A property with a past

Stories about older properties can conjure up fond memories for people, as Donna Ross discovers

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LAST week’s feature about Leddach House prompted a number of readers to contact us with tales about the charming property. For Bill Rose, from Elrick, it meant he could share his interesting story.

Bill, 76, was raised on Westhill Farm outside Westhill before moving to his house in Elrick at the age of five. He has seen some significant changes in the area over the years.

His home, a former croft house, is a few minutes’ walk from Leddach itself, and is where he discovered some fascinating information about the grand mansion house.

“I read the story with great interest,” Bill explained.

“Being in possession of previous sale notices of the house, one dated 1901, and deeds of the property, I thought readers of the paper would enjoy a bit of history.”

Bill has records of the Leddach Estate going back as far as 1789, in the reign “of our sovereign Lord George The Third King of Great Britain, France and Ireland”. He also has copies of marriage certificates for daughters of Peter Jamieson – the man who built the house. A sale notice for the house, which dates back to 1901 makes interesting reading.

It states that the house came with land “extending to 641 acres, or thereby, of which is about 530 acres are arable and the remainder pasture, roads, woods and waste” – all for the reduced upset price of £13,500 – a considerable amount of money back then.

The selling point at the time was that the house was only five miles from Culter station, on the Deeside Railway, and that a post and telegraph office was within five minutes’ walk of the mansion house.

The property was described as “commodius” and well situated within “ornamental policies”.

Inside, there were three public rooms, seven bedrooms, two dressing rooms, two bathrooms, three WCs, kitchen, servants’ and other accommodation, and a fireproof safe.

Luxuries in the mansion house included hot and cold water, and gas fittings throughout the house – there was a gas house complete with gas machine and gasoline tank.

Outside, there were stables for four horses, a coach house, harness room, hay loft and a large and productive garden in good condition.

The estate offered low country shooting and it gave people the opportunity to rent the farms available there. The advertisement was placed in a number of newspapers, including the Scotsman, Glasgow Herald, Aberdeen Free Press and The Aberdeen and North of Scotland Newspaper.

Deeds for the property reveal that, in 1921, the land was broken up and sold as farm crofts and houses, leaving the Leddach mansion house as it is now. The estate boundaries were marked with about stones, each with a different letter chiselled on them.

One with the letter “S” has survived and can be seen just to the right of the kissing gate entrance to Cairnie Woods, off Peregrine Road, and marks the corner of the south and west Leddach boundary with the Cairnie Estate.

“Some of the stones may still exist hidden, but most are now gone, thanks to bulldozers,” Bill said.

“The lands are now mostly in the hands of housebuilders, and the farms and crofts that have been built on will just have street names to be remembered by.”

If you have anything you’d like to tell us about Leddach House or would like to contact Bill, call 01224 343382.