History and traditions of the land of the Lindsays in Angus and Mearns

THE CROSS OF CAMUS. 307
The Lindsays of all these places, however, it may be men-
tioned, are supposed to have descended from Sir John of Pit-
airlie, who fell at the battle of Brechin in 1452. The family
subsisted in Pitairlie till 1639 ; and David, who designed him-
self of that place, was minister of Finhaven and Inverarity in
1576.* In his son the representation of the family of Pitairlie
had perhaps ended, and passed to the Lindsays of Cairn in Tanna-
dice, who survived down to the early part of last century. Car-
lungie and Balhungie were owned by Lindsay of Balgavies down
to at least 1606 ; but the barony of Dunfind became the property
of Durham of Grange in 1544.f The thanedome of Downie,
the lands of Monikie and Pitairlie, passed at various periods to
the family of Panmure, who are still proprietors of them.
The antiquarian peculiarities of this district are interesting,
and have been often described ; but of these the Cross of Camus,
and the story of the battle of Barry, are the most prominent.
It is uniformly said that the Danes, who landed on this shore
in 1010, were repulsed by the Scots with so great slaughter at
this place, that the adjoining burn of Lochty ran with human
blood for the space of three days ! According to tradition most
of the great barons of the kingdom were engaged in this
affray, among whom were the Hays of Errol, the Keiths of
Dunottar, and the Hassas of Glenbervie in the Mearns. Two
brothers of the last-named family are recorded to have fallen in
the engagement, and being the last male descendants of a race
of landowners, who (as recorded on a curious monument in Glen-
bervie burial vault) , nourished in that parish from A. D. 730, their
only sister Helen became heiress, and marrying Oliphard, the
hereditary Sheriff of Mearns-shire, was maternal progenitor of
the noble family of Arbuthnott.
The Hays and Keiths are commonly said to have gained
* Reg. of Ministers, et ut sup., p. 134.
t [Douglas' Baronage.] The Durhams of Grange, now represented by those of Largs in
Fifeshire, were a family of considerable importance in old times, having had a gift of Pitkerro
in the parish of Monifieth, from Robert I. They were also councillors of the Earls of Crawford ;
and their burial place was at the church of Monifieth. A superb monument, bearing fine
sculptures of the armorials of the families to whom they were allied, was erected there by the
cashier to James VI. It was demolished long ago, and the stones built into various parts of the
church ;— one of these bears — " Hie . sitvs . sepvlchrum . hoc , sibi . posterisqve . svis . extrvendvm
cvravit . vir . clarvs . pivs . ac . probv . . . Dvkhame . de . Pitcarr . Argentarivs . qvondam . R
lac . VI . sempiternae . memor . cvivs . maiores . eadem . bsec . nomen . et . armia . geretes
hac . in . Parochina . regno . Ro . R . Imo . sese . dein . posvervnt . vbi , exinde . live . vsqvo
clarvervnt."