fife-kinross-clackmannan-1933/03-339

Transcription

LESLIE.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [LESLIE.

initials S.E.D., probably for Sir E. Douglas, a
younger son of Douglas of Kirkness, who
married the Forrester heiress and so acquired
the property. The monogram is flanked by the
date 1699.
The basement floor has been a single vaulted
chamber, but has latterly been divided into
three parts, while the vault above the central
division has been removed. The western
division shows traces of two original windows -
mere slits, while in the eastern gable there seems
to have been a kitchen fireplace. On each of
the upper floors - save the third which has been
thrown into a single chamber - are two rooms,
both modernised, the only features of interest
left being a moulded fireplace of stone and a
wooden moulded mantelshelf, both of which
date from the end of the 17th century.

DRAW-WELL. - In the courtyard on the
southern side of the tower is a draw-well.

DOVECOT. - An oblong late 17th-century dove-
cot, built of rubble, stands 100 yards north-east
of the tower. It measures 20 1/4 by 14 feet
externally.

HISTORICAL NOTE. - "Strathendry an old
building, the possession antiently of the Strath-
enries of that Ilk. Then anno 1496, Forrester,
a son of Carden's married the heiress, and it
continued in the name of Forrester, till King
Charles II's time, that a younger son of Kirkness
married the heiress and got the estate: and his
son Mr. John Douglass is the present possessor." ¹
Thomas Forrester of "Strathanrye" is on
record in 1516 as sheriff-depute of Fife. ²

1 Sibbald's History of Fife, etc. (ed. 1803), pp. 372-3.
2 Sheriff Court Book of Fife (S.H.S.), p. 40.

xxvii N.W. 10 June 1927.

387. Leslie House. - The original "palace" ¹
of Leslie, which was built round a quadrangle
immediately east of the town of Leslie, was
destroyed by fire in 1763, but the western wing
was reconstructed in 1767 by John, Earl of
Rothes, ² to form the present mansion. So far
as the walls are concerned, the earlier work can
be traced only on the east side, where it extends
for a distance of 63 feet up to a height of two
storeys. On the north, however, partly incor-
porated in the present building and partly
extending eastward beyond it, is a vaulted
ground floor of store-houses and kitchens,
which survived the fire; above lay a long gallery,
which measured 157 by 23 feet. On the south
a rock garden has been contrived from sundry
fragments of the old south wing.

ARMORIAL PANEL, LESLIE HOUSE, ENTRANCE
LODGE. - Into the modern lodge standing at the
east end of the High Street is inserted a 17th-
century armorial panel bearing the arms of the
Earl of Rothes impaled with a Lindsay coat.
John, seventh Earl of Rothes (1641-1681),
married Anne daughter of John, Earl of Craw-
ford and Lindsay.

1 A charter of 1606 specifies "The Lordship
and barony of Leslie with the palace." Reg. Mag.
Sig., s.a., No. 1805. 2 Stat. Acct., vi (1793), p. 53.

xxvii N.E. and xix S.E. 5 August 1927.

388. Pitcairn House. - This has been an oblong
house of the 17th century, measuring 32 1/2 feet
by 54 feet externally. The east gable, which is
the only one that remains, indicates that there
were at least three storeys in the height; the
lowest was probably vaulted. The masonry has
been of boulder rubble with dressed quoins.
HISTORICAL NOTE. - There were Pitcairns of
that ilk as early at least as the 15th century.
In 1426 the King granted to Henry de Pitcairn
the lands of the same which his father had
resigned; ¹ and in 1495 a deed involving Henry
Pitcairn of that ilk was completed "at the
principal messuage of Pitcarne." ² In 1609
Henry Pitcairn of that ilk is a witness to a
charter. ³

1 Reg. Mag. Sig., s.a., No. 80.
2 Laing Charters, No. 223.
3 Ibid., No. 1543.

xix S.E. 9 June 1927.

389. Auchmuir Bridge. - A relatively modern
bridge crosses the River Leven at Auchmuir at
the western extremity of the county. On the
east side is inserted a panel containing a
scrolled cartouche bearing: A saltire (?)
between four unicorns' heads couped; below
the cartouche are a label and what seems to be
a 17th-century date. The cartouche is sur-
mounted by a second label. On the west side
of the bridge another panel has been inserted,
apparently inscribed but indecipherable from
the river bank.

xxvii N.W. 10 June 1927.

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