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From: "Ian Anderson" <>
Subject: Re: HENRYSON-CAIRD OF CASSENCARY-where is CASSENCARY & DRUMFAD?
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 11:34:24 +0100


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ian Caird" <>
Subject: HENRYSON-CAIRD OF CASSENCARY-where is CASSENCARY & DRUMFAD?


> I am unable to find Cassencarry on the maps which I have and I wonder if some member of the List
could provide me with that information.
> Is there anyone on the List who is researching or knows about the HENRYSON-CAIRD family ?
> An earlier JAMES CAIRD of DRUMFAD married ISABELLA McNEEL.
> Where is DRUMFAD ?
> Their son RT. HON. SIR JAMES CAIRD was also of CASSENCARRY.


Cassencarie (this is the present-day spelling of the name) is a mansion house (now ruinous)
about one kilometre south of Creetown, Kirkcudbrightshire, in the parish of Kirkmabreck. The
National Grid coordinates on Ordnance Survey maps are NX477576. Here is an excerpt from John
R.Cutland's "The Story of Ferrytown of Cree and Kirkmabreck parish" :

"CASSENCARIE: The spelling of the name of this house has varied over the years, that of 1562
being Kassincary. The estate seems to have been in the possession of the Muirs in the 16th
century, and in 1675 we find that the family owned, among other properties, the corn mill at
Creetown, the ferry boat and land at Spittal, the ferries at Creetown and the rights of fishing in
the Cree at Cassencarie, plus the farms of Chapelton, Mark, and others. In 1805 Alexander Muir
assumed the name of Mackenzie on succeeding to his uncle's estates, and was created a baronet in the
same year. In 1836 Cassencarie estate was sold to James Caird, formerly M.P. for Stirling. The
farms at that time were Cassencarie, Larg, Knockeans, Drumraik, Chapelton, and part of Burns.
"In 1684 the house had been mentioned as one of the considerable houses of the district. Now
ruinous, it is a 19th century building incorporating a 17th century tower of the Muirs. In the
present parish church you can see the coat of arms, crest and motto of the Muirs dated 1684. They
are carved in wood and set into the back of a seat in the Cassencarie family box. The carvings are
believed to have been removed from the 1645 church when the present building was erected in 1834.
The initials of John Muir lie above the crest. One of the more famous of the Muirs was William
Muir, Deputy Lieutenant of the county during the 1715 Rebellion. Nowadays a caravan park is
operated on the estate".

There are five pages of information on Cassencarie and its owners in P.H.M'Kerlie's "History of
the Lands and their Owners in Galloway", Vol.4 (1878). Most of this has to do with the Muirs, but
there is the following:

"Cassencary was sold, a few years ago, to James Caird, born 1816, late M.P. for Stirling, which
he vacated on appointment as a Commissioner of Tithes.
"He is the second son of the late James Caird, writer, Stranraer, and his wife, Isabella,
daughter of Archibald M'Neil, California. He married, in 1843, Margaret, daughter of Captain
Henryson, Royal Engineers. She died at Nice in 1863, and had issue:-
(1)James Alexander Henryson Caird (who married, on 19 December 1877, Alice Mona, only surviving
child of John Alison, late of Australia, and Lancaster Gate, Hyde Park, London);
(2) Robert Peel Caird;
(3) Lindsay Henryson Caird;
(4) Annie Henryson Caird (married, in April 1873, Edmund N.Snew, Exeter);
(5) Agatha Margaret Caird (married E.Goodhart of Langley Park, Kent).
He married, secondly, -----, daughter of the late Robert Dudgeon, merchant, Cleveland Square,
London."

There is also a pedigree of Henryson-Caird of Cassencarie in the 15th edition (1937) of "Burke's
Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry", which also shows the family coat of arms.
This pedigree is too lengthy to reproduce here, but it shows the head of the family at that time as
Alister James Henryson-Caird of Cassencarie, born 22 Mar 1884, married 22 May 1917 Elise
Winteringham, daughter of the late Stuart G.C. Loscombe-Wallis, of Stowey Court, Somerset. Their
issue is shown as:
(1) Murray Alister Cooper James, born 15 May 1922;
(2) Robert Douglas Divoune Napier, born 21 Aug 1924, died 28 Mar 1927;
(3) Xenia Margaret Beatrice Winteringham, born 31 Mar 1918, died 5 Dec 1920.

There were two farms - High Drumfad and Low Drumfad - near Port William, Wigtownshire.
However, there are also farms called Drumfad near Blackford, Perthshire, and near Helensburgh,
Dumbartonshire.

Kind regards,

Ian Anderson

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