Early history

The Cowden estate lies just to the south of the higher ground known as the Ochil Hills,^[8] on the main road (A91) just over 1 mile (1.5 kilometres) west of the Pool of Muckhart. The estate formerly focussed around Cowden Castle, a traditional Scottish stone-built castle of various dates, originating around 1500. This was demolished in 1950. Some of the early outbuildings, such as the sawmill range and bell-tower from the 17th century, still survive.

Archbishop Lambert built a house named "Castleton" on the property in 1320.^[12] The Bruces of Clackmannanshire owned the estate from 1758.

John Christie era

John Christie FRSE (b. 4 July 1822, d. 19 August 1902) was the only son of Alexander Christie (born 1789, died 1859) and Isabella Robertson (b. about 1792) of Struan and the nephew of Mrs Isabella Christie (Hill). Alexander Christie was laird of Milnwood in Lanarkshire, where he operated three coal mines, .^[13] and possessed of a considerable fortune from industry, which descended to John Christie. In addition, John Christie had two collieries in Edinburghshire.^[14]

John Christie purchased Cowden (then known as Castleton), which contained about 524 acres (212 hectares),^[15] in 1865. Mrs. Bruce sold the Cowden estate, a property of about 524 acres (212 hectares), which contained a large three-storey, rambling, sandstone house, to Mr. John Christie in 1866 who renamed the property "Cowden Castle".^[8] Traditionally the estate focused upon woodland management and the raising of deer and pheasants. Cowden Castle became the seat of the Christie family. Mr. Christie later had a coat-of-arms created and placed over the entrance door. John Christie was reported to own 616 acres (249 hectares) in 1873.^[16]

Mr. Christie collected a wide variety of artefacts during his many trips to the European continent. He filled Cowden Castle with many unrelated objects, which resulted in a very eclectic style.^[17]

John married Alison Philp (b. about 1817), daughter of Alison Coldwells and William Philp, of Stobsmills,^[18] Midlothian (the home of her uncle John Coldwells) on 27 April 1859. John and Alison Philp Christie had three children. The first, a boy, John Coldwells Christie, (born 1860) died before he was twelve. Isabella (Ella) Robertson Christie was born 21 April 1861 at Millbank,^[19] Cockpen, Edinburgh (John Christie's home near Edinburgh).^[20] The third-born child was Alice Margaret Christie (b. about 1863). The girls' mother, Alison Philp Christie, was in poor health and Isabella Thornburn, an elderly woman, was their nurse. Later Miss Townsend served as the governess of the two teenage girls. John Christie believed that travel was the best education for girls so he took the girls on many trips to Europe.^[21] Ella was taken to Paris at the age of twelve.^[21]

Alice Christie married Robert King Stewart, KBE, of Murdostoun in 1881, when she was seventeen and left to live at Murdostoun Castle in Lanarkshire.^[17] After Alice married, only Ella accompanied her father on trips.^[21]

Mr Christie had an attack of pernicious anæmia about 1887. Although he recovered his health, his illness caused him to become difficult, secretive, and eccentric for the remainder of his life.^[17][22]

In 1893 the castle was extended by the prodigious Glasgow architects Honeyman and Keppie,^[23] probably at the request of Ella, given her father's health.

Mr Christie founded Christie Homes (later Lothian Homes Trust) in 1889, a charity which opened several orphanages for girls in and around East Lothian. A Christie Home was opened at Portobello in 1892. Tenterfield, in Haddington, was opened in 1898.^[24] Mr Christie caused an orphanage to be created at Catlaw Head.^[22] He concealed his support of orphanages from his family.^[21]

Mrs Christie, who was a bit older than her husband, died in 1894 at the age of about 76.^[17] Mr Christie refused to purchase a casket for his wife's burial, so Ella had to use her funds to purchase a casket for her mother.^[21]

As Mr Christie's illness progressed he became increasing secretive and paranoid. In 1895, medical doctors advised Mr. Christie to take a trip to Egypt for health reasons. His daughter, Ella, as caretaker to her father, accompanied him on his trip. While in Egypt he suddenly decided to return home and abandoned his daughter in Egypt. When in his late seventies, Mr. Christie dyed his moustache and proposed marriage to a woman fifty years younger.^[21]

Ella Christie found Mr. Christie dead at the age of 80 years in his townhouse at 19 Buckingham Terrace, Edinburgh on 19 August 1902. At the time of his death, he owned estates at Milnwood in Lanarkshire, Arndean^[25] now in Perth and Kinross, Glenfarg and Easterton in Perthshire, and Carnbo in the county of Kinross, in addition to his estate at Cowden.^[22]

