Fasque

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Fasque, a mansion in Fettercairn parish, SW Kincardineshire, between Crichie Burn and the burn of Garrol, 1¾ mile N by W of Fettercairn village. Built in 1808-9 at a cost of £30,000 by Sir Thomas Ramsay of Balmain, seventh Bart. since 1625, it is a large palatial looking edifice, commanding a wide prospect, and surrounded by beautiful and extensive policies, with a lake (3 x 1 furl.) and many trees of great dimensions and rare grandeur. The Fasque estate, held by the Ramsays from the 15th century, was purchased about 1828 by the Liverpool merchant, Mr John Gladstones (1764-1851), who in 1846 was created a baronet as Sir John Gladstone of Fasque and Balfour, and whose fourth son is the Premier, William Ewart Gladstone (b. 1809). The eldest, Sir Thomas Gladstone, D.C.L., second Bart. (b. 1804), possesses 45,062 acres in the shire, valued at £9175 per Annum. `The Basque property,' writes Mr. James Macdonald in Trans. Highl. and Ag. Soc., 1881, pp. 114,1 15, `now extends from Fettercairn village to within less than 10 miles of Banchory on Deeside, a distance of over 16 miles. By far the greater portion lies on the Grampian range, and consists of black heath-clad hills intersected by numerous valleys or small straths in which there is a good deal of green pasture. On the immense estate of Glendye, purchased by Sir Thomas about 1865 from the Earl of Southesk, there are several small farms in the lower parts towards Banchory, while on the other estates there is a large extent of excellent arable land, mostly good rich loam, strong and deep in some parts and thin in others, but all over sound and fertile. The property contains a great deal of valuable wood, not a little of which has been planted by Sir Thomas and his father. . . . A very commodious farm-steading was erected on the home farm (670 acres) in 1872.' The Episcopal church of Fasque, St Andrew's, was built by Sir John, who made his place of sepulture within its walls.—Ord. Sur., sh. 66, 1871. See Biggar.

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Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer