# Temple of Theseus, Pitfour Estate, Aberdeenshire. Dec 08



## Seahorse (Jan 20, 2009)

Muchos apologies to everyone that wanted to go visit this in a group. However, I was passing last month and popped in to try to locate it, and grabbed a few with my phone, so soz for the poor pic quality too. And I'm bored out of my skull on the boat just now, so I couldn't resist putting what I do have up in DP.

This is a follow on from my thread here... http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=7733 which I can now reveal to be part of Pitfour Estate near Mintlaw in Aberdeenshire

A little history.

The estate was owned by 6 generations of Fergusons, dating back to 1700, when it was bought by James Ferguson. His son, also James, became Lord Pitfour, one of the most famous judges of the time. His son, Patrick, was famous in the States, being the inventor of the first breech loading rifle, amongst other accomplishments. Whish he was busy getting shot at, and shooting folks, his elder brother (another James) was busy back home digging a blooming big hole in the ground, and flooded some 37 acres to produce the lake that still survives. Not wishing to be left out of history, his younger brother George went on to become Lieutenant General of Tobago.

Also built were the mansion house, stables, lodge houses, farm. Sadly the mansion was destroyed in 1927 following the demise of the family fortune, but the stables and farm can be seen in my previous thread.

And now too, is the famous Temple of Theseus, built as a cold bath house and reptutedly held pet alligators. I must admit I was expecting something a little larger and grander. But hey, Athens this place is not.

And finally, the piccies...

This stone lies on the lawn of nearby Deer Abbey (which was plundered for stone to build much of the estate). Presumably, Eliza Anne Fergusonr was connected in some way with the estate, although I can't find any mention online. Born 1830, died 1851, aged 20.






Foolishly, I took the wrong route to get to the temple. I now know better. But then, I wouldn't have come across this lovely old gate. 





Obligatory chair shot. Yes, I'm still trying to find the temple.









Absolutely no idea why these sheets of concrete are standing upright in the middle of a field. 









After getting drenched in an Aberdeenshire monsoon, I finally caught sight of the temple.





Right beside the lake.





YAY!!! The temple!!! Hmm, it's a bit small. 









The"alligator" pool. 





Mind your step.





Fancy cast iron gate. What's left of it.





The door frame remains.





With some old grafitti.





A surprise behind the temple... what remains of what I assume is an old, old caravan, judging by the style of the wheels.













Thanks for persevering.


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## Foxylady (Jan 20, 2009)

That's great, Seahorse. Lots of interesting things to see. 
I wonder what happened to the alligators when they grew too big for the pool?  Be careful of the long grass is all I can say! 
Really nice place.


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## Dirus_Strictus (Jan 21, 2009)

Whatever the wheels were attached to originally, I suspect it was a DIY affair. The wheels are an odd pair fitted to a simple 'Blacksmith' made square section axle. The wheel fitted with the Stauffer Greaser was originally fitted with wooden spokes and wooden rim onto which was fitted a solid rubber tyre, the circular piece of metal is what the rubber tyre was bonded too - hence the groves. The fact that the hub is also fitted with a 'drum' for a contracting brake band indicates that it was a rear wheel, and probably originally fitted to a WW1 era 3 ton lorry or early large motor car. The Stauffer System Greaser allowed the wheel bearings to be regreased periodically during a journey, as old greases broke down far quicker than their modern counterparts. In use one unscrewed the small cap/filler and filled the bearing and reservoir completely with grease, then screwed the cap back on 3 or 4 turns. To apply more grease during the journey you just screwed down the cap a couple more turns, the cap was fitted with a 'piston' which pushed the grease out of the reservoir and into the bearing as it was screwed in. The other wheel is a standard cast iron wheel which would have been also fitted with a solid rubber tyre, it could have come from a steam era trailer or be a front wheel from an early steam waggon. 

Were there no signs of any front wheels and their turntable/carriage? The 'caravan' was probably a Shepherds Hut built onto some form of wooden chassis,the fact that only the wheels and springs survived the fire tends to confirm this; however, these and the similar worker's living van were always four wheeled.


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## Seahorse (Jan 21, 2009)

I must admit to having been a tad confused DS. I'm not entirely sure why the wheels on one axle would have been of differing types. I didn't bother getting pics of the second axle, but I'm wanting to go back anyhow for some better quality photos, so I'll grab some more of the bogey too.

To give some idea of the ferocity of the fire, there are a couple of melted bottles dotted around. However, there was a more modern portable gas heater, which survived largely untouched, and the gas cylinder was intact. Weird.

Must have happened quite a while ago, as the warning tape surrounding both the temple and the wheels is very faded.


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## Gorecki (Jan 21, 2009)

Errrr no need to apologise!!! 
hahahaa it's umm, not what I was expecting 

The old graffiti is nice though =]


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## crickleymal (Jan 21, 2009)

Thats very interesting. I'll look forward to some more pictures.


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## Seahorse (Jan 21, 2009)

8333696 said:


> Errrr no need to apologise!!!
> hahahaa it's umm, not what I was expecting



Nor me. Now you see why I was a little disappointed. Perhaps calling it a "temple" raised my expectations a wee bit too high.


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## RichardB (Jan 21, 2009)

I wonder if it's built the same way as his ship.


