Source:History of the Munros (Monros of Milntown)

"The Monros of Milntown" History of the Munros of Fowlis

THE MONROS OF MILNTOWN.

I. JOHN MONRO, son of Hugh Munro, tenth Baron of Fowlis, by his second wife, Margaret, daughter of Nicholas, son of Kenneth, fourth Earl of Sutherland, by his wife, Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Reginald de Cheyne, by his wife Mary, Lady of Duffus, was the first of the family of Milntown, from whom several others of distinction are descended, all of whom, like this one, spell their name Monro. The male representative of Milntown is Senior Cadet of the House of Fowlis, and consequently of the whole clan. John, as has been already seen, under John the eleventh Baron, was Tutor of Fowlis, and fought the battle of Clachnaharry in 1454, during his nephew. Baron John's minority. Having been seriously wounded on that occasion — left for dead on the field in fact — and having lost one of his arms, he was ever after known as John "Bachallach," or "Baclamhach." John Monro, I. of Milntown, was a very influential nian, one of the most important offices held by him being that of Chamberlain for the Earldom of Ross. He is described in an old manuscript as a " bold, forward, daring gentleman, esteemed by his sovereign and loved by his friends," and is elsewhere referred to as having " purchased the ward of the lands of Fowlis in favour of his nephew, the son of his dead brother George Monro."* He married late in life, with issue, at least two sons —

1. Andrew, his heir and successor.
2. John of Kilmorack, of whom and his descendants in their proper order.

John the Tutor died about 1475, when he was succeeded by his eldest son,

II. ANDREW MOR MONRO, "a bold, austere, and gallant gentleman, esteemed by his friends, and a terror to his

* Sir Robert Gordon's Earldom of Sutherland

enemies." He built the original castle, regarding which Sir Robert Gordon says that when "about the year 1500 the Monros of Milntown began to build the Castle of Milntown, their next neighbours, the Rosses of Balnagowan, endeavoured to stop them from the building of the castle, but John, Earl of Sutherland, went himself in person to defend them against Balnagowan's braggings. Then returning home into Sutherland, he did leave a company of men at Milntown for their defence against the Rosses, until the most of that castle was finished ; which kindness the Monros of Milntown do acknowledge unto this day."* Only the vaults of the old castle now remain, at the back of the modern mansion of New Tarbat, built by the forfeited Earl of Cromarty's son. Lord Macleod, who died in 1789. It was burnt down, according to an entry in the Kalendar of Fearn, accidentally by the nest of a jackdaw built in some part of the castle having taken fire. On "the 12th of May, 1642, the house of Milntown was negligently burnt by ane keai's nest," says this old Register.

Andrew, who died in 1501, married, and had at least one son, by whom he was succeeded —

III. ANDREW BEG MONRO, third of Milntown, generally known as the "Black Baron," on account not of the colour of his hair but of his fierce disposition and sanguinary deeds. In 1512 James IV. granted him "the croft called the markland of Tulloch," now Tullich, for the annual payment of one pound of wax, payable at midsummer within the Chapel of Delny.† the value of which at that time was, according to the Exchequer Books, ten shillings Scots, equal to ten pence sterling. In the same year the. King also granted him the "lands of Milntown of Meath, with the mill (and) the office of Chief Mair of the Earldom of Ross, which lands of Milntown, with the mill and Mairdom, had been granted to Andrew and one heir by a letter under the Privy Seal, the grantee paying eight chalders, four bolls of victual, half bear, half meal, of the lesser

* Earldom of Sutherland, p. 146.
† Origines Parochiales Scotiæ, vol. ii., p. 460.

measure of the Earldom, and to augment the rental by eight bolls."* The Chief Maors or Mormaors were the highest officers in these extensive districts, and it was to them, according to the best authorities, that Shakespeare in Macbeth should have made Malcolm address himself when he said, " Henceforth be Earls," and not to the Thanes, who were officers of a lower degree. The Chief Maorship of the Earldom of Ross was a very ancient one, and many of the fees and perquisites attached to it were very peculiar. In 1 591 another Andrew Monro — V. of Milntown — who held the office of Maor of Fee, obtained a decree from the Lords of Council and Session, against Andrew Dingwall and the feuars, farmers, and possessors of the Earldom of Ross, for 40s 86, his ordinary fee of office, and for every sack of corn brought to the shore to be shipped "ane gopin of corn," estimated at a half penny per lippy, and out of every chalder of victual delivered thereat the Maor received two pecks. The collection of these fees naturally caused much irritation and trouble, and the law had to be put in force occasionally to enforce payment of them.

In addition to the lands of Milntown, Andrew acquired by grants and purchases extensive possessions in the county of Ross, such as Delny and Newmore, in the parish of Rosskeen ; Contullich and Kildermorie, in the parish of Alness ; Dochcarty, in the parish of Dingwall ; Allan, in the parish of Fearn ; and Culnauld or Culnaha, in the parish of Nigg. On account of these numerous possessions and his ferocious temper and other wickedness, he was known among the natives as "Anndra Dubh nan seachd Caisteal" — Black Andrew of the Seven Castles — he having one on each of his seven separate estates.

