Trail Family

The clan Trail (Traill) is an ancient family of Lairds or land Barons and clergy in Fife, Scotland. References to Trails as Barons are recorded from the year 1066 and references to the family extend as early as the 10th century. The Trails descend from the Viking raider known as Mordac of Verdun, a companion of Rollo. Mordac's descendant Goidfrid de Traillie came to England in 1066. The Traills held land at Trelly in France and later in Bordeaux.

The Tyrell family are descended from the family of the Count de Poix, of whom the senior branch remained in France in the area known as Picardie. There is no known relationship between the two families in England: the Tyrells held land in the South in Devon and Somerset under William the Conqueror and under William the Conqueror, Goidfrid de Trailli held land in Bedford and on the Scottish border

The family started to leave England for Scotland and France after the death of Sir John Treyl in 1360, although his son John did return for periods and served as a member of the English Parliament. A few years before this Sir Johns death in 1401, his son Reginald returned from Bordeaux and had sold up the English acres by his own death in 1404. Earlier in approximately 1385, Sir John's brother, Walter Treyl Bishop of St Andrews bought Blebo from the Church and later willed it to his nephew, Thomas.

William Dunbar in his "Lament for the Makaris" mourns a "Sandy Traill", citing him among a roll call of poets chiefly from the fifteenth century, but nothing else is known of him and no works have been traced.

Blebo, a large rural property, was subdivided in 1609, by the Laird of the period John Traill in agreement with his eldest son in order to help his younger brother Thomas The smaller portion was renamed Blebo Hole. In the 16th century another brother of the same family, George Traill, relocated to Orkney, Scotland. In the mid 17th century, Trails acquired and settled on land in America, in Massachusetts and in Maryland. The Maryland area, New Scotland 100, eventually became the city of Washington DC. Other branches of the family settled in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

In 1722, lead and silver were discovered on the property. The area around the estate (Blebo Hole) is currently known as the community of Blebo Craigs.

A location in Central Fife, Blebo lies 3 miles (5 km) east of Cupar and comprises the village of Blebo Craigs, located a quarter-mile (0.5 km) northeast of Blebo House, together with the farms of Milton of Blebo, Blebo Mains and Newbigging of Blebo. Kemback lies a quarter-mile (0.5 km) to the northwest and Pitscottie a half-mile (1 km) to the southwest.