Alexander, Seventh Laird of Kininvie

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“VII. John Lesle was succeeded by his eldest son, Alexander Leslie, seventh Laird of Kininvie, who, having engaged in trade, suffered great losses, and his estate of Kinivie being much burdened with debt, he sold it to his brother, James Leslie.  He married a daughter of Archbishop Sharp of St. Andrews, and it is said, had a son, Alexander.

“ ‘ Mortlach’, according to the description given by the Rev. George Gordon, ‘is situated in Banff-shire, in the province of Moray, about fifty miles to the north of west from Aberdeen. King Malcolm II gave a charter to the first Bishop of Morlach in 1010. The see was transferred to Aberdeen in 1139. A part of the barony of Kininvie lies in this parish, which is, and for centuries has been, in the possession of a branch of the ancient family of Balquahin, and of which James Leslie, Esq. of Kininvie, the only resident heritor, is the present laird (1793), and exellent farmer himself, and a kind landlord to his tenants, and a most hospitable gentleman. The house of Kininvie stands upon the east side of the rivulet Fiddoch, and is environed with natural woods. The scenery is very romantic of hill and dale, woods and water, -- Glenfiddoch, the Craig of Baldorny with the old catle, the Giant’s Chair, and the cascade of the Linen Apron, or the water of Dullan. The church is of venerable antiquity, being built about the eleventh century. The walls are of extraordinary solidity, without any magnificence of architecture. The windows are long narrow slits, 6 feet high, and only about 11 inches wide outside, but sloped inwards through the thick walls, to out 10 feet wide inside. There is only one effigie remaining, which is a figure lying at full length over the door which leads from the choir to the Leslie Aisle, or burying-ground. There is no inscription, but trandition reports it is a Leslie, a predecessor of the Kininvie family, who was a celebrated person of marvelous gallantry.’

“The present representative of the family, and the proprietor of the estate of Kininvie, is George A. Young Leslie, Esq., a deputy-lieutenant and magistrate of Banffshire."

Other References

• Burke, Bernard, Sir. A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland 6th ed. London : Harrison 1879. Vol II. page 957