Skene Heritage Society Newsletter

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1 Skene Heritage Society Newsletter Scottish Registered Charity No: SC September Issue 23 In this Issue Visitors from West Virginia Skene and Wester Fintray Gillespie the Gauger again Westhill House Moses Berry Coffee Morning Page 1 Page 1 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 The Society is planning a coffee morning at Trinity Church, Westhill from on Saturday 26 th October. A West Virginian visits Skene House into parts of Skene House as well as giving them a tour of the gardens. Linda is wearing her Skene tartan sash for the occasion. Jim also took them to Old Aberdeen, Skene Kirkyard, the Loch of Skene, Craigievar Castle and the Burn O Vat. Linda has traced her American ancestry back to the middle of the 18 th Century. There are two possible North East ancestors for her John Skene, later Governor of West Jersey, who was born in Aberdeen in 1649 and settled in New Jersey around Or James Skene, born a physician and educator, who left Marischal College and settled in Charleston, South Carolina in A fuller account of Linda s trip to Scotland will appear in the next two issues of the Clan Skene Newsletter. Skene and Wester Fintray This photograph shows Chairman Jim Fiddes with Linda Skeen Andresen at Skene House. Linda and her friend Sandy were visiting from Charleston, West Virginia for two days at the end of July. Thanks to the kindness of Nick and Fiona Renny, Jim was able to take them The parish of Fintray lies on the north side of the River Don between the villages of Kintore and Dyce. Sometime around 1190 Earl David of Huntingdon and the Garioch, brother of King William the Lion, established an abbey at Lindores near Newburgh in Fife. Fintray was among David s estates in the North East that were granted to the abbey. That meant that revenues from Fintray were paid to the abbey. Several years before the Reformation the Abbey of Lindores sold Fintray, possibly to raise money to pay its taxes. The Register of the Privy Seal for 1544 confirms William, Master of Forbes (i.e. heir to Lord Forbes) and his wife, Elizabeth Keith, in possession of Logyfintray in baronia de Fintray regalitate de Lundoris. Around 1617 Fintray was bought by another Forbes, Merchant Wullie Forbes of Menie and Craigievar (the builder of Craigievar Castle as we see it today). 1

2 So what does all this have to do with Skene? Well, in 1665 Robert Petrie of Portlethen, Provost of Aberdeen, acquired part of Fintray known as Wester Fintray from Sir John Forbes of Craigievar (grandson of Merchant Wullie and known as The Red Sir John). Sir John was in fact Petrie s brother-inlaw, Petrie being married to Anna Forbes. A year later Petrie sold Wester Fintray to George Skene, Baltic Merchant and later Provost of Aberdeen, who subsequently bought the estate of Rubislaw and whose town house in the Guestrow in Aberdeen still stands as Provost Skene s House. The Register of the Great Seal records a charter dated September 7 th, 1666 granting to George Skene, merchant burgess of Aberdeen the lands of Wester Fintrayes, including the toun and lands of Milnetoune of Fintray and the old mill of Fintray. The latter was the famous Fintray Mill, still in existence up to the early 1990s under the Ogston Family. The loss of Fintray Mill to the tenants of Forbes of Craigievar probably led to a new mill being built for the latter s tenants, to which they would have been thirled or astricted. This mill, the Newmill, is still there today. The miller s house at Newmill is a Category B listed, early 18 th Century building. The lade for the mill was worked from two dams further up the burn, as shown on the 1st OS map. Using two dams meant that it could keep working all day. The lade crossed the road that leads down to the mill and was actually carried on a raised wooden channel above the yard between the house and the mill, before dropping down to work the wheel. Remains of this can be seen today and the wooden channel was only taken down in living memory because water leaking from it froze and made walking across the yard treacherous. George Skene had originally been articled by his half-brother, David Skene, to another Baltic merchant George Aedie, and Skene learned his trade from Aedie. David Skene and his wife died in poverty in Poland and George Skene sent for their two sons and one daughter, the daughter Katherine marrying David Aedie, son of George Aedie. Skene seems to have intended giving Wester Fintray to his eldest nephew, George, but the latter and his brother Alexander were somewhat wayward young men, given to extravagant behaviour. In fact there is a story that the two young men broke into their uncle s cabinet and robbed him. As a result they were disinherited and they moved abroad never to be heard of again. Wester Fintray subsequently passed to his great niece, Giles Aedie. Giles had married the Laird of Skene, Alexander, and their heraldic stone, dated 1692 and containing two highlanders with one of the earliest representations of the short kilt, can still be seen at Skene House. A letter from Giles to her husband survives in the Skene House Papers. At the time of the 1696 Poll Tax Wester Fintray was a very sizeable fermtoun with over 50 households and included a merchant was well as weavers and shoemakers. Because of the Skene ownership various records for Wester Fintray, including estate rentals from as early as 1720 through to the late 19 th Century, survive in the Skene House/Duff House collection in Aberdeen University. For example in 1787 it shows that George Skene of Skene is still paying fue duty to the Abbacy of Lindores for Meikle Fintray and Lairshill. In 1804 the laird of Skene was paying his portion of the Fintray schoolmaster s stipend and also paying towards the cost of an new manse at Fintray. These obligations being part of his duties as one of the heritors of the parish. On the death of the last Laird of Skene in 1825, the Skene lands, including Wester Fintray, passed to the Earl of Fife. In the late 19 th Century Wester Fintray was 2

