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Roads; Castle Stewart; Campbelltown ;
Fort-George; Cross Road to Cawdor Cast le, paragraph 1.—Battle of Culloden,
or Drummosie Moor; Nature of the Ground, 2. Disposition of the Forces, and
Battle, 3.—Charge of the Highlanders, and their final overthrow, 4.—Stone
Monuments on the Plain of Clara, 5.—Great Boulder Stone or Tomriach, 6.—Daleross
Castle, 7.—Kilravock Castle, 8.—Holme and Cantray, 9.—Cawdor or Calder
Castle, 10.—Thanes of Cawdor, History of, 11.—History of the Castle, and
Clan Conflict, 1g.—Family Traditions, 13.—Scenery; Oak Wood of Cawdor,
14.—Roads to Dulsie, and the Banks of the Findliorn and Strathspey, 15.—Raits
Castle, 16.
1. A VERY interesting day's excursion from
Inverness may be enjoyed, by going to breakfast at Campbelltown (12 miles)
or Fort-George (13 miles), examining Castle Stewart (described page 360) by
the way, and then proceeding to Cawdor Castle (7 miles) by the military way
from the garrison, which runs nearly due south, to a bridge over the river
Nairn, from which Cawdor inn is distant 2 miles to the eastward, and
returning in the evening to Inverness by Cantray and the Moor of Culloden,
or Dalcross Castle; or by reversing this order, and returning by
Fort-George.
The stage to Campbelltown and Fort-George,
and the character of the country backwards to the woods of Cawdor, have
already been described (Route iii. p. 360); and if the tourist does not mean
to visit Fort-George, but to proceed direct to Cawdor without returning to
Inverness, his best course is either to proceed along the Nairn post-road,
beyond the point where it severs from the Fort-George road, for 2 miles,
when a good cross-road will be found leading directly south-east over the
ridge of the Leys, past Dalcross Castle to Cantray, where it crosses the
river Nairn; or if he keep the north side—the better road of the two—at the
intersection of the Culloden Moor road, the route lies along the latter
north-eastwards by Croy Church and Kilravock, and joins the military way at
Clephanton; or he may keep the Nairn post-road all the way till it meets the
military one at Breachley, 91 miles from Inverness, and then turn south
alongst it. If, on the other hand, the tourist is inclined to proceed by the
Moor of Culloden, he takes the great Perth road for the first 3 miles, and
immediately behind the house of Castlehill, and past Inshes Porter's Lodge,
he will find a district road proceeding eastward, which passes through the
field of battle, and proceeds thence along the ridge between Dalcross Castle
and Cantray. Cawdor, by this route, is 15 miles from Inverness. Between
Cawdor and Craggy Inn a pretty good road leads along the south bank of the
river Nairn, which the pedestrian or horseman can attain by proceeding due
south from the spot where the battle of Culloden was fought, whereby he will
come across the stone monuments of Clava by the way; but wheeled carriages
will find it difficult to reach the road on the south bank, through the
rough fords of the Nairn. The pedestrian can cross it at the wooden bridge
of Culdoich above Clava, and by thus gaining the south bank, he will not
only considerably shorten the distance from Inverness, but command the best
views of Cantray, Ilolme, and Kilravock Castle, which are passed 2 or 3
miles lower down.
BATTLE OF CIILLODEN OR DRUMMOSSIE MOOR.
2. So much has been written on the battle
of Culloden, where closed the rebellion of 1745-6, that we shall trouble our
readers only with a very short notice of it. It is quite evident that no
Highland troops should have fought there, even though their object was to
protect and cover Inverness, especially when opposed by horse and artillery
: and it seems equally certain that there was something worse than
foolishness among the leaders when they perilled their cause on an open
heath, while a rough and hilly country lay so near them. Had the rebel army
also fallen on the Duke of Cumberland's camp at Nairn, the previous night,
as was attempted, they would have found him prepared; for the Duke's
Highlanders had mixed in the ranks of their adversaries during the march,
and sent intelligence every half hour of their approach.