Several instances of Andrew's cruelty, fierceness, and blood-thirsty deeds are carried down by tradition. The following is given by the late Alexander Ross, Alness, in an account by him of this family which appeared in the Celtic Magazine, vol. iii., Nos. no to 113. He had the story

* Register of the Great Seal, Book xviii., No. 74 ; Register of the Privy Seal, vol. iv., folio 195.

from a "Seannachaidh" who had been dead many years before it appeared in print. " The Rothach Dubh," as the Baron was called, and who at the time resided in his Castle of Contullich, was very exacting in having- every honour paid to him by his vassals. The people of Boath had to pass Contullich on their way up and down, and on such occasions when they met him they had to perform the most abject obeisance, not only by taking off their head-gear but by throwing themselves flat on the ground ; and woe betide any man or woman who failed in this "courtesy"; a shot from the tyrant's firelock soon brought them to their senses, and very often to the grave. He ruled all his estates and people with the most high-handed and unrestricted despotism, none daring to make him afraid. For some cause or other he conceived an inveterate hatred towards his tenants in a place called Garvary, and resolved to have them removed, dead or alive. There were eight families in all, and having discovered their landlord's resentment and intentions towards them, and fearing a visit from him at any moment they resolved to be on their guard against surprise, in this wise. The eight heads of the families met together at night in one of their houses, the next night in another, and so on, until one unusually boisterous night of rain, sleet and snow, they considered it unnecessary to be so watchful, erroneously believing that the Rothach Dubh would not trouble them on such a stormy night. They were all, as usual, assembled in one house. Black Andrew ordered one of his servants at Contullich to get two wisps of straw and make ready for a midnight ride to Garvary in order to attack and slay the tenants. The servant remonstrated on the madness of venturing out on such a stormy night, and the atrocious character of the object he had in view. Andrew was inexorable, and both set out on their diabolical mission. All the men, as already stated, were convened in one house. The Rothach Dubh, on arriving at the place, made for that house, guided by a light through the window. Going up to this window he listened in order to learn who were inside, and while acting the eavesdropper he

heard one of the men asking another in Gaelic, "to look out and see what the night was doing." He did so but without observing Andrew, and on his return informed his friends that the night was most unusually fierce and boisterous, adding in Gaelic, "Well, I know one thing, and that is, that Black Andrew Monro of Contullich wont attempt to come out on such a night, should he be the Devil himself." But Black Andrew, still at the window, heard these observations, and gnashed his teeth. The unwary watchers, believing what their friend said, were put completely off their guard, and when they all got seated round the fire the Rothach Dubh rushed in upon them with drawn sword and killed them all before they had time to realise the situation and defend themselves. The story is firmly believed and recited by the natives of the heights of the parish of Alness to this day.

It is related of Andrew that on one occasion an old woman who gave evidence against him in the case of a disputed march between himself and Ross of Balnagowan, was by his orders buried alive. He caused a deep pit to be dug and had her placed in it with her head downwards and then covered it over. The spot is still known as " Uaigh na Caillich," or the Old Woman's Grave,

Hugh Miller records a few more traditional stories illustrating the character of this rapacious and reckless despot, but it is feared that his informant's dates and characters must have got somewhat mixed. He says that an old man who died in 1829 told him that when a boy he was sent to the Manse of Resolis to bring back the horse of an elderly gentleman, a retired officer, who had gone to visit the Rev. Hector Macphail, minister of the parish, with the intention of remaining with that clergyman for a few days.

"The officer was a silver-headed, erect old man, who had served as an ensign at the battle of Blenheim [fought in 1704 !], and who, when he had retired on half pay, about forty years after, was still a poor heulenant. His riding days were well nigh over ; and the boy overtook him long ere he had reached the manse, and just as he was joined by William Forsyth, merchant, Cromarty, who had come riding up by a cross-road, and then slackened bridle to keep the officer company. The old min spoke much of the allied armies under Marlborough. By far the strongest man in them, he said, was a gentleman from Ross-shire— Munro of Newmore. He had seen him raise a piece of ordnance to his breast, which Mackenzie of Fairburn had succeeded in raising to his knee, but which no other man, among more than eighty thousand, could lift from the ground. Newmore was considerably advanced in life at the time. He was a singularly daring, as well as an immensely powerful man, and had signalised himself in early life in the feuds of his native district. Some of his lands bordered on those of Black Andrew Monro, the last baron of Newtarbat, one of the most detestable wretches that ever abused the power of the pit and gallows. But, as at least their nominal politics were the same, and as the baron, though by far the less powerful man, was in, perhaps, a corresponding degree the more powerful proprietor, they had never come to an open rupture. Newmore, on account of his venturing at times to screen some of the baron's vassals from his fury, by occasionally taking part against him in the quarrel of some of the petty landholders, whom the tyrant never missed an opportunity of oppressing, was, by no means, one of his favourites. All the labour of the baron's demesnes was, of course, performed by his vassals as part of their proper service. A late wet harvest came on, and they were employed in cutting down his crops, when their own lay rotting on the ground. It is natural that in such circumstances they should have laboured unwillingly. All their dread of the Baron, who remained among them in the fields, indulging in every caprice of fierce and cruel temper, aggravated by irresponsible power, proved scarcely sufificient to keep them at work ; and to inspire them with greater terror, an elderly female, who had been engaged during the night in reaping a little field of her own, and had come somewhat late in the morning, was actually stripped naked by the savage, and sent home again. In the evening he was visited by Munro of Newmore, who came, accompanied by only a single servant, to expostulate with him on an act so atrocious and disgraceful. He was welcomed by a show of hospitality ; the Baron heard him patiently, and called for w^ine ; they sat down and drank together. It was only a few weeks before, however, that one of the neighbouring lairds, who had been treated with a similar show of kindness by the Baron, had been stripped halfnaked at his table when in a state of intoxication and sent home with his legs tied under his horse's belly. Newmore, therefore, kept warily on his guard ; he had left his horse ready saddled at the gate, and drank no more than he could master, which was quite as much, however, as would have overcome most men. One after another of the Baron's retainers began to drop into the room, each on a separate pretence, and as the fifth entered, Newmore, who had seemed as if yielding to the influence of the liquor, afTected to fall asleep. The retainers came clustering round him. Two seized him by the arms, and two more essayed to fasten him to the chair, when up he sprang, dashed his four assailants from him, as if they had been boys of ten summers, and raising the fifth from the floor, hurled him headlong against the Baron, who fell prostrate before the weight and momentum of so unusual a missile. A minute after, Newmore had reached the gate, and, mounting his horse, rode away. The Baron died during the night, a victim to apoplexy, induced, it is said, by the fierce and vindictive passions awakened on this occasion ; and a Gaelic proverb, still current in Ross-shire, shows with what feelings his poor vassals must have regarded the event. Even to the present day, a Highlander will remark, when overborne by oppression, that ' the same God still lives who killed Black Andrew Monro of Newtarbat.' "

These events are said to have taken place in Black Andrew's Castle at Delny.

