Menooching; Castleing

After my lovely visit to Aberdeen, it was time to continue heading north. The original plan was to make my way up to visit the elderly aunt and uncle... however, that was knocked on the head when Aunty Mary decided she wasn't up to having visitors, even for a cuppa. The chemo she is still under for the spinal cancer is knocking her sideways, and I was not going to override her wishes. I am just glad she was able to state clearly - she is the sort of person who once would have bent over backwards in welcome. 

Anyway, I decided I was going to Banff and would spend a week or ten days there before turning south again. En route, I stopped by Fyvie Castle. Buckle up, this one's going to take you for a ride!

Where you see the entry here is the Meldrum Tower.
To the right at angles is the final addition, the Leith Tower. 

This is going to be a two-post visit, because there is first the building and history, then the gardens and grounds.

You'll recall mention of Robert Bruce in last Thursday's post. Well, he is said to have held open court at Fyvie at one time. Certainly, these were hunting grounds, and the name is thought to come from the Gaelic Fia-chein, translating as Deer Hill (though some debate this). It is thought that the original foundation of the building was in the early 1200s by William 1st of Alba. (For the uninitiated, that is pronounced A-luh-bhuh - the b being closer to a p, very soft. It is the Gaelic name for Scotland.) It has been through a few families since, which I will get to.

This is one of those places that kept getting bits added on, but the overall architectural style would now be termed as Scottish Baronial, which is actually a Victorian vision of how it was thought castles ought to look (largely influenced by the writings of Sir Walter Scott in Marmon).

This included putting up studded doors with enormous knockers...

That lump of metal measured fully sixteen inches from top to bottom. I would have loved to have given it a bash, but applied the good behavrakes! Talking of excess metal, how about this for a lock on your dresser door?

Now, this was one of the National Trust for Scotland properties that I wished to tick off my list. Like so many, though, access for the less able is very limited. I can still manage with just my walking stick and carrying my folding stool for sit downs, but that also depends on being able to roam alone with no time limit. Unfortunately, Fyvie is a castle with very strict timed guided tours only, no free roam. This presents issues as I am so dashed slow these days and would never be able to keep up, particularly on the stairs. And there are LOTS of stairs. Not to be entirely thwarted, though, I asked the fine young fellow at the desk in this foyer if I could linger and look at what I could in that space, giving him my membership card so he could count me for his numbers.

This proved very satisfying in itself, for there was a lot of metalwork of all sorts to admire, also woodwork and taxidermy and various artworks. In between fixing tickets for visitors, "Stewart" was happy to chat away about the history and objects I had questions about. I recognised the origins of some items, and he was able to confirm, for example, that the garments I was looking at were Zulu tribal wear, offered to one of the sons of the house who served in South Africa and died in the Boer War. A platter I found intriguing and thought to be bronze, he was able to confirm, and that it was from Italy, given as a gift to another family traveller. One could discuss for some time the very large, silver-decorated elephant's tusk that lay on another dresser in the foyer... but there was no real explanation for the stuffed seal pup and half a polar bear...

The chivalric knight-errant was an idealised figure in medieval literature, revived in Romantic novels such as those by Sir Walter Scott and in 19th-century historical reenactments. Displaying antique and replica armour in Victorian revival interiors was highly fashionable. Isn't that face piece amusing?!

The majority of the swords and shields would have been appropriated for the Victorian makeover, but there are quite a few that belong very much to the history of the place. 

For all the heraldry and furnishings-stroke decor, one feature dominates this entryway to Fyvie Castle: the fireplace. 

Highest Victoriana! Look at those built-in fireside chairs. The wood for this piece was from an oak that had grown on the estate. Whether it was felled specifically for the purpose or simply made use of due to having already fallen was unclear. What is known is that the family sent the wood to a Glasgow carver, and it took the best part of two years to complete.

As a whole, there is that slight grotesqueness that comes with over-decoration; however, when looked at close up, there is so much to admire.

The plaster plaque in the upper part depicts the honouring of the first private custodian of the estate, Henry Preston. We'll get to that, but just to explain the scene a little more, it's the Battle of Otterburn (1388), at which Henry distinguished himself and, thus, may be part of the reason he was favoured. 

Prepare yourselves now for a potted timeline of inheritors!

William 'The Lion' held these lands under the crown from the early 13th century, and there would have been a form of keep on the premises in which to house himself, family and entourage. 

Next up was Alexander the Second, after which there is a bit of a gap in documentation, but it did come under the care of the Grand Chamberlain of Scotland, Reginald le Cheyne, during whose incumbence the estate was visited by Edward I of England, aka 'The Hammer of Scotland'. He got that far north after defeating Robert Bruce and finding supporters among the gentrified 'Scots'. Bruce rose again and fought hard for his claim upon the throne of Scotland, including against those who favoured the English invader, resulting in the lands around Fyvie coming under fire. Bruce was crowned king in 1306 and, after finally gathering all Scots together, held his first parliament in 1309... but let's not get lost down that line!

