The sons of Gillemichael

Gillemichael was succeeded in the Earldom by his eldest son Duncan who vanished on the tide of time while Gillemichael’s second son Hugo succeeded to the lands of Markinch and other lands later a part of the estate of Wemyss. It was this Hugo, son of Gillemichael Macduff who was the ancestor of the earl of Wemyss. It was Hugo or his son Hugo who provided the creation of the little Church of the Markish whose archives preserve some of the records and memory of these ancestors of long ago. This Hugo died in 1163.

The second Hugo had a son whom he called Michael of the Wemyss. The Michael came from his illustrious ancestor Gillemichael no doubt, and the Wemyss came from the Gaelic word meaning a cave or a Picts house. The ancient subterranean dwelling of the Scottish tribes or clans were called "wemyss' (pronounced weems) which in Gaelic meant a cave. The rocky coast of the Firth of Forth in County Fife where the ruins of Macduff's castle which Hugo inherited is honeycombed with caves which were occupied long ago by Picts with the tribal name of Wemyss. Hugo died in 1163.

An Artist drawing of what Macduff's Castle most likely looked like when it was lived in.

Macduff's Castle, which is now in ruins and is the older castle of the family, is located in East Wemyss. It was the seat of Gillemichael Macduff from whom it got its name. From The House of Wemyss: A Thousand Year History by Sir John Wemyss-Kessler, page 12, :

MACDUFF'S CASTLE, AT EAST WEMYSS

Modern research has proved the so-called Thane Macduff of the eleventh century a fabulous personage, though he probably has his true counterpart in Gillemichael Macduff, one of the first known Earls of Fife of that name, who flourished in the reign of King David the First, a century later. But apart from this there is no improbability in the tradition that here the Earl of Fife had a powerful maritime fortress. They were the superiors of the lands, and the site of this fortress is such as would command itself to the military engineer of the medieval day. It is an isolated steep rocky eminence, rising from the water's wide Firth of Fourth, having additional protection of strong natural caves beneath. If, then, the Earl of Fife had a castle here, the present ruin is probably the remains of the castle, at least, of its successor, which was occupied by the lairds of Wemyss as their manor prior to the partition of the estates in the middle of the four-teenth century. Before that time, there is never a mention made of more than one manor-house of Wemyss. In the nature of things there could not be two, and the following considerations lend countenance to the belief that it was in their castle in East Wemyss the earli-est lairds of Wemyss dwelt and held baronial sway for about two centuries. Tradition points strongly to the existence of an early castle at East Wemyss, while in close proximity to its site is the church of the ancient parish of Wemyss, and the burial aisle of the family. Then nestling closely under the castle walls was the vil-lage of East Wemyss, probably the old Castleton of Wemyss. And besides this, the site of East Wemyss is not only the central point of the united estates of Wemyss and Methil, but it is also the most commanding, while naturally one of the safest positions for such an erection along the entire seaboard of the parish. With the parti-tion of the Wemyss estates the old castle passed into the possession of the Livingstones of Drumry, who married one of the younger of the three co-heiresses of Sir Michael Wemyss of Wemyss. They ob-tained the eastern portion of the estate of Wemyss, on which the castle stood, and it remained with them until 1530, when it became the property of the Colvilles, who sold it in 1630, with the estate to John, First Earl of Wemyss. This earl, as if rejoicing in the reacquisition of the ancient stronghold of the family, made it his residence for some time during the remaining period of his life. But his son David, Second Earl of Wemyss, preferred the castle of West Wemyss, though his wife Anna, Lady Elcho, died at East Wemyss. Probably he made it an occasional residence, as on his marriage to Lady Margaret Leslie he gave it to her as part of her jointure, and apparently as her dwelling if she survived him. In 1666, Lady Jean Wemyss, Countess of Sutherland, wrote from Dunrobin, asking her father to allow her children to reside in the castle of East Wemyss for a time if the plague should break out in Edinburgh as it was feared it would. This shows that the castle was habitable up to the close of the seventeenth century. But after that it appears to have been allowed to go to ruin and decay. All that now remains are two square towers, with portions of the walls and foundations.