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THIS once important and
busy parish has long been declining in population, while most of the
ancient owners have disappeared. There is a certain fictitious
excitement no doubt during the sporting season, followed by
stagnation. The fine old possessions of the Mackintoshes of
Aberarder, including Brin, and Glenmazeran in Strathdearn, were
occupied by an independent and stirring race. The family is
descended from Duncan, fifth son of Lachlan Mor Mackintosh of
Mackintosh, and it is recorded that no fewer than four sons of
William Mackintosh, second of Aberarder, fell at or immediately
after the fight at Muiroy in 1688. Among them was Lachlan, the
eldest son, viho was succeeded by his son William, bred an advocate,
and served heir to his father in 1692. William Mackintosh married
Isabella Rickhart, and dying between 1723 and 1729, left two sons;
the elder, also Lachlan, dying unmarried very shortly after his
father, was succeeded by his brother William. Of this William there
are even yet many floating traditions. He it was who built the
pleasant and comfortable old house of Aberarder, standing the last
time I was in the locality, but whether it has disappeared, like the
old house of Duninaglass, I cannot say. Connected with the old house
there is this story. When William married in February, 1729,
Isabella, daughter of Lachlan Macpherson of Cluny, on their
home-coming across the hills of Badenoch to Strathnairn, as the
bride was entering the doorway, the mantel stone—a very large one—of
the dining-room broke and rent in twain, which either occasioned or
revived the old saying that a Mackintosh and a Macpherson could
never agree. That they, did not agree in this case will be seen
presently. An old chronicler says he saw the rent stone, but good
naturedly concludes that it may have arisen from extra heating of
the fireplace in welcome of the party after their long and bleak
ride across the Monalia in the month of February.
The disputes between
the young couple became so violent, that the aid of the law was
invoked by the lady. Simon Lord Lovat was then (1735) Sheriff-Depute
of Inverness and exerted himself to settle matters extrajudicially,
in which he was assisted by that honourable and clear-headed man,
Lachlan Macpherson of Cluny, the lady's father. Matters were patched
up, but broke out with greater violence, and in the procedure Lady
Aberarder depones to very violent acts on the part of her husband,
whom she had finally to leave. She had a capital income out of the
estate and her treatment, like that of Lady Rothiemurchus, does not
seem to have disagreed with her, for she outlived her husband, son,
and several of her grandchildren. She executed her last will and
testament, declaring herself as sound in judgment, though weak in
body, at Catlodge of Laggan, on the 6th of January, 1783, leaving
among other bequests, to her sister Christian Macpherson for her
very great care of and attention to her for forty-five years, thirty
pounds; to defray her funeral expenses, thirty pounds sterling; ten
pounds sterling for enclosing the chapel or burying-place at Cluny,
in which she decrees her body may be decently interred ; to her
nieces, Mrs Colonel Macpherson and Mrs Mackintosh of Borlum, five
pounds sterling each, to buy mournings.
John Mackintosh,
eldest son of William Mackintosh and Isobel Macpherson, who
succeeded in 1735, died unmarried in apparency about 1747, and was
succeeded by his brother William, who in 1756 married Mary Falconer
of Drakies, and died in 1763. William Mackintosh left issue—one son,
Captain William, and one daughter, Mary. William, fourth in
succession of this name, entered the army and was killed in Holland,
in October, 1799. Being unmarried, and his sister Mary, who had
married Provost John Mackintosh, also dead without issue, the
succession opened by destination to Miss Jane Mackintosh, only
daughter of William Mackintosh who died in 1743. She did not live
long after her succession, and there being no relative, male or
female, of the family of Lachlan Mackintosh, third of Aberarder,
killed as aforesaid at Mulroy in 1688, except herself, she destined
the estate by deed executed 3rd March, 1800, to Provost John
Mackintosh, of the Kellachie family, who had married her niece Mary.
This gave rise to a great legal struggle. Provost John had to defend
himself from a claim at the instance of the redoubted Campbell
Mackintosh, afterwards of Dalmigavie, Town Clerk of Inverness, who
claimed that Aberarder was either entailed or held under limitation
to heirs male, and that he as son of Robert, son of William, son of
James Mackintosh, wadsetter of Mid Craggie, and second brother of
Lachlan killed at Mulroy, was entitled to the estate. After a severe
contest Provost John Mackintosh was successful and took the title of
Aberarder. By his second wife, daughter of Provost Chisholm of
Buntait, he left two sons—William, who died without issue, and
Charles Mackintosh, who succeeded and was the last Mackintosh of
Aberarder. Old Aberarder, as he was called even in my younger days,
was a well- known figure in Inverness for many a year; his easy
going disposition led him to neglect his affairs, whereby they fell
into hands who cared for nothing but to feather their own nests.
The present position
of Aberarder is deplorable. A bank and insurance company are entered
in the Valuation Roll as owners or managers, and while nothing is
expended the last shilling is extracted from the occupants. These
naturally have dwindled to a low figure, twelve in all. The total
rental is £1032 18s, whereof £500 is shooting rent, and about £350
in the proprietor's hands, leaving less than £300 for ordinary
tenants, the only Mackintosh on the estate paying one shilling of
rent, four other tenants paying £1 10s, £1, £2 7s, and £2
respectively.
Let this lamentable
state of matters be contrasted with the year 1797, when there were
no fewer than forty-three tenancies, as under—
RENTAL OF ABERARDER
ESTATE, 1797.
One or two of the
above form part of the present estate of Brin, and are thus
disjoined from Aberarder proper.
Like Strathdearn,
Strathnairn was essentially Clan Chattan On both sides of the river,
from head to foot, within the county of Inverness, Macgillivrays,
Mackintoshes, Mac phails, Macbeans, Shaws, flourished, reigning
supreme as owners. The old lairds, with two exceptions, have
disappeared, but many of the people of the good old stock remain
waiting for the return of brighter times. |
