Argaty is a farm estate located just over a mile northeast of Doune, Stirling, Scotland. The present Argaty House dates from the 19th century with baronial additions in the 1860s and 1920s, but was largely destroyed by fire in April 2011.
Argaty farm is host to central Scotland's only red kite feeding station where visitors can come and watch the birds, recently reintroduced to their former natural habitat through a program managed by the RSPB and Scottish Natural Heritage.
In 1982 ownership of Argaty House and the farm estate were separated.
Argaty (aka "Ardgaty"), derives from the Gaelic words aird, meaning "height", and gaoth, meaning "wind" and therefore translates as "windy height". [1] [2]
Argaty was originally part of the Doune estate, property of the Dukes of Albany, ancestors of the Clan Stewart of Balquhidder. When Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany was executed for treason by King James I of Scotland in 1425, the Stewart lands were forfeited to the Crown, and Argaty was among the forfeited properties. [2]
After the forfeiture the Crown granted the lands of Argaty to one John Sinclair, Esquire to the King's Chamber. The property then passed to Sinclair's younger daughter who married Patrick Home (also spelled "Hume") of Polworth, and Argaty thus came into the possession of the Home family. [2] [3]
The house was remodelled by Tobias Bauchop of Alloa in 1687. [4]
Around 150 years later the property was again inherited by a daughter, one Mary Hume, who married George Stewart (also spelled "Steuart") of Ballachallan. George Stewart was a descendant of Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany and, by this marriage, the ownership of Argaty returned to the descendants of the very same Stewarts who had forfeited it some three centuries earlier. [2]
In 1758 Argaty was inherited by the Maryland planter and Loyalist politician George Hume Steuart of Annapolis, Maryland, second son of George Steuart and Mary Hume. [2] Steuart also held extensive lands in Maryland and, at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1775, he was forced to leave America and return to Scotland, dividing his estates among his family. His son, also named George Hume Steuart (1747–1788), inherited Argaty estate in his turn, changing his name to George Steuart Hume. [5]
On Hume's death in 1788, Argaty passed to George Steuart Hume's infant daughter Sophia. Hume's younger brothers Charles and James Steuart, by now citizens of the fledgling United States of America, brought a claim against their infant niece Sophia for the inheritance of Argaty, but were not successful. [2]
Sophia Hume married her cousin, David Monro Binning of Softlaw, a barrister, [6] and by the early Nineteenth century the house and estate were in the possession of the Binning-Home family. [7] Later in the 19th century the house was extensively re-modelled. [8]
A shorthorn bull named Alban, raised by Mr G. H. M. Binning-Home of Argaty and calved in 1868, appears in Coate's Herd Book, Volume 19, the publication of the Shorthorn Society of the United Kingdom. [9] At this time the estate acquired something of a name for breeding shorthorn cattle. [1]
In the 20th century ownership of the estate passed through a number of hands. Mr and Mrs Henderson bought Argaty in 1916. [1] Their daughter and son-in-law, Mr D.C. Bowser and Mrs M. Bowser, eventually inherited and ran the estate. From 1947 to 1986 the estate was run by a Capt. D. Bowser. In 1982 ownership of Argaty House and the estate were separated. [1]
Today Mr Niall Bowser and his wife Lynn run the estate from Lerrocks Farm. [1] Argaty farm is host to central Scotland's only red kite feeding station where visitors can come and watch the birds, recently reintroduced to their former natural habitat through a program managed by the RSPB and Scottish Natural Heritage.
Administratively Doune is today under the control of Stirling Council.
On 30 April 2011 a fire broke out in Argaty House, almost completely gutting it. The Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service estimated the next day that 90% of the building was totally destroyed. [8] [10]
Argaty House, Lodge and grounds were purchased in 2022. It is now a private family home. There is no access to the ruin of Argaty House which is protected by security measures due to its hazardous condition.
Duke of Atholl, named for Atholl in Scotland, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland held by the head of Clan Murray. It was created by Queen Anne in 1703 for John Murray, 2nd Marquess of Atholl, with a special remainder to the heir male of his father, the 1st Marquess.
The title Earl of Moray, Mormaer of Moray or King of Moray was originally held by the rulers of the Province of Moray, which existed from the 10th century with varying degrees of independence from the Kingdom of Alba to the south. Until 1130 the status of Moray's rulers was ambiguous and they were described in some sources as "mormaers", in others as "Kings of Moray", and in others as "Kings of Alba". The position was suppressed by David I of Scotland some time after his defeat of Óengus of Moray at the Battle of Stracathro in 1130, but was recreated as a feudal earldom by Robert the Bruce and granted to Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray in 1312.
Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany was a member of the Scottish royal family who served as regent to three Scottish monarchs. A ruthless politician, Albany was widely regarded as having caused the murder of his nephew, the Duke of Rothesay, and brother to the future King James I of Scotland. James was held in captivity in England for eighteen years, during which time Albany served as regent in Scotland, king in all but name. He died in 1420 and was succeeded by his son, Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany, who was executed for treason when James returned to Scotland in 1425, almost causing the complete ruin of the Albany Stewarts.
Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany was a leading Scottish nobleman, the son of Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany, and the grandson of King Robert II of Scotland, who founded the Stewart dynasty. In 1389, he became Justiciar North of the Forth. In 1402, he was captured at the Battle of Homildon Hill and would spend 12 years in captivity in England.
