Forests in Lennox Text

Forests in Lennox

In 1272 Alexander III (RRS IV Pt 1 No 81 pp 118-119 – NB notes below text on sources) gave Malcolm, earl of Lennox, all the lands:

ab Est’ Douglas usque ad Sehynne

et ab Sehynne usque ad Keryn

et sicut Keryn descendit [in Phale et]

deinde usque ad aquam quod dicitur Gall

et sicut idem Gall descendit in lacu

et ab idem Gall usque ad Fynnovhyn

sicut descendit in Forth

et ab idem [Fynnovhyn usque ad metam] orientalem de Cramenane

et ab eadem meta usque ad riuulum qui dicitur Melach

et a dicto riuulo de Melach

usque ad Keryn in liberam forestam

 

This description is repeated in RRS V (194)  1321, pp 460-461, with some different spellings. (Strictly speaking this is from a notarial transumpt of 1474). See also Fraser, Lennox, II, No 18.

 

A version from 1361 appears in Cartularium de Levenax pp 2-4 where King David confirms the charter of King Alexander (III) to Malcolm earl of Lennox which granted:

illas terras cum pertinentiis, videlicet ab Ester Douglas usque ad Fehyn, et ab Fehyn usque ad Keryn, et sicut Keryn descendit in Phale, et deinde usque ad aquam que dicitur Gall, et sicut idem Gall descendit in lacu, et ab eodem lacu usque ad Fynobhyn sicut descendit in Fortht, et ab eodem Fynobhyn usque ad metam orientalem de Cremennane, et ab eadem predicta usque ad rivulum qui dicitur Melych, et a dicto rivulo de Melych usque ad Keryn, in liberam forestam

This confirmation is also printed in RRS VI No 258 pp 285-6 with some different spellings. Another printing is in Fraser, Lennox, II, No 25.

 

After allowing for variations in spelling can we map these places?

 

Virtually all boundaries are liquid and an aqua (water) is obviously more substantial than a rivulus (burn).

 

1) ab Est’ Douglas usque ad Sehynne                                                                        from the East (or Upper) Douglas (Inveruglas) to ‘The Fein’

2) et ab Sehynne usque ad Keryn                                                                   from ‘The Fein’ to the ‘Caorainn’

3) et sicut Keryn descendit [in Phale et]                                                         and as the ‘Caorainn’ falls [into the Falloch] and

4) deinde usque ad aquam quod dicitur Gall                                                  thence to the water called Gyle

5) et sicut idem Gall descendit in lacu                                                            and as the Gyle falls into Loch (Katrine – but then called Gyle?)

6) et ab idem Gall usque ad Fynnovhyn                                                         and from the Gyle to the Fionn Amhainn

7) sicut descendit in Forth                                                                              as it falls into the Forth

8) et ab idem [Fynnovhyn usque ad metam] orientalem de Cramenane         and from the Fionn Amhainn to the east boundary of Cramenane

9) et ab eadem meta usque ad riuulum qui dicitur Melach                             and from that boundary to the stream called Melach

10) et a dicto riuulo de Melach                                                                       and from that stream called Melach

11) usque ad Keryn in liberam forestam                                                         as far as the Keryn in free forestry

 

1) ‘The Fein’ is the name given in Roy’s Protracted Copy Sheet 23 to the pass between Allt Coir’ an Longairt (which lies east of the upper end of Glen Fyne) and an unnamed tributary of Allt nan Caorainn (which runs into the River Falloch). In short it is the pass between Glen Fyne and Glen Falloch.

2) Keryn is (Allt nan) Caorainn. This is ‘The Choarn’ in Roy’s Protracted Copy Sheet 23.

3) Phale is for Faill which is an old name for the Falloch. It is ‘Fel’ on the map in Pont(17) and ‘Fell’ in a note by the head of Loch Lomond. It is ‘River Fell’ in Roy (PC23).

Dr J Munro’s transcription of the Pont Notes (ff 116v-117r) on the National Library of Scotland website reads:

In the Lennox upon Loch Lomund syd …

2 myl from Dowin and ane above the mouth of the river Saill is Binglass.

(In the Lennox upon Loch Lomondside …

2 miles from Doune and one above the mouth of the River Faill is Beinglas).

4) Gall is probably for Gyle which is the river in Glen Gyle at the NW end of Loch Katrine.

Both Glengyle and Loch Ketterin (Katrine) appear in Pont 17.

5) the ‘lacu’ or lake must be Loch Katrine which may then have been Loch Gyle.

6-7) Fynnovhyn will be for Gaelic fionn (white) + amhainn (river) which implies a river which, in spate at least, appears white – so perhaps a relatively shallow, rocky, fast-flowing river rather than a deep, muddy, slow-moving one which might be named an amhainn dubh (i.e. a Black Water). I know of no Fionn-Amhainn below Loch Katrine but the Forth, for a few miles below the confluence at Inverard, was called Avondow (amhainn + dubh) – according to Nimmo’s Stirlingshire 3rd edition, 1880, Vol II, p 196. It became the Forth again after Gartmore. (OS 6” 1st Series Perthshire Sheet CXXIX 1862-3 calls it ‘Avondow’ just below Loch Ard. There is another Black Water at the west of Loch Venachar).

