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Clan historians will be interested to learn that the Barony of Kelly has been offered for sale by the Trustees of the Mar Estate.

The lands of Kelly, not then a barony, were among the first to be acquired by the Gordons in the Thanage of Fermartyn, and were subsequently united with the "Two Methlaykis" and "Haldauch" to form the great estate of Methlick and Haddo. As long ago as 1261 Kelly belonged to Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan, and later to Cheynes, Meldrums and Erskines, but the Gordons held it from the 15th century until recently, and the present Representer, the Marquess of Aberdeen, lives nearby at Methlick (the House of Kelly havng been destroyed by the Covenanters in 1644, and Haddo House, its replacement, having been donated to the National Trust for Scotland).

The Gordons of Methlick and Haddo descended from Jock Gordon of Essie (or Scurdargue). Their most distinguished descendant is perhaps the 4th Earl who was Prime Minister in the mid-19th century, but their most famous is undoubtedly Sir John Gordon of Haddo, the Royalist martyr who defended his House of Kelly, capitulated on honourable terms which were promptly dishonoured by the Marquess of Argyll, was tried in Edinburgh on Argyll's orders and beheaded there on 19th July 1644.

The Baronage Press has published a small PDF file with details of Kelly's history and associated heraldry. It may be downloaded from the page at -

http://www.baronage.co.uk/2004a/Kelly.html

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