New Spalding Club > Records of Invercauld MDXLVII - MDCCCXXVIII [1547- 1828]

ESTATE PAPERS : TULLOCHCOV. I07
Having been bred to the law in Edinburgh, he was while there one
of a party of some celebrities invited to meet the poet, Burns, during his
stay in the capital. In the course of the evening the poet, happening to
make some inquiries as to the position of his clansmen in the north, Mr.
Farquharson was proceeding with characteristic modesty to represent
them as a minor clan, not claiming to rank with such as the McDonalds,
Campbells, and Camerons, when Burns interrupted him, saying, " Hold,
sir ; you have no reason to be ashamed of your clan ; see that your clan
have no reason to be ashamed of you." " He was a wonderful man,"
Monaltrie would observe, "I soon discovered that he knew more of the
history of my clan than I did myself"
TULLOCHCOY.
This property was bounded on the south by the river Dee, on the
west mainly by the Burn of Farder, on the east by the watershed on
Craignordie {Cnrig «' ard Dhe, i.e. the hill that bounds the upper Dee)
between it and the estate of Monaltrie, while to the north its hill grazings
extended for miles into the valley of the Gairn. The site on which the
mansion was built commands one of the finest views to be had in the
whole country, and is justly admired. Right in front, across the Dee, is
seen the Balmoral forest in its full extent, with Lochnagar from base to
summit in all its grandeur, while more to the right the snow-clad corries
of Bennabourd with his humbler neighbours .shut in the scene.
There is a little difficulty about the etymology of the name ; some
would derive it from Tollach gltaoth, i.e. windy dale, others prefer Tollach
Dliaibhidh, i.e. David's dale. There is not much difference phonetically
between the Gaelic expressions ; and David, however originating, was
not an uncommon name in the family of the old proprietors.
Near the march between the Tullochcoy and Monaltrie properties,
on a narrow flat beside the Dee, the Caintachuiinh (cairn of remembrance),
the slogan or rallying cry of the Farquharsons, still marks the ancient
meeting place of the clan when called to arms by their chieftains.
There seems to have been from an early date a separate property of
this name ; for in the Charter of Queen Mary to her natural brother, the
Regent Moray (A.D. 1 564), it is thus entered : —
" Terras de Tulloquhy extendentes annuatim ad viginti sex solidos