The Watsons of Cranston (Part 1)
Reportedly the ancestors of the Watsons of Saughton, Chiefs of the name in Scotland.
In her paper “Watsons of Saughton: Tombstone in the South Aisle”, A. S. Cowper in her opening paragraph states that:-
“From the 16th to the early 20th century, Saughton was an important estate in the parish of Corstorphine. The Watson family, supposed to be descended from the Watsons of Cranston Riddel in Midlothian (14th Century), appear in Saughton in 1524 when John Watson has a tack of land from the Abbot of Holyrood.”
A Google search for the phrase “Watson of Cranston” returns results primarily for the name “William Watson of Cranston”. Job done! If only it was always this simple.
According to the “Scottish Arms: A Collection of Armorial Bearings A.D. 1370-1678 Vol. II” published in 1881, William Watson of Cranston (the father) was regranted the lands of Cranstonriddel under the reign of King Robert II of Scotland in the 13th year of his reign, 1384, and with the condition that failing a male heir this would pass to Alexander de Moravia.
From the same source, early in his reign, Robert III ‘ King of Scots’ about 1392, “confirmed to William Mautalent (Maitland), son and heir of Thomas Mautalent of Halsington, and Elizabeth his wife, daughter of William called Watson, the lands of Shillinglaw, Traquair, and Innerleithen, settled on them by Thomas on their marriage.”
In 1407, William Watson of Cranston, had a crown charter confirmed having purchased Traquair and Shillinglaw from the Mautalents/Maitlands and in 1409, the Maitlands granted annual-rents from the lands at Griestoun to Marion De Craigie and her son William Watson. The assumption at this stage is that Marion De Craigie was the wife of William Watson of Cranston, but could also have been his mother.
In 1410, during the reign of James I ‘King of Scots’, Willam Watson (son of William Watson of Cranston) along with his wife Jonet Caverhill (daughter of John of Caverhill) received a charter in which Robert Stewart, 1st duke of Albany, whilst acting as Regent to the young King, granting the them the lands of Traquair and Schelynglaw which has previously been possessed by William’s father, William Watson of Cranston.
The same charter, states that William Watson of Cranston (the father) resigned the lands to The Duke of Albany in the presence of many nobles and witnesses in Edinburgh. The reason for this is unknown, but importantly we know therefore that William Watson of Cranston was still alive in 1410.
It was included that should William and Jonet fail to produce a male heir, the lands would pass in the first instance to Alexander Murray, son of “John Murray de la Blackbarony”, then “Robert Watson, brother of William, and then Roger Watson, son of William's uncle (unnamed) and therefore his cousin, and their legitimate male heirs.
So there appears to be a bit of wheeling and dealing going on here. The lands of Traquair and Shillinglaw are gifted to William Mautalent and Elizabeth Watson upon their marriage by William’s father Thomas De Mautalent. These are then purchased by Elizabeth’s grandfather, William Watson of Cranston and later resigned them and they were immediately granted by the King’s Regent to his son William Watson and Janet Caverhill, Elizabeth’s mother and father.
Unfortunately it’s at this point the trail goes cold for now, at least two generations before we first see Richard Watson of Saughton in 1537 and with no obvious connection between the two families except A. S. Cowper’s statement.
We can only hope that examining the Watson papers within the Morton Collection at some future date will shed more light on this.
The Lands of Cranston, Traquair and Shillinglaw
Cranston also spelt Cranstoun, was a castle belonging to the Cranston family, although nothing now remains. In the 12th century it was divided into two manors, Upper Cranston and Nether Cranston, possibly by Hugo Riddel de Cranston and which most likely then lead to the later name of Cranston Riddel.
The earliest mention of Traquair is in 1107, when Alexander I stayed here, and it was apparently used as a hunting lodge by many of his successors and descendants
Shillinglaw, also known as Schelynglaw or Schelinlaw, was a tower house that belonged primarily to the Murray and Stewart families and was part of the wider Traquair Estate. Its name means ‘hill (law) where grain is winnowed’ from Scots sheeling, shelling husks of corn.