Fairburn Tower
Fairburn Toweris a recently restored Scottish castle nearInvernessandMuir of Ordin the parish ofUrray.
The tower house on a hill above theRiver Orrinis believed to have been built in 1545 for Murdo Mackenzie.
Mackenzie of Fairburn
[edit]Murdo Mackenzie(died 1590) was a son of Roderick (Rory) Mackenzie,[1]and probably a nephew ofJohn MackenzieofKintail.[2]Rory Mackenzie, a nephew ofThomas Fraser, 2nd Lord Lovat,[3]who died in 1533, owned nearby farms or townships at Comrie,[4]Scatnell, and "Acheleis", and the mill atContin.[5]His mother is said to have been a daughter of Duncan McWilliam Dow vic Leod.[6]
Murdo Mackenzie became a courtier, a groom or valet of the bedchamber forJames V of Scotlandfrom 1538.[7]It is said that Murdo was sent to join the royal household after his father impressed the king in a wrestling match.[8]
Murdo Mackenzie is recorded as a companion of the king in 1540 atStirling Castle,Falkland Palace,andDudhope Castle.On 30 April 1540 the king's pursemasterJohn Tennentgave him 22 shillings to buy gunpowder inDundeefor the king'shandguns.[9]Mackenzie, and three other grooms of the chamber, Alexander Kemp, Sandy Whitelaw, and Andrew Drummond, were given money for livery clothes in 1540, and their clothing allowance was increased.[10]In June 1542 Mackenzie was given a gift of "composition" worth £113.[11]
Fairburn and its lands
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Murdo Mackenzie was granted the lands of Fairburn and other farms on 1 April 1542,[12]and for the hearth of each homestead he was to pay the feudal duty of a hen, called a "reik hen." He was instructed to build a new house with orchards and a garden.[13]After he married Mariobelle or Margaret Urquhart, in 1549Mary, Queen of Scotsgave him more land in the parish.[14]A translation of Mackenzie's charter is given in theOrigines Parochiales.[15]Murdo Mackenzie died on 20 December 1590 and wished to be buried with his forebears inBeauly Priory.
The original entrance was on the first floor, with an internal stair providing the only access to the vaulted ground floor chamber. A wing with a stair was added to the older tower in the 17th-century, providing a ground-floor entrance to the tower. There are shot-holes or gun-loops at ground-floor level andbartizansor turrets on wall heads.[16][17]
The adjacent lands of "Wester Fairburn" were given toAndrew Keith, Lord Dingwallin March 1584.[18]
The tower and the Mackenzie family were mentioned in the prophecies of theBrahan Seer,predicting the end of the family and the ruin of the building, and the apparition of a cow upstairs.[19]The seer, Kenneth Ower or Coinneach Odhar, was executed for witchcraft at theChanonry of Rossin 1578.[20]
Abandonment and Restoration
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The tower was abandoned around the year 1780 and the roof, which was made withoak shingles,blew down in a gale in 1803.[21]Hugh Miller,who heard stories of the Mackenzies from a woman called Isobel, known as "Mad Bell", described the ruin as a "ghastly spectre of the past".[22]
Fairburn Tower is Category A listed byHistoric Environment Scotland.[23][24]It has been restored by theLandmark Trust,and is now available for holiday rental.[25][26]
References
[edit]- ^James Balfour Paul& John Maitland Thomson,Register Great Seal of Scotland: 1513-1546(Edinburgh, 1883), p. 445 no. 1987
- ^James Balfour Paul,Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland,vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. xxxvi.
- ^William Mackay,Fraser Chronicles(Edinburgh, 1905), p. 125.
- ^MHG24725 - Township - Comrie
- ^James Balfour Paul& John Maitland Thomson,Register Great Seal of Scotland: 1513-1546(Edinburgh, 1883), p. 159 no. 731
- ^Genealogy of the Mackenzies preceding 1661(Dingwall, 1843), p. 14.
- ^Andrea Thomas,Princelie Majestie: The Court of James V of Scotland, 1528-1542(John Donald: Edinburgh, 2005), p. 227.
- ^Alexander Mackenzie,History of the Clan Mackenzie(Inverness, 1879), pp. 76-80.
- ^Athol Murray,'Pursemaster's Accounts',Miscellany of the Scottish History Society X(Edinburgh, 1965), pp. 40, 44, 46.
- ^James Balfour Paul,Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland,vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 332-3.
- ^Accounts of the Treasurer,vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1908), p. 85.
- ^Alexander Mackenzie,History of the Clan Mackenzie(Inverness, 1879), p. 382.
- ^James Balfour Paul & John Maitland Thomson,Register Great Seal of Scotland: 1513-1546(Edinburgh, 1883), p. 606 no. 2632
- ^John Maitland Thomson,Register of the Great Seal: 1546-1580(Edinburgh, 1886), pp. 66-7 no. 280
- ^'Urray',Origines Parochiales Scotiae,2:2 (Edinburgh, 1855), p. 520
- ^abDavid MacGibbon and Thomas Ross,Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland,vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1887), pp. 462-5
- ^Gifford, John (1992).The Buildings of Scotland: Highlands and Islands.London: Penguin Books. p. 412.ISBN0-14-071071-X.
- ^Gordon Donaldson,Register of the Privy Seal: 1581-84,vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1982), p. 320 no. 1901.
- ^Alexander Mackenzie,The prophecies of the Brahan seer: Coinneach Odhar Fiosaiche(Inverness, 1882), pp. 29, 50-1
- ^Lizanne Henderson,' "Detestable slaves of the devil": Changing ideas about witchcraft in sixteenth-century Scotland',Edward J. Cowan& Lizanne Henderson,A History of Everyday Life in Medieval Scotland, 1000 to 1600(Edinburgh, 2011), p. 241.
- ^Alexander Smith Mather,The County of Ross and Cromarty(SAP: Edinburgh, 1987), p. 81.
- ^Hugh Miller,An Autobiography: My Schools and Schoolmasters; Or, The Story of My Education(New York, 1855), pp. 169, 188, 241-2.
- ^Fairburn Tower, MHG7784
- ^Historic Environment ScotlandFairburn Tower (LB14030)
- ^"Fairburn Tower".The Landmark Trust.Retrieved9 December2022.
- ^"The Renaissance of Fairburn Tower"(PDF).Castle Studies Group Journal(36): 288–291. 2022.
External links
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