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TO the west of Crannich is
the twelve-merk land of Carwhin. This property at one time belonged to
Robertsons, probably a branch of the great family de Atholia ; and we find
in the Chronicle of Fothergill obituary notices of some of these lairds:—
“1483, February, 4.—Death of
Donald Robertson of Keir-quhin.”
“1529, September, 29.—Death
of Donald Robertson of Kerquhwin, at that place on the day of St. Michael,
the Archangel, and he was buried in the nave of the church at Inchaden.”
“I553—Death of Katherine Neyn
Dowyll Vc Ayn, spouse of the Baron of Kyrquhwin, and afterwards spouse of
Alexander Maxton of Cwlthequhay, who died at Cultequhay on the last day of
April, 1553.”
“1559.—Malcolm, Baron of
Keyrquhon, died at Balloch, on the 10th day of March, in the year of the
Lord,
1559, and he was buried at
Inchaden.”
In a Report by
Sub-commissioners of the Presbytery of Dunkeld, of the valued rent, stock,
and teind of the several lands in the parish, drawn up in 1630, Sir James
Campbell of Lawers is entered as laird of Carwhin. His family possessed the
superiority of the property and of the shealing of Rhialdt, since 1526, when
it had been conveyed by Haldane of Gleneagles to
James Campbell, the then
laird of Lawers. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, Carwhin came
into the possession of another branch of the Glenorchy line, the Campbells
of Mo-chaster, afterwards styled of Carwhin, and in whose family the
territorial title was continued long after they quitted possession of the
lands, although Carwhin was in the hands of the Earl of Breadalbane so early
as the second decade of last century. The superiority, however, if reserved,
would have carried such a right. Colin Campbell, of Mochaster, was the
second surviving son of Sir Robert Campbell, third Baronet, and ninth laird
of Glenorchy. He married in 1641, Margaret, third daughter of Sir Alexander
Menzies of Weem. She died at Carwhin in 1681, and was buried at Finlarig. He
died in 1688, leaving two sons, Colin of Carwhin, a Writer to the Signet in
Edinburgh, and Robert, who held Boreland in Glenlochay by wadset. The latter
had a son Colin, styled of Carwhin, who in 1746, fought at Falkirk on the
Government side, having in the company of which he was captain, Duncan Ban
McIntyre, the Glenorchy bard. He became factor on Lord Glenorchy’s lands in
Nether Lorn, and resided at Ardmaddy. In 1758 he married Elizabeth, daughter
of Archibald Campbell of Stonefield, by whom he had, Jane, born 1st
December, 1758, died 23rd March, 1769; Elizabeth, born 28th July, 1760, died
5th October, 1774; John, born 30th March, 1762, succeeded as fourth Earl of
Breadalbane in 1782; and Colin, born 12th December, 1763. Colin, senior,
died in his house at Westminster, on 30th March, 1772. His widow died in
April, 1813. Colin, the younger, entered the army, and became a captain in
the 99th Regiment of Foot. Shortly after his brother succeeded to the
earldom, he got from him a grant of the lands of Edinample, Glenogle and
Glenbeich. These lands had been purchased by the third Earl in 1779 from
James Goodlatt Campbell of Auchlyne. Captain Colin Campbell died, unmarried,
at Edinample Castle, on 27th June, 1792. The fourth Earl? who became Marquis
of Breadalbane, married Mary Turner Gavin of Langton, by whom he had three
of a family, two daughters and a son. The latter succeeded to the titles and
estates on the death of his father in 1834. He married Eliza, daughter of
George Baillie of Jerviswood, but had no issue, and at his death in 1862,
the male line of the Carwhin family became extinct.
The lands of Carwhin were
formerly divided into three portions, namely, Carie, Easter Carwhin, and
Wester Carwhin, each being a four-merk land. Easter Carwhin included Carwhin
proper, Croftvellich and Blairmore; and Wester Carwhin comprehended Tomour,
Margphuil, Margdow, and Margnaha. The small isle in Loch Tay, Eilean na
Breaban (Ordnance Survey), Brabant or Brippan, belongs to Carwhin.
Within the past hundred years
or so, the place-names in Easter Carwhin have undergone a change. Carwhin as
the name of an individual holding has been dropped, and in its place
Blairmore has been substituted, while the name of the latter holding has
been changed to Balnreich. The public road ran past old Blairmore, where
there was an ale-house. The meal mill of the property stood on Carwhin
proper. The House of Carwhin, unpretentious as the dwelling must have been,
is understood to have occupied the bite of the present farm-house of
Blairmore, at the eastern end of which there are foundations of a building
locally known as Seomar dubh—the black chamber. Close by is Lag-a-mhoit—the
court hollow—above which is a precipitous rock, called Craig-na-croich,
evidently once a place of execution—an adjunct not unfrequently to be met
with near the former abodes of Highland lairds. A spot is pointed out in
Blairmore wood, which was formerly the graveyard of the district. |
