Pitfour estate

Pitfour House was a mansion north of the village of Old Deer in Aberdeenshire (Scotland). The mansion was canceled in 1926, of Pitfour Estate still exist the Vorwerk Saplinbrae House, the lake Pitfour Lake and parts of the park with the "Temple of Theseus ", a Gartenfolly. The monastery ruins Deer Abbey was also on the property, which was the largest in Scotland.

History

James Ferguson (1735-1820) acquired in 1800 Pitfour Estate and put it down till 1850 the country house with associated agriculture and a park on together with his nephew George Ferguson ( 1786-1867 ), an admiral in time. The family had become wealthy through the West Indian sugar business.

The manor house was probably built on the site of an older building, 1812. Most of the numerous other buildings also likely to be developed in the following years. As an architect, John Smith (1781-1852) was in the period from 1822 to 1831 worked, the installation of the garden probably goes back to William Sawrey Gilpin ( 1762-1843 ). The project of a channel ( St Fergus and North Ugie Canal ), operated by Admiral Ferguson seemed to technical difficulties to push ( receive section ) and was finally abandoned with the construction of the railway in 1840.

1876 ​​inherited the son of Admiral Ferguson, George Arthur Ferguson ( 1835-1924 ) the estate. 1919 Pitfour Estate was offered repeatedly unsuccessful at the auction sale; the area encompassed 8100 acres. All documents related to Pitfour Estate and the Ferguson family are missing since the resignation of the mansion.

Structures

The Manor House (1812, amendments 1820) was performed in granite from Aberdeenshire in the style of neoclassicism ( Classicism ). The facades were strict and had little architectural gem that the park is on the south side of the lake was glazed. A terraced garden in formal style with a central fountain joined them. The building was canceled in 1926.

Other buildings were: stables and farm buildings ( 1826), a riding school, a racecourse, a private chapel with a low Gothic tower, a few cottages that formed a model village and served the accommodation of employees. The center of the park formed an artificially dammed waters, The Lake (1816, today Pitfour Lake, 20 acres ) with three small islands at the northwest end of the Temple of Theseus, a Masked structure in the form of a scaled-down replica of the Athens Temple of Theseus (received) lies. A boat house in the gothic style is present merely as ruins rest.

The entrance to the park formed a memorial gates with two columns, which was dedicated to the Prime Minister Pitt and the Scottish Minister Robert Dundas. In addition, Ferguson had erected an observatory and the south, the monastery ruins Deer Abbey to a kitchen garden, and later to a mausoleum ( added input received ) converted.

Literature and sources

• Aberdeenshire Estate For Sale. In: The Times of 3 April 1919 ( number 42065 ), page 15, column 2 below.
• Colonel Ferguson of Pitfour ( Obituary ). In: The Times of 17 September 1924 ( number 43837 ), page 16 column 3
• AA Tait: The landscape garden and neoclassicism. In: Journal of garden history, Volume 3, 1983, page 317-332, here: 322-332, with figures 5-13.