The History of the lands, Estate, and Mansion House of Letham Grange.

The lands of Letham in the shire of Aberbrothock were granted by William, Abbot of Arbroath, to one Hugo Heem in 1284. After this date nothing is known for some three hundred years. Then came the start of a period in which there were a number of changes of ownership for many reasons – some worthy, some less so!

One of the more interesting came in 1753 when John Depster of Dunnichyen succeeded to the Estate of New Grange on the death of his father. John Dempster was in turn followed by his son, George, who earned himself the colloquial title “Honest George”, and lived in the highest regard of his peers for some time. Until, indeed, he was convicted of bribery at his election as Member of Parliament for the Perth Burghs!

Whether this was a sudden fall from grace, or whether he had been able to fool his fellows until found out, we know not! At any rate, the penalty for his misdemeanours was £30,000.00, or almost half a million of the Scots pounds of his time. Not surprisingly, he was forced to dispose of some of his properties to meet the staggering sum which he was faced. Amongst them was the Estate of New Grange which passed to William Moir of Lomay, in Aberdeenshire. No doubt, in the circumstances, it passed for a price which the purchases found very reasonable.

William Moir was succeeded by his son, but the succession was broken when his heir sold the Estate to John Hay, an ex-provost of Arbroath, in 1822. “Squire” John Hay, as he became known was very much the country gentleman. He continued his love of country pursuits, especially foxes, with a keen interest in public affairs. He it was who combined the three Estates of Letham, New Grange and Peebles into one, and gave to his new domain the name of Letham Grange. In 1830 he also completed the building of the beautiful Mansion overlooking the Vale of Brothock.

When John Hay died in 1870, he left the Estate in trust for his grand-nephew John Miln who, on acquiring the property, assumed the additional surname of Hay. Sadly though, by 1877 the Estate became burdened to the extent of three quarters of its value, and in that year Alexander Hay Miln sold it for £121,800.00 to James Fletcher, formerly Jack, of Rosehaugh in the Black Isle.

According to “Walford’s Country Families of the United Kingdom” James Fletcher was born in 1807, the son of William Jack and Isabel, daughter of Charles Fletcher. A particularly bright boy, Walford writes that he was adopted by a maiden aunt, who educated him and whose name he took out of gratitude. He used his talents well, and went to Liverpool to seek – and make – his fortune. Such is the gospel according to Walford.

The good folk of Avock have a different and much more romantic version of how their local boy made good! According to this, James Jack was employed by a schooner skipper named Fletcher, who was quick to recognise the boy’s exceptional talents. Being a man of perspicacity himself, and having four unmarried daughters, he promised to make this his heir if he married one of them. The choice was to be the boy’s own, and it was quickly made – and so was his fortune! His inheritance multiplied speedily into the means to purchase the Estates of Rosehaugh in the Black Isle and Letham Grange in Angus. Exactly how it multiplied is less clear. There is much talk of marine insurance and such respectable activities – paragon or profiteer – or both!

It was James Fletcher who completed, in 1884, the building of the Mansion House as it now stands, and incorporated into it the house built earlier by John Hay. In this, as in all things, he was fastidious. Several times he was apparently dissatisfied with his mason’s efforts on the Tower, and told him sharply to “tak it doon”.

The wife of his great grandson, the late Peter Fletcher, still retains a house on the Estate.

Situated just 4 miles from Arbroath, Letham Grange is set amongst 300 acres of parkland and is home to two of Scotlands finest 18 hole golf courses.