Home / Scottish Clans - Histories, Tartans Crests and much more / Clan Durie (Tartans, Crest) and The Story Behind

Clan Durie (Tartans, Crest) and The Story Behind

By ScotsTee Shop

Durie

Clan Crest: A crescent, Or

Clan Motto: Confido (I trust)

Origin of Name: Gaelic place name – ‘Black Stream’

Lands: Fife

Region: Lowlands

Clan Chief: Andrew Durie of Durie

⇨ View All Durie Tartan Products

Durie Clan History

The Duries are a venerable Scottish family. We can trace our ancestors back to the 1260s. The name derives from the lands of Durie in Scoonie, Fife, which were granted to Gilbert son of Robert, Earl of Strathearn by Regnold le Cheine, as confirmed by the Earl of Carrick, son of Duncan 1st Earl of Fife. 'Durie' is a Gaelic place name that may mean 'black stream,' possibly referring to Fife's rich coal seams. There have long been stories about the name originating in France as 'Du Roi,' but these have now been disproven.

The Abbey of Dunfermline

In the 1500s, the family rose to prominence. Robert Durie of that ilk, who held the lands in Scoonie, and Andrew and George, who were archdeacons at St. Andrews under their uncle, the infamous Cardinal Beaton, were the sons of John Durie of Craigluscar, an estate near Dunfermline, Fife. In controversial circumstances, Andrew later became Abbot of Melrose and then Bishop of Galloway, and George was the powerful Abbot of Dunfermline in name from 1527 and fully appointed by James V ( main image) after Beaton's murder in 1539. He was also one of the judges for Patrick Hamilton, one of the first Protestant martyrs.

Nepotism was common in those days; George gave lands to relatives, legitimized children, and made his nephew, David Durie of that Ilk, the Hereditary Bailie of Dunfermline, but he also tried and executed his cousin, John Durie, for heresy. However, John was rescued by the Earl of Arran and went on to become one of the first Protestant divines and a minister at St Giles in Edinburgh.

Dunfermline was the seat of power in Scotland at the time, housing Parliament, the Church, and a royal palace comparable to Westminster in London. George Durie was a prominent politician as well as a senior churchman. He was repeatedly elected as a Lord of the Articles, whose job it was to decide which bills to bring before Parliament, and he served in Parliament during the 1540s. It was thanks to him that Regent Arran refused to accept the English title of Earl of Hertford, causing the battle of Pinkie in 1547.

Two links are a digression, but they are historical in nature: Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven was killed in that battle. He was married to Lord Erskine's daughter, Margaret, who was once James V's mistress and mother of James Stewart, Mary Queen of Scots' half-brother and her First Minister, who later became Regent Moray. Margaret Douglas was also the mother of Catherine Douglas, who married David Durie of the same ilk in 1506. George Douglas, also known as the Postulate, was married to Margaret Durie. He used her husband Lord Darnley's knife to murder Mary Queen of Scots' Italian secretary Rizzio. He is also said to have secretly married the Queen.

During the Protestant Reformation, George Durie fled to France and arranged for the jewel-encrusted reliquary containing the head of St Margaret, wife of Malcolm Canmore, Malcolm III, to be transported to Utrecht and later Douai in France, where it was last seen just before the French Revolution.

There were three main land-holding branches of Duries at this point in the 16th century. The Duries of that Ilk held the lands known as Durie in Scoonie, which had been elevated to the status of a barony in 1509. Jonet Durie, Robert Durie's daughter, inherited and married Henry Kemp, a favorite of James V, who changed his name to Durie in accordance with the entail on the land and title. Their grandson, also named Robert Durie of that Ilk, sold the lands in 1614 to Sir Alexander Gibson, who took the judicial title Lord Durie when he became a senior judge. The Durie estate was sold to the Christie family three generations later.

Meanwhile, the Craigluscar family produced several notable Duries, including George, Captain in King Louis XIV's Scots Guard in France and Provost of Dunfermline. This line was passed down to Eliza Durie, who became heiress after her brother died and married Dr Andrew Dewar. Raymond Varley Dewar Durie, who revived the Chiefship and re-matriculated the Arms in 1988, was descended from the Dewar Duries. Our current Chief is Andrew Maule Dewar Durie of Durie.

Abbot George gave his legitimized son, Peter, the lands of Grange around Burntisland and Kinghorn in the 16th century. This briefly included Rossend Castle. The Duries of Grange in the 1750s claimed the titles of Lord Rutherford and Earl Teviot, but in the late 18th Century the claims were eventually repudiated and the male line ended with David, the last ‘Lord Rutherford’.

Over time, dunes have become widely dispersed. The Duryea family, who arrived in New Jersey from the Low Countries in the 1600s, is likely to be descended from the Duries, who settled in France but left due to their Protestant faith, but this has yet to be confirmed by DNA analysis. The first gasoline-powered automobiles in America were built and sold by two Duryea brothers.

Duries are still found on the Continent, with some going by the names Dury, Durrie, Duree, or Du Ry, and there are many in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies, and elsewhere. Apart from the'stay-at-homes' in the East of Scotland, there are distinct groups in the North East, the West Country, and London.

Why is Durie a family rather than a clan? We are armed and have a Chief, but the Duries were never part of the Highland Clan system. We are proud of our Lowland heritage and, before that, a Pictish past that predates Normans, Gaels, and even Romans, thanks to the Celtic Earls of Strathearn.

Our website is part of a larger project to record as thoroughly as possible the Durie family's genealogy, to document the various migrations and movements that led us to live all over the world, and to create and preserve a Durie document archive.

Clan Durie Places & People

Clan Durie Individuals

Gordon Durie was born in 1965.

Former Scottish professional footballer known as 'Jukebox' after the TV show 'Jukebox Jury' is a striker. He played for East Fife, Hibernian, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Rangers, and Hearts during his career. He also earned 43 Scotland caps, scoring seven goals.

His most successful period came while playing for Rangers, where he was a member of the 9-league winning side in 1996-1997. His most famous match was a hat-trick in the 1995-96 Scottish Cup final, which helped Rangers defeat Hearts 5-1. Many of his exploits have gone unnoticed because Rangers had such a talented squad during his time at Ibrox. He is regarded as one of Rangers' most underappreciated players.

Durie Tartan

After the matriculation of the Durie Arms was updated with the Court of the Lord Lyon in 1988, Harry Lindley of Kinloch Anderson designed the Durie tartan for family use.

Tartan Durie

Clan Durie Crest & Coats of Arms

The Durie Crest

Worn by everyone with the same name and ancestry

Description of the Crest:

Or a crescent

Coat of Arms of Durie

A word about Coats of Arms:

A coat of arms is granted to an individual under Scottish heraldic law (with the exception of civic or corporate arms). A 'family coat of arms' does not exist. With the exceptions noted above, the arms depicted below are personal arms. Only the person who has been granted these weapons has the right to use them.