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 harassed 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 cum 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 cum 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 baytit 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 ship may be traced yet.
At what date the historic ford was superseded or assisted 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 God 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 worship, and occasionally showed his
zeal by holding a court "for the fineing and punishing 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 worship, 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 space 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 title. 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 admittit reader in Mithyll,
was delaytit and summoned for ministration of baptisme and mariaige
efter the Papistical fasson, 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 decretit 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 Assignation 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 space 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 principal kirk of ye said parochin of Strageath in all tyme
cuming, 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 circumstances. 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 parishioners 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 passed 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 noble 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
principal 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 Assembly of 1638, he sat as commissioner for the
Presbytery of Auchterarder, from which we may conclude that he was
still closely associated with Kincardine. With the great Marquis the
story of Kincardine Castle ends. In 1646, being Montrose's principal
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 passed 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 title of Earl of Tullibardine in 1606. In 1670 the title
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 dykes.
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 sex houssis infectit 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 Cassillis, 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 ambassadouris causs being with his majestie, sua my
lord hes nocht presentit the King as yit."