The History of Grangehill House, Kinghorn
Steven Blench

The earliest evidence of human activity in the vicinity of Grangehill House is a burial cist discovered 
in “a field west from Grangehill Farm” in 1869. The cist contained a pottery beaker of the British Bell 
Beaker period dating from between 2500 BC and 1700 BC.

 
Referred to at the time as a decorated urn, the beaker was formed from ‘yellowish clay’ and stood

 7¼ inches high with a diameter of 5 inches. Following its discovery the Grangehill beaker was 
donated, on 10th May 1869, to the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland by Thomas Dick 
Esq1. It is possible that this was the same Thomas Dick worked as the Stationmaster at Kinghorn, and 
who died in 1890.

 
The Grangehill beaker was put on public display in the Society’s Museum and appeared in the first 
catalogue of the museum’s artefacts published in 1876. The Society’s museum collection went on to 
form the basis of the National Museum of Scotland and as a consequence the Grangehill beaker 
became part of the national collection and is currently in storage at the National Museum’s 
Collection Centre in Granton. The museum registration number for the beaker is X.EG. 
The records of Historic Environment Scotland show the site of the beaker’s discovery as being within 
the south-west portion of the garden at Grangehill House, however, this is unlikely to reflect the 
actual location of the find, referring instead to the fact that the discovery took place in the general 
area of Grangehill Farm. 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                           
 

 

The land on which Grangehill House now sits appears to have originally formed part of the royal 
lands of Woodfield, Seafield, and the two Balbartons which were granted by King David II to Sir 
James Douglas in 1369. The Douglas family’s possession of the lands, as feudal superiors, was 
confirmed when King Robert II repeated the grant in 1372.  However, the earliest reference to 
Grangemire, as lands distinct from the surrounding area does not appear until 1576 when James 
Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, issued a ‘decreet of removing’ of the tenants of Grangemire 
(Grangemyre) as well as those of Kinghorn Easter (Kingorne Eister), Woodfield (Wodfeild), Mains of 
Aberdour, Dalachy (Drauchtie) and Torryhills (Tallochillis).

 
It is not until April 1598 that we are first able to put a name to the Earl of Morton’s tenants at 
Grangemire. In a contract relating to the marriage of William Brand of Over Grange and Katherine 
Kinnell (Kynnel),  the father of the bride is referred to as John Kinnell (Kynnel) in Grangemire 
(Grangemyre). At first glance, the Kinnell’s tenancy of Grangemire appears to have been relatively 
short lived as by 1617 Robert Thalland (Challand) appears to have replaced John Kinnell as the 
tenant in Grangemire7. Later contracts reveal that Robert Thalland was in fact married to Janet 
Kinnell (Kynnell) so it is possible that Robert acquired Grangemire through his marriage to a 
member of John Kinnell’s family.

 
Robert and Janet’s marriage would appear to have taken place prior to 1603 as this was the year 
their son, John, was baptised at Kinghorn. John was not the couple’s only child as shortly after 
Robert’s death in 1639 William Douglas, 7th Earl of Morton, recognised another Robert Thalland as 
son and heir to Robert Thalland of Grangemire (Graingemyre) in the lands of Grangemire 
(Graingemyre).

 
In April 1643, having secured his inheritance, we find Robert Thalland junior preparing for his own 
marriage. On 29th April Robert signed a charter in which he gave his future wife, Isobel Cunningham 
(Issobell Cwnynghame), and any children that they might have, the lands of Grangemire 
(Graingemyre) in liferent. Interestingly this appears to be the first charter to be signed and dated at 
Grangemire (Graingemyre).

 
Only ten months later Isobel gave birth to a son, yet another Robert, who was also baptised at 
Kinghorn. It seems likely that this was the same Robert Thalland (Thallond), son of the late Robert 
Thalland (Thallond) of Grangemire (Grangemyre), who at the age of seventeen was apprenticed to 
an Edinburgh merchant by the name of James Lintoun in April 1661. It would seem that this Robert 
represents the last of Thallands at Grangemire.

