Close to Prestwick Airport, a few miles from Ayr, a handsome monument stands on high ground. It was erected in the middle of the eighteenth century to commemorate a local boy, of very humble beginnings, who had made a fortune in the service of the East India Company. The monument came close to total collapse before, hurrah, a local campaign secured its future.
Macrae is said to have left his native Ayr when little more than a boy and found work on boats leaving the busy port. He worked his way up the ranks to the influential position of Governor of Fort St George, a British power base at Madras (now Chennai) in India. In his time as Governor (he held the position from 1725-1730), Macrae ‘acquired a handsome Estate’, and he returned to Britain a wealthy man in around 1731. In 1736 he was said to be laying out his fortune in ‘purchasing Lands’ and this included an estate at Monkton, near Ayr, which he called Orangefield in honour of William III – Macrae also funded the erection of a statue of William of Orange in Glasgow in 1735.
Four years after Macrae’s death in June 1744, work began on his monument. No records have been found to explain the planning behind the structure – there is no inscription and the architect is unknown. We don’t even know who commissioned the monument, although Macrae’s sole heir and executor the Countess of Glencairn, née Elizabeth Maguire, seems likely. Whilst there has been speculation that the structure was intended as Macrae’s mausoleum, his will simply requests that he be ‘decently buried’.
John Swan began work on the monument in 1748, but the near complete structure is recorded as having collapsed the following year before being rebuilt in 1750 (and this is corroborated by the discovery of damaged stone in the rubble infill during the restoration). This information, the only early history of the monument the Flâneuse can find, is recorded in the second volume of James Paterson’s History of Ayr, published in 1852, and all later descriptions of the fine monument rely on his account.
A century after it was built surveyors mapping the county of Ayrshire noted ‘Macrae’s Monument’ as a ‘very prominent object’ (earlier maps simply mark the structure as ‘Monument’). It is unsurprising then that in the second half of the nineteenth century it was used as a landmark for the hunt, with many reports of the hounds and their prey racing by. Robert Bryden (1865-1939) took this view in 1912, and by that date the monument was ‘in a rather dilapidated condition’, although no major issues can be seen in his fine etching.
In 1967 an officer from the National Monuments Record of Scotland visited the site. He wrote that the ‘small pylonic monument’ was ‘well executed’ and noted the maritime motifs which featured on the four faces. There was however ‘considerable decay of the stonework’, although some repointing was underway when he visited.
These motifs include a shell, dolphins, a stylised castellated building on a rock, a trident and an anchor. Mr Hay’s detailed investigation of the monument took longer than expected, with an added delay caused by his Land Rover getting stuck in a stony patch. Disgruntled and hungry, he finished his report with the note ‘No lunch’.
The tower continued to decay, and by the end of the twentieth century it was in a most precarious condition, having been damaged in a storm. The monument was restored in the early years of the current century under the auspices of the Three Towers Trust working with Ayr-based ARPL Architects. There was strong support from the landowner, Glencara Estates, and from the local community, as well as funding from Historic Environment Scotland and the Heritage Lottery Fund. The obelisk had to be taken down to enable the rebuilding of the square base, and the shaft was re-erected once that had been consolidated.
Macrae was buried in Monkton churchyard, but no stone marks the spot (although a modern headstone records that he is interred somewhere in the churchyard). The story is told locally that a group of Macrae’s friends, in high spirits after a two-day drinking spree, exhumed his body from the churchyard and re-interred it in the newly-completed monument. Human remains of four adults and two children were found in the monument during the restoration work, but were thought to be of a later date. Like much else about the monument, the identity of those whose remains were found remains a mystery.
In the jet-setting 1940s Macrae’s former estate became home to Prestwick Airport, with the mansion as its centrepiece – Orangefield is probably the only country house to end its days with an air traffic control tower plonked on its roof. The building is sadly no more.
The monument (upgraded to Category A in 1994), was once a distant landmark, but is now on the edge of a new housing estate and is easy to reach from the road named…
The Flâneuse thanks Susan Kellerman for sharing her research into the monument, undertaken at the time of its restoration. Thanks also to Peter Drummond, of Peter Drummond Architects. Peter was part of the ARLP team at the time of the restoration.
UPDATE: thanks to John Malaiperuman for the fascinating observation that the monument echoes the tower and spire of the church of St Mary at Fort St George, a building that Macrae would have known well.
This is the 400th post to be published after 8 years of the Folly Flâneuse. Thank you for reading!
Peter McClintock says:
Warmest congratulations on reaching 400!
Editor says:
Thank you Peter and apologies that I missed your message and didn’t reply earlier.
Nic Orchard says:
Just a few thousand to go then… Thank you for all your work. Your readers appreciate it.
Editor says:
Good morning Nic. Thousands might be over-ambitious! Thanks for the kind comments.
Editor says:
Good morning Nic. Thousands might be over-ambitious! Thanks for your kind comments.
Gwyn Headley says:
Congratulations Madame Flâneuse! A remarkable achievement and an invaluable addition to the folly canon. Thank you for all your hard work — and you clearly had some fun along the way!
Editor says:
Thank you Gwyn. I can’t quite believe it has been eight years. But yes, it has been lots of fun. Thanks for your support from the start.
