Invarray Castle

CLAN LINDSAY TOUR OF SCOTLAND 2004

Thursday, August 26th -
Depart the US for overnight flight to Scotland aboard Continental from Newark, or similar airline from one of the northeastern cities.

Friday, August 27th -
Arrive at Glasgow airport to be greeted by your guide and driver. Departing from the airport, we drive south to Kilbirnie to visit the auld Kirk and see the Lindsay Crests. The church dates from 1470 (nave) and 1490 (tower) with aisles added in 1597 for the Cunninghames of Glengarnock and in 1642 for Sir John Crawford. The centerpiece of the interior is the carved oak Crawford Loft or Gallery. Sir John Crawford of Place had a burial vault built for the "Crawford Gallery" which is possibly unique in Scotland. The Laird's Loft is highly carved and embellished along the front with armorial bearings of John Crawford, the first Viscount Garnock. The Laird and his family sat at the front and behind the screen were seats for John Crawford, the first Viscount Garnock. We will stop to see Kilbirnie House, now a ruin. It is a 15th century rectangular keep and was passed from the Barclay family to the Lindsays by marriage in 1470. The property was sold to the Lindsays in 1661. The mansion underwent repair in 1757 by George the nineteenth Earl of Crawford. Whilst undergoing this renovation, it was burnt to the ground by accidental fire. It is now ruinous but very impressive. The name Kilbirnie is said to be taken from a cell of Saint Brendan, Abbot of Clonfert, Columba's uncle who was in Scotland in 563. We continue to Edinburgh, Scotland's capital, and one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. We will have a guided tour of the city before checking into the 4 star city center Hilton Grosvenor Hotel. Dinner at the hotel.

Saturday, August 28th - Today we visit Edinburgh Castle, one of the most famous castles in the world. The oldest part, St. Margaret's Chapel, dates From the Norman period. The castle houses the Crown Jewels of Scotland, the Stone of Destiny and the famous 15th-century gun Mons Meg. From there we will walk to Geoffrey's Tartan Mill to learn about the making of tartan material. Just a short walk down the Royal Mile, we will visit St. Giles Cathedral, founded in the 1100's. This was the church of John Knox during the Reformation. It contains memorials to many great Scots, including the great Covenanting leaders Montrose and Argyll. The Thistle Chapel was designed by Lorimer and is a jewel of Scottish craftsmanship.The rest of the afternoon is free to enjoy the city. You may choose to visit the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the National Art Gallery or Portrait Gallery or just enjoy the many wonderful shops on the Royal Mile. In the evening, dinner will on your own giving you an opportunity to dine in one of many of Edinburgh's wonderful restaurants, or try a 'pub meal' which are so popular in Scotland. We will have tickets for the late performance of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, a celebration of music and dance set against the impressive backcloth of the Castle.

Sunday, August 29th -
We travel south today to the village of Aberlady and will make a visit to Luffness Castle where we will have coffee in the ballroom followed by a historical talk on the outside of the castle given by the present owners, Mr. & Mrs. Hope. The Lindsays came to prominence both in England and Scotland in the late 11th century. Sir Walter de Lindissie, "noble and knight" accompanied David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother of Alexander 1, to Scotland to claim his throne. His great grandson, Sir William de Lindsay, sat in the parliament of 1164 and afterwards a justiciar. He held the lands of Crawford but he sat in parliament as a Baron of Luffness. He acquired considerable wealth through his marriage to Ethelreda, a granddaughter of the great Cospatrick ruler of most of Northumbria in northern England. The original castle was built by the Vikings but was replaced by a stone moated castle (rare in Scotland) during the Middle Ages. There are mentions of Luffness, and the Carmelite Friary, the ruins of which lie within the grounds. During most periods of Scottish history, the earliest being in connection with the foundation of the Friary, Sir David de Lindsay went on a crusade and died, not in battle but of sickness. During his illness he expressed his wish that that the Carmelite Friars who had nursed him should be allowed to 'make their monastery in his garden at Luffness' and this they did. During the "rough wooing" by Henry VII who wanted the young Mary Queen of Scots to marry his son, Henry concentrated his army north of Melrose. Hertford, who commanded Henry's army, made a forced march over Soutra Pass, utterly defeated the Scots at the Battle of Pinkie and sacked Edinburgh. Scotland was only saved from further humiliation by the death of the English king, on the news of which, Lord Hertford posted south with all dispatch in order to become Lord Protector Somerset. He never forgot Luffness. In the peace treaty that he imposed on the Scots he inserted a clause to the effect that the Castle of Luffness should be 'utterly thrown down'. The man who did the rebuilding was Sir Patrick Hepburn, a member of the family of Bothwell, third husband of Mary Queen of Scots. Somehow he managed to salvage Luffness from the wreck of the family fortunes, but, only two generations on, the succession failed in the male line and the property passed to the family of Durham, originally for Largo in Fife. In the early seventeen hundreds Luffness was sold by the Durhams to Charles Hope, First Earl of Hopetoun, and the family living there now are his descendents. Continuing around the coast road, we will make a visit to Tantallon Castle, one of the most evocative ruins in Britain. Tantallon owes its celebrity to its massive scale and spectacularly wild setting, backing onto the Firth of Forth with only the Bass Rock for company. Leaving the coast we travel further south into the Borders to Melrose to make a visit to Abbottsford House, which was built by Sir Walter Scott in 1822 and where he lived and wrote until he died in 1832. The house features Scott's collection of historical relics including Rob Roy's gun and Montrose's sword and his library of over 9000 rare volumes. We return to Edinburgh for dinner at the hotel and overnight.

