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6. Loch Leven
Just behind Kinross on the left of the motorway, 12 miles north of Dunfermline, lies Loch Leven with its island castle which was often used as a prison for people who were perceived as a threat to whoever happened to hold the reins of power. It is of interest to us for two reasons.

Firstly, Mary Queen of Scots was held prisoner there, for a year following her enforced abdication, until the ill-fated escape & flight to her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England, in 1568. Lord Robert Pitcairn (1520-84) was part of the anti-Mary faction; one of the Privy Council at the time; and attended the coronation of her 2 year-old son James VI (who became James I of England) while she was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle.

Secondly, Lord Robert Pitcairn, who played all sorts of parts in the violent and restless political & religious events of that time also ended up a prisoner in Loch Leven Castle for 5 months in 1583 for his part in the Raid of Ruthven. He was liberated with a caution to stay within 6 miles of Dunfermline under pain of a £10,000 fine; a vast fortune in those days. But he fled to Flanders via England where he was joined by his recent bride. A year later he was allowed to return in a state of ill-health and allowed to take up residence at ‘Pitcairn’s House’ in Maygate, Dunfermline. Only a month later, he died. Possibly succumbing to the plague which was raging in the town at the time.

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7. Dunfermline - Here we stop for a visit to the Abbey and Abbot House.
Dunfermline is the home of a very ancient Abbey which of course, was Roman Catholic before the Scottish Reformation of 1560. After that, the estate which had belonged to the Abbots was granted to someone loyal to the new reformed church, and was called Commendator.

Several Pitcairns have been Burgesses of Dunfermline, but it’s connection with our family lies mainly in the fact that Lord Robert Pitcairn, a prominent lawyer with connections in high places, was made the first Commendator of Dunfermline in 1561. As a result, he was able to add to his own estate, the hugely wealthy properties of the Abbey built up by Royal patronage over hundreds of years. This was the year before Queen Mary’s return to Scotland.

His tomb is on the inside of the North wall of the Abbey. His Coat of Arms is over the door of a building in Limekilns south of Dunfermline which was part of his official estate.

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8. Dysart - Here we stop to visit the Major John Pitcairn Exhibition.
This is where Major John Pitcairn was born and brought up; his father, Rev. David Pitcairn, being the Minister there. Through his mother, Katherine Hamilton, he and his siblings were descended from Robert the Bruce, as well as Edward III of England. His Great Grandfather was one of the Lairds of Forthar which we will pass later in the day. We will be visiting an exhibition devoted to him at the Museum.

It is also the place where his brother, Dr. William Pitcairn (1712-91), was brought up. Having studied at the Universities of Leyden, Rheims & Oxford, he went on to become President of the Royal College of Physicians in London & Fellow of the Royal Society. You can see a photograph of the portrait painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds at the Barony. There are 260 species of Bromeliads (in S.& Central America & W.Africa) named after him, called Pitcairnia.

Major John Pitcairn
Major John Pitcairn (1722-55) commanded the British contingent at the first armed conflict of the American War of Independence at Lexington Green. He died heroically soon after at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He had been stationed in Boston some time and was liked by both sides. Through his female ancestors he was descended from Viscount Stair ‘The Father of Scottish Law’, several Ruthven generals, Field Marshal Sir Alexander Leslie of the Swedish Army and Alexander Ruthven who was one of those who murdered Mary Queen of Scots servant, David Rizzio. He was also father of Dr.David Pitcairn of Barts Hospital in London, and Mishipman Robert Pitcairn after whom Pitcairn Island is named.

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9. Durie House
A few miles to the east of Glenrothes, along the road to Methil & Leven, is the ancient seat of the Durie family. David Pitcairn of Forthar married Elizabeth Dury, and her brother George, was the last Catholic Abbot of Dunfermline, and was succeeded by the Protestant Reformer, Lord Robert Pitcairn, Commendator of Dunfermline. In the ferocious destruction of Catholic icons, George Dury fled to his fortified house with the silver jewel-encrusted coffer containing the skull and auburn hair of St.Margaret, wife of King Malcolm. He eventually got it away to Antwerp in Belgium where it was destroyed later in the persecution of the Jesuits.

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10. The Balfours of Balbirnie
As we go through Glenrothes, we should be able to see Balbirnie House on the right. General Robert Balfour of Balbirnie bought the Forthar estate from Dr. David Pitcairn in 1830. There had been several connections between the two families over the centuries.

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11. Pitcairn House
Over to the left on the hill overlooking Glenrothes there is a ruin marked Pitcairn House. In a Pitcairn marriage document of 1495, this is referred to as having an annual value of ’20 merks’, and is quite possibly the piece of land from which the family takes its name. The only signs that there was ever a house there are the humps in the ground, and the fact that it is marked on the Ordnance Survey maps as Pitcairn House.

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12. Kirkforthar
About a mile out of Glenrothes we pass Kirkforthar House on the right. This belonged to the Lindsay family, and were neighbours of the main branch of our family at Forthar round the corner. There were several marriages between the two families over the centuries. In the 1470’s, Isobelle, daughter of Henry Pitcarne, married Patrick, 4th Lord Lindsay of the Byres, and it was Patrick the 6th Lord Lindsay of the Byres who served with Lord Robert Pitcairn on the church reforming body called The Lords of the Congregation. Both men were anti-Mary Queen of Scots. Lord Lindsay even played a part in the murder of Mary’s secretary, Rizzio; and extracted the resignation of her crown in the Castle of Loch Leven. He was also with Robert Pitcairn both in the meeting with Queen Elizabeth I in York concerning Mary, and in the Ruthven Raid.

