Old photograph of Friars Carse located one mile South of Auldgirth, a village on the A76 road in the Civil Parish of Closeburn in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The name Friars' Carse derives from a monastic settlement which was established nearby by the Cistercian monks of Melrose in the 13th century. Carse Loch is located nearby and was once used as the monastic fish pond and its crannog was used as a hiding place for valuables durings times of war or raids. The present punctuation convention for Friars Carse, with or without the apostrophe, is at variance with the older convention of Friars' Carse; the Carse of the Friars. In the 17th century William Riddell, son of a baronet of Nova Scotia, Canada, from Roxburghshire purchased the lands of Friars' Carse. The original older buildings were replaced by a more modest Georgian mansion, known as Glenriddell, built in 1771 for Robert Riddell or Riddel, a friend and patron of the poet Robert Burns. A Captain Smith purchased Glenriddell and he in turn sold the estate on to Provost John Crichton of Sanquhar, brother of John Crichton, who purchased it on his behalf in 1809. The house and estate had therefore been purchased for Dr James Crichton, born 1765, died 1823, who had made his fortune with the East India Company in the trade with China and had lived at Canton. In 1812 he took up occupancy and changed the name of the property from Glenriddell back to Friars' Carse and died here in 1823. His widow Elizabeth Grierson remained at Friars' Carse until her own death in 1862. In 1895 the mansion became a convalescent home in connection with the treatment of the insane. After a spell of ownership by Mr Charles Wedderburn Dickson, who extended the mansion still further, his widow sold the estate to Bryn Asaph Limited, a Post Office staff organisation, and it became a convalescent and holiday guest home as a memorial to the men and women of the Post Office who died in the two world wars.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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