Publications of the Clan Lindsay Society - Electric Scotland

246 THK I.AIKDS OF DoWllll.L
indeed have been so ; at least we have no information
that makes such a conjecture untenal)le.
There is still, however, a dilHculty in deriving the
Dowhill family from Sir William Lindsay of liosaie,
namely, the fact of the escheat above mentioned. How
came it that he and his presunu-d heirs, n(^twithstand-
ing this fact, continued in possession of Crambeth ?
We can only suppose that there was no j)ersonal
attainder hut that the escheat was limited to a part of
the estate, a not improbable supposition, llossie was
a grant from the Duke of Albany, (^^ertain annual
rents enjoyed by Sir William seem to have belonged to
the patrimony of the Crown. Rossie and these annual
rents, we know, were in the Crown after tlie escheat,
and it may be that they had been resumed on the
ground of their having been improperly alienated by
the house of Albany, wliich had just been brought to
trial and condemned for its abuse of power. Crambeth,
if it did not come under this condemnation, would
rightly remain to Sir William and his heirs.
William Lindsay, as the earliest known of the
line of Lindsays who were proprietors of that part
of old Crambeth which afterwards came to l)e called
Dowhill, may be reckoned as the first of the lairds,
although in his time the holding was probably not
direct from the Crown.
John Lindsay of Crambeth, said by the author of
the Lives to have been the son of the preceding
William, made a resignation in favour of his sons
David, William, and John, on 3rd June 1447.*
* Lives of the Lindsays VoL I., p. 434 ; Notes on Dowhill Charters
by W. A. Lindsay, Esq., K.C., Norroy King of Anns.