The 1st Marquis of Montrose, while being taken to his execution
in Edinburgh in 1650, was lodged overnight at Grange House in
Monifieth, Angus. During his stay, with the assistance of the
lady of the house, he managed to briefly escape, dressed in women's
clothes. One of two large old yew trees in the shrubbery south
of the house (rebuilt in Victorian times) acquired the story locally
that the fugitive hid in its branches before being recaptured.
In fact, James Malcolm's book The parish of Monifieth in ancient
and modern times (1910), which describes the incident, quoting
an early source, makes no mention of the Marquis hiding in a yew
or any other tree - having got past his immediate guards, he was
simply spotted by a sentry, perhaps somewhere close to these trees.
A more romantic legend later grew up, probably inspired by the
famous (true) story of King Charles II hiding in an oak tree the
following year.
It is not possible to trace the origins of this story. My father
(b. 1912) and aunt (b. 1910) were both raised in Monifieth, and
it was from them that I heard the story, so it must have been
in circulation amongst young people in Monifieth around the 1900s-1920s.
In the 1970s Grange House became a country club, but its grounds
have been swamped by recent housing developments. Before that
time it lay outside the town, and was somewhere that people would
pass on their Sunday walks - it's easy to envisage how the story
of the Marquis's escape attempt might have become mixed up with
the old yew trees.
A visit in January 2006 confirmed that two large yews still stand
either side of the old gate south of Grange House. They can be
seen in the strip of trees along the north side of Airlie Drive,
directly opposite the junction with Grangehill Drive. The size
of these yews suggests that they were planted long after the events
of 1650, or at most, were saplings at that time.
