TEALING ARMORIAL STONE

The Tealing Armorial stone dates from the early 16th century and was originally set in the walls of Tealing House, a fortified towerhouse in the hamlet of that name in Forfar, Scotland. The Maxwells of Tealing were a cadet of the principal house of Caerlaverock. Sir Eustace Maxwell was the progenitor of the branch. He married the young- est daughter and co-heiress of Sir Hugh Gifford of Yester and got with her the considerable barony of Tealing to the north of Dundee. Sir Eustace was the uncle of the first Lord Maxwell, and his family be- came the most northerly of the landed Maxwells.

The armorial stone is the earliest surviving example of a Maxwell armorial complete with crest and supporters. The carving is still crisp, although naïve, and the mason had problems with the letter- ing. Having overcompressed the initial letters, he had to change the motto in order to balance the achievement. The motto should have read “I BYD YE FAIR.” The arms are clearly those of the Lord Maxwell to whom the Tealing Maxwells remained loyal. The flat area on the top of the stone served as a plinth for the arms of the Tealing Maxwells who’s saltire was surmounted with a golden heart and had a crest of a buck’s head, although by 1672 they had changed it to a hawk facing to the right.

 When the barony of Tealing was sold in the 18th century, the new owners, the Scrymgoers, who were the Provosts of Dundee, removed the armorial to the Tealing Churchyard where it is set into the Maxwell grave plot.

— Anthony Maxwell, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland\