Lady of Lawers (ca. 1650)
Lady of Lawers (ca. 1650)
Name given to a woman of the Breadalbane family of Scotland (possibly a Stewart of Appin), who was married to Campbell of Lawers (north shore of Loch Tay, ca. 1650). This woman was believed to be gifted with prophetic powers; her prophecies, said to be written in a book shaped like a barrel and kept in the charter room of Taymouth Castle, were known as "The Red Book of Balloch."
The prophecies all had reference to the house and lands of Breadalbane. One of these related to an ash tree planted by the lady on the north side of the church, beneath which she was said to have been eventually buried. The prophecy was: "The tree will grow, and when it reaches the gable the church will be split asunder, and this will also happen when the red cairn on Ben Lawers falls."
The tree reached the gable in the year 1833, when a great thunderstorm demolished the west loft of the church, collapsing into the middle and rendering the church derelict. At the same time, a cairn (heap of stones) built by sappers and miners on Ben Lawers fell, and the Disruption of the Church of Scotland itself took place.