The estate of Pennyland is in the parish of Watten.
In 2002 it was owned by Elizabeth Swanson
It is probable that the Caithness branch of the Murrays came from the Morays or Murrays who settled in Sutherlandshire at a remote period, and who figure largely in the feuds which form the history of that county in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The principal Caithness families of the name are those of Pennyland, Clairden, and Castlehill, all of them nearly allied.
I. The first "MURRAY OF PENNYLAND" was WILLIAM RONALDSON or MURRAY, who, in 1549, got a charter from the Bishop of Caithness of tenements in Thurso, and who got in 1559 a charter of Pennyland to himself and his wife, Isobel Dundas. Pennyland had previously belonged to the Bishopric, and when, in 1557, Bishop Robert gave a grant of Bishop lands to John, Earl of Sutherland, there is mention of "the lands, not named, of John McEwen and William Ranaldson, except the crofts of Scrabster". In 1560 William Ranaldson of Pennyland was witness to a charter of the lands of Forss and Baillie, granted by John, Earl of Sutherland, to David Sinclair of Dun, and in the same year he was witness to a charter, also by the Earl, of the lands of Westerseat, near Wick, to Hutcheon Murray, alias Pyper, from whom came the name of "Pyper's croft", as the lands were afterwards and still are called.
William Ranaldson or Murray had two sons: -
III. JOHN MURRAY OF PENNYLAND got a charter in 1609 from Alexander, Bishop of Caithness, to himself in liferent and to his son, William, in fee. In this charter he is designed as son of Walter Murray. He had two sons: - IV. WILLIAM MURRAY OF PENNYLAND was succeeded by his brother, John.
V. JOHN MURRAY OF PENNYLAND obtained in 1630 from John, Bishop of Caithness, a precept of clare constat as heir to his brother-german, William. In 1663 he had a wadset of Scotscalder. In 1674 there is a charter by him and his wife, Margaret Murchison, and his name is of frequent occurrence in the kirk-session records of Thurso as an elder. He had five sons and two daughters: -
By his first marriage he had a son and three daughters: -
James Murray of Pennyland was succeeded by Patrick, eldest son of Richard Murray of Scotscalder and his wife, Jean Smith. Scotscalder had a son, John, who is mentioned as the "eldest son" of him and Jean Cunningham, but he may only have been eldest son of that marriage, and may have died before the succession to Pennyland had opened by the death of James Murray.
VII. PATRICK MURRAY OF PENNYLAND married --, daughter of James Cunningham of Geise. In 1700 he acquired the right of reversion of the wadset of Scotscalder, held by his grandfather, John. From 1696 to 1698 he was one of the commissioners for the county in the Scottish Parliament; and in 1701 he entered into a feu-contract with Ulbster in regard to Scotscalder. He had seven sons and two daughters: -
VIII. JAMES MURRAY OF PENNYLAND was served heir to his father in 1729. He married Helen, daughter of William Miller of Mugdrum, and appears to have had no issue. He was dead in 1731.
IX. RICHARD MURRAY OF PENNYLAND married Jean, sister of William Budge of Toftingall, W.S., and had a son and two daughters: -
In 1762 James Murray, described as Surveyor of the Customs, resided at Pennyland with his wife, Barbara, daughter of James Murray of Clairden, and two sisters, and in January 1770 he died, and was buried in Pennyland Chapel. Who he was is uncertain, and it is conjectured that he may have been a second son of Richard Murray. No mention is made of his having children. Bishop Forbes, who does ample justice to his hosts, mentions that be passed the 5th of August 1762 at Pennyland, "and most elegantly was he entertained there".
XI. JANET MURRAY OF PENNYLAND, and heiress of Toftingall under the entail of that estate by James Budge, married, in 1761, Dr. Stuart Threipland of Fingask, and these properties are now possessed by her grandson, Sir Patrick Murray Threipland Budge of Fingask and Toftingall, Baronet.
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