THE BARONY AND LORDSHIP OF GLENCARNIE IN THE PARISH OF DUTHIL
AND COUNTY OF INVERNESS.
[xlv]Along with the barony of Freuchie, the family of Grant held, as one of their early possessions, the ancient lordship or barony of Glencarnie, in the parish of Duthil. This barony, though formerly included in the sheriffdom of Inverness, was transferred for a time to that of Elgin or Moray, but by Act of Parliament, passed in 1870, it was restored to its original position in Inverness-shire. The Act defines the boundary line between the two counties as extending' "from the mouth of the river Dulnan where it enters the river Spey, up the river Dulnan tD the point where the Muckrach or Findlarigg Burn enters it, thence up the Muckrach or Findlarigg Burn to a point thereon where a stone marked 'County Boundary' has been placed, five hundred and seventy-two yards or thereby, measuring in a straight line from the well called Fuaranahanish Well, lying on the south side of the hill called Banmore, and from the last mentioned point on the said Muckrach or Findlarigg Burn in a straight line to the said well, which is a point on the present boundary between the counties of Inverness and Elgin or Moray." The Inverness and Elgin County Boundaries Act, 1870.
No district in the Grant country is known by the designation of Glencarnie at the present time. The lands comprising the ancient lordship lie, for the most part, in the parish of Duthil, and the parochial name has, for all purposes of utility, taken the prominence, leaving to the older designation a significance mainly historical. But as a historic and ancient lordship, famous not only in its own day of greatness, but even now also for its wealth of traditional and legendary romance, Glencarnie demands more than a. merely passing notice.
Glenkerny, Glenchernyn, Glenchairnycht, Glencarnin, from the Gaelic, Gleann a Ceatharnach, that is, the valley of the heroes, appears to have derived its name from the use of the place by the natives in prehistoric times, for the purposes of interment, especially of their warriors. The [xlvi] Scoticised name of Glencarnie seems also a most fit designation for the district, for as each warrior was honoured with the erection of a cairn over the spot where he lay buried, "These immense accumulations of stones are the sepulchral protections of the heroes among the ancient natives of our islands : the stone chests, the repository of the urns and ashes, are lodged in the earth beneath. The people of a whole district assembled to show their respect to the deceased, and by an active honouring of his memory, soon accumulated heaps equal to those that astonish us at this time. But these honours were not merely those of the day. As long as the memory of the deceased endured, not a passenger went by without adding a stone to the heap; they supposed it would be an honour to the dead, and acceptable to his manes.... To this moment there is a proverbial expression among the Highlanders, allusive to the old practice: a suppliant will tell his patron Curri mi clock er do charne, I will add a stone to your cairn, meaning when you are no more, I will do all possible honour to your memory." (Pennant's Voyage to the Hebrides, pp. 206, 208, 209.] and as the number of these graves with their surmounting cairns was very great, no more suitable appellation for the district could have been invented than the Glen of Cairns, or Glencarnie.
Although the name has changed, the nature of the country is still characteristic of its ancient designation. A learned and observant visitor to Duthil in 1873 has given an interesting description of the district:
"It was impossible to live for weeks at Carr Bridge and not see a considerable number of cairns. Close to it, indeed, there is a district called Docharn, which probably means the Davoch of the Cairns. I did not count the number of small cairns which are to be found on this and the adjoining farms, But I am certainly correct when I say that there are hundreds. The majority of them are small. There are three, however, of great size. The largest of these is at Tom-tigh-an-leighe - the hill of the house of the doctor.... The second in size of the three great cairns, is on the top of a knoll in the wood, just above Dochlagie. It is sixty feet in diameter, and nine to ten feet high." Vacation Notes in Cromar and Strathspey, by Arthur Mitchell, M.D., V. P.S.A. Scot.; printed in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scot land, vol. x. p. 683. The third cairn is described by the writer as being much smaller in size, and as standing near the old house of Inverlaidnan, where Prince Charlie once passed a night. In this cairn, human remains were found in a stone cist. He describes also a peculiar cairn known as the Granish or Grenish Circle or Ring Cairn, which "lies in the Grenish wood, about five miles from Carr Bridge, on the way to Aviemore, on the west side of a small loch, called Loch na Carraghean. It consists of two great circles of standing stones, the outer circle being sixty and the inner [xlvii] twenty-tour feet in diameter. It is thus a structure of great size. The stones forming the circles are about three feet above ground, and are close together
The space between the two circles is eighteen feet wide, and it is filled to the level of the top of the standing stones which define it, with loose stones, which are not large, are generally waterworn, and exhibit no sign of building." Vacation Notes, p. 685. The writer expresses the opinion that these cairns are not meaningless aggregations of stones, but that they were collected and arranged methodically with a purpose. "There is another thought," says he, "which seemed ever present to my mind while I was living beside these great cairns, and seeing them constantly. It was this. Do we not look too contemptuously on the people who erected them? Whoever they were they built tombs for their great men, and over these raised vast and enduring monuments. A cairn, seventy feet across, and twenty feet high, is no insignificant conception, nor is it an easy thing to erect such a cairn. They were not stupid savages who conceived and erected such memorials. In whatever light they regarded death, they certainly treated their dead with respect, and thought greatness worthy of commemoration. If we are descended from them, as I hope we are, we have no reason, I think, to be ashamed of our ancestors, who, though uncivilised, were certainly not feeble. It is possible, indeed, that they were potentially as good men as we are. Even in numbers they can scarcely have been much behind us - that is, if we leave out of view our great cities. Looking, indeed, at the number and size of the cairns still remaining in this district, it seems to me that there must have been as great a population between the two Craigellachies in the cairn times as in ours." Ibid. p. 685.
The traditions of Glencarnie for the most part encircle the lady who was the last representative of the earliest known Lairds of Glencarnie, and the connecting link between them and their successors, the family of Grant.
Traditionally she is known as Bigla Comyn, on the supposition that the early Lairds of Glencarnie, of whom the last was her father, Gilbert, were of the family of the Comyns. For this, however, there is no foundation in fact, as will presently be shown. The remains of an old castle are still visible on a steep bank of the Spey near Boat of Garten station on the Highland [xlviii] Railway. This is said to have been the site of the lady's stronghold, and is commonly known as Torn Pitlac, or Bigla's Castle. The building stood on an elevated plateau, protected on one side by the river, and on the other three sides by a deep moat. So close to the river was the castle, that tradition relates that a practice existed of fishing from its windows by means of a net let down into the stream, the arrangement of which was such that the fish, in the act of entering the net, rang a bell in a room of the castle. Many other traditions are current in Duthil regarding this lady, connecting her with whatever is peculiar in the district. The building of the kirk of Duthil is also ascribed to this wonderful lady, although there is evidence of the existence of a church there two centuries before the period generally assigned as that in which she flourished. But traditions are proverbially anachronistic, and those of the Duthil heroine are no exception to the rule.
It is the commonly received opinion, based, there can be little doubt, on the traditions which exist with regard to the supposed Bigla or Matilda Cumming, that the old Lairds of Glencarnie were of the Comyn family. This, however, is refuted by the facts now to be stated regarding the early history of Glencarnie and its possessors. ,That there were Comyns in the neighbouring district of Badenoch and elsewhere is matter of history, but there is not the slightest trace of their alleged connection with Glencarnie. Even the cherished tradition that Glencarnie was first acquired by the Grants through the marriage of Sir Duncan Grant's father with Matilda, the heiress of the last of the Glencarnies of that llk - the lady whose name is generally associated with the traditional Bigla - must also be discarded in the light of authentic history.
The lands of Glencarnie first appear as a possession of Gilchrist of Glencarnie, a younger son of Gilbert, third Earl of Strathern, the grand son, through Earl Farquhar, his father, of Malise, the first known Earl of Strathern. Earl Gilbert founded the monastery of Inchaffrey in his own earldom. His grandfather appears on authentic record as early as the year 1115, when he witnessed the charter of foundation of the Priory of Scone by King Alexander the First. It was this Earl Malise who greatly distinguished himself at the battle of the Standard, fought on 22d [xlix] August 1138, when, indignant at the confidence placed by King David the First in his N Norman knights, he exclaimed, "Why, O King, are you more willing to confide in these Normans? Unarmed as I am, not one of them, with all their mail, shall be before me in the fight this day." Fordun (Ed. 1872), Appendix, p. 443.
The charters of earliest date in the collection printed in this work refer to the lands of Glencarnie in the time of Gilbert, third Earl of Strathern. The first charter is a grant by King William the Lion to Earl Gilbert of the lands of Kinbethach, and appears to have been bestowed about the year 1180. The second charter, also by King William the Lieu, contains the earliest reference to the lands of Glencarnie, as it confirms a gift made by Earl Gilbert to his son Gilchrist of the lands of Kinnebethin As to this name, a Gaelic scholar in the district explains that Kinbethach and Kinnebethin are the same as the modern Kinveachy. The word means the head or end of birch or birchwood. The Gaelic for birch is beith, pronounced veigh, and birchwood may be translated beitheach. The end or head of birchwood would be written Ceann a beithich, and pronounced, Kin-ve-ich. The presence of the letter v in Kinveachy is accounted for by the fact that the letter b in beitheach is in the genitive changed into bh, which has the force of v. and Glancarnin, to be held of the Earl in fee and heritage. The charter of confirmation is dated at Forfar, 16th April, apparently about the year 1205. The third charter is by King Alexander the Second, dated at Dunfermline on 12th February, circa 1220-6, and confirms the grant of 1205. Vol. iii. of this work, pp. 1, 2.
Gilchrist, the son of Earl Gilbert, died in 1198, and the lands of Glencarnie appear to have passed into the possession of his brother Gilbert. This Gilbert, who, about the year 1232, Registrum Moraviense, p. 93 is designed son of Gilbert, late Earl of Strathern, and is mentioned as patron of the kirk of Duthil, entered into an agreement on 12th September 1232 with Andrew Bishop of Moray, whereby it was provided that Gilbert and his heirs should hold of the Bishops of Moray the half davach of Kyncarny in feu-farm, for payment to them of three marks yearly and the forensic service due to the King, there being reserved to the Bishops of Moray the persons born on the land (nativis hominibus). Ibid p. 89. Some years later the owners of Glencarnie ad )1)ted their local designation as a sirnarne, and Gilbert appears to have been knighted. About 1256 Sir Gilbert of Glencarnie received from Alan Durward (Hostiarius Scocie) a charter of half his lands of Tulachfyny in [l] Mar. Sir Gilbert had a son, Gilbert "de Glennegerni," junior, who married Marjory, sister of Sir John Prat, and received with her from Sir John Prat the lands of Daltely or Daltulich in Moray, Daltulich is on the eastern border of the parish of Ardclach, in the county of Nairn the charter of which was confirmed by King Alexander the Third at Aboyne on 14th August 1267. At the same time the King also confirmed another charter by Walter Stewart, Earl of Menteith, with consent of Countess Mary, granting to Gilbert, son of Sir Gilbert of Glencarnie, the western half of the town of Broculy, in the district of Menteith.
On succeeding to his father, Gilbert junior assumed the title of third Lord of Glencarnie. Under this designation he, with consent of his second wife, Matilda, on 2d February 1280, granted to his eldest son Gilbert the land of Gerbothy, to be held of the granters for payment of a pair of white gloves yearly at the term of Whitsunday to either of them, and for the rendering of the Scotch service (Scoticanum urn sevuicium) due to the king therefrom. The charter is dated at Glencarnie, which indicates the existence of a manor-place or fortalice as the residence of the Lords of Glencarnie." vol. iii. of this work, pp. 6, 7.