 
In February 1672, amidst a flurry of legal documents, William Douglas, 9th Earl of Morton, initially 
recognises Robert Thalland as the son and heir to Robert Thalland in the lands of Grangemire 
(Grangemyre) Robert’s  rights to the land are then resigned in favour of John Kinnell who was                            
described as being lately of Binn End (Binnend) now of Grangemire (Grangemyre)13. Two days later 
John Kinnell, as heritable proprietor of Grangemire (Gangemyre), transfers to his wife, Marie 
Lathangie, a liferent of one chalder of oats from the lands of Grangemire (Grangemyre). Whether 
this series of transactions in February 1672 represents the return of the descendants of the original 
John Kinnell to the lands of Grangemire is difficult to say without further genealogical research but it 
is an intriguing possibility. 

Having established himself at Grangemire John Kinnell’s eldest son Robert married Elizabeth 
Betsone, the eldest daughter of William Betsone of nearby South Glassmount  (Souther Glesmouth) 
in 1675.  It was Robert Kinnell and Elizabeth Betsone who went on to inherit Grangemire, having at 
least seven children between 1675 and 1692.  It is whilst Robert and his family were at Grangemire 
that we are able to get our first glimpse of the extent of their residence. Up until this point, although 
the existence of a residence of some sort is implied within the records (most notably the charter 
signed by Robert Thalland in 1643) we have no indication as to its size. 

The Hearth Tax records for Fife, completed between 1691-1694, show that Robert Kinnell (Kenell) of 
Grangemire (Grange Myre) was required to pay tax on four hearths. The Hearth Tax records are 
useful in that they help to provide some sense of the comparative size of each property. Within the 
parish of Kinghorn the vast majority of properties, nearly 95%, had less than four hearths and only 
six properties are listed as having more than four. This would suggest that the Kinnell’s residence at 
Grangemire was a relatively large property when compared to those in the surrounding area. Robert 
Kinnell’s implied wealth was made a little more explicit during a court case following his death in 
around 1720.

  
It would appear Robert’s first wife, Elizabeth Betsone, died prior to 1699 as at this date he is 
recorded as having the first of three children with his second wife Katherine Waterstoun.  After 
Robert Kinnell’s death two of his children from this second marriage, Elizabeth and Robert, entered a 
legal dispute with the children of his first marriage. The case was eventually heard at the Court of 
Session on 20th January 1725. During the hearing it was revealed that the late Robert Kinnell (Kinell) 
of Grangemire had signed a contract agreeing to leave the lands of Grangemire to the children of his 
first marriage. However, prior to his death he had sold Grangemire for the considerable sum of 7000 
merks (approximately £4900 Scots) of which he spent 1500 merks and placed the remaining 5500 
merks in bonds for his children with Elizabeth Betsone.  

The court case arose from the fact that prior to the sale of Grangemire and the purchase of the 
bonds Robert Kinnell had agreed to a separate contract with his second wife, Katherine Waterstoun, 
in which he promised to provide any children they had with the sum of 1000 merks “out of the 
moveables and plenishings of his room of Grangemire”. However, all this was sold or consumed 
during his lifetime and nothing remained for Katherine’s two surviving children. The court case 
sought to establish whether the children of Robert’s first marriage, as inheritors of his remaining 
estate, were liable for the 1000 merks promised to the children of his second marriage.  
Throughout the legal proceedings of 1725 the new proprietor of Grangemire is not named but as 
early as November 1723 other documents began referring to Robert Bruce of Grangemire 
(Grangemyre), late baille of Kinghorn. There is a suggestion that Robert Bruce purchased the 
property in 1718 but so far I have not been able to identify any contemporary documents which 
might corroborate this. Grangemire’s new proprietor, was the third son of Alexander Bruce of 
Wester Abden and Jean Kirkcaldy. Robert was apprenticed to a merchant in Edinburgh in 1659 and 
went on to marry Elizabeth Wemyss, niece of Sir John Wemyss of Bogie in 1664. Establishing himself 
as a merchant in Kinghorn Robert Bruce became a bailie and also represented the burgh in 
parliament from 1681 to 1686. He was believed to have been aged around 94 when died in 
1731/1732. Robert’s only surviving son, another Robert Bruce baptised in September 1679, went on 
to inherit Grangemire. Robert was a merchant, like his father before him, and appears to have been 
employed by his uncle Andrew Bruce, a Dutch and East India merchant. Andrew was thought to have 
engaged in ‘the Caper Trade’ which involved exporting goods from India, via Scotland, to the English 
border where they were exchanged for English wool which was in turn sent from Scotland to Holland 
and the offices of the Dutch East India Company. As a consequence of his uncle’s trade Robert is 
said to have spent much of his time in Holland before settling back in Kinghorn and establishing 
himself as a merchant in his own right.

