Lord Lindsay of the Byres
The oldest of the Lindsay family’s titles, and the name these stays take.
Lord Lindsay of the Byres is the oldest of the family’s titles, granted in 1445 — two centuries before Lord Parbroath, and longer still before Lord Kilbirnie and Drumry and Viscount of Garnock. Byres, an old Scots word for a cattle shed, gave its name to the barony near Upper Largo, Fife, the family have held ever since. It is the name this website takes.
The earldom of Lindsay followed in 1633, held for over a century and a half alongside the ancient Earldom of Crawford. When the direct male line ended in the nineteenth century, the House of Lords confirmed the title’s descent, in 1878, to the Bethune family, who carry it today. The present Earl is James Lindesay-Bethune, sixteenth of the line; his son and heir bears the courtesy title Viscount of Garnock.
Lahill House, near Upper Largo, has been the family seat throughout — and gives its name, in turn, to the Bothy at Lahil, a short walk from where the family still live.
Four names, one family
Each of the Lindsay family’s titles lends its name to a place to stay. De Byres is the eldest.
- Lord Lindsay of the Byres1445
- Lord Parbroath1633
- Lord Kilbirnie and Drumry1703
- Viscount of Garnock1703
A working estate
The Lindsay estate at the heart of Fife is a working landscape: arable fields running out towards the Firth of Forth, farm steadings, hedgerows and woodland, and the estate’s own horses.
Stalking is part of the way the land is looked after, and the family’s own collection of paintings hangs in the houses in which guests stay. It is a place to be looked after, and to look after in turn.