Dalgoner Estate, Written by (Judge) William Crawford, dated August, 2008, shared by Gayle Clutter
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Dalgoner Estate, Written by (Judge) William Crawford, dated August, 2008, shared by Gayle Clutter
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Posted: 2 Sep 2008 6:45PM GMT |
Classification: Biography
Surnames: Crawford, Grierson, Clutter, Dalgoner Estate, (Sir) Thomas Grierson
Dalgoner Estate Written by (Judge) William Crawford, August, 2008 - as shared, with permission by Gayle Clutter, who visited Dalgoner Estate: says Gayle - "BTY: I did meet another Grierson ancestor while in Scotland. She (Gillian) was at Wm’s lecture & participated in our tour. I think she is a Grierson on her Mother’s side."
DALGONER ESTATE
Written by (Judge) William Crawford
August, 2008
From a family tree provided by Philip Hamilton-Grierson it can be seen that there is reference to a Sir Thomas Grierson of Dalgonar, the great-uncle of Sir William Grierson; but Sir Wm (1567-1629) seems definitely to have established the line of Griersons of Dalgonar, separate from the Griersons of Lag, by leaving Dalgonar to his third son James (died 1671), described as James Grierson of Larglanglee and Dalgonar, the Tutor of Lag. Larglanglee is a farm not far from Castle Douglas; the Griersons owned land all over the place! The Tutor means the Guardian of the young heir to Lag. It is not possible to give a precise date to this house; architects have told me that the kitchen and dining room area, where the walls are 6 foot thick, was built before 1600; and the same would seem to be true of the adjacent Garden House, where one wall is of the same thickness. So the house, or part of it, may have been in existence at the time of Sir Thomas Grierson, great-uncle of Sir William, but was definitely here by the time of James Grierson of Larglanglee and Dalgonar.
A plaque bearing the date 1832 was erected by James Grierson, 4th of Dalgonar, b.1755, died 1845 or thereabouts. He was a Radical in his politics; admired the principles of the French Revolution (how could he?!!), and no doubt the views of Lafayette, and remained an enthusiastic left-winger into his old age. He was so delighted and excited by the passage of the Reform Act in 1832 by Ld Grey's Government that he erected the plaque, and had inscribed upon it "The Year of Parliament Refomed", and then the date. In 1777, when he was 22, he made alterations to the house; he may have added what is now the laundry wing; there is another date-stone stating "Aedif; 1777" , that is aedificatum, or built, in that year. When he was 88, in 1843, he became fed-up with his family; and went off to France with a servant-girl; and then moved to America, (no doubt to see that they were carrying out properly his own revolutionary opinions) where he died at the age of 90 in 1845.
His grandson James, 6th of Dalgonar, had in the meantime bought back Capenoch from the Kirkpatricks of Closeburn (it had originally been a Grierson house), and set about enlarging it to its present size, using as architects the famous firm of Bryce in Edinburgh. He overspent; his uncle James, 5th of Dalgonar, died without issue, leaving Dalgonar to him, and so he returned here and sold Capenoch to the Gladstones, reputedly for less than he had spent upon it. When he died, he left a great volume of debt, most of it incurred in enlarging Capenoch, and his heir, Philip Hamilton-Grierson, who inherited when he was young, could not pay it off, and sold Dalgonar to my great-grandfather in 1868.
I note you use the spelling Dalgoner; as you will have seen, it has over the years been spelt in several ways, onner, onnar, oner, onar, but Dalgonar tended to become more usual towards the end of the 19th Cent., and that is the spelling our family uses (but the others are not wrong!). In 1920, my grandmother made alterations, adding the drawing-room, and the two bedrooms above it, and adding the present front door, and making the old front door into the back door. In 1986, when we took over from my mother, we opened up the kitchen floor, and made the kitchen into a kitchen/dining-room. So the house has been changed over the years to suit changing tastes and living styles; when I was young, there were 5 staff living in the house; now there are none. Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis..