 
In May 1702 Robert married Margaret Schaw, daughter of the burgh clerk of Kinghorn. They had ten 
children together but it was their third son Andrew, born on 4th January 1710, who went on to 
inherit Grangemire from his father sometime after 1754. Andrew is described as a shipmaster within 
contemporary documents and styles himself as Captain Andrew Bruce in letters, however, it would 
be a mistake to imagine him as an ordinary seaman - an undated account of ‘the present situation  
of Capt. Bruce's cash in Great Britain’ amounts to the impressive sum of £15,034.

 
In July 1740 Andrew married Jean Squyre at Forres, the daughter of Rev. John Squyre, minister of 
Forres. Andrew and Jean had three children John, Robert, and Margaret (who was known as Peggie 
in family correspondence). It is whilst Andrew Bruce is in possession of the lands of Grangemire that 
the name Grangehill first appears in written records. The earliest use of the name that I have come 
across dates from 1758. Shortly prior to Andrew Bruce’s death in 1761 the Farm of Grangemire is 
advertised to let. Unless the Bruce family already had a new property on the site it would seem that  
Grangemire no longer served as a residence for the Bruces from this point. However, it is just 
possible that the appearance of the name Grangehill reflects the fact that the Bruces had established 
a new residence on the lands of Grangemire. Alternatively, it might suggest that the Bruces wished 
to draw a distinction between the farm (and farmhouse) of Grangemire, with was subsequently let, 
and a separate property which they were to reserve for themselves. 
A series of adverts appeared within the pages of the Caledonian Mercury beginning in March 1760 
and culminating in a final entry in August 1761: 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be set, by publick roup, upon Wednesday, 12th August inst. within the house of John Swanston, 
vinter in Kinghorn, for eleven or fifteen years, as tacksmen shall offer. 
The Farm of Grangemyre, lying a quarter of a mile to the west of Kinghorn, (commanding a delightful 
prospect to the Firth), from which a considerable quantity of dung may be easily purchased.  It 
consists of sixty six acres of fertile arable land, and a large extent of ground for black cattle and 
sheep pasturage; it has an exceeding good lime quarry, which may not only be used for improving 
the said ground, but likewise for sale to the town, and other parts of the country by water; it has a 
large commodious slate-house for the tenant, two good tiled barns, byres, &c. all repaired within 
these three years.

 
The articles and conditions of roup, may be seen in the hands of  Robert Hamilton, Provost of 
Kinghorn; or Isaac Grant, Writer in Edinburgh.

 
Robert Hamilton appears to have acted as the Bruce family’s factor and his accounts relating to 
Grangemire for 1766-1767 have survived.  The accounts may help to shed further light on who 
secured the tenancy of the farm.  
 
                                                           
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Farm to Let 
To be let for such number of years as can be agreed upon, not exceeding nineteen , and entered to 
against the term of Martinmas next, The Farm of Grangemyre, lying in the parish, and near the town 
of Kinghorn, and county of Fife, consisting of 134 Scots acres, whereof 73 acres are good arable land, 
and the remainder pasture ground. – There is a Lime-quarry within the lands, and the farm maybe 
[sic] managed at a small expence; and from its contiguity to the harbour of Kinghorn, the produce 
may be sent to Leith or Edinburgh every day by passage boats. 
 