Seeing that the battle of Blenheim was fought on the 13th of August, 1704, and that Black Andrew, III. of Milntown, died before 1522. it is evident that the principal personages in Hugh Miller's story could not possibly have been the men mentioned by him. Indeed, the last of the Monros of Milntown, another Andrew, was killed at the battle of Kilsyth in 1645, fighting bravely at the head of his company, so that even he could have had no knowledge of the Munro of Newmore who is alleged to have fought at Blenheim fifty-nine years after his death. But as a matter of fact, the strong Colonel, John Munro of Newmore, was not at Blenheim at all. He only joined the 42nd Highlanders in 1740, 36 years later, and with that famous corps took a distinguished part in the battle of Fontenoy, fought in 1745. The Black Andrew portion of the story is probably true enough, but his intended victim must have been some other person than Munro of Newmore, for the progenitor of that family was not born until 1602, eighty years after Andrew's death.

A short distance to the north of the site of the old Chapel of Delny, on a hillock, stood the priest's house, and it is still on that account called in Gaelic Cnoc-an-t-Sagairt or Priesthill. As late as the beginning of the eighteenth century the remains of a cross stood on this eminence at the end of the hamlet. Thither all the people belonging to the

Barony or Maordom of Delny, which comprehended a great part of the county of Ross, resorted once a year to pay -homage to their superior. Here, also, the barons held their criminal courts. In ancient times the right of pit and gallows was the genuine mark of a true baron who had jurisdiction in life and limb.

The gallows-hill of Delny is still an object of interest, and human bones have been frequently found in its vicinity. There is a hill within a mile of Delny called "Cnoc-na-Croich," or the Hill of the Gallows, and on the summit of this hill was a circular pool of water, many fathoms deep, called Poll-a-bhathaidh (the pool of drowning.) Here the Barons of Delny drowned and hanged their victims. It is not known when the last execution took place ; but a man who died about 1750, in Logie, witnessed the last execution which took place at the Milntown "drowning pool," that of a woman for child-murder.*

The Chapel of Delny, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, stood in the old burying-ground between the present farmhouse of Delny and the county road behind it, near the end of last century, when James Munro, the farmer of Delny, demolished the old building, used the stones in the erection of his farm premises, the mortar in improving his land, and ploughed up the burying-ground with the intention of adding it to the contiguous field. The late Rev. John Matheson, parish minister of Kilmuir-Easter, and grandfather of Provost Matheson, Tain, on hearing of this species of vandal sacrilege, visited the spot, and found it all covered with the bones of the dead, which had been turned up with the plough. He represented to Munro the indelicacy of his conduct, persuaded him to collect the relics, and deposit them again in the earth. This the farmer duly performed, and this neglected spot, where, perhaps, was laid —

"Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire ;
Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed,
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre." —

was afterwards enclosed and laid out with grass,

* Old Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 378.

The gallows-hill of the Barony of Milntown is situated on the march between Milntown and Balnagowan, near Logic Free Church Manse ; and the drowning-pool is adjacent to the Manse. Here, in 1864, while excavations were being made in connection with the construction of the Easter Ross Railway, a number of human bones were found, the remains, no doubt, of the poor wretches who died at the hands of Black Andrew Monro. The pit was for the female criminals ; for women sentenced to death we're, for the most part, drowned. The gallows were for the male defaulters, who were invariably hanged.

In 1849 a whole cart-load of human bones was dug out of a vault in the ruins of the old Castle of Milntown, which were readily believed by the people in the locality, who knew the bad fame of Black Andrew, to have been the remains of some of his unfortunate victims. The bones were removed and' decorously buried in the Churchyard of Kilmuir-Easter.

Andrew married Euphemia, daughter of James Dunbar of Tarbat and Ballone Castle, Easter Ross, son of Sir James Dunbar of Westfield, county of Moray, with issue —

1. George, his heir and successor.
2. William, I. of Allan, of whom presently.
3. Andrew, I. of Culnauld, or Culnaha, of whom in their order.

He died at Milntown Castle "in great extravagance and confusion," before 1522, and was buried in the east end of the Church of Kilmuir-Easter, near the Allan burying-ground. In 1522 William Mackintosh, XIII. of Mackintosh gave John Malcolmson, his nephew, the occupation of Connage of Petty, " that thereby John might get the marriage of Effie Dunbar, relict of Andrew Monroe of Milntown, thinking thereby to reclaim the said John from his loose and wicked courses."*

It is said that Andrew, after issuing one of his arbitrary orders that all his female servants should during the harvest

* History of the Mackintoshes and Clan Chattan, p. 184.

operations appear one year in a state of nudity, was coming out of his residence to see that his commands had been given effect to, when he fell down his own stairs and broke his neck, probably the result of "great extravagance and profusion" in the use of his viands immediately before. The field in which his female servants are said to have been at the time at work is still pointed out between the old Castle of Milntown and the shore of Cromarty Firth, directly opposite the modern mansion house of Tarbat.*

He was succeeded by his eldest son,

IV. GEORGE MONRO, to whom Dingwall of Kildun, by deed dated at Inveran, the 20th of April, 1541, sold his half of the lands of Ferncosky in Braechat, parish of Creich ; and on the 22nd of June following James V. granted him a Crown charter of the same lands. In 1542 the same King granted him a Crown charter of a fourth of the lands of Easter Aird, in the Parish of Tarbat, called the Intown of Tarbat, which had been sold to him by his cousin, James Dunbar of Tarbat. In 1543 John Bisset, Chaplain of Newmore, in the College Church of St. Duthus, Tain, with the consent of Queen Mary, the Earl of Arran, and Robert Cairncross, Bishop of Ross, granted to George Monro the kirklands of the Chaplainry, namely, the lands of Newmore, with the alehouse, Inchendown, Badachonacher, Rhicorrach, and Strathrory, " which the tenants used to have for the annual rent of 7 merks Scots, 40s grassum, 30 bolls victual, 4 muttons, 4 dozen poultry, 4 marts, and 12 capons — the grantee paying accordingly, the victual to be half oatmeal, half bear, by Leith measure."† In 1552 Queen Mary granted to him and Janet Eraser, his wife, a Crown charter of the lands of Easter Aird and others in Ross-shire, which had been sold to George in 1542 by James Dunbar, to whom the Queen, at the same time, granted the right of reversion. On the 4th of March, 1544, Mary granted Thomas Dingwall the dues of the half lands of Ferncosky since his redemption of the same from George Monro ;

