C a s t l e .
B a t t l e of B r e c
h i n .
time of purification being fulfilled, they were releafed and received
again into the bofom of the church.
Mr. ColUnfon fays, that they were built in the tenth or eleventh
century. The religious were, in thofe early times, the belt ar-
chite&s * ; and religious archite&ure the beft kind. The pi0llj:
builders either improved themfelves in the art by their pilgrimage,:,
or were foreign monks brought over for the purpofe. Irefond bein^
the land of fanftity, Patria fanttorum, the people of that country
might be the original inventors of thefe towers of mortification,]
They abound there, and in all probability might be brought into-
Scotland by fome of thofe holy men who difperfed themfelves to all]
parts of Chrijlendom to reform mankind.
The caftle of Brechin was built on an eminence, a little fouth oil
the town ; but not a relique is left. It underwent a long fiege iJ
the year 1303, was gallantly defended againft the Englifh, under
Edward III. and,, notwithftanding all the efforts of that potent
prince, the brave governor Sir Thomas Maule, anceftor of the pre-l
fent Earl of Panmure, held out this fmall fortrefs for twenty days,
till he was flain by a ftone call from an. engine f-on Auguft aotH
when the place was inftantly furrendered. James Earl of Pattm J
built, in 17 1 1 , an excellent houfe on this fpot: but in 1^15 engaging
in the rebellion, had. but a fhort enjoyment of it.
I muft not forget to mention the battle of Brechin, fought iir
confequence of the rebellion raifed in 1452- on account of the
murder of the Earl of Douglas in Stirling caftle. The viftory fell
* Mr. Walpole'S Anecd. Painting, I. , I0. Mr. Bentham\ Ely, 26.
t Crawford's Peerage, 389. Camden's Remains, 3101,
I die royalifts, under the Earl of Huntly. The malecontenfs were'
■ed by . the Earl of Crawford, who retiring to his caftle of
■ P - J in the frenzy of difgrace declared, he would willingly
p feven years in hell to obtain the glory which fell to the lhare
of the rival general*.
i This morning we were honored- with the freedom oi the town :
Rafter which we continued' our journey five miles to Carefton, the
feat of Mr. Skene, where we paffed the day and evening in a moft:
pgreeable manner.
After a fhort ride, ford the South-EJk, leaving on the right the
ruined caftle of Finehaven, once the feat of the Lindefays, Earls of.
, Crawford. A Spanijh chefnut of vaft fize was till of late years an-
ornament to the place. It was of the fpreading kind; the circum-
I ference near the ground was forty-two feet eight; of the top,
■thirty-five, nine inches; of one of the largeft branches, twenty-
I three feet.
KAbove the caftle, is the hill called the- caftle hill of Finehaven,
[ iigreat eminence or ridge, with a vaft and long hollow in the top.
|. Along the edges are vaft maffes of ftone, ftrongly. cemented by a
’ femi-vitrified fubftance, or lava. Thefe maffes feem of a ton weight;
I they were procured out of the hill, and placed as a defence to the
I place, it having been a Britijh poft. The form of the hill (which
: ends abrupt at one end, at the other is joined by an ijlhmus to the
^neighboring land) together with the cavity in the middle, renders
it extremely fit for the purpofe. The ifthmus is fecured by a deep
| ditch cut tranfverfelp.
* G ulbrit, IV . 1 5 ,
S e p t . 4»
S e p t . 5»
F in e - ha v e k
HILL.
This