After all the dangers to which they had been exposed on the field of
battle, and all the hardships they had to encounter during the long
period they were in hiding on the Continent, they were at last
permitted to return in safety to their native land, to spend the
evening of their days in their "Ain dear wee Auld House."
The elder Jacobite laird died in 1767, and was gathered to his fathers
in the old Kirk of Gask. He was succeeded by his only son, the younger
Jacobite laird. He continued to adhere with the most unshaken
steadfastness to the cause of the Prince, for whom he had done and
suffered so much, and brought up his family in the strictest principles
of loyalty to the King over the water. When his family read the
newspapers to him after his eyesight became impaired, if the names King
or Queen occurred, they must only indicate this by employing the
initials K. or Q., otherwise he sharply reproved them.
When Prince Charles died in 1788, leaving an only brother, Cardinal
York, many of the Jacobites transferred their allegiance to George
III., and most of the Scotch Episcopalian clergy began to pray for the
reigning family, which they had not hitherto done. Among these was Mr
Cruickshanks, Episcopal minister at Muthill, who occasionally
officiated at Gask. When Mr Oliphant heard this, he at once wrote to
Mr Cruickshanks that, as he had now disqualified himself for
officiating at Gask, his services would be henceforth dispensed with.
He sent to him his official robes, and returned some books, the reading
of which he had got from Mr Cruickshanks. It is said that George III.,
hearing of Gask's unswerving constancy, sent, by the member of
Parliament for Perthshire, his compliments--not the compliments of the
King of England, but of the Elector of Hanover--to Mr Oliphant. He
died in 1792, and was succeeded by his eldest son Laurence, the third
of that name in succession. It was this laird who pulled down the
"Auld House" in 1800, except a part of the front wall, which was
allowed to stand, as an interesting ruin, and around which now centre
so many tender and hallowed associations. He also built the present
large and substantial mansion-house, which occupies a commanding
situation a few yards from the "Auld House." With the concurrence of
the Presbytery, he removed the Parish Church and manse from the site on
which they had stood for several centuries to another about a mile to
the north. This must have been in many respects a very desirable
change, both for the laird and the minister. There were only a few
yards formerly between the mansion-house and the manse, and this
proximity must have at times been rather uncomfortable for both. A
more eligible site, however, could easily have been got on which to
build the new church and manse, but it possesses the great advantage of
being central for the whole parish.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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