Luthermuir is a village with humble beginnings. Located on a moor near the Water of Luther, it seems to have been subject to disputes regarding ownership and on early maps is marked as “Debatable Lands”.
By the late 1700’s local landowners became the feudal superiors and the area was known as the Feus of Caldhame.
Caldhame Castle, also close to the Luther, had been the home of the Middleton family when they moved from the lands of Conveth, but the last resident laird died in his chair during a raid on the castle in the 17th Century.
A grander surviving castle nearby is that of Inglismaldie, built by the Carnegie family and home for many years to the Keith Falconers, Lords Haulkerton and Earls of Kintore.
This traditional village of clay “biggins” was home to cottage weaving and the workers who laboured in the area draining the Howe. The last of the local weavers in the area, William Taylor, continued with the production of double damask table linen on his Jacquard loom until the last decades of the 20th Century. The loom can now be seen, still in use, in the House of Dun, near Montrose.
There is a small church in the village, built by a group who separated from the “Auld Kirk” in the early 1800s but who are reconciled now with the Church of Scotland. At Sauchieburn is the remains of a Berean Chapel, another breakaway group who were linked to Fettercairn, but who erected their church over that parish’s boundary. Finally the former Free Church at Crosspoles on the A90 has been converted into a dwelling after spells as a tattie shed and garage.
Luthermuir has its own primary school whose history was recorded recently by a former headmaster, Donald McGilp, giving an insight to schooldays in another era.
The Scots Corner pub provides a focal point for villagers and is popular with diners both local and from further afield. Sauchieburn Hotel, half a mile from the village, is also a popular dining spot. The Hotel has changed greatly in the last forty years from the old farmhouse kitchen which used to dispense drink and food around the open fire.
Today the village live revolves round its hall, recreation ground, and the school. Disturbed less by modern housing developments, most changes have been to improve the traditional cottages.
More on the history of Luthermuir here.
