Pitmedden Gardens and Haddo House: Scotland '23 Part 3

A Restored Renaissance Garden and the Seat of the Earls of Aberdeen

A Brief Introduction

Scotland

Aberdeenshire

After driving north from Falkirk, we spent a week, as we did last year, in a borrowed cottage (thank you Jenny and Bob) in the delightful fishing village of Findochty, beside the Moray Firth. For no obvious reason Findochty is pronounced ‘Finechty.’ Our ‘outings,’ to Banff & Macduff, Pitmedden & Haddo House (near Oldmeldrum) and Lossiemouth & Elgin will be described in this and the previous and subsequent posts. The rest of the time we pottered happily about Findochty and Buckie. Some of that pottering fed into improvements (and one enlargement) of last year's Findochty, Portknockie and Cullen post.

Findochty to Oldmeldrum is just over 40 miles and takes and hour

Findochty to Oldmeldrum

After a leisurely breakfast we set out from Findochty and headed along the cost to Cullen where we crossed from Moray into Aberdeenshire and continued to Portsoy.

Moray and Aberdeen
Findochty is on the coast between Buckie and Cullen

Here we turned south-west on minor roads. Although only a quarter the size of the Highland District, Aberdeenshire is Scotland third largest council district, even without the city of Aberdeen which is a district in its own right. The Aberdeenshire's coast is studded with fishing ports, some tiny some substantial, the western side is mountainous and includes much of the Cairngorms National Park while the rest is rural. We drove along quiet roads traversing gently undulating farmland past fields of cereals and lush green pastures grazed by contented cows.

Aberdeenshire

We encountered a few villages, the occasional distillery and the small town of Turriff with its complicated one-way system, where we turned south toward Oldmeldrum.

Oldmeldrum (pop: 3,000) was important enough in 1672, to be made a Burgh of Barony. ‘Meldrum’ come from the Gaelic for a bald hill, the ‘old’ implies the existence of a Newmeldrum, though there has never been one.

The village of Pitmedden is five miles east of Oldmeldrum and we made our way to Pitmedden Gardens on the northern edge of the village.

Pitmedden Gardens

Sir Alexander Seton and his wife, Dame Margaret Lauder, established a house and garden here in 1675. The garden was noted for its geometric parterres, which, according to Wikipedia, are now the largest surviving parterres,, in Scotland. In the next paragraph the reader is informed that the house and garden was destroyed by a fire in 1807.

The parterres were restored by the National Trust for Scotland between 1951 and 1961. The rectangular garden has an upper and lower terrace and is set out, as Chinese Gardens often are, with its boundaries running (almost) precisely north, south, east and west. The parterres are on the Lower Terrace, the entrance is on the Upper Terrace, but the avenue of Yews almost demands you walk straight across the Upper Terrace and look down.

The Lower Terrace

The parterres are large and the Lower Terrace is not far below. The view would be better from a drone, but as I do not have one, here is a satellite picture (thank you Bing Maps).

Pitmedden Gardens from Bing maps

The colours are less dramatic from ground level…

The two northern parterres

…though the avenue continuing through from the Upper Terrace looks better from the ground.

The avenue through the Lower Terrace

The visitor can wander at will along the paths through the parterres and it is here the colours are found, nestled inside the lines of the hedge.

The south eastern parterre

As the original designs are lost, the restorers based three parterres on the 1647 plans for the garden of Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, while the fourth section is a memorial to the Seton Family.

Inside a parterre

The strict formality of the geometric patterns may not be to everybody’s taste, but it is to mine. Flowers are not natural, they were bred to be the way they are, so gardeners are free to make use of them in the most artificial of patterns. The result is so….and it seems a pathetic little word…tidy, but I like tidiness, even if I often fail to achieve it in my own life. We saw a patchwork style of tidiness in the Madeira Botanical Gardens in April, so I am clearly not on my own with this.

Around the boundaries of the Lower Terrace are border flowerbeds with drifts of colourful plants for those less geometrically inclined.

One of the border flower beds

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The Orchard

A gate to the south of the parterres leads into an orchard of plum trees. There are several dozen trees, all looking much the same, though the planting diagram differentiates them into plums, damsons, greengages and a couple more I had never heard of – and should have written down at the time. Colin W kindly reminds me that one unremembered plum relatives was the Bullace. For his description of a bullace, see comments below.

Plum Trees, Pitmedden

The Upper Terrace

Having rushed through the Upper terrace on arrival, we returned for a closer look. Here, instead of recreating historical designs, they are re-imaging the garden for the modern world.

Upper Terrace, Pitmedden Gardens

The implementation will be naturalistic and sustainable (and I hope ‘sustainable’ is more than just a buzz word). Within the modern design the plantings are intended to recreate the colour palate of 17th century textiles, while mown s-shaped walkways echo 17th century architecture.

Upper Terrace, Pitmedden Gardens\

I expect many people will like this new garden, but my (weird?) preference remains for the strict geometric shapes below.

Pitmedden Gardens, Upper Terrace

Pitmedden Museum of Farming Life

The barn and farmhouse on the upper terrace contain a Museum of Farming Life.

Getting turnip seeds into the ground was important here in the 19th century. The museum has an old, and an even older way of doing it. Both could be pulled by a single horse, which given the width and weight of the blue painted machine, front of picture, seems remarkable.

Turnip drills, Pitmedden

There is, of course, the obligatory threshing machine, though they call this a ‘barn mill.’ Instead of being dragged from farm to farm by a traction engine, this one was fixed with a grain lift above.

Barn Mill, Pitmedden

Advancing into the 20th century, there is a Fordson tractor from the 1940s. My memory says that tractors were still this size in my childhood (late 50s/early 60s). I now sometimes find myself staring in wonder at the behemoths working our local fields or driving down the main street of the village. The Ford Motor Company (US) manufactured tractors under the Fordson name from 1917 to 1928, then stopped making tractors for a decade. The Ford Motor Company (UK) continued to develop and manufacture Fordson tractors until 1964. The N series, in the photograph, was produced in Dagenham between 1939 and 1952.

Fordson N Series Tractor, Pitmedden

We moved from the barn to the farmhouse. I do not have a date for either the building or the furnishing, but there is a cosy farm parlour….

Cosy parlour, Pitmedden

…. a kitchen with none of the conveniences we take for granted….

Kitchen, Pitmedden

….and a bedroom with accommodation for the two smallest children, though these probably come from different times. There is also a tiny sowing machine in the mantlepiece.

Bedroom, Pitmedden

It was now well past lunchtime, so we had a snack and a cup of tea in the Pitmedden café and then set off for...,

Tarves and the Tolquhon Tomb

The village of Tarves is some 3 miles north of Pitmedden. Tolquhon Castle is half way between the villages, though not on the road.

Most of the now ruined castle was built by William Forbes, 7th Laird of Tolquhon between 1584 and 1589. He died in 1596, and his remains, and those of his wife Elizabeth Gorden are interred in the Tolquhon Altar Tomb.

Despite some sources saying otherwise, the tomb is not in Tolquhon Castle but at St. Englat’s Parish Kirk in Tarves. Ignoring the castle, we drove straight to Tarves, parked in the small square and walked to the Parish Kirk. The previous kirk having become unsafe, a new kirk was built in 1798. It stands beside the remains of its predecessor, and the Tolquhon Tomb is incorporated into a surviving wall of the old church, beneath an unlovely Perspex porch erected by Historic Scotland.

The Tolquhon Tomb, Tarves

The Tomb, built by Thomas Leper in 1589 perhaps to William Forbes design, is an arched altar tomb with mixed gothic and Renaissance motifs. That pedimented setting and classical surround probably date from 1798. Small figure of Forbes and his wife stand at either end of the arch apparently staring sadly across the huge empty space between them.