Ella Christie era

The morning after John Christie died, a stranger arrived at 19 Buckingham Terrace and informed Miss Christie that her father had executed a will that left all his property to his orphanages and she and her sister were to get nothing. Miss Christie would have been homeless and penniless, however, Lady Stewart would have her husband on whom she could depend.^[17]

Miss Christie resolved to contest the will. She was told by solicitors that the "dead hand would prevail", however, she eventually located a firm which would take her case.^[17]

Miss Christie ordered a stained glass window erected in honour of her father removed from Muckhart Church and she moved to 19 Buckingham Terrace for the duration of the trial.^[21]

The trial was held in the Law Courts in Parliament Square in July 1903.^[17] Dr T. S. Clouston, president of the college of physicians and an expert in diseases of the brain, introduced medical evidence from the British Medical Journal^[26] and gave his expert opinion that pernicious anæmia adversely affected the brain.^[22] Several witnesses provided an abundance of testimony regarding Mr. Christie's bizarre behaviour in the years after his illness and the unfairness of the will. All of the evidence supported the conclusion that Mr. Christie was not of sound mind at the time of his execution of his will.^[21]

This evidence put the defendants in a state of despair and persuaded them to agree to an out-of-court compromise settlement in which the Christie daughters received the bulk of the estate, while the orphanages received a sum sufficient for their needs. The press gave a value of £250,000 as the value of the estate – a vast sum in the years before the currency inflation of World War I.^[21]

Miss Isabella (Ella) Robertson Christie (born 1861, died 1949), daughter of John (born 1822, died 1902) and Alison Philp Christie (died 1894),^[17] famed for her foreign travels and accounts thereof.,^[27] succeeded her father as laird of the Cowden Castle estate. She then preferred to be known as "Miss Christie of Cowden".^[21] There were many times when Miss Christie was not in residence because of her extended travels abroad. Miss Christie travelled with a lady's maid and a bearer.

Miss Christie travelled in India, Ceylon, and Tibet in 1904.^[21] She arrived first in Bombay, where she was a guest of Lord and Lady Lamington, who provided her with a bungalow at Government House.^[17] Miss Christie visited many places, both on and off the beaten path, while in India.

Miss Christie, like other lady travellers, preferred to maintain her independence, by avoiding travelling with a companion. When Miss Christie encountered Miss Jane Ellen Duncan on the plain of Ladakh, they pitched their tents as far apart as possible and agreed to travel on different days so as to avoid travelling together.^[27] Nevertheless, Miss Christie and Miss Duncan were friends.

Miss Christie was a skilled photographer with the Kodak camera. She recorded her trips on film. She allowed Miss Duncan to use many of her photographs in her book about her travels.^[28]

Miss Christie travelled in China and Japan in 1907.^[20][21]

Cowden Castle received telephone service in 1910.^[17]

Miss Christie travelled in Central Asia in 1910 and 1912.^[20]

Miss Christie was elected a fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 1911. She was elected vice-president of the Society in 1934.^[20] She was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1913.^[21]

Miss Christie toured America with a side trip to Havana, Cuba in 1914. She sailed on the Carmania in February. While in New York City, she met the Vanderbilts, and lunched with Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt. In Washington, D. C., she toured the White House and Arlington, the former home of Robert E. Lee. In the South, she visited Richmond, Virginia and Charleston, South Carolina before leaving for Havana and Camagüey in Cuba. She then returned to the United States and visited New Orleans before moving on to Baton Rouge, where she was the guest of her second cousin, Miss Katherine Marion Hill (b. 25 December 1856, d. 25 February 1949) at her mansion on Lafayette Street, and met her American cousins, the descendants of John Hill. Moving west, she visited the Grand Canyon, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara, California, where she met the widow of Robert Louis Stevenson. Starting back to the east, she stopped off at Yellowstone National Park before arriving in Chicago. After Chicago, she stopped at Niagara Falls, and then moved on to Massachusetts, where she visited Plymouth, a community of the Shakers, and the homes and graves of her favourite American authors. After a visit to Yale University, she returned to New York and went up to West Point on 22 June 1914 to attend the graduation of her Louisiana cousin, John Hill Carruth,^[29] a cadet who fainted while on parade during her visit. Miss Christie returned home on the Mauretania in June 1914, just in time for the World War.^[17]

