Glen - Part One
A couple of miles south of Innerleithen lies Glen, a gem among Border houses and estates. Glen (or ‘The Glen’ - the definitive article is widely used, but I prefer Glen) is accessed via a minor road from Kirkhouse. I always feel when walking, driving or pedalling up that road that I’m entering a world apart from the modern mess we inhabit. I know what your thinking, he’s over romanticising again. Guilty as charged - I have always seen Glen as a magical and mysterious place, and I’m afraid this blog will be full of that!
The Peat Burn, Glen Estate
Records indicate that people have called Glen their home for many hundreds of years, perhaps 1,000 years. All this area would have once been part of the great Ettrick Forest and much wilder than it appears today. Remnants of ancient woodland can be found today on the northern flanks of Fethan hill. An old track enters the estate this way, and it’s my preferred way of access. I digress, so we know people have lived here for a while and we also know that at one time the estate was split in two - east and west. This was remedied in the late 1790’s when the estate was reunited, and in 1820’s the then owner, William Allan of Glen (another Lord Provost like our friend William Chambers of Glenormiston) set to work on the Big Hoose. He employed the megastar architect William Henry Playfair to extend the existing farmhouse into a mansion. Playfair was the genius behind Edinburgh’s new town whose statue is just down the road from William Chambers on Chambers Street - him again! This was not the house as we know it today, that came a few decades later, and nothing remains of Playfair’s Glen House. One example of his work can still be found on the estate however, a neoclassical temple which sits at the end of a long avenue of huge conifers. This folly was built 200 years ago and amended much more recently to act as a memorial to Charles and Henry Tennant, prominent members of the family who have become inextricably linked to the estate.
No history of Glen would be complete without talking about the Tennant family. Long before they made this quiet corner of Peeblesshire home they had made a huge splash and a great fortune in Scotland’s biggest city. Charles Tennant founded the dynasty, he was the sixth of thirteen children born in Alloway in 1768. They later settled at Glenconner, near Ochiltree in East Ayrshire. The name Glenconner will crop up again, so remember it! Charles started his career as a weaver and quickly became frustrated by the time taken to bleach cloth which traditionally was done with urine and exposure to sunlight. Clearly Charles thought this method was taking the piss and set about, in the industrial spirit of the age, finding a better and more efficient way to clean cloth with bleach. Which he did, using lime. I could at this point bog you down with chemistry but suffice to say his work in chemicals borders on genius, he patented several chemical compounds including Calcium Hypochlorite (the stuff you smell in the swimming baths). He and his partners founded a chemical works in Glasgow in the year 1797. This was in an area called St. Rollox and this unusual name was adopted by the huge factory, which traded there until 1964. Tennant’s hard work and chemical skill created huge employment and industrial prosperity in Glasgow - the factory became the biggest of its kind anywhere in the world. The vast personal wealth he created became part of an industrial empire which expanded into mining, banking and explosives among other things. After his death the business was handed down and it was his grandson, also Charles, who brings our story back to Peeblesshire.
Glen House - Designed by David Bryce
When we last visited Glen the farmhouse had been extended by Playfair for the owner, William Allan, who had also laid out some of the attractive parklands we see today. The Tennants enter the fray in the year 1852. Charles Tennant who was the grandson of the founder of the dynasty, as well as his namesake, purchased Glen House and it’s then 3,500 acre estate for the sum of £33,140. It feels to me that, three generations into the Tennant’s industrial journey, Charles decided that they needed to start acting the part their wealth dictated and that includes land, education and title. The first part came with the acquisition of Glen. David Bryce was employed to build a new house, the Scots Baronial castle we know today. It’s a startling sight, tucked among Border hills and was no doubt seen as a seat worthy of one of the Empires foremost industrial families, whose explosion of wealth was clear to see in stone and glass majesty among the heather and trees of the Quair valley. The second part was education - The Tennant’s were now being sent to Eton College to learn the ways of the world. Views on Old Etonians are somewhat mixed but there is no denying it is widely seen as the best education money can buy on these islands. The third part of the rise to aristocracy was a title and this arrived later - Sir Charles, 1st Baronet was created in 1885. Sir Charles was an extremely interesting character who also served as a Liberal MP both in Glasgow and The Borders. To be honest, you could write several blogs about The Tennants but I am about to skip over several generations here and will then point you in the direction of two excellent books which will tell you more in a far more accurate and detailed manner than I can.
So, Sir Charles died in 1906 and passed the Baronetcy to his son Edward. Edward was upgraded to the peerage in 1911, becoming Lord Glenconner. His sister was married to Herbert Asquith, future Prime Minister and his son, also Edward, was tragically killed along with so many others at The Somme. His name lives on in the loch found in the south of the estate, of which more later. Lord Glenconner was succeed by his son Christopher and the title then passed to his son, Colin Tennant in 1983. Colin famously was close with Princess Margaret and owned the island of Mustique - yep, he’s the Glenconner who was in ‘The Crown’. His wife, Lady Anne Glenconner was also close to her late Majesty The Queen. Colin and Anne’s son pre-deceased Lord Glenconner so the peerage passed to his Grandson Cody, the current Baron. The heir at the moment is Euan, who lives at Glen with his family and runs the estate, some 170 years and 6 generations after Sir Charles purchased it. That is a whistle stop tour through the history of the Tennants at Glen - I thoroughly reccomend both ‘Lady in Waiting’ by Lady Anne Glenconner, a best seller in 2019, and the rarer 1987 book ‘Broken Blood - The Rise and Fall of the Tennant Family’ by Simon Blow. They are both very entertaining and have been incredibly helpful in researching this blog.
Loch Eddy
A big house like Glen needs a support network of staff and community. This was also developed as the estate prospered with a number of cottages being built to house staff and farmers. The names of these cottages confirm their former roles (Anvil, Kennels, Schoolhouse etc). Most are huddled near the house in a small village, including Glen Row and the Village Hall. The estate is still home to a bright red phone box, a bit of an oddity these days but still needed in this enclosed valley where mobile signal is patchy at best. If you decide to strike out from the village and house to explore the far south of the estate you will be presented with a choice. Like the old song you can take the High Road or the Low Road. The High Road will take you out to Far Shepherds cottage, on a track which contours the flank of Stake Law, a hill acting as a shoulder of Dun Rig. Passing through shelter belts this is primarily sheep farming country, and by the time you get to the lonely cottage you feel you are as remote as anywhere in The Borders - and you are probably not wrong.
The Low Road will take you past the Quair (which has been canalised and straightened at sections by the management of various estate owners down the century), and along the avenue to the Temple. In a mile or so is Valley Cottage, another lonely outpost on the estate. This abode, which has some nice Arts and Crafts flourishes, has a great quirky story. The famous and at times unusually flamboyant Police Chief Constable of Lothians and Peebles Willie Merrilees OBE called this place home for a while and shared his home with a wee dog. This dog was famous for playing Greyfriars Bobby in Walt Disney’s film and the charity minded Policeman used it as a sort of mascot for a while. Now, I am about 90% sure that’s an accurate story, I’ve only heard it by word of mouth so can’t verify - it sounds too hilarious to be true so please drop me a note if you are able to confirm or deny it’s accuracy!
What isn’t in doubt is that both High Road and Low Road will eventually take you to Loch Eddy. This is a stunning wee spot and before I launch into more stories I think it feels like a good time to bring part one of this epic tale to an end. More to come next time including John Buchan, The Incredible String Band, The Birks, Innerleithen Alpine Club, The Glen School and more. See you then.
