HISTORY OF NEWPORT AND THE PARISH OF FORGAN ; AND RAMBLES ROUND THE DISTRICT, by J. S. Neish, 1890
BALMERINO
For the beauty of its surrounding scenery and the breadth and volume of the stream, the Tay stands forth pre-eminently the queen of Scottish rivers. Without detracting from the merits of other streams, there are few who have traced the Tay throughout its course but will be ready to admit its claim to this proud title. Issuing full-grown from its parental home in Loch Tay, it flows in majestic grandeur, receiving tribute in its progress from mountain burns, and from rivers second only to itself; it increases in volume and beauty as it rolls along, till, emerging from its Highland fastnesses, it expands into an estuary broad and deep enough to float the proudest navies of the world. For richness and variety, the scenery along its course can scarcely be sur- passed, and presents to the eye of the tourist an ever-changing and interesting series of panoramic views. Its upper waters mirror lofty mountain peaks ; its middle reaches are fringed with green meadows and shady woods, while the shores of the frith present a succession of beetling cliffs, bold headlands, sheltered bays, and all the features of the sea coast. The southern or Fife coast is more bold and rugged in its outline than the northern shore, which is bordered by the low-lying strath known as the Carse of Gowrie. On the Fife coast the land rises bluff and steep from the water's edge, ascending in successive swells inland in all the tumultuous confusion of a mountainous region. Here and there indentations occur along the coast, where, within the shelter of a couple of bold promontories, you find a charming bay, where the land ascends gradually from a white pebbly beach to wood-crowned hills that rear their verdant crests in the background. In one of these sweet little nooks lies the Kirkton of Balmerino, around which there linger many interesting historical associations.
The parish of Balmerino joins Forgan on the west, and the Kirkton and harbour is about five miles from Newport, and nearly opposite Invergowrie on the Perthshire coast. It is a favourite resort of marine pleasure parties, its old pier affording a good landing place for small craft. It is much frequented by yachts and boats from Dundee and Newport in the summer season. Next to the pleasure of a sail on the river, nothing can be more enjoyable than a ramble along the coast from Newport to Balmerino, which can be easily accomplished in the course of a Summer half-holiday. In making the pilgrimage there are two routes open for the tourist to select, and as both routes have peculiar charms of their own, we would recommend pedestrians to go by the one and return by the other.
As in our former excursion to Kilmany, we again take our departure from Newport Pier by the road leading through West Newport. A station has now been erected on the North British
Railway at the Fife side of the Tay Bridge. It may be more convenient, and may save a couple of miles' walk to take your departure from there. On reaching the Tay Bridge we choose the footpath by the coast in preference to the main road which winds over the upland plateau. The footpath passes under the first or land span of the Bridge, and descends from the high cliffs on which it rests to the beach at Wormit Bay. High headlands jut out on the east and west about a mile apart, while the river sweeps round the shore in a crescent form, washing a fine shingly beach. The land slopes gently inland from the shore for a quarter of a mile or so to the base of the hills which bound it on the south, thus forming a spacious amphitheatre, in which an extensive village could snugly nestle. The advantages of the situation around this beautiful bay for building purposes have not been overlooked. When the Tay Bridge was first constructed, by which a line of communication was opened up to and from Dundee, the proprietor, Mr Wedderburn of Birkhill, entered into arrangements for feuing the ground. A fine concrete sea wall was constructed along the beach, and a terrace walk laid out, to serve the double purpose of checking the encroachments of the tide and affording a pleasant marine promenade to the inhabitants. The beach is admirably adapted for bathing, and a more advantageous situation for a watering place could scarcely be found on any part of our coasts. To add to its other natural advantages, a fine
stream of water flows from under the high ground on to the beach, providing a never-failing and abundant supply of pure water. In this as in many other instances, however, we have a practical illustration of the sentiment so quaintly expressed by the poet Burns-
'The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley,
And lea'e us nought but grief and pain For promised joy'.
The storm which swept down the centre girders of the mighty structure cut off the railway communication between the north and south shores of the Tay, and blasted the hopes of the speculators. A solitary villa was erected close to the beach, as the nucleus of Wormit village. With the reopening of the Tay Bridge, and the establishment of a station at the Fife end, there is every prospect of a fine village springing up on the shores of the lovely bay.
