Ury House is a large ruined mansion 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, built in the Elizabethan style in 1885 by

Sir Alexander Baird, 1st Baronet Sir Alexander Baird of Urie, 1st Baronet, 2nd of Ury (22 October 1849 – 20 June 1920) was Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire from 1889 to 1918 and later served as president of the Permanent Arbitration Board in Egypt. Biography Baird belonged ...

. It is situated on the north-east coast about north of

Stonehaven Stonehaven ( ) is a town on the northeast coast of Scotland, south of Aberdeen. It had a population of 11,177 at th2022 Census Stonehaven was formerly the county town of Kincardineshire, succeeding the now abandoned town of Kincardine, Aberd ...

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 ...

Prehistory

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

cist graves have been found at the site of the Ury House.

Roman legion The Roman legion (, ) was the largest military List of military legions, unit of the Roman army, composed of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens serving as legionary, legionaries. During the Roman Republic the manipular legion comprised 4,200 i ...

s marched from

Raedykes Raedykes is the site of a Roman marching camp located just over northwest of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. National Grid Reference NO 842902. It is designated as a scheduled monument. A marching camp was a temporary camp used mainly fo ...

Normandykes Normandykes (Grid Reference: NO 830994) is the site of a Roman marching camp to the southwest of Peterculter, City of Aberdeen, Scotland. The near-rectangular site, measuring approximately , covers about of the summit and eastern slopes of a ...

Roman Camp ''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified milita ...

nearby as they used higher ground evading the

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

s of

Red Moss ''Caloglossa beccarii'', known as red moss, is a species of algae that may live in freshwater or brackish environments. It is found in the aquarium trade. Description and distribution ''Caloglossa beccarii'' is most closely related to ''Caloglos ...

and low-lying mosses associated with the

Burn of Muchalls The Burn of Muchalls is an easterly flowing stream in Aberdeenshire, Scotland that discharges to the North Sea. Its point of discharge is on a rocky beach set with scenic sea stacks. Flowing principally over agricultural lands, the Burn of Much ...

. That march used the

Elsick Mounth The Elsick Mounth is an ancient trackway crossing the Grampian Mountains in the vicinity of Netherley, Scotland. This trackway was one of the few means of traversing the Grampian Mounth area in prehistoric and medieval times. The highest pass o ...

, one of the ancient

trackway Historic roads (or historic trails in the US and Canada) are paths or routes that have historical importance due to their use over a period of time. Examples exist from prehistoric times until the early 20th century. They include ancient track ...

s crossing the

Mounth The Mounth ( ) is the broad upland in northeast Scotland between the Highland Boundary and the River Dee, at the eastern end of the Grampians. Name and etymology The name ''Mounth'' is ultimately of Pictish origin. The name is derived from ...

of the

Grampian Mountains The Grampian Mountains () is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. The Grampian range extends northeast to so ...

, lying west of Netherley.

History

Originally the estate belonged to the

Fraser Fraser may refer to: Places Antarctica * Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands Australia * Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen * Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal ...

s, then the Hays starting in 1413, but eventually became the property of the

Earl Marischal The title of Earl Marischal was created in the Peerage of Scotland for William Keith, the Great Marischal of Scotland. History The office of Marischal of Scotland (or ''Marascallus Scotie'' or ''Marscallus Scotiae'') had been hereditary, held ...

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

David Barclay purchased Urie in a lengthy process in the late 1660s, and his descendants owned it through 1854 when the estate was purchased by the Baird family (source Clan Barclay and newspaper archives Stonehaven). The second

laird Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scotland, Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a Baronage of ...

was his son,

Robert Barclay Robert Barclay (23 December 16483 October 1690) was a Scottish Quaker, one of the most eminent writers belonging to the Religious Society of Friends and a member of the Clan Barclay. He was a son of Col. David Barclay, Laird of Urie, and his ...

, the Quaker apologist. It descended to Robert Barclay Allardice (MP) (1732-1797) and then to his son

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Robert Barclay Allardice Robert Barclay Allardice of Ury (25 August 1779, Stonehaven, Kincardineshire – 1 May 1854), generally known as Captain Barclay, was a notable Scottish walker of the early 19th century, known as the celebrated pedestrian. His most famous feat w ...

, known as “the celebrated pedestrian”. Over the years Ury has been rebuilt three times. In early times the property was known as Urie. In the 17th century, Ury was established as the north-east Scotland headquarters of the

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

organisation by David Barclay.

Current status

Today the house is derelict and the dangerous condition of the structure limits entry. In March 2007, FM Developments lodged an amended planning application for a golf and leisure complex on the estate as the previous housing development was rejected in October 2006. There have been earlier proposals for its restoration, including a 2004 planning application, which was rejected by the local Community Council. The estate is now owned by The FM Group who have recently lodged a planning application to Aberdeenshire Council for the creation of a world-class 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature Championship Golf Course as part of the redevelopment of Ury Estate. In early 2019, plans for a housing development in the grounds (3 houses and 58 three-storey flats) were approved by

Aberdeenshire Council Aberdeenshire Council is the local authority for Aberdeenshire, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. The council has been under no overall control since its creation in 1996. It is based at Woodhill House, which is outside its own territory ...

along with the conversion of Ury House into a hotel.

Nearby historic features

There are several notable historic structures and sites close to the Ury House, including: *

Fetteresso Castle Fetteresso Castle is a 14th-century tower house, rebuilt in 1761 as a Scottish Gothic style Palladian manor, with clear evidence of prehistoric use of the site. It is situated immediately west of the town of Stonehaven in Kincardineshire, slightl ...

Muchalls Castle Muchalls Castle stands overlooking the North Sea in the countryside of Kincardine and Mearns, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The lower course is a well-preserved Romanesque, double-groined 13th-century tower house structure, built by the Frasers o ...

* Rickarton House

Natural features

Ury Estate is bounded on the west by Fetteresso Forest. Within about 150 metres south of Ury House is the confluence of the Burn of Monboys into the

Cowie Water The Cowie Water () is a river of Scotland. Geography The river rises in the Grampian Mountains (Scotland), Grampian Mountains in Kincardineshire, and discharges to the North Sea in the northern part of Stonehaven,United Kingdom Ordnance Survey ...

. Cowie Water has generally

alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from the Arabic word , ) is a basic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The ...

pH as tested at the perimeter of the Ury Estate, although its pH is somewhat lower above the confluence with the Burn of Monboys, explained by Lumina Tech as due to more acidic drainage from upland moorland peat areas in the Burn of Monboys watershed.C.M. Hogan, ''History of Muchalls Castle'', Natural History Section, Lumina Tech, Aberdeen (2005)

References