Fasque
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Fasque, also known as Fasque House or Fasque Castle, is a
mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...
in
Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...
, Scotland, situated near the village of Fettercairn, in the former county of
Kincardineshire Kincardineshire or the County of Kincardine, also known as the Mearns (from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "the stewartry"), is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area on the ...
. Fasque was the property of the Ramsays of Balmain, and the present house was completed around 1809, replacing an earlier house. It was purchased in 1829 by
Sir John Gladstone, 1st Baronet Sir John Gladstone, 1st Baronet, (11 December 1764 – 7 December 1851) was a Scottish merchant, slave owner and Tory politician best known for being the father of British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. Born in Leith, Midlothian, th ...
, father of Thomas Gladstone and
William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...
, later
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...
, who often stayed there. Fasque was a family home of the Gladstones until the 1930s, and was open to the public during the last quarter of the 20th century. In 2010 Fasque House was bought by Fasque House Properties Ltd and restoration work was begun.


Etymology

The name comes from the
Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...
word '' fasgadh'', meaning "safety", or "dwelling place", and for reasons of potential tautology, "house" was never officially added. The name is a
baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
, eighteenth-century
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...
of the original Gaelic word.


History

A previous house, known as Fasque, or Faskie, was located roughly north of the present site. In about the 1750s, Sir Alexander Ramsay, 6th Baronet of Balmain, who had been a local Member of Parliament, planted the beech avenues that survive today. William Adam (1689–1748) prepared a plan for the house which is illustrated in his ''Vitruvius Scoticus'', although it was never executed. By 1790, the house was increasingly prone to damp, and was demolished only forty years after completion. Sir Alexander, by then known as Alexander Ramsay-Irvine, died without an heir in 1806, and the estate passed to his nephew, Alexander Burnet, who was made a
baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
in 1806, and adopted the Ramsay surname. Although begun by Sir Alexander Ramsay-Irvine, the current house was not completed until about 1809. Approximately £30,000 was spent on the project. The house took over ten years to construct, with contemporary guide books describing its central hallway as open to the elements, as the world's largest indoor
double spiral staircase Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage ...
was being constructed at the back of the hall. After his death in May 1810, the younger Alexander's 2nd son, also Alexander Ramsay, inherited the estate and the baronetcy, and kept Fasque for 19 years before having to sell it in the face of rising costs of its upkeep.