A monumental tumulus or obelisk on the
heath, lately begun, marks the spot where the contest was fiercest; and the
public road passes through the graves of the slain, which consist of two or
three grass-covered mounds, rising slightly above the adjoining heath, at
the distance of about 200 or 300 yards from some corn land and a cluster of
cottages, where the English artillery took up its position, a slight marshy
hollow intervening between them and the Highland army. The spot is about six
miles distant from Inverness. On all sides the near prospect is bleak and
dreary; while the general smoothness of the ground points it out as
favourable for the movements of cavalry and artillery, but proportionably
ill adapted for the protection or defence of the foot soldier. Such is the
nature of the ground on which Prince Charles Edward ventured to peril his
cause against the disciplined troops of England. His army was drawn up a
little to the west of the graves, in a line from south to north, right
across the moor inclining towards the parks of Culloden House.
3. Exhausted with hunger and fatigue, dispersed, and buried
in sleep in the neighbouring hamlets and enclosures, very many of the
Highland army could not possibly be present at this battle. Some had gone to
Inverness for food ; others had not joined, as many had been permitted to
retire to their homes during the winter season ; and, of those who had just
taken up arms, the Macphersons of Badenoch were but that day (16th of April
1746) on their march from the interior to the camp at Inverness. The right
of the Prince's front line was composed of the Athole men and Camerons; in
the centre stood the Frasers, Mackintoshes, Maelachlans, and Macleans; on
the left, the Stewarts, Farquharsons, and the three Macdonald regiments,
commanded by the chiefs, Clanranald, Keppoch, and Glengarry. Behind, and
towards the right of the second line were Lord Ogilvie's, Lord Lewis
Gordon's and the Duke of Perth's regiments, diminished to very small
companies, but supported on the left by the Irish pickets. A few horse were
stationed in rear of the right wing, and on the gradually ascending ground
behind these stood Prince Charles and his French and Irish counsellors. The
declivity of the moor towards the house of Culloden, being soft and marshy,
rendered it somewhat unfit for the movements of cavalry; while the right of
the rebel position was slightly defended by a stone wall enclosing a young
plantation. The Duke of Cumberland advanced from the north-east along the
hill in a line from Dalcross Castle, his object being to force his way to
Inverness. After remaining patiently in their ranks for some time, and being
galled most dreadfully by the enemy's artillery, the centre of the rebel
troops rushed forward to the attack, and repulsed Munro's and Birrel's
regiments, which were opposed to them. The right wing at the same moment
advanced, but were almost immediately turned by the English cavalry, who
attacked them in flank through openings made by their infantry (especially
the Argyleshire Highlanders) in the stone dyke. This last manoeuvre was
observed by the Prince, who, instead of placing himself at the head of the
reserve, and charging in person, to counteract its effect, contented himself
with sending repeated orders to Lord George Murray, which that accomplished
general either never received or could not at the moment execute. A body of
100 highlanders, stationed within the enclosure above alluded to, was cut to
pieces without offering any resistance, and the right wing being thus in
consequence broken, the fate of the day was determined. The Clan Chattan, or
M'Intosh regiment, stood the firmest, and were almost totally annihilated.
The left wing, formed of the Macdonalds, did not behave with
their accustomed bravery, as they had taken umbrage at not having the post
of honour on the right assigned them, to which they conceived themselves
entitled. In truth, the main body of the army was routed without firing a
shot, and they had little else to do than to keep in a body and make good
their way unmolested to the hills. The Frasers retired in their ranks with
pipes playing: one great body of the rebels moved off in a southern
direction towards Badenoch, but those who fled towards the plains about
Inverness were hotly pursued by the dragoons, and the carnage ceased not
till within half a mile of the town. Prince Charles, acting early on the
memorable sentiment, "Sauve qui pout," rode off toward Stratherrick, and
slept that night at Gortuleg. The ash-tree whence he beheld the battle still
stands, and the less perishable boulder-stone, from which, it is said, the
Duke of Cumberland issued his orders, is shewn by the road-side, about a
quarter of a mile east from the principal heap of graves.
4. Never was the peculiar and irresistible power of a charge
of Highlanders more fearlessly displayed than in this their last feudal
engagement on their native hills. "It was the emphatic custom," says Mr.
Chambers, in his History of the Rebellion of 1745, "before an onset, to
scrag their bonnets, that is, to pull their little blue caps down over their
brows, so as to ensure them against falling off in the ensuing melee. Never,
perhaps, was this motion performed with so much emphasis as on the present
occasion, when every man's forehead burned with the desire to revenge some
dear friend who had fallen a victim to the murderous artillery. A Lowland
gentleman, who was in the line, and who survived till a late period, used
always, in relating the events of Culloden, to comment with a feeling of
something like awe upon the terrific and more than natural expression of
rage which glowed on every face, and gleamed in every eye, as he surveyed
the extended line at this moment. It was an exhibition of mighty and
all-engrossing passion, never to be forgotten by the beholder.
"The action and event of the onset were throughout quite as
dreadful as the mental emotion which urged it. Notwithstanding that the
three files of the front line of English poured forth their incessant fire
of musketry—notwithstanding that the cannon, now loaded with grape-shot,
swept the field as with a hail-storm—notwithstanding the flank fire of
Wolfe's regiment—onward, onward went the headlong Highlanders, flinging
themselves into, rather than rushing upon, the lines of the enemy, which,
indeed, they did not see for smoke till involved among their weapons. All
that courage, all that despair could do, was done. They did not fight like
living or reasoning creatures, but like machines under the influence of some
uncontrollable principle of action. The howl of the advance, the scream of
the onset, the thunders of the musketry, and the din of the trumpets and
drums, confounded one sense; while the flash of the fire-arms and the
glitter of the brandished broadswords dazzled and bewildered another. It was
a moment of dreadful and agonising suspense—but only a moment; for the
whirlwind does not reap the forest with greater rapidity than the
Highlanders cleared the line. They swept through and over that frail
barrier, almost as easily and instantaneously as the bounding cavalcade
brushes through the morning labours of the gossamer which stretch across its
path. Not, however, with the same unconsciousness of the event. Almost every
man in their front rank, chief and gentleman, fell before the deadly weapons
which they had braved; and although the enemy gave way, it was not till
every bayonet was bent and bloody with the strife.
"When the first line had been completely swept aside, the
assailants continued their impetuous advance, till they came near the
second, when, being almost annihilated by a profuse and well-directed fire,
the shattered remains of what had been but an hour before a numerous and
confident force, at last submitted to destiny, by giving way and flying.
Still a few rushed on, resolved rather to die than thus forfeit their
well-acquired and dearly-estimated honour. They rushed on; but not a man
ever came in contact with the enemy. The last survivor perished as he
reached the points of the bayonets."
According to the general accounts, there were but 1200 men
killed in this engagement, and as many on the English as on their opponents'
side. The wounded were left three days on the field, and such as then
survived were shot by the order of the Duke of Cumberland. He set fire to a
barn, to which many of them had retired. In the town of Inverness he
instituted a complete military government; treated the inhabitants and
magistrates with contempt; and he was afterwards obliged to sue out an act
of indemnity from the British Parliament for these and other atrocities, of
which it is notoriously known he was guilty. Prince Charles' resources,
notwithstanding the loss of this battle, were by no means desperate. Eight
thousand men were ready to meet him at Ruthven, in Badenoch, had he
signified his desire to attempt the battle-strife over again; but, after
some days' deliberation, his only answer to the chiefs who awaited him there
was, "Let every man seek his safety in the best way he can."
ANCIENT STONE MONUMENTS AT CLAVA.
5. The most splendid series of circles and cairns, existing
together in one place on the eastern side of the island, occurs on a meadow
plain on the south bank of the river Nairn, about one mile south-east of the
field where the battle of Culloden was fought; and no tourist should omit a
visit to them, which will cost but a short walk while his horse rests. A
rustic bridge crosses the river, immediately below the graves. The surface
of the plain is in one part rough, and strewed over with boulder-stones; but
in general it forms a portion of a soft pastoral valley; and the view at
either end is terminated by two prominent bills, one of which (Dun-Evan) has
on its summit a structure strongly vitrified; and on the other (Dun-Daviot)
is a similar fortified site, but which, however, has not been affected by
fire. Even at the first sight of this plain, one is prompted to
exclaim—"Here is a city of the dead!" Its whole extent is covered with
cairns, encompassed by circles of large upright stones, or slabs of
sandstone.
Among these are several circles of large
dimensions unconnected with cairns, and others of a smaller size, scarcely
elevated a foot above the ground, occur in the intervals between the greater
ones. Stones of memorial, or single columns, are perceived in several parts
of the field, apparently in a line with one another, and uniting the other
structures into one general design; and what is also remarkable, near the
west end of the plain is seen an oblong square, which is called the
"Clachan" or church, and which is believed to be the foundations of an
ancient Christian chapel. Perhaps it may have been one of the earliest in
the country; and it thus appears most strikingly and appropriately placed in
the midst of pagan structures, the dark superstitious rites of which its
founders were anxious to expose and abolish. Within this enclosure,
children, who die in the neighbourhood before baptism, are still buried.
But the most remarkable of these antiquities on the plain of
Clava are three great cairns, consisting of loose stones piled up in one of
them to the height of fifteen feet, and having each a ring of upright stones
hemming in and supporting their bases ; another circle of large masses of
sandstone (ten or twelve stones in each), at the distances of several paces
from the inner structure, is attached to each cairn. Two of these cemeteries
appear to have been much injured by the partial removal of the stones; but
the principal one was opened some years ago under the directions of a lady
in the neighbourhood, and it displayed beneath the exterior pile a circular
chamber, about five yards in diameter, lined at the base with a ring of
fourteen large stones in an upright position, and surmounted by courses of
uncemented masonry, the stones of which incline inwards, and overlap one
another, so as to have met at the top in a rude dome. This apartment has an
entrance looking towards the south, with a passage two feet wide, and
flanked by great stones, conducting from it through the body of the cairn,
to its exterior circumference. Eighteen inches below the floor of the cell,
were discovered two small earthen vases or urns of the coarsest workmanship,
but containing calcined bones. The urns were unfortunately broken, and the
ashes scattered about in a small bed of prepared clay on which they lay.
This structure is precisely similar, though on a smaller scale, to that at
New Grange, near Drogheda, in the county of Meath, Ireland, figured in Mr.
Higgins' Celtic Druids, plates 20, 21 ; and Archael. Soc. Antiq. London,
vol. ii. p. 254. 6. About a mile
east of Clava, is an enormous boulder mass of conglomerate, called Tomriach,
which rests on a bed of gravel, in which, at one time, it was likely
embedded. It is about thirty feet long, and fourteen high, and at a little
distance may be mistaken for a Highland cottage, which it resembles in size
and form. It is well worthy of a visit, especially by the geologist.
DALCROSS OR DACUS CASTLE.
7. This building, which lies two miles north-east of the
field of Culloden, consists of two towers, joined at right angles; the inner
corner, where they meet, being covered with a projecting turret and large
entrance gate. Many of the appurtenances of an old baronial residence are
here still entire, and therefore to the antiquary the place is of
considerable interest. Water is still raised from a deep draw-well in the
front court. The windows are all stancheoned with iron. The huge oaken door,
studded with large nails, and the inner iron gratings, still turn on their
rusty hinges. The kitchen, with its enormous vaulted chimney, like the arch
of a bridge ; the dungeons, and the hall, are quite entire. The ceiling of
the latter is of fine carved oak, in part rudely painted; but its most
interesting feature is the dais, or portion of the floor raised above the
rest, for the special use of the lord of the manor, his family, and
principal guests. The roof of one of the bed-rooms was painted all over with
the coats of arms of the principal families in the country, and those of
Robert Bruce, of the Earls of Huntly, Marischal, and Stuart, are still quite
distinct. This castle was built in 1620, by Simon, eighth Lord Lovat. The
property had long been in the family, but previously, we believe, was a
portion of the M`Intosh estates. It afterwards came to Sir James Fraser of
Brea, third son of the founder, who gave it as a marriage portion with his
daughter Jean to a Major Bateman. The Major sold it to James Roy Dunbar,
bailie of Inverness, from whom Mackintosh of Mackintosh purchased it in
1702, and with his descendants it still remains. Dalcross was a vicarage
depending on the Priory of Urquhart, and in the year 1343 there was an
agreement between the prior and the Baron of Kilravock, that the Vicar of
Dean-an-Ross, now Dal-cross, should officiate in the private chapel of
Kilravock. The minister of the parish of Croy has still part of his glebe
near the castle. Sir Lauchlan Mackintosh of that Ilk died here in 1704; and
the last additions to the building appear to have been made about that
period. The present chief has begun to restore the edifice.
KILRAVOCK CASTLE.
8.
The family of the Roses of Kilravock, anciently one of the most powerful in
the north, have still to boast of an old tower, the next in our course, and
a range of castellated buildings in an imposing situation overhanging the
Nairn. The series of old paintings, armour, and writings, in the house is
considerable; and one of the manuscripts, a curious old diary by the
successive tutors or chaplains of the family, has lately been published by
the Spalding Club. The Roses came into possession of Kilravock about 1280.
They owed it to an alliance with the powerful family of the Bissets, once
pre-eminent in the north. Sir John Bisset left three daughters, heirs-portioners.
The first brought the estate of Lovat to the Frasers, the second (designed
the lady of Beaufort) married William de Fenton, whose posterity continued
for several descents; and the third daughter, Elizabeth, was married to Sir
Andrew da Bosco, an English or Norman knight. This Elizabeth Bisset, or de
Bosco, had a daughter, Marie, who was married to Hugh de Rose, then owner of
Easter Geddes. Hugh Rose, the seventh baron of the name, built the tower of
Kilravock, having obtained license by patent to do so from John, Lord of the
Isles, 18th February 1460, which was confirmed in 1475 by King James III. It
is handed down by tradition, that the towers of Calder, Ironside, Dallas,
and Spynie, were built about the same time; and that the architect was
Cochrane, the minion of James III., whom that monarch created Earl of Mar,
and who was afterwards hanged over Lauder Bridge in July 1482. The iron gate
of Kilravock tower was made in the time of the tenth laird, named Hugh, the
"Black Baron," who died in 1597 at the extreme age of 90 years. He
entertained Queen Mary in his tower, her Majesty's bed-room, which is still
in its original state, having no fire-place in it, nor was it lathed or
plastered, while the floor consisted of great coarse boards roughly sawn and
nailed together. The gate weighed 34 stone 3 lbs., and cost £34 : 3 : 9
Scots! For this sum the maker of it, George Robertson, smith in Elgin,
granted receipt 5th February 1568, receiving, also, three bolls of meal, one
stone of butter, and one of cheese. This gate was removed by the English in
the wars of Cromwell. The
representative of this ancient race did effectual service to the cause of
Government in the rebellion of 1715; and their history presents the singular
aspect of an unbroken male descent retaining their baronial state, without
the support of any clan of their name, in the midst of jealous and ferocious
neighbours. Their residence is one of the most picturesque in the country; a
square old keep, with a long range of high-roofed additions to it, perched
on a rocky bank overlooking the river Nairn, and surrounded with dense woods
and tall "ancestral trees." The principal additions are said to have been
designed by Inigo Jones, and the elegant proportions of the public rooms are
not unworthy of his name. The gardens and pleasure-grounds are laid out with
very great taste, and the lady (Mrs. Campbell), who at present occupies the
castle, has spared no expense in supplying the finest and rarest shrubs and
flowers, and adding in every way to the comforts and elegance of the place.
9. Immediately above Kilravock, is the property of Holme
(General Sir John Rose), which is also distinguished for its woods and fine
gardens; and next, up the river's course, is the property of Cantray (-
Davidson), formerly belonging to a family of the name of Dallas, where a
fine old French chateau has lately been supplanted by a modern residence,
and which estate marches with the properties of Culloden and M'Intosh of
M'Intosh. CAWDOR (ANCIENTLY CALDER)
CASTLE. 10. If the name of this
castle be not sufficient to excite curiosity, the beauties of its situation,
the freshness in which all its appurtenances of ancient feudal gloom and
grandeur and means of defence remain, will amply recompense the tourist for
the trouble he may be put to in visiting it.
