Chronicles of Strathearn Part 10

'Twere idle then each tale to tell, Of ancient feat by stream or dell, From Benychonzie's snow-clad breast To green Glenartney in the west, Or round by sweet Dunira's den, Where "bonnie Kilmanie gaed up the glen."

No need I ween of distant view My sauntering footsteps hence to woo; No need of song or knightly feat To add new charm to my retreat.

Its own a.s.sociations claim Far better meed than modern fame, With books and scenes and neighbours sage, I commune with a former age.

BETWEEN STRATHALLAN AND STRATHEARN

By Rev. JAMES MACGIBBON, B.D., Blackford.

The name Blackford was given, according to tradition, by an ancient king of Caledonia, whose experience in pa.s.sing the River Allan at this point was of the saddest. The stream spread itself out in those days, says the story, so as to be more lake than stream. When the king came to it with his queen and suite the waters were deep and the current strong. It must have been at night surely, if we are to have any faith in the tale, for the poor queen was carried away beyond help and hope.

They drained the strath dry to recover the body; and a solitary knoll on the Allan's bank some way below the present village marks the place where they found and buried the remains of fair Queen Helen. Hence the name Blackford. In the days of the Roman occupation the legionaries frequented this upper part of Strathallan, and have left traces of their presence. Many of them, indeed, must have quartered near; for at the Loaninghead, about two miles east of the village, there is an undeniable Roman camp, an outpost of the great camp at Ardoch.

But the earliest historical reference to Blackford is in Blind Harry's "Acts and Deeds of Sir William Wallace." After taking the peel of Gargunnock, Wallace and his men pa.s.sed up Strathallan on the way to Methven, and at Blackford met a party of the English, whom they slew, and threw their bodies into the Allan.

"At yai Blackfurd, as at yai suld pa.s.s our,[1]

A squeir come, and with hym bernys four.

Till Doun suld ryd and wend at yai had beyne All Inglismen, at he befor had seyne.

t.i.things to sper he howid yaim amang.

Wallace yarwith swyth with a suerd outsw.a.n.g.

Apon ye hede he straik with so great ire, Throw bayne and brayne in sondyr schar ye swyr.

Ye tothir four in hands sone wer hynt, Derfly to dede stekyt or yai wald stynt.

Yar horss yai tuk, and quhat yaim likit best, Spoilzied yaim bar, syne in the brook yaim kest."

Further on in the same story, we learn that Wallace after slaying Fawdoune, and seeing his ghost at Gask Hall, rode south, hotly pursued by the English. He forded the Earn at Dalreoch, and crossed the Muir of Auchterarder. "Ye horss was gud," but the forced pace sorely taxed its strength; so "at ye Blackfurd" he alighted and walked. After he had gone a mile his pursuers overtook and hara.s.sed him. They had great advantage, being on horse, while he was on foot; yet Wallace beat back the foremost of them, recovered his seat, and fled towards Sheriffmuir.

"Quhil yat he c.u.m ye myrkest mur amang,[2]

His horss gaiff our and wald no furthyr gang."

Then, rather than let the steed fall into the hands of the enemy,

"His houch sennownnis he cuttyt all at anys, And left hym yus besyde ye standand stanys.

For Southrone men no guid suld off hym wyn.

In heith haddyr Wallace and yai can twyn."

