Identifier: historyoffifepit00pitc (find matches)
Title: The history of the Fife Pitcairns : with transcripts from old charters
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors: Pitcairn, Constance, 1853-1916
Subjects: Pitcairn family
Publisher: Edinburgh : William Blackwood and Sons
Contributing Library: National Library of Scotland
Digitizing Sponsor: National Library of Scotland

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bert Pitcairn became successor to George Durie in1561, as Commendator of Dunfermline (though only Abbotby courtesy), George Durie having fled to France in 1560during the troubles of the Reformation ; and in the follow-ing year Pitcairn was appointed Commendator, at the ageof forty-one, with entire control of the revenues of theAbbey. The monasteries were dissolved by Parliament in 1560,and therefore when Robert Pitcairn was made Commen-dator, the jurisdiction or power of regality, along with thelands of the monastery, devolved upon him; thus he ob-tained a right to its lands and rents, which he held untilhis death in 1584. 3 Pitcairns official residence was situated close to the oldchurchyard of the Abbey, in Maygate: it is still inhabitedby two families, and in perfect preservation. Dr Henderson^in his Annals of Dunfermline, believes the house to have 1 From the Dunfermline Cartulary. Reg. Mag. Sig., lib. xxxv. No. 47. 2 Reg. Mag. Sig., lib. xxx. No. 637. 3 Chamberss Gazetteer, 1842.
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LORD ROBERT PITCAIRN. 81 been anciently a friary—probably a convent of Blackfriars—and adds that the building may date back as far as thethirteenth century. The cruciform plan may yet be traced,and the doorway in the Maygate appears to have beenstruck out of the north transept. A piece of ground ad-joining, on the east, is mentioned in an old charter as theFriars Yard or Garden. The interior is divided into many small, and some curi-ously constructed rooms, the kitchen having a stone-vaultedroof. The staircase is a narrow winding stone one, andthe story goes that some time ago, when alterations werebeing made, a skeleton was found built into the wall.xThe ghost of a lady is also supposed to have been seenat the entrance of the old stone kitchen by a servant sometime back. Anciently the house is said to have been occupied bythe Abbots of the Monastery, and in the reign of JamesVI., Robert Pitcairn, Commendator, and then Secretary ofState, certainly lived there when he was in Dunfer

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