Mar Lodge Estate

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Today Mar Lodge Estate and Mar Estate are two independent Highland Estates in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and are the two largest remnants, in upper Deeside, of the historic Earldom of Mar.

The 'modern' story of the estate begins with the participation of John "Bobin' Jock" Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar in the Jacobite Rising of 1715. The resulting forfeiture of 1716 brought to an end the essentially feudal landholding system practiced in the Earldom of Mar.

At this period the locality of Mar Lodge was known as Dalmore from dail mhor (Scottish Gaelic: great plain) and was held by the McKenzies who had acted as foresters to the Earls of Mar from at least the 17th century. Documents in the National Archives of Scotland – for example (NAS GD124/6/95) dated 11DEC1661 refers to 'John McKenzie of Dalmoir [sic]'. Later documents (NAS GD124/6/61) dated 1707 – for example – refer to 'Kenneth McKenzie of Dalmore, forester to the Earl of Mar' – the duties of forester were to 'protect the game, to supervise timber-extraction, to conserve the woodland, and to apprehend trespassers' – Dixon & Green (1995).

Contents

[edit] 1716 - 1735 (Lord Grange & Lord Dun)

The process of resolving the forfeiture of 1716 took many years, but the next owners of the estate were James Erskine, Lord Grange and David Erskine, Lord Dun - with Dixon & Green (1995) giving the year of their purchase as 1719 – however, some NAS documents suggest 1724 is more likely – for example (NAS GD124/15/1251) is a congratulatory letter to Lord Grange on the purchase of the Mar Estate dated 18AUG1724 and (NAS GD124/15/1252) are three letters from Lord Grange to Lord Dun detailing his difficulties in purchasing the Mar Estate dated between 18AUG1724 and 08OCT1724.

Lord Grange was the brother of the Earl of Mar, and other documents make clear that his and Lord Dun's intentions were to purchase Mar Estate to 'provide' for the Earl of Mar's wife and son – Frances, Countess of Mar and Thomas, Lord Erskine. For example - (NAS GD124/15/1246/5) is a letter from Lord Grange to Countess Mar explaining the delay in making payments to her and dated 14JUL1724 and (NAS GD124/17/22) is a book of transactions carried out 'by Lord Grange and Lord Dun in relation to their purchasing of the estate of Mar for the behoof [sic] of Thomas, Lord Erskine' and dated between 26OCT1723 and 13JUN1726.

When Lord Grange and Lord Dun acquired the lordship of Braemar the landholding system was still essentially feudal with Kenneth McKenzie of Dalmore acting as forester, and feuar in his own right. Along with him other feuars include John Farquaharson (Invercauld), Patrick Farquaharson (Inverey), Donald Farquaharson (Allanaquoich) – Dixon & Green (1995).

[edit] 1735 - 1763 (1st Earl Fife)

Dalmore was bought by William Duff, 1st Earl Fife between 1730 and 1737[1].

Sometime between 1730 and 1737, the property was acquired by the Duffs—this family's first foothold on Deeside—and by the end of the century they had purchased the neighbouring Farquharson lands of Alanaquoich, Auchindryne and Inverey.

—Wyness

The Duffs as Earls of Fife - following the recreation of 1759 - held onto what became Mar Lodge Estate into the 20th century building the 2nd and 3rd Mar Lodges.

William died on September 30, 1763, and is interred in the mausoleum at Duff House, Banffshire.

[edit] 1763 - 1809 (2nd Earl Fife)

In 1763 - James Duff succeeded his father William, becoming the 2nd Earl Fife.

The work of Dixon & Green (1995) shows that until the improvements began in the 1760s by James Duff, 2nd Earl Fife much of the estate was populated and farmed by tenants and sub-tenants. Even today - names on ordnance survey maps and ruins on the ground record the existence of townships and farms in the main glens of the estate (including) Glen Dee, Glen Ey, Glen Lui and Glen Quoich from this period.

... during the course of the later 18th century, almost all the farms and townships listed in the rentals were cleared of tenants. The reasons for the clearances varied from place to place. Those townships around Mar Lodge itself were removed to make parkland and improve the view, whilst others were removed to improve the hunting (Glen Lui), or in order to turn land to grass. The result of this process of clearance was a significant reduction in population during the later 18th century, ...

