Ord House
Attribution: unknown or not recorded
Mackenzie's of Ord
The Mackenzie gentry in the Ross & Cromarty are all descend from the Mackenzie’s of Kintail as far back as 1230AD with the Mackenzie of Gairloch descending from the 7th of Kintail, in the late 15th century and the Mackenzie’s of Ord descending from the 8th of Kintail in the early 16th century.
Originally the Ord Mackenzie’s settled on the outskirts of Beauly at Killichrist in the mid-16th century. Below is a brief Father to son lineage:
Kenneth Mackenzie, 8th of Kintail and Agnes Fraser
4th son of above – Kenneth Mackenzie, 1st of Killichrist and Helen Loval
Thomas Mackenzie (circa 1530 – 1619), 1st of Kinlochluichart and Ord and Annabella Mackenzie of Fairburn (great granddaughter of the 8th of Kintail)
1st – John Mackenzie (late 1500’s – 1644) married Isobel Cuthbert of Drakkies.
John had two sons, the eldest John was born around 1610, became the 2nd laird of Ord and the second son, Thomas, born around 1620, became the 1st of Highfield.
2nd – John Mackenzie (circa 1610-1686) married Magdalen Fraser of Culbokie.
3rd – Thomas Mackenzie (c. 1650-1710) married Mary Mackenzie.
4th – Alexander Mackenzie (circa 1690 – 1748) married Jean Mackenzie.
5th – Thomas Mackenzie (circa 1728 – 1803) m. Ann Mackenzie. Their daughter, Elizabeth married Alexander Gillanders, son John Gillanders of Highfield.
6th – Alexander Mackenzie (circa 1755 – 1820) married Helen McInnes.
7th – Thomas Mackenzie (1795 – 1887) married 1825 Anna Watson Fowler of Raddery House.
Ord House
Ord House was originally built in 1602 by Thomas Mackenzie of Kinlochluichart and Ord, who leased land around Muir of Ord in 1598. It was John Mackenzie, 1st of Ord who obtained a charter from Lord Mackenzie of Kintail of the lands and mill of Ord in 1607 and was granted a regular free charter of the whole by the then Earl of Seaforth. In 1810, Thomas Mackenzie, 7th of Ord, enlarged the house to its present-day appearance with some further remodelling taking place in 1850. It was this Thomas Mackenzie who promoted the building in 1838 of the local distillery, Glen Ord Distillery.
Attribution: not recorded or unknown
8th – Alexander Watson Mackenzie (1827 – 1899) married Angel-Babington Peile. He served as a Captain in the 91st Highlanders and as adjutant of the 1at Administrative Battalion of Ross-shire Rifle Volunteers.
He is buried at the family mausoleum at Kilchrist.
9th – Thomas Mackenzie (1859 -1907)
10th – Captain Alexander Frances Mackenzie (1861 – 1935), 2nd son. he married Olive Jane Lewis Holdsworth 1866 and had no issue.
Mrs Mackenzie of Ord was the first President of the Muir of Ord Institute. She was born Olive Jane Lewis Holdsworth circa 1866 and was the daughter of George T. Holdsworth of Ayut Bury in Wlewyn. She was married to Captain Alexander Frances Mackenzie of Ord in 1898. She was patron of the local Curling club and supporter of the Mid-Ross Boy Scouts along with her husband. In 1912 she organised a fund-raising event and raised £33 to provide coal for the underprivileged and other relief. She died in 1936.
Attribution: Press & Journal, 1935
The house remained in a trust in the late Colonel’s name with his eldest sister, Beatrice being the last remaining Mackenzie.
She had married Robert Scarlett Fraser of Bunchrew 1887 and they went by the name of Fraser-Mackenzie of Allangrange.
Beatrice was a great supporter of the local Scottish Rural Women’s Institutes and prior to moving to the Muir of Ord Institute, she was recorded as being the Honorary President of the Knockbain Institute and President of the Allangrange Institute which both opened in 1929 and was also involved in the Urray District Nursing Association in 1938 and she is recorded as president of the Muir of Ord Institute in 1939. She died in 1940.
Beatrice Fraser-Mackenzie’s 1st son, John Ord Alistair Fraser- Mackenzie inherited the estate of Bunchrew and her 2nd son, Colonel Richard Arthur Lomax Fraser- Mackenzie was killed in action in 1942.
Colonel’s Fraser-Mackenzie’s wife, Dora Elizabeth Fraser-Mackenzie remained in the village, living at Foresthill.
It is believed that the Colonel and Beatrice’s younger sister, Anna Watson Mackenzie was the last of the Mackenzie’s of Ord to have lived at Ord House. She married Angus Falconer Douglas -Hamilton. They also remained in the village, living on an Mackenzie estate property at Foresthill, on the Corrie Road.
It is likely that with 2 deaths in the Mackenzie family between 1935 and 1940, that the family would have taken a large financial hit by inheritance taxes, although I cannot say whether the house was sold, I would imagine it would have been commandeered for the war effort between 1939 and 1945 and sold soon after. With the next tenants being recorded as Lieutenant Colonel Alastair E. H. Campbell in 1946.
Attribution: not recorded or unknown
Colonel Alastair Edward Henry Campbell
Alastair Edward Henry Campbell was at least a sixth-generation soldier in the British armed forces and by the time he was living at Ord House, around 1946, he had attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. The same rank attained by his father Claude Henry Campbell upon his death in 1916 during WW1.
Alastair’s uncle, Sir Harold George Campbell KCVO, DSO, Captain RN, was Groom & Private Sec to Duke and Duchess of York and Equerry when the duke became King George VI followed by Equerry Queen Elizabeth II.
Alastair was married in 1937, to Catherine Leatham, daughter of a Vice Admiral.
During WW2, he was involved in the retreat at Dunkirk, following which he was appointed a desk job with the Summary of Information (Civil Affairs) where his ‘outstanding ability, drive and unsparing work’ towards the military needs of the Port of Ostend and the reconciliation of the Port to the local population, following the war, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in October 1945.
In 1946, the couple were living at Ord House where he was recorded as being one of four directors of R.S. MacDonald and Co. Ltd, a manufacturer of woollen, tweed, linen and cotton goods. There was also an advert placed in 1947 for two children, aged 8 and 6 to share family life at Ord house and be educated along with their own children.
1953, saw Alastair applying for a grocer’s licence to manufacture Athol Brose from Bunchrew and marketed by Moray Firth Foods, Ltd. who had a foodbank at Bunchrew where food was processed and preserved. Colonel Campbell was to remain involved with Moray Forth Foods.
There is a news report on 31 December 1981, Aberdeen Press and Journal which described the Colonel a propogandist for worker-ownership for 10 years and a member of the Industrial Common Ownership Movement and the Scottish Co-operative Development Committee.
The Estate of Ord
The house and grounds was opened as a hotel for several years. closing around 2019.
In recent years it has come into new ownership in 2022 and after several renovations it reopened it’s doors in the late spring of 2024.