It was somewhat challenging, driving a 6 speed manual transmission on the left side of the road, but after renting a car at Glasgow Airport, we safely navigated our way to Braco—ancestral home of the Burden family. Mike and Rosemary, fellow history aficionados, offered to guide us through the nooks and crannies of the area to track down our ancestors. The Burden family goes back to the 13th century, apparently to an individual dubbed “the Black Man of the Black Burdens”. This is documented in Gaelic beneath the family crest, and hopefully refers to hair colour, not mood!
The Burdens are a sept, or subsidiary family belonging to the highland Clan Lamont, and highlanders often delineate themselves by such nicknames.
The Burdens first established themselves in the Barony of Easter (meaning easterly) Feddal in 1623 and by 1683 had a finely built baronial great house. There is a stone dating the badly ruined house from that time with interlocking mirror image “B’s” similar to a style we later noticed in Edinburgh Castle from the same period. Fine representations of the Burden family crest—a lion, rampant, holding an ax—are also visible on the old house. One of the earlier inhabitants was James Burden, Laird of Feddal, who enaged in a famous duel with the Laird of Balhaldie in the early 1700’s. After an hour of hacking and slashing, neither had gained an advantage until the sword of James broke off at the hilt. Instead of pressing his advantage, the Laird of Balhaldie (also the clan chief of the MacGregors) nobly threw down his sword and the two became fast friends.
Some confusion exists between Feddal House and Feddal Castle. The former has long been in ruins but the latter was built in the very early 1900’s, well after the Burden family sold the estate and emigrated. A fine, baronial style castle, it was blasted to pieces with dynamite in 1958, some say for tax purposes, while others speculate for other reasons.
Next stop on our tour, still ably guided by Mike and Rosemary, was Muthill. There is an 11th century church here whose cemetery was reputed to hold the graves of Robert and Agnes Burden. It was twilight and drizzling when we arrived and there were hundreds of tombstones. Our task of finding the appropriate headstone looked hopeless.
I have always joked that my partner Stella was psychic. On this occasion she closed her eyes for a moment and walked directly to the grave we sought within a minute of entering the cemetery. There we found the remains of Robert and Agnes Burden, who died respectively December 1823 and July 1812. We really wanted to spend more time searching for other members of the family but it was too late and too dark. We will have to return one day to do further research.
As an incidental note, this is area is a gem for visitors, off the beaten path but a gateway to the highlands.
Stella and I had discovered some fascinating family history and taken lots of cool photos but we were still unsure from where the nickname “Black Burdens” came.
Next stop was Edinburgh for a meeting of the Baronage of Scotland, a convocation of individuals holding Scottish titles of nobility. These are purely Scottish and though recognized by the British Crown, do not originate from that source. Holding a barony myself has proven a strong incentive to research my heritage and I will soon be visiting Scotland again. Stay tuned for details.
Photo credits
All photos courtesy of George Burden and Stella van der Lugt – All rights reserved.
Hi George,
Thank you very much for that information, i was mainly looking at the upright headstones, I’ll look again, thanks and all the best, BFN.
Hi George,
Regarding the headstone, my mother and father’s names were Robert and Agnes Burden, both have passed 2000 and 2020 respectively, i’d like to find out more about the couple buried there, our Burden family is from all around central scotland, i travelled to that old cemetery in muthill but could not find that headstone, could you please advise me as to where it is in the cemetery please, the headstone looks like it’s lying flat on the ground.
Hello Cousin,
You walk into the cemetery, not very far and there is a covered area on the left which looks a little more “posh” than the rest of the cemetery. Walk into there a few yards and you will find the tombs. The Burdens were quite affluent and are buried near the old church. The graves are about hip height, rectangular boxes and have been beautifully re-engraved by a member of the Stirling branch of the Burden family in the 1800’s (last name Stirling that is). Good luck!
I will be visiting this ground soon enough email me sometime forth3father91@gmail.com
Hi, my ancestors have a mention of Wester Feddal in Braco. You mention above Easter Feddal. Does wester Feddal have any connections.
Hi Sarahth,
I am not aware of a connection of Wester Feddal to the Burdens, though of course this was a neighbouring estate and likely there were some interactions.
I have been trying for years to connect the dots, currently I have James Burden born 1682 and Margaret or Mary Drummond as my 7th great grand parents. I am almost positive from that point to my great grandfather i could have names wrong. I am using Family search and it seems a little mixed up. The remarks on the last names drummond and campbell and menzies are all within the tree but i feel people have first names wrong on family search.I will have to dive a bit deeper into this on other sites.
In 1851 my ancestors were recorded in the census living and working at Feddal Mill, Muthill. Was the mill part of the estate or something quite seperate I wonder?
Hi Angela. This was indeed part of the Feddal Estate as the Burdens originated out of Muthill. This is why Robert Burden and his wife are buried in Muthill Cemetery.
Thankyou so much.
Are you aware of any maps showing the entirety of the buildings on the Feddal estate, I’m guessing somewhere along the burn for a mill, but havent been able to find or view a map that mentions a mill?
Thankyou by the way, for providing a view and local history of this area.
Again, kind regards,
Angela
Muthill is a ways away from Feddal which may be why you couldn’t find the mill. It seems to have been in a different location.
Fascinating. I’m trying to track down a relative if my husband’s that was supposedly born at Feddals in 1774 according to records in Muthill. Its very difficult because they were not Burdens. They were James St Clair and Jannet Bryce.
My mother is a Mitchell-Burden. Her father was Alexander Cleghorn Mitchell-Burden.
Last year we visited the old ruins of Feddal and also visited Braco Castle. The current owner of Braco Castle had a lot of Burden history as he had written a book about Braco.
Sydney, Australia
So nice to hear from you Angela. It was fascinating to explore family history when we visited the estate and I assume that the owner of Braco Castle showed you the family tree. Have you read the other articles I wrote, especially the one where our ancestor James Burden had his historic battle with the Laird of Balhaldie and a run in with Rob Roy?
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
You are welcome Sue. Tracking down family history is an interesting avocation!