Dance Brechin Fancy 778

In the rich farming land of Strathmore in Howe of Angus, set against a background of hills, on the bank of the South Esk River, is the royal burgh of Brechin. The present day face of this pleasant town betrays very little of the part it has played in history.

Once the site of a Culdee abbey (See “Abernethy Lassies”), Brechin also boasts a Pictish round tower which was built around 1000 A.D. which rises to the height of 86 feet. Close beside the tower is the partly restored Holy Trinity Cathedral erected by David I about 1150.

It was at Brechin on 10 July, 1296, that John Balliol handed over the Scottish kingdom to Antony Bek, Bishop of Durham and warlike agent of Edward I of England. (See “The Auld Alliance”) The actual scroll of the terms of surrender were written at Kincardine Castle. (See “The Bob of Fettercairn”)

At Brechin was fought a great clan battle, one which certainly would never be celebrated in song and story for it hardly did credit to either side. For nearly a century the Highland and Lowland chiefs had been embroiled in a brawling, bloody, brutal struggle for power over the land and the ascendancy over the early Stewart kings. In the mid-15th century William, 8th Earl of Douglas (The Black) entered into a covenant, yet another bond in the constantly shifting sands of alliance which was part and parcel of clan life, with Alexander Lindsay, 4th Earl of Crawford, alternately called the “Tiger Earl” or “Earl Beardie”, and John MacDonald, 12th Earl of Ross and 4th Lord of the Isles. Their opponent was the young James II, called “Fiery Face” because of a birthmark that stained his cheek. Douglas blatantly defied both the king’s majesty and, worse, his sovereignty and for his boldness he was slain in February, 1452, at Stirling Castle, the first blow being struck by the twenty-one year old king himself. The new Earl of Douglas, James, who could not, or would not, recognise such a broad hint of the king’s own power, immediately put on the Douglas coat of arms ove rhis chain mail and, with Crawford and Ross, continued the fight where his brother had left off. The king wasted no time in putting down the insurrection. He sent word to Alexander Seton-Gordon, whom he had just created Earl of Huntly, to raise those clans then loyal to the Stewarts and, a few months later, the two factions clashed at Brechin Muir. The triumvirate were defeated and James’ forces were the victors.

Standing very near the cathedral in Brechin Castle, the home of the Ramsay (Maule) family, the Earls of Dalhousie. Under siege for twenty days by the army of Edward I in 1303 in the War of Scottish Independence, it was again battered by James Graham, the Marquess of Montrose, in 1645 in the War of Religious Independence. The castle was rebuilt in 1711 by the 6th Earl.