HISTORY OF THE PROPERTY
The derivation and meaning of Arbuthnott is obscure, but it is certainly a Celtic place name, probably related to the confluence of a stream with a larger river. The lands of Arbuthnott from which the family takes its name originally formed part of a Celtic thanage. The Norman family of Oliphant held the estate during the X11th century and some time later in that century Hugh of Swinton came north from Dunbar, probably married the Oliphant heiress and took to himself the name of Arbuthnott and became the founder of the present family.
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The greatest extent of the estate was 9000 acres and included most of the parish and estate of Catterline with a commercial fishing harbour. There was a family interest in the harbour at Gourdon also from which some coastal trading and passenger activity developed as well as in-shore fishing's. Gourdon also had the family store-houses where coal, timber and other necessities were held on arrival by sea before transport to the manor house. Another purely agricultural estate was owned at Fordoun. It had its own dwelling house which still exists but that house and all the lands were sold in 1920. The area of the Fordoun property had been 3000 acres. |
There were smaller additions and subtractions to the area of land owned by the family during the period 1400 to 1900, for instance at the latter end of that period, the neighbouring estate of Allardice belonged to the family. However after the major sale in 1920 all the extraneous areas of land at Arbuthnott were sold and from 1920 to 1970 the estate totalled no more than 3000 acres, now reduced to 2000 acres by two further sales of farmland.
ARBUTHNOTT HOUSE
The present house is an XV111th century enlargement of a XV11th century dwelling, which in turn grew out of periods of development in the XVth and XV1th century of a fortified manor-house. It is the seat of John Cambell Arbuthnott, 16th Viscount and 33rd Laird of Arbuthnott, Chief of the Name of Arbuthnott.
From a single-storey stone keep, the foundations of which form the lower courses of stonework in the north-facing walls the buildings on the site gradually evolved into a castle with an upper and lower courtyard defended to the west by a towered gate-way and battling walls on the north-west corner. The southern range of buildings were composed of two similar and adjacent single storied dwelling houses with attic rooms above each one and sometimes referred to together as a fortified manor house. Apart from domestic quarters constructed on the northern and eastern sides of the enclosed courtyards, there was no other building work until the middle of the XV11 century when the western most section of the manor house was given an extra bedroom floor with habitable attics above. These became the principal family bedrooms and the drawing room below them was developed as the principal reception room for the house-hold. The drawing room and to a lesser extent the two bedrooms above boast heavily moulded ceilings which are dated 1683-4 by similar XV11 century work appearing at Kellie, Brodie and Fyvie Castle.
One final and major building phase occurred in 1754-6 when all the fortified buildings on the north -west area of the site were cleared away and a conventional XV111 century Georgian front added. Finally the front door and main staircase were added to this portion in 1820 when the present drive and its flamboyant bridge were constructed. These rooms and the earlier XV11 century additions together form the bulk of Arbuthnott House as it is today.
Contemporaneously with the house building work of the XV11 century the gardens were developed within sheltering walls and after the XV111 century house building, the farms, woodlands, water-courses and roadways of an agricultural and forestry estate came into existence.
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The building of Arbuthnott House has been fully described by Harry Gordon Slade in the proceedings of the Society of Scottish Antiquities, Vol. 110, Session 1978-80 pp 432-474. The family that has occupied the house for eight centuries is described by Christy Bing in her book The Lairds of Arbuthnott published by Agnate Press, 34 Church Street, Edzell, Scotland (Revised 1999.) Cost £9.99 |
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| Arbuthnott Tartan |