Our History

It is well known and documented that the Order of the Knights of the Temple established and shaped the origins and early history of Maryculter. A brief historical context is therefore necessary in order to understand these brave and famous Knights, and their relationship with Maryculter. So Holy Grail hunters read on…….

Early in the 12th century, two orders of Knights were founded, the Hospitallers and the Templars. The Hospitallers were not originally Knights, but civilians managing the pilgrims’ hospital of St. John at Jerusalem. The Templars began as a small group of Knights who undertook the protection of pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. Their earliest quarters were in a wing of the royal palace, which was located on the supposed site of the Temple of Solomon. This gave rise to their name : The Order of the Knights of the Temple.

The Templars first came to Scotland in 1128 during the reign of King David I. The Templars made a very favourable impression on King David to the extent the he kept himself surrounded by Templars and appointed them as “the guardians of his morals by day and by night”. As a result of this royal favour, the Templars acquired a substantial property holding in Scotland through gifts from both King and Court. Maryculter was granted to the Monks of Kelso and the Knights Templar by King William the Lion in 1187.

During the early 1200’s there were two main Preceptories [ estate and community of Knights ] in Scotland, Balintradoch (now named Temple, just south of Edinburgh, in mid-Lothian) which was regarded as the main Preceptory, and the headquarters of the Order of Scotland, and the other was at Maryculter, on the southern bank of the River Dee.

The Preceptory at Maryculter was founded between 1221 and 1236 by Walter Bisset, Lord of Aboyne and gifted to the Templars. Later the Knights built their own chapel within the grounds, dedicated to St Mary, and this chapel became the parish church for Maryculter in 1288.

Ultimately the Templar wealth and power increased throughout Europe and the Holy land until rivalry and jealousy were aroused. Rumours were circulated against them suggesting schemes for the over throw of European thrones. A number of leading members in France were arrested and put on mock trials. Many were subject to cruel tortures, while others were burned alive. Finally, in 1312 the Templar Order was suppressed and their vast wealth passed to the Knights Hospitallers, including the lands at Maryculter.

The two orders of Knights proved excellent landlords at Maryculter. When any of their land was not farmed by themselves, but leased, great care was exercised in seeing that the lessee constantly kept the cross of the order on top of his principal dwelling as an emblem of subjection and that jurisdiction was that of the Templars.

As an aside, a ghostly double act is said to make occasional appearance in Maryculter; Sir Godfrey Wedderburn, a native of this Parish and Templar Knight and a Saracen woman of wondrous beauty, who saved his life after he was severely wounded in battle. Wedderburn, once recovered, returned to Maryculter and lived there for a year or two before the Saracen woman followed him back. When she appeared to the Templars, Wedderburn was condemned to death by his own hand despite his protests that their relationship was strictly platonic. Having been sentenced, Wedderburn seized his beloved, swung her into the saddle of this charger and set off up the hill from the Templar’s Church. Alas, when they got to the Crynoch Burn, with the other knights in hot pursuit, Wedderburn’s horse stumbled, and they fell to their deaths. The Saracen woman, mortally wounded from the fall, called up a terrible curse to befall the Preceptor of the chapel. As her words rang out a lightning thunderbolt struck and killed the Preceptor. The "Thunderhole" can still be found to this day on Maryculter Home Farm.

Two related tales that are documented in the “Annals of Lower Deeside”, published in 1892 are :

“Men used to tell of having seen, at the dead of night, a fully armed soldier gallop along the glen and over the hill of Kingcausie, as the glen echoed to the thunder of his war-cry.

Also, near Corbie Lynne, a dark complexioned woman of wondrous beauty has been seen sitting sadly on the rocks, or gliding through the adjacent woods, singing in a low entrancing voice a song of tearful sadness.”

As another aside, much has been documented and rumoured with regards to Rosslyn Chapel, just south of Edinburgh, which has been the focus for many a special Quest throughout the centuries. This Chapel is said to house everything from the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, the lost scrolls from the Temple of Jerusalem, the treasures of the Knights Templar, and much more, deep within its vaults. But just what if the Holy Grail and other treasures came up north from Edinburgh instead, to a much more discrete and “off the beaten track” place as Maryculter ? Could old St.Mary’s kirk, or the “Thunderhole” or Corbie Lynne, or any other of our local sites contain these Templar treasures.

In 1528, the Scottish Parliament of James V passed an act authorising religious corporations to feu out their lands to “substantial men as might be expected to improve them”.

Seven years later, in 1535, the provisions of the act were taken advantage of in Maryculter, and Kingcausie was sold to Henry Irvine, a younger son of the Irvine of Drum family, whose descendants have passed on this estate in unbroken succession for fifteen generations. In the same year, the Blairs estate went to Gilbert Menzies, Laird of Findon, and shortly afterwards Baillie Collinson of Aberdeen acquired Auchlunnies.

When the Knights finally abandoned their old home in 1548, there were six Knights and one Chaplain remaining at the Preceptory.

For many centuries the nature, make-up and chief occupation of farming of the inhabitants of Maryculter has remained unchanged.

Little now remains of the Church of St Mary's which the Templars built on the south bank of the Dee in the 13th Century. When the new church was built in 1782, St Mary's fell into disrepair.

Kingcausie
The earliest parts of Kingcausie House date from the 16th century. The house was extended by architect David Bryce in 1853, and is one of his finest compositions. It is recorded that Queen Victoria so admired its “Abbotsford like façade” that she asked for the royal train to be halted so that she could view the building and grounds from across the river.

Blairs College

Blairs College was founded in 1829 when a local Catholic laird, John Menzies of Pitfodels, donated his mansion house and an estate of 1000 acres to the Catholic Church.

The house was converted into a school for Catholic boys and a seminary for those who believed they had a vocation to the priesthood. However, the tradition and history of the National Junior Seminary can be traced back a further 117 years. Blairs indeed was the last in a line of small 'secret seminaries' where young men had been educated for the priesthood in out of the way places in the Highlands and Islands. After the Protestant Reformation in 1560, it was dangerous to openly train boys for the priesthood. Boys began their education in Scotland, then went on to one of the Scots Colleges on the Continent to further their studies. Those who were completely trained in Scotland were affectionately known as 'Heather Priests'.

Many thousands of students passed through the portals of Blairs during the century and a half in which it was open.

After the closure of the school in 1986, the Blairs Museum Trust was set up to preserve and exhibit Scotland's Catholic Treasury. The Blairs Museum holds an internationally renowned collection of fine and decorative art, embroidered vestments and church plate.

Notes:

The above black and white images and Kincaussie text are taken, and reproduced by kind permission, from :

“Old Lower Deeside”, by David Jamieson and W.Stewart Wilson, published by Stenlake Publishing 2003