Thursday 23rd September 1819
Thursday Sepbr 23rd Left Leith before breakfast & advanced to Huntly a small town the Inn tolerable after breakfast walked to Huntly lodge the seat of the Marquis of Huntly a small comfortable house this dwelling is prettily furnished the garden & grounds are small but the ancient ruins of Huntly Castle form a pretty object: we then
proceeded to ??Pitinadrie ?? Inn 8 miles where changing horses we advanced to Inverury 9 miles to dinner a small town with a neat & most comfortable Inn
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
Huntly is the historic home of the Gordon Highlanders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntly
1992: Gordon Square, Huntly, by Colin Smith. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Colin Smith and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gordon_Square,_Huntly.jpg
Huntly Arms: Between 1700 and the early 19th century, many changes were made to the shape and buildings of the Huntly Arms. The Marquis of Huntly took a personal interest in the development and commercial activities of the ‘inn at Aboyne’, but in the early 1800s left the management more in the hands of Alexander Sanderson who added the Baronial Hall section – the current function suite with bedrooms on two floors – to serve as his private quarters. This is the southern wing, which protrudes into the garden. https://www.huntlyarmshotel.com/history/
From the website of the Huntly Arms Hotel https://www.huntlyarmshotel.com/gallery/
We are not sure whether this was the Inn Lucy thought was “tolerable” - The family would visit the best hotels in the town, here to have breakfast and rest the horses, and we are surprised that an inn as grand as the Huntly Arms would not have gained greater credit from Lucy than this throwaway comment.
Huntly Lodge was built by the 4th Duke of Gordon 7th Marquess of Huntly; 1st Earl of Norwich in the 18th century. Here, in 1787, the 75thRegiment, the forerunner of the 1st battalion The Gordon Highlanders, was raised for service in the Far East, but it was not until 1793 when the French Revolutionary Government had declared war on Great Britain that the Government asked the Duke of Gordon to raise another regiment. On the 24th June, 1794 the newly embodied regiment was paraded for the first time at Aberdeen when they wore the then almost new, and now famous, Gordon Regimental tartan which had been devised by Forsythe of Huntly http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/lodgehunt.html
Huntly Lodge is now the Castle Hotel, Huntly http://www.castlehotel.uk.com/
Now the Castle Hotel, Huntly. This image is from the Hotel’s website http://www.castlehotel.uk.com/
Huntly Castle. A mound in the grounds of the castle is all that remains of an earlier 12th century motte. Originally named Strathbogie, the castle was granted to Sir Adam Gordon of Huntly in the 14th century. King Robert the Bruce was a guest of the castle in 1307 prior to his defeat of the Earl of Buchan. Although burned to the ground in 1452, a grander castle was built in its place. In 1496, the pretender to the English throne, Perkin Warbeck, was married to Lady Catherine Gordon the daughter of George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly, witnessed by King James IV of Scotland at Edinburgh.
c. 1830: Castle Huntly, from the South. Engraving by R. Scott after R. Dick. https://antique-prints-maps.com/acatalog/ref1.php?imagefile=../largeimages/SECastleHuntleyFromS13.jpg
By the early 18th century the castle was already in decay and provided material for predatory house builders in the village.
2002: Huntly Castle, view from near main entrance, by Lyall Duffus. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Lyall Duffus and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Huntly_Castle.jpg
In 1746, during a later Jacobite rising, it was occupied by British government troops, then becoming a common quarry until a groundswell of antiquarian sentiment in the 19th century came to its rescue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntly_Castle
Inn at ??Pitinadrie?? See request for help, below
Inverury is said to have been founded by David of Huntingdon, Earl of the Garioch, brother of Malcolm IV, great-great-grandfather of Robert the Bruce who defeated John Comyn, 3rd Earl of Buchan nearby at the Battle of Barra in May 1308. The religious foundation pre-dates this by five centuries with the establishment of the Kirk of Inverurie now known as St Andrew's Parish Church. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverurie
2005: Across the flood plain of the River Urie Taken from the B 9170 looking south west across the grid square, by Lizzie. This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Lizzie and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inverurie-Panorama.jpg
Inn at Inverury not known
Can you help us?
Transcription problems: As untrained transcribers we sometimes experience problems interpreting some of Lucy’s writing. We have a problem deciphering a section today:
proceeded to ??Pitinadrie ?? Inn 8 miles where changing horses We could find no clues as to the name of this inn 8 miles out of Huntly on the road to Inverury. Help would be appreciated.
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?