The Jam?son Castle on the Isle of Bute

At one time there was a medieval Jamieson Castle on the Isle of Bute, in Scotland, although all that remains now is some of it's ruins.[1] Nowadays, it is generally known as Kilmory (Kilmorie) Castle,[2] in keeping with the generally common tradition of referring to old castles with reference to it's location. The Jamieson Castle was actually the Crowner's Castle and once consisted of several towers and buildings. It was the residence of the Jamiesons of Kilmore, who were Crowners of Bute for several generations.[3]

Originally (late 12th century) a Crowner was someone appointed by the king, as a county or borough officer with the duty of protecting the private property of the royal family and charged with the supervision of pleas of the Crown and the administration of criminal justice. This was a inherited position and early on, sometimes used as one's own surname (mid-13th century). Their duties of the office gradually narrowed and by the late 17 century, the chief function was to determine the cause of death in cases not obviously natural, Coroner, as it is known today.

We do not know very much about the various Jamiesons who served as Crowners on Bute, or their families, especially in the early years. This has a lot to do with the use of 'fixed' surnames, which although appeared occasionally as early as the 10th or 12th centuries, did not begin to be used with any sort of consistency until the 16th century. Then there where language problems, such as the Gaelic name for Jamieson being McKemie, or some variation of that. Sometimes people took an assumed name, like that of their title (Crowner as an example) as a surname and all kinds of other aberrations, all of which has lead to our current confusion. In addition unfortunately, few records of who served or when as successive Crowners, over the years, has been found. We know the position was inherited from generation to generation, however, how exactly that worked out, isn't clear. Listed below are those persons referenced, in some way as "Jam?sons" of Bute.

We do have some information. As an example, in 1506, Robert Jamesoun is enumerated among the so-called "Barons of Bute" who received charters from King James IV. In 1534, apparently the same individual, Robert Neilsoun, is confirmed by James V in the Crownership of the island and Sheriffdom of Bute, which according to the deed of the grant, had been held hereditarily by his family for two hundred years. In 1642, "Robert Jamieson, Crowner," the last of his family in the office, was also an elder in the Church of Rothesay.[4]

There were other Jamiesons of importance on Bute, such as Chamberlain, Sheriff and Provost. For example, we know that Niel Jamieson (Nigellus Jacobi) was the Chamberlain (camerarius) of Bute, and was responsible for the rents paid by tenants in the isle to the Crown. In 1458, when the king was in residence in Rothesay, Neil made such a poor mouth about the bad weather for the past twenty-two years and the loss of his fees from Arran, which had been scoured by raiders in 1444, that the compassionate monarch allowed him an extra payment of 8 chalders, for his vexations in gathering and dispatching the royal rents, or marts, to the courts.[4] Then there was John Jamieson, Provost of Rothesay, who in 1644 along with several other townsmen and adherents of Sir James Lamont of Inveryne and Ascog, were cruelly murdered by the Clan Campbell, near the Castle Hill of Dunoon, on the Cowal peninsula, north east from Bute in Argyll.[5]

We do not know exactly how these various important Jam?sons on Bute were connected, but assume that because of the inheritable nature of their positions, they were probably somehow connected as part of a larger family structure. Besides the high profile important positions, there were many other Jam?sons on Bute, at least from the time of recorded history. We also do not know how these 'other' Jam?sons are connected to these better known and more prominent Jam?sons, or even amongst themselves, nor always what if any their connection with the Jamieson Castle or that matter with the Kilmory tenant farm, although it can be assumed that at least some were directly connected. Eventually Y-DNA testing of descendants might help in determining at least some of these relationships.

The Jamieson Castle was located[6] about 3.5 miles (6.0 km) south and west of Rothesay, near the coastal area of Saint Ninian's Bay, across from the Isle of Inchmarnock.[7] It was in the area generally known at the time as Kilmore (Kilmory),[8] at a point where the Meikle-Kilmory Farm now exists. This area is now in the civil Parish of North Bute, which had traditionally been the Parish of Rothesay, until about the mid 19th century, when Bute's parishes were redrawn, to what they are now.

This area (Kilmory) of Bute was at one time a large tenant farm, owned and occupied by the Jamieson family during at least from the 15th to through the 17th centuries, where several generations of Jamiesons, not only farmed but where the Crowners of Bute lived as well. Their presence here probably included the area somewhat south to include what was called "Little Kilmory" and even the area called "Kilmory Chapel," which itself contains the ruins of an old chapel, now apparently completely indistinguishable. Unlike the castle in Kilmory, there is some evidence[9] to suggest that the actual chapel at Little Kilmory was in use into at least the latter eighteenth century and perhaps as late as the early nineteenth century.[10]

The farm at Meikle-Kilmory is still in existence, as is the smaller farm in the Little Kilmory area, although both are now significantly smaller entities than during the time of the Jamiesons. What little remains of the Castle itself consist of one end of the bottom floor of a rectangular, rubble built building. To this had been added a circular corner tower which similarly now stands to only one story in height. There is no access to the tower from the main block at ground floor level. The rectangular block is aligned NW-SE with the corner tower on its East corner, the South and West corners now being absent. There are two surviving circular gun loops in the tower. The rectangular section of the building was built using clay rather than the lime mortar used in the corner tower. Everything is on the grounds of the current Meikle-Kilmory Farm, along side of the road (A844), in a fairly overgrown and wooded area and stand above a steep slope, next to modern farm buildings.[11] After 1672 the Crowner's duties were transfered to other officers, and in 1748 the inheritable jurisdiction was abolished by Act of Parliament. Eventually the land was acquired by the 'Bute' family in the latter part of the seventeenth century, when the Jamieson family at that time became insolvent.[4]

The Kilmory (Jamieson) Castle is officially a "Scheduled Monument" of national importance as the remains of a medieval castle, as are the remains of the Chapel in the Little Kilmory area. The castle's position on the top of a steep slope suggests that defense was always an important consideration, even before the addition of the corner tower. It is of particular interest in that the walls of the main block are clay bonded. The remains are of importance to the history of Bute as well as that of medieval building techniques.[12] This castle is not officially a tourist site and really not much of interest to anyone, anymore, except maybe the occasional Jamieson who might visit Bute on holiday. Nor is the site easily accessible. It is in an area of the farm, although near the road, some what overgrown and ignored. The remains of the Chapel in Little Kilmory are almost completely forgotten and nowadays seem to go completely unmentioned.