Lands and lairds of Larbert and Dunipace parishes online

Braehead, merchant, Glasgow, and by her had two children,
James, his heir, and Sarah, who was married to James Crawford,
junior, merchant. Port Glasgow, with issue David, James,
Joseph, and Jane Tucker Crawford, who was married in 1836
to James Ewing of Strathleven. Elizabeth M'Call died in 1788,
and David Russell married secondly, on sth May, 1795, at
Edinburgh, Mary Robertson, youngest daughter of James
Robertson Barclay of Cavill, Clerk to the Signet.

David Russell of Woodside had a crown charter of the lands
in 1801." He died before 21st April, 1808, on which date his
eldest son, James, had a special retour as heir of his father.

James Russell of Woodside was colonel of the Stirlingshire
Militia, and married Mary Stirling, daughter of John Stirling
of Kippendavie, one of the partners in Stirling, Gordon & Co.,
and sister to Sylvester Douglas Stirling, who afterwards became
laird of Woodside, which he named Glenbervie.

Colonel James Russell and Mary Stirling had at least six
children : — (i) David ; (2) John, Admiral R.N., and afterwards
of Maulside, Ayrshire, who married Catherine Forbes, third

^ Dunblane Baptisms.

' There is a coat of arms of the Russell family on the side of the stable.



72 Glenbervie.

daughter of William Forbes of Callendar'; (3) Henry; (4)
James; (5) Graham, who succeeded to Hamilton Farm and
Sorn, and took the name of Somervell. He was a partner in
Stirling, Gordon & Co , with William and Charles Stirling and
William Leckie Ewing of Arngomery. It may be interesting to
note that of the last two partners of Stirling, Gordon & Co.,
Graham Russell Somervell was heir to James Somervell, one of
the founders of the firm ; and W^illiam Stirling of Tarduf married
the great-grand-daughter of Provost Arthur Connell, the other
founder. One of the partners in the firm had a Crown grant
of the estate of "Content," in Jamaica, which is now in the
possession of Messrs. J. B. Sherriff& Company, Limited, Glasgow.
Graham Russell Somervell of Sorn married his cousin, Henri-
etta Stirling, daughter of William Stirling of "Content" by his
wife, Elizabeth Barrett, a cousin of Mrs. Barrett Browning, the
poetess. -

Colonel James Russell died 17th December, 1830, and was
succeeded by his eldest son, David, a lieutenant in the gth
Regiment of Hussars, and afterwards General Sir David Russell,
K.C.B., who distinguished himself in the Indian Army. He
captured Banks House, but was wounded and disabled in the
attack on the hospital, and was specially mentioned in dis-
patches." He was born in 1809, and died in 1884. His father's
trustees sold the estate of Woodside in 1832 to his uncle,
Sylvester Douglas Stirling,* who changed the name of Woodside
to Glenbervie ; his reason for doing this will presently be shown.

I See Burke's "Landed Gentry."

- Ibid, and " Old Coontry Houses of the Old Glasgow Gentry."

= Diet, of Nat. Biography.

* For further particulars about the Russells see "Old Glasgow Notes," by A. W,
Gray Buchanan, Esq., of ParHuU, Polmont, and "The Old Country Houses of the Old
Glasgow Gentry."



Glenbervie. 73



STIRLING OF GLENBERVIE.

Sylvester Douglas Stirling was the seventh son of John
Stirling of Kippendavie, and grandson of Patrick Stirling of
Kippendavie, by his wife, Margaret Douglas, daughter of
Sylvester Douglas, son of Robert Douglas, Bishop of Dunblane,
who was great-grandson of Sir Archibald Douglas of Glen-
bervie.' Sylvester Douglas Stirling was born in 1803, three
years after his father's cousin, Sylvester Douglas, was created
Baron Glenbervie. This peerage became extinct on the death of
the first Lord Glenbervie in 1823, and in order to show the
connexion of the family of Stirling with the House of Glen-
bervie, the old Stirlingshire name of Woodside was lost in
the Kincardineshire name of Glenbervie.

Sylvester Douglas Stirling was a useful and enterprising
Stirlingshire laird. He married, in 1830, Anne Patricia Craigie
Connell, daughter of David Connell, by whom he had a son,
Ch.arles Douglas Stirling of Glenbervie, who died in 1856, and
several daughters. The second, Mary Catherine, was married to
her cousin, William Stirling of Tarduf, third son of William
Stirling of " Content." Their eldest son, Major William George
Hay Stirling, married, in 1895, Mary Louisa," eldest daughter of
William George Spens (descended from the old family of Spens
of Lathallan) by his wife, the Honourable Mary Catherine
Borthwick. Sylvester Douglas Stirling was drowned while
bathing at Ardrossan, 2nd September, 1846. His wife survived
him fifty-three years, and died at Glenbervie in 1899, when

> "Douglas Book" and "Stirlings of Keir," by Sir William Fraser, and "The



of Douglas of Glenbervie. See pedigree of Spens of Craig-
sanquhar— Buike's "Landed Gentry,"



74 Glenbervie.

the trustees sold the estate to James Aitken of Darroch, of
the well-known firm of Russel & Aitken, writers, Falkirk.
The present mansion house of Glenbervie, of which an
illustration is given, was built by the late Mrs. Stirling of
Glenbervie in 1850-1, and the old house, having become quite
uninhabitable, was then pulled down. The principal staircase
in the present house is made entirely of Spanish chestnut
grown on the estate, and is considered very fine of its kind.*



APPENDIX TO GLENBERVIE.



Note A.

The following notes were kindly sent to me by Mrs. Houstoun of Johnstone
Castle, grand-daughter of the late Sylvester Douglas Stirling of Glenbervie:—

"The Parish Joug Tree still stands at the corner of the present
mansion house of Glenbervie. It is an old oak, and during the building of
the house, the earth from the foundation was heaped up round it to the
height of probably five feet, which explains its curiously stunted appearance.
The marks of a chain round the trunk can still be seen.

Caroill's Thorn, marking the spot where the Covenanter, Donald
Cargill, excommunicated Charles II., no longer exists, having been blown
down within the last ten or fifteen years. It stood on the east side of the
Falkirk and Stirling high road, on Woodside (Glenbervie) estate, which
originally formed part of the ancient low Torwood.

Wallace's Oak, which stood on another part of Woodside (low
Torwood) has also vanished. There is an account of it in the second
edition of Nimmo's ' History of Stirlingshire,' in which the editor calls it
an 'august vegetable' (!), and mention is made of a Druidical causeway

1 I am indebted to Mrs, Houstoun of Johnstone Castle for this information.



Glenbervie. 75



leading up to the tree and circling round it. By means of tradition and
an old map, we succeeded in identifying the spot a few years ago, and even
found traces of the rough causeway mentioned by Nimmo."

Mrs. Houstoun states that the above information is partly based on
information given by her grandmother, Mrs. Stirling of Glenbervie, whose
knowledge of the places dated from 1832.



Note B.

Thomas Bruce, fourth of Woodside, married Elizabeth RoUock, and had
a son, Thomas, fifth of Woodside, who had a son, Andrew, sixth of Woodside,
designed thus in 1648 when he was made a Commissioner of War for
Clackmannanshire. (Printed Acts of Scots Parliament). He married
Catherine Hay in 1643, and had issue, Robert, his heir, John, Catherine,
and Christian.

Robert Bruce, seventh of Woodside, had two sons, Robert, eighth of
Woodside, and Captain John Bruce, ninth of Woodside, also a daughter,
Beatri,\, who was twice married, her first husband being James Bruce, and
her second, Ged. — "Bruces of Airth," &c.



CARRONVALE.*

(Parish of Larbert.)