3 acquired by the Earl of Kintore who held it into the 20 th Century. More on Gillespie the Skene Gauger Most readers will be familiar with the story of Malcolm Gillespie, the infamous gauger of Skene, who was hanged for fraud at the top of Marischal Street in Aberdeen. His story has been told in this newsletter as well as in my own book on Skene. I found the following letter in one of the many notebooks kept by G M Fraser, City Librarian of Aberdeen from 1899 up to the 1930s. Fraser was a prodigious local historian and this account was in a letter to J M Bulloch, librarian at the University of Aberdeen. The supervisor of Gillespie s ride (at Skene), as excise officer, was a Mr. Robertson, who lived in Mearns Court, Shiprow, Aberdeen, at the time of Gillespie s execution in 1827 (he lived with his father-in-law, Mr Mearns, proprietor of the property and a stocking manufacturer). On the authority of Robertson s son, Alexander Robertson, who died in Sheffield in 1874 (and who as a youth spent his holidays with Gillespie at Crombie Cottage, Skene) the late James Rettie, in some manuscript notes, states that Gillespie acted as a recruiting sergeant for the Duchess of Gordon when the 92 nd Gordon Highlanders were being raised, and that he obtained his situation in the excise through the influence of the last Duke of Gordon, then Marquis of Huntly. In the life of Gillespie written by Geroge Skene Edwards, one of Gillespie s officers tried for forgery, and in Gillespie s own Memorial (doubtless also Edwards s work) it is stated that Gillespie recruited for the 1 st Regiment of Foot then lying at Stirling Castle, and commanded by Lord Adam Gordon who alternatively got Gillespie his appointment in the Excise. It is possible that he recruited for both regiments. In any case it is undoubted that his (Gillespie s) daughter was called Jane Maxwell Gordon after the Duchess. During the week of the trial Jane lived with Mrs Robertson in Mearns Court. She had received a good education and became governess to the family of Doctor Dyce in Marischal Street. Therefore Jane Maxwell Gordon Gillespie was governess to William Dyce R.A., not only one of our greatest artists, but the artist who introduced John Ruskin to the Pre-Raphaelite School of Painting. Duchess Jean or Jane Gordon was reputed to have raised a regiment during the war against the French Revolutionary Government in the 1790s by placing a shilling (or guinea) between her lips and offering the kiss to all recruits. The regiment, known as the 100 th Regiment of Foot, later the 92 nd, was the forerunner of the Gordon Highlanders. Doctor Dyce, as well being a doctor, was also professor of medicine at Marishcal College. He lived at No. 48 Marischal Street and also had a property on the Lang Stracht near Kingswells. William was born at Marischal Street in 1806 and attended Aberdeen Grammar School. While at the Grammar School he showed his artistic talent by caricaturing the masters - giving them monkeys bodies and ridiculous poses. He completed his M.A. at Marischal College at the age of 16 and started studying medicine but grew tired of it and turned to theology. He pursued his art career behind the back of his family. As well as being a notable artist, perhaps the finest Aberdeen has produced, he was also involved in the government scheme to set up a School of Design under what became known as the South Kensington Schools. This supervised art education throughout the country and eventually became the Royal College of Art. Aberdeen Art Gallery has a large collection of Dyce s work and there is a plaque commemorating him at 48 Marischal Street. 3