The lands of Glencarnie, as has been shown, were held of the Earls of Strathern. This is acknowledged, and the terms of holding further elucidated in a letter granted on 24th June 1306, by Malise Earl of Strathern Sir Gilbert of Glencarnie, in which the former recognises the services of the latter in adhering to, and remaining with him with his forces in the Scottish war, against the tenor of his charter, promises that these services shall not be to his prejudice, and that such should never be required from Sir Gilbert nor his heirs in future unless at their own pleasure. Ibid. p. 8. Shortly after this, however, the immediate superiority of the lordship of Glencarnie, for reasons which have not been ascertained, was transferred from the Earls of Strathern to the Earls of Moray. In a charter by King Robert the Bruce to Sir Thomas Randolph, granting him the earldom of Moray, the king annexes to the grant of the Crown lands in Moray as they had existed in the time of King Alexander the Third, certain other lands adjacent to them, stretching from the water of Spey on the east to the western shore of Glenelg, and including Badenoch, Kincardine, and [li] Glencarnie, with Lochaber and a large extent of other territory. Registrum Moraviense, p. 342 But after the failure of Randolph's male line, and the resumption of the earldom by the Crown, which appears to have been prior to 1362, the then Gilbert, Lord of Glencarnie, made resignation of his lordship in the hands of King David the Second, and received from him a charter, dated at Aberdeen, 18th January 1362, regranting all the lands of the barony of Glencamie, with pertinents, within the shire of Inverness, in the earldom of Moray. These lands were to be held of the Crown by Gilbert and the heirs-male of his body, failing whom, by Duncan Fraser and Christian his spouse, Gilbert's sister, and the heirs-male of their bodies, and failing them by the heirs of line of Gilbert for services due and wont. Registrum Magni Sigilli, p. 24. Charter printed in vol. iii. of this work, p. 12.
The barony of Glencarnie continued in the male line of the Glencarnies ut that Ilk, and with the exception of the first Laird, in an unbroken succession of Gilberts until the reign of King Robert the Third, when, in 1391, the then Laird Gilbert exchanged with Marjory, Countess of Moray, and Thomas of Dunbar, Earl of Moray, her son, his paternal inheritance of Glencarnie for the lands of the two Fochabers in Strathspey, and the liferent lease of the land of Mayne, near Elgin, to be held in feu and heritage of the Earls of Moray. Vol. iii. of this work, p. 14. But in 1398, Gilbert of Glencarnie sold the lands of Fochabers to Thomas of Dunbar, Earl of Moray, the former proprietor, for £100 sterling "of the usuale monay of Scotland." In the agreement for the sale of these lands, dated at Elgin, 26th March 1398, the seller is designated "Gilbert of Glencherny, than Lord of Fochabirris, tenand of that ilke land," showing that the excambion had been effected, and that Glencarnie had again become a possession of the Earls of Moray. Ibid. pp. 14, 15.
Sir Duncan Grant of Freuchie, as son to Matilda of Glencarnie, only daughter and heiress of the last-mentioned Gilbert, became heir, after his mother's death, to what remained of her father's lands, as well as to those which had been possessed by Matilda herself: As heir to his mother, Duncan Grant obtained a precept from King James the First, dated 31st January 1434, for his infeftment in the lands of the fifth part of the barony [lii] of Rothes Wiseman and Barmuckity, the two Fochabers, and the half part of Sheriffston. Vol iii. of this work, p. 18. As heir to his grandfather, Sir Duncan Grant received a precept from King James the Third, dated 3d March 1468, for his infeftment in the lands of Congash. ibid. p. 29 But no reference is made to the lands or the lordship of Glencarnie as forming any part of the possessions of either Gilbert of Glencarnie or his daughter Matilda.
Matilda of Glencarnie was not a Comyn. It so happens, however, that a part of the lands of Glencarriie had almost passed into the hands of a Comyn about this very time. On 28th May 1408, Sir Thomas of Dunbar, Earl of Moray, promised his sister Euphame in marriage to Alexander Comyn, and pledged himself to give with her twenty merks worth of land within his lands of Glencarnie, his mansion-house and demesne excepted, to the heirs of the marriage. History of Province of Moray, by Lachlan Shaw, p. 475 But there were difficulties in the way of the fulfillment of the latter part of the contract. The Lord of the Isles had at the time a lease of Glencarnie from the Earl of Moray, and until it expired, A1exander Comyn was to receive a corresponding amount of land from the Earl of Moray. Shaw states that Comyn never got Glencarnie at all, receiving instead the warrandice lands of Logie, Sluie, Presley, Branchell, and Craigmiln, in the county of Elgin and Forres. Ibid. p. 475.
