Green Jean

Blairgowrie, Perthshire; is probably best known to-day as the centre of the soft fruit district in Scotland, indeed the local guide book claims it as the "Raspberry Capital of the World"! In the century before the raspberry crop brought prosperity the town had grown out of two little communities united in using the water of the Ericht for flax and jute mills. Blairgowrie can boast two castles, both still occupied, and sharing a ghost. Newton Castle is now the home of the Chief of the Clan Macpherson, but it was originally a Drummond stronghold, built in the middle of the 16th century. Ardblair Castle goes back much further, built by Alexander de Blair in the days of William the Lion. Needless to say the two families couldn't agree.

In the mid 16th century two Drummond men, father and son, were ambushed and murdered by the Blairs, which didn't help Lady Jean's cause at all when she fell in love with a Blair! A union with such a murderous family was out of the question. Nor was the Blair family in favour of the match, for Patrick Blair had been beheaded for his part in the murder. Heartbroken, Lady Jean wandered out into the marshes . . . and never returned. Her ghost, however, dressed in green silk, divides her time between the two castles.

Known as the Green Lady, she is also rumoured to have had dealings with the fairy folk, putting herself in their power by begging their help and accepting a Wedding Dress woven by them, but once having had dealings with them, this mortal life no longer held any enchantment for her. Whatever version is believed, it is a sad wistful ghost who haunts the castles, inspiring pity more than fear. In the 18th century the two families were still at odds. One of the Drummonds' most prominent members, George, a Hanoverian and supporter of the Union of Parliaments, is actually accused of informing on the Earl of Mar when he conspired to bring about the 1715 Uprising. A grateful government appointed him Lord Provost of Edinburgh and in this post, held six times by him, George Drummond became well known as a benefactor to the city, founding the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

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