Any person inclining to take the same , may give in their proposals to Professor Bruce, the proprietor, 
at Edinburgh, or to Mr Beatson at Lochgelly, near Kinghorn; and Thomas Kinnear in Kinghorn, or the 
present tenant, will show the grounds. 
 
The ‘Professor Bruce’ referred to in the advert is Andrew’s eldest son John Bruce.  John Bruce is 
perhaps the most distinguished former owner of Grangehill. Born in 1744 or 1745 he was only 
sixteen years old when his father died. He was educated at the High School in Edinburgh before 
studying at the University of Edinburgh. John’s early academic interests are reflected in the fact that 
he was one of the founding members of the Speculative Society, in 1764.

 
In 1774 John was appointed assistant professor of Logic to John Stevenson at Edinburgh University 
and later he succeeded Adam Ferguson as professor of Moral Philosophy. His university lectures 
were published as First Principles of Philosophy in 1780 and this was followed by the publication of 
Elements of the Science of Ethics in 1786.  Among his pupils was a young Walter Scott who recorded 
in an autobiographical note that “I made some progress in Ethics under Professor John Bruce, and 
was selected, as one of his students whose progress he approved, to read an essay before Principal 
Robertson.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was as a tutor that Bruce appears to have had his first contact with Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount 
Melville, who was to become a highly influential and life-long patron.  Henry Dundas employed John 
to tutor his son Robert Saunders Dundas, later 2nd Viscount Melville and future President of the 
India Board. His services to the Melville family were rewarded with a joint grant, along with Sir David 
Hunter Blair, of the patent of King’s Printer and Stationer for Scotland. With this office came the sole 
right to print and publish the Bible in Scotland and it was through this monopoly that John Bruce 
amassed a considerable fortune. However, the grant did not come into effect for about fifteen years 
and in the interim period Henry Dundas found a use for Bruce’s talents in London.

 
In February 1789 John Bruce was appointed precis writer at the East India Board, however, it was 
not long before he took on more prestigious roles. 

The British Government at time were grappling with the decision of whether or not to renew the 
exclusive privileges of the East India Company.  In 1790 Henry Dundas employed Bruce to compile a 
detailed report into the proposals which had been made on the future regulation of Indian affairs. 
The project eventually resulted in the publication of Historical View of Plans for the Government of 
British India, in 1793. In July 1793 Henry Dundas also secured John Bruce the position of 
Historiographer to the East India Company which initially only paid £100 per annum but rose to £400 
per annum by January 1801. 

However this was only one of numerous positions held by John Bruce. In July 1792 Bruce had also 
been appointed Keeper of State Papers in Whitehall. Again, the position was not well paid – after  
taxes and other deductions his salary was reported to come to little more than £27 a year. As the 
Keeper of State Papers, Bruce reformed his office through a series of regulations which were 
enforced by a royal warrant in March 1800.  The new arrangement also saw Bruce’s salary rise to 
£500 per annum. This substantial increase in pay has been interpreted as a form of compensation 
for John Bruce’s refusal, in 1799, to take the post of Consul at Hamburg which was worth £600 per 
annum33.  He also acted as Secretary for the Latin Language to the Privy Council and served as M.P. 
for St. Michael, Cornwall from 1809 until 1814.

 
John Bruce’s complex work life meant he spent much of his time in London where he maintained a 
house in Knightsbridge (No.9 Brompton Grove, now replaced by Ovington Square). As a consequence 
of John’s absence Grangehill no longer appears to have served as a regular residence from around 
1760, however, it still held huge significance for him as an ancestral seat. The issue of ancestry and 
inheritance was of particular importance to Bruce.

 
Following the death of Helen Bruce of Earlshall in January 1774 John Bruce was one of three 
individuals to claim the valuable estate of Earlshall, near Leuchars.  John’s claim to Earlshall was 
rested on the fact that his great great great grandfather had been Sir William Bruce of Earlshall. 
During the lengthy proceedings that followed, John Bruce successfully established his legal status as 
heir-male to the House of Earlshall. However, at the Court of Session in 1777 Sir Robert 
Henderson’s claim to the valuable estate was preferred and Earlshall passed to the Henderson 
family. The disappointment of having been recognised as the heir-male only to fail in his efforts to 
secure the estate itself seems to have shaped much of Bruce’s later life. As late as 1814 he was still 
determined to acquire Earlshall - offering an astonishing £53,000 for the estate but his offer was 
declined.

 
In order to understand the development of Grangehill between 1780 and 1800 it is important to 
place it within the context of Bruce’s unsuccessful claim to Earlshall. The incident is a defining 
feature of most nineteenth and early twentieth century material concerning the life of John Bruce 
and all of them rehearse a very similar narrative: 

"He was born in 1745, and was heir-male of the ancient family of Bruce of Earlshall, though the 
ancestral estates had passed by marriage into another family, and all he inherited from his father 
was the small property of Grangehill, near Kinghorn in Fifeshire." 

This narrative is sometimes supplemented with a distorted version of how the Bruce family came to 
acquire Grangehill. As we have seen, the property was purchased by Robert Bruce, John’s great 
grandfather, from Robert Kinnell sometime between 1718 and 1723. The alternative version of 
Grangehill’s history, presents the property as having been the remains of a much larger estate which 
the Bruce family acquired through the marriage of Alexander Bruce (son of Sir William Bruce of 
Earlshall) and Jean Kirkcaldy (usually described as the granddaughter of the renowned Kirkcaldy of 
Grange). This alternative history, incorrectly, places Grangehill within lands historically held by the 
Kirkcaldy’s of Wester Abden and implies that the Bruce family acquired the property as early as 
1643. However, another consequence of this distortion is that it links Grangehill with John Bruce’s 
claim to the estate of Earlshall. It implies that John Bruce had inherited Grangehill through the same 
ancestral line as that on which his claim to Earlshall was based.  

This version of Grangehill’s history continued to be told for over fifty years after John Bruce’s initial 
claim to the estate of Earlshall. It hints at the enduring significance in which “the small property of 
Grangehill” was held within the Bruce family -even if it was no longer a primary residence. 
As a consequence of the Earlshall case, John Bruce had inherited an illustrious ancestry but none of 
the property which that normally entailed. Grangehill and the farm of Grangemire appear, for a 
short period at least, to have provided an outlet for Bruce’s frustrated ambitions.

   
As we have already seen the farm of Grangemire was let out to the tenant farmers from around 
1761 and John Bruce’s first identifiable tenant was called John Hutton. Mr Hutton’s tenancy 
corresponds with a period of considerable investment from around 1780 until 1800. It is within this 
period that Grangehill House, as we know it, really began to take shape.

  
A significant number of documents relating to the management of the estate survive in the National 
Records of Scotland, some of which are briefly outlined below. The descriptions are drawn from the 
catalogue entries. I have not accessed the individual documents. A great deal more information may 
come to light, however, if we were to access the original sources as well as John Bruce’s surviving 
cash books, household accounts, and notebooks.  

1781-1796  Kinghorn: receipt, estimate and contract for wright work at the dairy at Grangemyre 
and note of amount expended on Grangemyre House. Mason: David Wilkie. Wrights: 
George Bell (1781) John Syme (1794-1796).  

1779-1796 Correspondence from Robert Beatson [factor] and Robert Anderson [? clerk of 
works] to John Bruce, with references to the progress of building at Grangehill. 1-19. 
Letters from Robert Beatson. Letter, Robert Beatson (Factor) to John Bruce 1795 'I 
was at Grangehill yesterday and met with Mr Hutton and Wilkie the mason. The 
chimney tops were finishing. As to pavilions I saw Mr Beatson of Killrie and he was of 
opinion that as the Draft sent you represented them as connected with the offices 
but now being that the farm offices are at a distance the Pavilions in that case ought 
to be hard by the house and connected with it just at hand and be of a different 
form and Figure and that being the case and Mr Hutton not being in want of them 
rather prefers to have the offices completed which is in great want of and I stacked 
off the east wing so as to correspond with the Barns on the West which the masons 
will begin immediately.'