The forfeiture of the Douglases in 1455 brought the earldom of Moray, and with it the lordship of Glencarnie, into the possession of the Crown. Immediately afterwards, Glencarnie appears to have been let on lease at an annual rent of £110, as in the account rendered in Exchequer on 19th July 1457, William, Thane of Cawdor, and Mr. Thomas Carmichael, canon of Moray, the king's chamberlains north of the Spey, credit themselves with £55 as the rent of the lordship for the single term of Whitsunday of that year. In another part of the same account they are allowed on this sum £10, which fell to be deducted from the rent of the lordship of Glencarnie, because the king was letting it at a lower rent for this term than the sum with which they had previously credited them selves. Et eisdem ex decidencia firniarum dominii de Glencharny qyia pro parte Regis minus assedabantur de hoc termino quam in ineracione supradicta continetur prout facta fuit fides super compotum xli [The Thanes of Cawdor pp 30, 31.] The rental would thus be lowered to the sum of £90 annually. [liii] Out of the £55 received as first mentioned, one-third, £18, 6s. 8d., was paid to Sir John Ogilvy as the terce due from the lands of Glencarnie for the term mentioned to his spouse, Elizabeth of Dunbar, widow of the late Alexander Douglas, Earl of Moray. The Thanes of Cawdor, p. 29.
Who the Crown tacksman of the' lordship of Glencarnie was does not appear. Tradition connects Duncan Grant of Freuchie with the lands of Glencarnie at this date, and it may be perfectly correct in doing so. It is the case that Duncan Grant of Freuchie was, in 1457, the Crown tacksman of the lands of Ballindalloch, which lands are afterwards closely associated with Glencarnie. In the account to which reference has just been made, there is allowed to the accounters by the auditor the sum of £3, 6s. 8d. "of the rents of the lands of Ballyndalach, which comprise one davoch, are situated in Strathown, and pertain to the property of Moray, which Duncan Grant holds, but from the enjoyment of which he is deterred by Sir Walter Stewart." Ibid. p. 31. Sir Walter Stewart of Strathavon inherited Strathavon from his father, Sir Andrew Stewart, natural son of Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, Lord of Badenoch and Strathavon, who was a son of King Robert the Second. [Antiquities of Aberdeenshire, vol. ii. pp. 295, 206.] It is not, therefore, improbable that Duncan Grant was the tacksman of Glencarnie, and it is all the more likely from the interest he had in the lands through his mother. Shaw, on the authority, of the Exchequer Rolls, states that the lordship of Glencarnie was set in lease by the Crown to Sir Duncan Grant in the year 1478. History of the Province of Moray, p. 475. This is the earliest authentic intimation of the possession of Glencarnie by the Grants of Freuchie, but the lease mentioned in the Rolls may have been only a renewal of a previous one. The lease of 1478 was renewed and converted into a feu in favour of Sir Duncan Grant's grandson and successor, John Grant, second Laird of Freuchie, by a charter of King James the Fourth, dated 4th February 1498, when the rent of the lands is still further reduced. This charter is still preserved at Castle Grant, and narrates the good, faithful, and thankful service, rendered and to be rendered by the said John in peace and in war, for which the King bestows all "our lands of Glencarnie and Balnadalach, and mills thereof within our sheriffdom of Elgin and Forres," to be held in fee and heritage for a yearly rent of £71 Sects, paid at the customary terms of Whitsunday and Martinmas, in name [liv] of feu-farm only. It further stipulates that should John Grant or his heirs. fail in payment of the rent at the specified terms, or at least, if one term's payment had not been made on the arrival of the ensuing term, the donation and infeftment were thereupon to be of no force or effect. Vol. iii. of this work, pp. 43, 44. Sasine of the lands of Ballindalloch was given to John Grant of Freuchie at the "place of Ballindalloch, as the principal messuage" of the lands, on 8th April 1499, Original Instrument of Sasine in Grant Charter-chest and on the same day sasine of the lands of Glencarnie is said to have been given at Mullochard, "locum de Mulquuharde, principale messuagium dictarum terrarum." Vol. iii. of this work, p. 44, note
After the death of John Grant, which took place on 1st May 1528, his son, James Grant, third Laird of Freuchie, obtained from King James the Fifth a gift under the Privy Seal of the non-entry duties of Glencarnie, Ballindalloch and Urquhart. The gift is dated 24th December 1529. Ibid. p. 73. It would also appear as if a question had been raised as to the position of Glencarnie in regard to the King's rental, as about this time James Grant of Freuchie was summoned at the King's instance before the Lords of Council for the payment of the rent of Glencarnie for the then current year, 1529, and arrears for sixteen years immediately preceding.
