The story of “The Episcopal Chapel at Muchalls” was
recorded by the Rector John Paul Hill and published
in 1956. The estate had been purchased from the Earl
of Errol in 1606 and Alexander Burnet of Leys began
building Muchalls Castle shortly before his death in
1619. The 1st Baronet, Sir Thomas Burnet, completed
the Castle. His cousin Robert Burnett succeeded him,
but he was a Quaker , so although there was formerly
a chapel at the castle, there was no strong Episcopal
tradition for the lairds. But in 1714 the Burnett family
sold the estate to Thomas Fullerton, who is more likely
to have been sympathetic to the old order. In 1688,
of course, William of Orange had supplanted King James
and the Episcopal Church was supplanted in favour of
Presbyterianism.
The east gable shown the new chapel at Muchalls was
erected in 1831, and the subscribers list for the building
confirms that it cost £293 11s. The Massons
and Christies were foremost amongst those from Skateraw
who had raised £23 5s 6d, and the same
names appear along with the Sparks and Fowlers of Stranathra
who raised £8 11s. But who was recorded
as “A Lady” giving £1? Local weddings
took place in Muchalls, but coffins were carried five
miles to be buried at Cowie churchyard.
Men from Muchalls were thought to number amongst the
Jacobite troops (possibly in the regiment raised by
the local laird Sir Alexander Bannerman of Elsick)
at the battle of Culloden in 1746. 160 men from the
North East marched to Inverness, but only 17 are known
to have survived. Others may have been sent to goal
or sentenced to transportation.
Rev. John Troup was minister of the Muchalls Chapel
from 1737 to 1776, and he was amongst those imprisoned
in an attempt to stamp out Episcopal worship. Their
jail was the Stonehaven Tolbooth, and like Alexander
Greig of Stonehaven, Rev Troup managed to perform baptisms
through the bars of his cell.
About 1758, the old Seatown of Muchalls was abandoned
and fell to ruin, and the centre of population moved
a little north to Stranathra. The “model village” has
many fine old cottages.
Muchalls has its “ Gin Shore ”, a reminder
of the days of widespread smuggling. There is, of course,
an underground link from the shore about a mile inland
to 17 th Century Muchalls Castle (now a private house)
with its ghost “The Green Lady” and its secret
staircase. Lord Robertson, the Lord Justice General,
- then a tenant of the castle - sealed the cave entrance
to the smugglers tunnel up at the end of the 19 th Century
and no sign of it now remains. However, in 1896 the Aberdeen
Free Press reported that long ago a piper had
been sent to explore the tunnel, and the local worthies
tracked his progress on the surface. But half way the
sound of the pipes disappeared and the explorer was never
seen again. Every now and then, usually late and night,
the skirl of the pipes can still be heard by revellers
making their way home from the Brown Jewel pub in the
village.