* Sir William Fraser's Earls of Cromartie.
† Register of the Privy Seal, folio 14-15.

and on the 5th of March she granted him a letter of regress of the same lands, sold by him to George Monro in 1541. In 1559 Sir Robert Melville, Chaplain of Tarlogie, granted to George Monro, his third son, Donald, and his heirs-male, with remainder to his own heirs-male and to the eldest of his heirs-female, the lands of Tarlogie, for the yearly payment to the Chaplain of 29 merks, 4s 6d, witn two dozen capons, and 2s lod, in augmentation of the rental. Queen Mary confirmed this grant in the same year.

He appears first on record, in 1541, as "George Munro of Davochgartie," in the parish of Dingwall. In 1553 he sold part of the estate of Dochcarty to Duncan Bain of Tulloch, to whom Queen Mary in the same year granted a Crown charter of the lands sold, giving a letter of reversion to Monro. In 1555 George sold the fourth part of the lands of Dochcarty to Donald Mac-Ian-Roy, who in 1556 received a Crown charter of the same from Queen Mary. Between 1561 and 1566 he was feuar of Tarlogie.

In 1561 the same Queen appointed him Bailie and Chamberlain of her lands and lordships of Ross and Ardmenach, the appointment to continue during her pleasure; and in 1567 she exempted him for life, on account of his age, from all service as a soldier, from sitting on assizes, and from appearing as a witness in any court. His appointment was renewed in 1568 by James VI., to continue during the pleasure of the King and his Regent. In the same year he sold to Donald Mac-Ian-Roy the half of the east quarter of the lands of Dochcarty, being an oxgang of the west quarter of the same lands, then occupied by Patrick Macdonald Roy. King James granted Donald Mac-Ian-Roy and his heirs in 1568 a Crown charter of the same lands, and to George a letter of reversion.*

He was a member of an inquest held at Inverness, on the 15th of October, 1563, when John Campbell of Cawdor was served heir to his father in the Barony of Strathnairn, before the Sheriff-Principal of the county, James, Earl of

* Origines Parochiales Scotiæ vol. ii., pp. 493-94.

Moray. In 1565 Monro held the Castle of Inverness for the Earl of Moray, and the King and Queen issued the following order requesting him to deliver it up : —

"At Edinburgh, 22nd September, A.D. 1565.—The King and Queen's Majesties, for certain occasions moving them, ordain an officer of arms to pass, and in their Highnesses' name and authority command and charge George Munro of Davochcarty, and Andrew Munro, his son, and all others, havers and withholders of the Castle of Inverness, to deliver the same to Hugh Rose of Kilravock, whom their Majesties have recommended to receive the same within six hours next after they be charged thereto, under pain of treason.

(Signed) "MARIE R., HENRY R."

Among the documents in the Innes charter chest is a charter by Sir Alexander Innes of Plaids and Cadboll "to George Munroe of Dawachcartie of the lands of Petlundie and Glaktamalenye in Ross," granted at Elgin on the 15th November, 1573, and confirmed by Sir William Douglas, Chaplain of St. Lawrence, and Thomas Brabener, Chaplain of St. Mary Magdalene, in the Cathedral Church of Moray, "superiors of the said lands." He is said to have possessed considerable literary attainments, and to have written a life of Farquhar Mackintosh, X. of Mackintosh.

He married Janet, daughter of James Fraser, I. of Phopachy, whose uncle, John Fraser, was Bishop of Ross from 1485, until his death on the 5th of February, 1507. Her brothers, the Rev. Paul Fraser and the Rev. Almond Fraser, were settled in Rosskeen and Alness respectively, while her brother, John Fraser, progenitor of Dunballoch, was Chamberlain, alter oculus, for their uncle, the Bishop, at Nigg, another brother, Robert, being Chamberlain to the Abbot of Fearn. By her George Munro had issue —

1. Andrew, his heir and successor.
2. Donald, I. of Tarlogie, of whose descendants in their order.
3. George, Chancellor of Ross, from whom are descended the Munros of Pitlundie and Bearscroft, Auchenbowie, Craig Lockhart and Cockburn, Argaty, Edmondsham, Fearn and Ingsdon.
4. Janet, who married John Murray of Pulrossie, with issue —
   1. George, and
   2. John.

In 1579, or some time previously, John Murray granted "to his wife Janet Munro, the daughter of the deceased George Munro of Dauchcarty, and in heritage to the heirs got between them, with reversion to John himself and his heirs, the lands of Pulrossie and the lands of Floid, lying in the Earldom of Sutherland and Sheriffdom of Inverness," and in the same year James VI. confirmed the grant. Murray died in 1599, when his son George was served heir in the lands of Spinningdale, with the mill, Achany, Floid, and Pulrossie, all " in the lordship, of the old extent of £14 13s 4d."* George Murray appears again on record in 1613, "as having or pretending to have a right to the lands of Farr." On the 4th of June, 1616, he is a member of the assize which served John eighteenth Earl of Sutherland as heir to his father John.

