The Balliol Family Association
for descendants of the House of Balliol
The Association for descendants of the House of Balliol (de Balliol, de Bailleul, etc.) is headquartered here at Buittle Castle. It serves as a social organisation for family members, an historical research society, and point of contact for family research. An annual AGM and dinner is held in the Castle's Great Hall and is opened to members and their guests. Buittle Castle was once the seat of the Lords of Galloway, and, latterly, the seat of the Balliol Kings of Scots.
For more information, please contact the current Baron of Buittle, James de Balliol-Cavendish. Contact is preferred by post of telephone (+44 (0) 7487 296492). Email is also available.
SOME RECENT BALLIOL NEWS
On the Feast of Saint Martin of Tours, 2024, following the Annual Dinner of the Association at Buittle Castle, a historic step of founding the Company of Companions of Saint Martin was taken by the Balliol Family Association. The purpose of the Companions is to promote knowledge of the Balliol Family, to increase the veneration of Saint Martin, the Family's Patron Saint, and to undertake good works in the name of the Association and the Companions. Members of the Association,
as well as other qualifying individuals may join the Companions free of charge. The Companions have chosen to employ the marital Arms of Balliol-Galloway, as founders of the Balliol Dynasty of Scotland, surmounted with a crest coronet, which resembles the crown on King John Balliol's seal, and encircled with a pilgrim's collar with St Martin's Pilgrim Badge suspended from it. More information about the Companions can be found in the Constitutional Charter.
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In July, 2024, a contingent of the Balliol Family Association, along with the Baron of Buittle made a pilgrimage to Bailleul-en-Vimeu, the historic home of the Balliol Family. There, they visited and prayed at the Church of Saint Martin, built on the site of the local parish church, and bearing the name of the family's patron saint, Saint Martin of Tours. Prayers were offered for the repose of the souls of members of the family, as well as for the intention to found an association dedicated to the purpose of promoting the knowledge of Balliol History and the expansion of the veneration of Saint Martin.
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In September, 2023, the current Baron met Robert Bels, at the Schloß Schönbrunn in Vienna, This meeting marks a long awaited exchange between the Family Association, and the Ordo Balliolensis, which Robert heads up, which is largely a continental association.