THE name of Carronvale was given to a part of the lands
of Broomage in the first quarter of the nineteenth
century. The old name, Broomage,' still retained for
part of the lands, or, still earlier, Brumeinche, conjures up a
pleasant picture of the season when :

"The broom . . . full flowered
Along the copses runs in veins of gold."
The name Brumeinch, used about the middle of the fifteenth
century, means the broom meadow or links.- Several of the
fields on the property have suggestive names, such as Easter
and Wester Tanziebroom, Otter Pool, and Lang Riggs.

The earliest allusion to these lands is in a charter under
the Great Seal, dated 1451, in which James II. grants them
to his wife. Queen Mary. On 4th May, 1452, they are
granted to James Rutherford, of that ilk, for faithful services
to King James II. In this charter' the lands are named
Bremis. In 1476 they belonged to James, Lord Livingstone,*

* Formerly BROOMAGE.

1 Parts of the original lands of Broomage now belong to William Forbes, Esq., of
Callendar, and to Sir John H. N. Graham, Bart., of Larbert.
' " Place Names of Stirlingshire," b; Bev. J. B, Johnston,
» R. U. S.

* Acta AvAitonm.



Carronvale. 77

and in 1478 they are alluded to as " brume Inch."* On 20th
March, 1573-4, the superiority of Broomage was sold to John,
Lord Thirlstane." On 8th February, 1621, the lands are
referred to in a charter under the Great Seal to David Living-
stone of Dunipace. In 1644, there is a charter to John Burne'
of the lands of Larbert and Broomage,* which Sir Robert
Spottiswoode and Adam Livingstone resign. The lands of
Broomage were portioned out by Alexander, Earl of Linlithgow,
who sold half the lands about the beginning of the eighteenth
century to Alexander Brown.

Alexander Brown, first portioner of Broomage, had a son,
Alexander, second, who had confirmation of his father's lands,
5th August, 1725. In 1777 he acquired the other half of the
lands, as will be shown presently.

This Alexander lived through the exciting times of the '45,
and probably saw Prince Charlie's army marching through his
lands, as tradition relates, to Falkirk. No doubt he watched the
fortunes of his unfortunate neighbour at Dunipace with interest,
but tradition does not tell us what side he took. Alexander,
second, had a son, James, third of Broomage, who married
Margaret Brown of Crofthead.

The portioner of the other half of Broomage was James
Heugh, who owned the lands before 1724. He sold his half

1 Acta, AvjiXtorv.ni.

"- H.M.S.

=• See under Larbert.

* In 1632, as stated under Larbert (p. 2), Malcolm Mackie was tenant in Broomage,
and probably belonged to the family of the Mackies, portioners of Larbert. Since the
part of the book treating of Larbert estate was printed off, I have been informed that
the Mackies, who for some generations have at various times owned lands in the
parishes of Larbert, Dunipace, and Airth, are presumed to have a common origin with
the Mackies, portioners of Larbert. A notice of this family will be found in Burke's
" Landed Gentry," under the name of their descendant, Peter Jeffrey Mackie, Esq., of
Corraith, A^ahire,



78 Carronvale.

to Robert Chalmers of Larbert in 1770. Robert Chalmers only
retained this half till 1777, when it was purchased from him by
Alexander Brown, second, as stated above. Alexander Brown,
second, thus became the owner of the whole lands of Broomage.
James Brown, son of Alexander Brown, second, sold the
lands on 22nd October, 1819, to the Honourable Duncan
Robertson of Roehill, Perthshire.

ROBERTSON OF CARRONVALE.

The Honourable Duncan Robertson of Carronvale was a
doctor of medicine. He went to Jamaica, where he spent a
useful life, becoming a member of the Legislative Council, hence
his title of Honourable. On his return to Scotland in 1819, he
purchased the estate of Broomage, and changed the name to
Carronvale. He planted nearly all the wood about the place,
laid out a new approach, and built a lodge at the gate. He also
added two wings to the old house at Carronvale, which was
probably built about the beginning of last century. Dr. Robert-
son fitted up the interior of his house with mahogany grown on
his own estate of " Friendship " in Jamaica, and some of this
is still in Carronvale. He married Susan Stewart, daughter
of Colonel Robert Stewart of Fincastle, Perthshire. Susan
Stewart's mother, Louisa Graeme, was a daughter of Patrick
Graeme of Inchbrakie by Amelia, eldest daughter of Laurence
Oliphant of Gask. They had three sons, Duncan Stewart,
Robert, who died in infancy, and James, born 26th January,
1822, at Carronvale. Dr. Duncan Robertson died in 1824,'
leaving Carronvale to his eldest son, Duncan, and Roehill to
James, his younger son. Roehill, or as it was called in Gaelic,

» Larbert Parish Register.