Miss Christie did her part in the Great War. In 1916, she was offered the Directorship of a canteen in Bar-sur-Aube, France by the French Red Cross Committee, which she accepted. The canteen was called in French, Cantine des Dames Anglaises. She did this for a year and then returned to Cowden. In 1918, she once again went to France to direct a canteen at Mulhouse, Alsace until 1919, when the need for a canteen ended.^[17]

Miss Christie published a book about her travels in central Asia, Through Khiva to Golden Samarkand,^[30] in 1925.^[31]

Miss Christie and her sister, Lady Alice Christie King Stewart, published a reminiscence of their lives entitled A Long Look at Life by Two Victorians^[32] in 1940.^[17] Miss Christie's sister died at Claghorn House in South Lanarkshire on 5 September of that same year.^[33]

Miss Christie died of leucæmia in Edinburgh on 29 January 1949 at the age of 87 years.^[17] Funeral services were held at Muckhart Parish Church^[34] on Wednesday, 2 February. Miss Christie was the last surviving Christie. She is buried in the family plot, to the east of the church. The estate passed to her great-nephew, Colonel Stewart of Arndean.

Recent history

Cowden Castle, burned in 1950 and was pulled down in 1952.^[40] Much of the valuables from the house survived and were removed to Arndean. Many items of furniture were distributed among the many estate houses. Thereafter the estate was merged into the Arndean Estate, the seat of the Stewart family. (Ardean lies about 1 mi or 1.5 km southwest of the Cowden estate.) Still surviving are Cowden's stables and the east and west lodges (the east lodge is now off the main road due to the straightening).^[41] A faded dollar sign painted on a wall near the lodge marks a humorous direction sign to the town of Dollar to the west, but due to the road moving now serves no function.

Of great interest, the estate sawmill buildings still survive amid the woods. These date from the mid 18th century. They had adjacent ponds to float larger logs into the saws to cleverly avoid weight problems. Several modern houses have been built within the estate, many hidden in its wooded grounds.

The Japanese Garden was rebuilt and reopened in 2019. It bears little resemblance to the original garden but is located around the same pond. It is open to the public.

The Elmhirst Era

Richard Elmhirst married Morna (nee Gillespie, widow of Stephen Haggard) and had 3 children, Eloise, Francis & Alice with stepsons Piers Haggard and Mark Haggard. Richard & Morna launched the converted Mill buildings as a guest house and children's holiday centre in 1966. Alan Elmhirst married Marion Aitchison and helped his parents manage the home until they died within the year (buried in Muckhart Cemetery^[46]) and Alan died in 1978 at the age of 30 from a tractor accident.

Robert Burns

It is believed that Robert Burns would have passed by Muckhart Mill on 27 August 1787 while staying at Harvieston as recorded in his diary: "Monday.—Go to Harvieston. Go to see Caudron Linn, and Rumbling Brig, and Deil's Mill Return in the evening."^[47]

While staying at Harviestoun Burns wrote two poems, "The Banks of the Devon" and "Fairest Maid on Devon Bank".^[48] Burns fell for the charm and beauty of Charlotte Hamilton but she was more attracted to Burns' friend, Adair whom she later married.

Muckhart Mill Lime Kiln

Further up the farm track lies a category B listed Limekiln. Described as "Mid 19th century. Very large, about 35' high, square plan, stone-built with battered walls, three arched fireholes; operated by the Carron Company."^[52] The Carron Company was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom and who built the Carron iron Works in 1759 that Burns attempted to visit on "Sunday, August 26.—Camelon, the ancient metropolis of the Picts, now a small village in the neighbourhood of Falkirk. Cross the Grand Canal to Carron." He attempted to visit the iron works but, being a Sunday, was refused entrance. Both travellers instead withdrew to the Carron Inn opposite. They dined on the second floor of the Inn and Burns later recorded the event briefly in his journal of the tour—Carron-breakfast. However, he also vented his anger, by scoring a few lines of prose on one of the Inn's windows. He used a diamond-tipped stylus which had earlier been presented to him in Edinburgh by James Cunningham, 14th Earl of Glencairn:

At Carron Ironworks
We cam na here to view your warks,
In hopes to be mair wise,
But only, lest we gang to hell,
It may be nae surprise:
But when we tirl'd at your door
Your porter dought na hear us;
Sae may, shou'd we to Hell's yetts come,
Your billy Satan sair us!^[53]

The Mill is listed as "Blairbane" in the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Fife and Kinross 1855, sheet xxi^[54]

Bridge at Muckhart Mill

The bridge has a masonic eye painted on the right hand side of the upstream facing part. It is head high, about 6" in width and is clearly visible to this day. It is painted in green.

The bridge is a listed building.^[55]