BILBSTER
HOUSE
Research so far has dated it to before the 1690's being the local
'Manor House' to the estate of Bilbster. Category C(s) listed building status
(Scottish category), Every effort has been made to keep the character since
being bought over by the Stewart family in 1970.
Previous owners include Gore Brown Hendersons, Macleays and
inevitably for any large estate in Caithness, Sinclairs.
As well as the
estate of Bilbster the Gore Brown Hendersons also owned the local distillery,
Pulteney Distillery which now has the renowned 'Old Pulteney collection' of
Scotch Whisky.
The estate of Bilbster was handed to the son 'Hamish' in 1955 and Mrs
Gore Brown Henderson moved to Malveny house, Edinburgh which she subsequently
left to the National Trust. The Trust now open the gardens at
Malveny.
The Macleay
Institute......
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The donation of a
Telford designed house to the medical profession resulted in a nurses home being
set up. This building became the maternity unit for Wick and then was
controversially bulldozed to make way for the new hospital. The maternity wing
in the hospital is now called The Henderson Wing.
His offspring continued in the same vein and built upon his collection and contributions to science culminating in the donation of his collection to the University of Sydney. This has resulted in the Macleay Museum. www.usyd.edu.au/su/macleay/welcome.htm
In 1825 he was
appointed as Colonial secretary to New South Wales in Sydney and amongst other
things, was chairman overseeing Sydney's botanic gardens.
BILBSTER HOUSE
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Tracing the family of Henderson back leads to the name of Macleay and Alexander Macleay. Alexander Macleay was a collector of insects to the extent that by 1805 his collection was the most important in Britain and was extensively used as a source of reference.