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Parish of Drumoak County of Aberdour

Some time after 1323 a deadly feud seems to have arisen between the Keiths, hereditary great Marischals of Scotland, and the Irvines of Drum; and tradition tells of a fight which took place between them on a moor on the north bank of the Dee, which now forms part of the glebe, and is known by the name of the Keiths' Muir. In that battle the Irvines were victorious, and drove their enemies across the river, at a deep and rocky part of its channel, which still bears the appellation of the Keiths' Pot; and a rock, which occasionally appears a few inches above the water, on which, as is said, one of the fugitives took refuge and was killed retains the name of the Keiths' Stone. In order to stop this bloody feud, the states of the Kingdom interfered, and enjoined Alexander Irvine, the third in descent, to marry Elizabeth Keith, daughter of the great Marischal. Drum so far tempered his resentment with that spirit of loyalty which has always distinguished the family, as to enter into the proposed alliance, by submitting to the performance of the marriage ceremony; and this external union, which seems to have been all that took place between the parties, had the desired effect of binding the two families together in bonds of friendship, which remained long unbroken.
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