In the year 1488, according to the Lord Treasurer's accounts, King James IV., returning from his coronation at Scone, halted at Blackford for refreshment:--"Item--Quhen the King c.u.m forth to Sanct Johniston for a barrel of Ayll at the Blackfurd, xijs." Again, on November 7, 1496, on a journey from Methven to Stirling:--"Item--That samyn day at the Blackfurd quhaire the King bayt.i.t for corn to the horss, ii.s."; and the same year, on the way to Perth, March 12th--"Item--Giffen at the Blackfurde quhair the King drank as he raid by, xiiii.d." In 1498 there is the curious entry:--"Item--xxv March, to ane woman of the Blackfurde that brocht coppis to the King and at the Kingis command, xiij.s. iiii.d." These "coppis," probably wooden drinking cups or quaichs, were evidently of some value according to the reckoning of that day. A more quaint and artistic record of this monarch's doings was made later in Tullibardine. Pitscottie tells that in 1511 King James IV. built "ane very great monstrous schip," called "The Micheall." Nearly all the woods of Fife were cut down to provide the necessary timber, in addition to that brought from Norway. A year was spent in the building, and the cost to the King was 40,000. When complete she was manned by 300 sailors, 120 gunners, and 1000 "men of warre," besides officers. The dimensions of this leviathan were 240 feet long, 36 feet broad, and the sides 10 feet thick, "so that no cannon could doe at hir"; "and if any man believes that this schip was not as we have schowin, latt him pas to the place of Tullibardyne quhair he will find the breadth and length of hir sett with hawthorne."[3] Three of these thorn trees were standing in 1837; none of them exist now. A farmer, to improve his field, rooted them out, and did his best to fill up the hollow representing the hull; but spite of these obliterations, the plan of the great s.h.i.+p may be traced yet.

At what date the historic ford was superseded or a.s.sisted by a bridge we cannot tell. Some kind of primitive structure evidently existed about the year 1700; for in 1703 the Kirk-Session Records minute that Mr Archibald Moncrieff, the minister, caused his elders to make a collection throughout the parish, "being that when there came rain that did raise the waters a great many people were stopt from coming to ye kirk, and such as came behoved to wead if they wanted horse, which was very discouraging." Thereafter one James Waddel is commissioned "to repair the bridge upon Allan, and he is to bring hom some great trees from ye wood for helping ye same, and over each of ye two streams of ye water there is to be put four trees, at least three of greater size, and they are to be covered with fells and sand."

In 1715, being uncomfortably near the Sheriffmuir, Blackford was seriously disturbed. For four Sundays, between October 23d and November 27th, the church was closed, and again for eight Sundays between December 3rd, 1715, and February 5th, 1716. In the latter interval, as we learn from an account preserved by the Maitland Club, Blackford was burned to the ground by a party of Highlanders. The minister "had stayed at home, preached and prayed for King George and success to his arms, till he was threatened, and parties sent to seize him from the garrisons of Tullibardine and Braco, upon which he was forced to retire and shelter himself with some of his well affected friends." His wife remained, however, and had the presence of mind, so soon as she learned what had happened, to call for "a trusty servant, and by force of money and promises prevailed with him to go to Stirling ... to give ane account to the General and other officers there what was done and acted at Blackfoord." Such is the last eventful incident in the secular history of the parish.

II.

The Church of Blackford, beside the River Allan, was transplanted thither after the Reformation. In former days the name of the parish was Strageath, and the church stood by the Earn, seven miles from its present place. The ruins of the old church are yet standing, preserved from clean removal, doubtless, because the graveyard about them is still in use. Strageath Church has a very ancient origin, being founded by S. Fergus some time in the eighth century. According to the Breviary of Aberdeen, S. Fergus, after he had been Bishop in Ireland for many years, crossed over to Scotland with some companions and settled in Strageath. Finding the district favourable, he set to work and founded three churches--presumably Strageath, Struthill, and Blairinroar. Having appointed these as he best might, and put ministers in them, he quietly retreated to preach the word of G.o.d in further parts.[4]

Towards the end of the twelfth century, Gilbert, Earl of Strathearn, founded the Abbey of Inchaffray; and in the year 1200, moved to greater liberality by the death of a son who was buried there, he further endowed the abbey with five churches and additional teinds. One of these five was the Church of S. Patrick of Strageath. The gift is confirmed in a second charter, when the Earl added four other churches and more lands to the same abbey, and again in a charter of King Alexander.[5] Twenty-five or thirty years later the Church of S.

Patrick was the scene of a somewhat significant ceremonial. Earl Robert, Gilbert's son, had evidently offended against the powers spiritual, and sought, or was brought to seek, a reconciliation. A charter of his time records that Earl Robert, son of the aforesaid Gilbert, in presence of Abraham, Bishop of Dunblane, Gilbert, the archdeacon, and other notable witnesses, binds himself towards Innocent, the abbot, that he will never in all his life vex the said abbot or his convent unjustly, but will love and everywhere honour them as his most special friends, and will add to the possessions of their house whatever he may by the counsel of his friends. In particular, he confirms to them the Churches of Gask and Strageath. The Abbey of Inchaffray thus held the appointment to the parish of Strageath, and, in spite of many changes, the minister of the parish still receives part of his stipend from "the great vicarage teind of the Abbey of Inchaffray."

