McKerrell

This name may have several derivations, but there seems little doubt that they are of very ancient Celtic origin. Black suggests that it is ‘Macfhearghil, son of Fearghal’. According to O’Hart’s Irish Pedigrees, they descend from Lochlan MacCairhill Roidamna, the future king of Ulster, who fled to Scotland after defeat in battle in 1095. The name is found very early in Carrick, and Recherus MecMaccharil witnessed a confirmation by the Earl of Carrick of a charter granted in the reign of William the Lion. The name also arises as Carleton, a place name found around Kirkcudbrightshire, Wigtownshire and Ayrshire. This is recorded as ‘Cairlitoun’ in the Whithorn Priory rentals. John Mckerrell of Hillhouse, the first laird, was the grandson of Martin Mckerrell (born c. 1490). Martin was directly descended from Sir John Mckirel, the ‘chevalier Ecossais’ who distinguished himself at the Battle of Otterburn in 1388 by wounding and taking prisoner Rouel de Percy, second in command of the English host. John, fourth of Hillhouse, married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Wallace, Bishop of the Isles, in 1660, and built a fine new mansion house, replacing the older seat. John, eighth of Hillhouse, born in 1762, is credited with bringing the silk industry to Paisley, and his eldest son, William, was the colonel of the Paisley Volunteers, the first volunteer regiment formed to resist the threatened French Revolutionary invasion of 1792. Colonel Mckerrell’s son sought his fortune in India and was master of the mint at Madras. Robert, thirteenth of Hillhouse, sold the estates in 1895. He was a prison commissioner for Scotland and a member of the Royal Company of Archers (the monarch’s bodyguard in Scotland). His sister, Henrietta, married Henry, Count Bentink. Charles, fifteenth of Hillhouse, returned in 1990 to the family lands, and established his seat at Loch-maben in Dumfriesshire.