An extract from my book, “The History of Crossbasket Castle”…..

1930 – Thomas Findlay, owner of Crossbasket this year remarried (apparently very quickly) to Nancy Newbigging whom he would later have a further three children with.

Perhaps through the constant reminders of his previous wife or simply due to a new opportunity arising, Thomas put Crossbasket up for sale, and seized the opportunity to become the 7^th owner of Boturich Castle, buying the grand castle and its estate from Brig. Charles Bannatyne Findlay that summer. Thomas was back home at his true family seat. As an indicator of his wealth, he had bought Boturich, without having yet sold Crossbasket, possibly indicating he was having problems selling Crossbasket in those times of austerity.

Interestingly, Thomas’s acquisition of Botruich, saw him become Laird and his wife , The Lady Nancy. Since his marriage occurred whilst he was still at Crossbasket, this may have been the source of the name “The Lady Nancy” which was given by locals to the upper fields above Crossbasket. The dates fit well with no previous mention of ‘The Lady Nancy’ and having researched this book, I see no other connection to the name Nancy, previously. However, local lore tells a different story about a sickly child of the 1800’s.

Local legend tells that the fields were named after a sickly child who once stayed at Crossbasket at an unknown time. Being housebound, the child didn’t get out often but liked specifically time spent outdoors at the upper fields, facing back down on to Crossbasket. The story goes that a white flag would be hoisted, to signify her time to come back to the Castle. I cannot find any evidence of this or indeed any person named Nancy other than Thomas Findlay’s wife whom indeed DID become a titled “lady”.

As such, I think the name “Lady Nancy” for these fields originates specifically to 1930 and has remained ever since.

Pictured in 2008 by Jim Brown are the Lady Nancy fields.