In pre-Reformation times there were two other ecclesiastical buildings in the parish besides the Church of Strageath--Tullibardine College and Gleneagles Chapel. The College Church of Tullibardine was founded in 1445 by Sir David Murray, who endowed it with a provost and four prebends, thus making provision not only for the wants of the people, but for younger sons of the family who might enter the service of the Church. Within the church, on the west end of the wall, are seen the arms of the founder and his lady, Dame Isabel Stewart, impaled,[6] the three stars within the bordure for Murray, and the galley for Stewart of Lorn, of which family this lady was a daughter. William Murray of Tullibardine, the son and successor of Sir David, enlarged the College of Tullibardine, and built that part where his arms and his lady's are impaled--the three stars within the tressure for Murray, and a cross ingrailed for Colquhoun, finely cut in stone on the outside of the wall. The Provostry was suppressed at the Reformation, but in the early years of the eighteenth century the Session Records frequently mention "sermon at Tullibardine, the Earle and his lady being there at present." Lord George Murray, though he favoured the Stewart cause, evidently encouraged Presbyterian wors.h.i.+p, and occasionally showed his zeal by holding a court "for the fineing and punis.h.i.+ng of any such persons as should be delated and found guilty of drinking themselves drunk or of profane swearing or Sabbath breaking or any such gross immoralities." The church, although no longer used for wors.h.i.+p, is still excellently preserved, and is used as a burial-place for the Strathallan family.

Gleneagles Chapel is a small and unadorned building, standing near the present mansion-house. The old lairds of Gleneagles are buried within its walls, and the enclosed s.p.a.ce about it has been used as a graveyard. The Session Records have an entry showing that the chapel was used as late as March 18, 1705--"Being that the Lady Gleneagles was brought to bed of a child, and the laird was desirous to have his child baptized on the Lord's Day, and was unwilling to bring him out so far as the kirk because of the seasons being yet cold and sometimes stormy.

Therefor desired the minr. to preach at his chapel in the afternoon, and to baptize his child, which this day ye minr. did." As far back as 1149[7] there was a church in Gleneagles under the rule of Cambuskenneth Abbey; and, indeed, according to the most likely derivation, Gleneagles is the Gaelic rendering of the monastic "_Vallum Ecclesiae_"--Glen of the Church. The present chapel seems neither of age nor consequence enough to give a t.i.tle. The first church, if it stood on the same site, must surely have been a larger building. A mile further up the glen, however, there rises a spring of the purest water, once believed to have virtue in curing certain diseases, and still called S. Mungo's Well. The saintly name and the fame of healing point to this spot as the more probable situation of the old church.

Our only glimpse of Blackford at the Reformation shows slight resistance on the part of some to the orders of the new church government. On October 25, 1564, Sir Patrick Fergy--"sir" being equivalent to the modern "reverend"--was cited before the Kirk-Session of S. Andrews[8] as coming in place of the consistorial court, "to underlie diciplyn for takyng upon hand to prech and minister the sacraments withoutyn lawfull admission and for drawyng of the peopll to the Chapell of Tullbarne frae ther Paroche Kyrk." On the same day, "Schyr Johan Morrison efter his recantacion admitt.i.t reader in Mithyll, was delayt.i.t and summoned for ministration of baptisme and mariaige efter the Papistical fa.s.son, and that indifferently to all persones, and also for profanacion of the sacrament of the Lordis Supper, abusyng the sam in privat howsis, as also in the kirkyard about the kyrkyard dykis and resavying fra ilk person that communicat ane penne, and in speciall upon Pasche day last was, in the hows of Jhon Graham in Pannalis he ministrat to ane hundreth personis. He oft tymmis called nocht comperand beand of befoir divers tymmis monest to desist tharfra under panis of excommunicacion now wordely mentis the sam to be execut aganis hym and sa decret.i.t to be used."

