Friday 1st October 1819
Friday Oct 1st My father & mother Alex & self started at 12 o’clock for Strathallan Castle Mr J Drummond who had some time back very politely invited us to pass a day their we passed over 13 miles of a pretty country by the side of the river Earn & arrived at the Castle situated in a most beautiful park thickly wooded
it is a fine modern building but in an unfinished state the rooms are all on a very fine scale & beautifully furnished there was a party to dinner Lady Emily is a very agreeable Lady.
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
Strathallan Castle is situated amongst 405 ha (1000 acres) of fine parkland, woodland and farmland near the Machany Water 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Auchterarder. It dates from 1818 when an earlier building was remodelled by Robert Smirke for Member of Parliament James Drummond, who was later to become Viscount Strathallan.
Lake at Strathallan Castle by William Starkey - cc-by-sa/2.0 - © William Starkey - geograph.org.uk/p/2522594
Now B-listed, the house comprises a substantial two-storey castellated Tudoresque mansion, with an unusual turreted porte-cochère. http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst5178.html When the Coplands visited it was still in an unfinished state
James Andrew John Lawrence Charles Drummond, a nephew of the London banker Robert Drummond of Cadland, Hampshire, had prospered in the service of the East India Company in China, and had come in for Perthshire in 1812 under the aegis of his father-in-law the duke of Atholl. He was returned there again in 1820, despite signs of opposition from the Whig landowners. THE COPLAND FAMILY USED DRUMMONDS AS THEIR BANKERS https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/drummond-james-1767-1851
River Earn is fast flowing, with many shoals, whilst the surrounding land is generally flat and is occasionally subject to flooding. The river is popular for walking, and the banks are accessible at many points.
River Earn from Forteviot Bridge by Val Vannet. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Val Vannet and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:River_Earn_at_Forteviot.jpg
One of the most popular walks is a route along the north bank at Crieff known as Lady Mary's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Earn
Lady Amelia Sophia Murray, daughter of John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl, wife of James Drummond
Lucy calls her Lady Emily and finds her a very agreeable Lady.
Can you help us?
Old Regency Prints, Pictures an Coaching maps: Do you have access to any prints or pictures showing what town and country would have looked like when Lucy travelled through? Any illustrations of what she would have seen in 1819 will enliven our research.
New Pictures: Do you have any modern pictures of the streets, buildings, gardens and views that would enable us to see the changes that two centuries have wrought?