Publications of the Clan Lindsay Society - Electric Scotland

106 TlIK llOUSK OF FAIltiilK'lll.
were intermingled among tliemselves and with those
of other proprietors. Here wiiis a nettlement of
Lindsays, ancient, extensive, and luiig maintained,
comparable to those in Angus, Fife, and Clydesdale;
though not holding the same prominence in the clan
history, for the reason that none of the families form-
ing the settle) lent ever attained to a position of
distinction in national aifuirs. In tluir own immedi-
ate neighbourhood, however, the lairds of Faiigirth,
Auchenskeoch, and Barcloy were men of some im[)oit-
ance ; and in a topograi)hical description of Galloway
written in the seventeenth century their castles are
named as among the consideraV>le houses in the pro-
vince.* The ruins of Auchenskeoch bear out this
estimate, but of Fairgirth nothing now remains, and
it is represented only by the large firm house of that
name situated about a mile from tlie Solway shore, on
the moss road between the summer resort of Dou'das
o
Hall and the town of Dalbeattie.
The Fairgirth estates were at their greatest extent
at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Besides the
demesne they then comprised the lands of Firth,
Firthhead, and Culmain, in the parish of Urr ; Cars-
luith and Stroans, in Kirkmabreck ; C'orsock and
Auchenvey, in Parton ; and some small holdings in
Dumfriesshire, and the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire.
At the partition of the property on the failure of the
direct male line about 1531, Barbuie and Dunregganf
having been already disposed of, the heir-male took
Fairgirth, Corsock, and Auchenvey, while the rest
* Sibbald's MSS. Append, to Syrason'a Galloiixiy.
t Dunreggan is now part of the village of Moniaive.