Monday, August 30th -
Before leaving Edinburgh we visit the Royal Museum of Scotland which houses artifacts from around the globe in 36 galleries. We then leave Edinburgh and travel over the famous Forth Bridge and into Fife to visit Dunfermline to visit the Palace and the remains of the great Benedictine Abbey founded by Queen Margaret in the 11th century. Robert the Bruce is buried in the choir of the present parish church but without the heart which was taken on the crusades and ended up in Melrose Abbey. There is an excellent museum which explains the historical importance of the Abbey and town. We continue to Kilconquhar to visit the church where the Earls of Lindsay are buried. The church was cared for by nuns from North Berwick. In front of it is a loch in which witches were drowned. To the east of the village is Kilconquhar House (a former home of the Earls of Lindsay) and the remains of a castle built in 1547. We then make our way to our hotel, the Craws Nest, a moderate 3 star in the pretty fishing village of Anstruther. After checking in anyone who wishes can visit either the Fisheries Museum in Anstruther or the Secret Bunker. The secret bunker was where the most important Scottish civil servants and politicians would have hidden in the event of a nuclear attack on Britain and would have remained there for months. It is a rather depressing but fascinating reminder of the cold war. Dinner at the hotel.

Tuesday, August 31st -
We travel to Perth to visit Scone Palace, the home of the Earl of Mansfield where Scottish kings were once crowned on the famous Coronation Stone of Scone. From there we make our way to Arbroath Abbey, the ruins of a Tironensian monastery. Founded in 1178 by William the Lion and dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury, it was from here that the famous Declaration of Arbroath, asserting Scottish Independence, was issued in 1320. Important remains of the church survive; including one of the most complete examples of an abbot's residence. Continuing south, we make a stop at St. Andrews, the home of golf before returning to our hotel. In the evening we have the Clan Lindsay banquet and ceilidh in the hotel.

Wednesday, September 1st -
Leaving Anstruther, we make our first stop at Edzell Castle and Garden. This is the ruins of a medieval tower house incorporated into a 16th century courtyard mansion and walled garden laid out by Sir David Lindsay in 1604. Edzell Castle is an atmospheric ruin set in a lovely tranquil Angus glen. It illustrates the rich side of life in late Medieval Scotland with its comfortable castle, pleasant location and extraordinary garden. The castle was the seat of the Lindsay Lord's of Edzell who acquired it in 1358 through marriage. The original castle was a motte and bailey type castle, a little distant to the south west of the present castle and near to the church. It was replaced by a new, more comfortable castle built in the early 16th century and added to over the years. It was more of a home than a fortress. The village of Slateford had grown up around the castle to service it but it offended the Lindsay Lords and was moved a mile away to the present location at Edzell. The castle had its share of distinguished visitors. Mary, Queen of Scots, visited on 25 August 1562 during her northern expedition to quell the Huntly Rebellion. She slept there for two nights and the room she used was henceforth called the Queen's Chamber. The castle began the decline into ruin around the time of the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion. The Lindsays were Jacobites and sold it to the Earl of Panmure, another Jacobite, to raise money for a regiment. After the failure of the Rebellion, the lands were forfeited by the crown and sold to the York B. Buildings Company. The Company bought many forfeited estates in order to strip them of their assets. The Company was declared bankrupt in 1732. The lands were leased for a number of years before being sold off in 1766 to pay the debts of the Trustees. The ruin of the castle was complete. We make a stop in the town of Edzell before driving up beautiful Glen Esk to visit the ruins of Invermark Castle which was an outpost for the Lindsays of Crawford, to keep Highland marauders under control. The 9th Earl of Crawford died in it in 1558. It sheltered David Lindsay after he had killed Lord Spynie in Edinburgh following a longstanding quarrel in 1607 and James Carnegie, Lord Balnamoon who was being sought by government troops after Culloden. From here we travel through Aberdeenshire and up into the beautiful scenic highlands of Scotland to Inverness, capital of the highlands. Dinner and overnight in the Royal Highland Hotel, a 3 star hotel in the city center.

Thursday, September 2nd -
Our first visit is to Culloden Battlefield where the Highland army of Bonnie Prince Charles was defeated by the government forces led by the Duke of Cumberland. We then take a cruise down Loch Ness to Urquhart Castle for a visit to the castle which was once one of the greatest fortresses in Scotland. We continue down the Glen to visit a whisky distillery and learn the secrets of making the water of life. Our journey continues south to Glencoe, scene of the massacre of the Clan Macdonald and on through Appin to the pretty town of Oban. Dinner and overnight in the Caledonian Hotel, a superior 3 star hotel overlooking the harbor.

Friday, September 3rd -
We leave early today and take the boat across to the island of Mull, the second largest of the Hebrides and travel across to the little port of Fionnphort where we catch the ferry to Iona. Iona is the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland where St. Columba founded a monastery in the 6th century having crossed over from Ireland in a coracle. On Iona we visit the Abbey and see the graves of many early Scottish Kings including Macbeth. We return to Oban for dinner and overnight.

Saturday, September 4th -
Departing Oban, we travel south to Inveraray the capital of the Clan Campbell who fought against the Lindsays during Montrose's campaign. We continue south along the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond and on to Stirling to visit the spectacular castle, a favorite Royal residence and the birthplace of James II in 1430. From Stirling we travel on to Glasgow for dinner and overnight in the modern 3 star Normandy Hotel located near the airport.

Sunday, September 5th -
T ransfer to Glasgow airport for the return flight to the US.

Past Tours:
Clan Keith