4 Westhill House From this:- Westhill House on the Old Skene Road will be familiar to most readers of this Newsletter, though I don t think that anyone alive will remember when Doctor Skinner ran his practice from there before buying Leddach House. To this:- Westhill House c.1910 with two of Doctor Skinner s children In my book on Skene I suggested that Westhill House, unlike other laird s houses such as Easterskene and Kirkville, was not built all at once as a single entity. Rather it had evolved from an earlier simple farmhouse, known as Blackhills, occupied by Alexander Smith of Blackhills, and having seven windows at the time of the 1801/2 window tax. Recently I received some information written by Liam Finlay, primary architect for the new town of Westhill from the 1970s onwards. Liam had his offices in Westhill House and knew the building intimately. In these notes Liam describes how during the refurbishment of the house perceived as The Big Hoose appears to have been a very lowly 2- roomed atticked croft cottage much like many rural Aberdeenshire dwellings. This wee house faced east, not south as the present house stands and a plan and sketches of how this originated is shown below. In four stages A fascinating analysis of how a simple farm cottage evolved into a substantial property, one of the few original buildings in Westhill 4

5 Moses Berry : blacksmith Moses Berry was the blacksmith at Concraig, on the road from Westhill to the Tyrebagger Road. Very much involved with the Westhill Congregational Church, he was made a trustee in 1881.He died in 1923, aged 82, and is buried with his wife Jane Cooper in Skene Kirkyard. Imagine, then, my surprise to find a photograph of Moses Berry, described as blacksmith at Kintocher, in a box of 19 th Century photographs in Craigievar Castle, Leochel Cushnie near Alford. It seemed an unusual name but was it the same man? Further delving actually revealed several men called Moses Berry. Although the 1901 Census gave Moses s birth parish as Alford, the 1861 Census gave it as Leochel Cushnie which is the parish that Craigievar is in. In 1861 at Concraig, Skene, were Peter Berry, 48, blacksmith and farmer of 8 acres, born in Tough parish. His wife Martha was a midwife, born in Alford. Among their children were Patrick, a blacksmith, Moses, an apprentice blacksmith, and several other children. In the 1851 Census for Tough parish near Alford I found Moses Berry at Blacksmith s Croft on the Tonley Estate owned by James Gregory Moir Byres. This Moses was a widower aged 68, born in the parish and a master blacksmith and crofter of 5 acres employing 2 men. His son Moses, a journeyman blacksmith, was at the same address. Ten years later old Moses was still alive, at Ardycraig in Tough parish, now a retired blacksmith and farmer of 6 acres. His son Moses had not taken over the Tough smithy. Instead he had moved a few miles to the Smith s Croft at Kintocher in the parish of Lumphanan. The Kintocher Estate was owned by Sir William Forbes of Craigievar, Kintocher is just down the hill from the castle. This Moses must be the one in the photograph. Judging by their ages this Moses and Peter Berry at Concraig were brothers, both sons of the older Moses. My Moses Berry at Concraig followed his father Peter as blacksmith there and had probably been named after his grandfather. Jim Fiddes Sharing Memories Send all contributions to: Jim Fiddes, Chairman 21 Dean Gardens Westhill Aberdeesnhire AB32 6TF E:mail: jim.fiddes@mypostoffice.co.uk Come and join Skene Heritage Society The main objective of the group is to gather together an archive of local history materials for the benefit of local residents. The recording of oral history is an important feature of this, as well as the collecting of photographs, newspaper articles, maps and other archive materials. Scanning facilities are available, to enable us to copy any material for our archive. Chairman - Jim Fiddes Tel: (01224) Secretary - Gillian Thompson Tel: (01224) Treasurer - George Morrison Tel: (01224)