Clan Crawford | |||
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Motto | Tutum te robore reddam (With my strength I'll give you safety) [1] | ||
Profile | |||
Region | Lowlands | ||
District | Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and Ayrshire | ||
Plant badge | Boxwood | ||
Animal | stag | ||
Clan Crawford no longer has a chief, and is an armigerous clan | |||
21st Laird of Auchinames [2] | |||
Historic seat | Auchinames Castle, Renfrewshire. [3] | ||
Last Chief | Adam Crawfurd of Auchinames [2] | ||
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Clan Crawford is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands. The clan is of Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon origin. [1] [4] [2] There was in the early 18th century a mistaken belief that the clan had Norman origins. While historically recognised as a clan by the Court of the Lord Lyon, it is now an armigerous clan as it no longer has a chief. The last chief was Hugh Ronald George Craufurd, who sold his land (Auchenames, Crosbie and other estates) and moved to Canada in 1904. He died in Calgary in 1942, leaving no male heirs. [2]
The surname of Crawford comes from the barony of Crawfordjohn, adopted by around 1160. The name is taken from the barony of the same name in Lanarkshire. [2] The early names of all of the principal Crawford families are all Norman, however some scholars have asserted an Anglo-Danish ancestry. [2] There is a tradition that Reginald, who was a son of the Earl of Richmond was one of the Norman knights who were established by David I of Scotland. [2] The Crawfords appear in a legendary incident when the king's life was saved from a stag and this led to the foundation of Holyrood Abbey. [2] It is said that Sir Gregan Crawford was instrumental in saving his royal master's life. [2]
Sir Reginald Crawford was appointed sheriff of Ayr in 1296. [2] His sister married Wallace of Elderslie and was mother of the Scottish patriot William Wallace. [2] (If going by the traditional origin of William Wallace as son of Malcolm Wallace of Elderslie). The Crawfords rallied to their Wallace cousin during the Wars of Scottish Independence. [2] The family of the Crawford sheriff of Ayr produced the main branches of the clan: the Crawfords of Auchinames and the Crawfords of Craufurdland. [2] The chiefly line is reckoned to be that of Auchinames in Renfrewshire who received a grant for their lands from Robert the Bruce in 1320. [2] After the clan disbanded, the clan split into families.
Sir William Crawford was knighted by James I of Scotland and fought with the Scots forces in the service of Charles VII of France. [2] In 1423 he was wounded at the siege of Creyult in Burgundy. [2] John of the Craufurdland branch of the clan was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, [5] as were the Lairds of Auchinames. [2] A generation later the Laird of Auchinames was killed at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547. [2] Thomas Crawford of Jordanhill also fought at the Battle of Pinkie but was captured and later ransomed. [2] In 1569 he became a member of the household of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley when Darnley married Mary, Queen of Scots. [2] Crawford denounced both Maitland of Letherington and Sir James Balfour as being conspirators in the murder of Darnley, however he did not sympathise with the deposed queen and in 1570 actually captured Dumbarton Castle from her forces with just one hundred and fifty men. [2]
In the seventeenth century Craufurdland Castle was much extended by the sixteenth Laird. [2]
John Walkinshaw Crawford, the twentieth Laird was a distinguished soldier who joined the army at an early age and rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. [2] He fought in the victory at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 against the French. [2] Two years later he also distinguished himself at the Battle of Fontenoy. [2] However, despite his faithful service to the house of Hanover, during the Jacobite rising of 1745, he was also a faithful friend of the Jacobite Earl of Kilmarnock (chief of Clan Boyd). [2] In a last act of comradeship he followed Kilmarnock to the scaffold where he received the earl's severed head and attended to the solemnities of his funeral. [2] As a result, his name was placed at the bottom of the army list, although he was restored in 1761 and appointed falconer to the king. [2] He died in 1793 and left his entire estates to Sir Thomas Coutts. [2] However this was contested by Elizabeth Craufurd, who eventually won her case in the House of Lords in 1806. [2] This branch of the clan united the families of Houison (Howieson) and Craufurd and they still live at Craufurdland. [2]
Sir Alexander Craufurd of Kilbirnie was created baronet in 1781 and his son, Robert Craufurd, commanded the Light Division in the Peninsular War. [2] He died in 1812 leading his troops in an assault on the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo. [2] A monument was erected to him in St Paul's Cathedral, London. [2] Hugh Crawford, the twenty-first Laird of Auchinames, emigrated to Canada having sold the ancient clan lands in the early twentieth century. [2]
Castles that have been owned by the Clan Crawford include amongst many others:
The modern crest badge of a member of Clan Crawford contains the crest: a stag's head erased Gules, between the attires a cross crosslet fitchée Sable . [6] Encircling the crest on the crest badge is a strap and buckle engraved with the motto: TUTUM TE ROBORE REDDAM which translates from Latin as "I will give you safety through strength". [1] The Crawford tartan is of relatively modern origin, and it is certain that there was no Crawford tartan in around 1739. The first record of a Crawford tartan is that of the "Crawfovrd" which appeared in the Vestiarium Scoticum of 1842. This is the Crawford tartan used today. The Vestiarium was the work of the Sobieski Stuarts whose influential book purported to be a reproduction of an ancient manuscript about clan tartans. Today many clan tartans are derived from the Vestiarium. [7]
John Craufurd of Craufurdland died in 1612, aged only 21, from an injury received at football. His widow married Sir David Barclay of Ladyland in the Parish of Kilbirnie, Ayrshire. [8]
Clan Gordon is a Highland Scottish clan, historically one of the most powerful Scottish clans. The Gordon lands once spanned a large territory across the Highlands. Presently, Gordon is seated at Aboyne Castle, Aberdeenshire. The Chief of the clan is the Earl of Huntly, later the Marquess of Huntly.
