Brief account of the Irvine family, County Fermanagh

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ancient site lower down the Esk, below Lang-
holm, still retains the name of Irvine ; and a
parish farther on in the same locality, adjoin-
ing the River Kirtle, was also anciently called
by that name.
But although the name Irvine may have
been thus originally introduced into Dumfries,
as indicated by this traditionary account, yet
all that seems certain with regard to the origin
of the Border Family of Irvine, is, that they
were of Teutonic extract, settled at a very
early period in Dumfriesshire. The family
name, originally De Irvine, was most probably
derived from the name of their place or posses-
sions there, which possibly may have been ac-
quired by marriage from a previous local family
of Celtic origin.
The territories which this Border fa'mily
held at first in Eskdale, or about the River Esk,
Where the name of Irvine locally existed, must
have been forfeited or lost by them during the
turbulence of the following times. But they
continued to hold their possessions in the dis-
trict about the river Kirtle to a later period.
As the principal family had their residence
subsequently at Bonshaw, on the Kirtle, this
family became known in modern times as the
House of Bonshaw ; and the ancient peculiar
badge or armorial bearing belonging to it from
the first, was the prickly bay or holly leaf.
The most ancient form of spelling the name