Sir John KERR Lord of Ferniehirst Castle [6232] ¹⁴⁶³

   FamilySearch ID: LRVH-ZTY.

  General Notes:

The Life Summary of John
When SIR John Kerr - 8th Baron of Ferniehirst was born on 17 June 1500, in Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, Scotland, his father, William Carr, was 18 and his mother, Elizabeth Rutherforth, was 25. He married .... They were the parents of at least 1 son. He died on 26 January 1558, in Northumberland, England, at the age of 57, and was buried in Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, Scotland.



The name of Carr, Ker, Kerr or Karre is as old as the Norman Conquest by William of Normandy in 1066. One of the followers of William I is recorded in the Roll Of The Battle Abbey as the name of Karre.The early descendants of this Norman soldier and succeeding generations spread on both sides of the border of England and Scotland.Direct lines can be traced through various peerage books of England and Scotland to Andrew Kerr I, the 6th Baron of Ferniehirst, Scotland. He was born in 1450 , created Baron in 1480 and knighted in 1483. He and his son Andrew II, 7th Baron of Ferniehirst, were remarkable men for talent and undaunted courage, conspicious in reigns of James IV and James V. Andrew Kerr II, died in 1543. His son Sir John Kerr, 8th Baron of Ferniehirst, did great service against the English and rescued Queen Mary from incursions by the English against the Scots. Sir Thomas, 9th Baron and son of Sir John, was also devoted to Queen Mary's interests. (Quoted from Watson's 'The House of Carr'1926).

His father and grandfather were both called Andrew, both Barons of Fenneh. Scotland, wives unknown.
Sir John Kerr of Ferniehirst. The Kers of Ferniehirst were noted even among the Border clans for their fierce and sanguinary spirit. Sir John was 'art and part' in the murder of Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, in the High Street of Edinburgh. The account which De Beaugue gives in his 'Memoirs' of the cruel treatment of the English garrison, when Sir John, with the assistance of the French troops under D' Esse, retook his castle of Ferniehirst in 1549, is shocking in the extreme.

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Ferniehirst Castle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ferniehirst Castle (sometimes spelled Ferniehurst) is an L-shaped construction on the east bank of the Jed Water, about a mile and a half south of Jedburgh, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, and in the former county of Roxburghshire. It is an ancient seat of the Clan Kerr, and after a period of institutional use it was restored for residential use by Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian, in the late 20th century.

History

Ferniehirst Castle, courtyard
Sixteenth-century conflict
The original castle, built by the Ker (or Kerr) family around 1470, was occupied by English forces in 1547, during the war of the Rough Wooing. The English were dislodged by a force of Sir John Ker's clansmen, and the Earl of Huntly reinforced by André de Montalembert and French auxiliaries led by Captain Pierre Longue in February 1549. The gate was fired, then Montalembert d'Essé brought more artillery and the soldiers set about the wall with picks and mattocks. The French soldier Jean de Beaugué described the recapture and the fate of the English captain and garrison,[1] and the aristocrat and priest Alexander Gordon wrote an eyewitness account.[2] An English army led by the Duke of Rutland recaptured the castle in June 1549, but the war was nearly over.[3]

The exiled Countess of Northumberland stayed at Ferniehirst Castle in January 1570.[4]

Ferniehirst was damaged by an English raid on 18 April 1570, after Sir Thomas Ker had raided northern England, which was also intended to intimidate the supporters of Mary Queen of Scots.[5] Another English army damaged it in 1573 on their way to Edinburgh Castle.[6] James VI attacked the castle in 1593 as the Kers had assisted Francis Stewart, 1st Earl of Bothwell, who had conspired against the king. The Kers were for a long period Wardens of the Middle and East Marches. As the building had been undermined, reconstruction of the castle began in 1598.

  Birth Notes:

Ferniehirst Castle

  Death Notes:

Ferniehirst Castle

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Title Of Nobility: 8th Baron of Ferniehirst, on an unknown date,. ¹⁴⁶⁷

2. Title Of Nobility: Lord of Ferniehirst, on an unknown date,. ¹⁴⁶⁷

3. Title Of Nobility: Sir Knight, on an unknown date,. ¹⁴⁶⁷

John married Katherine KERR of Cessford [6233] [MRIN: 5331], daughter of Sir Andrew KERR Knight of Cessford [6864] and Lady Agnes CRICHTON [6865]. (Katherine KERR of Cessford [6233] was born in 1510 in Eckford, , Roxburghshire, Scotland,¹⁴⁶³ died on 9 January 1565 in Jedburgh, Scottish Borders, Scotland ¹⁴⁶³ and was buried in 1566 in , , Roxburghshire, Scotland ¹⁴⁶³.)