5. Margaret, who married Hugh Eraser, II. of Guisachan and Culbokie ; for in that year Mary granted to Hugh Eraser and Margaret Munro, his wife, the Western half of Easter Culbokie, with the house and gardens made and to be made near the shore, in the place called Querrel, in the lordship of Ardmanach, resigned by Hugh.† She was served to her terce in Culbokie, as his widow, on the 29th of May, 1597. They had issue — three sons and a daughter —
   • William,
   • Alexander,
   • Hugh, and
   • Janet, who married Thomas Chisholm, XV. of Chisholm, without issue.‡
6. Isabel, who married Hugh Ross, II. of Achnacloich, parish of Rosskeen, with issue. She died on the 24th of December, 1594, her husband surviving her until the 10th of September, 1621.

George of Milntown had also a natural son, John, I. of Pitonachy, now Rosehaugh, ancestor of the Munros of Novar, of Eindon, Poyntzfield, and several other families, of whom in their order.

He died at Milntown Castle on the 1st of November, 1576, and was buried in Kilmuir-Easter Churchyard, when he was succeeded by his eldest son,

* Origines Parochiales Scotiæ, vol. ii. pp. 187-88.
† Ibid, p. 550.
‡ Mackenzie's History of ike Frasers, p. 603.

V. ANDREW MONRO, second of Dochcarty. He embraced the Protestant religion and became a rigid and austere Presbyterian. His father must have given him the lands of Newmore, for he is referred to during his father's life as "Andrew Monro of Newmore." In 1568 James VI. granted him, "as the son and heir of George of Dochcarty " — a property, as already seen, possessed by his father — " and to Catherine Urquhart, his wife, and to their heirs male, the town and lands of Castletown, with the fishing crofts, and its pertinents ; the town and lands of Belmaduthy ; the town and lands of Suddie, with the brewhouse, croft, and mill, the town and lands of Achterflow, with all the pendicles and pertinents of these towns and lands, lying in the Earldom of Ross, Lordship of Ardmanoch, and Sheriffdom of Inverness, belonging in heritage to David Chalmers, formerly Chancellor of Ross, held by him of the King, and forfeited on account of treason and lese-majesty — united in unam integram et liberam particulmn et partein tetre consdlidate voeatam vulgo Castletown ; the grantee paying yearly the old fermes, victual, grassum, and dues, namely: — For Castletown, £11 10s 6d in money, 1 chalder 4 bolls of bear, 4 bolls of oats, 1 mart, 1 mutton, with the bondages, or £1 in lieu of them, 4 dozen poultry, and 11 hens, commonly called "reck hens" ; for the croft commonly called Castletown croft, 19s 8d, and 1 boll of bear; for Belmaduthy, £10 16s in money, 1 chalder and 1 boll of bear, 1 mart, 1 mutton, and 4 dozen poultry, with the usual bondages of the same, or in lieu of them £1 ; for Suddie, 13s 4d, 1 chalder, 5 bolls and 1 firlot of bear, 1 mart, 1 mutton, and 4 dozen poultry, with the bondages or £1 ; for the brewhouse of Suddie and its croft, £1 12s ; for the mill of Suddie, 18 bolls of victuals, half meal, half bear, with 1 boll 2 pecks for "the charity," and 8 capons ; for Achterflow, £15 4s 9½d Scots, 2 chalders bear, 8 bolls oats, 2 marts, 2 muttons, with the bondages," or £2, 8 dozen poultry, and 14 reck hens, with £1 6s 8d Scots in augmentation of the rental.*

* Register of the Privy Seal, vol. xxxviii., folios 16, 109-110.

The "treason and lese-majesty" committed by David Chalmers, for which he was denounced a rebel and put to the horn, besides having all his lands and goods forfeitedj was his not finding surety to appear and answer for the slaughter of James Balvany in Preston, and other persons slain at the battle of Langside. Among the other lands so forfeited by him and granted to Andrew Monro by James VI., in 1568, were the escheat of the grant of Meikle Tarrel, which the same king confirmed in 1571, and the lands of Easter Airds in the parish of Tarbat, also confirmed in that year.

In 1569 James VI. granted to Andrew Monro the escheat of all the goods upon the quarter lands of Meikle Allan, with the crops of that year, forfeited by John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, for treason and lese-majesty. In the same year King James granted Monro the escheat of all the goods, cattle, and corn upon the piece of land called "Bishop's Shed," in the Chanonry of Ross, which formerly belonged to Bishop Leslie, "of this instant crop and yeir of God 1569 yeiris, and sawin to his behoof," which were also forfeited by Leslie for treason and lese-majesty. The treason committed by the Bishop was his having engaged in, the attempt to get Queen Mary married to the Duke of Norfolk. His Lordship was imprisoned in the Tower of London in May, 1571, where he remained until January, 1574. It should have been observed that he had been banished from Scotland in 1568 "for certane crymes of treasoun and lesemajesties committit by him," and it was while in exile in England on this account that he engaged in the projected marriage of the Duke of Norfolk with Queen Mary, who was at the time a prisoner in the hands of the English Queen Elizabeth.

By a deed dated at Stirling on the 10th and at the Chanonry of Ross on the 28th of February, 1571, George Monro, Prebendary and Chaplain of Newmore, in the Collegiate Church of St. Duthus, Tain, with the consent of James VI., the Regent, Matthew Earl of Lennox, Kentigern Monypenny, Dean and Vicar-General of Ross, Thomas

Ross, Abbot of Fearn, and Provost of the Church of Tain, and the Prebendaries of that Church, for the augmentation of his rental by the sum of six merks Scots, granted to Andrew Monro, the son and heir apparent of George Monro of Dochcarty, and his heirs male with remainder to his heirs whatsomever, bearing the surname and arms of Monro, the churchlands of the Chaplainry — namely the lands of Newmore, with the alehouse; the lands of Inchendown, with the mill, and strath of the same ; the lands of Badachonacher, Coilmore, Rhicullen, Rawnvick, Newmore, with the " Straythis of Aldnafrankach, Aldnaquheriloch and Rewthlasnabaa, in Strathrory, in the Earldom of Ross and Sheriffdome of Inverness," which were formerly held by the same George, and resigned by him on account that owing to the dearness of the lands, he had reaped no profit from them but had sustained loss by the payment of the dues, and because the whole yearly revenue of the lands amounted only to the sum of £30 Scots, to be held by Andrew Monro for the yearly payment of 7 merks Scots in name of feufarm, £2 grassum, 30 bolls victual, or 8s 4d Scots for each boll, 4 muttons, or 3s 4d Scots for each ; 12 capons, or 6s ; 4 dozen poultry, or 12s ; together with the sum of £4 Scots for heirages, carriages, bondages, and every other burden, and for the augmentation of the rental beyond what the lands ever before yielded, amounting in all to the sum of £30 14s 8d Scots for feuferm and customs.

