Tower of Lethendy

“Recently there was an article in The Courier about Lethendy ‘Castle’,” emails Mary Cooper. “When did this house become a castle? It was always known as Tower of Lethendy. My father was head gardener there from 1946 when we moved from Morayshire down to live in East Lodge.

“There were lovely gardens, and what was known as the azalea garden, which was a burn running down a gully at the back of the house. It was planted with different varieties of azaleas and miniature rhododendrons. There was also a large walled vegetable garden.

“Across from the front of the house, was a lawn, and a small field, then a field where raspberries grew. My mother and I used to have to pick them by hand gently into punnet baskets and they were sent to the Royal George Hotel, the Station Hotel, Gleneagles Hotel and also sent by train to some prestigious hotels in London.

“There was a bothy attached to the garage where three unmarried lads lived – Jack Nairn, Jim Ramsay and Johnny Davidson, who did chauffeur duties.

“The owner of the house at that time was Charles Gairdner, who co-wrote a play, The Dashing White Sergeant. It premiered in Perth Theatre around 1947. My mother and I had to serve cocktails for guests who met at the house before going to the theatre. Mr Gairdner had been a victim of polio and was in a wheelchair. His wife was called Venetia.

“He had a strong interest in photography and each year he arranged for the children on the estate to go to his house, where he had set up as a studio, and have their photograph taken. Their parents were presented with a framed photograph of their children as a Christmas gift.

“The house was always known as The Tower of Lethendy. I remember being told at one time that it was a baronial manor house but I can’t be sure of that, but never a castle! There were beautiful old trees lining the front driveway from ‘our’ gate to the house and also on the back drive which was much shorter.” Churches are all tasteful edifices, but St Andrew’s, St David’s, St John’s, Hilltown, Bonnethill and Ogilvie Free Churches are remarkably plain structures.’

“It also sets out information that ‘in 1882 a Miss Baxter and a Dr J.B.Baxter (no relation) provided money for a college (forerunner of the University of Dundee). Of this money, £35,000 was used to purchase St John’s Free Church (then in Small’s Wynd) with the dwelling houses fronting the Nethergate between Small’s Wynd and Park Place, which with little expense could be converted into classrooms.’

“The former St John’s Free Church in Small’s Wynd was the first College Hall where the inauguration of University College was held on October 5 1883. This building was chosen in 1889 for the Medical Faculty, and opened in 1904.

“Of the dwelling houses fronting the Nethergate, one was Whiteleys, the manse of Free St John’s. That church was still listed as being in Small’s Wynd in the Dundee Directories of 1880/81 but listed as in Perth Road in 1882/83. Free St John’s also had a school in Park Wynd. The Perth Road/Roseangle Church with its magnificent spire is today’s Dundee West Church of Scotland.”