Richard de Walensis Laird (1143-1204) and Janet Cathcart (1150-?)


Richard was first heard of when he signed his name to a charter in 1165. He seems to have had a great deal of possessions around Riccarton and also he obtained from the High Stewart of Scotland, a part of the district west of Ayr. In 1175 Richard's name appears again in the records when he signed deeds, charters, wills, etc., and in each case he signed his name "Richard Wallense". From his will made in 1192, we learn that his wife's name was Janet and that he had two sons, Philip and Richard II.

As the recorded forefather of the Wallace clan, Richard le Waleis of Ayr, first abbreviated his name as 'Wal' on a charter c. 1163. Richard had accompanied William II FitzAlan, Lord of Oswestry, to Scotland before William's brother,Walter, became steward to King David I. The name le Waleis or Walais translates as 'Stranter' or 'Welshman' and Richard is variously believed to have been Celtic, Strathclyde Briton, Norman French, Saxon, or English.

Richard Walensis of Riccarton held land near Kilmarnock as a vassal of the High Steward of Scotland some time before 1160. His grandson, Adam Walays, had two sons, the eldest of whom succeeded to the family estates in Ayrshire.  Richard Wallace acquired lands in the vicinity of Kilmarnock and gave his name to the village and parish of Ricard-tun, or Riccarton.  Richard was a witness to a charter of Walter the Steward, granted to the Abbey of Paisley some time before 1174. The Steward held lands of the King in both Renfrewshire and Ayrshire and it would not be surprising for members of the Wallace family to hold lands of the Steward in either or both counties. According to one account, Richard Wallace had a son and grandson of the same name, contemporaries of the next three Stewards.

When David I set himself to complete the anglicizing of Scotland in Church and State he called a crowd of Southrons to aid him. "Among them a Norman Knight, Walter Fitz Alan, rode north from Oswestry on the Welsh border. In his train rode one Welshman, Richard by name. The Norman Knight was under obligations to his Welsh neighbour, and no doubt looked to clear off the score in Scotland." Richard, the Welshman, was a witness to the charter of the Abbacy of Paisley, 1160-3. Mitchell says, "The signature is Richard Wal," an abbreviation for Wallys or Walays. The name appears in many slightly different shapes -- Wal, Walays, Walais, Waleis, Waleys, Walois, Walleyis, Wallayis, Walles, Walas, Wallas, Waless, Wallaise, Walace, Waleng, Walens, Walans, Walense, Wallensis, and the Guardian himself as Guillaume le Galeys. These have been replaced by "Wallace" (in Ireland spelled "Wallis"), and by the rarer Scotch form of "Vallance." They all mean the same thing, and tell us that the Wallaces were of the original Celtic people of the island.  Richard obtained from the high steward of Scotland a large part of the district of Kyle, Ayr. These lands he named :"Riccarton," after himself.  "Riccarsbar," in the Abbey Parish of Paisley, was an older possession of the Wallaces. 

Richard was the most powerful vassal of the Stewarts in Kyle. He had two sons.  In connexion with the seneschal of the Scottish Royal House, members of the Wallace family are early associated. Between 1105 and 1173 Richard Wallace is witness to a charter, whereby Walter, son of Alan the Steward, conveys to the Abbey of Paisley the churches of Innerwick and Ligertwood. This Richard Wallace obtained lands on the northern verge of Kyle Stewart, which after himself were styled Richardtoun, and afterwards Riccarton. The parish of Riccarton, which still exists, embraces an area from east to west of eight, and from north to south of three miles. At the parish church the hamlet of Riccarton borders the hillock of Yardside, where stood a small castle which formed the residence of the Wallace family. The site is denoted by several aged trees on the right side of the turnpike road leading from Kilmarnock towards the south at a spot about
one mile distant from the burgh.  

Richard Wallace had two sons, Philip and Richard. Philip de Wallace is witness to a charter whereby, about the years 1211-14, William the Lion confirms to the Abbey of Paisley various grants made by Walter the Steward. Richard Wallace the younger succeeded to the paternal estate.  [The book of Wallace by Rev. Charles Rogers pub.1889]

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