Around 60 recumbent tombstones populate the old church floor, Four, early and well carved, 16th/17th century tombstones have been propped up against the wall.

Four tombstones, Tarves

Haddo House

Haddo House is 3 miles north of Tarves, down the end of a very long drive - I think, it is hard to tell where the public road ended and the drive began.

The Haddo branch of the Gordons descend from John Gordon, who fought as a Royalist against the Covenanters in the Civil War and was created Baronet in 1642. The Third Baronet, George Gordon was a noted lawyer who became Chancellor of Scotland and was created Earl of Aberdeen in 1682.

Work on Haddo House started under the Third Earl in 1732.

Haddo House - this is just the gatehouse

Like Duff House in Banff and half a dozen more major houses in Scotland. Haddo House was designed by William Adam in Georgian Palladian style.

Haddo House - just the central block

George Hamilton Gordon
Photo: John Jabez Edwin Mayal
National Portrait Gallery (Pub Dom)

The 4th Earl, George Hamilton-Gordon (the Hamilton came from his wife’s family) had a career as a diplomat and parliamentarian and was Prime Minister from 1852 to 1855. He reluctantly led Great Britain into the Crimean War.

The 7th Earl was upgraded to 1st Marquess in 1916. Since 2020, the title has been held by the 8th Marquess, another George Gordon - aristocrats tend to be economical with names. He does not live in Haddo House, which was given to the National trust for Scotland in 1979.

The exterior might be Georgian, but the interior had a late Victorian makeover. The National Trust usual permits photography inside their buildings, but they do not own the content of Haddo House, and their owners take a different view.

Haddo House, showing the central section and both wings

We took the guided tour which showed us the furniture, the family portraits and James Giles’ 85 paintings of Aberdeenshire castles.

We also saw the table, menu and place cards from a dinner party hosted by the first Marquess in 1884. Among those attending were William Gladstone, then in the second of his four terms as Prime Minister, his wife Catherine, his daughter, educationist Helen Gladstone, and future Prime Minister, Archibald Primrose.

Dinner at Haddo House. 1884

I can show you a picture of that. Dinner in Haddo House 1884 was painted by Alfred Edward Emslie and is in the National Portrait Gallery – though we missed it when we visited in November 2023. The picture is in the public domain.

Back to Findochty

We had not gone far from Haddo House when we were hit by a tremendous downpour, a storm that has you creeping along at 15 mph while wondering if the rain drops hammering on the car roof will actually dent it. Fortunately, such force cannot last for long and we drove of the way back in watery sunshine as a steamy mist rose from the roads.

Scotland 2023

Part 1 Falkirk
Part 2 Banff and Macduff
Part 3 Pitmedden Gardens and Haddo House
Part 4 Lossiemouth to Elgin
Part 5 A Rainy Day in Dumfries (1) Robert Burns
Part 6 A Rainy Day in Dumfries (2) Caerlaverock Castle

Banff and Macduff, Scotland '23 Part 2

Two Small Towns Facing Each Other Across the River Deveron

A Brief Introduction

Scotland

Aberdeenshire

After driving north from Falkirk, we spent a week, as we did last year, in a borrowed cottage (thank you Jenny and Bob) in the delightful fishing village of Findochty, beside the Moray Firth. For no obvious reason Findochty is pronounced ‘Finechty.’ Our ‘outings,’ to Banff & Macduff, Pitmedden & Haddo House and Lossiemouth & Elgin will be described in this and the two following posts. The rest of the time we pottered happily about Findochty and Buckie. Some of that pottering fed into improvements (and one enlargement) of last year's Findochty, Portknockie and Cullen post.

Findochty is a fishing village 2¾ miles from the tiny metropolis of Buckie and 120 miles north of Edinburgh

Whatever Happened to Banffshire?

We set off from Findochty, driving 30 minutes along the coast via Cullen and Portsoy (see map below) to Banff. Findochty is in Moray, but once beyond Cullen we were in Aberdeenshire.

Moray and Aberdeen
Findochty is not marked but is between Buckie and Cullen

When I was a lad, there were 33 counties in Scotland, 40 in England and 12 in Wales. A major overhaul in 1974 resulted in wholesale mergers in both Wales and Scotland. Scotland’s 33 counties became 10 districts with Fife the only remained traditional county name. The old system had too many small counties with small populations, but the re-arrangement made local government too remote.

Devolution gave Wales and Scotland control of their own local organisation and both had another go. In 1996 Scotland divided itself into 38 ‘Council Districts,’ a similar number to the old counties, but with districts better reflecting the population distribution.

Along the Moray coast pre-1974 there were Nairn, Moray, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire. Nairn was swallowed up by the Highland District and Banffshire, which sprawled along the coast from Spey Bay to Crovie was split between Moray and Aberdeenshire.

Banff

The first castle at Banff was built to deter Viking raiders, but by 1163 it was more developed and Malcolm IV was residing there. A town grew round the castle and prospered by trading with the other Northern Scottish burghs. By 1264 Banff had a sheriff and in 1372 Robert II conferred Royal Burgh status.

For a former Royal Burgh and County Town, modern Banff, tucked into the north-west corner of Banff Bay, is a modest little town with a population of some 4,000.

The Harbour

Arriving from the west it was convenient to start with the surprisingly small harbour.

Banff Harbour

Banff has no natural harbour, but a sheltered anchorage was enough in the early days. The first small constructed harbour in 1471, was enough for Banff, along with Montrose and Aberdeen, to dominate salmon exports to continental Europe. 18th and 19th century enlargements allowed the town to play a major part in the new and lucrative herring trade. The trade peaked in 1845 before dwindling away in the early 20th century. Today the sight of a working boat in the small harbour is vanishingly rare.

Low Street

With a little searching we found what looked like the town centre. Low Street has, perversely, most of the characteristics of a High Street, and briefly swells into not-quite-a-town-square. There is also a High Street which runs parallel (and a little higher up the hill) and also has shops.

Banff Townhouse

As we discovered in Edinburgh two years ago, to be a Burgh (or Royal Burgh) a town needed a Kirk, a Tolbooth and a Mercat (Market) Cross. The Parish Church is in High Street, but the Tolbooth – a combined council meeting room, courthouse and lock-up was built in Old Street in the early 15th century. 250 years later it was in poor condition and in 1757 it was replaced by a steeple. Outside Scotland, only churches have steeples, but we encountered three secular steeples (this, Falkirk and Dumfries) on this year’s Scottish travels. It was too small to fulfil the tolbooth role, so the adjacent town house was added in 1797. After being a museum and then police headquarters in the 19th century, it is now the local office of Aberdeenshire district council.

Banff Townhouse and Spire

The Mercat Cross

The original cross with a Crucifixion on one side and a Virgin and Child on the other, was lucky to survive the iconoclasm of the Scottish Reformation. It once stood outside the tolbooth but was removed in 1767 and then spent 130 years topping the Earl of Fife’s dovecote.

Mercat Cross, Banff

It was returned to the town in 1900 and since 1994 has found sanctuary in the Banff Museum. A replica mounted on a 17th century shaft sits near its original position.

The Biggar Fountain

That original position has been occupied since 1878 by an ornate Victorian Gothic drinking fountain. It commemorates Walter Biggar, one of the founders of the Baltic herring trade which brought prosperity to Banff in the 19th century. It also commemorates his wife, Mrs Anne Duff, which takes us on to the next section.

Biggar Fountain, Banff

But before we go, the most remarkable feature of central Banff is not the small cluster of monuments, but the people, or rather lack of them. Apart from one man photographed walking behind the fountain, and another who sat on the steps outside the Townhouse until a bus took him away, there was nobody there! On a warm, sunny, summer Sunday morning, all 4,000 inhabitants were apparently in church, in bed or in hiding.