The path leads across the bay, and winds up the face of the heights that bound it on the west. It is but a rough track used by salmon fishers to the various fishing stations along the coast. Following its windings over the braes, on which primroses grow in rich abundance, you at last reach the upper level, where the cliffs run in an unbroken line parallel with the shore for nearly two miles. The scenery is charming, and the view obtained from the heights magnificent. The noble river spreads away to the right and left as far as the eye can reach, its unruffled surface flashing in the sunlight like a vast sheet of polished steel. On the opposite shore you get a bird's eye view of the town of Dundee, with its innumerable spires and towers and palatial buildings stretching along the shore for miles, and covering the steep hillsides to the base of the conical crest of the Law Hill, that rises proudly over the smoke-covered city. To the west lies the Carse of Gowrie, green with the verdure of spring, with the blue range of the Sidlaws circling it on the north. Eastward, the eye roams over the surface of the gleaming river, till the parallel shores disappear, and the Tay is lost in the broad expanse of the German Ocean. The tide washes the base of the cliffs one hundred feet below. Grass, wild flowers, and broom and thorn bushes, and stately trees grow luxuriantly on the face of the great sea wall down to the water's edge. But the cliffs that line the shore form only the outer works of the great natural ramparts that defend this portion of the 'Kingdom'. Inland the ground rises with a gentle acclivity from the top of the braes to the base of another range of heights, which run parallel with the shore, shutting you in on the south, and forming the second line of the great natural fortifications. The sea cliffs thus form, as it were, the first elevation in the chain of hills that skirt the northern boundaries of the Kingdom of Fife, and of which Norman Law is one of the loftiest. For a mile or two the path winds westwards by the edge of the cliffs, when a break occurs in the sea wall. The heights retire from the river, the track descends, and you find yourself on the shores of a beautiful bay, in which lies the harbour and village of Balmerino.
It is a charming little spot. The river sweeping in between two lofty headlands, forms a fine open bay hemmed in by lofty hills. The village is small, consisting only of a few scattered cottages covering the sloping ground overlooking the harbour, which is a small but substantial structure, and though now almost entirely deserted was once much frequented by small vessels trading on the coast. The object of greatest interest at the Kirkton is the ruins of the Abbey. Only a mere fragment of the old ecclesiastical pile has been left, and no idea can be formed of the extent and magnificence of the edifice in former days. All that now remains is a few yards of crumbling masonry, the outside of which is covered with ivy, which has fattened for centuries on the mouldering ruins till it, too, shows signs of age and decay. The ruins are enclosed by a wooden fence, and are now preserved with great care. They are partly hidden, however, by the buildings of a farm steading, a portion of the Abbey having been utilised in forming the walls of the farm offices. All that is worth seeing about the ruins is a large vaulted chamber, supposed to have been the kitchen, and a section of pillars and arches, but to what portion of the edifice they belonged is merely a matter of conjecture. They are still grand, even in their decay. The pillars are clustered, and the corbals, or capitals, from which the arches spring are formed of cut stones, and bear marks of the elegance with which they were originally designed. Each capital has been carved to represent some device separate from the other, some representing fruit and flowers, others religious emblems and grotesque figures. Several years ago in the course of some building operations in connection with the adjoining farm steading, a subterranean passage was discovered, which was supposed had been used as a secret means of communication between the monastery and the harbour. To the east of the Abbey, in a large enclosed space, formerly the garden of the Monastery, are some fine trees, which are preserved with great care by the proprietor, Mr. Stuart Gray of Kinfauns. The most remarkable of these patriarchs of the forest is a Spanish chestnut, which is probably as old as the Abbey. The main trunk branches off into two huge limbs, five feet from the ground, and these spread out their gigantic proportions like the branches of a candelabra, each throwing out numerous smaller branches which untie at the top, and form a green canopy over their hoary stems. The main trunk has a girth of twenty-two feet, and each of the two great antlers measures ten feet at the base, and attains a height of about thirty feet. It is evident that the main trunk has broken off where these branches spring out, as there is a large hole between them which has been carefully closed up with cement to preserve the tree from decaying too rapidly. The old tree, however, is showing signs of dissolution, notwithstanding the care which is now bestowed on it to preserve its vitality. Near it grows a fine walnut, which measures sixteen or seventeen feet round the stem, at a height of six feet from the ground, and attains a height of about forty feet, and a fine healthy beech tree about fifty feet in height, which measures sixteen feet at a height of twenty feet from the ground.