 

1796, Apr 13: Problems regarding the site of the pigeon 
house.  If it is made in the West Wing the wind will destroy the birds...'all new 
constricted Pigeon Houses are made high in the walls above the roof for shelter 
only. But in your West pavilion this cannot be done because it must be uniform with  
the other'. Mr Beatson suggests it would be better to make the houses of wood and 
avoid building them into the stone.

 

1796, May 1: Stones for the east wing are ready.

 

Letter from Robert Anderson 1795, Nov 14: 'The principal floor is laid, the 
window in and glazed but we're obliged to stop plastering...You remember the front 
was slated with Welsh slates which Mr Beatson purchased thinking they would look 
better as they were thin and would clap close together. The wind blew so hard one 
night that a great part of them came off. I did not choose to relay them again...but 
as the offices were not then covered I ordered the rest of the office house slates 
upon the house and the other upon the inside of the court of offices.'

 
1795-1797 Kinghorn: Papers relating to building of Grangehill house and offices. Letter from 
Robert Beatson [Factor] to John Bruce.  Includes measurement of the work, 
discharged account for wright work and notes of payments to tradesmen. Mason: 
David Wilkie. Wright: John Sime (Syme).

 
1792-1800  Grangehill domestic and estate accounts.

1. 1792: Letter from John Hutton (tenant) 
to James Bremner, writer. He enclosed a plan for a sit house and shade [missing] and 
offered to 'fill up' old house for a stable.

2. 1795: Letter from John Hutton [? to John 
Bruce]. Mr Bruce has acquired a piece of ground to 'square' the farm of Grangehill. 
Letter concerns missive.

3-10. 1795: Receipts for building a barn. 11. [dated 1794 
inside but 1797 on cover] Letter from John Bruce to John Hutton. Mr Bruce gives 
directions concerning his plans for Grangehill (roads, dykes etc). He includes a 
request for estimate of sum required to build a new farmhouse or repair and 
heighten old.

12-13x. 1797: Plan and estimate for a new farmhouse.

14. 1799: Memo for John Bruce. Planting and Dykes. Mr Bruce to take possession of new 
house in March.

16. 1798: Letter from John Hutton to James Bremner, he requests a 
shade.

17. 1800: Letter from John Hutton to John Bruce. He is prepared to pay a 
percentage of money to be spent on erecting a seat for Mr Bruce in Kinghorn 
Church. 

1793-1796 Accounts of Robert Beatson with John Bruce.

1. Account of payments for wood and 
slates for Grangehill house.

4. 1795: Account which includes payments for building. 

1795: Payments made to John Hutton to pay tradesmen employed at 
Grangehill.

14-15x. 1795: Account which includes payments made for slates and to 
John Hutton to pay tradesmen. 16. nd: Plan [? farmhouse], unsigned.

1796 Accounts and receipts for work done at Grangemyre.

1. 1796: Account for wrightwork done at house and offices of Grangemyre by John Sim, wright.

2. 1796: Receipt for mason work done by Robert Anderson.

3. 1796: Receipt for Alex Russell for paint and oil. 
                                                          
1796-1797 Grangehill Accounts.

1-2x. 1796: George Smith to John Bruce for slating Grangehill 
house and offices.

3. 1796: John Sim, wright, for alterations at Grangehill house.

4. 1796: John Sim, wright, for wood and work at house and offices.

5. 1797: Robert and Alexander Anderson for mason, slater and wright work done at Grangehill when 
building two wings.

6-10x. 1797: Robert and Alexander Anderson, account and 
vouchers for stone, locks etc. 11.

1797: Robert and Alexander Anderson, account for 
building a new barn.

 
1805 Settlement with Mr Moffat for rent of Grangehill and vouchers relating to cess, feu 
etc. 

1805 Grangehill: Receipted account from Taylor and Norie for painting of windows, gates 
and doors. 

1809 Estimate from Peter Black 'for harling Grangehill farmhouse and the big house with 
the two wings and the walls betwixt the house and wings'. 
 