The title Earl of Dunbar, also called Earl of Lothian or Earl of March, applied to the head of a comital lordship in south-eastern Scotland between the early 12th century and the early 15th century. The first man to use the title of Earl in this capacity was Gospatric II, Earl of Lothian, son of Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria. It descended to George de Dunbar, 11th Earl of March, whose titles & estates were declared forfeit by parliament in 1435, and retired into obscurity in England. His son Patrick retained a barony at Kilconquhar in Fife.
Loch Achray is a small freshwater loch 11 km (6.8 mi) west of Callander in Stirling district, Scotland.
Clan Stewart (Gaelic: Stiùbhart) is a Scottish Highland and Lowland clan. The clan is recognised by Court of the Lord Lyon; however, it does not have a Clan Chief recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. Because the clan has no chief it can be considered an armigerous clan; however, the Earls of Galloway are now considered to be the principal branch of this clan, and the crest and motto of The Earls of Galloway's arms are used in the Clan Stewart crest badge. The Court of the Lord Lyon recognises two other Stewart/Stuart clans, Clan Stuart of Bute and Clan Stewart of Appin. Clan Stuart of Bute is the only one of the three clans at present which has a recognised chief.
Kilmadock parish, named for Saint Cadoc, containing the settlements of Doune, Deanston, Buchany, Argaty, Hill of Row, Drumvaich, and Delvorich, is situated in Stirling council area, Scotland, and is on the southern border of the former county of Perthshire. Its length is 10 miles, its breadth from 2–8 mi (3–13 km), and with an area of 24,521 acres.
James Mor Stewart, called James the Fat, was the youngest son of Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany and Isabella of Lennox. When his father and brothers were executed by King James I for treason in 1425, James led a rebellion against the king, taking the town of Dumbarton and killing the keeper of Dumbarton Castle. His success was short lived and he soon fled to Ireland, where he would spend the remainder of his life in exile. A second attempt at rebellion in 1429 saw a fleet sail to Ireland to collect James "to convey him home that he might be king", but he died before the attempt could be made.
George Hume Steuart, (1700–1784) was a Scottish physician, tobacco planter, and Loyalist politician in colonial Maryland. Born in Perthshire, Steuart emigrated to Maryland in around 1721, where he benefited from proprietarial patronage and was appointed to a number of colonial offices, eventually becoming a wealthy landowner with estates in both Maryland and Scotland, and serving two terms as mayor of Annapolis. However, he was forced by the outbreak of the American Revolution to decide whether to remain loyal to the Crown or to throw in his lot with the American rebels. In 1775 Steuart sailed to Scotland, deciding at age 75 that "he could not turn rebel in his old age". He remained there until his death in 1784.
Dodon, is a 550-acre (2.2 km2) farm and former forced-labor tobacco plantation in Maryland, located near the South River about 10 miles (16 km) south west of Annapolis. Purchased in 1747 by the planter and politician Dr George H. Steuart, it remains the home of Steuart's descendants to this day. Steuart grew wealthy during the colonial era thanks to proprietarial patronage and the forced labor of enslaved people, but his family's prosperity and status was much reduced by the American Revolution and later by the American Civil War.
James "Beag" Stewart (c1424-1470) of Baldorran was the seventh illegitimate son of James Mor Stewart, who fled into exile in Ireland when his father Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany was executed for treason by James I of Scotland in 1425. James the Fat would never return to Scotland, and he was unable to inherit the Albany estates, but James "Beag" Stewart was able to secure a royal pardon and return to Scotland. He is the ancestor of the Stewarts of Ardvorlich on Lochearnside, whose family history is recounted by Sir Walter Scott in A Legend of Montrose.
Sir William Stewart (c.1440–c.1500), 2nd Laird of Baldorran, 1st Royal Bailie of the Crown lands of Balquhidder, was a fifteenth-century Scottish landowner, and founder of the Balquhidder Stewart clan. He was the grandson of James Mhor Stewart who launched a failed bid for the Crown of Scotland in 1429.
Stewart of Balquhidder is a Perthshire branch of the Stewart clan and scions of the royal House of Stewart from an illegitimate branch. They are descended from Sir William Stewart of Baldorran, who was the great grandson of Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany, executed by King James I of Scotland for treason in 1425. Murdoch Stewart was himself the grandson of King Robert II of Scotland, who founded the Stewart dynasty.
George Steuart Hume, also known as George Home, was a Maryland physician and landowner who emigrated to Scotland before the American Revolutionary War. Born George Hume Steuart in Maryland, he left for Scotland in 1758, where he studied medicine, changing his name to his maternal name of Hume in order to inherit his family's substantial Scottish estates.
The Steuart family of Maryland was a prominent political family in the early History of Maryland. Of Scottish descent, the Steuarts have their origins in Perthshire, Scotland. The family grew wealthy in the early 18th century under the patronage of the Calvert family, proprietors of the colony of Maryland, but would see their wealth and status much reduced during the American Revolution, and the American Civil War.
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William Mure, known as others of his family as William Mure of Caldwell, was a Scottish lawyer and politician. He became a baron of the Scots exchequer, and was a friend of Prime Minister Lord Bute and David Hume.
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