Delny House - The History
Delny House was built on a site steeped in history. Tales of clan warfare, bloody deeds and treachery abound. Parts of the house date back to the 13th century - the latest addition being the tower which was added by Thomas Urquhart in 1898.
In the 16th Century the barony of Delny stretched across a vast tract of land - from Alness River to Tarbat Ness. A couple of centuries earlier the Castle of Delny stood on this site. As yet, no trace of this castle has been found.
In its 13th Century heydey the castle was one of the original residences of the Earls of Ross. William, the third Earl, died fighting for Scotland against Edward I of England in 1322. It seems he had carried on his quest against the English King many years prior to his death. In 1302 he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
The fifth Earl, also called William, died at Delny in 1369 wth no male heir. Euphemia, his elder daughter became the Countess of Ross and married Sir Walter Leslie. Widowed in 1379 she was pressured into a second marriage to Sir Alexander Stewart, fourth son of Robert II, who was also known as 'the Wolf of Badenoch' - so called because of deeds of atrocity and violence.
Euphemia did not tolerate her new husband for long. His cruel treatment of her and his long-term affair with a certain Mariota, by whom he fathered five children, caused her to take up residence in the castle of Dingwall. He gained the title of the Earl of Ross and the Castle of Delny.
Moving forward in history to the early 1500s, we meet another rogue who owned Delny, Andrew Beg Munro III, aka 'The Black Baron' or 'Black Andrew'. The countryside quaked with fear of invoking the wrath of this tyrant. He slew eight heads of families with his own hands for trivial reasons. One unfortunate old woman made the fatal error of giving evidence against him in a land dispute. She was buried alive, head down, in a pit. The spot is still known as "Uaigh na Caillich" or the "Old Woman's Grave".
He enjoyed ordering the subjects of his wrath to strip naked. He finally paid the price for his ways. Having granted permission for starving peasant women to glean from the land at Delny, he ordered them to work naked. Going out to gloat over these poor souls he tripped as he descended the stone steps. The fall broke his neck. It is believed that the field the women were working in lies between the current Delny House and the shores of the Cromarty Firth.
In 1849 a cartload of human bones was found in an underground chamber beneath the site of the old Castle of Milntown. These victims of Black Andrew's vengeance were buried decently in the Churchyard of Kilmuir Easter.
On a lighter note we disccover that after various disputes over the land, James VI finally granted heritage in 1586 to William Keith, the Master of the Wardrobe. The gift was payment for Keith's good services to the King and in particular for his diplomacy in negotiating with Queen Elizabeth I regarding Mary, Queen of Scots. Whilst the outcome of these negotiations is consigned famously to history, William Keith's sincerity and loyalty to the King were well rewarded.
Keith took his role seriously and played an important part in the local affairs of Easter Ross. There was also a Court at Delny usually dealing with disputes over land and rents. However it is known that Priesthill was used for executions.
Connections to Highland Whisky and the Opium Trade
The Highland Region is home to several Whisky Distilleries, the most local to us being Balblair, Clynelish, Dalmore, Teanininch, Glenmorangie and Glen Ord. Sir Alexander Matheson, Baronet, Liberal MP, China Merchant, Magistrate, Railway Entrepreneur and a Director of the Bank of England, who founded Dalmore Distillery in 1839, owned Delny House. He was a partner in the family firm of Jardine Matheson which made its fortune importing tea to the UK from China and trading Opium in return. In 2007, portraits of Alexander Matheson and his Uncle James Matheson, were removed from Dingwall Sheriff Court and relocated to a local museum. Campaigner David Alston stated that it was 'surreal' that portraits of 2 of the world's biggest drug dealers were hanging in a Scottish Courtroom. Ownership of Dalmore Distillery passed to the Mackenzie Brothers who ran it for almost a century. William Mackenzie also used Delny House as a family residence and his daughter Myra went on to become the first female to graduate from Aberdeen University in Medicine back in 1900. Myra was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal for her service in the First World War in the British Committee, French Red Cross. The famous Stags Head logo which still adorns all Dalmore Whisky bottles, is the family crest of the Mackenzie Clan.
Alexander Matheson's heir, Sir Kenneth James Matheson, sold Delny House to Thomas Urquhart in 1893. Urquhart was born at Easter Kilmuir, raised in Evanton and served a pupilage at Culcairn Ironworks. He then went to Glasgow where he worked for 2 years at Clydebank Foundry, before becoming a Draughtsman in Neilson Brothers' engine works. In 1868 Neilsons sent him to Russia to represnt the firm on the building of the Orel-Vitebsk Railway. He then worked for the Grazi-Tsaritzin Railway Company, erecting stationary engines, buildings and bridges on the line, before becoming Locomotive Superintendant from 1871 until his retirement in 1872. Urquhart was awarded two gold medals by the Russian Government for his services to railway engineering, having introduced oil-fuel to the railway system, completely replacing coal by 1885. Urquhart's first wife Christina died at Delny House in 1898. He then married Helena Coe, daughter of .
Delny House and Estate was sold to Charles W Mundell in 1932. He died in an Inverness nursing home in 1939, age 63 and his funeral procession went from Delny House to Logie Churchyard. Mundell was a highly respected farmer, renowned for his expertise in the breeding of Cheviot sheep and Clydesdale horses.
Delny House Hotel, Delny, Near Invergordon, Highland, IV18 0NP, Tel. 01862 842910