Following Cheyne's residency, it appears the castle and grounds were let out to various noblemen before, finally, it was transferred into the care of Sir James Lindsay in 1380. Sir James Lindsay was a prominent figure at Court, due to his close relationship with the King; in 1371, he was present at the coronation of his uncle Robert II, at Scone; and he was appointed Commissioner by Robert to deal with the English in 1374 and again in 1381. His importance was furthered by marriage to Margaret, daughter of Sir William Keith, Great Marischal of Scotland. So, although not wearing the crown, the royal connection remained.

Interestingly, Lindsay also fought at Otterburn, only returning to Fyvie in 1390 - and is thought to have remained resident there, despite Preston taking over the custodianship.

This might be explained by the fact that the Lairds of Fyvie, in common with other owners of estates in these times, periodically re-tendered their lands to the Crown, and were either freshly granted the same lands again, or the lands were re-granted in the name of their son or successor. Such transactions occasionally took years to complete... so Lindsay was left dangling, as it were. He did in 1397, so the point became moot.

(NB - this relates to the question raised by F - Tigger's Mum - last week about the freelands of Aberdeen - you can read my response here. Ultimately, cut right to the very basics, nothing in the whole of these isles belongs to anybody but the crown - or so they would have us accept! Some land in Scotland can still be subject to royal escheat, meaning it can revert to the Crown under specific circumstances. While feudalism has been abolished (Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000), the Crown retains certain rights, including those related to "regalia minora" and the management of ownerless land. If a freehold property becomes effectively ownerless, it may, in certain situations, revert to the Crown, and this is administered by The King's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer. )

Anyhoo... As a side step to Lindsay's claim, on September 28th 1390, Robert III consented to a charter conferring the castle and lands upon Sir Henry Preston, brother-in-law to Sir James and the husband of Lady Elizabeth Lindsay. Robert was the grandson of The Bruce, though he was actually a Stewart, and had only just become king earlier in 1390. He had been injured at Otterburn, so whether Preston had a direct connection to saving him, or had a hand in knocking Percy from his mount (as the plaster above suggests), is unclear, but obviously he was held in great favour. He remained the laird until his death in 1433. Regarding the castle itself, the oldest part and main tower is called the Preston Tower. There is debate as to whether he built it from scratch (thus dating it to the early 1400s) or rebuilt what remained from the 'harrying of Buchan' carried out by Robert Bruce when he brought the factions of Scotland together.

Henry only had daughters. Thus, the property fell to the husband of the younger girl, his name, Alexander Meldrum (of the Meldrum of Meldrums ... yes, it was really like that!) Don't fret, the older lass and her hubby gained other properties. There is a long and convoluted history with this lot, who were in and out of debt on it via mortgaging and acting without crown consent, et cetera. Finally, another kinsman, with whose family the Meldrums had intermarried, came to the rescue. This was Alexander Seton, who, with his mother, Lady Seton, offered to purchase the estate. But the ownership of the mortgaged estate of Fyvie was far too complicated a matter to be settled this easily. Apart from the King, who had the suzerainty, there were others who had a pecuniary claim on its many acres. Even after all the fiscal and legal capers, Fyvie's estate could not be legally sold or transferred without the direct sanction of the King. This was given under the Great Seal on July 26th, 1596; thus ended the Meldrum's 163 years at Fyvie, and possession passed to the Seton family.

Are you still reading? Well done... deep breaths...

Seton was a godson of Mary Queen of Scots and held high positions at court and in parliament. I will point you to the wiki page for the keen bio-seekers; key things about this fellow, though, are that he remained stoutly Catholic along with his godmother after the Scottish Reformation, he was responsible for managing and upkeep of Holyrood Palace, and he was entrusted with the care of James VI's son, Charles (who became 'First'), so it is quite likely that the prince spent a fair bit of time at Fyvie, though mostly he'd have stayed at the main family seat in Dunfermline. Alexander was responsible for the addition of what is - unremarkably - called the Seton Tower, which is seen in the close-up photo above the door knocker. The metal banding you see on the left turret has been placed by the NTS to prevent it from falling down...

The Setons held Fyvie through four generations. As another little point of interest directly related to the castle, Alexander's first wife Lilias proved unable to provide a male heir, so after five girls it is he confined her whilst he sought another suitor. He picked a young cousin, and his wife died shortly after...🤔 so he was able to marry Grizel. She bore three sprogs, one being a son, but he died in childhood. Grizel died after the third birth, so Alexander married a third time, to a lass of fifteen years 😬 , Margaret, who did bear a male heir. Now the castle is haunted by The Green Lady, the betrayed and beleaguered Lilias, showing her dismay. 