Fasque under the Gladstones

In 1829, the house was sold for £80,000 to John Gladstone, a Scottish merchant from
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
whose family (originally called Gledstanes) had been farmers in
Biggar, South Lanarkshire Biggar ( ) is a town, parish and former burgh in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, in the Southern Uplands near the River Clyde on the A702. The closest neighbouring towns are Lanark, Peebles and Carluke. History Biggar occupies a key location close ...
, before becoming wine merchants in
Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...
in the years following 1745. John Gladstone built up a business empire in property and international trade that by the 1820s had made him extremely wealthy. Via his ownership of
slave plantation A slave plantation is an agricultural farm that uses enslaved people for labour. The practice was abolished in most places during the 19th century. Slavery Planters embraced the use of slaves mainly because indentured labor became expensive ...
s in the
West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...
, by the passage of the
Slavery Abolition Act The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which abolished slavery in the British Empire by way of compensated emancipation. The act was legislated by Whig Prime Minister Charles ...
in 1833 Gladstone was one of the largest slaveholders in Scotland. He received £106,769 in compensation (equivalent to £ in ) under the
Slave Compensation Act 1837 The Slave Compensation Act 1837 ( 1 & 2 Vict. c. 3) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, signed into law on 23 December 1837. Together with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73), it authorized the Commissione ...
for the 2,508 slaves he owned across nine slave plantations, more than any single other plantation owner. Following the death of their eldest daughter, Anne, in 1829, it took four years for the Gladstones to move up to the new property, from the now-demolished Seaforth House on the shores of the
Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it ...
. In the winter of 1833, John, his wife Anne McKenzie and their youngest daughter, Helen, moved into Fasque for the first time. Their arrival coincided with one of the worst spells of weather ever recorded in Kincardineshire, with many of the trees to the north of the house (which had been planted originally in 1745) being blown down by high winds. The cold and the damp of the new house had a detrimental effect on Anne McKenzie Gladstone's health, and she died in 1835. Ten years later, in 1845, the Baronetcy of Fasque and Balfour was bestowed upon the elderly Sir John Gladstone, and to commemorate this, he built the Fasque
Episcopalian Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protes ...
Church in the grounds of the house, which is still used to this day. In its first decade, the Church also saw the burial of one of
William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...
's offspring who died in childhood, and in the same year as its founding. In December 1851, Sir John Gladstone died, passing the house on to his oldest son,
Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...
, the eldest brother of William. Thomas's sibling rivalry had been strong over the years, but now, as the second Baronet (and from 1876,
Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire This is a list of people who have served as the Monarch's Lord Lieutenant in the County of Kincardine. * Sir James Carnegie, 3rd Baronet April 1746 – 30 April 1765 * Anthony Keith-Falconer, 5th Earl of Kintore 17 March 1794 – 30 August 1804 * ...
), Thomas Gladstone and his wife Louisa Fellows, a relative of
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
, ran Fasque as an effective house for nearly 40 years, adding servants' quarters to the building itself, along with a school in the grounds. During that time,
William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...
(who had come into possession of Hawarden Castle in North Wales, through his wife's family, the Glynns) visited his elder brother many times, and practised his hobbies of walking and tree-felling across the moors of the estate. The estate lands had slowly expanded during Thomas's tenure to encompass , bordering Balmoral to the north. Sir Thomas died in 1889, passing the Baronetcy on to his eldest son
John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...
, a bachelor soldier, who came home to run the estate with his sister Mary in the 1890s. After Thomas' death, William did not visit his nephew's estate again, and himself died in May 1898. Fasque House remained a working home until 1932, when Lady Mary, who had survived her brother John by six years, passed on. At this point, Fasque House became disused, with much of the furniture covered with sheets, and rooms locked up for decades. The estate itself operated as before, but the main house was empty, although it remained "immaculately well preserved". Eventually, the Baronetcy passed through various family lines to end up with the 7th Baronet, Sir William Gladstone, great-grandson of the prime minister, and a former Chief Scout. In 1978, Sir William's younger brother, the naturalist Peter Gladstone, redecorated Fasque, apparently whitewashing almost every wall surface himself, and opened it to the public for the first time in September of that year, partly capitalising on the then-current popularity of the TV show '' Upstairs Downstairs''. Fasque House remained open to summer visitors for over two decades, with the house's east wing almost entirely open to the public, and the west wing providing a home for Peter's family. A large auction of items from the house gained much publicity when it was held in the grounds in 1997. Peter died in 2000, with the estate now being run by Charles Gladstone, son of Sir William, the 7th Baronet. In 2003, the house was closed to the public, and since then specially arranged coach parties and wedding services have also been discontinued.


Recent developments

In August 2007, Fasque House was sold to a local developer who intended to convert the building into flats. However, it was quickly put back on the market, with an asking price of £1.9 million. In May 2009 it was still being marketed, though at the reduced price of £1m. In 2010 Fasque House was bought by Fasque House Properties Ltd, and a complete restoration of the house was begun. The building's use as a wedding venue was reinstated, alongside conference facilities and cottage rentals. This sale did not affect the Fasque and Glen Dye Estate, which is still owned by the Gladstone family.


Architecture

The house is a large sandstone building, in a symmetrical castellated style, with octagonal towers at the centre and corners of the main facade. The structure remains relatively unchanged since its completion. Sir John Gladstone added a third storey to the central tower in 1830, and built the portico of rusticated pillars in the 1840s. The drawing room was expanded in 1905, and some servants' quarters were added before the beginning of the First World War. Innovative use of electricity meant that Fasque was possibly the first house in Scotland to be lit by electric lights, and had an electric buzzer system as early as 1890. It was also noted for having innovative firefighting and health and safety equipment in the 1920s. The house is a category A
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.


Current management

The property is managed by Inverlochy Castle Management International. ICMI also manages the luxury hotels
Cromlix House Cromlix is a five star country house hotel near Kinbuck, Stirlingshire, Scotland. It was constructed as a Victorian mansion, then first operated as a hotel from the early 1980 to 2012 when it closed suddenly. It was bought by tennis player Andy ...
in
Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...
, Greywalls Hotel & Chez Roux in
East Lothian East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In ...
and Inverlochy Castle Hotel in Fort William.


References


External links


Fasque Castle website
{{coord, 56, 52, 14, N, 2, 34, 36, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Country houses in Aberdeenshire Kincardine and Mearns Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes Category A listed buildings in Aberdeenshire Listed houses in Scotland