Leith Hall

In the 300 years before it was handed over to the National Trust for Scotland in 1945, Leith Hall, near the village of Kennethmont, Huntly, Aberdeenshire, belonged to just one family, the Leiths, who later became the Leith-Hays. There are no ghosts sighing around the walls of this lovely house, but it is haunted in a different way: by stirring tales of Leith Hall's military men and by memories, both sad and happy, of the folk who lived there. The last laird's mother, Henrietta Leith-Hay, once said that the house was full of their presence. "Some of them come out of the shadows into clear light, and live and speak," she said.

Ten successive lairds lived at Leith Hall, beginning with James Leith, who founded the estate in 1650. Among its memorable military men was Andrew Hay of Rannes, whose sister Mary married the third laird. Andrew, a giant of a man who rose in his stockinged feet to 7ft 2 in tall, fought with Bonnie Prince Charlie, became a fugitive after Culloden and was an exile abroad for eleven years.
In 1789, when the estate ran into debt, Andrew sold his own estate at Rannes in Banffshire, bought Leith Hall, which was then under the lairdship of his grandnephew, Sandie Leith, and gave it back to Sandie on condition that his name be added to that of Leith. This was the start of the Leith-Hay era.

In 1989, the National Trust opened a permanent exhibition at Leith Hall entitled 'For King and Country: the Military Lairds of Leith Hall.' There is one special exhibit recalling the gentle giant of Leith Hall, a pair of outsize silk stockings, measuring one metre from heel to knee, worn by Andrew Hay.  Sandie Leith's brother James was the family's most distinguished soldier. General Sir James Leith won several honours and was buried at Westminster Abbey. He fought under Wellington and was at the siege of San Sebastian.  The general's exploits were commemorated in the name given to his great nephew, Colonel Alexander Sebastian Leith-Hay, who became laird in 1862.

Sebastian also made a name for himself in the British army. He served in Canada, stood in the Thin Red Line at Balaclava, and quelled the Indian Mutiny. When he came home to Leith Hall in Scotland, he brought with him a white cockatoo, Cocky, which spoke Hindustani, lived on the estate for fifty years and was buried with full military honours.  Sebastian's nephew, Charles Edward Norman Leith-Hay, succeeded his uncle as laird in 1900. He and his wife, Henrietta (Henrietta's Walk is named after her), had one son, Charles, who was killed in a motor cycle accident in 1939.  His mother said it was "a bright light that could never be lit again." It was the end of the Leith-Hay line.

The days of the fighting lairds of Leith Hall are recalled in this splendid exhibition. The far more peaceful pursuits of the Leith and Leith-Hay families are remembered in the house itself and in the garden and also in the nature trail wherevisitors can walk through three centuries of history.

During the 300 years that the Leith and Leith-Hay families inhabited Leith Hall, several improvements and additions were made to the house and its surroundings. Consequently the large grounds have much of interest to offer visitors today.