The Abbey of Balmerino was founded in 1229 by Alexander II., at the suggestion of his mother, the widow Queen of William the Lion. Balmerino was her favourite residence, and as a token of her gratitude for the benefit she derived to her health from its salubrity, she urged her son to found the Monastery. She also endowed it with grants of lands, which were supplemented by other lands in Fife, granted by the Crown in 1233. A colony of Cistercian Monks was brought from Melrose and established in the Abbey, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. Edward the Confessor. At the Reformation the monks were driven out of their snug nest, and the venerable pile shared the fate of the other wealthy religious houses in Scotland. In 1558 the Lords of the Covenant visited Balmerino on their way from St Andrews to Perth, and there is every reason to believe that they made a grand bonfire of the 'rooks' nest' to celebrate their visit. How effectually they performed their vandalistic work may be inferred from the fact that Defoe remarked, that he 'saw nothing worthy of observation in the ruins of the Abbey'. The fact was, the old pile was made a common quarry by the people, and the stones were carted away to build houses in the neighbourhood, some of them going as far as St. Andrews.
After the Reformation, the Abbey lands, which were extensive and rich, including the right of fishing in the Tay, were granted to Sir James Elphinston, son of Robert, third Lord Elphinston, who was created Lord Balmerino. There were six Lords of that ilk, all of whom took their part in the affairs of the country, but the fate of the sixth and last Lord is a sad and eventful story.
Arthur, who for a brief period of a few months held the title of Lord Balmerino, was a younger son, and not having the prospect of succeeding to the inheritance of his father, he entered the army, and held a commission in a cavalry regiment in the reign of Queen Anne. He was early imbued with Jacobite principles, and on the Crown being bestowed on the House of Hanover on the accession of George I., he resigned his commission, and sacrificed all his prospects for the cause of the exiled Stuarts. In the Rebellion of 1715 he held a command in Mar's army, and fought at the battle of Sheriffmuir. That affair brought this puny rising to an ignominious termination, and young Elphinston had, with others of his compatriots, to flee for their lives. There is a tradition in the parish that he lay in concealment for some time in the ruins of the old Abbey, and also in a public house at the Kirkton. Whether there is any truth in the story it is impossible now to determine; there is, however, a great probability that after the defeat of the rebels and their subsequent dispersion at Montrose, he would return to his paternal estate to seek a temporary refuge, and as he ultimately escaped to France, he might have got a passage to that country on board some vessel leaving the Tay. He entered the French service, and after an exile of twenty years his father obtained a free pardon for him from the Government, and in 1733 he returned once more to his native land. But he still remained faithful to his principles, and when Prince Charles Stuart landed in Scotland he again took up arms in his cause. He held the rank of colonel in the rebel army, and was captain of a troop of horse which acted as a bodyguard to the Prince. A few weeks before the battle of Culloden he succeeded to the estates and title of Balmerino on the death of his brother, but he never enjoyed the amenities of his inheritance. At the battle of Culloden he was taken prisoner while endeavouring to escape from that disastrous field. Conveyed to London, he was committed to the Tower, where he lay till the end of July, when he was brought to trial for treason along with Lords Kilmarnock and Cromarty. The trial began on 29th July, and on 1st August the prisoners were condemned to be beheaded on Tower Hill. The sentence was carried out on the loth of August, 1746.
Kilmarnock suffered first, Balmerino next. While his compatriot was being led to the block he was kept in a room in the vicinity, and here his bearing and deportment were so dignified, and yet so unaffected, that his attendants were moved to tears. He prayed frequently, and appeared prepared to die. When his time came he walked to the scaffold with a firm and steady step, mounted the fatal stage, and bowed to the spectators who had assembled in thousands to witness the executions. Then he walked round the scaffold, and read the inscription on his coffin, which was prepared to receive his corpse. He said the inscription was correct, and then he looked at the block and called it his pillow of rest. The grim executioner was moved as perhaps he had never been before. He approached his victim, and humbly begged his forgiveness. 'Friend', replied Balmerino, 'you need not ask my forgiveness. The execution of your duty is commendable'. He then presented him with three guineas, adding, 'Friend, I never had much money; that is all I have. I wish it had been more for your sake. I am sorry I can add nothing else except my coat and waistcoat.' He took the garments off and laid them on his coffin, then turning to a gentleman standing near, he remarked, 'I am afraid many will think my behaviour bold, but it arises from a confidence in God and a clear conscience'. Next he examined the blade of the axe to assure himself of its sharpness, told the executioner to strike with resolution, as in that he would show his mercy. Laying his head on the block he engaged in a short prayer. His last words before he gave the fatal signal are thus recorded- 'Lord, reward my friends, forgive my enemies, bless King James, and receive my soul'. Thus perished the last Lord of Balmerino, a man of noble and heroic spirit, who would have done honour to any cause. The title and lands were forfeited as part of the sentence. The lands were sold by the Crown to the York Building Company, who subsequently sold them to the Earl of Moray. They are now the property of Mr. Stuart Gray of Kinfauns, who has become heir to the estates of the Moray family. The estate of Balmerino is not now very extensive. It is bounded on the east by the lands of Naughton, and on the west by Birkhill, the residence of the Wedderburns of Wedderburn, the representatives of the ancient family of Scrymgeour of Dudhope. Birkhill was formerly called Corbie Hill, as it used to be a favourite resort of corbies or crows, who doubtless found admirable sites for building their nests in the woods which still adorn the high grounds on the west of Balmerino Bay.
Balmerino is said to be a very healthy region, and in early times it was a favourite residence of some of the Scottish Monarchs. William the Lion and his Queen often resided here; and James V. often resorted to this district for a summer residence. In the choice of such a delightful retreat, royal personages showed that they had a true appreciation of the beauties of Nature. But Balmerino has lost its prestige as a summer residence, although it has lost none of its beauty; nor is its climate less salubrious than in bygone ages. The river here is about four miles broad. Bathing and boating can be enjoyed by those who take pleasure in aquatic sports, and the country abounds with pleasant walks. The inland scenery is varied and picturesque, interspersed with hills and dales, woodland groves and meadows green. One of the heights in the southern range bears the name of Newton Hill. On a secluded spot on this hill conventicles were often held in the days of the Covenanters. Here thousands were wont to assemble on the bleak hillside to listen to the preaching of the Gospel from the lips of such men as Thomas Hogg, John Welch, and Donald Cargill, eminent ministers who were persecuted for righteousness sake.
The adherents of the Covenant were very numerous in the northern parishes of Fife, and Balmerino furnished at least one martyr to the cause, whose name has been preserved in the records of those troublous times. A poor weaver named Andrew Galland, a native of Balmerino, was present on Magus Moor, and witnessed the murder of Archbishop Sharp. It is said, however, that Andrew only met the party by accident, and beyond holding Hackston's mare he took no hand in the murder. Andrew fled to the south to escape the consequences of his complicity with assassination, and for some time he lived in the parish of Cockpen, where he got employment from a farmer. For not attending the Parish Church the curate put him in prison. He was suspected of being one of Sharp's murderers, and was taken to Edinburgh to be examined before the Council, but no proof could be obtained against him. A wily advocate, however, drew the confession from Andrew's lips in a rather ingenious manner. In a torrent of passionate eloquence he denounced the murderers of Sharp, expatiating on their brutality by murdering the holy man while he was on his knees engaged in prayer. Honest Andrew could not allow such a statement to pass unchallenged. 'O, what a lee', he exclaimed indignantly, 'he wadna pray, yea no ae word for a' they cud say to him'. This was enough to seal the doom of the poor Balmerino weaver. He was tried and condemned to death for his share in the murder, and strange to say, Hackston of Rathillet and Andrew Galland were the only two that were executed for the murder of Archbishop Sharp.
A good story is told of a blacksmith named Murdoch, who lived in the village of Gauldry, in this parish, in the days of 'darkness and blood'. He was apprehended in his own house for the crime of Nonconformity, but before he was removed to prison he contrived to get a file from the smithy, and concealed it on his person. He was conveyed to Cupar Jail, which was crowded with prisoners, like himself, for conscience sake. During the night the doughty smith cut the iron stanchions on the windows of the prison, and liberated the whole of the prisoners, who before morning succeeded in reaching places of safety.
