and the district from the parish of Cromdale. In an action of transportation at the instance of the present Earl of Seafield and others interested, the new manse which had been erected for Inverallan was, by decree of the Court of Teinds, dated 3d July 1882, ordained to be the manse of the quoad sacra parish of Inverallan in time coming, and the old manse was authorised to be sold. The erection of the new parish of Inverallan was a great convenience, particularly to the inhabitants of Grantown, who were far removed from the parish church of Cromdale.
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Volume I Introduction (iii) |
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