1812 Account of John Bruce with Dickens and Company, from Grangehill, for plants and 
seeds.

 
Without accessing the original documents it is difficult to get clear picture of the way in which the 
farm and house developed. One problem relates to the inconsistent use of names within the 
contemporary records and difficulty of clarifying exactly what is being referred to.

  
Within the limited number of documents listed above, the correspondents refer to John Bruce’s 
property as Grangemyre, Grangehill, Grangehill house, Grangehill farmhouse and the big house with 
the two wings, the house and offices of Grangemyre, and the farm of Grangehill.

  
I suspect that what we might be looking at is the modernisation of the pre-existing farm and 
farmhouse alongside the building, or expansion, of the property that we now know as Grangehill 
House.  The exact nature of the relationship between Grangehill House and the farm, with its 
farmhouse, is problematic during this period.

 
John Hutton, the tenant farmer, is deeply involved in John Bruce’s building works but there is a 
suggestion that Grangehill House was distinct from the farm and was, perhaps, intended for the use 
of the Bruce family.  In March 1812, William Waddel, John Bruce’s accountant or office manager in 
Edinburgh, proposed letting ‘Grangehill’ and having the estate valued. The farm and farmhouse 
already had a tenant at this date (David Moffat, John Hutton’s successor) so this would suggest that 
the ‘Grangehill’ referred to by William Waddel was Grangehill House and that it was standing vacant 
in 1812. 

By 1812 John Bruce’s wealth and aspirations vastly exceeded the possibilities that Grangehill 
afforded him and he soon sought to acquire a more substantial estate.  William Waddel’s suggestion 
to let Grangehill was made as part of a more ambitious proposal that Bruce should consider 
purchasing Loretto, near Musselburgh. 'It belonged to Hunter...who from too great wealth and too 
great idleness has drowned himself. The house, I am told, is in excellent order and there are 7 acres 
and an excellent garden attached to it, all finely enclosed with a high wall. The price is said to be 
£7,000 but less may probably be taken.' The suggestion does not seem to have been taken any 
further but it is an early indication of his intention to invest his wealth in land and property.  

Bruce’s extensive purchases began in January 1820 with the acquisition of the lands of Falkland 
along with the Heritable Keepership of the Palace of Falkland. On becoming Keeper of the Palace of 
Falkland Bruce proceeded to expand his land and property holdings in Falkland and Auchtermuchty 
on an enormous scale. Amongst Bruce’s purchases was the estate and house of Nuthill which 
became the focus of an extensive improvement scheme from 1822.  Plans for Nuthill House were 
submitted by John Bruce’s builder John Swinton and the proposed works were estimated at £2000 
for the house along with a further £1000 for the stables.  

Although much of Bruce’s energy and capital were focused on Nuthill House and the restoration the 
Palace of Falkland Grangehill was not forgotten. In June 1824 John Swinton wrote to William Waddel 
informing him that the house at Grangehill required re-roofing and by August he was able to report 
that the ‘slater work’ at Grangehill was nearing completion. These were the last recorded 
improvements carried out by John Bruce at Grangehill. In the spring of 1826 he caught a cold whilst 
overseeing improvement work at the Palace of Falkland, his condition continued to deteriorate and 
he died at Nuthill House on 16th April 1826.    

David Moffat, whose tenancy was formalised in 1805, remained at Grangehill throughout John 
Bruce’s lifetime eventually dying at the grand old age of eighty eight on the 3rd of October 1837. 
The subsequent sale of Mr Moffat’s crops and stock give a wonderful sense of his activities at 
Grangehill Farm: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the time of David Moffat’s death Grangehill had been in the possession of John Bruce’s niece, 
Margaret Stuart Bruce for eleven years. The story of how Margaret inherited John’s estate is both 
complex and surprising. Her father, Robert Bruce, led a life rather different to that of her uncle John 
– but no less lucrative.  

