Historical memoir of the family of Eglinton and Winton

100 BEANCHES OF THE
Of the direct descendants of the family of Eg-
linton, one of the earliest and most distinguished
■was the Montgomeries of Skelmorlie. The old
barony of Skelmorlie, comprising an extensive tract
of hilly forest land, is situated in the northern part
of the parish of Largs, Ayrshire, being separated
from Renfrewshire, along its entire course, by Kelly
burn. The ancient castellated mansion of this
domain is seated on the brow of a steep and finely
wooded bank edging closely along the sea-shore,
the western boundary of the estate ; and having
continuously been maintained in a good habitable
condition — till very recently it has been over-
whelmed by modern extensions — it afforded an in-
teresting and excellent specimen of a baronial resi-
dence of the olden time.
The earliest possessors of Skelmorlie, as exclu-
sive property, appears to have been the family of
Forrester, who doubtless derived their title from De
Morville, in connection with the office denoted by
their distinctive appellation. "Fergus Fosterson,"
its representative submitted to Edward the First
of England in 1296, but scarcely anything subse-
quently appears regarding them. In a charter of
lands, by Robert the Third, to Sir William Cunning-
ham of Kilmaurs, who died in 1418, the barony of
Skelmorlie is included, bat nothing appears as to how
it came into his family. The parentage of this Sir
William's mother was unknown to any of the Peer-
age writers — could she possibly have been the
heiress, or her descendant, of the old Forresters