Anyway, the family trait of being involved in all sorts of political shenanigans continued through the generations. Then, when James, Earl of Dunfermline, was found guilty of High Treason on 14th July 1690, all his estate passed to the Crown to be disposed of as the King saw fit. For forty-three years after their forfeiture, the Castle and estate of Fyvie remained Crown property until they were acquired by William Gordon, second Earl of Aberdeen.

Portrait of William Gordon (the son by Lady Anne). Image from NTS source.

This came about because the elder gentleman had been widowed twice. Wanting to wed again, he looked towards his friend, the Duke of Gordon, who had several daughters of marriageable age. William chose Lady Anne, who was just sixteen when she married in 1729. Her father, the Duke of Gordon, had made it a condition of the marriage that William should purchase Fyvie and settle it upon the issue of this marriage. The purchase of Fyvie from the crown was settled in 1733, and Lady Anne bore four sons and one daughter who survived infancy. The elder son, William, became Laird at the age of nine. He grew into a fine man and soldier. He also devoted himself to improving his estate at Fyvie. He gradually laid out the beautiful gardens and park surrounding the Castle, and drained the swampy land that had existed there. He planned the lake, some 25 acres in extent, and planted its banks with much of the woods seen today. He also added to the castle... the Gordon Tower, to match the original Preston. However, he was not quite so assidious with other 'improvements' and there are some quite ugly parts attributed to him. He also started to lose interest and the building began to deteriorate.

He didn't marry until very late in life, although the lady he did wed (who had been a servant at the castle) had already borne him a son. William. There were question marks - let me share the following from a history...

This young fellow showed interest in restoring the building and continuing to improve the estate in general. He left it in very good order for the next incumbents who, by default of marriage, were also Gordons. Lord Rockville (Alexander Gordon) was his uncle and the natural heir (he would have been there on the death of General Gordon had it not been agreed for younger Will to run the place). His elder son, Charles, inherited. Then his son, Cosmo, who, due to lack of heirs, passed the estate onto his younger brother Alick Gordon.

He also lacked heirs, so the castle and estate were given to their cousin, Maurice Duff-Gordon, in 1883. DG didn't last long at Fyvie. By 1885, the estate was on the market, and in 1889, Alexander Forbes-Leith purchased it for £175,000 from the trustees of Sir Maurice Duff-Gordon.

AFL was a repatriate Scot, having made his fortune in the USA in the steel industry. You can read more detail of this and his family connections on this link. Regarding Fyvie, the fine taste of the new Laird, backed by his great wealth, combined to restore Fyvie to its ancient splendour, enhanced by Victorian modernity. The new Laird eliminated with a relentless and almost too-drastic completeness all that he held to be ugly or unworthy of such a setting. He introduced antique furniture, fine tapestries, suits of armour, and beautiful pictures... a fireplace! He also (this was becoming a tradition) added a tower. The Leith Tower has some interesting windows...

You will note the date is again for 1890, marking the 500th anniversary of Fyvie as a lairded estate, and leaving to posterity the initials of the incumbents at that time - AIF-L and MLF-L - and respecting the reign of VR. On the lower part of the oriels we see "GANG EAST & WEST BUT HAMES BEST". 

Alexander lasted until 1925. His son Percy having died in South Africa, the inheritance fell to daughter Ethel Louise and her husband, Charles Rosedew Burn, provided they were prepared to adopt the name of Forbes-Leith. Of their three children, elder son Arthur was killed at Ypres in 1914, and next in line, Lorna, eloped before succession, so younger son Ian became Laird in 1930. 

During WW2, the castle was first turned into a maternity hospital for a short period – babies born during this time were given the middle name of Fyvie! Later, it became a convalescent hospital for badly wounded soldiers. The family were only given 48 hours' notice to clear the whole house in preparation. After the war, Sir Ian received money from the government to refurbish the castle and bring it back to a private residence. At this time, he had all the coats of arms on the ceiling of the main rooms coloured as they can be seen today. Before that, they were plain white plasterwork. On the wider estate, the Home Farm was doing well, having its own dairy and winning milk prizes. His son Andrew took up the banner on his father's death. 

It was Sir Andrew who sold the Castle to the National Trust for Scotland, completing the deal in 1984. Retaining the greater estate and Home Farm, his son, George, is the current Laird of Fyvie. He may no longer be the castle's owner, but has all the joy of living beside it and none of the weight of maintenance!

Did you make it all the way through that??? Well thank you for honouring this post, which has taken a full fifteen hours to create! As you can imagine, once I started researching, the warren just opened up... if anyone is really keen on this sort of history, Sue Coburn has written a more detailed story of Fyvie for Kindle. I owe a fair bit of what I discovered to her work, as well as NTS and Wiki sources.

Let me reward you with the beauty shot. Preston on the left, Seton in the middle, Gordon on the right. Meldrum and Leith towers are unseen here.