The book Arran; - Cook Clan

THE OWNERS OF ARRAN 59
hereditary sheriffdom of Bute and Arran, which was in
existence at least by 1385,^ and among the perquisites of the
office this John Stewart, the dark-complexioned or ' Black,'
had Corriegills in Arran. To Robert iii. came a John of
similar origin—the name was a favourite one with the
Stewarts at this time ; it was really the King's own name—
and he was placed in Ardgowan in Renfrewshire.^ In the
year of his death (1329) King Robert added to Ardgowan's
possessions the Tenpenny lands of Arran, which included
Kildonan, with the Castle, Two Furlongs (the two Feorlines,
north and south), Dupenny lands ('two-penny' or Dippin),
the three Largies (Largie Beag, Largie Meadhonach ('middle '),
Largie Mor), two Keskedelis (Kiscadale, north and south),
Glenascasdale (Glen Easdale), and Clachan—forty-pound
land of old extent, being the greater part of the southern
segment of the island. Here, then, were two Stewart offsets
in Arran, but in due course it was the fate of the greater
to be absorbed in the less. The sheriff's family had also
lands in Perthshire, but it pleased them to consolidate on
the west, and in 1503 John Stewart of Ardgowan, in exchange
for lands and rents in that county, transferred to his relative
Ninian Stewart, the sheriff, the whole of his Arran estates.
In 1539 the Tenpenny lands and ' the two Corriegills,' in
possession of James Stewart, are stated at a valuation of
£43, 6s. 8d. old extent.^
Now the son of this Ninian, ' ane of the Stuarts of Bute's
blood, callit Mr. James,' as Dean Monro refers to him in 154*9,
was unhappy in his politics. It was the troubled time of
Queen Mary's minority, when political activity craved
careful walking. The situation developed on the lines of
the Lennox Stewarts versus the Hamiltons : Arran being
Regent and having turned Protestant, to veer again back
' Exchequer Rolls, \o\. vi. p. xcviii.
^ The modem representatives of the Ardgowan Stewarts are the Shaw-Stewarts of
Greenock and Blackhall. See Hist. MSS. Commission, Fourth Report,
^ Exchequer Rolls, vol. xvii. ; Libri Respon.sionum, p. 7(J0.
' Argyll Papers.'