the history of Glenbervie

The present Glenbervie House is the third mansion to be built on the estate since the end of the 16th century when it first appears in the written record.  However the lands of Woodside as it was then known were probably of much older origin dating back to the reign of King David II two hundred years earlier.  The first family we know about were the Bruces and it passed from them through marriage to the Rollocks or Rollos who probably built the second Woodside House around 1710.  This is the one which stood until 1851 and is shown in the attached sketch. 

Around 1730 the estate and house were purchased by  Sir George Dunbar whose son Sir James was Deputy Judge Advocate for Scotland.  They changed its name for a period to Dunbar House. In 1783 it was purchased by one John Strachan and the next year it was in the hands of  a  James Russell from whom it passed by marriage to the Stirlings in 1830

The Stirlings  were related to the Douglases of Glenbervie in Kincardineshire and sometime after they arrived the estate and house were renamed Glenbervie.  The Stirlings decided that the old house was in a poor state and in 1850-51 built the present house, though not exactly on the same site as the old one.  It is described as Jacobean in style. The main staircase is made of Spanish chestnut grown on the estate and there is also a dwelling house with an arched entrance which was the former coach house. Glenbervie House was slated until the 1960s when the present red tiles were added.  The lovely drawing of the house was done by Miss Sherriff , daughter of another of Larbert’s wealthy families in 1907. 

But by then the Stirlings were gone.  Around 1900 it was purchased by James Aitken of Russel and Aitken, lawyers in Falkirk and in 1924 it passed into the hands of the Carron Company.   The house was let and the estate was leased out to various groups and individuals including of course the golf club. In the 1960s the company sold these off as it sought to stave of financial problems.