Duff House

Duff House is a Georgian mansion on the southern edge of Banff. Built between 1735 and 1740 for William Duff, it was designed by William Adam. William Adam may have been outshone by his sons, John, Robert and James, but he had a busy practice building large houses for the Scottish aristocracy.

Duff House is well signed, but strangely difficult to find. Turning off the main road by the Duff House Royal Golf Club the road passes a car park beside a rugby pitch. Having no better idea, we parked there and followed a footpath around the woods. After 100m we rounded a slight bend and Duff House suddenly appeared right in front of us. How it had remained hidden is a mystery, but having found it, we joined the guided tour.

Duff House, Banff

William Duff’s father made his pile as a merchant and William inherited in 1722 aged 25. He became Member of Parliament for Banffshire after standing unopposed in the 1727 general election. George I rarely attended cabinet meetings after 1717 and Robert Walpole became the de facto prime minister in 1721. Political parties were yet to form and the franchise was limited to ‘property owning men.’

Duff opposed the government on several occasions and was persuaded to step down in 1734 in favour of his more biddable brother-in-law. As a reward he was created Lord Braco of Kilbryde and was able to start building his big house. The principals of British politics have changed little in 300 years.

Entrance Hall, Duff House

Duff dominated the political scene in Banffshire (not a huge fish, but a small pond), and had joined the aristocracy but with not quite the title he craved.

Minerva and her right hand man guarding the ceramics, Duff House

In Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth,’ Macduff is the loyal and noble counterpoint to the treacherous title character. How grand, William Duff thought, to be a descendant of Macduff.

This stuff might be important in the History of Furniture, but I have rather forgotten what it is, Duff House

The accepted (if partly mythological) list of Scottish Kings includes a King Duff who ruled Alba – the chunk of Scotland between the Moray Firth and the Firth of Forth - from 962 until 967. The system of succession then used in Scotland meant sons did not automatically succeed fathers. Duff’s son became not king but Mormaer (or Thane or Earl) of Fife, the rank of Shakespeare’s Macduff. The Clan MacDuff was the most important family in Fife for several centuries.

Weapons and a chandelier, Duff House

Sorting fact from legend in the early MacDuff story is impossible, but William Duff found records of a David Duff in Aberdeenshire who received a charter from Robert III in 1404. William then proved to his own satisfaction that he was descended from David Duff, who was obviously related the Fife MacDuffs, hence he, William. was related to Shakespeare’s great, if largely fictional, Macduff.

Dining at Duff House

As he was rich and influential everybody acknowledged, at least in public, that William Duff was the real deal. The way was almost clear for him to have his heart’s desire.

Menu for Wednesday 14-Nov-1873

Unfortunately, in 1745 Charles Edward Stuart, Bonnie Prince Charlie, made the last desperate attempt to restore the Stuarts to the thrones of Scotland and England. Most of the Scots who stood with Bonnie Prince Charlie at his last stand at Culloden (See Culloden and Cawdor for details) were recruited in and around Aberdeenshire, and that put a question mark against William Duff’s loyalty to the government.

The stairs, Duff House

That question mark was not fully erased until 1759 when his wish came true and he was created Earl Fife and Viscount MacDuff. With nothing more to prove, he died in 1763.

Duff House after William Duff

Six Earls Fife lived in Duff House, the last donating it to the Burgh of Banff in 1903. Used as a hotel and sanatorium until 1928, the house lay empty until the second world war, when it became an internment camp and then housed prisoners of war.

In the mid-19th century David Bryce had been commissioned to build a three-story pavilion and corridor block. It is unclear why a German bomber was flying along the Moray coast on the morning of the 22nd of July 1940. Maybe it was lost, but it dumped four bombs, effectively destroying Bryce’s extension.

The site and remains of the Bryce extension

Worse, eight people were killed, six German prisoners of war and two of their guards. In 2019 a memorial was erected bearing their names.

