Everything about Airthrey Castle totally explained
There are two suggested origins of the name "Airthrey" - a corruption of Ard-rhedadie (a high or ascending road, referring to the old road which leads through it to
Sheriffmuir), or from the
Gaelic "Airthrin" - "a sharp point" or "conflict". This could refer to a battle fought near the site of the Castle in 839, when the
Picts were defeated by the Scots under
Kenneth McAlpine.
The name appears in a charter of
King David I, thought to be from before 1146. In 1370, the estate was granted to Sir John Herice, Keeper of the nearby
Stirling Castle. Then the land passed to William, 3rd Lord Graham of Kincardine, for gallantry he displayed in the
Battle of Sauchieburn in 1488 (in which
King James III was killed attempting to subdue a group of rebel barons.). He was made
Earl of Montrose in 1504 but died at the
Battle of Flodden in 1513. The estate remained in the ownership of the
Clan Graham down to
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, who fought a campaign in support of
King Charles I from 1644 to 1650. By this time, the Airthrey Estate was in the ownership of a minor branch of the Grahams.
In 1678, the estate was purchased by John Hope of Hopetoun who was succeeded by
Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun who was elevated to the
House of Lords in 1703 with the titles of Viscount Airthire, Baron Hope and Earl of Hopetoun. In 1759, the estate was sold to Captain Robert Haldane of Plean. The grounds and man-made loch were designed by Thomas White for the Haldane family in the late 18th century. In 1791, Captain Haldane's son,
Robert Haldane, commissioned the design by the eminent architect
Robert Adam, which is the basis of Airthrey Castle today. Despite the development, he sold it to
Sir Robert Abercrombie in 1798.
The castle and estate remained in the ownership of the Abercrombie family until 1889 when Donald Graham bought it and made a large addition to the castle in 1891.
During and after the
Second World War it became a
maternity hospital. Then in the 1960's, as a result of the
Robbins Report, the estate was selected as the site of the first completely new Scottish University since the
University of Edinburgh was established in 1582. The
University of Stirling opened in 1967. Its campus is located in 60 acres of woodland, of mature landscaped parkland, a loch with an abundance of wildlife - and incorporates Airthrey Castle, where the Department of English Studies is located.
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