|
     
The Mains of Monaltrie is a farmhouse, built around 1720 for the young family of Alexander Farquharson of Monaltrie, the brother of the 9th clan Chief, John Farquharson of Invercauld. Today, the Monaltrie lands are part of the larger Invercauld Estate, which remains the seat of the Farquharson clan.
The A93 Deeside Road, as it reaches westward into the Cairngorm mountains, is bordered by vast estates, and the largest of these, in the area between Ballater to Braemar (and beyond) is
Invercauld. The area lies within an area known historically as the 'Braes of Mar' - an important and strategic convergence of mountain passes. The ancient province of Mar lay between the rivers Don and Dee - arguably the most extensive and interesting district in Aberdeenshire. The 'Braes' (hills) of Mar' contain Macdhui, the highest mountain in Scotland, Cairntoul, Ben Avon, and Cairngorm, and ‘dark Lochnagar,’ celebrated in the poetry of Byron.
Under the medieval feudal system, all lands were owned by the King, to secure the Crown's supply of game and natural resources. The Highlands were populated by warring groups that had established themselves within glens and other defensible boundaries. These clans originated from Pict, Norse, Celtic, Norman, Briton and Irish tribes.
Since the eleventh century, the Earls of Mar were the local feudal lords who were granted land holdings as vassals of the King, and charged with the tasks of building castles, raising armies, preserving order, and raising revenues. The Earls of Mar were the Stewarts and Erskines, seated and Strathdon.
In the early 1400's, upon the death of Earl Alexander Stewart, the Earldom of Mar had fallen to mismanagement and was thus annexed to the Crown. During the next century, the Braes saw an influx of nearby clans, including the Farquharsons, of Celtic origin, who were descended from the Shaws of Rothiemerchus, and who, along with the Mackintoshes and Chattans, were descended from the Royal House of Macduff, Thane of Fife.
By 1500 Alexander Farquharson married Invercauld heiress Isobel Stewart and it was their son, Finlay Mor, who died in 1547 at the Battle of Pinkie in support of Mary Queen of Scots, who became the 1st Chief of Clan Farquharson.
In 1564, the Earldom of Mar was restored to the Erskine line, but the fuedal system had waned in influence. The Farquharsons, by the end of that century, had raised a clan army of three hundred men and were receiving annual revenues from the city of Aberdeen to ensure the continuance of trade and movement through the mountain passes of GlenShee (south) and Lariag Ghru (north).
    
By the early 1600's the Farquharsons were able to purchase the feu charters to their lands, and the lands were divided between several branches of the family, including those of
Inverey, Invercauld and Monaltrie.
In 1628, the Earl of Mar, John Erskine built the fortified Braemar Castle just a mile away from Invercauld Castle, a holding designed to maintain his own feudal dominance in this important area. Known as 'Bobbing John',
Erskine was known for his shifting political loyalties.
In 1638, Robert Farquharson of Invercauld, 5th Chief of the clan, was able to obtain Armorial Bearings in the form of a 'grant of arms' from the Lord Lyon King of Arms. This established the Farquharsons as among the most prominent of Highland clans, and the 'fighting
Farquharsons' had achieved the reputation as a disciplined but formidable force, decidedly aligned with the House of Stuart.
Farquharsons fought under Montrose in 1644 and also formed part of the Scottish army under Charles II at Worchester in 1651. They allied with nearby clans such as the Mackintoshes in 1665 against Clan Cameron at
Lochaber.
In 1679 Alexander Farquharson, the 7th Chief, reinforced the keep at Invercauld House (Castle) as the clan's united stronghold, upon an act of British Privy Council that required a clan chief to be legally accountable for the behaviour of his clansmen and tenants.
During the rising of 1689-1690, the Farquharsons joined forces under Viscount Dundee in 1689 for James VII. John Erskine,
Earl of Mar, had voiced opinion supportive of unity at this time, so Erskine's
holding Braemar Castle, was captured and burned by 'the Black Colonel' (John Farquharson of
Inverey) to prevent its use in the campaign against Bonnie Dundee.
   