The earldom of Moray had been bestowed by King James the Fourth on James Stewart, his natural son by Janet Kennedy, and from the date of that king's death it would seem that the payment of the rents of the lands of Glencarnie and Ballindalloch had been made to the Earl of Moray instead of to the Crown, probably at the instance of the young Earl's advisers, who evidently desired the re-annexation of the lordship of Glencarnie to the earldom of Moray. King James the Fifth, however, was not inclined to augment his natural brother's rental at the expense of his own; hence the claim against the Laird of Freuchie. During the dependence of the claim James Grant succeeded in obtaining from King James the Fifth a confirmation of the charter made by his royal father to the late Laird of Freuchie, and in ratifying the deed the king adds, that though the said late John and James Grant now of Freuchie, his son and heir, have failed in payment of the feu-farm rents of these lands to [lv] the Crown for the last seventeen years or thereabout, having instead paid them to the Earl of Moray; nevertheless no injury, damage, or prejudice shall accrue to the said James Grant, his heirs or assignees, and that they shall not incur any risk or danger of the loss of feu-farm or heritage of the said lands, notwithstanding any laws, Acts of Parliament, etc., whatever made or to be made in the contrary. King James concludes by renouncing all claim to these lands on account of the non-payment of the rent. This document is dated 19th March 1529~30. Vol iii. of this work, p. 74.
In return for this renunciation a composition was agreed upon between the Crown and James Grant of Freuchie, which was nothing else, it would appear, than the paying up of the whole of the arrears. This is evident from the decreet of the Lords of Council in the case, dated 30th March 1530, eleven days after the granting of the above ratification, in which James Grant, as heir to his father, is adjudged to pay to the king £71 yearly, for unpaid feu-duties of Glencarnie and Ballindalloch for sixteen years previous to 1529, and £71 for that year's rent. On producing the confirmation by King James under thee Privy Seal, James Grant was absolved from the penalty of the forfeiture of these lands. The decreet reserves to James Grant his action against the Earl of Moray, to whom he had paid the feu-duties. This decision was confirmed by King James the Fifth on 2d April 1532. Ibid. pp. 74 - 76. James Grant did take steps to reimburse himself from the Earl of Moray, a notarial instrument being still extant in the Grant Charter-chest, drawn up at Edinburgh on 28th March 1530, in which he required the Earl of Moray to relieve, defend, and protect him from loss in this matter, and protested, in the event of his declining, that he would seek redress in the proper quarter. Ibid. p. 266.
The Earl of Moray responded to the demand, and a bond was executed between them at Elgin, on 21st June 1530, stating that forasmuch as James Grant of Freuchie had become "man and seruand" to the Earl of Moray, the latter strictly bound himself to use all possible diligence with the King and others to secure the lands of Glencarnie in the hand of the Laird of Grant, to give up all claim which he had to them in favour of the said James Grant, excepting the feu penny mail only contained in the Laird's [lvi] infeftment, if he could procure it from the King, and to obtain a sufficient discharge from the King and the Treasurer of the arrears of rent, so that the Laird of Grant should incur no loss. Vol. iii. of this work, p. 267. It does not appear that the Earl of Moray succeeded in getting the feu penny mail.
The lordship of Glencarnie, as distinguished from the lands so called, also included the lands of Ballindalloch. Though these lands are situated on the eastern bank of the Spey, and about twenty miles lower down the river, they are mentioned as lying in the lordship of Glencarnie, and are included in the same feudal titles. Soon after their acquisition they were bestowed upon Patrick Grant, who founded the cadet family of Grants of Ballindalloch.
