This version of the Dinwoodie Family Arms was found by one of our members, Foster W. Dunwiddie, while visiting Scotland in 1978. It was engraved in a stone which was built into the wall of a farmhouse's front porch and was said to have been the cornerstone of the long-destroyed Dinwoodie Castle.
The farmhouse, Dinwoodie
Mains, was built in 1811. The arms, in red sandstone, are over
the door.
Above the arms are the initials "R.M.," and beneath is the date 1631. The arms two "mullets" (stars) would suggest the initials are for Robert Maxwell II who was Laird of Dynwiddie in 1631 and the ward of Lady Jane Dynwiddie, his aunt. According to tradition, this stone in the farmhouse originated from Dinwoodie Castle, which stood near the farm. However, the stone more likely was taken from a newer tower built on the right bank of the Annan River by Robert Maxwell II. Robert Maxwell II is described in documents of the period as "Maxwell of the Tower" and lived there rather than at old Dynwiddie House (or Castle). The "old" Dynwiddie House or Castle was undoubtedly from an earlier era.
At the center of the arms is a shield surrounded by strapwork enrichment and bearing in chief two mullets (stars) with a human head inverted and suspended by a "woodie" or rope of "withies" passed through the mouth.
This drawing shows the details:
The arms also appear in armorial carvings on a number of the tombstones found in the churchyard of Applegarth in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. The present church was built in 1760, standing on the site on an older church, where England's King Edward I stopped on July 7, 1300 to make his oblations enroute to the siege of Caerlaverock Castle.
Applegarth Church, Dumfriesshire.
In the churchyard is the tombstone of James Dinwoodie (1694-1745), of Newbinning, which contains an excellent depiction of the Dinwoodie Family Arms. The sketch shown above was made from this tombstone.
— Pictures and information provided by Foster W. Dunwiddie, Henderson NV