— Dixon & Green

...and himself set the example by instituting near each of his seats a model farm, where agriculture and cattle-breeding were carried on under his personal supervision.

— Stephen, Leslie

James died on the 24th January 1809 at his house in Whitehall, London, and is interred in the mausoleum at Duff House, Banffshire.

[edit] 1809 - 1811 (3rd Earl Fife)

In 1809 - Alexander Duff succeeded his brother, becoming the 3rd Earl Fife.

Alexander died on the 17th April 1811 at Duff House.

[edit] 1811 - 1857 (4th Earl Fife)

In 1811 - James Duff succeeded his father, becoming the 4th Earl Fife.

During this period Anderson & Anderson (1850) give interesting descriptions of the estate traveling through it from Glen Tilt and down Glen Dee to Castletown of Braemar as Braemar was know at that time. They describe the location of Mar Lodge as 'in the bottom of the valley', that it is a 'commodious hunting-seat of the Earl of Fife's' and that it was being 'rented, with the adjoining deer forests, by the Duke of Leeds'. They also describe Corriemulzie Cottage[2] as being a 'pretty sporting villa, occupied during the season by General[3] Duff and his family'. From this we can see that the 1st Mar Lodge was still habitable, and in use, but that the Duffs were only using the 'Cottage' on their visits for the deer hunting season.

James died on the 9th March 1857 at Duff House.

The hamlet of Inverey is the only survivor of the estate clearance - not counting the village of Braemar part of which was also very much part of Mar Estate well into the 20th century.

In the 19th century the estate moved towards being used primarily for recreational shooting and fishing with the building of the Hunting Lodges of Derry Lodge, Geldie Lodge and Bynack Lodge.

[edit] 1857 - 1879 (5th Earl Fife)

In 1857 - James Duff succeeded his uncle Alexander becoming the 5th Earl Fife.

[edit] 1879 - 1912 (6th Earl Fife)

In 1879 - Alexander William George Duff succeeded his father James becoming the 6th Earl Fife.

Alexander died on 29th January 1912 at Aswan, Egypt and was interred at Mar Lodge.

[edit] 1912 - 19?? (Trustees of the Late Duke of Fife)

Following the death of Alexander the estate was managed by Trustees.

[edit] 19?? - 1959 (Duchess of Fife)

Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife died on 26th February 1959.

[edit] 1959 - 196? (Alexander Ramsey)

In 1959 - Alexander Ramsey inherited the estate from his aunt.

[edit] 196? - 19?? (John & Gerald Panchaud)

[edit] 19?? - 1995 (J Kluge)

[edit] 1995 - (National Trust for Scotland)

Mar Lodge Estate became a National Trust for Scotland property in 1995, and is also entirely contained within the Cairngorms National Park.

[edit] Gallery

This photograph gallery contains general views of Mar Lodge Estate.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Lui Water between Black Bridge and Linn of Lui (March 2004)

Lui Water and Glen Lui from Black Bridge (March 2004)

Glen Dee from Morrone (September 2006)

Linn of Dee from the East (May 2005)

Glen Quoich from Morrone (September 2006)

Allanaquoich from the Linn of Dee road (March 2004)

Allanaquoich from the Linn of Dee road (September 2006)

Braegarie from the Linn of Dee road (September 2006)

Mar Lodge from the Linn of Dee road (September 2006)

Morrone from Corriemulzie (September 2006)

[edit] Sources

  • Anderson, George & Anderson, Peter (1850), Guide to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, Adam and Charles Black, Edinburgh 
  • Gibbs, Hon. Vicary & Doubleday, H (1926), The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain And The United Kingdom, St. Catherine Press, London 
  • Stephen, Sir Leslie & Lee, Sir Sydney (1917), The Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press 

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Wyness, Fenton (1968). Royal Valley – The Story Of The Aberdeenshire Dee. 
  2. ^ The 2nd Mar Lodge.
  3. ^ He was a Major General in the Spanish army during the Peninsular War

[edit] External links