Andrew was a member of the assize held at Golspie in 1591 to serve Alexander, fifteenth Earl of Sutherland, heir to his great-grandfather, Adam, thirteenth Earl, who died in 1538, and to his great-grandmother, Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland, whodied in 1535.

He was Captain of the Castles of Inverness and Chanonry, and Chamberlain of the Earldom of Ross. About 1567, John Leslie, Bishop of Ross, who had been secretary to Queen Mary, dreading the effects of public feeling against Popery in the north, and against himself personally, made over to his cousin, John Leslie of Balquhain, his rights and titles to the Castle and Castle lands of Chanonry, to divert

them of the character of Church property, and to save them to his family; but notwithstanding this grant, the "Good Regent" Murray gave the custody of the castle to Andrew Monro of Milntown and promised Leslie some of the lands of the Barony of Fintry, in Buchan, as an equivalent ; but the Regent was assassinated before this arrangement was completed — before Andrew Monro obtained titles to the Castle and Castle lands. Yet he obtained permission from the Earl of Lennox, during his regency, and afterwards from his successor, the Earl of Mar, to take possession of the Castle.

Colin Mackenzie, XI of Kintail, and his clansmen were extremely jealous of the Munroes occupying the stronghold ; and being desirous to obtain possession of the Castle themselves, they purchased Leslie's right, by virtue of which they demanded delivery of the fortress. This demand Andrew Monro at once refused. Kintail in consequence raised his vassals, and being joined by a detachment of the Mackintoshes,* garrisoned the steeple of the Cathedral, and laid siege to Irving's Tower and the Palace. The Munros held out for three years ; but one day the garrison

*In 1573, Lachlan Mor, Laird of Mackintosh, favouring Kintail, his brother-in-law, required all the people of Stralhnairn to join him against the Munroes. Colin, Lord of Lome, had, at the time, the administration of that Lordship as the jointure lands of his wife, the Countess Dowager Murray, and he wrote to Hugh Rose of Kilravock. — True Friend, after my most hearty commendation, for as much as it is reported to me that Mackintosh has charged all my tenants west of the water of Nairn to pass forward with him to Ross to enter into this troublous action with Mackenzie against the Laird of Fowlis, and because I will not that any of mine enter presently this matter whose service appertains to me, I thought good to advertise you of my mind thereon, in respect ye are tenants of mine and have borne the charge of Bailliary of Strathnarne in times past ; wherefore I will desire you to make my will known to my tenants at Strathnarne within your Bailliary that none of them take upon hand to rise at this present with Mackintosh to pass to Ross, or at any time hereafter without my special command and goodwill obtained on such pains as any of them may incur therethrough, certifying them and ilk one of them, and they do in the contrary hereof, I will by all means crave the same at their hands as occasion may serve. And this it will please you to make known to them, that none of them pretend any excuse through ignorance hereof ; and this for the present, not doubting but ye will do the same ; I commit you to God ; from Darnaway, the 25th of June, 1573.
— The Family of Rose of Kilravock, p. 263.

getting short of provisions, they attempted a sortie to the Ness of Fortrose, where there was a salmon stell, the contents of which they endeavoured to secure. They were, however, immediately discovered, and quickly followed by the Mackenzies, who fell upon them in a most savage manner. Weak and starving as they were, they fought with that bravery always characteristic of the Munros ; but after a desperate and unequal struggle, they were overpowered by the overwhelming numbers of the Mackenzies, and twenty-six of their number were killed, among them their commander, John Munro. Their pursuers had two men killed and several wounded. The defenders of the Castle immediately capitulated, and it was taken possession of by the Mackenzies.

Sir Robert Gordon says that the Munros "defended and keipt the Castle for the space of thrie yeirs, with great slaughter on either syd, vntill it was delyvered to the Clanchenzie, by the Act of pacification. And this wes the ground and beginning of the feud and hartburning, which, to this day, remaynes between the Clanchenzie and Munrois."*

It appears from a Royal Warrant, preserved among the papers of the Earl of Moray " for Rendering the House in Chancerie," dated the 19th of February, 1568-69, and signed by the Regent, that the Castle had been for some time occupied by Mackintosh. The warrant charges messengers to "pass and in our name and authority command and charge Archibald Brown, Captain of the said Castle, Sir Alexander Redder (and others) cautioners for delivering of the said Castle to Mackintosh, Lachlan Mackintosh of Dunachton having therein his household servants. . . That they render and deliver the same to our lovite Andrew Munro of Newmore, our Chamberlain and Baillie of the said bishopric, with all manner of munition, powder, and other guns,"† etc.

