Lumsdaine (site of)

Lumsdaine was a castle belonging to the family of Lumsdaine of Lumsdaine although nothing of it now remains.

The Lumsdaines held the lands of Lumsdaine from the 12th century however it isn’t clear when the first castle was built.

At some point during the 15th century John Lummysden of Glengyrnoch, a descendant of the family of Lumsdaine of Lumsdaine, bought from Richard de Spaldyne or Richard Spalding of Airdrie, Lamlethan and Innergellie his part of Airdrie to.

Around 1719 Robert Lumsdaine of Lumsdaine, eldest son of George Lumsdaine of Innergellie, bought back Innergellie from his father’s uncle. Robert married Eliza, daughter of James Lumisdaine of Stravithie and granddaughter of Robert Lumsdaine of Stravithie and Helen Preston.

Robert, now styled Robert Lumsdaine of Lumsdaine, Stravithie and Innergellie, was a member of the erotic society The Most Ancient and Most Puissant order of the Beggar’s Benison and Merryland, Anstruther, which was founded in 1732 and met at Dreel Castle. In 1738 he married Sophia, eldest daughter of the late Robert Lundin of Lundin and sister of James Lundin of Lundin.

Robert died in 1761 and was succeeded by his son, James, who in 1769 married Christian Anstruther, daughter of Sir Philip Anstruther of Anstruther.

The date of James’s death is sometimes given as 1803 however his death at Innergellie was noted in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine in May 1820. He didn’t have any children and was succeeded by his brother, Robert, who must have died soon after, and unmarried without issue. The estates passed to their brother, Major John Lumsdaine of Lathallan, however the Major died in 1823, seemingly without issue, and the family’s properties passed to a distant cousin, William Lumsdaine of Rennyhill, a neighbouring estate to the south-west of Innergellie.

William was a great-great-grandson of William Lumisdaine of Rennyhill, the youngest son of Colonel Lumsdaine and Christian Rutherford. The younger William died unmarried and without issue in 1830 and was succeeded by his sister, Mary Lilias, who in 1816 had married the Reverend Edwin Sandys, a descendent of Edwin Sandys, the 16th century Archbishop of York. They assumed the additional surname and arms of Lumsdaine, becoming Sandys-Lumsdaine.

Mary Lilias died in December 1864 and their son, the Reverend Francis Gordon Sandys-Lumsdaine, succeeded to Lumsdaine, Blanerne and Innergellie.