Finhaven Castle is located several miles northeast of Forfar. Although it is presently in a ruinous condition, it is still standing. This castle was a former seat of the Crawford family.

The 1400's

The Lindsay's fortunes reached their height in the 1400's. There were junior houses in Dumfries, Lanarkshire, Lothian, Fife, Perth, Inverness, and Aberdeen. The two main lines of the Lindsays of Crawford and the Lindsays of Byers had become one of the great family interests of the north, owning much of Angus, and dominating the county politically and militarily. From this position of power (and with their strong Stewart blood), the Lindsays were able to take a leading part in the great and dangerous game of making (and unmaking) kings. The main figures in this contest were the 4th and 5th Earls of Crawford:

• Alexander, the 4th Earl, called the Earl Beardie or Tiger Earl, who joined the great rebellion of Douglas and MacDonald against King James II
• David, the 5th Earl, later the Duke of Montrose, the favorite of James III

The 4th Earl—Earl Beardie

The Tiger Earl, or Earl Beardie as he was alternatively known both for his ferocious disposition and for his flame-red hair, made himself a virtual tyrant in Angus. He conspired with the great Lords of the South and West to subvert the crown and thwart its plans to force submission by the feudal Barons. MacDonald, however, lost his nerve, and Douglas lost his head when he was treacherously slain by King James II himself in Stirling Castle.

Crawford was left, therefore, with a stark alternative: Take on the crown alone, or make a humiliating submission. The latter seemed just as dangerous as the former, since the King had sworn that he would raze Crawford's great castle of Finhaven to the ground, "making its highest stone, its lowest." Nevertheless, when Earl Beardie did agree to throw himself on King James' mercy, his repentance was so abject that James had no alternative but to forgive him. Yet he had sworn an oath against Crawford! How could he avoid breaking it? An ingenious courtier suggested the answer. Earl Beardie invited the King to Finhaven, where he entertained him in regal style. And then early one morning, King James went up onto the roof of the castle and ceremonially threw its highest stone down into the courtyard, thus fulfilling his oath.

Despite this reconciliation, however, the local folks continued to think of the Earl Beardie as a great rebel. The Earl earned a reputation not only for cruelty, but also for resorting to the Black Arts to further his political purposed. His cruelty is related in the story of a messenger who once cut a cudgel from a chestnut tree growing on the Finhaven Castle grounds. Earl Beardie hanged him for the offense from one of the chestnut tree boughs.

Today

The ghost of this luckless messenger still walks between Finhaven and Cariston, and another rhyme tells us that:

Earl Beardie ne'er will dee,
Nor puir Jock Barefoot be set free,
As lang's there grows a chestnut tree.

Written by:
Sara Thurmond, FSA Scot.

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