It is not unknown for ‘Whitewaters’ and ‘Blackwaters’ to be in close proximity to each other. So, at the head of Loch Eil in Lochaber there are two small rivers called the Fionn Lighe and the Dubh Lighe which enter the loch a few hundred metres apart. Was there a similar situation here? I suspect Fynnovhyn was probably the old name for either the Water of Duchray (which is technically the upper Forth) or the Water of Chon. In either case the boundary ran SE from Loch Katrine down one of these waters into the Forth.

(Another possibility, though geographically less likely, is the Kelty Water which runs south of Gartmore and then into the Forth. Kelty (CPNS 106, 441) is for caladar (hard-water) which could perhaps also be a fionn amhainn).

8-11) Cramenane will be Cremannan which was the name of a farm and an estate in Balfron parish. The name Cremannan Muir still survives on modern OS maps at NS 5590 but the estate stretched north to include Park in NS 5591. The Melach will be a small burn which probably lay west of Cremannan. Where was the Keryn? Plainly it is not the same as the Keryn mentioned at the beginning of the document. We can turn to an early definition of the carucate of Buchanan for help.

From 1371 we have David II’s inspection of a charter by Donald, earl of Lennox, to Maurice Buchanan of the carucate of land called Buchanan. See RMS I (371); Fraser, Lennox, II, No 28 p 35; GD220/1/D/5/1/4 & RRS VI (478). The last of these specifies:

 

illam carucatam terre que vocatur Bouchannane …  videlicet per has diuisas Akehin vsque Aldmarr’ sicut discendit infra aquam de Hanerch’

(that carucate called Buchanan … namely by these boundaries: (from) Akehin to Aldmarr as it falls into the River Endrick).

 

This reading is also in GD220/1/D/5/1/4.

 

However the text in RMS I (371) reads:

 

a Kelyn usque Ald Marre

(from the Kelyn to Ald Marr)

 

Whilst Fraser’s Lennox reads:

 

a Kelyn vsque Ald Marr

(from the Kelyn to Ald Marr)

 

I think the latter readings are to be preferred because they retain the preposition ‘a’ (from) although we are still left with two readings of the boundary burn which is either ‘Kehin’ or ‘Kelyn’. In essence Buchanan is defined as lying between two burns. The name Aldmarr preserves the Gaelic allt (burn) as its first element and is plainly the Burn of Mar which runs roughly north-south to join the River Endrick shortly before it enters Loch Lomond. This is the western boundary of the carucate of Buchanan. The eastern boundary was the Kehin or Kelyn which I cannot locate but might have been the former name for Mill Burn which runs just west of the present village of Drymen and joins the Endrick at NS 460881.

 

It seems very probable that the Keryn is the same as the Kehin or Kelyn. The Melach might have been part of what is now the Auchentroig Burn or a tributary such as Black Rig Burn. From there the border went cross-country until it met the Kelyn which was probably the boundary between Buchanan and Drymen.

(There is another ‘Cremannan’ in the area which derives its name from Crom Mhin at NS 4289. It is confusing but sometimes both Cremannans can appear in the same document (as in GD220/1/H/3/2/5 1706). However this Cremannan was a much less important settlement and leaves us with no room for Melach or Keryn. I mention it only to discount it).

 

 

We also have a description of forest ground at the northern limit of Lennox amongst the Writs of the Campbells of Strachur in Highland Papers, IV, pp 36-7.

31 March 1568, at Glasgow – Warrant under the Privy Seal of King James VI

‘to our lovit Ure Campbell of Straquhir … to mak plant big and repair ane fre forrest in his lands and barony of Glenfalloch lying in the Sheriffdom of Perth within the bounds underwrittin, i.e. betwix the march of Carndrome on the west, the burne of Altynche on ye eist, the waters of Airnan on ye south and the watter of bunchille on ye north’ – the principal ‘mwris of ye said fre forest to be benlay, bennos, and bendewchrik’

‘Carndrome’ is probably the Carn Druim marked on Blaeu’s map as the line of hills near what is now Tyndrum. The druim or ridge here is the watershed which forms Drumalban – the spine of Scotland. Philip Dunshea has argued that Carndrome is actually a cairn now hidden in forestry just west of the road intersection above Tyndrum (Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal Vol 18, 2012, pp 91-94).

‘Altynche’ is probably for Allt Innis (the burn of the meadow or haugh), which appears on Roy’s map (Protracted Copy Sheet 23) as ‘Aldinish’.  This is now the Ben Glas Burn.

‘The waters of Airnan’ will be Allt Arnan by Inverarnan.

‘Benlay’ will be Beinn Lui/Laoigh (NN 2626).

‘Bennos’ will be Beinn Oss (NN 2825).

‘Bendewchrik’ will be Beinn Dubhchraig (NN 3025/3125).

Bunchille was a burn which marked the northern boundary. I suspect it lay between Crianlarich and Tyndrum

What is being described is essentially a huge area of hill ground to the north-west of Glen Falloch.

In RMS VI (1277) 1602 there is reference to :

Keilator Moir & Brenchallie

Keilator is at NN 3724 and Brenchallie was probably its sheiling ground.

Brenchallie may be the ground beside the water of Bunchille which is described as the northern boundary of the free forest of Glen Falloch in 1568. I would expect it to lie north of Keilator.

 

These two descriptions, although 300 years apart, are essentially complementary and suggest the existence of these forests was very ancient. There is a small area of overlap from Allt Arnan to Allt nan Caorainn but between them they account for enormous areas of hill ground between the Upper Douglas and the Endrick.

 

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