Barjarg Tower

Barjarg Tower, Dumfries and Galloway
Photo © Collin Kinnear, 21 November 2008

Annie Laurie is an old Scottish song based on poem by William Douglas (1672?-1748) of Dumfries and Galloway. The words were modified and the tune was added by Alicia Scott in 1834/5. The song is also known as Maxwelton Braes.

William Douglas became a soldier in the Royal Scots and fought in Germany and Spain and rose to the rank of captain. He also fought at least two duels. He returned to his estate at Fingland in 1694. Traditionally it is said that Douglas had a romance with Anna/Anne Laurie (16 December 1682, Barjarg Tower, in Keir, near Auldgirth, Scotland — 5 May 1764, Friars' Carse, Dumfries-shire, Scotland). Anna was the youngest daughter of Robert Laurie, who became first baronet of Maxwelton in 1685. The legend says that her father opposed a marriage. This may have been because Anna was very young; she was only in her mid-teens when her father died. It may also have been because of Douglas's aggressive temperament or more likely because of his Jacobite allegiances. It is known for certain that they knew of each because in a later letter by Anna she says in reply to news about Douglas "I trust that he has forsaken his treasonable opinions, and that he is content."

Douglas recovered from this romance and eloped with a Lanarkshire heiress, Elizabeth Clerk of Glenboig. They married in Edinburgh in 1706. Douglas's political beliefs forced him into exile. He became a mercenary soldier and sold his estate at Fingland in the 1720s, though eventually he received a pardon.

Anna Laurie's later life

In Edinburgh in 29 August 1709 Anna married Alexander Fergusson, 14th Laird of Craigdarroch. (Early editions of Brewer's are in error claiming her husband was James Ferguson, who was in fact her son.) She lived at Craigdarroch for 33 years. Under her directions the present mansion of Craigdarroch was built, and a relic of her taste is still preserved in the formal Georgian gardens at the rear of the house. She was born on the 16th day of December, 1682, about 6 o'clock in the morning at Barjarg Tower, near Auldgirth, Scotland. Annie Laurie died on a Saturday, the 5th of April, 1764 and some sources say she was buried at Craigdarroch. Portraits of her exist at Maxwelton and at Mansfield, the seat of the Stuart-Monteiths. The portraits show that she had blue eyes.

--BARJARG TOWER, DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY

Barjarg, a hamlet and an estate in Keir parish, Dumfriesshire. The hamlet stands near the river Nith, a short distance South of Thornhill. The estate belonged in the 16th century to the Earl of Morton; passed in 1857 to T. Gricrson, Esq.; went afterwards, by marriage, to C. Erskine, Esq. , advocate, who rose to the bench and took the title of Lord Tinwald; was subsequently purchased by Dr Hunter, professor of divinity in Edinburgh University, and now belongs to W. Francis Hunter-Arundell, owner of 1947 acres in the shire, valued at £1689 per annum. The mansion, Barjarg Tower, stands amid finely-planted grounds.

ORDNANCE GAZETTEER OF SCOTLAND VOLUME I BY FRANCIS H. GROOME, 1885--