Attending the largest meeting of clans in Scotland’s history at the Gathering in Edinburgh, the message from Andrew Durie, the 16th chief of the Clan Durie, to the possible members of his clan throughout the world was simple enough: “Get in touch.”
The event in the shadow of the Scottish parliament gave clansfolk from all over the world the chance to meet hundreds of clan leaders, and the Chief of the Duries used the occasion to send out the call for his clan to unite.
“On such a wonderful day on such a unique occasion, our hope is to reach out to Duries around the world,” he said.
“I hope they’ll see what’s going on here today, realise that the Duries are very much part of it and get in touch so that we can make the family of Durie that much bigger.”
“Get in touch with us - if your name is anything like Durie, maybe spelt slightly differently – get in touch and let’s see if you are and lets build the links with you and find out how you got to where you are.”
The Duries are an old Scottish family, able to trace their origins back to the 13th century when they came from the land of Durie.
They lost their castle at Burntisland because of their staunch support of the old religion and then held their estate at Craigluscar near Dunfermline for nearly 400 years until the early 1900s.
Over time the family, like so many of the Scots clans, has become widely dispersed. It has branches in USA, Canada, Australia, Norway, New Zealand, the West Indies and elsewhere.