Perched upon a low rock, overhanging the bed of a Highland
torrent, and surrounded on all sides by the largest-sized forest-trees,
which partly conceal the extent of its park, it stands a relic of the work
of several ages, a weather-beaten tower, encircled by comparatively newer
and less elevated dwellings, the whole being enclosed within a moat, and
approachable only by a drawbridge, which rattles on its chains just as in
the years long gone by. This castle is still inhabited; the staircase, the
iron-grated doors and wickets, the large baronial kitchen, partly formed out
of the native rock, the hall, the old furniture, the carved mantel-pieces,
the quantity of figured tapestry, and even the grotesque family mirrors, in
use 200 years ago, are still cherished and preserved by the family. The
drawbridge and gateway are particularly worthy of notice.
11. Tradition in this quarter asserts that good King Duncan
was murdered in this castle by his relative Macbeth, who was his sister's
son. Some of the old Scottish chronicles, as interpreted by Lord Hailes,
refer to a smith's hut in the neighbourhood of Elgin as the place where the
mortal blow was given, and render it probable that the unfortunate monarch
breathed his last within some of the religious houses then already built
there; while Shakspere and his commentators, following the authority of
Buchanan, assign Macbeth's castle at Inverness as the scene of the murder.
It is, at least, undoubted, that Macbeth may have had strongholds in all the
places mentioned, as, on his marriage, he became, in right of his wife
Gruoch, Maormor or great Celtic lord of Moray, having by birth the same
power attached to that name in the adjoining county of Ross; and that King
Duncan was betrayed and slain while residing at one of his nephew's castles,
on his way to reduce Torfin, the Scandinavian Jarl of Caithness, to
submission, he having refused to surrender the customary tribute to the
Scottish crown. Malcolm (Duncan's
eldest son, and afterwards called Caenmore, or the large-headed) fled, on
his father's death, to England, where he was courteously received by the
reigning prince, Edward the Confessor; and waiting there till the
dissensions betwixt the usurper Macbeth and the Scottish nobles presented
him with a favourable opportunity for recovering his inheritance, he at
length sallied forth across the border, supported by an English army of ten
thousand men, under the command of his own maternal grandfather, Siward,
Earl of Northumberland. Macbeth's inveterate foe, the Thane of Fife, raising
the standard at the same time for the lawful monarch, entered. Angus-shire,
and encountered and defeated his great enemy near his own castle of
Dunsinane. Such is the bare outline
of facts on which the deeply exciting tragedy of Macbeth was reared by
Shakspere. No such title or person existed at that period as the "Thane of
Cawdor ;" but there is no question as to Malcolm Caenmore having allotted
large estates to the English and Flemish knights who assisted him in
recovering his native possessions, and that they thenceforward surnamed
themselves after the appellations of the lands thus acquired. Among others,
some of the powerful family of Ostiarii, or hereditary door-wards of the
king, who held large possessions in Mar, seem to have obtained Macbeth's
estates in Nairnshire, and, perhaps, by assuming the name of Calder, one of
them has since been regarded as the first Thane; the thane-age of Calder, or
Candor, including (at least in subsequent charters) not only the principal
messuage lands, but also the barony of Ferintosh, in Ross, and several parts
of Stratherrick, Strathnairn, and Strathdearn, and a large portion of the
lands of Glammis in the Mearns, all of which were hence politically, and for
several other purposes, considered as pertinents of the sheriffdom of Nairn.
The original family name of Hostiarius or Ostiarius (anglice door-ward, and
afterwards corrupted to the common surname of Durward) is mentioned in
charters still extant in this castle, and in one especially dated at Forres
the 22d July, of the twenty-second year of King Alexander II. (1236), in
which his majesty grants the lands of Both and Banchory, in the bailliary of
Invernarn "Gilberto Hostiario," which Words, by a stupid misreading, are
marked by a modern scribe on the back as "Gilberto Horstrat." Upon this
mistake, which was unfortunately copied by Shaw in his valuable History of
Moray, a most ridiculous theory has prevailed that the family name at first
was Horstrot. For many generations, however, the only surname by which the
family was known was that of Calder of Calder, now pronounced Cawdor.
