The Stirling's first appear as owners of land in the twelfth century.
Few families can boast of an inheritance which has descended through so long a line of ancestors.
The Stirlings of Fairburn are acknowledged by the Lord Lyon in a matriculation of Arms to be direct descendants of Clan MacGregor that took the name Stirling, when they were under the protection of the Stirling family, as an alias during the proscription on their name and kept the name Stirling when the proscription was lifted. Keir was first acquired by the Stirling family in the year 1448. Lukas Stirling, who had previously possessed lands in Fife and Strathern, purchased Keir from George Leslie of that ilk, ancestor of the Earls of Rothes. Sir William, the grandson, got Keir erected into a barony by King James III, who afterwards burned the tower. Sir William had been accused of being a party to the assassination of James III, at the battle of Sauchieburn, but without sufficient evidence.