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## Dirus_Strictus (Jan 21, 2009)

Seahorse,

Thanks for the info re the un-photographed second set of wheels. I am always intrigued by early living accommodation of this type, especially the ones that appear to be mounted on old vintage chassis or parts thereof. Many were built onto old traction engine trailers, but some were obviously mounted on very early scrap vehicle chassis that were modified by the addition of a bogie at the front. As a young child I can remember two lovely examples that had been converted into holiday lets, and were situated on the original Thornwick Bay caravan/camp site. Unfortunately by the time I had become interested in researching their origins, the site had been completely cleared of all the caravans and other old accommodation This was following the new PlanningRegulations/ Leglislation that came into being, banning such 'eye sores and old junk' on prominent headland and coastline.

Your upright 'concrete slabs' look like five pieces of the sectional L shaped concrete 'bund' wall that farmers used to surround heaps of silage, beet or other feed crops, the family farm still uses them around the muck heap! I suspect they were originally produced to make moveable storage bays for any commodity that was ground stored, a family friend who is the local coal merchant uses them in his stock yard. As to why they are stuck out there in the middle of a field is another question, whilst I can think of some plausible agricultural/animal husbandry uses, your two previous photographs of the scaffolding and hanging chair raise another possibility. If the slabs and scaffolding were relatively near each other, then I think the slabs were protection for the operators of one or two clay pigeon traps. The situation is ideal for two traps, one throwing 'birds' the other 'bolting rabbits, the scaffolding would have supported traps that threw 'high level birds' or the similar 'skeet' traps. Only a guess, but I have shot over some semi permanent layouts that used scaffolding and redundant concrete sectional garage panels as protection around the traps.


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## lost (Jan 21, 2009)

Woo, the holy grail of Aberdeenshire exploring!


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## Seahorse (Jan 21, 2009)

RichardB said:


> I wonder if it's built the same way as his ship.



I hope not, or I'm in a wee bit of trouble.


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## RichardB (Jan 21, 2009)

I meant Theseus' ship. 

The Ship of Theseus was like the brush that's had three new heads and two new handles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_theseus


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## E30Elaine (Feb 25, 2009)

Re the first photo in this thread - the grave of Eliza Anne Ferguson, Ive been reading about the Ferguson family and Pitfour lately - so thought you folks might be interested to know about her; Eliza Anne was the daughter of the fifth Laird (her brother was the last Laird) She was born at Pitfour but spent most of her life in London, dying there aged 21, however, her father was so grief stricken he decided to take her back to Scotland and built a mausoleum at the Abbey of Deer especially for her.

The sad thing is that he instructed his workmen to clear the site of the Abbey building - which until then had been reletavely intact ( it dates back to 1219) and had so far been preserved and treated respectufully by his father and grandfathers

They used the materials from the abbey to construct the new mausoleum which was built in the classical style to match the other buildings on the estate - I imagine it looked quite similar to the Temple at a guess, anyway they demolished what had been quite an imposing structure - even the Abbey floor was dug out exposing graves of earlier Abbey dignitaries - these contents of these were cast aside as was an ancient pictish stone 

In spite of this huge cost - both from a monetary and a cultural point of view - only two people were buried here Eliza Ann and a Lady Langford (Eliza Anns maternal grandmother) 

The estate was sold off in 1927 (the huge mansion house dismantled and sold off - Aberdeen Council bought the granite to build council houses in Torry) Around 1930 the Abbey of Deer was returned to the Roman Catholic Church who in turn dismantlend the mausoleum - the pillars and portico can now be found as the public entrance to the Abbey of Deer - the graves of Eliza Ann and her grandmother were left intact


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## northseawidow (Feb 25, 2009)

Seahorse is this Aberdeen way?? I am sure i have seen signs for this when driving up to Aberdeen from Fife. My hubby is from Athens and keeps saying we should pop in for a visit!!!! He's also away at sea a lot hence my new name !!! 
sue x


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## Seahorse (Feb 25, 2009)

It's on past Aberdeen NSW. Easy enough to find. Head for Peterhead, take the Fraserburgh road after Ellon. When you get to Mintlaw, take a left at the roundabout.

Not far along there, turn right into the Saplin Brae hotel car park. Out the back there is a farm track. Hop over a couple of gates, and head on up the track. You'll come to a junction, so go right there, and you'll walk straight to it.

You'll need wellies. 

Who does your hubby work for?


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## Seahorse (Feb 25, 2009)

Excellent update E30Elaine. I must get back to the Abbey for more pics. Maybe tomorrow if the rain holds off.

For all they did for the people of the surrounding area, I consider it quite unforgivable that the Abbey was desecrated in the way it was.

I'll dig out some old pics of the Big House. I was amazed to see that the monkey puzzle trees that were in the garden are still there!!! Especially when all that's left of the house itself is a couple of piles of rubble.


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## northseawidow (Feb 25, 2009)

hi and thanks seahorse - I'm thinking of a different temple with greek sounding name. Will try and find your greek temple. Hubby works for Vroon offshore and is about to start an office job in Aberdeen
sue x


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## kittykat (Feb 26, 2009)

Very impressive!


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## yamahapaul (Feb 27, 2009)

Fascinating place and good piccys for a phone!


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## Seahorse (Feb 27, 2009)

northseawidow said:


> hi and thanks seahorse - I'm thinking of a different temple with greek sounding name. Will try and find your greek temple. Hubby works for Vroon offshore and is about to start an office job in Aberdeen
> sue x



Hmm. Another Greek temple, eh? I'll have to do a Google and see if I can find that one too.

Is Vroon the company that makes the rescue craft that got the lads out of the water when the helicopter ditched the other day?


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