The Leslies of Kincraigie branched from the Balquhain line when William Leslie, second son of Sir William Leslie, 4th Baron of Balquhain bought the lands of Kincraigie from his brother Alexander 5th of Balquhain in 1470.
According to Col. Leslie in The Family of Leslie Vol 3, Patrick Leslie,the 5th laird of Kincraigie, had two sons, William who went to Barbados and Patrick who went to Ireland. Being a descendent of the William Leslie of Barbados, I was always interested in finding the Kincraigie homesite in Scotland. Research said the Kincraigie lands were in Alford, then this summer after several times looking for the homesite, perseverance paid off.
Led by Sebastian Leslie, who is an expert in Leslies of Aberdeenshire, we drove to Alford and criss-crossed the area where he remembered seeing a ruin. One of the small roads had a drive leading up to a small castle ruins. Adjacent to the ruins was a house and the owner confirmed that this was indeed the ruins of the Kincraigie castle. Upon hearing that my family had Kincraigie connections, he retrieved two documents. One was an announcement of the property going up for sale, and another the history of the property. With his permission, I made digital copies of each and have added them to the Foundation’s archives.
Visiting the Kincraigie ruins was also an incredibly special occasion for my daughter and my granddaughter, as this added a place to the stories of our Leslie ancestors in Scotland.
According to a document on the history of the property, the 52 by 20-foot structure (as measured in 1808) was constructed of local stone and sat on an estate of about 4000 acres. History has it that the house was destroyed by Hanoverian troops in the aftermath of Culloden in about 1746-48. However, it seems that a 27-room mansion was built on the property by the current owners, the Tonley family.
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