FOSS AND LENNOX
The Cairneys or Cairdeneys (Cardanaigh) of Foss in Perthshire descend from Sir John de Ross, son of the Earl of Ross, who came south in the train of Euphemia de Ross in anticipation of her marriage to Robert The Stewart in 1355. Not long after the accession of Robert and Euphemia as King and Queen of Scots in 1371, John de Ross received a grant from the King of the barony of Cardeney near Dunkeld, in which charter he is styled dilectus consanguineus foster. He assumed the epithet "de Cardeney" to replace that of "de Ross" (Ross was not yet a surname), and it was apparently his son William who married Rinald MacNair (Mac an Oighre), the heiress of Foss in nearby Rannoch. Another son, Robert de Cardeney, was bishop of Dunkeld in the early fifteenth century, and a daughter, Mariota, was mistress to Robert II. Mariota gave the King a number of natural children (Alexander Stewart of Inverlunan, James Stewart of Kinfaus, and John Stewart of Cardeney) and also had natural issue by Alexander MacNaughton, chief of the MacNachtans. This last was Dr. Donald MacNaughton, dean of Dunkeld during the tenure of his uncle (Robert de Cardeney) whom he succeeded as bishop.
FOSS was in the Appin (abbey land) of Dull which was granted about 1200 to the Priory of St. Andrews by the then bishop of Dunkeld. The MacNairs are the first family found in possession of Foss after the abbey lands were secularized in the early fourteenth century. 'The Scotch Clan McNair is said to be a Sept of the clan McFarlane, and the name is traced to one of the leaders, whose son was called Mac-na-oighre, or 'son of the heir.' 'The Scotch Clan McNair is said to be a Sept of the clan McFarlane, and the name is traced to one of the leaders ,hose son was called Mac-na-oighre, or 'son of the heir.' 'The Scotch Clan McNair is said to be a Sept of the clan McFarlane, and the name is traced to one of the leaders, whose son was called Mac-na-oighre, or 'son of the heir.'
Among other septs of the Clan are the Allans or MacAllans, settled in Mar and Strathdon, and a large number of others are enumerated by the Loch Lomondside chronicler, Buchanan of Auchmar. They assumed the names of Stewart, M’Caudy, Greisock, MacJames, M’Innes, and others. The origin of one of the names of septs of the Clan, that of the Mac-an-Oighres or Macnaires of the Lennox, is said to have been as follows. One of the chiefs left his second wife a widow with one son, while the heir by his first wife was vain and a little weak-minded. The younger brother owned a beautiful grey horse, and on one occasion, the elder, setting out for Stirling, desired to ride it in order to make a good appearance. The stepmother, a Highland Rebecca, refused the loan on the pretext that the steed might not come safely back, and at last the young Laird signed a deed agreeing to forfeit the lands of Arrochar to his half-brother if the horse were not returned. The stepmother thereupon bribed the groom to poison the horse while away. This was done, and her son entered upon possession of the estate. The Clan, however, refused to accept him as their Chief, and some years later the treacherous document was legally annulled and the lands restored to the rightful heir. From this incident certain MacFarlans were known to a recent time as Sloichd an Eich Bhain, "descendants of the white horse," while those who supported the heir took the name of Clann an Oighre; septs of Clan Farlane. John, the son and successor of the Chief who fought at Langside, founded an almshouse at Bruitfort on Loch Lomondside, opposite Eilean Vow, and endowed it as a hostelry for passing travellers. His son Walter was a strong supporter of Charles I.