In the return journey by the main road, which leads along the valley behind the first line of hills, you pass the manse and parish kirk about half a mile or so to the eastward of the old kirk and kirkyard. They are comparatively modern buildings, and their site has been admirably chosen. Further eastward the road is shaded by the woods that adorn the grounds attached to the mansion house of Naughton. The house occupies a fine situation on the southern face of a wood-covered hill, which shelters it from the north, but only a glimpse of its white front, gleaming amidst a sea of green foliage, can be obtained from the public road. The associations of the place carry us back to the primeval times in the history of Scotland. On the eastern slope of the hill there once stood a Culdee church. A castle was afterwards built on its site by a natural son of William the Lion, a monarch who appears to have been strongly attached to this part of the country. In 1404 it came into the possession of the Hays, the ancestors of the Hays of Errol, from whom it passed by marriage to Sir Peter Crichton, whose descendants owned it for nearly two hundred years, when it again came back to a branch of the Hay family by purchase. A son of Peter Hay, of Megginch, bought the lands of Naughton, and his posterity held them till 1737, when they were brought to a judicial sale, and purchased by Mr. William Morrison, whose descendants still retain them as their family inheritance. Only a small portion of the ruins of the old Castle have escaped the ravages of the great destroyer, Time. It occupied a commanding situation, and was doubtless a place of some strength and importance in ancient feudal times. The walls on the north are built on the edge of a precipice, which descends to the depth of about one hundred feet to the bottom of a ravine, and the Castle could only be approached by a narrow path winding up the southern face of the hill. The ruins are now enclosed within the grounds of the modern mansion, and the space within the old walls has been tastefully laid out, and planted with rose bushes and other flowers. From their great elevation they command an extensive and magnificent prospect, but permission to visit them must be obtained from the proprietor or the land agent.
The name of Hay carries us back to the tenth century, when the family, whose various offshoots were once so potent and powerful on the Fife and Perthshire sides of the Tay, were raised to wealth and power by the bravery of their ancestor at the battle of Luncarty.
In those times the Norse Kings ruled the northern seas, and were a terror to the countries along the coasts of Europe. They often landed in Scotland, and plundered and ravaged the country, and carried the spoil to their ships. But these piratical incursions were not tamely endured by the inhabitants, who, on the cry being raised that the 'Danes have landed', flocked to the standard raised by the King, and prepared to defend their hearths and homes. The Tay appeared to have been a favourite landing place of the old sea pirates, and the traces of their visits, and the sanguinary battles fought between them and the Scots and Picts, are still to be met with all over the country. One of these battles was fought at Luncarty, near Perth, where the Danes were routed by the Scots and Picts under Kenneth III. It was at this battle that a peasant named Hay, who was ploughing his field near by, rendered his name immortal by his bravery. He saw the battle was going against his countrymen, and, with no other weapons than the wooden yokes of his oxen, and the aid of his sons, he attacked the enemy with such vigour that he inspired the Scots with fresh courage, and they fell on their enemies furiously, and routed them with great slaughter. The Danes retreated to their ships, which were lying at the mouth of the Tay. Kenneth, at the head of his victorious army, pursued them, and overtook them in this locality, and completed the slaughter which was begun on the field of Luncarty. The place where this battle was fought is called Battle Law, and is about a mile south-east of Balmerino. That a great battle must have been fought in this locality is evident from the remains that have been disinterred in various parts of the country. Stone coffins were dug up in Kilmany, and other relics have been discovered in various parts of the parish of Forgan; and a stone coffin, in which was found a gold ball, was dug up on the farm of Pease Hill, on the eastern part of the parish of Balmerino. This would be on the line of the retreating army. Pease Hill is on the south side of the road, and is the last place of interest on our homeward journey. If you are pressed for time and care not to follow the road, which is bare and uninteresting in its windings over the low hills, you will find a path leading past the farmhouse, and descending the braes will conduct you to the beach at Wormit Bay, within a few yards of the Tay Bridge From here a half hour's walk will bring you once more to Newport pier.
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