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Greenlaw Mansion is a big Georgian house. It was
built by the Gordon family in around 1714 and later turned into a hotel.
It is situated off
the A713 Castle Douglas road to Ayr, at Greenlaw.
To the north of the house is a farm called
Ermenzie. In front is an old disused railway line. In the summer now the
embankments are all rosy purple with masses of willow herb.
Clustered round the crossroads to the east of Greenlaw is Townhead of
Greenlaw and to the south-west is the farm, Mains of Greenlaw.
Greenlaw Mansion was burnt down in 1984. Before the
fire it looked beautiful. Its colour was yellow and white. It had 18
rooms. At the last visit, it was partially refurbished.
Robert Douglas, Master of Lincluden set up as a country
gentleman at 'Greenlaw, one of the alienated estates of 'the college'.
William Douglas of Baitford (or Greenlaw?),
fl 1636, married Agnes Maxwell, daughter of the 8th Lord Maxwell.
A marriage-contract was signed 3 April 1603 between Agnes Maxwell and
William Douglas of Greenlaw, Lincluden, and Penzerie. A sentence of
death passed on him 6 September 1610 for treasonable communing with Lord
Maxwell, etc., was commuted to one of banishment. He returned to
Scotland without leave in 1612, and was rehabilitated 12 February 1626.
[n the way just explained] the family of
Douglas of Baitford or
Pinzerie, descended from George, third son of Sir William Douglas of
Drumlanrig, became connected with
Lincluden College. The
relationship brought about a melancholy episode in its annals, the
particulars of which we must now put on record. On the 2nd of April
1603 a contract of marriage was entered into between Agnes Maxwell
and William Douglas, heir-apparent of Baitford, with consent of
her brother John, the ninth Lord Maxwell, Provost Douglas,
liferenter of Lincluden, and James Douglas, feuar thereof, the
father of the bridegroom ; they obliging themselves to make over to
him, and the heirs born of the marriage, the " haill temporality "
of the College. Young Douglas, or Pinzerie as he was usually styled,
was no fitting match for a daughter of the house of Maxwell.
Though of high descent and with brilliant worldly prospects before
him, he degenerated into a thorough vagabond, figuring at times as a
common housebreaker, at others as a treasonable emissary, and
filling up his cup of guilt with sundry deeds of blood that brought
ruin in their train.
6 Sep 1610 was sentenced to death for
treasonable communing with Lord Maxwell, which was commuted to one of
banishment He returned to Scotland without leave in 1612 ..."
William Douglas of Baitford, 1603 {Privy Council Register), retoured
heir of his father James, 19th January 1628. As William Douglas of
Greenlaw and Lyncluden, son of James of Baitford, he is mentioned
1610-14 {Privy Council Register), and as William Douglas of Baitford, 1617-27 {Privy Council Register).
Note. — The
stumbling-block of the whole pedigree has been William
Douglas, who is said at different times to be of Baitford and of
Penzerie. He is also said to be grand-nephew and also son of Robert
Douglas of Lincluden, whom he succeeded in part of his
properties, notably Greenlaw. He was a thorough scoundrel, and was
eventually tried for theft and other crimes in 1610, and sentenced
to have his right hand struck off, and then to be hanged. In Pitcairn's
Trials he is called "William Douglas of Lyncluden and Grenelaw (callit
Williame of Pinzerie), eldest sone and appeirand air of William
Douglas of Baitfurd." The father's Christian name is evidently a
mistake. Sir Herbert Maxwell in his House of Douglas assumes that William was executed, but the letters of remission granted to
him, 1626, would show that William escaped the gallows. Combining
the families, therefore, we have : —
(1) David Douglas,
possibly son of George Douglas (of Penzerie and Baitford) and father of : —
{a) Archibald Douglas.
{b) James, father of William, who married
Agnes, sister of John, 9th Lord Maxwell.
{c) George Douglas.
{d) Robert Douglas.
William DOUGLAS and his wife Agnes, were
probably parents of: —
Alexander Douglas, father of: —
Robert Douglas.
In September and October 1592, Robert Douglas, Provost of Lincluden
hosted the Chancellor John Maitland and his wife Jean Fleming, Countess
of Cassilis at Greenlaw.
The Gordons:
In 1617, John Murray of Lochmaben and Sir Robert Gordon of Lochinvar
were given the Douglas properties in the parish of Crossmichael when
they were stripped from the Douglases.
Sir Robert Gordon (c.1565-1628) of Greenlaw (and of Lochinvar) was a
member of the Council of War for Scotland and an early investor in the
North American colonies. An 18th-century descendant, Sir Alexander
Gordon, made the canal which, in 1765, connected Carlingwark Loch in
what would become Castle Douglas to the River Dee, opening up the river
for the transport of fertiliser.
In March 1674 [Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court Deeds 1623-1674 Entry 1712 ]
John Broun of Mollance gave Alexander Milligan (then in Mains of
Greenlaw, also a former Lincluden farm) tack of half of the five
merkland of Gerranton from Whitsunday 1674 for payment of 100 merks ( =
33 shillings 4 pence) and two great loads ( = 4 bolls) of farm meal and
two great loads of farm beir, reserving the ‘fowls payable out of the
cott crofts’ for himself. One of the witnesses was ‘John Geran in
Greinthorne’.
In 2022, the owner of Greenlaw id Stephen Barter
Hicks.
See also:
• Ratification to
John Murray of Lochmaben and [Sir Robert Gordon], laird of Lochinvar
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