Durward.—This family was descended from Alan de Lundin, who was dur-ward or door-keeper to the king about 1233. They possessed a wide domain in Aberdeenshire, and had a castle at Lumphanan, where Edward I. stayed in 1296. There is a round motte in the Peel Bog at Lumphanan, surrounded by a moat, which was fed by a sluice from the neighbouring burn. There were ruins in masonry on the top some hundred years ago. The writer of the N. S. A. account of this place, with remarkable shrewdness, conjectures that a wooden castle on this mound was the ancient residence of the Durwards, superseded in the 15th century by a building of stone, and that it has nothing to do with Macbeth, whose burial-place is said to be a cairn in the neighbourhood.[1022]
Fitz Alan.—This is the well-known ancestor of the House of Stuart, Walter, a cadet of a great Norman family in Shropshire, who is said to have obtained lands in Scotland in Malcolm Canmore’s time. Renfrew was one of his seats, and Inverwick, in Haddington, another. Renfrew Castle is entirely destroyed, but the description of the site, on a small hill, ditched round, called Castle Hill, strongly suggests a motte. The keep of Inverwick stands on a natural motte of rock.[1023] Dunoon was one of their castles, near to which “stood the Tom-a-mhoid, or Hill of the court of justice” (G.), possibly an ancient motte.[1024] Dunoon Castle, however, itself stands on a motte, partly artificial and partly carved out of a headland. (N.)
Fleming.—There were many Flemings among the followers of David I., and eventually the name stuck to their descendants as a surname. Baldwin the Fleming obtained lands at Biggar, in Lanarkshire. There is a motte at the west end of the town of Biggar, 36 feet high. Biggar was the head of a barony. (N. S. A. and N.) Colban the Fleming settled at Colbantown, now Covington, Lanarkshire, where there is a motte (N.). Robert the Fleming has left a well-preserved oblong motte at Roberton, in Lanark, which was a barony, and where the moit was spoken of in 1608. (N.)
Graham.—Came from England under David I., and received lands in Lothian. A Graham was lord of Tarbolton, in Ayrshire, in 1335, so it is possible that the motte at that place, on which stood formerly the chief messuage of the barony of Tarbolton, was one of their castles (N. S. A.), but it may have been older.
Hamilton.—It is not certain that the Hamiltons came to Scotland before 1272. King Robert I. gave them the barony of Cadzow, Lanark, which had originally been a royal seat. In Hamilton Park there is a mote hill, which was the site of the chief messuage of this barony (N.). It was formerly surrounded by the town of Hamilton. (N. S. A.) It is of course possible that this motte may be much older than the Hamiltons, as the site of an originally royal castle.
Hay.—First appears in the 12th century, as butler to Malcolm IV. The family first settled in Lothian, where they had lands at Lochorworth. The Borthwick family, who got this estate by marriage, obtained a license from James I. about 1430 to build a castle “on the mote of Locherwart,” and to this castle they gave their own name. (N. S. A.) No doubt it was the original motte of the Hays. King William gave the Hays the manor of Errol, in Perthshire, which was made into a barony. Here is or was the mote of Errol, “a round artificial mound about 20 feet high, and 30 feet in diameter at the top; the platform at the top surrounded with a low turf wall, and the whole enclosed with a turf wall at the base, in the form of an equilateral triangle.” (N. S. A.; evidently a triangular bailey.) It is called the Law Knoll, and is spoken of as a fortalicium in 1546. (N.)
Lennox.—The earls of Lennox are descended from Arkel, an Englishman, who received from Malcolm Canmore lands in Dumbartonshire. At Catter, near the Earl’s castle, is a large artificial mound.[1025]
Lockhart.—Stevenston, in Ayrshire, takes its name from Stephen Loccard, and Symington, in Lanark, from his son (?), Simon Loccard. At Stevenson there was formerly a castle, and there still (1845) is a Castle Hill. Stevenston was given by Richard Morville to Stephen Loccard about 1170. (N. S. A.) At Symington there was formerly a round mound, called Law Hill, at the foot of the village, but it has been levelled. (N. S. A.)
Logan.—A Robert Logan witnesses a charter of William the Lion, and appears later as Dominus Robertus de Logan. The name Robert shows his Norman origin. At Drumore, near Logan (parish of Kirkmaiden, Wigton), there was a castle, and there is still a court hill or mote.[1026] Another mote, at Myroch, in the same parish, is mentioned by Mr Neilson as the site of the chief messuage of the barony of Logan.