The MacNies of Balquhidder Glen
Balquhidder Glen, looking west up Loch Voil
As far as I can tell the MacNies came relatively late to Scotland. Some sources say that they came from Ireland to fight with William Wallace against the English in 1297. Never a particularly large clan, MacGregor became its parent clan, and Balquhidder its home.[1]
There are records of MacNies in the Balquhidder glen in the 17th century, living at Monachylle (Monquholl), Craigruy, Tulloch and Invernenty, amongst other places named. By the 1680s there were several families in Kilmadock, some in Port, but the earliest record of an individual MacNie I have found dates to 1543.
Sixteenth century: John McNie of Monachyle, Balquhidder, died 1553.
On the 28th of January 1543 John McNie of Monachylle, Balquhidder, wrote his will, which was executed after his death in 1553. It includes an inventory of his possessions at the time of his death, revealing a man of some considerable wealth. [1]
The Inventory of the goods which belonged to the deceased John McNie made in the presence of John Stevin, Donald Fynlasoun, Duncane McNie and Murdacus Do[nal]dsoun. At the time of his decease he had:
9 great cows valued at 40 shillings
4 heifers valued at 20 shillings each
6 hens and 6 capons valued at 45 shillings? (value obscured by binding)
A pig (?) valued at 46 shillings and eight pence
6 bolls of oats, price of the boll with the fodder at six shillings and eight pence
2 bolls of barley, price of the boll with the fodder 13 shillings and 4 pence
The contents of his house valued at 40 shillings
Total – 35 pounds 13 shillings and 8 pence
No debts owed to the deceased
He owed 40 shillings to Duncan Campbell (of Glenorchy) and 40 shillings to the master of the ground (i.e. his landlord)
Total value - 31 pounds 13 shillings and eight pence.[2]
Three other McNies are identified in this record. A Duncane McNie was present when John wrote the will and John’s two eldest sons, Matthew and Donald, were named as beneficiaries of his heritable property.[3]
Which Monachyle?
I believe John MacNie lived in Monachylle Tuarech
Three properties in Balquhidder bear the name Monachylle: Mhor, Beag, Tuarech, the first two on the north side of the glen, Tuarech to the south, at the meeting place of Loch Voil and Loch Doine. In 1557, three years after John MacNie’s death, Monachyle Mhor was occupied by a Stewart family. A year later, in 1558, Monachyle Tuarech, on the south shore of Loch Voile, was purchased for Rob Roy Macgregor by his father. I cannot be sure which Monachyle it is, (map) but the close relationship between MacGregors and MacNies,[4] and a reference to MacNies in the early 20th century which indicates that they lived south of Loch Doine, (see below), both suggest Tuarech may have been John MacNie’s home.
Monachylle Tuarech, south of Loch Voil
1550-1690
This was a dark period for the MacGregors and their allies. In 1550 the MacGregor lineages were probably the most powerful military force in the Central zone. But in 1547 MacGregor of Glen Strae had lost half of his 700 men in the Battle of Pinkie against the English. Soon after that, around 1552, Grey Colin Campbell, Cailean Liath, became chief of the Glen Orchy lineage of the Campbell clan. He took steps to subordinate and reduce the client kindreds on his lands, including the now weakened Clan Gregor.
The 10th chief, Gregor Macgregor of Glenstrae was captured by Grey Colin and on 4/7/1570 beheaded at Balloch.[5] Power struggles over the succession to Queen Mary and possession of her infant son in 1571, led to ever wider civil wars in which the Campbell-Gregor conflict became embedded. At the end of this period Campbell power had been greatly enhanced, Clan Gregor were defeated and became mere tenants of Campbell of Glenorchy. Grey Colin died in 1583 and was succeeded by his son Donnchadh Dubh a Curraic (Black Duncan of the Cowl) who died in 1631.[6]
1691-1745 Macaries – were they MacNies?