At whatever time the title of Thane became common, mention is
found of the Thanes of Calder in the records of Nairnshire so early as the
year 1295; although, from What has been said, they undoubtedly had
possessions there long prior to that date. They were constables of the royal
fortress of Nairn, where they chiefly resided; and to this day the
constabulary garden in Nairn, partly surrounded with the old castle wall, is
the property of the family. Hence, Calder must have been a residence of
minor importance; and, indeed, the oldest part of the present tower was only
built, according to Shaw's History of Moray, in the year 1454. The royal
license by James II. is to "William, Thane of Calder, to build and fortify
the castle of Calder," with a proviso, that " the said castle shall be
always ready and open to his majesty and his successors, and that they
should always have free entrance and egress to and from the same."
12. This Thane William, who completed the keep, lived till
about the year 1500; his son John married Isobel Rose, daughter of Kilravock,
and, dying in 1494, left one posthumous child, a daughter, named Muiriel, or
Marion. " Kilravock intended this heiress for his own grandson, her first
cousin; but Kilravock being pursued in a criminal process for robbery, in
joining Mackintosh in spoiling the lands of Urquhart of Cromarty, Argyle,
the Justice-general, made the process' easy to him, got the award of
Muiriel's marriage of the king, A. D. 1495, and she was sent to Inverary in
the year 1499. In autumn of that year, Campbell of Inverliver, with sixty
men, came to receive the child, on pretence of sending her south to school.
The lady Kilravock, her grandmother, that she might not be changed, seared
and marked her hip with the key of her coffer. As Inverliver came with
little Muiriel to Daltulich, in Strathnairn, he was closely pursued by
Alexander and Hugh Calder, her uncles, with a superior party. lie sent off
the child with an escort of six men, faced about to receive the Calders;
and, to deceive them, a sheaf of corn, dressed in some of the child's
clothes, was kept by one in the rear. The conflict was sharp, and several
were killed, among whom were six of Inverliver's son's. When Inverliver
thought the child was out of reach, he retreated, leaving the fictitious
child to the Calders. And Inverliver was rewarded with a grant of the £20
land of Inver-liver. It is said, that in the heat of the skirmish,
Inverliver cried, ',Sfcada glaodh o' Lochow, 'Sfada cabhair o' chlan Phume,
i. e. "'Tis a far cry to Loch Awe, and a distant help to the Campbells:"—now
a proverb, signifying "Imminent danger, and distant relief" Subsequently (in
1510), this heiress was married to Sir John Campbell, third son of Argyle;
and thus the family name of Calder was lost, and the after additions to the
castle were reared by the Campbells, whose coats of arms are inserted of the
several dates in the walls.
13. An
ancient hawthorn tree stood, some years ago, in the old garden towards the
inn (on the site of the ancient hostelrie of the demesne); a second stood on
the edge of the moat, and fell about ten years ago, when in full leaf, from
the weight of a drizzling fall of rain, but from its root a vigorous shoot
has sprung up; and a third, still rooted in the earth, is shown in the
dungeon of the tower, extending its stem to the ceiling. Tradition relates
that the founder was led, either by a dream, or the advice of a wizard, to
build this castle at the third hawthorn tree, where an ass laden with a
chest of gold should stop: and prosperity to the house of Cawdor is still
expressed in the wish, "Freshness to its hawthorn tree."
The bed and chamber in which, according to family legends,
Macbeth murdered King Duncan, were till lately shown to strangers; but a
fire which broke out some years ago in the great tower destroyed every
vestige of them, and nothing but the stone-vaulted roof could have saved the
whole building from destruction.
Between the ceiling and the roof of another part of this castle, Lord Lovat
was concealed for a short time after the battle of Culloden. When he found
it becoming the abode of too many of his enemies, he let himself down from
the battlements by a rope, and escaped to Morar, on the west coast, where he
was ultimately seized. Since their
union with the family of Argyle, prosperity seems to have attended
constantly on the proprietors of Cawdor; and by marriage they have acquired
the estates of Stack-pole Court, Gogirthen, and Golden Grove, in South
Wales, and, under the title of Earl Cawdor, they have recently been elevated
to the peerage. 14. The scenery
about Cawdor Castle, as already stated, is of the richest and most
picturesque description. In the park are several of the largest oaks,
sycamores, limes, elms, walnuts, ash, and pine trees in the north of
Scotland; one magnificent stem of ash measuring twenty-three feet in
circumference at a foot from the ground, and seventeen feet in girth at the
distance of six feet from the root. The garden also presents a fine specimen
of an ancient yew tree, and the adjoining woods and rocks abound in many
interesting plants, deserving the search of the botanist.
