Tullibardine Castle and the Pride of the Scots Navy !
Tullibardine Castle
The Great Michael
I ran a “ blog “ in August 2012 on Tullibardine Chapel
http://perthshirecrieffstrathearnlocalhistor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/tullibardine-chapel-pre-reformation-gem.html
Directly north of the Chapel is a large field It was in
the centre of this that the now
demolished Tullibardine Castle stood . There is a connection
between the church and the castle . The Chapel was built by Sir David Murray away back in 1446 and it became the
traditional burying place of the family – the Murrays of Tullibardine – until they
moved northwards to Blair Castle near Pitlochry . The Castle which was
demolished in 1830 was built in the 13th century by the Murray
family and was the first Murray habitat
in Perthshire. A Murray had married Adda
, the daughter of the Seneschal of Strathearn , thus acquiring the lands
of Tullibardine .
The Murrays went from strength to strength and became an ever increasing
influence in Scottish politics and in a
general proximity to the incumbent monarch . One Murray became joint Keeper of Stirling Castle and Guardian
of the young James VI only to suffer exile for smashing the face of the Duke of
Argyll with the hilt of his sword ,something
many of his peers felt was somewhat
overdue ! In due course the King forgave
him and made him Lord Comptroller . His son John became master of the Household
and in 1600 became the 1st
Earl of Tullibardine . The 2nd Earl married the only daughter of
Stewart Earl of Athol and thus began a new line in the Athol Earldom . A later
descendent became the 1st Earl of Athol and from then onwards the heir t o that title became known as the Marquis
of Tullibardine . Tullibardine Castle
witnessed little fighting due
to the strength and power of the family . It was visited by a number of monarchs over the years and surrendered to the Hanoverian supporting Duke of Argyll
in the 1715 Uprising and was lived in by the great Jacobite military leader
Lord George Murray .
Pont's map showing the castle
The Murrays were to
grow into perhaps the most powerful family
in the county and their strength and power
was no doubt increased by their ability
to produce large broods of children especially boys ! In the 15th
century , one , Sir William Murray of Tullibardine , produced seventeen sons and nearly ran into
trouble with the reigning monarch James V . The King was endeavouring
to ensure none of his nobles travelled the land
with more than one retainer in their retinue and had a special Act of
Parliament passed to the effect . Imagine
his rage when being told that Sir
William Murray was approaching the King’s castle in Stirling with an armed “ tail “ of some thirty seven
men ! Poor Sir William was dragged in front of his Sovereign to explain this
blatant ignoring of his commands . Sir William meekly stated that he had
brought his sons along and surely it was
permissible for them to have a servant
each ? The King realised what had
happened and duly welcomed Sir William and his sons to Court !
I recall in the 1980s when carrying out some work for the Strathallan Estate being
told by the late Sir William Roberts , the owner of Tullibardine and the
adjoining farms that the stones used to
build West Third farm house were taken from the ruins of the adjoining
demolished castle . Why the castle was demolished may have reflected the economic depression that followed the Napoleonic Wars
. Archives held in the National Archives
of Scotland show the plans of William Adam the eminent Scottish architect who
modernised the property in the 18th century . What is particularly interesting
about Tullibardine is that like all grand houses of the time it had landscaped
gardens in its immediate vicinity . There
was , however , one particular feature
which has been recorded and
investigated over the years and that was
that part of the gardens had been laid out planted in the exact shape of
the warship , the “ Great Michael “ . It
had been Scotland’s naval pride and joy in the
early 16th century and was the largest , by far , of any
fighting vessel in the whole of Europe. This was at a time
when England , France , Spain and Portugal dominated the waves and
Scotland was very much regarded as a Second Division player !
Michael (popularly known as Great Michael) was a carrack or
great ship of the Royal Scottish Navy. She was too large to be built at any
existing Scottish dockyard, so was built at the new dock at Newhaven,
constructed in 1504 by order of King James IV of Scotland. She was ordered
around 1505 and laid down in 1507 under the direction of Captain Sir Andrew
Wood of Largo and the master shipwright Jacques Terrell, launched on 12 October
1511 and completed on 18 February 1512. When Michael was launched in 1511 she
was the largest ship afloat, with twice the original displacement of her
English contemporary Mary Rose which was launched in 1509 and completed in
1510.
The chronicler Lindsay of Pitscottie wrote of the building
of Michael that "all the woods of Fife" went into her construction (it
has been suggested that by this period there was not much forest left in Fife).
Account books further add that timbers were purchased from other parts of
Scotland as well as from France and the Baltic Sea. Supposedly, there were many
cargo loads of timber imported from Norway that were used in Michael 's
construction. Lindsay gives her dimensions as 240 feet (73 m) long and 35 ft
(11 m) in beam. Michael was supposed to
have been built with oak walls 10 ft (3.0 m) thick. She displaced about 1,000
tons, had four masts, carried 24 guns (purchased from Flanders) on the
broadside, 1 basilisk forward and 2 aft and 30 smaller guns (later increased to
36 main guns), and had a crew of 300 sailors, 120 gunners, and up to 1,000
soldiers.
Michael 's other curious claim to fame is that she is said to
have carried among her armament Mons Meg, the great cannon used earlier in the
siege of Threave Castle, which had a calibre of 22 inches (560 mm) and thus
made her the warship with the largest calibre gun in history. That incredibly
also includes the battleships of the WW2
period !
