The ancient property of Sorbie, which was the seat of the family for many years. is known to have belonged to a family named Sorby or de Sorby, who, like so many families of ancient standing in Galloway, disappeared without a trace. It may well be that the Sorbie family were in fact the then representatives of the Hannays, going under the same name as their property, for in Acta Dominorum consilii for 1488 ODO HANNAY is shewn as ODO SORBIE whilst his sons are clearly shewn as Hannays.

The carlulary of Dryburgh informs us that Robert de VETEREPONTE gave to the Abbey the church and lands of Lesser Sowerby (Sorby), and that the Prior and Convent of Candida Casa agreed to pay 20 merks for the fruits, revenues and dues of Sowerby and Kirkgolan, of which the Abbot and Convent of Dryburgh appointed them procurators. It may be that the Hannays even at this early date held Sorbie in fief from the Abbot, for it is unlikely that the Veterponts lived there after 1240, the date of Robert`s gift to the Church.

William of Veterponte had earlier granted, 1234, Sorbie minor to the Abbot of Dryburgh for the soul of his lord, Alan, son of Roland, Lord of Galloway. Whether this is the same grant or another one is not certain; Robert was the nephew of William, and was probably a minor at this time, his father may have been dead and his grandfather, Ivo, who had been granted Sorbie in 1185, may have placed the tutorship of the estate in the hands of his brother William, who seems to head the Scottish Branch.

The Hannay family gained possession of the property, but at what date is almost imposible to ascertain, as the records of the period are so sparse. One thing, however, is known of them: their crest was, from early times, a cross crosslet fitched issuing out of a crescent sable. This implies without doubt that the head of the family at the time of the dawn of organized heraldry was engaged in or had been on a crusade to the Holy Land. It is thought that from this crest the crusade must have been the third one, under Richard Coeur de Lion. There is a tradition that a Hannay did serve with him and was knighted there.

In the Book of Galloway, 1745, in the statement:

"a family which has dealt many blows in time of war from Flodden Feild to the gates of Rhodes and for some such service bore heraldic device of a crescent and a fitched cross."

The Hannays who had been loyal to their oath of fealty to King Edward suffered heavily for their pains. After this there is no direct evidence concerning the family till the middle of the fourteenth century. This is not all unusual as, due to the wars of independence and the generally disturbed state of the country, records were lost or deliberatelly destroyed.

Edward III sent an army into Scotland under Edward Baliol and Earl Percy in the spring of 1346. Balio marched into Galloway and ravaged it. The Hannays, McDowells and others in Galloway must have suffered heavily for their loyalty.