Miss Nada Bauer-Fitzgerald says:
My bookshelves await the collected works in print form…..
Anyway to read your musings on a Saturday morning is a treat, so thank you.
Editor says:
Thank you! I very much appreciate your comment. As for the book… perhaps one day.
Chris Tyler says:
Congratulations on reaching this milestone. I always look forward to my Saturday morning dose of folly.
Editor says:
Many thanks Chris. I’m pleased you enjoy the folly stories.
Martin Brown says:
Well done on 400 posts! I like recommending to friends your Folly Flaneuse.
Editor says:
Thank you Martin. I very much appreciate you spreading the word.
Alan Moule says:
I’m relatively new to the “folly sphere” ( only c 1 year) and thoroughly enjoy and look forward to reading the incredibly detailed research about some obscure ( to me) construction and the person and family behind it. You have opened up a whole new interest for me, many thanks and long may it continue.
Editor says:
Good afternoon Alan. I’m delighted to hear that you have become a folly fan. I hope you continue to find the stories of interest.
Gand says:
CD not out. A score Joe Root would be proud of and so should you. With the uncouth companion at the other end, the score will surely increase beyond the next CD. Bat on FF, bat on.
Editor says:
Thank you Gand. I hope I don’t run out of ideas, I wouldn’t like to be stumped.
Steph says:
8 years and 400 Saturdays of folly fun – congratulations, and long may it continue!
Editor says:
Thank you Steph. I appreciate you taking the time to offer congratulation.
Eric Kellerman says:
Congratulations on your stamina, excellent research and continuing enthusiasm for follies. Long may they continue!
Editor says:
Good morning Eric and very many thanks for your kind words and encouragement.
Polly Shearlaw says:
I’m intrigued by the four adults and two children… Were they interred intentionally? Laid out with care? But no names or records of burial?
Or random waifs and strays, wandering and lost at their end?
Editor says:
Hello Polly. I’m sorry I didn’t go into more detail about the burials, for the purposes of this post I was only trying to ascertain if Macrae himself was buried in the monument. I know that pine coffins were found and some coffin furniture. The conclusion was that the burials were later 18C but the identities are not known.
Garance Rawinsky says:
Well done FF an amazing body of work. I’m so glad you can sometimes rely on friends and your wide sphere of acquaintances to add to your ramblings. Do you ever record the miles you have covered in order to do such research, to say nothing of the hotels sourced, booked and stayed in… for our Saturday pleasure!
Editor says:
Hello Garance. I couldn’t do what I do without the help of so many people. Old friends have been a great support, and I am very happy to have made new friends along the way. I haven’t counted the miles, or the hotel rooms, or the hours in archives – but they have all been worth it!
Chris Woodyard says:
Congratulations on this milestone! Your posts never fail to delight!
But about those human remains found inside the monument…. Surely there was some clue–coffin furniture, shroud pins, or fabric fragments–to their age? Was the coroner called in? Where were they reburied?
Editor says:
Hello Chris. As I’ve mentioned in my reply to Polly, my interest was simply in knowing if this was Macrae’s mausoleum, so I don’t know much more about the bodies. If this is of particular interest to you, could you please email me via the website and I can suggest how you might find further information. Thanks for the kind words.
Lisa says:
Congratulations on your 400th 🥳
Where have 8 years gone since you started.
Here’s to many more lovely articles ✨
Editor says:
Thank you Lisa. The years have flown by!
Jim & Marlene Godfrey says:
Congratulations on the amazing 400. Had never stopped to think about this huge number. Hope there are plenty to be found for the years ahead. It is the making of Saturday morning.
Will you be celebrating?
Editor says:
Thanks Jim and Marlene. I myself can’t quite believe how time has flown by. No time for celebrating – there are follies to be found!
John Malaiperuman says:
Well done for brnging so many wonderful monuments to my attention. i was particularly interested in your latest one of MaCraes monument in Ayrshire.. The “steeple” bares a strong similarity to the steeple of St Mary’s Church in Fort St George which he would have been in charge of when he was governor.
This may have been intended….. John
Editor says:
Now this, John, is why I ask readers to get in touch if they have further information. Thank you so much for this wonderful observation – I knew nothing of the church and I am delighted you have brought it to our attention. I will update the post now with an image.
Simon Scott says:
400 posts – what a wonderful achievement. A massive contribution to the fascinating world of follies. Long may the posts continue. And, echoing previous comments, a published tome would be a fitting tribute to all your hard work.
Editor says:
Good morning Simon and many thanks for these kind words. The fascinating world of follies should keep me busy for a little while to come.
Constance Marq says:
It might be a coincidence, but I think Macrae’s monument looks very similar to a Roman monument located in France, usually called “the pyramid of Vienne”, but also named “the tomb of Pilate” in other sources. This pyramid was already visited by travellers and architects in the 17th century (there are drawings in the Bibliothèque nationale de France), so it might have been known by Macrae somehow.
Thank you for your incredible work and congratulations on the 400 posts! It’s always a delight to read them
Editor says:
Hello Constance. Thank you for your kind comments. I’m very pleased that you have introduced me to this French monument. There are a number of monuments with a pyramid/obelisk/spire on a cube base. You have encouraged me to give them serious thought. Many thanks.