Henry Vlll of England decided that he too must have such a massive warship and so the
" Great Harry " ( formal name Henri Grâce à Dieu ) was launched This 1 000 ton creation proved somewhat top heavy and ended being a virtual 16th century royal yacht and did not see active service.
.
Henry Vlll of England decided that he too must have such a massive warship and so the
" Great Harry " ( formal name Henri Grâce à Dieu ) was launched This 1 000 ton creation proved somewhat top heavy and ended being a virtual 16th century royal yacht and did not see active service.
The Michael was named after the archangel Michael and built with
the intention of leading a crusade against the Ottoman Empire to reclaim
Palestine for Christendom. This grandiose plan had to be changed when the
commitments of the Auld Alliance with France required Scotland to go to war
with England to divert England from her war with Louis XII of France (see the
Italian Wars).
In August 1513 a Scottish invasion force was assembled to
attack English possessions in France. Commanded by James Hamilton, 1st Earl of
Arran, the chief ships were Michael, Margaret and James. Instead of attacking
the English, Arran raided Carrickfergus in Ireland and returned with loot
before proceeding to France.
A warship of this size was costly to maintain. Michael was
hired by France in late August 1513, and after James IV and many of the
nobility of Scotland were killed at the Battle of Flodden Field in September
1513, Michael was sold to Louis XII of France on 2 April 1514 for the bargain
price of 40,000 livres and was known as "La Grande Nef d'Ecosse" (The
Big Nave of Scotland; nave is from the medieval Latin navis, meaning 'ship').
In March 1514 it was reported that Michael was docked at Honfleur because she
was too big for the harbour at Dieppe. Most historians have accepted the
account of the Scottish historian George Buchanan that after this the French
allowed her to rot at Brest. However, one historian, Norman MacDougall, has
recently suggested that it is worth investigating the possibility that, under
her new French name, she took part in the French attack on England in 1545 that
led to the sinking of the English warship Mary Rose in the Battle of the Solent
on 19 July 1545.
The Battle of Flodden saw the death of James and with him much of his Scottish nobility . Thus ended the dream which had seen the Michael built as a means to project Scotland's image not just south of the Border but in Europe as a whole .
How do we know about the creation of the garden feature
at Tullibardine of the Great Michael ? It was again Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie
who had written so much on the " Michael " He stated that there had once been a garden laid out
there in the precise shape and dimensions of a great early 16th-century warship
known as the ‘Great Michael’ by a local man who had been a shipwright on the
construction of the great vessel . He had planted the outline in hawthorn
bushes. in the garden beside the Castle
. Research has indeed revealed that one
of the Royal carpenters to James was one John Drummond from Auchterarder and that timber from both Tullibardine and Kincardine ( the
one near the Lang Toon and not elsewhere ! ) . It has been suggested that it
seemed strange to have transported the timbers
from the heart of Strathearn all the way to Newhaven on the Firth of
Forth but remember that the ship was
built of oak and that records indicate that not only had it taken all the timbers from the forests of Fife but it had necessitated
the importation of additional requirements
from Scandinavia . In the light of this Tullibardine was on the virtual
door step !
In 2010 , BBC Radio Scotland featured Tullibardine Castle and in August of that year organised a series of test trenches and carried out a geophysical survey which pinpointed the ruins of the Castle .Careful examination of cartographic records allowed the
identification of the garden canal, shown on Roy’s 1750s map as a low bank and
boggy area to the N of the castle site. This location is traditionally known as
the Great Michael planting; however, its dimensions far exceed those of
16th-century "Carrick" and the feature is considered to be a shallow 18th-century
garden canal..
In his book " Perthshire in History and Legend " , the late Archie McKerracher narrated a chat he had had with Mr Maxtone , late factor of the Estate . Mention was made of the Chair Tree , an ancient oak which is still standing and is thought to be in excess of 700 years old ! In earlier times the Lairds of Tullibardine had a platform built in its branches from which they used to watch contests of strength and skill taking place in the area below .The same interview also revealed that when ploughing takes place near the garden area that was , periodically hawthorn tree roots are dug up.
Conclusion
Sadly nothing remains of the Castle although the ancient Tullibardine Chapel has been thoughtfully restored and is in fine condition . The Murray family were important players in the Scottish scene for many centuries and it is important not to forget the significance of the part they played in our history . The Great Michael was an ambitious move to raise the Scottish profile on the European stage . This was sadly curtailed with the tragedy of Flodden Field but should not be forgotten .
Looking north to where the castle was located
In his book " Perthshire in History and Legend " , the late Archie McKerracher narrated a chat he had had with Mr Maxtone , late factor of the Estate . Mention was made of the Chair Tree , an ancient oak which is still standing and is thought to be in excess of 700 years old ! In earlier times the Lairds of Tullibardine had a platform built in its branches from which they used to watch contests of strength and skill taking place in the area below .The same interview also revealed that when ploughing takes place near the garden area that was , periodically hawthorn tree roots are dug up.
Conclusion
Sadly nothing remains of the Castle although the ancient Tullibardine Chapel has been thoughtfully restored and is in fine condition . The Murray family were important players in the Scottish scene for many centuries and it is important not to forget the significance of the part they played in our history . The Great Michael was an ambitious move to raise the Scottish profile on the European stage . This was sadly curtailed with the tragedy of Flodden Field but should not be forgotten .
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