A relic of pre-Reformation days is the old church bell, which hung till recently in the belfry of old Blackford Church. The bell is inscribed with the words "O Mater S.D., O Mater S.D., O Mater S.D., I.S.," and the sign of a hammer. The thrice repeated phrase is evidently a contraction for "O Mater Sanctissima Domini"--"O Most Holy Mother of the Lord."

From the Book of the a.s.signation of Stipends, 1574, it appears that Strageath, Muthill, and Strowane were combined under the ministry of Alexander Gaw at a stipend of 60 Scots and kirk-lands, while Andro Drummond was reader at Strageath at a stipend of 20.

In 1617, the Parish Church was changed to Blackford by Act of Parliament:--

"Our Soveraine Lord and Estaittis of this present Parliament understanding that ye kirk of the parochin of Strageth wes of auld situat and biggit upoun the newk and utmost pairt of the said parochin of Strageath, and the parochiners thereof found it nowayes to be meit to be the paroche kirk of the said parochin in respect of the wyidnes and gryit bonndis of the said parochin, they thairefore be the s.p.a.ce of twentye-four yeiris or thairby biggit and foundit within the town of Blackfurde qlk lyis and is within ye middis of the said parochin, ane new kirk for the gryit ease of the parochoneris ... thairefore ...

ordanis the samen kirk, now biggit within the said town of Blackfurde, to be ye princ.i.p.al kirk of ye said parochin of Strageath in all tyme c.u.ming, and ordanis the haill parochoneris thairoff to resort thairto and ressave the benefit of ye kirk thairat."[9]

The year 1689 brought the Revolution, and the minister, Mr David Moray, A.M., refusing to conform with the new state of things, was deprived of his living by the Privy Council. He retired to Edinburgh, carrying with him the kirk bible as a memento of his ministry. When the Kirk-Session met in 1697 "it was recommended to the minister to use his endeavours to get the kirk bible from Mr Murray," and early in 1699 there appears the item--"To James Brown, the carrier, for bringing home the kirk bible out of Edenburgh from Mr David Murray, 9. 4."; and a fortnight later--"Twopence to James Brown for compleeting his payt. for bringing home of ye kirk bible."

The first minister after the Revolution was Mr Archibald Moncrieff, an admirable and faithful pastor, whose conscience forbade him to ask a manse from the heritors for several years, during which he lived at Stirling, and travelled to and from his work. He was succeeded in 1738 by his son, who became Sir William Moncrieff Wellwood. In that year the old kirk was burned in rather curious circ.u.mstances. The kirk was being used as the parish school, and was heated by a peat fire. In the master's absence one day the boys amused themselves by throwing about the lighted peats. The kirk caught fire, and was burned to the ground.

Sir Henry Moncrieff succeeded his father in 1771, the sixth minister of the family in a lineal descent. He had not finished his University course when his father died, but the patron and paris.h.i.+oners waited for him. Sir Henry was too brilliant for Blackford, however, and in 1775 went to S. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh. The next minister, Mr John Stevenson, evidently did not please all. Three of the elders and a number of the congregation left the kirk. They met for some time in a stackyard beside the old ford, and eventually, with some like-minded ones in Auchterarder, formed the Relief congregation there. Mr Stevenson was followed, in 1815, by Mr John Clark--a splendid type of what was best in the reviled Moderates, an eloquent preacher, a true, large-hearted gentleman, a keen wit, and skilful farmer, as well as a faithful pastor. A new regime began with his worthy and lamented successor, the Rev. David Bonallo. The kirk on the brae-head was abandoned as insufficient and the present church, less prominent, but more convenient, was built at the east end of the village.

III.

Blackford has been the home of not a few distinguished families; but the old castles where they lived are, without exception, the most meagre ruins; of one, indeed (Tullibardine), not a stone remains to mark the site.

The chief heritor of the parish is Captain W. H. Drummond Moray of Abercairny, whose family, though old proprietors, seem never to have lived in the parish. Ogilvie Castle, a ruin on their lands, which originally belonged to the Montrose family, does not appear to have been ever occupied by the Morays.