According to Peter Lawrie, in Glen Discovery, the 1691 Hearth Tax revealed no MacNies in the glen, but 14 Macaries, whom he considered to be MacGregors, this being a common McGregor alias. There was also a MacInrie. However he also reports that OPR birth records reveal no Macaries born in Balquhidder between 1691 and 1745, but 50 MacNie births. I suspect that the McCaries and the MacNies were one and the same.[7]
1760s-1840s: MacNies and the Moss Clearances[8]
The upper part of the flood-plain of the River Forth, known as the Carse of Stirling, was once an impassable bogland, inhabited only by wildfowl and a few outlaws, and the MacGregors, who used secret tracks & causeways to escape back into the Highlands after their Lowland raids. Until the 18th Century it was covered by blanket peat, varying in thickness from three to 20 feet deep, which covered a fertile bed of clay beneath. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries agricultural improvement projects introduced by local landowners included widespread clearances of the uncultivated peat moss.
In 1766, the laird of the Blair Drummond estate, one of the early agricultural improvers, was the first to attempt to remove the peat. He undertook a massive agricultural reclamation project on the swamp lands on his estate known as the Drummond Moss. He began to drain the Moss and prepare it for agricultural cultivation and human settlement. Looking for cheap workmen Home advertised in the Callander area for people who had been evicted during the Highland clearances. Some of these men came from Balquhidder.
A census of the Blair Drummond Moss Farms taken In 1814 lists 764 residents among whom were 49 MacNies, in ten families. Between 1788 to 1812 seven MacNie families had come from Balquhidder, two from Lochearnhead, and one from Callandar. An additional seventeen family members died in those years, from consumption, croup, coughs and fevers, smallpox, measles and hives, and one child who drowned.
Nineteenth century: The first censuses
The 1841 census includes 12 MacNies in Balquhidder: one family headed by Donald, aged 70 (born abt 1771)[9], three single women, Isabela 65 and Anne 40 in the same household, and Rachel, 60, living alone. Donald’s family consisted of Mary 60, Elisabeth 55, John 28, William 26, James 20, Margret 18 and John McNabe, 11 (probably a grandson). Ten years later, the census showed several of the same individuals, but in a different configuration. Donald was now 85, while Mary was recorded as still being 60. John 39, James 29. These seem to be the same individuals as in the first census.[10] The 1861 lists only 2 McNies, Malcolm born 1815, and Peter born 1842, both shepherds. I found only one family consistently in the censuses from 1851 to 1891, that of William and Margaret (McLaren). He was a farmer, initially at Edinample, later at Auchran. In 1891 there were less than 32 McNie families (185 individuals) in Scotland, most of them (4%) in Perthshire, Lanarkshire and Stirling.
Twentieth century:
MacNies in Balquhidder Glen lived on the slopes of Stob Breac and Stob a Choin
In 1992 Gordon McNeil of Bearsden wrote
“When I was in Balquhidder, I visited a lady in Ardcarnaig. She told me ‘If you go up the hills there (toward Stob Breac or Stob a Choin) that’s where the McNies lived.’[11]
These are south of the river flowing into Loch Doine, Stob a Choin rising to 859 meters and facing Beinn Tulaichean; and Stob Breac, 685 meters, facing Stob Invercarnaig. But these MacNies do not appear in the 20th century censuses; there seem to be no MacNies living in Balquhidder.
The road up the Glen
Visiting Balquhidder Glen.
Balquhidder has been important, probably since neolithic times. Below the Manse there are remains of a stone circle, the Pudreag Stone, and there is a Neolithic chambered cairn further east.
There is a small ruinous MacGregor burial ground at the head of Loch Doine at the foot of Glencarnaig. The first burial here was early 18th century.
The local kirkyard is the final resting place of Rob Roy MacGregor. He lies with the remains of his wife and two sons, the graves marked by three flat stones. One of these is contemporary, but the remaining two are re-used medieval grave monuments.
The home of John MacNie - Monachyle Tuarech.
