Muirhead

Clan Crest: Two hands supporting a sword erect in pale, Proper

Clan Motto: Auxilio Dei (By the help of God)

Origin of Name: Place name

Lands: Bothwell

Clan Chief: None, armigerous clan

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Muirhead Clan History

Muirhead is a place name and is said to be one of the oldest families in Lanarkshire. This is a historic county in Scotland's central Lowlands.

Lanarkshire

It was a Norman custom to take surnames based on their location. As landowners became known by the names of the lands they owned, tenants living on the land adopted the name as well.

The name has variously appeared as: Moirheid, Moorehead, Moorhead, Mored, Morehead, Morheid, Mourheid, Muirhed, Muirheid, Muirheyd, Murehed, Murehede, Mureheide, Murhed, Murhede, Murheed, Murheid, Muyrheid, Mwirheid, Mwreheid, Mwrhed, Mwrheid, Mwrheyd and Mwrhied. As the branches of the family moved, so did the spelling and pronunciation.

Muirhead's origins are unlikely to be solely Gaelic or Norman, but rather a combination of the two. The sea is referred to as'muir' in Gaelic. Irish and Welsh are both muir. Because the second half of the name is English rather than Gaelic, saying the head of the sea would be incorrect in Gaelic. Is Muir truly Gaelic, or did it come from Moor? There is also the possibility that Mhuir is the Gaelic word for the Mediterranean Sea, which merged with the Norman word and was then shortened. Muirgheadh is also the Gaelic word for a fishing spear, and symbols of fishing can be found in some Muirhead heraldry.

There are several places in Scotland called Muirhead, including the hamlet of Muirhead in the parish of Kettle, district of Cupar, Fife. Muirhead is also a hamlet in the parish of Liff, Benvie, and Invergowrie, Forfar. Then there's one in Cadder parish, near the northern tip of Lanark county or shire. This family is thought to have originated near the latter village on the southern border of the Scottish Highlands.

These are the lands of Lauchope, which are widely regarded as the origin of the surname, and historical evidence supports this.

Bothwell and Launchope Baronies

According to Alexander Nisbet, the first public record of anyone named Muirhead was a deed of land granted by "Archibaldus Comes de Douglas, Dominus Galovidiae & Bothwel, dicto uo Willielmo de Muirhead" in 1393.

Sir William de Muirhead had a reputation for being a man of great integrity. He became laird of Muirhead of that-ilk, de Muirhead, after being granted land. King Robert III also bestowed the honor of Knighthood on him.

Muirhead was a village in the Barony of Bothwell, which was ruled by the Norman, David de Oliphard (variously Oliphant) during the mid-12th century. According to Nisbet, the Moorheads were 'fixed' in Bothwell before the Oliphants took over the Barony. The fact that the Muirheads did not take the Oliphants' arms indicates that they were well-off and indeed fixed. This was also true for the Murrays, who owned land nearby. Or the Douglases when they inherited the Barony of Bothwell. The Muirheads remained consistent and distinct.

The lands of Lauchope and Lauchope House were located in the Parish of Bothwell. And it was Lauchope who was the first to be associated with the name Muirhead.

The story of how the Muirheads came to own the land of Lauchope, which was just to the south of Muirhead, is an intriguing one that has become part of family legend.

The infamous robber and killer Bartram de Shotts was defeated and killed by the laird of Muirhead. Bartram had terrorized the region for years, to the point where the government issued a proclamation promising land to anyone who found and killed him. According to legend, Muirhead set a trap for Bartram by stacking a large pile of heather at the location where this notorious villian used to get a drink. Bertram was initially wary of this large pile and examined it carefully, but as time passed, he grew accustomed to it and stopped inspecting it.

As Bertram lay on the bank of the stream to get a drink of water, Muirhead quickly attacked him, slashing Bertram's hamstrings - just behind his knees, Bertram was helpless.

Bertram is said to have laughed at Muirhead, who is said to have told him before beheading him with his sword, "Lauch up, for its yer last laugh!" Legend has it that this is where the name Lauchope originated.

