McKerlie family genealogy

Of Galloway, Scotland

Crest: A Roman soldier on his march, with a standard and utensils all ppr.

Lochlan MacCairill,[1] the future king, or as also styled the Roydamna or royal heir apparent of Ulster (then reduced in size), was in A.D. 1095 defeated in a great battle at Ard-Achadh (now Ardagh, in the co. Antrim), and had to flee; when he passed over to Carrick, in Ayrshire, Scotland, on the borders of Galloway, as now known, but in early times was part of it. From him this family is descended.

While in one account he is stated to have been slain, with a vast number of his followers; in others it is not so, which agrees with the statement still told in the locality where the battle was fought, and is fully supported by the McKerlie history. The lands obtained in Scotland got from him the name of “Cairilton,” which, from the difference in dialect, was locally pronounced “Cair-le-ton,” meaning the abode of Cairill. In the ancient Irish and Scottish Gaelic, C is hard, and when the Celtic clergy of the Irish-Scottish Church were supplanted by those of the Church from England, many of the priests, etc., being foreigners, they wrote the names in the registers, etc., as they sounded to the ear, and thus in this family Cairle became spelled “Kerlie,” about the end of the 13th century. The chief of the family then possessed and occupied the large and almost impregnable castle of Cruggleton, in Galloway, about 50 miles S.E. from Cairilton, which, with extensive lands, they had wrested from the Norsemen. It was some six miles from the famous “Candida Casa,” or Priory of Whithorn.

The McKerlies were of importance in Galloway for centuries. In the Crusades, one of them in Palestine was made a knight of the most ancient and highest order—that of “Saint Constantine,” the insignia of which became the family Crest, and is still used. Another of them was the constant, closest, and last friend of the immortal Sir William Wallace,[2] in the struggle for Scottish independence. They were together on the 5th July, 1305, waiting for Robert the Bruce; and while sleeping, were betrayed by an attendant, and Sir John Stewart, alias Menteith of Arran.

William MacCairill or McKerlie was slain, and Wallace captured. His only son (William) carried on the line, which in direct male descent was until 1855 represented by the late Captain Robert McKerlie; and now (1888), by his eldest surviving son.

The descendants of offshoots of the family are to be found in Galloway, Ayrshire, etc., and in the North of Ireland. Some of them still spell the name with the letter C.

The chief family suffered greatly at the Reformation.

Notes

[1] MacCairill: This name has been anglicised MacKerell, McKerrell, and McKerlie. The Armorial Bearings of “McKerrell,” of Ayrshire are—Arms: Az. on a fess or, three lozenges gu. a bordure engr. ar. Crest: A Roman soldier on his march, with a standard and utentsils all ppr. Motto: Dulcis pro patria labor.

[2] Wallace: To show the strong feeling which Wallace had for his friend, in 1297, he specially marched a force into Galloway to retake Cruggleton Castle for Wm. McCairill alias McKerlie. It was considered one of the most daring of his exploits, for the castle was considered impregnable, and had to be approached from the sea, and the cliff of over 150 feet high climbed. This was done at night under the guidance of the owner, his companions being Wallace and Stephen. Once up, and over the rampart, the sentinels were slain; the drawbridge reached and let down; Wallace blew his horn for his men in ambush to rush in, and the English garrison of sixty men slain, only two priests and a woman being spared. … The castle was 1½ acres within the walls. It was captured from the McKerlie ancestor through the treachery of a guest, Sir John, alias Lord Soulis, a secret adherent of Edward I., of England.