This is the third part of John Ochterlony's Account of the Shire of Forfar, written around 1682, and gives a fascinating, if brief and selective, picture of the county of Angus in the period.  Links to previous parts of this work are at the bottom of this post. Idvie. — The Laird of Gardyne of that Ilk, formerly spoken of, hath the most part of the Baronie of Gairdyne, except the house and maines which belong to a gentleman of the name of Ruthvene. Baronie of Idvie to Sir John Wood of Bonnietoun. Pitmowes, belonging to John Ogilvy, a grand-child of a second ..read more

Few people know much about the noble title of Spynie or those who bore that name. There were several Lord Spynie's in the late 16th and early 17th century, though the title went extinct after a few generations. It was held by a branch of the powerful Lindsay family who were powerfully represented in the county for several centuries. The first Lord Spynie, Alexander Lindsay, was a sometime favourite of King James VI, though he fell out of favour with that mercurial monarch (more on this below). He was the fourth son of the 10th Earl of Crawford and also a grandson of the famous/infamous Cardi ..read more

   This post is an expansion on several previous pieces I wrote concerning the Angus family of Deuchar, who long inhabited the place of that name, being Deuchar of Deuchar, or Deuchar of that Ilk, as it used to be termed. This kindred were long in possession of a famous blade which served in many battles. The mansion house of Deuchar stands on the uplands of Fern parish and has a magnificent view of much of Strathmore and the Sidlaw Hills. It was built or remodelled by the penultimate Deuchar laird in the 18th century.        Deuchar and D ..read more

  A subject I have returned to several times during the lifetime of this blog is the unresolved question of how Irish was the region now know as Angus during the Pictish period, prior to the 9th century.    There are a few tantalising clues, but the facts about the Irish in the area compete hard against the unproven legends and neither side seems to win out completely against the other. Why do we know about the Irish presence in our region?  Angus the county, of course, bears a conspicuously Irish name, being named (probably) either after the king Angus mac Fergus or the pe ..read more

 This post supplements and updates the previous piece I wrote on the Phantom Drummer of Cortachy (published on 29th January 2015, which can be read here). For those unaware of the story, it is a legend that competes with the tale of the Monster of Glamis as the classic supernatural tale from Angus. Like the Glamis legend, the Cortachy tale seems to have originated in the mid-19th century, a product of the fervid Victorian imagination. Foretelling Death in The Family The Devil's Stone    In a nutshell, the narrative states that a ghostly drummer is heard at Cortachy just b ..read more

This is a short post of a different kind. I do not usually burden readers with poetic effusions, but here I make an exception. I recently learned of the death of Dundee-born Charles Sharpe, long-time resident of Totnes in Devon, who, however, never forgot his early days in Dundee, particularly in Lochee. He also retained a keen interest in the wider hinterland of Angus where he roamed and where his ancestors came from. He was a teacher, educator, psychotherapist, and a worthy humanist, as can be seen by reading his still available blog, Leaving Dundee. (It can be seen here). We never m ..read more

 The Den o' Fowlis, also termed Spinkie Den or Balruddery Den, lies several miles north-west of Dundee. Its common name spinkie comes from the profusion of primroses which flourish there. The small, enclosed ravine (covering a site of 20.4 acres) was made a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1984, due to the botanical interest. The trees here include oak, wych elm and ash, and there is a profusion of flowers, wild garlic, plus mosses and ferns.Some time in the late 1980s, when I visited it, the mini glen was looking particularly forlorn, with evidence of widespread tree felling. To me ..read more

     The parish of Fowlis lies on the Braes of the Carse of Gowrie, part of the southern slopes of the Sidlaw Hills, several miles north-west of Dundee. Fowlis joined to the neighbouring parish of Lundie to the north in 1618 and is notable for its castle, kirk and the beauty spot called the Den o' Fowlis.     There has been confusion as to whether the parish was part of  Angus or Perthshire. It has been in Angus since late 19th century boundary changes, but was historically a part of Perthshire. (However, the barony of Fowlis included part of neighbouring Lif ..read more

     This short piece is just a postscript to my previously published article on that most scurrilous of all songs 'The Ball o' Kirriemuir' (which can be found here). In that post I carefully skirted around the obscene content of the various versions of that ballad (and skirted is probably a good word to use in that context). The mystery surrounding the composition is multi faceted:  who composed it? is there an original version still to find? was it based on an actual, real life orgy? why so many different versions of it in circulation?     While readin ..read more

 Scholar and Tutor to James VI Most people who know about the rather barren early years of King James VI of Scotland associate his teaching with the eminent but fearsome scholar George Buchanan. He was a man with little time for royalty and indeed he hated the king's mother Queen Mary. There was little warmth but much effective learning from Buchanan, even if the king ruefully remembered later in life that he had been forced to learn Latin almost before he could speak Scots. The rigid influence of Buchanan was mitigated to some extent by the secondary teacher, Peter Young of Dundee, who w ..read more