It is alleged Fergus, First Lord of Galloway (1138), granted then St. Maria de Trayl, (St. Mary's Isle) to the Monks of Holyrood Abbey, (The Abbot of Sancte Crusis) as confirmed by John, Bishop of Galloway, at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Fergus, having his principal seat on Palace Isle, Loch Fergus, erected the ‘Prioratus Sanctae Mariae de Trayl’ (St. Mary's Isle Priory) in penitence for rebellion against King David I of Scotland.[1][2] Whether or not the endowment was made for this purpose, Holyrood Abbey established a daughter house there which is on record by the time of a grant by Lochlann, Lord of Galloway sometime between 1189 and 1193. A "prior of Galloway" by the name of "William" appeared alongside the Abbot of Holywood and his prior in a document preserved by St Andrews Cathedral Priory dated to 1173, and so it is possible that this William is the earliest recorded Prior of St Mary's Isle.
The priory maintained its dependent relationship with Holyrood Abbey. In order to help maintain the canons and prior of the monastery, in 1323 King Robert I of Scotland granted to Holyrood Abbey a tithe of the revenues from royal pleas taken from the area between the rivers Nith and Cree. The declining health of the priory, related more generally to the declining fortunes of monasteries in Scotland in the 15th century, led James IV of Scotland to seek its reincorporation into Holyrood Abbey. This only led to a kinsman of the abbot of Holyrood becoming Prior of St Mary's Isle. In the 16th century control of the priory was secularized and held by a series of Commendators.
The Prior of St Mary's Isle, like others, had a seat in Parliament, Robert Strivelin being the last prior. After his death Robert Richardson, was presented to the Priory on 30 March 1538, sat, as a vacant benefice until an incumbent was provided, in the Parliament of 1560. The declared rental at the general assumption of 1561 represents that the Priory was worth £235.4.4. in money, "in meale, oats, bear - 90, 80 and 77 bushels respectively, and that the kirks thereof were Kirkmadyne with St. Mary's Isle called Galtway. In 1572, Mr. Robert Richardson, as Usufructuary, and William Rutherford, as Commendator, granted to James Lidderdale (c. 1545–1621), and Thomas (1570–1629), his son, the lands which belonged to the Priory, and formally became part of their entirely secular lordship in 1608, this grant was confirmed by a charter from the King, dated the 4th November 1573."[3]
St. Mary’s Isle: The Wadset
The succession of Lidderdale of St. Mary's Isle, as given, is from a genealogical deduction made by James Lorrimer, Lyon Clerk, on 30 January 1851, as corrected. It is from James Lidderdale (c1545-1621) to Thomas (1570-1629) to Thomas (1590-1636), who d.s.p., to his brother James (1590-1665), to his son Robert (1610-1652), to his son Thomas Lidderdale (1630-1687).[4]
In the year 1672, THOMAS LIDDERDALE (1630-1687) then proprietor of St. Mary's Isle, mortgaged his lands by wadset, as perfected by livery of sasine, and granted possession, or right to possession characteristic of estates of freehold, to Sir David Dunbar of Baldoon (c1610–1686). The St Mary's Isle wadset passed with Sir David's lands, in Kirkcudbright, to his sole heir and granddaughter, Mary Dunbar of Baldoon (1677-1760) who married, in 1691, Lord The Hon. Basil Hamilton.[5][6] Lord The Hon. BASIL HAMILTON (c1671-1701), the sixth son of Sir William Douglas-Hamilton, 1st Earl of Selkirk (1646) and Anne Douglas (Hamilton), married Mary Dunbar of Baldoon, by whom they had two sons, William who died young and Mr. Basil, inheriting the Estate.
