single combat, the younger fatally stabbed the elder. He was removed to the castle of Inverqueich, and is said to have died there from his wounds; or, as more popularly believed, and indeed recorded at the period, "he was smored in his bed at Innerquich, and, as was thought, not without knowledge of his wife."1 This painful occurrence, not unparalleled in the family annals, took place in the autumn of 1489,2 and the widowed lady was Janet Gordon, of the Huntly family, granddaughter of James 1. Soon after the death of her husband, she married Patrick Gray, son and heir-apparent of the lord of that name, who had succeeded to the influential offices of Sheriff of Angus and Keeper of Broughty Castle, of which the Duke of Montrose was deprived by the parliament of James IV., for his services to the late King at Sauchieburn. Although Janet Gordon had no family by Lord Lindsay, she tried to assert her right to the castle of Inverqueich, and persisted in collecting the "fermes, proffitis, and dewities," of several lands in the vicinity, notwithstanding that the Duke had resigned them by charter to Adam Crichtoun of Kippendavie. These circumstances gave rise to much discussion, and during the time of the dispute, the house of Inverqueich was ordered to be "frely deliverit in keping to Johne Erskin of Dovne," who held it for some time on behalf of the Crown.1 But, according to tradition, the murder of Lord Lindsay was not altogether unavenged. Though differing in the mode of telling, the story of the locality is linked with the fate and mysterious conduct of the so-called Countess Janet, and the sufferings of her penitent spirit; for, although she had two other husbands, and survived both, her soul sought the hoary mansion of Inverqueich, where her nightly lamentations and sorrowful wailings prevailed for ages. Here the shadowy forms narrow cliff between the of her and her lord, perched on the 1 Lives, i. p. 171 n. 2 Ibid. i. p. 169. 3 Acta Dom. Feby. 4, 1492, p. 271; June 27, 1494, p. 341. PENANCE OF LADY LINDSAY. 361 river and the castle, met the eyes of the credulous at all hours of the night, and there, on bended knee, and clad in snowy weeds, the guilty suppliant craved forgiveness. Tired of her supplications at Inverqueich, Lord Lindsay is said to have doomed her latterly to live out her penance to the end of time in the bosom of Craig Liach, or the Eagle's Rock, in the water of Ericht, in the lovely glen of Craighall, near Blairgowrie, where ruins still exist called Lady Lindsay's Castle. Here, though the unfortunate lady has a circumscribed abode, she is not allowed to sleep or idle away her time, being doomed to spin a long unbroken thread-sufficiently long to reach from the remotest parts of her rocky habitation up to the heavens: and by this, when accomplished, she is to be permitted to mount to her place of rest, and enjoy for ever the society of her injured lord! Such are the traditions of this singular event. But Inverqueich Castle was inhabited at a much later period than the time to which this dark story is referable, and, strangely enough, by a person of equal recklessness and daring-perhaps of much less heart-than the unfortunate son of Montrose. This was the son of the "Wicked Master," the husband of Cardinal Beaton's daughter, and the persecutor of his greatest benefactor, Sir David of Edzell, the ninth Earl. The circumstances attendant on his and his father's unhappy career are already noticed and need not be repeated,'-suffice it to say, that in his time, and caused by his extravagance and imprudence, the interesting properties of Ruthven and Alyth passed from the family of Lindsay, and since then have frequently changed hands. The estate of Ruthven now belongs to Colonel Thomas Wedderburn-Ogilvy, while Alyth, including Inverqueich, is the property of the Earl of Airlie. 1 Ut supra, pp. 38 sq. 3 Meigle. The interesting district of Meigle was acquired by the first Earl of Crawford, who had a charter of the whole barony on the resignation of William de Megill, in the time of Robert III.,1 and when he founded the choirs of Our Lady of Victory and of St. George at Dundee, he gave an annual of twelve marks out of the lands of Balmyle and Aberbothrie, in that barony, but Aberbothrie and the castle-stead of Inverqueich, together with certain lands in Alyth, had already been owned by James de Lindsay. Meigle was also a part of the lordship of Crawford, which the scapegrace, Lord Lindsay, overran and uplifted the rents from in the time of his father, who was compelled to crave Parliament to protect him in the circumstances. The Council granted the Duke's prayer, and laid the turbulent offender under heavy pains and penalties, ordaining that he should restore the stolen property, and remedy the evils which the lands of "Megill and Rothuen" had sustained through his interference. It is also worthy of notice, that shortly before the death of the Duke, he mortified certain lands to the church of Meigle in honour of his benefactor James III.5 The earliest recorded lords of Meigle were the family already noticed, who assumed their surname from the land. They perhaps had failed in William, and it is probable that they acquired the lands from William the Lion; for in his time Simon de Meigle gifted the advocation of the kirk, and an adjoining chapel, to the Prior and Canons of St. Andrews. Roger de Miggel, a descendant of Simon, along with some other Perthshire barons, swore fealty to Edward in 1296. Michael de Migell, probably in the reign of Alexander III., had bestowed on the Abbey of Cupar the marsh of Meigle. Margaret, 1 Robertson, Index, p. 142. 