The MacGregor estate at Invercarnaig and Inverlochlarig farm - Rob Roy's last home - was laid waste after the Jacobite Rebellion in 1745.
At the main road is Kingshouse Hotel, built originally as a drovers inn, and also used as quarters for the Army.
In the 18th Century, the growth of sheep farms meant that the rest of the land became over-used and over-populated. When the military road was built from Stirling to Fort William in 1750, the concentration of population shifted towards this new road. Planned cottar towns were created to take the overspill. These were Strathyre, on the western side of the Loch Voil river, Lochearnhead or Rusgachan, which had then fourteen crofts.
Things to see and do:
Visit the old Balquhidder Kirk and Rob Roy's Grave. Also worth taking a look in the more recent kirk where some interesting antiquities are on display. Wander among the old tombstones to see history in the engraving. Information board is on the wall of the old church.
Walk up the path behind the churches to the 'Clan MacLaren meeting place' at ' Creag an Tuirc' - a vantage point with fabulous views down the glen. (about 10-15 mins walk).
Put on your boots and explore the Kirkton Pass above the kirk,
Go a short distance down the road opposite the village hall to the bridge where there is a great 'photo opportunity'.
Drive up Glen Buckie for a taste of the total peace and the chance to see the red deer in the tranquility of this peaceful glen.
Drive up to Monachylle Tuarech to see the home of John McNie.
Continue up the road west of the village for some wonderful views over the lochs with unbelievable reflections in these unusually calm waters.
Picnic at the picnic area at the end of the public road at Inverlochlarig where Rob Roy MacGregor lived in his later years.
Take in a couple of 'Munros' (3000ft+ mountains) from the giants which surround the west end of Balquhidder Glen.
See Bruce's Tree growing out of solid rock by Loch Voil. An example of 'persistence'. (about 1/2 way along Loch Voil).
Below the Manse there are remains of a stone circle, the Pudreag Stone , and there is a Neolithic chambered cairn near further east.
In the west of the Glen you can walk over the 'Bealach nam Corp' where the MacGregors carried their coffins to Loch Katrine.
lnverlochlarig in the west has been owned by McNaughtons for years
Cycle hire is available in Strathyre.
Footnotes:
[1] The History of Ireland, by Geoffrey Keating, Translated by John O'Mahony, Published 1866. Original from the University of Michigan.. The Dictionary of National Biography by Leslie Stephen, Sidney Lee, Published by Smith Elder & Co : [then] Oxford Univ. Press, 1887 and can be found in google books, under Conn of the Hundred Battles. The MacNies were of high standing in Ireland such that one daughter was married into the royal family of Scotland.
[2] Equivalent to £13,177 from 2005 Bruce Durie, Scottish Genealogy p 194. For comparison Patrick McLaren in Balquhidder left £20.17 [£8715] in 1544, cited in Elizabeth Beauchamp, The Braes of Balquhidder. Translation and transcription supplied by Diane Baptie of Edinburgh.
[3] The will inolves only his movable possessions. Heritable property consisted of land, buildings, minerals and mining rights, and passed to the eldest son according to the law of primogeniture.
[4] In the eighteenth century there were a number of MacGregor-MacNie families in Balquhidder, suggesting close relationship between the two clans. Balquhidder database: MacGregors who married McNies and their children baptized in Balquhidder, 1727-1800.
[5] Taymouth Castle, at Kenmore.
[6] Note that John McNie of Monquholl, Balquhidder (died 1553) owed 40 shillings to Duncan Campbell (of Glenorchy) - presumably Donnchadh Dubh a Curraic (Black Duncan of the Cowl).
[7] This may be the transition period of the name incorporating the MacCanRighe and MacNiadh versions of the origin of the family.
[8] http://www.snh.org.uk/scottish/argyllstirling/moss.asp.
[9] Ages were rounded in the 1841 census.
[10] It is quite likely that there were other families who did not respond to the census.
[11] The Quaich Vol 3 #12 Sept 1992.