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Publication Account
Date 1996
Event ID 1016396
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016396
From the 1750s to 1937 the Russell family built up the estate of Aden to a 4000 ha mix of private policies, farmland and woodland. Since 1975, 92 ha of the former estate have been managed as a country park. Thanks to the work of restoration and interpretation, it is now possible to understand something of life on a major 19th century Aberdeenshire estate.
The principal focus of the park is now the Round Square, once the hub of the Home Farm, which has been restored to its former clean, spare appearance. The harled rubble building, of whose circuit approximately one quarter was never built, dates from c1800 and is two-storeyed, with six arched cartsheds on the north side. Above the sheds rises a four-storey square dovecote which is surmounted by an elaborate open cupola with 'roman doric' columns. The North-East of Scotland Agricultural Heritage Centre, with useful interpretative displays, now occupies the cartsheds and also the farm offices in the centre of the square. Within the park, an entire farmhouse and steading, Hareshowe, has been re-erected, complete with re-used railway carriage.
Of particular interest are two small rooms at the east end of the curved block. These were the home of the last horseman and his family; the dark little rooms have been refurnished as they were in the 1930s and now form a vivid and telling contrast with the scale of the whole estate.
Although the mansion house is now ruined, it is possible to visualize how opulent it must have been when occupied. Originally a late 18th century quadrangular building, with a symmetrical south frontage of stepped bays, it was largely reconstructed in 1832/3 by John Smith. The west wing was rebuilt with an outstanding central bow with columns and dome; a parte cachere (covered entry for carriages, similar to that at Balmoral) was added asymmetrically to the south front and the court was roofed as a central hall. The west and north lodges of the estate were probably also built at this time, by Smith, the latter having a particularly interesting Greek Revival portico.
Other typical features of a country house and its policies are to be seen, principally the icehouse, lake, and mineral well. There is more conifer planting than would have been the case in the 19th century, but the enclosed feel of the policies can still be had in walking the many footpaths through the grounds.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Aberdeen and North-East Scotland’, (1996).