Born in 1753 or 1754 Robert Bruce embarked on a career in the military and was admitted to the 
Bengal Artillery as a Country Cadet on the 21st of August 1770. In India Robert Bruce led the Native 
Artillery during Colonel Thomas Goddard’s expeditions against the Maratha Empire throughout 
1778. In 1782 the Governor-General of Bengal, Warren Hastings, chose Robert to lead his troops 
and he appears to have grown rich in Hastings’ service.  However, Robert Bruce’s private life is 
rather more interesting than his military career.

 
Deborah Cohen, Professor of both Humanities and History at Northwestern University, Illinois, has 
written a detailed account of Robert’s private life in India and the consequences for his family back 
in Scotland within her book Family Secrets: Shame and Privacy in Modern Britain, 2017. Cohen has 
pieced together the rather complex narrative from the private correspondence of the Bruce family.   
When Robert was about twenty years of age he had already fathered a half-Indian daughter with an 
unnamed woman. In a series of letters to his elder brother he argued about the practicalities of 
sending his young daughter back to Britain to be educated – a course of action John Bruce strongly 
opposed.

 
Unfortunately nothing came of Robert’s plans as the young girl died in about 1780 when she was 
only seven years old. However, when Robert Bruce returned to Britain in 1786 he was accompanied 
by a five-year old girl whom he introduced as Margaret Stuart, the daughter of a fellow officer who 
had remained in India. Margaret was in fact Robert’s second illegitimate daughter, born shortly after 
the death of his first daughter. Robert initially attempted to keep Margaret’s true parentage a 
secret, even from her. On returning to Scotland Robert established himself and Margaret in a three 
storey house in the Edinburgh New Town.

 
It was only when Robert Bruce decided to return to India without Margaret, in 1788, that he shared 
the truth about Margaret with this family. During a drunken outburst he shocked his sister Peggie by 
telling her that he in fact had two mistresses in India, one was Margaret’s mother and the other had 
been her wet nurse.

 
Once Robert had departed for India Margaret was cared for by her aging grandmother and aunt in 
the family’s Edinburgh residence. In the years that followed young Margaret became a much adored 
member of the Bruce family.  Prior to her death in 1794 Jean Bruce, Margaret’s grandmother, 
implored her children to ‘be kind to her when I am gone’ and with the subsequent death of her 
father in India three years later Margaret became the focus of much of her uncle John and aunt 
Peggie’s activities.  
                                                         
Robert Bruce’s will was inconclusive where Margaret was concerned and John Bruce sought legal 
advice in order to ensure that she received her share of Robert’s considerable fortune. The difficulty 
with this course of action was that it would involve publicly revealing Margaret’s real identity as 
Robert’s illegitimate daughter – something that had remained a secret, up until this point.  
John Bruce’s status within the government, as Keeper of State Papers, and his powerful political 
connections enabled him to secure Margaret’s inheritance with the minimum amount of attention.  
By the time Margaret reached the aged twenty six her father’s legacy, secured by her uncle, was 
reported to stand at approximately £20,000.

 
John Bruce’s subtle influence even spread as far as India. At the time of Robert’s death Margaret’s 
mother was in Calcutta, modern day Kolkata, living on a small pension he provided for her, however, 
Robert had made no provision for her in his will and it was left to his brother John to arrange an 
annuity of twenty five rupees a month to the woman simply referred to as Robert’s ‘old Servant’. 
Her name was erased from the historical record.  

In the years that followed Margaret appears to have become John Bruce’s unofficial heir-in-waiting. 
She became intimately associated with her uncle’s business affairs and expanding property holdings. 
When John Bruce died in April 1826 he left a “General Disposition” in favour of his niece but it was 
his sister Peggie who was ‘served heir’. However, in June 1826, Peggie Bruce “from her love and 
affection to her said niece did convey and dispone to her all the heritable property which belonged 
to her brother” and with this Margaret inherited a vast estate rumoured to be valued at £340,000, 
of which Grangehill House was just a small but significant part. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To read the full history with all the academic references included click on this