The Kirktown of Rothiemay

Introduction Early in the 18th century the Kirk of Rothiemay was described as standing “amid a wood of birch and alder, on Dovern.” This was the location of the Kirktown of Rothiemay, on the haugh of the overlooked by Rothiemay Castle, probably on the site of a medieval chapel founded by St. Drostan in the 6th century8. Although Rothiemay is clearly an old settlement the Kirktown is first recorded in 1617, in which year it was erected a free burgh of barony by royal charter.

Today there are few obvious signs of the old village remaining. After William Duff, Lord Braco, acquired the Castle and Estate of Rothiemay in 1741 he set about making improvements beginning with the construction of a new kilnbarn and fruithouse. Then in 1752 he determined to have the old village pulled down in order to improve his view and privacy, and moved the inhabitants and erected a new kirk and kirkyard about 800m to the west, in the neighbouring Milltown – the other settlement in Rothiemay. Around the same time, improvements were made to the gardens and policies surrounding the Castle, including the construction of a paved causeway between the Castle and the riverside, and the laying out of a new orchard/fruit garden to the west of the Castle. A new manse and a laundry were built within the Castle grounds and the doocot was repaired. A new inn was built in the Milltown, possibly to replace an earlier ostler house12, referred to by some sources. His son James Duff, 2nd Lord Fife and other successors continued with improvements to the gardens, and erected the mains farm steading. Extensive tree planting was carried out around the end of the 18th century.

During the twentieth century, the history of the estate including the old village and kirk attracted the interest of several local historians and amateur archaeologists, most notably William Cramond1, W.Douglas Simpson8, and Harry Gordon Slade2. This investigation aims to build upon their research, using maps, aerial photographs and other historical sources to help record the fragmentary physical remains that survive on the ground today. A site plan has been produced using a combination of aerial photograph transcription and field survey (see over) and this shows the location of the principal features recorded. Further details of each of these features, including descriptions, photographs and plans are presented below.

View south towards kirk mound from front of the castle garden [The Duff House Papers (University of Aberdeen) document many of these changes, mainly in the form of accounts for building work and repairs] [Major James Fraser refers to the ostler house around 1715 - a “Blind ale house very near Rothiemay’s House”]

2 ge brid ne Sto

ay sew Castle laundry Cau (1754) NORTH

Manse (1754)

Coniferous plantation (20th century) Castle site

House

O l Peter's Well d

g a r ate d h g e ditc n e enc Walled garden o f f

c (19th century) a s U t l i n l n e i e d a e r n

f t i e f a i e Rocky t u d r e platform s drain

Rushes

h b ditc a n k

S t S o n i t e e D wa

o r l l f a ( o i 1 n Curling pond 7 r a 52 c g (excavated ) h e a / early 20th r c d u century) d / l i p t House t C i c l v h au a platform a s n t i ewa t o a itch t n d y i o s S i t e of V i l l a g e n t r i p s

St. Drostan's Flood plain Church K

i r k t o Kirkyard mound w

n

B

u

r n

ditch

d i t c h

tree

Queen Mary's Bridge stump Queen Mary's Avenue

River Deveron

10 05 10 20 30 40 50m. Site of Kirktown of Rothiemay Drawn by W. Reid SCALE March 2011 3 The site and its setting General Roy’s Military Survey of , 1748-55, shows Rothiemay House in enclosed parkland of about half a square mile in area. The kirktown lies within the parkland between the House and the River Deveron, on both banks of the (un-named) Kirktown Burn. The smaller milltown lies just outside the western boundary of the parkland, on the banks of the Deveron. The kirk is not named, but lay within the kirktown, on the west bank of the Kirktown Burn.

General Roy's Military Survey of Scotland, 1748- 1755. ©British Library. Licensor SCRAN www.scran.ac.uk

Park boundary wall from the Milltown side The park boundaries are preserved within the modern landscape and are depicted on historic and modern Ordnance Survey maps. They survive most clearly on the west side, where a massive estate wall runs north from the Deveron, and by less clearly defined field boundaries to the north and east. Today, the parkland is predominantly improved pasture and arable fields, but the area to the east of the Castle/House lies within a small conifer plantation (see site plan). A small area of formal garden ground remains around the present Rothiemay House.