Carronvale. 79

Cnoc na h-Earb, or the hill of the roe, received this name from a
small hillock crossed by the marches of four proprietors, where
four lairds could shake hands with each other, each standing on
his own land.

Duncan Stewart Robertson got a commission in the 31st
Regiment, and when in India met his future wife, Harriet
Anne Mary Ogilvie, youngest daughter of the Hon. Colonel
Donald Ogilvie of Clova, brother to David, sixth Earl of Airlie.
Duncan Stewart Robertson of Carronvale died 20th October,
1856, at Carronvale, and is buried in Larbert churchyard, with
his father, his wife, and his young brother. By his wife,
Harriet Ogilvie, Duncan Stewart Robertson had two children,
Donald, who married, but died young, leaving no family,
and Julia, who is unmarried.

The youngest son of Dr. Duncan Robertson of Carronvale,
James P. Robertson of Roehill, also entered the army. He
was in the 31st Regiment, and served under Sir Colin Campbell,
Sir James Outram, and Sir E. Lugard, and saw a good deal
of active service. He served through the first Sikh War, and
the Crimean War, on returning from which he was promoted to
the rank of major in the military train. Major Robertson
raised a battalion by selecting volunteers from cavalry regi-
ments at home. In six months they were sent to China, but
diverted to India on account of the Mutiny, and within
twenty-four hours of their arrival in Calcutta they were made
into a light cavalry regiment by the Governor-General and
Commander-in-Chief, and started up country to fight. After the
Mutiny, when the regiment was embarking for England, the
Governor-General published an " Extraordinary " Gazette, and
ordered a salute to be fired in appreciation of their conduct
and services, an honour never before conferred on any British



8o Carronvale.

regiment. Major Robertson was subsequently raised to the
rank of colonel, and had the honour of C.B. conferred on him.
He spent some very happy days of his boyhood at Carronvale,
and remembers the Carron a beautiful fresh river in which he
fished. To him I am indebted for most of the above informa-
tion about the Robertsons. Since giving me these notes, Colonel
Robertson has published an autobiography, entitled " Personal
Adventures and Anecdotes of an Old Officer.'" It is a most
fascinating book of adventure, and one puts it down feeling that
the Colonel certainly bore a charmed life, if any one ever did.

On the death of Duncan Stewart Robertson of Carronvale,
the estate was sold by his trustees, as his will provided that
everything should be divided between his two children. The
purchaser of the estate was John Bell Sherriff, merchant in
Glasgow, who became the owner in April, 1857.

SHERRIFF OF CARRONVALE.

John Bell Sherriff was the son of George Sherriff, a notable
engineer, who served his apprenticeship in the famous firm
of Boulton & Watt, of Birmingham — Watt being the celebrated
James Watt. George Sherriff was recommended by them to
the post of manager of the Imperial Engineering Works in
St. Petersburg, and while in the service of the Russian Govern-
ment he received numerous tokens of appreciation of his work,
which extended through the reigns of the Tsars Nicholas and
Alexander. He was decorated by one, and received a gold snuff
box from the other. He also received a handsome desk from
James Watt on leaving the service of his firm. These mementoes
are carefully preserved at Carronvale. George Sherriff, after

» Published by Edward Arnold, London, 1906,



Carronvale. 8i

being in Russia for a long time, came home, and purchased the
small estate of Abbotshaugh, in the parish of Falkirk, but it has
passed out of the family. His forebears originally came from
the parish of Oldhamstocks, in Haddingtonshire, and can be
traced through the Registers back to the middle of the seven-
teenth century.