Dalgoner Estate Written by (Judge) William Crawford, August, 2008 - as shared, with permission by Gayle Clutter, who visited Dalgoner Estate: says Gayle - "BTY: I did meet another Grierson ancestor while in Scotland. She (Gillian) was at Wm’s lecture & participated in our tour. I think she is a Grierson on her Mother’s side." Posted on Page 61-A, of Grierson Origins, by David Alan Grierson, 1960 (aka Lyon).
DALGONER ESTATE
Written by (Judge) William Crawford
August, 2008
From a family tree provided by Philip Hamilton-Grierson it can be seen that there is reference to a Sir Thomas Grierson of Dalgonar, the great-uncle of Sir William Grierson; but Sir Wm (1567-1629) seems definitely to have established the line of Griersons of Dalgonar, separate from the Griersons of Lag, by leaving Dalgonar to his third son James (died 1671), described as James Grierson of Larglanglee and Dalgonar, the Tutor of Lag. Larglanglee is a farm not far from Castle Douglas; the Griersons owned land all over the place! The Tutor means the Guardian of the young heir to Lag. It is not possible to give a precise date to this house; architects have told me that the kitchen and dining room area, where the walls are 6 foot thick, was built before 1600; and the same would seem to be true of the adjacent Garden House, where one wall is of the same thickness. So the house, or part of it, may have been in existence at the time of Sir Thomas Grierson, great-uncle of Sir William, but was definitely here by the time of James Grierson of Larglanglee and Dalgonar.
A plaque bearing the date 1832 was erected by James Grierson, 4th of Dalgonar, b.1755, died 1845 or thereabouts. He was a Radical in his politics; admired the principles of the French Revolution (how could he?!!), and no doubt the views of Lafayette, and remained an enthusiastic left-winger into his old age. He was so delighted and excited by the passage of the Reform Act in 1832 by Ld Grey's Government that he erected the plaque, and had inscribed upon it "The Year of Parliament Refomed", and then the date. In 1777, when he was 22, he made alterations to the house; he may have added what is now the laundry wing; there is another date-stone stating "Aedif; 1777" , that is aedificatum, or built, in that year. When he was 88, in 1843, he became fed-up with his family; and went off to France with a servant-girl; and then moved to America, (no doubt to see that they were carrying out properly his own revolutionary opinions) where he died at the age of 90 in 1845.
His grandson James, 6th of Dalgonar, had in the meantime bought back Capenoch from the Kirkpatricks of Closeburn (it had originally been a Grierson house), and set about enlarging it to its present size, using as architects the famous firm of Bryce in Edinburgh. He overspent; his uncle James, 5th of Dalgonar, died without issue, leaving Dalgonar to him, and so he returned here and sold Capenoch to the Gladstones, reputedly for less than he had spent upon it. When he died, he left a great volume of debt, most of it incurred in enlarging Capenoch, and his heir, Philip Hamilton-Grierson, who inherited when he was young, could not pay it off, and sold Dalgonar to my great-grandfather in 1868.
I note you use the spelling Dalgoner; as you will have seen, it has over the years been spelt in several ways, onner, onnar, oner, onar, but Dalgonar tended to become more usual towards the end of the 19th Cent., and that is the spelling our family uses (but the others are not wrong!). In 1920, my grandmother made alterations, adding the drawing-room, and the two bedrooms above it, and adding the present front door, and making the old front door into the back door. In 1986, when we took over from my mother, we opened up the kitchen floor, and made the kitchen into a kitchen/dining-room. So the house has been changed over the years to suit changing tastes and living styles; when I was young, there were 5 staff living in the house; now there are none. Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis..
Dalgoner Estate Written by (Judge) William Crawford, August, 2008 - as shared, with permission by Gayle Clutter, who visited Dalgoner Estate: says Gayle - "BTY: I did meet another Grierson ancestor while in Scotland. She (Gillian) was at Wm’s lecture & participated in our tour. I think she is a Grierson on her Mother’s side." Posted on Page 61-A, of Grierson Origins, by David Alan Grierson, 1960 (aka Lyon).