History of Crimonmogate

The Crimonmogate estate once formed part of the vast Northern lands of the Earls of Errol, the hereditary High Constables of Scotland, and its origins have been traced back to the 14th century.
The name Crimonmogate is a mix of Gaelic and Old Norse terms meaning ‘The road through the cow-pasture by the peat-moss’. This refers to the ancient and now disused tree lined road which once passed quarter of a mile south of the front of the house, and which now forms the southern boundary of the estate.

Archibald Simpson, the noted neo-Classical architect of Aberdeen, was commissioned to design the house by Patrick Milne shortly before his death in 1820 at the age of 65. Patrick had prospered in numerous overseas enterprises in India, China and the West Indies, but did not live to see the house completed, as it was not finished until 1825. After Patrick’s death, the Crimonmogate estate passed to his kinsman Sir Charles Bannerman. It then descended to his son, Sir Alexander Bannerman, who was responsible for the planting of the now-mature woodlands which make Crimonmogate one of the best sporting estates in the area.

Sir Alexander's daughter, Ethel, Countess of Southesk, left Crimonmogate to her second son, Commander The Hon. Alexander Carnegie. It then passed to Commander Carnegie's son, Major Raymond Alexander Carnegie and his wife, the Countess of Errol, from whose ancestors the lands of Crimonmogate had been purchased. From their son, The Hon. Jocelyn Carnegie, the estate passed to his third cousin, The Hon. Christopher Monckton - before being bought by the current owners in 2001.