Ancestral Seat of
the Seton's of Meldrum, Home of the Seton Chancellor's of Aberdeen and St.
Machar's, Chamberlains to the Earl's of Winton, the Earl's of Dunfermline at Fyvie Castle and the
Gordon Earl's of Huntly. William Seton (last male Seton of Meldrum) was
responsible for the addition of the stone staircase in 1625 thereby creating the
new entrance at the top of the stairs after blocking in the original archway to
the internal courtyard.
Also 1628 saw the addition of the original stable block
including the central tower still prominent today with its feature of a
stone-carved Royal Coat of Arms on the northeast face. The heiress Elizabeth Seton,
William's neice, married John Urquhart of Craigfintray, known as the Tutor of Cromarty in 1610,
and inherited the Meldrum Estate in 1635 upon William's death.
The last Urquhart Laird was Major Beauchamp Colclough
Urquhart who was killed at the Battle of Attbara in the Sudan on Good Friday 8th
April 1898. The estate then passed to his sister, Annie Isabella, who had
married her first cousin Garden Alexander Duff of Hatton. Their son, Colonel
Garden Beauchamp Duff, was to become Laird of Hatton and Meldrum, and it was
Lady Doris Duff who commissioned W.L. Duncan to redesign the house in 1934. This
saw the removal of one of the turreted pavilions and a complete story and
reducing the height of the main floor of the house, effectively
cutting it in half and leaving the L shaped house of today.
The Seton family of Meldrum
held among other estates: Aquhorthies, Barra, Bourtie,
Blair, Disblair, Lumphart, Menie, Mounie, Pitmedden, Schethin, Slattie,
and Udny.
