THE BURNING OF MAR LODGE

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 42, 17 August 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE BURNING OF MAR LODGE

♦ Mar Lodge, the well-known Braemar seat of the Duke and Duchess of Fife, was entirely destroyed by fire on June 23rd. The fire, the cause of which has not yet been ascertained, seems to have broken out in the private room of the Duke, anii spread with alarming rapidity. As soon as the outbreak was discovered, an alarm was raised, and Mr. Gray, the overseer of the estate, was promptly summoned. He got together all the men who were about the place, and these, together with Mr. Macdonald, builder, and his men, worked with the greatest energy to extinguish the flames without avail, and more and more of the extensive premises became involved. A message was sent to the village of Braemar for assistance, and the hotel proprietors there, having collected all the available men, drove them, with the assistance of Mr. Lamont, proprietor of the livery stables, to the scene of the fire. Everyone worked with the greatest energy, but at a critical moment, ! when* it appeared that the flames would soon be got under control, the water supply, which during the recent drought had become somewhat lower than usual, gave out, and the flames, taking fresh lease, shot up with renewed vigour, and in a short space of time the whole of the great family residence was in flames, and by six o'clock it had been entirely destroyed. The Queen posted through Braemar at seven o'clock with out-riders and four beautiful greys to view the scene. An hour or two later all danger of the conflagration spreading was at an end, though the (Übris continued to burn fiercely until long after midnight. Of the pictures, only one of exceptional value was lost — a sketch by Landseer, which was attached to the wall of one of the bedrooms, and could not be removed, in spite of the repeated efforts. The Duchess of Fife's safe — a patent one — was seen among the debris a wrinkled wreck, but the contents are believed to be safe and sound. These are believed to consist mainly of articles of jewellery. Mar Lodge is virtually blotted out. The magnificent clock in the west wing of the mansion, presented by the Prince of Wales, and fitted up only last year, has been destroyed with the rest of the building. It crutnblod bit by bit owing to the heat, and at last came down with a crash. It was right over the rooms occupied by the Princess of Wales when at the Lodge. Mar Lodge was the autumn residence of the Duke and Duchess of Fife, and was situated three miles west of Braemar, a little above a public road leading from Braemar to the Linn o' Dee. The house itself was of no great dimensions or architectural pretensions, but it stood on an exquisite site commanding a fine view of the valley of the river Dee, which here meanders through a wide-spreading haugh encircled by fir-clad hills, behind which rise severul of the higher peaks of the Grampian Range, conspicuous among them being Ben Muick Dvi, Cairngorm, and Ben-a-bourd.