Old Photograph Craigendarroch Hotel Ballater Scotland

Old photograph of the Craigendarroch Hotel in Ballater, Royal Deeside, Scotland. Craigendarroch is located on land that was originally the territory of Clan Gordon. It was a part of the Morven and Gairnside half of the large Aboyne estates owned by a long succession of Clan Chieftains. It was Charles Gordon, the 11th Marquis of Huntly who in the 1880’s decided to sell off some of his land, after he was rumored to have fallen on harder times. In 1886, the land was eventually sold to Mr. John Mitchell Keiller of Dundee, a descendant of Janet Keiller. Janet Keiller and her husband John created their own version of orange marmalade known widely as ‘ chip ’ marmalade which included finely sliced shreds of orange skin. Successful marketing led to the first commercial brand of marmalade. The Keillers’ set up a factory and founded James Keiller & Sons in 1797, after their son James, with unprecedented success and booming international trade. When visiting the area the illustrious Keillers would stay at Morven Lodge on the estate. Failing to meet their spacious needs, and a far distance from the railway station at Ballater, in 1891 the Keillers decided to build a house on the Hill of the Oaks, known in Gaelic as Craigendarroch. By the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 the house became a home for child evacuees from Glasgow, and army officers were posted there during training exercises in the surrounding hills. The interior of the house suffered during this time, and by the end of the war in 1945 the Keiller family decided to sell.

Much of the land was sold to Dinnet Estates, but the house, grounds and fishing rights were sold to a Mrs. Montgomery from St Andrews. The house changed hands once again when Mrs. Montgomery sold to an Aberdeen timber merchant called Cordiner, who stripped the land of much of its timber before putting it back up for sale in 1952. It was bought by the McLean family, who had a successful bakery business. They turned the house into a hotel run by their son, Dick McLean.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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