Old lodge was a royal retreat

Royal-watcher Thomas Brown is relishing the ongoing jubilee celebrations and today sheds light on his own rural Perthshire patch’s historic links to Elizabeth Regina.

The Auchtergaven commoner writes: “This year, 2022, is a momentous one for the Queen who celebrates 70 years on the throne – her platinum jubilee year.

“So many places have memories of both the Queen and members of the royal family. One such is the area of Tullybeagles, Bankfoot, on the foothills of the Grampians.

“In 1953, the year of her coronation, in October of that year the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were guests of Lord and Lady Landsdowne at Meikleour. They enjoyed a day’s shooting at Tullybeagles, the Landsdownes’ estate at Bankfoot.

“But it was not the first time that members of the royal family had visited Tullybeagles. One prominent building they would have seen or possibly entered was Tullybeagles Lodge, once such a landmark.

“The royals would have taken the driveway to the lodge beginning at the house still known as the Glack. I don’t know when the lodge was built but I have an idea it may have dated back to Colonel Mercer of Meikleour, then the Landsdownes.

“History relates that the Landsdownes held a large party at the lodge when the late King George ascended to the throne and that there have been many lodge custodians.

“One was a Miss Mary Anderson, who died the last day of March 1946. She had resided at Tullbeagles all her life and there were other custodians who came after her in the next few years into the ’50s.”

Ever a man of letters, Tam says he has enjoyed passing on pieces of prose and verse to Buckingham Palace down the decades.

He adds: “When I would walk the old driveway to where the lodge stood I thought of the Queen. I have had such pleasure in corresponding with her but I am not alone – she receives an average of 400 letters a day.

“In one of my letters I inquired if she remembered Tullybeagles – and it seems that she does, even at 96. I sent Her Majesty a copy of my book Poems Of Bankfoot and I received souvenirs from the palace in return.

“As for the lodge, it was pulled down

in the early ’60s due to dry rot, but the rhododendrons still remain and continue to blossom in tribute to Queen Elizabeth and her platinum jubilee.”