Tour Scotland photograph of the gatehouse at Ardverikie, Laggan, Highlands, Scotland. This gatehouse can be seen in the BBC drama, Monarch of the Glen. Since the beginning of recorded time, The Macpherson Clan, one of the major parties to the confederation known as Clan Chattan, occupied the lands in the upper reaches of Strathspey and the western part of Badenoch; indeed, leadership of this powerful grouping was a bone of contention with Clan Mackintosh, and the issue was not resolved, as it turned out, in the Mackintosh’s favour, until 1672. Their rights of occupation were originally based on a grant from the Bishop of Moray and, in more recent times until the middle of the 19th century, from the Duke of Gordon but, whatever the legal niceties, the Macphersons regarded the land as theirs by virtue of undisputed possession.
It was the 20th chief, Ewen Macpherson of Cluny Macpherson who, in the face of financial embarrassment, leased Benalder and Ardverikie in 1844 to James Hamilton, Marquis of Abercorn, one of the trend setters in the emerging interest in deer stalking in Scotland. A member of the Royal Household and Groom of the Stole to Prince Albert, it was as his guest that Queen Victoria and her Consort spent three weeks at Ardverikie in the late summer of 1847. Abercorn had improved and extended the original house to the extent that it provided suitable accommodation for a royal visitor but enjoyment of the estate was curtailed by other calls on his diminishing wealth; as a result, he assigned his lease in 1860 to Lord Henry Bentinck, another stalking enthusiast who remained as tenant until his death on the last day of 1871.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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