In the south end of the parish stands Gleneagles, which Sir David Lyndsay, in his "Tale of Squire Meldrum," describes as "ane castell ...

beside ane mountane in ane vaill," and a "triumphand plesand place."

Gleneagles Castle was for many centuries the home of the Haldanes.

They held the neighbouring lands of Frandie by charter of William the Lion, A.D. 1165-1214, and came into possession of Gleneagles about a century later. From time to time we find them taking an active and prominent part in the affairs of the kingdom. Sir John Haldane, in the reign of King James III., became "Lord Justice-General of Scotland benorth of the Forth"--a dignity next to that of Lord Chancellor; a later Sir John fought and fell at Flodden; another was one of the Lords of the Congregation. Sir John, in 1650, fell as a leader in the Presbyterian army against Cromwell at the Battle of Dunbar. Towards the end of the 17th century Mungo Haldane was an active member of the Scottish Parliament; his son John was member for Perth County in the last Scottish Parliament, and in the first British Parliament after the Union. At the beginning of the present century the estate pa.s.sed into the hands of Viscount Duncan of Camperdown, and is now the property of his descendant, the Earl of Camperdown. The old castle, of solid walls, surrounded by a moat, was superseded in 1624 by the modern Place of Gleneagles, built from the ruins. Locally, the family is best remembered in one of its Presbyterian members, an ardent respecter of the Sabbath. He forbade the keeping of stalls and selling of wares on the Kirk Brae on the Lord's Day; and, finding his injunction slighted, was so roused that he went next Sunday with drawn sword, scattered the offending merchants down the brae, and tossed their wares into the lake beneath. There was no more Sunday trading at the kirk.

East of Gleneagles, overlooking its own deep wooded glen, stood Kincardine Castle, the residence of the n.o.ble family of Graham. The estate came to them from Malise, Earl of Strathearn, who granted it to his sister Amabil on her marriage with Sir David Graham, c. 1250.[10]

The Grahams, as Earls, Marquises, and Dukes of Montrose, retained Kincardine till the beginning of this century, when it was sold to James Johnston, Esq. Many a fact and many a fancy attach to the old Kincardine. In 1579, the Earl of Atholl, Chancellor of Scotland, stayed at Kincardine on his way from Stirling, and suddenly took ill and died. The crime was never absolutely proved, but evidence went far to show that some rival had given him poisoned food at Stirling.

During the boyhood of the great Marquis, Kincardine Castle was the princ.i.p.al residence of the family, and the young Lord James was a well-known figure in the neighbourhood. When his father died in 1626, the funeral took one month and nineteen days to accomplish; and the accomplishment was attended with such a consumpt of good things as makes it hard to see where room was left for mourning. When Montrose attended the General a.s.sembly of 1638, he sat as commissioner for the Presbytery of Auchterarder, from which we may conclude that he was still closely a.s.sociated with Kincardine. With the great Marquis the story of Kincardine Castle ends. In 1646, being Montrose's princ.i.p.al house, it was besieged and taken by Middleton, the Covenanter. We have a full account of the siege in Bishop Guthrie's Memoirs. Learning that the castle was fortified with a company of foot under Lord Napier, Middleton "brought a number of great ordnance from Sterlin Castle to batter the walls." After ten days the besieged were distressed from want of water. Lord Napier, guided by his page, who was a Graham, managed to escape. The rest surrendered, twelve being shot on the spot, and thirty-five taken prisoners to Edinburgh. "Then Middleton ordered the Castle of Kincardine to be burnt, which was done upon the 16th day of March."

Close by the Church of Tullibardine used to stand Tullibardine Castle.

Here lived for generations the family of Murray, who played many a part in the changeful events of Scottish history. There was one Sir William Murray--the builder of part of the College Church--who is chiefly remembered as the father of seventeen stalwart sons. He took them one day to pay court to the King at Stirling. When the King saw their numbers he was angry, for an Act had been pa.s.sed forbidding such formidable retinues. But when the Laird of Tullibardine explained that he brought only his sons, each with a single man attendant, the King's anger was turned to compliment, and he forthwith gifted an addition to the estate which grew so many men. There was a circular room in the castle, with a pillar in the centre, where all the seventeen sons are said to have slept--heads towards the wall, and feet at the pillar.[11]

Fully a century later there was another Sir William Murray with the King at Stirling Castle. He so far forgot himself one day as to break the nose of the Earl of Argyll in the King's presence, for which double breach Sir William was exiled. But ere long the King felt need of him.

Refractory subjects would not pay the King his mails and silver marts, and he was heard to sigh--"Oh that I had Will Murray again." The sigh was duly conveyed to the exile, who returned, and speedily regained the Royal favour by persuading the unwilling debtors to pay their dues.

His son, Sir John, was educated with the young King at Stirling, and earned the t.i.tle of Earl of Tullibardine in 1606. In 1670 the t.i.tle went to the Earls of Atholl. Fortune was less kind to their descendant, better known as Lord George Murray. He took the Stewart side in 1745, and entertained Prince Charles Edward at Tullibardine Castle. Exile followed the disaster which overtook his cause; the old castle, abandoned as a dwelling-place, fell into decay; and a philistine farmer carted off the last stone of it to build field d.y.k.es.

In a M.S. book of Sir John Ogilvy, her Master of the Household, we learn that Queen Mary stayed at Kincardine and Tullibardine on a journey which she made to the North in 1562. Having left Edinburgh on August 11th, "she continued at Stirling until the 18th of August, when she set out from thence with a part of her train, and dined and supped at Kincardine. On the 19th she left Kincardine after dinner, and slept at St. Johnston." On the return journey, leaving St. Johnston on the 16th November, she "slept at Tulliebarne. On the 17th she proceeded after dinner to Drummond." Twenty years later these same castles were again favoured with a Royal visitor, King James VI. The visit to Tullibardine happened in August, 1584, and the motive of it was typical of that monarch's way. Moysie's Memoirs, which chronicle the visit, narrate that the King had been living ten days at Ruthven "or ever he knew there wes s.e.x houssis infect.i.t in Perthe, his seruandis being theare; and thairfoir with a few number the samyn nycht depairted to Tullibardin, and from that to Sterling, leavand his haill housald and seruandis encloisit in Ruthven." The visit to Kincardine is inferred from a letter written by Thomas, tutor of Ca.s.sillis, to the Laird of Barnbarroch, dated 10th October, 1585--"As for newis, it is trew my lord arrane was to have been in Kincarne upone Saterday last, and thair to have given his presens to the King, and the King thocht guid to stay him thereof for the amba.s.sadouris causs being with his majestie, sua my lord hes nocht present.i.t the King as yit."

Early in this century the estate of Tullibardine was sold to Viscount Strathallan, who had married Amelia, daughter of the Duke of Atholl.

Tullibardine thus became attached to the adjoining estate of Machany, long possessed by the Drummonds. The Laird of Machany and Viscount Strathallan were united first in William Drummond of Machany, who succeeded his cousin as fourth Viscount Strathallan. True to the traditions of his House and t.i.tle, the fourth Viscount was a loyal and devoted Jacobite. He fought in 1715, and again in 1745, when he was killed at Culloden. After his death the penalty of his ill-fated zeal descended on his family. His wife Margaret, daughter of Lord Nairne, was taken prisoner, and kept in Edinburgh Castle from February to September, 1746; his son James, who had attended his father at Culloden, suffered attainder, and for many years the t.i.tle was withheld. There was more caution in the character of Andrew Drummond, brother to the fourth Viscount, who founded the Charing Cross Bank in London. He lent large sums to the Government; but his family connexion brought him under a suspicion of double dealing, which Sir Robert Walpole was inclined to believe. Learning, however, that the suspicion was unfounded, Sir Robert sought to conciliate the Drummond by warmly offering to shake hands with him when they encountered one day in the King's drawing-room. But Mr Andrew, proof against blandishment no less than against suspicion, met the advance by holding his hands behind his back. The ancestral spirit shone again in Andrew John Drummond, who should have been seventh Viscount. He died in 1812, a General in the British Army. The forfeited t.i.tle was restored in 1824 to his cousin, James Drummond, Esq.