Memorial to those who died in the Duff House air raid

In 1956 the house was passed to what would become ‘Historic Environment for Scotland’ and in 1995 also became part of the National Galleries of Scotland. Pictures on display include paintings by Henry Raeburn, Joshua Reynolds…

Lady Dorothea Sinclair, wife of the 2nd Earl, by Sir Joshua Reynolds

...and El Greco/

Saint Jerome in Penitence by El Greco

There is an almost identical, though slightly smaller painting called St Jerome as a Penitent, also painted by El Greco around 1600. It is in the collection of The Hispanic Society of America.

Developing Macduff

The other Earl Fife who made a major local contribution was the 2nd Earl, William’s son James. The problem with Banff is that even after the 18th century improvements, the harbour remained inadequate. Noticing there was more scope for development on the other side of Deveron Bay, James Duff developed the small settlement of Doune, built a harbour and in 1783, changed its name to Macduff.

While the harbour at Banff is used by pleasure boats, Macduff still has an important working harbour

To Macduff

We left Duff House around lunchtime, a tine for a sandwich and a cup of tea. According to the internet several establishments in Banff would normally cater for our needs, but this was Sunday so Banff, as we had already observed, was closed.

Macduff, with a similar population, was little better, but one café proudly claimed to be open, even on the Sabbath. To get there we had to cross the River Deveron.

The river flows 60 miles (97km) from the Ladder Hills in the Cairngorms before squeezing between Banff and the Hill of Doune and thence to the sea. On a fine summer’s day, it looks a pleasant stream, and if you cannot actually see the Atlantic salmon and brown trout, you can be sure they are there. But the river has other moods. Crossings were by what has been described as ‘an uncertain ferry,’ until a bridge was built in 1765. Unfortunately, it was swept away three years later. The ferry resumed, but sank in 1773. A sturdier bridge was completed in 1799.

Macduff and The Sea World Centre

Crossing the bridge without incident, we drove round the hill and found ourselves in the town, which seemed as animated as Banff. Being very much a working port, it looked more industrial, but on Sunday no one was being industrious.

We parked at the Sea World Centre aquarium and walked the 50m or so to the allegedly open café. It did not look promising as we approached and was indeed closed. A handwritten sign on the door apologised, explaining that they had a case of covid in the family and thought it responsible to close for a day or two. They were probably right, though it meant we had no lunch.

There was nothing for it, but to return to the aquarium, buy our tickets and watch some fish,

Fish at Macduff Sea World Centre

The aquarium is a circular building with a circular tank to circumambulate and several smaller tanks on the outside of the circus.

It is not large but it has an interesting variety of sea fish. They could have made identification easier, but I know the fish below with its somewhat startled look, is Cyclopterus lumpus, the lumpsucker or lumpfish (or sometimes Seahen.)

Cyclopterus Iumpus

I read that despite being a fish, it does not swim well (a piscine prerequisite, I had always thought) but bobs around at the bottom o the beautiful briny sea, or at least the continental shelf. Its redeeming virtue is its roe which is sometime sold as ‘lumpfish caviar’ - though it is not in the same class as real caviar (smaller, grainier, less flavourful).

The one in my cupboard calls itself  'Lumpfish Caviar'

Nevertheless, a handful of Ritz crackers, each liberally smeared with lumpfish roe and topped with half a boiled quail’s egg, make a excellent starter for 2 or 4 (depending on the size of your hand.)

The afternoon’s main excitement is the diver who enters the main tank to feed whatever turns up to be fed, manly cod (light grey, cedilla under chin) and coley (darker grey, no cedilla).

Diver feeds fish, Sea World Centre, Macduff

That just about exhausted the delights of Macduff and Banff, so we drove back ‘home’ in Findochty.

Scotland 2023

Part 1 Falkirk
Part 2 Banff and Macduff
Part 3 Pitmedden Gardens and Haddo House
Part 4 Lossiemouth to Elgin
Part 5 A Rainy Day in Dumfries (1) Robert Burns
Part 6 A Rainy Day in Dumfries (2) Caerlaverock Castle