Poor Shooting

Added on 14 September 2019

In February 1921 a Colonel Rutherford of Kiplin, near Darlington (and sometimes of Villa Albany, Cannes) responded to the sporting opportunities on Murthly estate circulated by PD Malloch of Perth. He would take the Murthly Castle Shooting and Fishings from August to November: for £2,750. The...

The Reluctant Birlayman

Added on 09 September 2019

Sir John had made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. Even while struggling to find where a flat demand ended, and the offer began... On Saturday 14th March 1789, Thomas Anderson, James and John Bruntfield, tenant farmers across the lands of Dalpowie, met to discuss just how they were going t...

Define 'Deserving Poor' . . .

Added on 29 August 2019

Dalpowie Lodge began life as The Hospital, bricks and mortar expression of the charitable nature of John Steuart (c1643 – 1720) 13th of Grandtully. [See also Dalpowie Through Time] A lifelong bachelor, ‘Old Grantully’ (as he is fondly recalled in the family history, The Red Book1...

In the Third Degree

Added on 05 June 2019

Six degrees of separation was a thing a while back. A theory to demonstrate how interconnected we now are across the planet: just six steps between you . . . and Donald Trump. It provided a hit play for John Guare, and then a middling successful film with Will Smith and Stockard Channing in the 199...

The Importance of Being Archibald

Added on 21 May 2019

Being a short account of Murthly’s part in the notorious Douglas Cause, the greatest civil trial affecting status Scotland has ever seen. Archibald was one of the recurring Christian names of the Steuarts/Stewarts of Murthly and Grandtully. Generally given to younger sons, not first-born. Whi...

Dalpowie Through Time

Added on 13 May 2019

If we were to put forward a candidate for the next series of BBC2’s excellent ‘A House Through Time’ it would be Dalpowie Lodge, which stood for over 200 years at the western edge of Murthly estate. (Pressed for an alternative we might suggest ‘Dunvorist’ in Station Ro...