BASIL HAMILTON of Baldoon (c1696-1742), married Isabella Mackenzie, on 14 March 1719, by whom they had two sons Basil Hamilton, who died young, and Dunbar Hamilton, born on 1 December 1722. DUNBAR HAMILTON, eldest son of Basil Hamilton of Baldoon, resumed the name of DOUGLAS, the paternal one of his family, upon his succeeding to the honours of Earl of Selkirk, in 1744. It was therefore about then that possession of St Mary's Isle was obtained by Lord Selkirk, The 4th Earl, who was seen to gradually add to the St Mary's Isle Estate. In 1786 he transferred management of his estates to his then eldest son, Basil William, The Lord Daer, who conducted his affairs with great success. Dunbar, 4th Earl of Selkirk, died in 1799, and was succeeded by his youngest son Thomas, his other sons having predeceased him, as the 5th Earl of Selkirk.[7][8]
In 1811, the heir or heirs of Thomas Lidderdale (1630-1687) having gone abroad, a Robert Lidderdale, given the St Mary's Isle wadset clauses, attempted to exercise the right to call on Lord Selkirk, The 5th Earl, to accept the conditions of the wadset, and to deliver up the Estate. "I would wish you to have the friendly goodness to have the Register of Edinburgh to be searched as to this wadset, which can easily be done from the alphabetical list year 1672 to 1700. Any expense you may incur, I will thankfully repay and must beg this application be considered as most confidential. Under the impression of this wadset Lord Selkirk and his heirs may hold the Estate ad finitum, but surely the existing presumptive heir can recall it on payment until a more rightful, heir casts up." (Signed) R. LIDDERDALE, by Langtoun, 14 March 1811.[9]
St. Mary’s Isle: The Foreclosure
This attempting to undo a wadset from 1672, as agreed to by Thomas Lidderdale (1603-1687,) dealt with indifferently by the direct-line of male Lidderdales, was not the first reconsideration of the Estate. A Captain William Robertson Lidderdale (1747-1814) near the end of his life set out to prove that there had been some legal flaw when the wadset was foreclosed. Seeking the support of James Lidderdale (1786-1878), James being a leading solicitor in Galloway, he claimed that the ‘purchase’ was carried out in the absence of the owners and therefore illegal. This against the financial indifference of his deceased father, John Lidderdale (1713-1777), he having been a wealthy man by reason of the £50,000 amassed trading in tobacco, had not sought to redeem the wadset, and so recover the Estate. As then head of the family this was his right in Scots law, instead he purchased Castle Milk, now owned by the head of the Jardines, as well as buying Estates in Yorkshire and Berwick.[10][11]
This was not the first Lidderdale ‘of means’ to not seek to redeem the wadset, as James Lidderdale (1670-1708), son of Thomas Lidderdale (1630-1687), saw in his son, Thomas (born c1690). Like many other Lidderdales, Young Thomas in the West Indies, making a fortune, on what is called a Spanish voyage, did not direct the freeing of the Isle, with his money, though he may have died intestate, his money going to his sister. There is nothing to show his fortune, or any part of it went to a male Lidderdale, the Estate of St. Mary's Isle being much burdened, was said to be 'sold' to Lady Mary Hamilton (Dunbar) (c1677 - 1760).[12][13]
It is also known that Thomas Lidderdale (1630-1687) took on "One wadset followed another to the Hamiltons, to Herons and to Baldoon. Land had become of no value, some of the farms lying waste and offered at the church door to whoever would pay a small Kane and the taxes. He thus has to part with the Isle, the last of his several possessions." Mrs. Alexa M.Carter (1865-1953) of Edinburgh, states, "I do not know much of family affairs but my father, William Halliday Lidderdale (1815-1896) returning, somewhat peeved, from Lard Selkirk's (Dunbar James 1885) funeral quite clearly stated that the Isle passed from our family owing to the foreclosure of the wadset, this I believe". Her father also stated that his father, James Lidderdale (1786-1878), was too badly off to have joined with Captain William Robertson Lidderdale (1745-1814) of Gretna Hall, in going to law, she knowing Captain William had written to her grandfather James Lidderdale (1786-1878), he being a leading solicitor in Galloway.[14]
