Clan Forbes and the Scotch Broom, Part 1 of 3

Practical usage of the Scotch broom

Springtime provides us with a great opportunity to get a closer look of the blooming Cytisus scoparius which we know affectionately as the Scotch broom, although there are many different species. This magnificent bright yellow blooming shrub is closely linked to the Forbes clan.

The Scotch broom can be seen flowering from March to June and it is very fragrant. The broom is a pioneer plant that thrives from sun to shade and can spread extensively. It is indigenous to the British Isles and was particularly spread in the Scottish highland. It is food for the hare chewing it to the ground, while the deer stay away from it. The mountain hare is native to the UK, and their meat was consumed by the highlanders.

Cytisus scoparius "The Scotch Broom"

Fun facts about the broom:

·        The Scotch broom is the plant of the Forbes

·        Clan Forbes members wore the broom in their bonnets

·        The broom was used as shelter for game

·        The broom was used for thatching cottages

·        The broom seeds are poisonous to humans and livestock

·        The broom seed pods burst open and seeds travel great distance

·        The broom bark was used for tanning leather

·        The broom buds were served at the coronation of James II

·        The broom leaves or young tops yield a green dye

·        The broom is Ngetal, the twelfth letter of the Ogham alphabet

·        The broom flowers used on Imbolc (St. Bride's Day)

A red variant of the broom

The Scotch broom has tough branches and grows into dense tall hedges. The branches were used for broom-making, hence names as Basam, Bisom, Bizzom, Breeam, Browme, Brum and Green Broom have been used.

Other names include: Scotch broom or Scot’s broom, common broom, broomtops, English broom, European broom, Irish broom, or the reed as the wetland variant. In Gaelic dialect it’s called ‘bealadh’. However, it is not to be confused with Spanish Broom Spartium junceum (Genista).

We shall dive into some of the other physical properties of the plant, the usage, and the symbolic meaning, as well as the lore surrounding the broom. I will try to trace it back in time for possible connections to the ancient Forbes and the significance it might have had to the Forbeses over time.

Botanical plate of Cytisus scoparius.

The broom is closely related to gorse, furze, or whin, but it does not have thorns. The broom leaves or young tops yield a green dye, used for dyeing cloths while the bark was used for tanning leather. The traditional highland tartan-style cloth was colored using natural dyes sourced locally. Likely, this green dye was sourced from the Scotch broom growing in abundance. The tartan and its specific colors grew into a symbol of Scottish identity and explicit patterns became associated with certain clans. The ancient tartan used by clan Forbes contains a green color as does most of the Forbes tartan variations.

Clan Forbes tartan.

The broom was used as shelter for game and used for thatching cottages and making fences. Where reed growing in wetland was not available, the broom was used as substitute.

Medicinal use of the Scotch broom

It is important to state first that the seeds of the Scotch broom are poisonous; however, the plant above ground has been used traditionally as nature medicine. The broom contains chemicals, such as scoparin that can aid under certain circumstances.

Long before modern medicine, specific plants were gathered and used in treatments, providing comfort, healing, and preventative care for our ancestors. General knowledge of herbal medicine was considered sacred knowledge. For sedative effect, the leaves have been smoked and inhaled. The broom has been used for heart related illnesses and blood circulation due to a chemical that affects the heart rhythm. Woman used the broom for bleeding after childbirth and on a regular basis for heavy menstrual periods. The beer known as “broom ale” was brewed on broom was a remedy for dropsy. The Scotch broom was applied directly to the skin to treat infections, sore muscles, and swelling.

Place names associated with the broom

Place name: Broomhill.

The shrub grew in abundance in the Scottish Highlands and along the Scottish border. There are also quite a few place names related to the broom.

From “The House of Forbes” we learn that Broomhill in Aberdeen, just north of river Dee, was in the hands of Forbes.

What is left today is a stone that indicates the limit of a piece of land. This boundary stone of Post Medieval origin (from 1560 AD) is located in a private environment on Broomhill Road in Aberdeen.

From the House of Forbes: (Elizabeth (1611-d), a daughter of Arthur 9th Lord Forbes (1581–1641) who married Jean Elphinstone).

The youngest daughter, Elizabeth, married James Skene, 14th Laird of Skene, in 1637, as on July 14th a sasine was drawn up in her favour of the lands of Letter and Broomhill for her jointure. On December 20th, 1629, her brother Alexander, Master of Forbes, had signed an obligation on her behalf for payment of 4000 merks secured on a tenement in Aberdeen “ex boreali parte by Keyhead”; this was assigned by Elizabeth herself with consent of her father, Arthur, Lord Forbes, on July 5th, 1637, to James Skene, her future husband. James Skene was a loyalist and a friend of Montrose.

“He had the misfortune, soon after his marriage to be bitten by a swine in the knee, and his lady who liked gadeing about and had an expensivc turn, persuaded him for his cure to go to the wells of Germany. They stayed there a year or two with a brother of his, a merchant, and by his wife's expensive turn, brought the estate under a great load of debt. He died young – the said Elspet Forbes lived a widow on the estate till the year 1695.” (MS. History of Skenes.)

James Skene seems to have died in 1656, when his eldest son, John, succeeded as 15th Laird, and Elizabeth

Forbes drew her jointure off the estate for nearly 40 years.

Other place names include:

·        Historical evidence of Brumcrok c.1300

·        Historical evidence of Bruymdyk 1490

·        Historical evidence of Bromeparkis 1556

·        Historical evidence of brumecroft c. 1567

·        Broomhall (Fife). Broomhall House located in Fife, not far from Dunfermline, Scotland, is the ancestral home of

the Family of Bruce.

·        Broomhill (Ross and Cromarty)

·        Broomhouse (East Lothian, Edinburgh, Roxburghshire)

·        Broompark Farm (Glasgow)

·        Broomknowes (Ayrshire). South Ayrshire

·        Broomlands (Dumfriesshire, Midlothian, Roxburghshire). Irvine in North Ayrshire, Scotland.

·        Broomridge (Stirling). South of Stirling, north of Bannockburn and east of St. Ninians.

We also find a legal note with reference to Forbes and the Scotch broom which specifies that the broom is not to be cut down:

The said tenentis … sall not cutt or puy any of the maister of Forbes brumes

(1663 Forbes Baron Ct. 243.)

Broom of the Cowdenknowes

“Bonny May” is a traditional Scottish ballad. It is also known as “Broom of the Cowdenknowes”. The lyrics are as follows:

How blithe each morn was I tae see

My lass came o'er the hill

She skipped the burn and ran tae me

I met her with good will.

O the broom, the bonnie, bonnie broom

The broom o' the Cowdenknowes

Fain would I be in the north

Herding her father's ewes

We neither herded ewes nor lamb

While the flock near us lay

She gathered in the sheep at night

And cheered me all the day

Hard fate that I should banished be

Gone way o'er hill and moor

Because I loved the fairest lass

That ever yet was born

Adieu, ye Cowdenknowes, adieu.

Farewell all pleasures there

To wander by her side again

Is all I crave or care