Examination of the claim of John Lindsay Crawfurd

EXAMINATION
OF
THE CLAIM OF JOHN LINDSAY CRAWFURD,
TO THE
TITLES AND ESTATES OF CRAWFURD AND KILBIRNIE, &c.
SECTION FIRST.— INTRODUCTORY.
The lands of Kilbirnie, in Ayrshire, anciently belonged to a branch
of the potent family of Barclay. Of the precise period when this
family acquired lands in Scotland, there is no account ; but in 1140,
Richard de Barclay is witness to the foundation Charter of the Mo- of the
nastery of Kilwinning, granted by Hugh de Moreville, Constable of KauraL
Scotland, in the reign of King David the First. 1
We learn, also, that in 1165, William the Lion promoted Sir
Walter Barclay to the office of Lord High Chamberlain of Scotland. 2
He is said to have been the first layman that held this office, and
was brother of Robert Berkeley, of the family of that name in Glou-
cestershire. 3 The Barclays soon acquired large tracts of land in
various parts of Scotland. One branch of the family had acquired
Ardrossan prior to 1226. In that year we find Arthur de Ardros-
san witness to a charter of the lands of Monoch, in favour of Hugh
Crawfurd, 4 and there is no reason to doubt that the name of the
Ardrossan family was Barclay. 5 Of the family of Ardrossan, the
1 Crawfurd's Renfrewshire, p. 121. Edit, of 1818.
2 Crawfurd's Lives of Officers of State, p. 253.
3 Chalmers' Caledonia, vol. I. p. 529.
1 Nisbet's Heraldry, p. 24, of Remarks on the Ragman Roll in vol. II.
5 Mackenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, vol. I. p. 254, &c.
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