George Sherriff's father, Thomas Sherriff, came to the Carron
district, attracted by the prosperity which followed the founding
of the Carron Company. John Bell Sherriff was, therefore, not
altogether without family associations in the district in which
he settled. He spent a busy, active, and useful life, and
from time to time added to his lands in Stirlingshire by
purchasing the estates of Kersie and Stenhouse. He was a
Justice of the Peace for the counties of Stirling and Argyll. He
married Flora Taylor, and by her had two children — George,
and Margaret, who was married to Mr. W. K. Gair, writer
in Falkirk. She died without issue in 1895.

Mr. Sherriff died at Carronvale in November, 1896, and was
succeeded by his son, George, the present laird of Carronvale,
Kersie, and Stenhouse. Mr. George Sherriff takes a keen interest
in the archseological and family history of this district. He is a
grand-nephew of John Bell, whose famous collection of anti-
quities, &c., is preserved in the National Museum of Antiquities,
Edinburgh.

George Sherriff married, in 1883, Catherine Jane Nimmo,
daughter of the late Alexander Nimmo of Howkerse, in the
parish of Bothkennar and of VVestbank, Falkirk, lieutenant-
colonel, Stirlingshire Volunteers. They have six children —
four sons and two daughters.

The house of Carronvale has been much altered by Mr
George Sherriff, but the original structure has been preserved
as much as possible
6



NORTH BROOMAGE.



ANOTHER portion of the lands of Broomage was acquired
in May, 1775/ by William Cadell," managing partner
of the Carron Iron Works/ He was the elder son of
William Cadell of Cockenzie, and was born in 1737, and died
in 1 8 19. He married Catherine, daughter of Archibald Inglis
of Auchendinny, Midlothian, and had issue, four sons and one
daughter.

He was succeeded by his eldest son, William Archibald, to
whom he left Banton and North Broomage. William Archibald
Cadell was born in 1775, and educated as an advocate, but after
being called to the Bar, he went abroad and travelled for many
years. He was taken prisoner during the French Wars, and
remained a captive for several years. When liberated, he
devoted his attention to mathematics and scientific work, and
was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and member of
numerous other societies at home and abroad. He never
married, and after his return home he lived alone at North
Broomage House, or Carronpark, among his books. In 1820

1 Writs of Broomage.

2 William Cadell's younger brother, John Cadell of Cockenzie, was the father of
Robert Cadell of Ratho, the eminent publisher and friend of Sir Walter Scott. See
Lockhart's " Life of Scott."

=> See under article on Carron Company,



North Broomage. 83

he published two volumes of travels, entitled " Journey in
Carniola, Italy, and France in the years 1817-18." He also
contributed articles to the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," &c.
He died in 1855, and was succeeded by his brother, James
John Cadell, of Grange, who lived in Carronpark till his death
in 1858. James John Cadell married Isabella, daughter of
Henry Mowbray of Calderbank, Midlothian, by whom he had
five sons and two daughters. He was succeeded in 1858
by his eldest son, William Cadell, W.S., to whom he left
Banton and North Broomage, and who only survived him
four years, dying at Carronpark in 1862. He had one son,
James John, who died unmarried in 1872, when the estates
passed to Henry Cadell of Grange, J. P., D.L., second son of
the late James John Cadell of Grange, and Isabella Mowbray,
his wife. Henry Cadell was twice married, but none of the
children of his first marriage survived him. His second wife
was Jessie Gray, daughter of the Rev. John Macfarlane, D.D.,
of Dalkeith, by whom he had a son, Henry Mowbray Cadell,
F.R.S.,' the present proprietor of North Broomage, Grange, and
Banton. He married, in 1889, Eleanor, eldest daughter of the
late David Simson of Bonally, Midlothian, formerly of the
Bengal Civil Service, and has a family of one son, Henry
Mowbray, and six daughters.

1 I am indebted to Henry M. Cadell, Esq., of Grange, &o., for most of the above
information about his family. For further particulars see Burke's " Landed Gentry."



