dumfries-1920/04-031

Transcription

INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS IN DUMFRIESSHIRE.

were given to Thomas Carruthers in that year. ¹ But early in the next century
we find Corrie in the hands of James Johnstone of Johnstone, who conferred
it upon his second son Adam, whence the family of Johnstones of Corrie. ² The
"Johnstone grey" ³ was spreading over Annandale. Wamphray in the north,
familiar from the ballad of "The lads of Wamphray," was acquired by pur-
chase in 1476 and given by Johnstone to a younger son. ⁴ In 1536 we find that
Newbie has been sold by George Corrie to William Johnstone of Gretna, ⁵ and
Newbie, with other lands, was six years later erected into a free barony in favour
of the same Johnstone. ⁶ Carruthers is an old place-name, and the family
was in Dumfriesshire as early at least as the 13th century, but Carruthers passed
out of their hands at some later period. In the 14th century (1315-21), a son of
John of Carruthers received the lands of Mouswald (Musfald) and Applegarth
(Appiltretwayt) from Robert Bruce. ⁷ Archibald Earl of Douglas in 1426 conferred
Holmains, Little Dalton, etc., upon a son of the laird of Mouswald. Mickle
Dalton and Dormount he had granted to his "shield-bearer" Gilbert "Greresoun"
some years before. These lands another Gilbert Grierson sold in 1552. ⁸ The
Murrays were descended from a sister of Thomas Randolph, and were destined to
a peerage (Mansfield) in the 17th century, in which the family disappeared. Their
hereditary lands were Cockpool, Comlongon, and Ruthwell, and from the Corrie
estates they seem to have acquired Redkirk. The lands of Cockpool, "Ruvale
tenement," the tower and fortalice of Comlongon, Rainpatrick, and other estates
comprised the barony of Cockpool on its erection in 1508. ⁹ Charteris (de Carnoto)
of Amisfield goes back to the close of the 12th century. In September 1298 Edward I.
granted to the Earl of Warwick the castle of "Amesfeld" and land of Drungrey
belonging to Andrew de Chartres. ¹⁰ The family had lands also in the south of
England, which were apparently restored to Andrew de Chartres on submission in
1304. ¹¹ By June 1314 Andrew was dead, and the lands in "Aldredestone in Wilts"
had been forfeited by the rebellion of Robert de Chartres, his son and heir. ¹²
In the 15th century we have the emergence of the Border clans or "surnames."
In the Act of 1587 the clans of the West March are listed as Scotts of Ewesdale,
Batesons or Beatsons (Eskdalemuir and Westerkirk), Littles (lower part of Upper
Eskdale), Thomsons (Upper Eskdale), Glendinnings (Upper Eskdale, Wauchopedale),
Irvings (Lower Annandale to Lower Eskdale), Bells (Kirtle Water), Carruthers
(cf. p. xxviii.), Grahams (cf. p. xxxv.), Johnstones (cf. p. xxiv.), Jardines (Lower
Annandale), Moffats (Black Esk), and Latimers or Lorimers (Upper Nithsdale).
These conditions prevailed generally throughout the 15th and 16th centuries,
with such modifications as befell in the natural course of things: as the failure of
the line of Carruthers of Mouswald and the acquisition of the property by Douglas
of Drumlanrig. In the 15th century, too, a branch of the latter family appears in
Dalveen. The 17th century saw many of the old baronies, such as Torthorwald,
Closeburn, Enoch, etc., acquired by the Douglases, while the barony of Langholm was
sold by the second Earl of Nithsdale to the Duke of Buccleuch. These transactions,
however, are outwith our special interests.

1 Reg. Mag. Sig., ii. No. 1590.
2 Annandale Family Book, i., xxx.
3 The family livery. See "Katherine Janfare" in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.
4 History of the Johnstones, p. 9; Annandale Family Book, i., xxiii.
5 Reg. Mag. Sig., iii. No. 1598.
6 Ibid., No. 2570.
7 Ibid., i. No. 92.
8 Hist. MSS. Comm., vi. pp. 710, 712.
9 Reg. Mag. Sig., ii. No. 3194.
10 Bain's Calendar, ii. No. 1009.
11 Ibid., No. 1481.
12 Ibid., iii. No. 366.

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