By the time of the Jacobite uprising in 1715, the 9th Chief, John Farquharson of Invercauld was caught in a
dillemma. His feudal superior, John Erskine the Earl of Mar, attended Braemar, this time for the purpose of raising the clans in an attempt to restore the exiled Stuart king to the throne of Britain. However, Invercauld was reluctant to commit his Arms - the law had changed and he would be held legally responsible for encouraging his clansmen to defy the British Crown. As well, he was unconvinced of the liklihood of Jacobite success. Despite the Chief's unwillingness to raise his army, he was conscripted to lead Mar's own regiment of 140 men. When the highland army was defeated at Preston months later, John Farquharson of Invercauld was imprisoned in London, and only released ten months later when the Jacobite campaign collapsed and the Earl of Mar's estates were forfeited under attainder. He was released to Invercauld to reinforce the peace of the now-leaderless Mar.
It is no wonder that by the time of the second Jacobite uprising of 1745, and with many prosperous advancements during the intervening peace, John Farquharson of Invercauld refused to raise the clan. The Laird sent his son John to the Hanoverian cause, despite the family being deeply divided. Three hundred Farquharsons were among the Jacobites at the Battle of Culloden, under two
batallions, one led by the Laird's own nephew - Francis Farquharson of
Monaltrie. A famous character in Jacobite history, "the Baron Ban" was the Laird of
Monaltrie, was the factor (manager) of the Invercauld Estate for his uncle, the Chief, and a large home adjacent to the Mains of Monaltrie was his home. Francis Farquharson of Monaltrie was joined in his support of Bonnie Prince Charlie by his cousin Anne Farquharson - the Laird's own daughter, who had married Angus Mackintosh, the Chief of that clan seated at Moy Hall just south of Culloden near Inverness. 'Colonel Anne' is famous for raising the clans Mackintosh and Chattan to the Jacobite cause, while her husband Angus was away leading the Hanoverian Black Watch!
The lands of the Monaltrie estate were stripped of Francis Farquharson upon his capture at Culloden, and he was imprisoned in England awaiting death at the Tower of London. One day before his execution, he was mysteriously saved from the gallows, perhaps upon the intervention of an influential woman he was eventually to marry, but first he was imprisoned and exiled in England for 20 years. Upon his return to
Deeside, his home at Monaltrie had been burned by government forces, and it is possible that he resided at the Mains while building Ballater House. With his Derbyshire wife's considerable inheritances, he was able to reinstate the lands he had lost to forfeiture, and he employed many of the agricultural skills learned during his exile, to improve the lands far beyond his own holdings. His death in 1790 was 'universally regretted', according to the Aberdeen Journal, as he is regarded as the founder of Ballater through his infrastructural contributions and his development of health tourism through the Pannanich mineral springs. The Monaltrie line ended with the death of Francis Farquharson's son William, and the lands reverted to the
Invercaulds.
   
When Chief John Farquharson of Invercauld died in 1750 the inheritance passed to his son James (a Captain of foot in the Hanoverian army), and when James died in 1805 his only surviving child (of eleven children), Catherine Farquharson (1774-1854), was recognized as the 11th Chief of the clan in 1806. Catherine had married a naval captain - James Ross of
Balnagownan, who then adopted the surname of Farquharson, thus continuing the line.
The inheritance continued through the men of the family and once again passed through the female line when Mrs. Myrtle Farquharson of Invercauld was confirmed Chief in 1936. Upon her untimely death in a WW2 London air raid, the succession passed to her nephew, Captain Alwyne Arthur Compton
Farquharson, the present (16th) Chief of Clan Farquharson.
Mains
of Monaltrie ~ near Crathie ~ between Braemar and Ballater ~ Aberdeenshire
~ Scotland
|