The Peninsula of St Mary's Isle
The peninsula of St Mary's Isle on which the Priory stood lies in the estuary of the River Dee South of Kirkcudbright. It divides the bays of Manxman's Lake and Goat Well Bay. The tidal Islet of Inch lies just offshore in Manxsman's Lake. The site and buildings on St Mary's Isle form a delightful combination in a very beautiful setting; now occupied as the park, it being about three quarters of a mile from Kirkcudbright, and approached by an avenue possessed of no special attraction. The pleasure grounds, in which is situated the residence, are much admired, they being finely wooded and nearly surrounded by the sea and River Dee.[15]
All the buildings of the Priory were swept away towards the close of the 17th century, to give full scope for beautifying the ground as a noble demesne. The mansion house has nothing striking to necessitate delineation, though its monument room (library) burned, in a fire of 1941. The property passed through Captain John Hope RN, to the Hope Dunbar line, who still hold it. CAPTAIN JOHN HOPE Royal Navy (1843-1915), the eldest son of The Hon. CHARLES HOPE (1808 –1893) and Lady Hope (Lady Isabella Ellen Dunbar), took on title of St Mary's Isle in 1893, with the death of his mother. Retiring early from the Navy, having been Captain of The FLY 4, he succeeded his mother (Lady Isabella) in the large properties she had earlier inherited from her brother, DUNBAR JAMES DOUGLAS The 6th Earl of Selkirk in 1885.[16]
St Mary's Isle is noted in 'local histories' for the short visits of John Paul Jones and poet Robert Burns to the then Selkirk mansion house. Robert Burns is said to have spoken the "Selkirk Grace" whilst visiting Lord Daer at St Mary's Isle.[17] On 22 April 1778, John Paul Jones made a descent on St Mary's Isle, with the view of seizing The 4th Earl of Selkirk as a hostage during the war with America. His lordship being absent, all the silver plate in his mansion was seized and carried away. After the war Paul Jones had, the silver valued, paid the men their share out of his own pocket, and returned the silver to the Selkirks. It survived intact until 1941, when most was lost in a fire at St. Mary's Isle.[18][19]
↑ M. McL., Harper, Rambles in Galloway: Chapter 6 - Dundrennan to Kirkcudbright, 1876. See Historical Record: http://www.lidderdale.com/gen087.html Accessed 26 January 2016
↑ Patrick Cracroft-Brennan, Editor, Cracroft's Peerage: Selkirk, Earl of (S, 1646). The Peerage Research Trust, Heraldic Media Limited. See: "Selkirk, Earl of (S, 1646)". Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 9 October 2017. Accessed 28 January 2016
↑ The Lidderdale Family Tree: James Lidderdale(1670-1708), Source: Robert Halliday Lidderdale, An Account of the Lowland Scots Family of Lidderdale, 1950. http://www.lidderdale.com/gen093.html Accessed 26.01.2016
↑ The Lidderdale Family Tree: James Lidderdale (1670-1708) Source: Robert Halliday Lidderdale, An Account of the Lowland Scots Family of Lidderdale, 1950. http://www.lidderdale.com/gen093.html Accessed 26.01.2016
↑ Gazetteer Entry for St Mary's Isle 1857, Vision of Britain through Time, Department of Geography, University of Portsmouth, UK. Source: F.H. Groome, Ord. Sur., sh. 5, 1857, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4), 2004. See: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/139730 Accessed 26.01.2016
Cowan, Ian B. & Easson, David E., Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man, Second Edition, (London, 1976), pp.96–7
Watt, D.E.R. & Shead, N.F. (eds.), The Heads of Religious Houses in Scotland from the 12th to the 16th Centuries, The Scottish Records Society, New Series, Volume 24, (Edinburgh, 2001), pp.193–7
Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, and after the Scottish Reformation the Palace of Holyroodhouse was expanded further. The abbey church was used as a parish church until the 17th century, and has been ruined since the 18th century. The remaining walls of the abbey lie adjacent to the palace, at the eastern end of Edinburgh's Royal Mile. The site of the abbey is protected as a scheduled monument.
Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk FRS FRSE was a Scottish peer. He was noteworthy as a Scottish philanthropist who sponsored immigrant settlements in Canada at the Red River Colony.
William Douglas-Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton, KG, PC, also known as Lord William Douglas and the Earl of Selkirk, was a Scottish nobleman and politician. He was the eldest son of the 1st Marquess of Douglas by his second wife, Lady Mary Gordon, a daughter of the 1st Marquess of Huntly.
This is a list of people who have served as Lord-Lieutenant of Kirkcudbright, part of the Dumfries and Galloway council area of south-west Scotland. Prior to 1975 the lieutenancy corresponded to the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire. Since 1975 the lieutenancy area has been the slightly smaller Stewartry district, corresponding to the local government district of Stewartry established in 1975 and abolished in 1996. From 1975 until 1996 the title was the "Lord-Lieutenant for Dumfries and Galloway Region ". In 1996 the title was changed to "Lord-Lieutenant for the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright".
Clan Douglas is an ancient clan or noble house from the Scottish Lowlands.
Whithorn Priory was a medieval Scottish monastery that also served as a cathedral, located at 6 Bruce Street in Whithorn, Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway.
The Clan MacLellan is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands. The clan does not currently have a chief therefore it is considered an Armigerous clan.
The Prior of Whithorn was the head of the monastic community at Whithorn Priory, attached to the bishopric of Galloway at Whithorn. It was originally an Augustinian establishment, but became Premonstratensian by the time of the second or third known prior. As most of the priors of Whithorn appear to be native Galwegian Gaels, it would appear that most priors before the 16th century at least were drawn from region, something unusual in medieval Scotland. The following is a list of abbots and commendators.
The Prior of St Mary's Isle was the head of the Augustinian monastic community of St Mary's Isle Priory, in Kirkcudbrightshire, Galloway. The following is a list of priors and commendators:
Dunbar James Douglas, 6th Earl of Selkirk FRS was a Scottish peer.
Gavin Hamilton, bishop of Galloway, was the second son of John Hamilton of Orbiston, Lanarkshire. The father, descended from Sir James Hamilton of Cadzow, fell at the battle of Langside, fighting for Mary, Queen of Scots.
The Dunbar, later Hope-Dunbar Baronetcy, of Baldoon, is a title in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia. It was created on 13 October 1664 for David Dunbar, with remainder to his heirs male and tailzie. The baronetcy became dormant on his death in 1686. The title remained dormant until 1916, when it was successfully claimed by Charles Hope-Dunbar, who became the sixth Baronet. He was a descendant of Mary, granddaughter and sole heiress of the first Baronet. Hope-Dunbar was also the grandson of the Hon. Charles Hope, third son of John Hope, 4th Earl of Hopetoun. Consequently, the present holder of the baronetcy is also in remainder to the earldom of Hopetoun and its subsidiary titles the viscountcy of Aithrie, lordship of Hope and baronetcy of Kirkliston, titles held by his kinsman the Marquess of Linlithgow.
Charles Hope, styled The Honourable from 1823, was a Scottish Conservative Party politician.
Dunbar Hamilton Douglas, 4th Earl of Selkirk FRSE was a Scottish peer.
Kirkinner is a village in the Machars, in the historical county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. About 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of Wigtown, it is bounded on the east by the bay of Wigtown, along which it extends for about three miles, and on the north by the river Bladnoch.
Basil Hamilton was a Scottish Jacobite.
Thomas Cochrane, 6th Earl of Dundonald was a Scottish aristocrat.
Lord Basil Hamilton was a Scottish aristocrat who drowned trying to save his servant.
Charles Douglas, 2nd Earl of Selkirk, was a Scottish aristocrat and courtier.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
