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The tower was entered at the base of the stair turret, above and to one
side of which there is a moulded frame for an armorial tablet. Above the
basement, the vaults of which have collapsed, there were two principal
storeys and a garret in the main block. From the scale of the flues in
the south gable of the wing it appears the kitchen was in the basement
of that part. As might be expected, the hall was on the first floor of
the main block, while the provision of paired stool closets in the north
wall indicates that the second floor was divided into two chambers. The
garret was lit by windows in the gable walls, and presumably also by
dormers, evidence for the design of which may survive in either in the
collapsed masonry or in the fragments that have been re-used around the
modern steading.
Evelick was the residence of a branch of the Lindsay family. The
designation 'of Evelick'; was evidently first used in 1497 by the David
Lindsay who then held the estates; before then the family is said to
have been designated as 'of Leroquhy'. The existing tower house probably
dates from the later decades of the sixteenth century.
Andrew Lindsay of Evelick was created a baronet in 1666, and his 2nd son
Thomas was the victim of a particularly brutal murder here at the hands
of his step-brother James Douglas(1) in 1682. Thomas
and James were both about eighteen years old and were apparently quite
good friends. They had been out together one June day in and around the
Den of Pitroddie but that evening only one of them returned to Everlick.
James came back to the castle dishevelled and blood-stained to say that
Thomas was lying murdered in the Pitroddie burn but that he, James was
innocent of the crime. He would say no more and was locked in his room.
Meanwhile, Sir Alexander and some of his servants made their way to
Pitroddie Den and found Thomas lying in the water. He had been stabbed
in several places, his face had been trampled upon and was barely
recognisable and finally his head had been crushed by a large stone
which lay beside the body. From the blood and the footprints near to the
body it was evident that Thomas had fought bravely for his life. The
body was brought back to the castle and James was once again visited by
his mother and step-father. He maintained his story that he was
innocent, the bloodstains on his clothes, he said, had been cause when
he tried to lift the body from the burn.
For two days James protested his innocence but on the third morning he
made a full confession which was written down. “I was never yet firmly
convinced that there was a God or a Devil, a heaven or a hell, till now.
To tell how I did the deed my heart doth quake and head rives, As I was
playing and kittling at the head of the brae, I stabbed him with the
only knife which I had, and I tumbled down the brae with him to the burn
and there he uttered one or two pitiful words. The Lord Omnipotent and
all- seeing God learn my heart to repent.” The next day James was taken
to Perth and charged, “that he did conceive a deadly hatred and evil
will against Thomas Lindsay, son of Sir Alexander Lindsay of Everlick,
with a settled resolution to bereave him of life……did fall upon the said
Thomas and with his knife did give him five several stabs and wounds in
his body, and thereafter dragged him down the brae of the Den to the
burn, and there with his feet did trample upon the said Thomas lying in
the water, and as yet not being satisfied with all that cruelty, he did
with a stone dash him upon the head so that immediately the said Thomas
died.” The charge was then read back to James and he promptly repudiated
the whole story.
The affair remained in this unsatisfactory state for almost two more
weeks. James insisted his confession had been false, and had been given
when his mind was disordered with grief and terror. He returned to his
original story that he had found his step-brother lying murdered in the
burn. His mother, his family, the Laird of Balhaivie cousin to Thomas,
and others all tried to persuade him to confess. But it was to no avail.
Then one day while in the presence of his mother he suddenly rose from
his seat and with tears and sobs he proclaimed the error of his ways and
declared that by the grace of God he would re-affirm every particular of
his confession.
This time it was for real. James was taken to Edinburgh and there he
pled guilty to the murder and was sentenced to be beheaded. With his
new-found determination to be at one with God he confessed to a new
crime. While in Edinburgh earlier in the year he had tried to set fire
to “Harry Graham’s writing chamber.” This caused something of a
sensation, for wilful fire raising was considered in many ways to be
worse than murder. It was considered to be treason and as such resulted
in the forfeiture of the party’s estate. Were James to be convicted of
the crime, his estate of £2,000 would go to the crown rather than to his
two sisters.
The unhappy boy was persuaded, this time, to retract his confession and
the Crown reluctantly accepted his revised plea of not guilty. However,
the truth of the original statement is given credence by an agreement
made later by his mother to pay Patrick Cunnimgham, apothecary, 200
merks “for the skaith the said Patrick suffered when her son, James
Douglas, put fire in Harry Graham’s chamber.”
James Douglas himself was executed by the Scottish Maiden, a form of
guillotine, at Edinburgh Cross on August 4th 1682.
Notes:
1. Some sources say William Douglas. James
was described as the son of the late William Douglas, Advocate. His
mother, Rachel (Kirkwood) had married the widower, Alexander Lindsay of
Evelick in about 1680.
2. In 1752 Margaret, the daughter of Sir Alexander and Lady Amelia Lindsay, eloped with the painter Allan Ramsay to become his second wife. The last of the line died through drowning in 1799.
3. Everlick castle was once the property of Archibald Douglas,
Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, under James V. and a character in
Scott's " Lady of the Lake." (Slater's Royal National Commercial
Directory of Scotland; 1903)
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