| Administrative History | Tarradale House and its land on the Black Isle, near Beauly, Inverness, first belonged to the Mackenzies of Applecross, and then, by a family connection, to the Murchisons. The estate was sold to Baillie of Dochfour in 1818, but the Murchisons maintained a connection with the house. In 1900 Miss Amy Frances Yule, a relation by marriage of the Murchisons, purchased the estate, after being tenant there from 1896. She remodelled and renovated the house, added a walled garden, outhouses and library block, and died in 1916. She had travelled with her father Henry Yule and made a point of collecting books as she went, and was an excellent linguist and scholar. The library she established was huge, and strong in natural sciences, military and Scottish history. Her will established the Murchison of Tarradale Memorial Trust to preserve the house and grounds for the nation with provision for her grave and that of her cousin Harriet Murchison to be properly looked after on the site. The house was lent to Scottish universities for research projects but the conditions of the will allowed no experiments on live animals there. Members of the public could also stay in the house, but they had to be British, Christian, of good character and in good health to stay, and should preferably be students and of Scottish descent or birth. In 1958 the Trust, finding that upkeep was difficult, conveyed the endowment to Aberdeen University as a field centre, and it was renovated and still used as such at least up to 1985. |
| Description | Handwritten transcriptions of legal manuscripts relating to Tarradale House: Charter of resignation in favour of Alexander Mackenzie respecting the lands of Tarradale, 1742; Extract of disposition granted by Alexander Mackenzie in favour of his eldest son Roderick Mackenzie, 1743; Instrument of sasine in favour of Alexander Mackenzie, 1743; Extract of disposition granted by Captain Roderick Mackenzie in favour of Anne Mackenzie, his mother, 1757; Submission and decree arbitral between Sir Hector Mackenzie and the Tutors of Roderick Murchison of Tarradale, 1800; Charter of confirmation and resignation in favour of John Mackenzie, 1778; Disposition granted by John Mackenzie in favour of Kenneth Murchieson, 1788; Copy of principal retour in favour of Roderick Murchison, eldest son of the late Kenneth Murchison, and Barbara Mackenzie, 1796; Extract recorded in the register of sasines by Campbell Mackintosh for the shires of Inverness, Ross, Sutherland and Cromarty at Inverness of verdict or determination in the petition for commutation of multures, Alexander Mackenzie of Ord against Roderick Murchison of Tarradale, 1806. |