About two miles and a half south of the castle, and not far
above the junction of the primitive gneiss with the secondary conglomerate
rocks of the district, an ancient lake seems at one time to have covered an
elevated piece of flat or boggy ground. It appears to have burst its barrier
suddenly, when the mass of rushing waters instantly plunged into the soft
sandstone strata, and scooped out for themselves a deep narrow tortuous
channel, now the course of the gentle burn which ripples past the castle
wall. Another stream joins it from the westward, called the Burn of
Auchindown, the sides of which are more open, but scarcely less rocky than
the other, which is styled the Hermitage Burn, from an old rustic bower,
built on the top of one of its projecting cliffs, the site perhaps, in
truth, of some ancient hermit's cell. Nowhere is the tendency of
conglomerate rocks to crumble into pyramidal detached masses, or alternate
semicircular protuberances and hollows, more beautifully displayed than in
the channel of this burn ; and hence the walks cut along its sides wind
about in many beautiful curves, exhibiting most picturesque combinations of
rock and foliage, with occasional glimpses of the distant plains of Moray
and Nairnshire, backed by the bluff Sutors of Cromarty, and the varied
outlines of the mountains of Ross and Sutherland. Light airy wooden bridges
have also in several places been thrown across, connecting the opposite
sides together: The triangular space between the two burns, extending nearly
to 520 acres, has also been traversed by walks, which in the whole exceed
twelve miles in length, and here they pass through an old oak and beech
wood, seldom surpassed in the size, variety, and beauty of its single trees
and forest glades. Birch, alder, and hazel, form an outer fringe to the
forest, while immense quantities of woodbine, sloe tree, and bushes of
juniper, broom, and holly, were entwined together, composing an almost
impenetrable brake, till lately opened up by the axe, and judiciously
thinned and lined off as native evergreens. They now form ornamental shrubs
along the new made walks.
15. We
have only to add, that the parish church (formerly the private chapel
belonging to the castle) is also worth seeing, on account chiefly of the old
inscriptions and curious entrance gate which it contains. The ride to the
bridge of Dulsie, on the Findhorn, about eight miles, likewise conducts to
some beautifully wooded scenery and waterfalls; and, in the same direction,
the traveller will find the military road leading to Strathspey, which
passes by the very ancient and curious castle of the Cumings, built on an
island called Lochindorbh. The old military road to Dulsie Bridge and
Strathspey is, however, now impassable for vehicles; and the traveller,
wishing to reach this part of the Findhorn or Strathspey, must either follow
the Nairn road for four miles, where a district road branches off,
conducting across the hill straight to Farness Bridge (twelve miles from
Cawdor), on the Findhorn, below Dulsie Bridge, and to the New Inn, fifteen
miles from Forres, and thence by a parliamentary road to Grantown; or he may
reach the Streens, distant nine miles (as to which see page 305), by a new
road from the castle, lately made by Earl Cawdor for the use of his tenants.
From Dulsie, roads will be found along both banks of the river—that on the
north side proceeding through a fine sweep of the old natural pine forest to
Ardlach church, whence it passes behind Coulmony, and crosses the Findhorn
some four or five miles lower down than Farness, by the bridge of Daltulich,
a mile or so above Relugas on the Divie. A district road has also been
formed from Cawdor by Keppernoch, connecting with the Farness road, and
which shortens the distance by three miles.
16. Two miles east of Cawdor, and near the House of Geddes,
are the ruins of Raits Castle, anciently the seat of the Macintoshes of
Raits. According to Shaw's History of Moray, this castle also at one time
belonged to a Rait of that Ilk, who having killed Andrew, Thane of Calder,
about the year 1404, was banished from the district, but afterwards founded
the family of Rait of Halgreen in the learns. The castellated part is gone,
but a religious edifice, apparently of a more modern date than it could have
been, remains. At the south corner it is terminated by a round tower (lately
formed into a dovecot) resembling those attached to the bishop's palace at
Kirkwall in Orkney, and Spynie in Morayshire. The arches and windows in
other parts of this building are pointed, light, and elegantly finished. |
