Alvie
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Alvie () is a small
crofting Crofting (Scottish Gaelic: ') is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, the islands of Scotland, and formerly on the Isle of Man. Within the 19th-century townships, individual crofts were est ...
hamlet, a working Scottish highland estate and
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
, located on the south shore of Loch Alvie in the
Badenoch and Strathspey Badenoch and Strathspey was a Districts of Scotland, local government district, created in 1975 as one of eight districts within the Highland (region), Highland region in Scotland. The district was abolished in 1996 when Highland was made a s ...
area of
Inverness-shire Inverness-shire () or the County of Inverness, is a Counties of Scotland, historic county in Scotland. It is named after Inverness, its largest settlement, which was also the county town. Covering much of the Scottish Highlands, Highlands and s ...
, within the
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
council area of
Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...
. Alvie sits in Cairngorm National Park and is part of Alvie and Dalraddy Estates which extend into the Monadhliath hills from the
River Spey The River Spey () is a river in the northeast of Scotland. At it is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom and the third longest and fastest-flowing river in Scotland. It is an important location for the traditions of salmon fishing an ...
, and overlooked by the Cairngorm Mountain range.


Alvie Estate History

For nearly 400 years, Alvie fell within the Lordship of Badenoch held by the Dukes of Gordon. In the early nineteenth century it was owned by the Macpherson-Grants of
Ballindalloch Ballindalloch () is a small village on the River Spey in Scotland. It is known for its Scotch whisky, whisky distilleries and for Ballindalloch Castle. In Ballindalloch itself, there are two distilleries, Cragganmore distillery and Ballindalloc ...
. In 1862 the property was in the ownership of James Evan Baillie, the predecessor of Lord Burton of Dochfour. By 1867 the estate was purchased or tenanted by Sir John Ramsden, an industrialist from northern England who planted up around 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of what was described as moor land to forestry for timber production. He later purchased and moved to Ardverikie Estate which his descendants still own. In 1905 Alvie was purchased by Sir Robert Boville (Bertie) Whitehead who owned Alvie until 1923. Sir Robert was the grandson of Robert Whitehead who invented the torpedo. The Whitehead family married into some of the most influential in Europe with Bertie’s cousin Marguerite marrying Herbert von Bismarck, son of the German chancellor
Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...
, whilst another cousin Agathe Whitehead, married the Austrian
Georg von Trapp Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp (4 April 1880 – 30 May 1947) was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy who became the patriarch of the Trapp Family, Trapp Family Singers. Trapp was the most successful Austro-Hungarian submarine commander of ...
. Robert Whitehead deer fenced much of the Estate and invested large sums in extending Alvie House and improving the stock of red deer. The remains of the deer fence erected around 1908 can still be seen. The Estate was sold in 1923 to Lady Carnarvon shortly after the death of her husband, Lord Carnarvon, who discovered the
tomb of Tutankhamun The tomb of Tutankhamun (reigned ), a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, is located in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb, also known by its List of burials in the Valley of the Kings, tomb number KV ...
in Egypt. Lady Carnarvon set up Balchurn (Home Farm) as a model dairy farm, which remained active into the 1950s. Alexander Williamson bought the Alvie Estate from Lady Carnarvon in 1927, primarily for its
field sports Field sports are outdoor sports that take place in the wilderness or sparsely populated rural areas, where there are vast areas of uninhabited greenfields. The term specifically refers to activities that mandate sufficiently large open spaces ...
, and the Dalraddy Estate in 1929. The family also had land holdings in
Angus Angus may refer to: *Angus, Scotland, a council area of Scotland, and formerly a province, sheriffdom, county and district of Scotland * Angus, Canada, a community in Essa, Ontario Animals * Angus cattle, various breeds of beef cattle Media * ...
. Around the time of Alexander Williamson's death in 1930 the Estates were put into a limited liability company Alvie Estate Ltd. His nephew Gerald Williamson managed the Estates for his widow until her death in 1956. He organised the replanting of most of the woodland areas felled during the 2 world wars. He purchased Invereshie Farm in 1957 and later Blackmill, Balnespick and part of Ballintean Farms at the bottom end of Glenfeshie. These farms are now owned and farmed by his youngest daughter Jane Williamson. Gerald Williamson died in 1966. In 1966 Gerald’s son Fergus Williamson transferred the Estates out of Alvie Estate Ltd. and into his ownership following advice that any sale of the assets would result in double taxation. In January 1972 Alvie and Dalraddy Estates were transferred into a Discretionary Trust but retaining Alvie House and policies in the ownership of Fergus Williamson. The beneficiaries were his children and grandchildren. Fergus Williamson was part of a consortium which invested in downhill skiing in the
Cairngorms The Cairngorms () are a mountain range in the eastern Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain Cairn Gorm. The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national parks of Scotland, national park (the Cairn ...
. He helped build Glenfeshie gliding club on land now owned by Jane Williamson and in 1968 opened Dalraddy Caravan Park (now Dalraddy Holiday Park). He also turned parts of Alvie House into self catering holiday accommodation and rented out the grouse shooting and deer stalking on a commercial basis. In 1983 Dalraddy Estate was transferred into the ownership of Jamie Williamson, the eldest son of Fergus Williamson. Alvie Farm was transferred into a limited partnership with Jamie Williamson being the general partner and Alvie Trust the limited partner. Following the death of Fergus Williamson in 1987 the widow of Fergus transferred ownership of Alvie House and policies to their eldest son Jamie Williamson in 1991. The estate was used for the 2017-8 filming of the documentary/reality programme '' Churchill's Secret Agents: The New Recruits''.


References


Further reading

Taylor, David (2022), ''The People Are Not There: The Transformation of Badenoch 1800 - 1863'', John Donald, Edinburgh, {{isbn, 9781910900987


External links


Alvie Estate
Populated places in Badenoch and Strathspey Highland Estates Parishes in Inverness-shire