Clan Ramsay is a Lowland Scottish clan.
Bourtreehill House and the enclosed land on which it was built form the original estate of Bourtreehill. The wooded hill-top, a distinctive feature of the estate, is now a landmark that sits at the centre of modern North Bourtreehill in the district of North Ayrshire on the west coast of Scotland.
Captain Thomas Crawford or Thomas Craufurd (1530–1603) of Jordanhill was a trusted confidant of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, husband of Mary, Queen of Scots and a retainer of the Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox. He famously planned the assault and led a small force of 150 men in 1571 that scaled the cliffs and embattlements to expel the castle garrison loyal to Catholic Queen Mary from Dumbarton Castle. Six years later, he became Provost of Glasgow, establishing a bursary for a student at the university and saving the cathedral from destruction.
The Clan Wallace is a Lowlands Scottish Clan and is officially recognized as such by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. The most famous member of the clan was the Scottish patriot William Wallace of the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
Clan Muir is a Scottish clan that is armigerous. Per certain sources, holders of the surname Muir, of Ayrshire, have been noted as a possible sept of Clan Boyd, though this is not clearly identified to a reliable resource. A spelling variation More/Moore is a sept of Clan Leslie in Aberdeenshire, and, having genetic proof of Muirs in Aberdeenshire, may have roots in the Mure/Muir line of southwest Scotland.
Kilbirnie Auld Kirk is a Church of Scotland congregation on Dalry Road, Kilbirnie, North Ayrshire, Scotland. Although the building dates back to the 15th century, the present congregation was formed in 1978 by the amalgamation of the Glengarnock Parish Church and the Barony Church. The building is now closed as a place of worship, and the congregation meet at the united Kilbirnie New Parish Church in Glasgow Street.
Easter Greenock Castle was a castle of unknown design near the burgh of Greenock, Scotland.
Giffordland is in North Ayrshire, Parish of Dalry (Cunninghame) in the former Region of Strathclyde, Scotland.
The Barony of Ladyland was in the old feudal Baillerie of Cunninghame, near Kilbirnie in what is now North Ayrshire, Scotland.
Skelmorlie Castle stands on the eastern shore of the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, at the north-western corner of the county of Ayrshire. The structure dates from 1502, and was formerly the seat and stronghold of the Montgomery Clan. The modern village of Skelmorlie lies to the north of the castle.
The barony of Cartsburn in the Baronage of Scotland was created for Thomas Crawfurd of Cartsburn in 1669, when the lands of Cartsburn in the Parish of Easter Greenock in the Shire of Renfrew were erected in liberam baroniam, as a free barony held of the Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. The estate of Cartsburn, also known as Crawfurdsburn, incorporated the lands of Cartsdyke and part of the lands of Easter Greenock Castle. The Barony of Cartsburn is a feudal Barony of Scotland. The seat of the Barony was the House of Cartsburn, built in the 17th century near Greenock, Renfrewshire.
Clan Little is a Scottish clan of the Borders. The clan does not currently have a chief and is therefore considered an armigerous clan. The Clan Little Society had a Guardian in place of a clan chief but, since his death in 2007, no suitable successor has appeared.
The remains of the old castle of Kersland lie about 1.5 miles to the north-east of the town of Dalry in North Ayrshire, Scotland, in the old Barony of Kersland. The River Garnock lies nearby.
The substantial remains of the old castle and sixteenth century manor house of Kilbirnie lie west of the town of Kilbirnie in North Ayrshire, Scotland, on the lower slopes of the Glengarnock Hills, in the old Barony of Kilbirnie. The building is also variously known as the Place of Kilbirnie, The Place, or Kilbirnie House.
The Barony of Glengarnock is a Scottish feudal barony in the county of Ayrshire in Scotland.
Fairlie Castle is a restored oblong tower castle located on a natural rounded knoll situated above a precipitous section of the Fairlie Glen near the town of Fairlie in the old Barony of Fairlie, Parish of Largs, North Ayrshire, Scotland. It was built by the now extinct family, the Fairlies of that Ilk and survives in a fairly good state of preservation. It is a protected scheduled monument.
Clan Ralston is a Scottish clan. The clan is recognized as such by the Court of the Lord Lyon, but as it does not currently have a chief recognized by the Lord Lyon King of Arms it is considered an Armigerous clan.
The site of the old Lefnoreis Castle or Ward of Lochnorris lies about 100 yards north-west of the old stable block of Dumfries House in East Ayrshire, Parish of Old Cumnock, Scotland. The old castle stood on a natural rise overlooking the Lugar Water, built and held for many years by the Craufurd family. For consistency the spelling Craufurd will be used throughout and Lefnoreis for the castle.
Craufurdland Castle is a rebuilt tower house, originating in the 16th century, about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north east of Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland, north of the Craufurdland Water.