View of North service court from North North West showing the West range of service buildings

Description View of North service court from North North West showing the West range of service buildings

Date 12/5/1997

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number D 10996

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 778681

Scope and Content West range of service buildings, Mar Lodge, Aberdeenshire, from north-north-east This shows the west range of service blocks with the entrance to the courtyard on the left and the ballroom behind the trees in the right background. The building has a rustic awning (canopy) which is supported by logs on octagonal stone bases. The louvered ventilator in the roof allows more air to circulate and the five skylights allow more light into the building. Deliveries of food and drink would have originally arrived in this courtyard by horse-drawn transport. The goods would be removed by servants and stored in the various buildings around the court. The goods may have been stored in this range or perhaps this was where the laundry was located. The servants would also have entered the lodge by this route out of sight of the family and guests in the main house. William Duff of Dipple who became the 1st Earl of Fife in 1759 built the original Mar Lodge (or Dalmore House) in 1750. The 6th Earl was created the 1st Duke of Fife when he married Princess Louise, who was a daughter of King Edward VII. When Mar Lodge was destroyed by fire in 1895, Alexander Marshall Mackenzie (1848-1933) designed a new lodge and Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone later in the same year. The duke and duchess used the house mainly as a sporting lodge and an autumn home. The building had another serious fire in 1991 but was subsequently restored. The 29,380-hectare estate had several owners from 1959 until 1995 when The National Trust for Scotland bought it, with the help of a £10 million lottery grant. The lodge has been divided into five self-catering holiday apartments which can be rented by the public. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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