DUNIPACE.*



THE estate of Dunipace is in the parish of the same
name. It is a beautiful place, and worthy of the many
romantic and historic associations which cluster about
it. The ancient mansion house of Dunipace is supposed to
have been similar in design to Torwood mansion, the ruins of
which are still to be seen.' It stood about one hundred yards
east of the present house, the old yew tree — Wallace's Yew —
being due south of it, and the public road close up to its walls.
Nothing remains now of former days but a turret or staircase
fitted up as a dovecot. On this estate are the celebrated Mounds
of Dunipace, which have been, and still are, the objects of anti-
quarian speculation.- In the immediate vicinity of these mounds
was found the beautiful Dunipace brooch." It is silver, set with
amber, with the pattern wrought in gold, and is supposed to
be a relic of the sixth or seventh century. It is now in the
National Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh. The derivation

* This section was published in 1903 in pamphlet form, entitled "The Lands and
Lairds of Dunipace." It has been revised and some more recent information added,

1 Fleming's " Ancient Castles and Mansions of Stirling Nobility." See illustra-
tion of Torn-ood Castle under that estate.

2 Nimmo's " History of Stirlingshire" (2nd ed.) "New Statistical Account of
Scotland " (Stirlingshire).

= " Prehistoric Annals of Scotland," by Daniel Wilson, LL.D., Vol, II,, 277.



Dunipace. 85

of the name of Dunipace seems to puzzle philologists. Skene
says it is derived from the Celtic bass, " a mound." The local
explanation is the Gaelic dun a' bhais, meaning " hill of death.'"

The story of the owners of Dunipace and their kindred
would have supplied Sir Walter Scott with matter for the plots
of several Waverley Novels. The earliest record of the lands
of Dunipace which I have been able to trace, is in the "Cartulary
of Cambuskenneth," in the reign of William the Lion. In the
year 1 190, Gilbert de Umfraville makes a gift of part of these
lands to the Abbey. The Umfravilles' were one of the leading
families of the time. This Gilbert married Matilda, Countess
of Angus, and in right of his wife he became Earl of Angus.
He died in 1245, two years after his marriage, leaving a
son, also named Gilbert, second Earl of Angus. This Gilbert's
eldest son, also Gilbert, died before his father ; probably he is
the Gilbert who, in 1264," made a gift of part of the lands of
Dunipace to Cambuskenneth Abbey " for the good of his soul."
Among the witnesses to this deed of gift are Adam de Stanus
and Herbert de Camera.

A younger brother, Robert,* succeeded as third Earl of
Angus. He was appointed joint guardian of Scotland by
Edward H., 21st July, 1308, and had a commission to be sole
guardian, 20th August, 1309; but this was never acted on.
When Bruce came to the throne he forfeited Earl Robert
for his adherence to the English interest. This we learn
from a charter under the Great Seal of the superiority of the
lands of Dunipace, granted by Bruce to William de Lindsay,

1 " Place Names of Stirlingshire," by Rev. J. B. Johnston.
'' Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, and Exchequer Rolls.
' About this time (1264) there is an entry in the Exchequer Rolls showing that
Alexander III. kept hawks at Dunipace.
• " The Scots Peerage."



86 Dunipace.

in which it is stated that this superiority formerly belonged to
Robert de Umfraville. " The Cartulary of Cambuskenneth "
records other gifts of portions of these lands in 1200 by Herbert,
son of Herbert de Camera/ also by Sir Adam de Moreham,
Knight. The chapel of Dunipace is alluded to in 119S, and
it is interesting to know that an uncle of Sir William Wallace
was the priest in charge during the latter half of the thirteenth
century.' It is said that Wallace frequently made his uncle's
house his home. In 1304 Edward I. orders the Earl of March
to take up his abode about Dunipace."

Bruce granted a charter to John Gifford of the lands of
Dunipace,* " at the earnest desire of the Earl of Murray."
From an entry in the Exchequer Rolls, 1330, for expenses