Kilbirnie sits in the Garnock Valley of North Ayrshire, between Paisley and the coast of Scotland, in Cunningham district. There is evidence of Bronze Age settlement, including a defensive crannog with a connecting causeway in Kilbirnie Loch and burial tumuli at Miller’s Knowe and elsewhere. The origin of the name – from the Gaelic Cill Bhraonaigh – is likely is Brendan (Brénainn) of Birr (d. 565/73).
Kilbirnie, the earliest days – the Bronze Age, a Saint, and a Poet
Kilbirnie sits in the Garnock Valley of North Ayrshire, between Paisley and the coast of Scotland, in Cunningham district.
There is evidence of Bronze Age settlement, including a defensive crannog with a connecting causeway in Kilbirnie Loch and burial tumuli at Miller’s Knowe and elsewhere.
The origin of the name – from the Gaelic Cill Bhraonaigh – is likely is Brendan (Brénainn) of Birr (d. 565/73). St Brénainn’s Fair was held in Kilbirnie on 28th May and was the largest horse market in the west of Scotland.
The Barony – Barclay to Crawford to Lindsay
The earliest owners of the barony were Barclays who were among those Anglo-Normans and Flemish invited by David I when he became King of Scots in 1124 and brought feudalism to the part of Scotland he controlled. These de Berkeleys (centred on Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire) were not themselves Norman. They are one of only five British families that can trace patrilineal descent back to an Anglo-Saxon ancestor.
In the 12th century Walter de Berkeley was the Royal Chamberlain of William the Lion. Sir Walter married the Scottish heiress of Kilbirnie and Crawford-John and was known as “of Ayrshire”. He died ca, 1286, leaving John de Berkeley the second Lord of Kilbirnie and Crawford
The family retained the Kilbirnie and Crawford-John lands until Marjory Berclay (Kilbirnie VIII) who married Malcolm Crawford of Greenock in 1470 and resigned her lands to their eldest son, Malcolm Crawford on April 24th, 1499.
The Crawfords had a Charter of Confirmation dated 1 April 1600. Sir John Crawford, the last of the Kilbirnie Crawfords, was created a baronet on 13 June 1642 for his loyalty of King Charles I.
The Battle of Largs – a possible connection
The Battle at Largs, fought on 2 October 1263, was the culmination of a struggle between the kingdoms of Scotland and Norway over who had sovereignty of the western seaboard of Scotland.
The young King of Scots, Alexander III – then aged 22 – beat the Norwegians by a combination of strategy and delay. Alexander’s forces may have mustered at Kilbirnie or nearby before their assault. The upshot was the 1266 Treaty of Perth that ensured Scottish control over Isle of Man. Scotland and the Western Isles while sovereignty was confirmed over Shetland and Orkney, with Scotland paying a lump sum of 4,000 merks plus 100 merks annually, not cancelled until the marriage was contracted in 1469 between James III King of Scots and Margaret of Denmark.
The 17th Century – The Lindsays
Sir John Crawford died in 1661 and his estate of Kilbirnie was passed to Margaret who married a Lindsay.
The Honourable Patrick Lindsay purchased the castle and estate of nearby Glengarnock in 1677 from Richard Cuninghame, last of the Cuninghames of Glengarnock line. Patrick Lindsay and Margaret died in 1681 to be succeeded by their son John Lindsay Crawford who was created1st Lord Kilbirnie, Kingsburn and Drumry in 1703 he by Queen Anne, last Stuart monarch (the Drumry title was removed later that year when he became 1st Viscount Garnock.
In 1707, the baronies of Glengarnock and Kilbirnie were united in the Barony of Kilbirnie, with the manor house of Kilbirnie as the principal seat.
Kilbirnie Church still contains a “Laird’s Loft” (in fact a balcony overlooking the altar) with eighteen heraldic shields of the Lindsay lineage.
18th and 19th Centuries – away the Boyles and forward the Cochranes
George, 22nd Earl of Crawford, 6th Earl of Lindsay and 6th Lord Parbroath, died in 1808 unmarried and with no living brothers, so the Peerage titles reverted to the Earls of Balcarres. However, the Crawford-Lindsay estates could go to female heirs, in this case Lady Mary Lindsay Crawford, who died unmarried, in 1833, and eventually, by virtue of marriage in 1687 of Margaret Lindsay-Crawford to David Boyle, 1st Earl of Glasgow.
The 6th Earl of Glasgow had financial difficulties, and the 14th Century Kilbirnie Castle had been destroyed by fire in 1757. Som in 1885 the whole of the estates were put into the hands of trustees, hoping to save the Crawford Priory estates in Fife. By 1889, what remained of the Kilbirnie and Glengarnock Estate was sold to his daughter, Lady Gertrude Julia Georgina Boyle, who had married Lt.-Col. Thomas Horatio Arthur Ernest Cochrane, 1st Baron Cochrane of Cults, son of Thomas Barnes Cochrane, 11th Earl of Dundonald.
The neighbouring Glengarnock barony was in the hands of the Earls of Glasgow line until a disposition to the MacGregors of Rannoch by a series of registrations.
There is a confusion between the Peerage earls of Glasgow and George Frederick Lindsay Crawfurd, styled Earl of Glasgow (in fact a feudal earldom). In 1870, Edward, Prince of Wales as the Great Steward of Scotland, issued a Writ of Confirmation in his favour.
21st Century – a new dawn for Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie remained with the Cochranes until 29th May 2002 when Ralph Henry Vere Cochrane, 4th Baron Cochrane of Cults gave disposition of the Lands and Ancient Barony of Kilbirnie to Robin Hamish Buglass. This was before the Appointed Day (28 November 2004) of the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000, the Title Conditions (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004, so the dignity of the barony and the actual land were still joined.
This had been resolved by the time of the sale of the Dignity of the Barony of Kilbirnie in favour of Ian James Young, Armiger, residing in Victoria, Australia on 4 September 2024.
