Friends of the Ochils Newsletter 15: September 1999A Loose ConnectionConsider the western end of the Ochils and, in particular, the two wee hills sandwiched between Blairlogie Glen and Yellowcraig Wood (Airthrey Forest we called it when we were children). The one immediately west of the glen is called Goats' Craig and the other is Pengower - a Pictish trace here meaning, apparently, Goats' Craig! At the back of Pengower is a rickle o' stanes (admittedly a pretty substantial rickle, but a rickle nevertheless) that we got to know well as children in the course of exploring our hinterland. Even to our inexperienced eyes this had obviously been a farm or croft of some sort, but what really grabbed our attention was the colossal sycamore growing beside it. Age or some whim of nature has since laid the giant low but, despite the best efforts of some lunatics to turn the shattered stump into an alfresco fireplace, vigorous growth now sprouts therefrom, so the mighty sycamore lives on albeit in stunted form. Anyway, back to the rickle o' stanes. The Stirling Journal, 6 February, 1941, described a talk given by David B Morris (a keen local historian and former town clerk of Stirling) at a Rotarian luncheon. And his subject? Well ... the rickle o' stanes, actually. To quote Morris, "In a lonely upland hollow, close to the steep front of the Ochils, stand the ruins of Fossikey ... A few old crumbling walls, partly used as sheepfolds, are all that remain of the mansion house." Fossikey (or Fossochy, or Fossakie) was, before being absorbed into Airthrey, the main part of a small estate consisting of four farms named - in 1760 - Cadger Knowes, Backdykes, Broomhill and Fossikey itself. Morris again: "The lands extended to 623 Scots acres and embraced the lower western moor and grazings of Dumyat and the steep slopes which rise behind Logie and the policies of Airthrey." About the end of the 16th century, the estate was acquired by a family named Duncanson of whom little is known save one and he, by association, was to achieve a fair degree of notoriety. Morris now moves us on to 1692 and the Glen Coe massacre. Having resolved to make an example of the Macdonalds, the government of the day gave its orders to Colonel Hill, governor of Fort William, who passed them down to Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton who passed them down to Major Robert Duncanson (the Fossikey connection). At this point, the buck was meant to stop but Duncanson chose instead to pass it on to Captain Campbell who was already on the Glen Coe spot. The following order, claimed by many to be a forgery and "missing" for 250 years, makes interesting reading: Sir, You are hereby ordered to fall upon the rebells the Macdonalds of Glenco, and put all to the sword under seventy. You are to have a spec'al care that the old fox and his sons do not escape your hands; you are to secure all the avenues that none may escape. This you are to put into execution at five of the clock precisely; and by that time, or very shortly after it, I will strive to be at you with a stronger party. If I do not come to you at five, you are not to tarry for me, but to fall on. This is by the king's speciall commands, for the good and safety of the country, that these miscreans be cut off, root and branch. See that this be put in execution without fear or favour, or you may expect to be dealt with as one not true to the King or Government, nor as man fit to carry commission in the king's service. Expectink you will not fail in the fulfilling hereof, as you love yourself, I subscribe this with my hand at Ballychylls, the 12th February, 1692. Robert Duncanson A real buck-passer of an order if ever there was one. As everybody knows, this dastardly act of treachery was less successful than those planning it would have wished. The exits leading north and south from the glen were to be sealed by forces led by Hamilton and Duncanson respectively. The former was held up by snow and the latter, facing a journey of only four miles, contrived to be six hours late - delayed by his conscience some say. Although his exact relationship to the Fossikey Duncansons has never been established, it was Major Robert himself who claimed kinship. I sometimes wonder if he ever visited the "lonely upland hollow" and, perhaps, trod the same turf that we were to tread all those years later. Robin Kelsall |