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1st Edition Ordnance Survey 6-inch map (, xv and xvii, surveyed 1867, published 1871)

5 St. Drostan’s Kirk The foundation walls of the old kirk of St. Drostan are visible on the mediaeval kirkyard mound. These walls are not shown on the 25” O.S. map surveyed in 1867, and appear to have remained hidden from 1752 until excavated by Col. Forbes in the early 20th century. The edge of the mound can be followed for part of the girth but there is no trace of the surrounding fail-dyke and kirkstyle mentioned in the Kirk Session records. These are available from 1604 onwards and indicate that the Kirk itself was small and poorly lit with a seated loft, apparently thatched until 1626, when it was slated. The glebe and manse, and school are also mentioned.

The foundation walls uncovered by Col. Forbes.

The kirk doorway and font saved from demolition.

The kirk door surround and stone font were saved when the kirk was demolished - the surround appears to have been used for a doorway in the castle until it was demolished in 1964. It was then moved with the font to the current church site and can now be seen built into the north wall. The bell is now installed in the belfry at Rothiemay School.

James Gordon (c.1615-1686), the well known map maker and historian, was minister of Rothiemay from 1641 to 1686 and is thought to be buried within the aisle of the Kirk of Rothiemay13.

6 Kirkyard mound (indefined)

Altar position Gravestone

External stairs Kirktown Burn

N

Door

10 0 10 20 FEET

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 METERS Scale

Plan of St. Drostan's Church, Rothiemay (remeasured October 2010)

7 The Kirktown site Roy’s Military Survey suggests that the kirktown lay on both sides of the Kirktown Burn (see page 3). Today, at least one building platform survives on the east side of the burn, opposite the kirk, and a series of ditches appear to divide the ground behind into small plots (see site plan on page 2).

However, there is no evidence of buildings on the west side of the burn around the kirkyard, as this area seems to have been subjected to an improved rig layout in the 18th or 19th century, destroying most of the earlier features. The field has been left in grass in more recent times, except for some cultivation during WW2, and the regularly spaced impressions of the rigs can be seen in low incident light conditions.

Other linear features survive within this rig system, on a slightly different alignment, and these appear to correlate with some of the garden features shown on Roy’s Military Survey. Two straight parallel features on an approximate north south axis seem to correspond with the ‘orchard’ or plantation, which he shows lying south of the Castle. Other faint linear depressions on an approximate east west axis are visible in the grass in front of the castle and the straight line of an old fail-dyke or bank is clearly visible running at right angles to these, from near the front dyke of the castle garden in the direction of the kirkyard mound. These may be the remains of the old castle gardens, which Roy shows lying to the east and south of the Castle. The garden grounds are discussed further on page 12. A boggy strip on the west side of the burn, north of the kirkyard mound, is the remains of a curling th pond excavated by Col. Forbes early in the 20 century.

The kirktown site showing the cultivation/drainage strips and imprint of the orchard on the left.

8 The ground on the east side of the burn is rough and stoney and does not appear to have been cultivated. To the northeast of the building platform is a bank of stones which may have been associated with the building of the causeway wall and ditch erected around 17526. At the north end next to the forestry plantation, the stones on the surface appear to have been deliberately arranged for some unknown purpose. This area is worthy of further investigation.

View west over Kirktown Burn along edge of conifer plantation

9 Queen Mary’s bridge Mary Queen of Scots spent the night of 2nd September 1562 in the Castle, as a guest of Lord Saltoun – by-passing Strathbogie on her way north. Her route was later commemorated with an avenue of trees, a few of which remain planted along the riverside, and by the bridge and causeway between the riverside and the Castle. William Duff ordered parapet walls and pillars to be erected on the bridge in 17566. It is unlikely that the arch existed in Queen Mary’s time, in its present form, but it suggests that the arch predates 1756. Old photographs appear to shown that it was repaired again early in 20th century. The parapet has been damaged in successive spates since then - the pillars were washed away later in the 20th century.

Early 20th century view showing balustrade.

10 The manse In 1900 W. Cramond1 wrote:- “the old manse near the burn is now converted into the washing house and laundry for the Castle.” Today the manse walls still stand facing the Kirktown Burn, surrounded by trees and hidden from public view, although the church to which it belonged is approximately half a mile away.

This manse was erected to replace the Kirktown manse and was built by John Watson, mason, of Cullen in 17545. It appears to have remained in use until 1827 when a larger manse was erected next to the Milltown on the site of the present manse near Rothiemay Church. The walls of the building are of granite rubble construction with Avochie granite lintols, cills and quoins roughly dressed to straight arrises. The front and back ground floor window openings have one inch square checks. A number have iron hinge pins for flush shutters. Some of the window lintols also have sockets for four iron bars. Traces of lime render remain on the front face. Judging by the gables the slope of the roof appears to have been approximately 50 degrees. The roof sarking was still in place approximately 40 years ago, fixed up and down instead of along the slope, suggesting a purlin/frame structure beneath. Fragments of the grey slate that used to cover the roof can be seen around the building.

Manse (1754)

11 Peter’s well The well is located within the 20th century coniferous plantation east of the burn. The chamber is loosely built and has probably been re-erected. The red sandstone lintol has the date 1580 carved on it, and is sheared off at one jamb. In size it appears to fit the well door opening so there is no reason to think that it came from the castle as suggested by W. D. Simpson8. The re-naming of the well from St. Drostan’s, in late medieval times by the invocation of the Apostle Peter was considered by Simpson to be likely.

The Washhouse The ruin of a washhouse remains on the south flank the causeway at the northeast corner of the site where the causeway approaches what was called the ‘Barras Gate’ of the castle. It was built between 1750 and 1752 - at the same time as the causeway5. Water for the washhouse was provided through a stone channel built into the causeway and fed from an unknown source, above – probably a well in the adjacent field. The water supply to Rothiemay House was taken from a well approximately 800m. to the north, but this may have been a later installation. The washhouse building is still shown as roofed on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1867, published 1871). The adjacent manse building became the laundry in the 19th century.

The Washhouse and water supply channel

12 Rothiemay House The events and dates relevant to this project are as follows:- Moving from Balvenie House, Willian Duff (1696-1763) took possession of Rothiemay in 174110 and it became his main residence until he died. He was involved in the building and dispute over Duff House between 1735 and 1749 – the legal decision so annoyed him so much that he never occupied it. Tomkin’s (circa 1730-1792) painting shows a view of Rothiemay in 1767 before the 18th century alterations. His large family was mainly brought up in the Castle and the Countess lived there until she died in 1788. In 1780 a storm caused extensive damage. Extensive rebuilding work in the Scottish Classical style was carried out in 1788 by the 2nd Earl of Fife, James Duff (1729-1809). Further work followed around 1796 taking down some of the oldest part. Major Tayler obtained a lease of the House in 1809 and subsequently carried many alterations and additions. In 1901 Colonel Forbes added some Scottish Baronial style features including the entrance tower. The House was demolished in 1964. W. D Simpson gives a detailed description of the House in his paper prepared around 1934.

William Tomkins, A view of Rothiemay House (1767) - detail

13 The gardens and estate offices The gardens at Rothiemay are first on record in 1496 when James Abernethy, third Lord Saltoun of Rothiemay presented a gift of pears1 from the castle garden to King James IV at Edinburgh.

The east front of the castle (the site of the earlier garden) General Roy’s Military Survey (see page 3) shows a formal garden to the east of the House suggesting that this was the site of the ancient castle garden. As the manse and washhouse were built in this area c.1750-54 it seems likely that it was no longer the main garden after that date. Today, most of this area is occupied by a coniferous plantation, obscuring any remaining features. Roy’s map also shows a large orchard or planted enclosure to the south of the House - connecting with the old garden, effectively constraining the village to a small area of haugh. As this area was cultivated in the 18th or 19th century, cultivation rigs have obliterated all but a few of the earlier garden features. There is a record of repairs being carried out to the orchard door6 in 1752, and a late 18th century plan and planting schedule for a proposed fruit garden7 to be located west of the House next to the estate offices. The 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1867, published 1871) suggests that the garden had been extended to the west of the House by the late nineteenth century. Photographs show that the walled garden was further improved in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The later walled garden (early 20th century)

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The walled garden in 2011 The walled garden is now grazing land and is open to the main field on its south side. The walls are mainly intact, standing over 4 metres high in places. It appears that they were increased in height at some stage as the larger boulders observed by Simpson, predominate in the upper levels.

Mains of Rothiemay The steading of Mains of Rothiemay is described in a separate paper.

15 The Kilnbarn There are references to a kilnbarn existing at Rothiemay in 1634 but the existing building appears to date from 1742 as there is a contract for its construction, of that date, between William Duff and Alexander and George Gaylor. The design was prepared by William Anderson5.

The kilnbarn from NW (before roof collapse) The kilnbarn is described in detail by Slade2 - it consists of two storeys and a slate roof, with the circular kiln in the western end. There was a threshing area and granary on the ground floor and a drying loft above. The walls are harled field-gathered rubble with granite quoins and dressings around the openings.

Kilnbarn from the SE The Fruithouse The above kilnbarn contract included for a Fruit House. This may have been used for fruit storage for the adjacent orchard. There is a much altered dwelling house east of the kilnbarn which appears to have been built not long after the barn but as it obstructs the barn loft door it does not appear to part of the same contract.

16 The Doocot Evidently designed and located with the picturesque in mind, the Doocot stands on its own, south west of the Kilnbarn. It is square in plan and unusually large, divided internally into two compartments. In the 18th century it had a swept pyramidal roof culminating in a cupola9, with two small flight hole dormers facing south. It is now re-roofed with a corrugated iron. A detailed description of the doocot is given by Brown3.

The Doocot from the west – the roof is modern

The doocot was built before 1767 - it appears in Tomkin’s painting of that date. It may have been built by William Duff, or before he took over the Estate. Note the style of pointing and use of red sandstone door dressings.

Doocot door surround detail

17 The mills of Rothiemay are first mentioned in a charter of King James IV, dated 9th March 1492.

In 1746 William Duff employed George Leslie to carry out repairs5 to the Mill Building, and also to erect a bridge, which still exists, over the mill lade.

Other works carried out after 1752 appear to be associated with the relocation of the village:- The new Kirk and Kirkyard, c.1752 Kirkyard gate, 17566 The Public House, 17524 Ann Sime’s house next to the river, 17524

The Statistical Account of 1791-1799, records that the parish of Rothiemay had 1125 occupants of which about 100 lived in the Milltown - the population was growing at that time and peaked at 1400 around 1850. Allowing for the division of the population between the Kirktown and the Milltown and also for population growth, the Kirktown residents before 1752 can be estimated at a few dozen.

The Milltown (2011)

Conclusions The exact layout of the Village of Kirktown remains unclear. Further information will probably be discovered in the Duff House archives to add to the picture of this small rural community at the beginning of the era of agricultural improvements. Little knowledge exists locally of the existence of the Kirktown – hopefully this study will help fill that gap.

18 References

1. William Cramond, “Rothiemay House,” (The Banffshire Journal, Banff 1900) 2. Harry Gordon Slade, “Rothiemay: An 18th Century Kiln Barn,” in Vernacular Building 4 (1978) 3. N. A. Brown, “Doocots of ” (Scottish Vernacular Buildings Working Group, 2004) 4. Duff House Papers (Special Libraries and Archives, University of Aberdeen); MS 3175/583/3 5. Duff House Papers (Special Libraries and Archives, University of Aberdeen); MS 3175/648 6. Duff House Papers (Special Libraries and Archives, University of Aberdeen); MS 3175/723 7. Duff House Papers (Special Libraries and Archives, University of Aberdeen); MS 3175/RHP/31455 8. W. D. Simpson, “The Barony, Castle and Church of Rothiemay”, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, IX, sixth series (1934-1935) 9. William Tomkins, A view of Rothiemay House, Painting, (1767) 10. A. and H. Tayler, “The Book of the Duffs,” (1914) 11. A. and H. Tayler, “Lord Fife and his Factor,” (1925) 12. James Fraser, “Major Fraser’s Manuscript, Vol. 2 - His Adventures in Scotland and England; His Mission To, and Travels In, France in Search of His Chief; His Services in the Rebellion (and His Quarrels) With Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, 1696-1737,” Edited by Col. A. Ferguson (1889) 13. James Gordon, Minister of Rothiemay, “History of Scots Affairs from 1637 to 1641,” Spalding Club, (1840)

Compiled by W. Reid, 22nd March 2011.

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