The lands in Glencarnie, or; according to the modern usage, in the parish of Duthil, Duthil is thought by some to be derived from the Gaelic Tuathil, meaning north, to which some colour is given by the fact that a district in the south of the parish is distinguished by the name Deishal, or south. Others connect the name with that of the river Dulnan, which bisects the parish. are all the property of the Earl of Seafield, as Laird of Grant. As in other cases, the lands of Glencarnie were subdivided into davochs and lesser parts, and either disponed in wadset, or leased to tenants, generally of the name of Grant, and not unfrequently were held by members of the Chief's family. The more prominent of these davochs were Bolladern, Aviemore, Duthil, Auchterblair, Dalrachnie, Gellovie, Kinveachie, Lethindie, Inverlaidnan, Kinchirdie, Gartinbeg, Tullochgriban, and Mullochard, and several of them have furnished families of C rants who have won historic fame. Prior to the period at which these lands were wadset, they yielded a considerable rental to the Lairds of Freuchie, payments being made both in money and in kind. Taking the lands in the aggregate, in 1611 the yearly revenue was, land mail, £1893 Scots; teind mail, £62, 10s.; vicarage, £41; with a silver duty of £28. The payments in kind were sixty-two boils of multure bear, one hundred and twenty-five wedders, three lambs, one hundred and twenty-four kids, three hundred and ninety-eight poultry, twelve geese, and twelve capons, with fourteen stones of butter. A grassum of £770 Scots was payable by the tenants every five years. During the time the lands were in wadset the rental must have become merely nominal, but in 1762, when the wadsets [lvii] had almost all been redeemed, the rental was £2350 Scots. As now let, the lands of the parish of Duthil are valued at £5963, 14s. sterling. Valuation Roll of the County of Inverness for 1879-80.
One principal object of interest in Duthil is the parish church, the existence of which can be traced back to the thirteenth century, when, in the days of Andrew, Bishop of Moray, Gilbert, son of the Earl of Strathern, was its patron. As one of the burial-places of the family of Grant it is peculiarly cherished in the Grant country. At one time the architectural features presented by it attracted the attention of Walter Macfarlane of that Ilk, the eminent antiquarian, and he made a note about it, remarking especially the ornate character of the church door. He says, "The bands of the kirk door are very rare, made after the manner of a tree casting out its branches, and covering the whole door after the manner of needlework." Macfarlane MSS., quoted by Dr. Arthur Mitchell in the work already referred to.
The internal fittings of the church appear to have been of the same character as the door. Several years ago a large piece of carved wood was discovered at the house of Shillochan when it was being taken down. The wood is an excellent piece of Scotch fir, eight feet long, six feet in height, and about four inches thick, quaintly but neatly carved, and may have formed Part of a prominent pew or gallery in the church of Duthil. The carving consists of an upper row of panels, eight in number, each displaying the coat of arms of a Highland house - Cumming of Altyre, Gordon of Huntly, Rose of Kilravock, Calder of that Ilk, Grant of Auchernach, Forbes of Auchintie, Leslie of Balquhain, and Lumsden of Cushnie. Below this row of panels is the text of Scripture:
Mark the upright man and behold thc just, for the end of that man is peace.
Immediately underneath is a second row of eight panels variously carved with figures and flowers, followed by another text of Scripture -
The righteous cry and the Lord heareth them,
And delivereth them out of all their troubles.
The last row consists of seven panels of plainer design than those of the other two. A photo-lithograph of the carving is here given from the original at Castle Grant.
[lviii] An interesting document relating to the settlement of a parish clerk in the church of Duthil in pre-Reformation times exists in the Grant Charterchest, and is printed elsewhere. Vol. iii. of this work, pp. 268-270. It affords a curious glimpse of popular election even at that early date. The parishioners, whose names are mentioned, assembled in the church, and the applicant for the vacant clerkship, Mr. Andrew Grant, appeared before them requesting their suffrages. The parishioners unanimously gave him their support, and (luring the celebration of high mass, which followed, he proceeded to the altar step and in a loud voice requested the parishioners who consented to his election to stand up. Upon this, says the notary who recorded the proceedings, every one in the church arose, so that I saw no one sitting, and all with one voice exclaimed, We choose Mr. Andrew Grant to be our parish clerk of Duthil, and no other, unless we are compelled to the contrary by James Laird of Grant, and if we should be so compelled by the said James to elect another, we will that last election to be null and void to any one accepting it, inasmuch as it could not be called election, but compulsion. The precept for the induction of the clerk was granted by Alexander Dunbar, Dean of Moray, who, as the see of Moray was then vacant, acted as Vicar-General. It is directed to the curate of the church of Duthil, and on the back of the precept a notarial instrument is indorsed intimating that William Wallace, the curate, had performed his function of inducting the new clerk into his office by delivery of the amphora and aspersorium with the holy water, and admonishing the parishioners, under pain of the greater excommunication, to pay the dues and rights of the clerkship to Andrew Grant, and to no other.
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Volume I Introduction (v) |
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