On the 22nd of February, 1583, Andrew Monro of Dochcarty

* Earldom of Sutherland, p. 155.
† History of the Mackintoshes and Clan Chattan, p. 233.

petitioned the Privy Council for confirmation to him of the lands forfeited long ago by David Chalmers. Andrew relates how, for services rendered to the King's cause in rebellious times, and in compensation for losses sustained, the Regent Murray "gave and disponed to him the right title and feu-farm of certain lands of his Highness's property lying within the Lordship of Ardmannoch and Sheriffdom of Inverness," which had been let to Mr David Chalmers, and fallen in to the Crown through the forfeiture of the said Mr David, who was vehemently suspected of being one of the chief devisers and committers of the cruel murder of his Majesty's umquhile father, and was convicted of having been on the wrong side at Langside, as well as of other points of treason. With the grant of these lands, Monro received orders — which he obeyed — to enter within the Castle of the Chanonry of Ross, and to furnish the same with men and munitions for repressing of the great commotion and disobedience stirred up in the country by the rebels. He continued to hold it till the time of Murray's death, and thereby contracted such great debt, and so burdened his own heritage, that he was obliged "to meane himself" to his Majesty's grandfather, the Regent Lennox, craving to be relieved from his charge. This crave was refused, and upon promise of further reward he continued to hold the castle until the Regency of Mar, when he proved to a committee of the Council that he had spent on this service two thousand seven hundred pounds, for which he never received any recompense. All the set-off was the grant made by Murray for previous services. But he hears now that David Chalmers, by secret means, is labouring at Court to obtain the benefit of pacification, and he therefore prays the King and Council to ratify and approve of new the gift of the said lands, and to pass an Act of Council decreeing that, in case it should happen the said Mr David, his heirs, or successors, should obtain the benefit of pacification at any time hereafter, "then the said lands shall be specially excepted from that benefit." The King and Council, in consideration of the petitioner's good

service and great losses, grant his prayer, and warrant the exception "at the least ay and until his Majesty gratify and reward the said Andrew or his heirs otherwise with some other benefit or casualty worth the yearly duties and avail the said lands."

Andrew married Catherine, daughter of Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, with issue —

1. George, his heir and successor.
2. Andrew, I. of Kincraig, who married a Mrs Gray, with issue —
   1. Andrew, his heir ;
   2. William, who entered the Army and rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in a Foot Regiment, under the Elector of Branderburg. William married a Mrs Bruce, acquired an estate in Germany, where he resided until his death, and left issue — sons and daughters, who settled in Branderburg,
      Andrew, the elder son, succeeded his father as II. of Kincraig, and married Margaret, daughter of Sir Robert Innes, XXIII. of Innes, widow of George Monro, VII, of Milntown, who died without issue in 1630. Andrew, first of Kincraig, had also a son;
   3. John, "a burgess of Edinburgh," who bought the estate of Culcraggie, parish of Alness, for whose succession see the MUNROS OF CULCRAGGIE.
3. John, I. of Fearn, of whom later on,
4. Janet, who married David Monro, II, of Culnaha, with issue — one son, David,
5. Catherine, who married George Munro, I, of Obsdale, third son of Robert, fifteenth Baron of Fowlis, with issue —
   1. Colonel John, who succeeded his father in Obsdale ; and
   2. Major-General Munro, author of His Expedition, and a distinguished military officer, whose career has been already described.
6. Elizabeth, who married Hay of Kinardie.
7. Christian, who died unmarried,
8. Euphemia, who married Hugh Munro, IV. of Balconie, with issue,
9. Margaret, who married Robert Gordon of Bodlan.
10. Anne, who married Hugh Ross of Priesthill,
11. Ellen, who married, first, Donald Ross of Balmuchie, and secondly, the Rev. John Munro, minister of Tain and Sub-Dean of Ross, third son of Hugh Munro, I. of Assynt.

12. Isabella, who married, first, James Innes of Calrossie, without issue. She married, secondly, after the 25th of July, 1614, Walter Ross, IV. of Invercharron, sasine, dated the 6th of September, 1625, in favour of Isabell Munro, spouse to Walter Ross of Invercharron, with issue —
    1. Sir David Ross of Broadfoord, Knight of Malta, described as "apparent of Invercharron";
    2. William, who succeeded as V. of Invercharron ;
    3. Janet, who married, first, Thomas Ross of Priesthill, and secondly, as his second wife, Kenneth Mackenzie, I. of Scatwell, with issue ; and
    4. Christian, who married Hugh Macleod, I. of Cambuscurry, with issue.

Andrew died about 1590, when he was succeeded by his eldest son,

VI. GEORGE MONRO, also, in 1591, designated "of Meikle Tarrel." In 1598 he was taken bound "to relieve and scathless keep Elizabeth Rose, the relict of the umquhile Walter Urquhart, Sheriff of Cromarty, and William Gordon of Bredland, now her spouse ; William Rose of Kilravock, tutor testamentator to Alexander Urquhart, son lawful to the said umquhile Walter, and the said Alexander, self and his heirs, at the hands of Donald Ross, Magnus Fearn, and Finlay Manson, portioner of Pitcalzean, to the letters of reversion and redemption following thereupon made by the said umquhile Walter and the said Alexander, to the said umquhile Alexander Fearn and his assignees for redemption of the easter half davoch lands of Pitcalzean, with the pertinents, and of all redemption and renunciation made thereupon by them to Andrew Munro, son and heir to umquhile David Munro of Culnauld, and to his tutor testamentator for their entries : By these presents, subscribed with our hand at Kilravock the twentieth day of August, the year of God, 1598, before these witnesses, David Rose of Holm ; William Ross ; Walter Ross; and John Munro, notar public."*

* Kilravock Papers, pp. 287-288 ; and The Priory of Beauly, p. 251.

In 1584 James VI. confirmed a charter, granted by Alexander Home, Canon of the Church of Ross, with consent of the Dean and Chapter, to George Monro in heritage, "the church-lands of his prebend called Killechrist, with the parsonage tithes included, lying in the Earldom of Ross and Sheriffdom of Inverness, and also the prebendary's manse with its pertinents lying as above.*

George was principal tacksman of the Chantry of Ross. On the 18th of July, 1618, the Commissioners of the Bishopric of Ross provided a stipend of 620 merks for the minister of Kilmorack, payable, 465 merks, out of the parsonage or rectorial tithes, by George Monro of Tarrell, principal tacksman of the Chantry of Ross, and 155 merks, by the tacksman of the vicarage teinds ; and the lease was prorogated as compensation for the charge.

In 1621 he was M.P. for Inverness-shire, which then included Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness.