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13. Muirhead
Just past the roundabout, on the right is another farm which was part of the estate of the Pitcairns of Forthar.

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14. Forthar
This was the home of the main branch of the family from 1456-1756. In 1625 it was given an annual value of 180 merks. Ten generations lived there over a period of exactly 300 years. The land came to the Pitcairns of Pitcairn & Innernethy through marriage of the 10th Laird, Henry Pitcarne, to an heiress Elizabeth Ramsay. The first generation called themselves ‘Pitcairn of Forthar-Ramsay’. Thereafter they were known as ‘Pitcairn of Forthar’ though they kept the Ramsay eagles quartered with the red Pitcairn mascles in their Coat of Arms. In feudal terms, lairds were at the low end of the ruling class. Until the 16th Century they would have ‘held’ the land from a feudal superior, at a time when all land was ultimately in the name of the King and held ‘under’ him in return for certain services. It was not until the 16th Century that anything like our modern concept of ‘land ownership’ came into existence. In the 17th Century, the estate is described in a marriage-contract as “the lands & barony of Forthare, with the tower, manor place, the mill-lands of Dounefield, with the manor place, tenements, etc. the mill of Freuchie-mylne with its lands etc. …”

This estate was forfeited after the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. In 1756 it was purchased from the authorities by Dr.Stewart Thriepland of Fingask Castle in favour of Dr. William Pitcairn, President of the Royal College of Physicians in London, and a second cousin of the ‘chief’ of the family. Never having married, he left it to his nephew, Dr. David Pitcairn, who he had adopted after the death of his brother, Major John Pitcairn. Dr. David Pitcairn sold it in 1830 to the Balfours of Balbirnie. The house in which they lived was a ruin when Constance Pitcairn visited it and painted it 100 years ago. The present owner does not know where it stood. The present house is 19th Century.

15. Kettle or Kingskettle
Forthar lies in this parish, which lies further along the road. Maj. John Pitcairn’s grandfather was minister here. Being the younger son, he probably held the post courtesy of his father.

16. Ardit
Further along the road to Kettle village, on the right is the farm called Ardit. Sir Robert Douglas of Ardit and Glenbervie was a neighbour of the Pitcairns of Forthar, and his daughter Agnes married the last Pitcairn Laird of Forthar. It is rightly said that the history of the Douglas family is synonymous with the history of Scotland.

17. Downfield
Further still, past Ardit is the estate of Downfield. Robert Pitcairn, a younger son of the Pitcairns of Forthar, held Downfield in 1598. His 3rd son, Patrick, was a Groom of the Bedchamber to James VI in London after he had become King of England as well as Scotland. His nephew became Gentleman Usher & ‘Master Surveyor & Keeper of Our Hawkes’ to Charles I of England at a time when, amongst many other Scots, there were also three other Pitcairns at Court.

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18. Freuchie
From time to time Pitcairns held land here, in particular the Mill and Mill Lands which are between Forthar and Freuchie on the left hand side of the road.

AT THE AUCHTERMUCHTY CROSSROADS

19. Pitlour
A younger son of Henry Pitcarne of Pitcarne & Forthar, John Pitcarne, moved to an estate at Pitlour 6 miles west of here just north of Strathmiglo.

20. The Bow of Fife golf course and John Pitcairn of Kinnaird
6 miles to the east, towards Cupar is a small place called The Bow of Fife where, 200 years ago, there was a golf course (now no longer there). The world’s first known golfing trophy, ‘The Imari Bowl’, was awarded to John Pitcairn of Kenneard in 1814, was sold three years ago for a record price. This 180 year-old Spode bowl was found in 12 pieces, crudely held together with car body filler. It is beautifully decorated in red, gold and blue with oriental flowers, and bears the inscription ‘Bow of Fife Golfing Club; Prize Medal for 1814. Won by John Pitcairn Esq. of Kenneard’. The ‘Imari Bowl’ is now owned by the Valderama Golf Club at Sotto Grande in Southern Spain, the official candidate for the 1997 Ryder Cup. A photo of it can be seen at the Barony Castle.

21. Pitcullo
About 15 miles east of this crossroads is Pitcullo Castle where another branch of the family lived for the whole of the 19th Century. They were descended from John Pitcairn, Provost of Dundee in the 18th Century.

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22. Carpow
As we leave Newburgh we pass the site of the old Roman fort on the right. The Romans were quite active in the Firth of Tay, and it is a reminder of the mix of genes which we could have.

We now pass through the lands held by the early Pitcairns along with the lands of Innernethy granted by Sir Hugh de Abernethy, which we saw this morning as we left Perth.

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23. Clunie & Pitcurran
Immediately opposite the Roman fort, on the left, is a farm called Clunie which used to be farmed by Pitcairns. This is followed by a farm called Pitcurran

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24. Other Pitcairn land - Cordon, Innernethy & Pottie.
Down on the right, below Abernethy on the bank of the River Earn is the farm called Cordon.