View from east

Description View from east

Date 18/6/2001

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

Catalogue Number E 15313 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 768822, SC 1201571

Scope and Content Baile-na-Coille, Balmoral Estate, Aberdeenshire, from the east This romantic, two-storeyed, picturesque 'cottage orné' was probably designed c.1880 by the Aberdeen architect, William Smith, who designed Balmoral Castle, and, like the castle, is constructed of near-white granite from the local Glen Gelder quarries. It has deeply projecting eaves with bargeboards and decorative pendants, and Tudor-style mullioned windows. The dormer windows have swept roofs, and a hood-moulded string-course runs at first-floor level. The square entrance porch is topped by a wrought-iron cresting, painted, like the front door, in 'Balmoral beige', a colour originally chosen by Prince Albert. John Brown (1826-83), the son of a tenant farmer at Crathie, was employed at Balmoral when the estate was bought by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1852. He became Prince Albert's personal ghillie, and then Queen Victoria's servant. When Albert died in 1861, he was a great support to the queen who greatly valued his companionship. She conferred on him the title of 'Personal Servant', and in 1879 he became 'Personal Attendant and Page' with his personal servant, and a house built for him in the grounds. Brown's outspokenness, his bullying tactics and familiarity with the queen piqued many in the royal household, and rumours about their unlikely relationship (which the queen dismissed as ill-natured gossip) abounded. When he died in 1883, Brown was described in the Court Circular as 'an honest, faithful and devoted follower, a trustworthy, discreet and straightforward man'. He was buried in Crathie Churchyard where the queen erected a handsome tombstone to his memory. The Balmoral estate was bought in 1852 by Prince Albert and Queen Victoria as a Highland retreat from the stresses of London life. Prince Albert initiated many improvements, including the building of a new holiday home, Balmoral Castle, in 1853-5, and the construction of new cottages for estate workers, new stables, new bridges, roads, plantations and a model dairy. Baile-na-Coille, a house built for John Brown, Queen Victoria's personal attendant, was one of the few new cottages to be built on the estate after Albert's death in 1861. It is now the home of the estate factor. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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