Belhelvie Lodge

Belhelvie Lodge is an 18th century mansion house built for Harry Lumsden, and Aberdeen advocate, who had purchased the forfeited Panmure estate in 1782. There is nothing castellated about it. So, why include it on my website?

Belhelvie has a long and distinguished history. It was held from the kings of Scots as a thanage in the 13th century, and was held by the Berkeley of Towie family in 1292, 1307 and 1323 – the revenues were part of the dowry payments due to King Erik of Norway for his lifetime, outstanding from the sums owing to him from the time of the Princess Margaret. In 1340, the thanage was held by Sir William de Fotheringhay, and the next recorded holder was Alexander Stewart, Lord of Badenoch and Earl of Buchan in 1379 – although he held the lands in feu, not thanage, as did those who followed, Frasers of Forglen in 13288 and 1400, Lord Glamis in 1498, and his successors the Earls of Kinghorn thereafter until 1653, when it was exchanged with other lands and passed to the Earl of Panmure, whose descendant forfeited his estates in 1715 as a Jacobite.

Often it is said that thanes were heritable nobles, and built castles on their lands., However with Belhelvie we have an estate that was farmed as a thanage for at least a century, and was then a large property held by three different sets of earls. The thanage lands are believed to have equated to the parish of Belhelvie, and covered some thirty square miles. Nevertheless, some at least of the lands were held by the church, and it is the church which appears on early maps here. It seems possible that the “House of Meny” shown on the Roy map (and presumably now lost under the settlement of Belhelvie or Balmedie Farm) may have been the seat serving the lands. Either way, its an interesting story even if the lodge isn’t a castle!

Photograph is taken from https://www.houseoflumsden.com/belhevie

HES Canmore database entry (Lodge)

HES Canmore database entry (Farm)