George married, first, Mariot, daughter and heiress of John MacCulloch of Meikle Tarrell, who was served heir to her father in the estate of Meikle Tarrell in 1577, together with the revenue of £2 10s from Easter Airds. In 1578 James VI. granted to her and her "future spouse, George Monro, the son and heir-apparent of Andrew Monro of Newmore," the lands of Meikle Tarrell, which formerly belonged to Mariot in heritage, and which she had resigned with the consent of her curators, Robert Munro Baron of Fowlis ; James Dunbar of Tarbat ; George Dunbar of Avoch ; and George Munro, Chancellor of Ross, to be held of the crown for the service formerly due.† By her he had issue —

1. George, his heir and successor.
2. John ;
3. William ;
4. David, all of whom went to the German wars with Robert Munro, Baron of Fowlis, "whence they returned not, dying going there," all before 1633.
5. Margaret, who, as his second wife, married David Dunbar of Dunphail.

* Register of the Privy Seal, vol. li., folio 90.
† Ibid, vol. xlv., folio 68

He married, secondly, Margaret, daughter of David Dunbar, Dean of Moray, fourth son of Sir Alexander Dunbar of Westfield, fifth son of James, fifth Earl of Moray, with issue —

6. Hector.
7. John "of whom there is no account to be given of, their being soldiers, and killed in battle."
8. Janet, who married Hugh Munro of Achnagart, with issue.
9. Helen, who married John Eraser of Inchbreck, with issue.
10. Catherine, who married Alexander Baillie of Dunean, with issue —
    • William, VIII. of Dunean ;
    • David, I, of Dochfour ; and
    • Catherine, who married one of the younger sons of Hugh Eraser of Culbokie.
11. Isabella, who married William Leslie, H. of Burdsbank, with issue.

George built the tower aud belfry of the present Established Church of Kilmuir-Easter, on the top of which is an eagle, the armorial crest of the Munros, and the monogram G.M. — George Monro. It bears date 1616, with the word "biggit." The Munros' aisle in the same church is a building of superior architectural taste.

He died at Boggs on the 6th of May, 1623, when he was succeeded by his eldest son,

VII. GEORGE MONRO, who was in 1623 served heir to his father in a fourth of the lands and town of Meikle Allan, containing two oxgangs of the extent of 13s 4d, and a fourth of the alehouse to the extent of 3s 4d. He was in the same year served his father's heir in the lands of Milntown, "with the mills and office of chief mair of the Earldom of Ross, of the extent of 8 chalders, 4 bolls of victual ; a croft named the Markland of Tullich, of the extent of one pound of wax ; and the lands and town of Meikle Meddat, of the extent of 6 chalders of bear and oatmeal, and other dues, its alehouse with toft and croft, of the extent of 13s 4d, and its other alehouse, without toft and croft, of the extent of 6s 8d — in the Barony of Delnie, Earldom of Ross,

and Sheriffdom of Inverness.* On the 15th of January, 1625, Alexander Ross of Pitkerie and his brothers, George and John, are witnesses to a sasine in favour of George Monro of Milntown of the two mills of Fearn. On the 19th of January, 1627, he has a sasine of the lands of Kilmuir.

George married Margaret, daughter of Sir Robert Innes, XXIII. of Innes, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander, Lord Elphinstone, with issue —

1. Andrew, his heir and successor.
2. Margaret, who married Captain Alexander Forester of Corstorphine, with issue.

He died in 1630, when he was succeeded as representative of the family by his only son,

VIII. ANDREW MONRO, the last of the family who possessed the estate. He was only eleven years old when his father died, and his maternal uncle, who had taken possession of the property on the death of Andrew's father, "in virtue of an appraising and other diligences," for debts due to him and wadsets held by him over the estate, never allowed him to possess the property, even nominally, or to enter the Castle, and in 1656 Sir John Innes sold it to Sir George Mackenzie of Tarbat, afterwards first Earl of Cromarty, whose descendants still possess it under the name of New Tarbat.

Andrew served as Captain under his kinsman, George Munro, I. of Newmore, in the Royal Army in Ireland during the rebellion there in the beginning of the seventeenth century. In 1644 he was ordered to Scotland, and in 1645 took a distinguished part in the battle of Kilsyth, where he fell in the twenty-sixth year of his age fighting bravely at the head of his company. He was a very promising young officer ; his relatives and friends had great hopes of his being able to redeem the debts and other burdens which had been contracted by his father, and his early death was naturally a severe blow to every one interested in the ancient family of Milntown. He died unmarried, when the direct male line of his family became

* Retours.

extinct. There are, however, several collateral families, many of whose sons distingfuished themselves in every department of the military, civil, and professional services of their country, an account of which will now be given in the order in which they branched off from the principal cadet stem of Milntown.

Sir George Mackenzie of Tarbat when he purchased the castle and estate of Milntown, changed the name to Tarbat, after his own title, he being then a Lord of Session under the title of Lord Tarbat. But the peasantry to this day call the place in Gaelic Baile-Mhuillinn Andrea. The only remains of the old castle still extant are the door of the vault and the high terraces near the place where it stood. In 1728 Viscount Tarbat contracted with masons to "throw down Munro's old work" clear the foundation, and build a new house. Some of the oldest inhabitants of the village of Milntown still remember hearing their parents, some of whom assisted in razing Milntown Castle, say, no doubt, with a certain amount of exaggeration, that the hall was so large " that the music of fiddles at one end could not be heard at the other." The castle is said to have been the most elegant and highly finished in the North, strikingly adorned with- turrets. It stood near the site of the present mansion. In the grounds near the old building were many fine trees. One large beech was called "Queen Mary's tree," supposed to have been planted by that Queen while on a visit to Beauly Priory. It was more than 100 feet high ; is said to have required a whole week to cut it down, and to have been so heavy and difficult to remove that it had to be buried where it fell.

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Sources

• Mackenzie, Alexander (1898). History of the Munros of Fowlis with genealogies of the principal families of the name: to which are added those of Lexington and New England. Inverness: A. & W. Mackenzie. OCLC 969528769. OL 16755330M.