| Mar Estate lies to the west
and south of Braemar, between the River Dee as its north boundary,
to the high tops of An Socath and Beinn Iutharn Mhor in the
south. Though the shape of the estate is very different today,
ownership can be traced back to the ancient Pictish Kings of
Mar. Later it came into the possession of the Earls of Mar,
of whom the most famous was "Bobbin' John" who subsequently
forfeited the land following the 1715 uprising.
It was after this that the present boundary pattern emerges.
An ambitious farmer's son, William Duff set himself up in
business as a money-lender and by taking feudal superiorities
as security he, and later his son, gained the feudal superiority
of large tracts of Upper Deeside (and Donside), previously
owned by the Earls of Mar. And so by the middle of the 18th
century, Duff, now Lord Braco, was a major landowner, carrying
out plans for land improvement, using the latest thinking
on crop rotation and field systems. (The ditches of Braco's
field system can still be seen on the north side of the Dee
from the road going west from Braemar.)
The Duff family went from strength to strength, purchasing
the Irish peerage Earl Fife, before being created Earls of
Fife and later Dukes, following marriage to the future King
Edward VII's daughter.
By the middle of the nineteenth century it had become fashionable
for successful industrialists to get away from their mills
and mines for the summer season and the Duffs (or the Fifes,
as they were known) developed their holdings to cater for
the new sportsmen. Simultaneously, tourism within the village
of Braemar was also increasing rapidly and with royalty installed
to the east at Balmoral, it was the fashion to be in their
vicinity. After the Edwardian era, the estate went into a
decline. Highland holidays, to some extent, fell from fashion.
Two world wars resulted in much timber felling. (A remnant
of these times is the trees, above Mar Lodge, which were left
in the shape of a maple leaf, as a memento by the Canadian
soldiers who felled much of the timber in the area during
World War II.) In 1959 death duties forced Captain Ramsay
of Mar to split the estate into the boundaries of today, with
the Mar Estate to the south of the Dee and Mar Lodge Estate
principally to the north.
Today, the Mar Estate has entered into long term agreements
with Scottish Natural Heritage and the Forestry Commission
to regenerate ancient woodland and manage the commercial woods
to provide a better environment for certain bird species,
notably black grouse and capercailzie. The Estate welcomes
access but advises walkers on higher ground during the stag
culling season (September-20 October) to contact the head
stalker in advance.
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