Clan Meldrum is a site produced by descendants of a medieval Scottish kin group that was founded in the early 13th century by a Norman knight, Philippus de Phendarg (aka Feodarg, Fedarg and other spellings), after he moved to Aberdeenshire from France.
In 1236, Radulf de Lamley, the Abbott of Arbroath, granted Phendarg a large estate in the area then known as Bethelnie. This estate, earlier settled by Picts and Romans, included today’s village of Oldmeldrum, on the road from Aberdeen to Banff.
In the 1240s, Philippus’s son, Philip, was knighted by King Alexander III and was anointed Baron of Meigdrum. This name, later spelt Meldrum, originated from the Gaelic words meall (meaning a bare, rounded, lumpy hill) and druim (meaning back, or ridge). Other spellings of the Meldrum ‘sirname’ also appeared in medieval documents.
Philip received from Walterus, a later Abbott of Arbroath, the lands of Achathnaneve (Auchineve), near Tarves, in return for his family’s loyalty and service. From Walter of Lundin, a kinsman, he received the lands of Balcormo (aka Balcormack), north-west of Largo in Fife.
Several miles north of today’s Oldmeldrum, Philip built Meldrum House, a stone tower mansion that was expanded and updated by later owners and is now a prestigious hotel and golf club.
Some descendants of these two Norman knights later lived at Fyvie Castle near Turriff; Drumbeck Castle near Ellon, Kincaple House near St Andrews, Eden Castle, near Banff, all in Aberdeenshire; Crombie Castle near Marnoch in Banffshire, and Earlshall Castle, near Leuchars, Fife.
After the early 1400s, the Meldrums progressively lost their estates via heiress daughters resigning their lands to husbands from the Seton, Urquhart, Innes, Lesley, Melville, Forbes, Gordon and Leith families. Today the Meldrum clan is classified as ‘armigerous’; meaning its earliest chiefs bore ‘undistributed’ arms (a shield design that was not sectioned to include armorial symbols from other families), but the bloodlines and property owners diversified so there is no longer a direct male descendant of the founding knights from Normandy.
Meldrums now live across the world and carry many surnames. We all share a Franco-Scottish history of fascinating people, impressive buildings, exquisite landscapes, supernatural episodes, and complex, sometimes deadly, battles.
To network with other Meldrums today, we recommend two Facebook groups, the Meldrum Clan Society and the Meldrum Club. Both are managed by Alec Meldrum in England.
References
—Grant of the lands of Balcormo by Walter of Lundin to his kinsman, Philip of Feodarg, 1242 x 1249 Scottish History Society Miscellany, iv, p. 318 [in ‘Balcormo’, fife-placenames.glasgow.ac.uk].
—Grant of lands of Balcormack by Walter of Lundin to his kinsman Philip de Feodary, ancestor of the Meldrums of that ilk, [Charlapenes dominum de Lundin, and Book of Original Writs, penes MacFarlane, vol. III, p. 1].
—Gift of lands in territory of Tarves called Achathnaneve [Auchnieve, adjacent to Cardrum], granted by Abbott Walterus of Arbroath (1247-1258) to Sir Philip of Feodarg (Meldrum), for homage and service to the Abbott and his successors, from People of Medieval Scotland; its source C. Innes and P. Chalmers (eds.), 1848-1856, Liber Sancte Thome de Aberbrothoc, Edinburgh: Bannatyne Club, 2/64/13, no. 257.