83. 2 Thomson, History of Dundee, p. 286. 3 Robertson, Index, pp. 120. 55; 121. 75; 192. 24. 4 Acta Auditorum, Feby. 19, 1487. 6 Lyon, History of St. Andrews, ii. p. 305. 7 Ragman Rolls, p. 128. 5 Lives, i. p. 155. 8 Reg. Abb. Cupar. i. pp. 343, 344. MEIGLE LANDS AND CHURCH. 363 daughter of John de Rattry, of that Ilk and Craighall, was married to "John de Megill, of that Ilk." She and her heirs by him were infeft in the lands of Logie and Meigle in virtue of a deed confirmed by charter under the Great Seal by Robert II., dated 23d January 1383.1 The kirk was inscribed to St. Peter, and the chapel to St. Mary the Virgin. The former was probably rebuilt about the beginning of the seventeenth century, and, after being considerably altered and enlarged in the course of years, was accidentally burned down in the spring of 1869, when the present church took its place on the same site, but many of the monuments in and about the church were hopelessly damaged and lost. The chapel, lying to the west of Meigle, is now used as the burial-place of the Kinlochs of Kinloch, having been restored in the Romanesque style of architecture in 1861. Kinloch, called Aberbothrie up to the end of the seventeenth century, now belongs to Sir John Kinloch, Bart., whose father, the late Sir George Kinloch, added to it the estate of Meigle in 1871 by purchase from the Earl of Strathmore. Sir George received the baronetcy in 1873. In the Kinloch Chapel are laid the remains of George Kinloch of Kinloch, grandfather of the present Baronet, who was outlawed in 1819, but took his seat in the first reformed Parliament as member for Dundee in 1832, and, dying in the following year, the well-known bronze statue in front of the Albert Institute, Dundee, was erected to his memory by public subscription in 1872. Kirkhill (now Belmont, where the late Lord Privy Seal Mackenzie erected a fine mansion) was a residence of the Bishops of Dunkeld, of whom two-Robert Nicolson, once parson of Meigle, and William Lindsay, second son of James Lindsay of Dowhill 2-are buried at the kirk. When the Knights Templars were in pomp, they had considerable interest here, the lands on which the kirk and kirkyard are situated, and others in the neighbourhood, being still known as Temple 1 Douglas, Baronage, p. 275. 2 Lives, p. ii. 284. lands; and some writers suppose that the so-called Guinevra monuments are those of certain Knights who died here after returning from the Crusades.1 SECTION II. MISCELLANEOUS LINDSAY PROPERTIES IN THE SOUTHERN PARTS OF FORFARSHIRE. Kinblethmont-First Lord Spynie, his marriage and death-Second Lord SpynieRepresented by Lindsay-Carnegies of Boysack-Early proprietors of Kinblethmont-Inverkeillor-Guthrie proprietary and ecclesiastical history-Line of the Guthries-Bishop Guthrie-Forfarshire Guthries-Guthrie Castle-Carbuddo— Inverarity-Its lords-Fotheringhams of Pourie-Meathie Lour-KinnettlesEvelick-Arbroath connection-Kinnell-Panbride-Boethius family-Panmure House-Monikie, Downie, Dunfind-Pitairlie-Cross of Camus-Ethiebeaton, Broughty Castle-Brichty. Kinblethmont. THE founder of the Kinblethmont branch of the family of Lindsay (who are now the only remaining proprietors in Forfarshire lineally descended of the great Earls of Crawford) was Alexander, youngest son of the tenth Earl, by his wife Margaret Beaton. He inherited much of the active habits of his ancestors, but had more of a conciliatory disposition than most of them. James VI. esteemed him so much, that he chose him Vice-Chancellor, and, on his marriage with Princess Anne of Denmark, also selected him, and his relative Mr. David Lindsay, minister of Leith, along with Chancellor Maitland, to accompany him to Denmark on his matrimonial expedition. At this important period the royal exchequer was so inadequate to meet the necessary demands upon it, that the 1 New Stat. Acct. of Alyth. These remarkable stones are figured and described in Chalmers, Sculptured Monuments of Angus, etc., and Stuart, Sculptured Stones of Scotland, vol. i. See also Jervise, Epit. ii. pp. 287 sq., and Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. ii. pp. 242 sq., Warden, Angus, i. pp. 34 sq., for a full account, while Dr. Joseph Anderson (Scotland in Early Christian Times, pass., 2d Ser.) argues for the Christian interpretation of such symbols. |