Callendar Stravaig 2 - Callendar House
Callendar House is difficult to set an exact date on in terms of age, but it began as a single tower house in the 1400s. Over the years it has been redeveloped, added to and extended into an impressive building. The original tower house forms part of the north-west corner of the main block of the House. The area that is now Callendar Park had been the seat of local lords for centuries before the 1400s however, and was the distinct holding of the Thanes of Callendar ('Thane' being an old Scottish title meaning clan-head or landed lord) as far back as the 10th century. The buried ruins of the 12th Century Thanes Hall were discovered on the site of what are now offices to the North East of the park. This may explain the several medieval/dark age coin hordes also found within the grounds of the Park.
Callendar House has hosted many great historical figures over the centuries, including Mary, Queen of Scots, Oliver Cromwell, Bonnie Prince Charlie and Queen Victoria. Its frontage is 300 ft long, making for a striking local landmark. The House is protected as a category A listed building, and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland - the national listing of significant gardens.
The Scottish Game of Thrones
In the fourteenth century the 5th Thane Sir Patrick Callander, supported the unsuccessful claim of Edward Balliol to the throne of Scotland. Sir Patrick Callander was later attainted (stripped of lands and title) and his estates were forfeited. In 1345 the Callendar lands were granted by King David II to Sir William Livingston, who was married to Christian Callander, daughter of Sir Patrick. Sir William Livingston had fought with the Scottish King David II at the Battle of Durham in 1346. The Livingston family went on to became prominent in Scottish affairs over the following centuries. Sir Alexander Livingston was Regent of Scotland in the 1440s while the child king James II was growing up. Alexander, 5th Lord Livingston (c. 1500–1553) was guardian of Mary, Queen of Scots, during her childhood. The marriage agreement between Mary and the French Dauphin ((the King's eldest son) was signed at Callendar House. Lord Livingston's daughter Mary was maid of honour to Queen Mary. Alexander Livingston, 1st Earl of Linlithgow (d. 1621) and his wife Lady Eleanor, daughter of Andrew Hay, 8th Earl of Erroll, were entrusted by King James VI & I with the upbringing and education of his daughter Princess Elizabeth. Members of the Livingston family were raised to the peerage as Earls of Linlithgow (1600), Earls of Callendar (1641), and Earls of Newburgh (1660).
The Jacobite Rebellion & Fall of The House of Callendar/Livingston
The Callendar/Livingston line played an important part in the history of the area, but their hold on the lands came to an abrupt end in the 18th century when James Livingston, 5th Earl of Linlithgow and 4th Earl of Callander, was forced into exile abroad because he had sided with the "Old Pretender", son of King James II of England (James VII of Scotland) in the Jacobite rising of 1715. The Callendar estates were forfeited and purchased by the York Buildings Company, who leased the house back to the earl's daughter, Lady Anne Livingston, from 1724. Lady Anne gave hospitality to Bonnie Prince Charlie before the Battle of Falkirk in 1746, but after his defeat at Culloden, Lady Anne's husband, the Earl of Kilmarnock, was beheaded for treason. After Lady Anne's death in 1747, her son James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll (1726–1778), remained at Callendar House until his death. In 1783 the estate went to auction after the York Buildings Company was forced to sell its assets.
'New Money and New Owners'
The opportunity came for the House to return to the Livingston family when it came up for auction, with Lord Errol (Lady Anne Livingston's son) bidding for the estate, but he was outbid by a successful Aberdeen coppersmith, William Forbes (1756–1823), a businessman who specialised in contracts to supply the Royal Navy. William Forbes bought the house and estate for £100,000, though it was rumoured at the time that the timber alone on the estate was worth double that. Forbes made significant alterations to the house, and his son and grandson further altered the building by adding French-château-style roofs. When construction of the Union Canal was proposed, William Forbes objected to it passing through his estate, in view of Callendar House. This necessitated building a 696 yd tunnel through Prospect Hill to the west. The gardens from the Forbes era also housed a mysterious statue recovered from the demolished gatehouse. It depicted a woman with a dagger in one hand and her bowels wrapped around her other arm. It was known locally as 'Leddy Alicreech'.
Forbes' descendants kept the house for almost 200 years, after which it fell into disrepair. The estate continued to house the remains of various descendants of the first Forbes here, in the Forbes family mausoleum - a large domed circular Grecian-Doric building. It was constructed in the wood about half a mile south east from the house and at the time of writing is marked by a long-established geocache by another CO.