The laird carried the severed head to the king, who, according to the proclamation, granted him a charter and the interment of the lands that would later be known as Lachop. He also added to his arms the three acorns in the eed, on the bend dexter; for crest, two hands supporting a sword in pale, proper; and the motto, Auxilio Dei, which the family still bears today.

James Murehead of Lawchope's arms

The Muirheads and Lauchope House

Prior to 1570, when it was destroyed, the Muirhead family owned Lauchope House, which was later owned by the Roberton family. Because James Muirhead of Lauchope provided shelter to his brother-in-law, Hamilton of Bothellwelhaugh, the assassin of James, Earl of Moray and Regent of Scotland in January 1570, the house and all the family charters were burned by English dragoons.

Lauchope House Ruins

Sir William Muirhead's descendants kept the name Lauchope (also spelled Lachop, Lauchop, and Lauchope) until 1738, when the senior Muirhead branch died out. Cadet units sprouted up in Bredisholme and Herbertshire.

The Battle of Flodden and the Muirheads. 9 September 1513

Because of the battle of Flooden, in which the Muirhead Laird/Clan Chief and over 200 of his name were killed, the adult male population of the Muirheads was decimated.

The Following are some examples: John Muirhead, Laird of Muirhead, who fell at the Battle of Flodden (1513), and two hundred in his own name, while defending King James IV of Scotland against England. It says Bertram was killed at Flodden, which contradicts the legend of Bartram de Shotts.

Sir Walter Scott quoted the ballad in his "Minstreley of the Scottish Border" as a fragment of an ancient ballad related to the Battle of Flodden, in which King James IV (1488-1513) of Scotland was killed. The ballad was rescued from obscurity in Portugal by J. Grosset Muirhead, the builder of Glasgow's oldest house, Bredisholm House, and is now on display at the city's oldest house, built in 1471 by Bishop Grosset Muirhead, the First Provands Lordship of Glasgow.

THE MUIRHEAD LAIRD

Before the king, in order to study

The powerful Laird of Muirhead

Using the same two-handed muckle sword,

That Bartram had dropped dead.

He swore he'd lose his right.

Ilka field to field;

Neither can he be moved from his liege's right.

His final gasp should yield.

A hundred mair of his own name,

From Torwood to Clyde,

They promised that no,er gang would go hame.

However, a' dee by his syde.

And miraculously, they kept their troth;

This robust royal band

Rush would doon the brae with a pith.

That nane could withstand them.

They dealt a bloody blow to Mony.

The like was never seen before.

And had that braw leader not fallen?

They'd never killed the King."

The Windyhills Muirheads

Windyhills is a village in the Dumfriesshire district of Closeburn. It was widely assumed that the Muirheads of Windyhills were unrelated to the Muirheads of Lauchope, Bredisholm, and so on. However, there is evidence that various individuals known to be Muirheads of Lauchope family members purchased and owned lands not only in Lanarkshire, but also in Dumfriesshire over the years. John Muirhead of Lauchope and Bullis is known to have purchased land in Galloway, including land in Wigtown. Also there is no village called ‘Muirhead’. The family was known as 'Muirhead of Windyhills'.

On October 15, 1490, in Edinburgh, a charter was recorded that transferred lands in the sheriffdom of Roxburgh from Robert Murehed of Le Wyndehillis to his son, George'servant' of the King. Bishop Robert Murehede of Glasgow and Dean Richard Murehede of Glasgow, Clerk of the Rollo and Register of the Council, were among those who witnessed this charter. On 14 February 1486, a George de Murhede was also mentioned as a witness to another charter.

On March 29, 1502, John Murehede of Bulleis was granted a charter for lands in Wigtoun.

The Herbitshire Division

The Herbertshire branch changed its name to Morehead, and the first person recorded to use the name was Thomas (or possibly William) Morehead, a successful London merchant and a descendant of the Muirheads of Lauchope in Lanarkshire (his grandfather had been factor at Lauchope). He was one of the first residents of London's Cavendish Square and died without incident.

Cavendish Square residents Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Morehead

His great nephew William Morehead married Isabella, daughter of John Lockhart of Castlehill (another prominent Lanarkshire family - see Lockhart) and great grand-daughter of Sir John Lockhart, Lord Castlehill, in 1768 and became the heir to the Herbertshire Castle estate in Lanarkshire. William Morehead was a founding member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and was closely associated with much of lowland Scottish society through kinship, marriage, and association. The Herbertshire estate was kept in the family until 1835.

In the DNB entry for Francis, Lord Jeffrey, the Scottish critic and lawyer (he was editor of the Edinburgh Review), William Morehead is described as his "genial" uncle who provided a welcome home for the young Francis Jeffrey at Herbertshire Castle. "One of the house's charms was a good library, where Jeffrey expanded his reading and self-culture."

Castle Herbertshire

Bredisholme's Muirheads

"argent, on a bend azure, three acorns or, a crescent for difference," according to the Muirhead of Bredisholme Arms. The crescent is the traditional cadency mark for a second son. Although Paul does not record the Muirheads of Lauchope's (the senior branch of the family's) Arms.

The Lachop/Logie Muirheads

Walter Grosset, of Logie, a large estate owned by the Grosset family from 1711 to 1760 in the village of Crossford, near Dunfermline, outlined the Muirhead family history and the inter-familial connections with the Grosset family of Logie in his volume, 'An Account of the Family of the Muirheads of Lachop.." n/d., circa 1740, in a similar fashion.

Euphemia Muirhead, also known as Lady Logie, was the eldest of six children born to James Muirhead and Helen Stewart of Bredisholm, and she married Archibald Grosset of Logie in 1707. When her four brothers failed to produce heirs, the Muirhead line of descent followed the female line, and one of her sons, James Grosset, a merchant prince of Lisbon, Portugal, bought the Bredisholm estate from his uncle, John Muirhead of Bredisholm [1676-1762], and assumed the Muirhead surname and coat of arms for himself 'and his posterity' in 1754. Dr. James Steuart Muirhead-Gould, one of the clan's current elders, is a descendant of John Grosset Muirhead. Logie has been in the Hunt family's possession since 1788.

Other Famous Muirheads

In the United States, Morehea is more commonly used.

Bishop Andrew Muirhead (1455-1473) affixed a representation of his heraldic arms to the northside of the Nave of Glasgow Cathedral (which he adorned during his tenure as Bishop), which consisted primarily of the Murihead family's accepted heraldic devices: three acorns on a bend, but it also included the image of salmon fishing.

The Coat of Arms of Bishop Andrew Muirhead can still be seen. A lot of Profit Peden stories come from John Muirhead, who was a Peden follower from Cambusnethan or Shotts parish in Lanarkshire. Pedan prayed with Muirhead's family near the end of his life; he and John were close friends. This was sometime in the 1680s. Find out more about Profit Peden >

James and John Muirhead were exiled to the English colonies in North America in 1685 after refusing to swear allegiance to King Charles II, an avowed Papist, and fighting for religious freedom as Covenanters at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge.

North Carolina's Father, John Motley Morehead

John Motley Morehead's engraving. The image is courtesy of the North Carolina Museum of History.

From 1841 to 1845, John Motley Morehead was the 29th Governor of the United States state of North Carolina. He has been dubbed "the Father of Modern North Carolina."

Additional Reading

Nisbet's (1742) A System Of Heraldry, Volume II: Appendix, pages 258-268; Walter Grosett of Logie Burke's Landed Gentry's (1846) An Account Of The Muirheads Of Lachop, by Walter Grosett of Logie Burke's Landed Gentry, John Motley Morehead's The Morehead Family of North Carolina And Virginia (1921). Ray Jerome Muirhead's The Henry Muirheid/Muirhead Family Of Virginia & Mississippi (1989). Susan Moorhead / Nunes, Tree Top Baby: A Family Tree Of Moorhead And Strong, Volume I (1984).