Craftsmen at Mar Lodge, Braemar, ca. 1900
Title
Craftsmen at Mar Lodge, Braemar, ca. 1900
Category
Buildings
Description
The banks of the river Dee in highland Aberdeenshire are dotted with castles and mansions mostly built in the nineteenth century as shooting lodges. They include Queen Victoria’s Balmoral and Mar Lodge, owned by the duke of Fife and his duchess, Princess Louise, which was destroyed by a fire in June 1895.
Descriptions of the fire give an indication of the tradesmen and communities that great buildings supported. It began when a group of Aberdeen plumbers were fitting a ventilation pipe into a closet near the Duke’s rooms and carried a pot of molten lead into the house. A draught from the windows blew a spark onto wood shavings used to protect pipes from frosting and a fire took hold, spreading rapidly through the building. The plumbers were joined in their efforts to extinguish the fire by estate workers summoned by the overseer and by a team of masons who were on site, led by a builder, Mr MacDonald. The later may have been George Macdonald of Aberdeen. The house contents were saved, but not the lodge, which was rebuilt shortly after.
The architect for the new Mar Lodge was A. Marshal Mackenzie of Aberdeen, who had recently completed Crathie Church at Balmoral. Born in Elgin and based in Aberdeen, Mackenzie had an established team of skilled Aberdeen craftsmen to draw on for his northeast Scotland work, who lived in bothies on-site for the duration of his building projects. The Mar Lodge construction was famed for its use of locally grown wood in the building itself and for the furniture.
This photograph of thirty-five men, with their trades and professions indicated by their clothing and tools, posed in front of Mar Lodge as it was nearing completion, shows pride in craft and community. The men seated on the ground at the front are plumbers, with one of them holding an impressive U-bend pipe and another displaying the soles of his hob-nailed boots. The man seated on the far left is holding tinsmith scissors. The suited young man with a watch-chain on the right is probably a clerk and the older man on the middle left with rolled plans under his arm is the builder overseeing the works. The men dressed in white are painters or plasterers. The second to back row has the carpenters, with their saws and planes displayed. Some of those in the image are estate workers, including a ghillie wearing a deerstalker hat and tweeds at the top left.
Descriptions of the fire give an indication of the tradesmen and communities that great buildings supported. It began when a group of Aberdeen plumbers were fitting a ventilation pipe into a closet near the Duke’s rooms and carried a pot of molten lead into the house. A draught from the windows blew a spark onto wood shavings used to protect pipes from frosting and a fire took hold, spreading rapidly through the building. The plumbers were joined in their efforts to extinguish the fire by estate workers summoned by the overseer and by a team of masons who were on site, led by a builder, Mr MacDonald. The later may have been George Macdonald of Aberdeen. The house contents were saved, but not the lodge, which was rebuilt shortly after.
The architect for the new Mar Lodge was A. Marshal Mackenzie of Aberdeen, who had recently completed Crathie Church at Balmoral. Born in Elgin and based in Aberdeen, Mackenzie had an established team of skilled Aberdeen craftsmen to draw on for his northeast Scotland work, who lived in bothies on-site for the duration of his building projects. The Mar Lodge construction was famed for its use of locally grown wood in the building itself and for the furniture.
This photograph of thirty-five men, with their trades and professions indicated by their clothing and tools, posed in front of Mar Lodge as it was nearing completion, shows pride in craft and community. The men seated on the ground at the front are plumbers, with one of them holding an impressive U-bend pipe and another displaying the soles of his hob-nailed boots. The man seated on the far left is holding tinsmith scissors. The suited young man with a watch-chain on the right is probably a clerk and the older man on the middle left with rolled plans under his arm is the builder overseeing the works. The men dressed in white are painters or plasterers. The second to back row has the carpenters, with their saws and planes displayed. Some of those in the image are estate workers, including a ghillie wearing a deerstalker hat and tweeds at the top left.
Image copyright
National Museums Scotland
Item Location
National Museum Scotland
Files
Citation
“Craftsmen at Mar Lodge, Braemar, ca. 1900,” Artisans in Scotland, accessed October 15, 2025, http://www.artisansinscotland.shca.ed.ac.uk/items/show/27.