Brig Golf Club

Cramond Brig Golf (founded 1908) club was an 18-hole course located at Cammo, on land leased from the Maitland Tennant family from 1910 to 1929.

When this lease expired the club re-located to .

The course reverted to farmland and although the original lodge clubhouse still stands today, it is in a sorry state. The railway station at Barnton was 10 minutes from the course.

In 1914 the secretary was D F Sutherland, CA, 123 George Street, Edinburgh.

The club had a membership of 430 gentlemen and 100 ladies. Entry fees for gentlemen were £5/5/0 and ladies £3/3/0. Subscription for gentlemen was £1/15/0 and ladies £1/5/0. Visitors were only allowed to play on introduction.

Private Robert Jamieson, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, was the third son of Charles Jamieson, a Farm Servant, and Margaret Jamieson, of Lambden, Greenlaw, Berwickshire. He was employed as the Greenkeeper at Cramond Brig Golf Course and lived at Cammo House Clubhouse. Enlisting at Edinburgh, he entered France on or around 24 August 1916. He was wounded in 1917 and then killed in action on 22 April 1918, age 32. Surviving siblings were Sophia, Margaret, James, John, Mary, Jessie, Charles, George and Thomasina.

His brother, John, was the Clubmaster at Cramond Brig Golf Course and continued there after the war.

Sergeant Ian C McKinnon, 9th Royal Scots (Dandy Ninth), a native of Cramond Parish, was another well-known member of the Club. He died at his home, 28 Queen’s Avenue, Blackhall, on 14 September 1916. His brother was Lance Corporal A A McKinnon, 18th Royal Scots, who had been Headmaster of Longridge Public School. Sergeant McKinnon set out for France at the end of February 1915. He took part in the memorable battles for Ypres, at Hooge, St Jean, Zillebeke, and Middlemarcke, where he was wounded on 22 April 1915. He was taken to Netley Hospital, Southampton, where he was found to be wounded in the spine, and remained there till February 1916. He was then removed to Hospital (4 miles from home) and stayed there till he was taken home a week before his death. He served 12 years in the 9th Royal Scots. His father served 38 years as a Volunteer and Territorial, and he had two brothers serving with the colours. He was a special golfer and footballer, a member of the Cramond Brig and Civil Service Golf Clubs and, being a scratch player, he won many trophies. He represented Civil Service in the semi-final of the Dispatch Trophy in 1914. He was Captain of the Civil Service Strollers FC, and was well known in Whitburn and in his native parish of Cramond. Prior to the war he was employed as a Civil Servant in the Register General’s Office, Edinburgh. The funeral which was a military one took place in Cemetery, Edinburgh. It was accompanied by pipers from the Seaforth Highlanders and a firing party from the 9th Royal Scots. Representatives were present from Edinburgh Celtic Union, The Clan MacKinnon Society, Civil Service and Cramond Brig Golf Club. These bodies also sent wreaths as did Sir James Patten MacDougall, the Registrar General.

Just after the War, the secretary at Cramond Brig Golf Club (then in Linlithgowshire) was William Marchbank, 45 York Place, Edinburgh and the Greenkeeper was John Jamieson, succeeding his brother, Robert Jamieson, who fell.

Membership was now 450 gentlemen and 125 ladies. The amateur course record was held by W F G Scott, 69. Visitors were only allowed on nomination of two members, at 2/6d a day, 7/6d a week, 15/- a fortnight and 21/- a month. Originally, Cramond Brig Golf Clubhouse had a dining room, smoking room, changing quarters, a clubmaster's parlour, servery, kitchen and separate entries for males and females.

Cammo House was originally built in 1693 by John Menzies of Cammo. Sir John Clerk, heir to the Barony of Penicuik, bought the house in 1710. He had interests in poetry, music, writing and landscaping, and greatly extended the gardens of Cammo with paths, vistas and woodland. In 1722 his father died and he returned to Penicuik. In 1741 the house was bought by Charles Watson of .

Cammo House became New Saughton; Cammo Road to the north became Saughton Entry North; and Cammo Walk, Saughton Entry South. Those were the original driveways. The Watsons made numerous additions to the house including the east wing and rear block.

In 1872 Cammo House was acquired by Alexander Campbell. He made further additions including adding floors to the east wing.

As the 1900s beckoned, the estate was purchased by the Clarks. After separating in 1909, Mrs Clark continued to live at Cammo with her son, and adopted the name Maitland-Tennant. In 1910 she dismissed almost all of her staff and rented out a portion of the estate to Cramond Brig Golf Club, while she and her son, Percy, moved into a caravan nearby. In a seemingly unimaginable decision, she left the house with all its valuable paintings, antiques, furniture, mirrors and carpets to her dogs. More than 20 lived and died among the debris.

Mrs Maitland-Tennant was known as the 'black widow', only ever seen being driven in a black car with curtains in the windows, from the estate to her bank in Davidson’s Mains.

In 1955, Mrs Maitland-Tennant died. Percy stayed on in the farm lodge at Cammo, becoming a recluse, comfortable only in the company of his growing family of dogs. A large circle of daffodils to the west of the house marks the grave of Mrs Maitland- Tennant, a spot visited every day by Percy. Also at that time, the approach roads reverted to their original names.

Cammo House was deteriorating fast. Generations of dog urine and excrement, six inches deep in some places, was rotting the furniture and the floors were collapsing under the weight. In 1969 the house suffered at least one break-in for the paintings, Percy having reported lights and suspicious noises. Percy died in November 1975, his final instruction that his estate was to pass to the National Trust of Scotland to be a public park for all time.

The Cramond Brig Golf Course today

Cammo House was finished off in 1977 during the great fire. Despite its doorways and even some windows having been bricked up, arsonists still gained entry. The NTS in 1980 feued it to the district council. But by then the house was so badly damaged that the majority was demolished, with only the lowest storey walls and portions of the first remaining.

Percy Tennant was indeed "a man trapped in time, dreaming of the regal days at Cammo, his mother, coaches, horses and grand parties".

Sources: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cthonus/; Golf’s Missing Links at www.golfsmissinglinks.co.uk;