Saturday 2nd October 1819
Saturday Octbr 2nd We left Strathallan at 2 o’clock & proceeded to Abercairny 3 miles where Lady Emily had given us a letter of introduction to see the house here is also a very fine mansion the Castle style we met Mrs Moray to whom it belongs who was so polite as to show us several of the rooms which are equal to those at Strathallan there is also a beautiful gallery with a painted window at the end it is 115 feet long & all the principal rooms open into it thence to Perth 16 miles.
OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS:
Abercairny Estate is entered into the records of Canmore (the National Record of the Historic Environment, Scotland), but the house was demolished in 1960. It had been known under several names, Abercairny Abbey, Abercairny Castle, Abercairny House, Abercairny Policies, Abercarnie, Abercarney and Abercairney. Canmore refers to a date of 1841 quoting old plans and estimates for a new house - the architect in 1803 being Archibald Elliot (1760-1823) and in 1804 being Richard Chrichton (1771-1817). https://canmore.org.uk/site/88063/abercairny . The print, below , published in 1823 shows the house as it would have appeared to Lucy.
1823: Abercairney Abbey, Perthshire. Engraving by W. Wallis after J.P. Neale. https://antique-prints-maps.com/acatalog/ref1.php?imagefile=../largeimages/SEAbercairneyAbbeyJPN13.jpg
It had the distinction of a short visit by Queen Victoria 12 September 1842, when she wished to see the mansion house, then under construction and this would link neatly to the Canmore 1841 reference, above. The estate, owned by the Moray family since the 13th century, is located 4 miles east of Crieff and is included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abercairny Lucy tells us it is 3 miles from Strathallan but the distance is more like 8 miles.
South Lodge at Abercairny near Auchlone Bridge. © Copyright Alan Reid and licensed for reuse under the (CC BY-SA 2.0) Creative Commons Licence. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5579916
Driveway to Abercairny © Copyright Alan Reid and licensed for reuse under the (CC BY-SA 2.0) Creative Commons Licence. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5579906
Gatehouse, Abercairny. © Copyright wfmillar and licensed for reuse under the (CC BY-SA 2.0) Creative Commons Licence. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/410189
The estate is now an exclusive venue for weddings and special events, launched by Daniel & Anna Moray Parker in 2015. Their website invites us: Welcome to Abercairny – home to the Moray family for over 700 years ... We believe Abercairny has a charm and romance all of its own. Hidden in the Strathearn valley, close to Crieff, the spacious parklands and terraced garden were landscaped in the 18th Century to create handsome vistas of the lake and surrounding woods. At its heart stands the resplendent Gothic Stables which will be the backdrop to your event. Discover the secrets of Abercairny here on our website, and then please come and visit us. We look forward to meeting you… https://www.abercairny.com/ The website has a very attractive scrolling gallery of the ruined remnants of the old abbey.
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?