Some four hundred and fifty years ago in what today is Blairgowrie in Perthshire an L-shaped castle was erected on the site of a thirteenth-century stronghold and, even earlier, an ancient Pictish settlement. Set against a background of dense forests, and designed to keep its inhabitants safe from marauders, the castle graced a raised finger of land which jutted out into a fresh-water loch. Today the loch is long gone but the castle, dubbed Ardblair from the Gaelic word ard, meaning a promontory, and bhlar, a field or parcel of land, still stands proud and is home to the family of Laurence Philip Kington Blair Oliphant of Ardblair and Gask, a family with a distinguished and frequently turbulent history as followers of the Jacobite cause.

"The Oliphants, like many other prominent Scottish families such as the Sinclairs and the Frasers, have their origins in France," explains Laurence Blair Oliphant, the current head of the family. "The name Oliphant is derived from the Norman Olifard and our ancestors are believed to have come to England at the time of the Norman invasion, William the Conqueror subsequently conferring on them the lands of Lilford in Northamptonshire. However it was in Scotland, not England, that the family was to make its name, and to Scotland's monarchs that it was eventually to pledge its loyalty.

"The original name Olifard metamorphosed over time, being variously Oliphard, Oliphaunt, and even Holifard, before it became Oliphant some time in the fourteenth century.

"Two centuries before this, during the early part of the twelfth century, there were three Olifard boys in Lilford: William, David and Thomas. All three were to become knights in the English courts of King Henry I and King Stephen. But the middle boy, David, a godson and namesake of the Scottish King David, was destined to leave England to follow his king to that 'wild kingdom of the North',* where he and many of his descendants would come to wield immense power, and where we still live today."

David Olifard's destiny was shaped in 1142 when he was but eighteen years old. His godfather King David had twice invaded England to reclaim the English throne for his niece the Empress Matilda, who had been usurped by King Stephen. Both campaigns ended disastrously. At the end of the second campaign, having lost all his men, King David was trying desperately to escape back to Scotland from Winchester, which was under siege. "A certain godson of his, David Holifard, a comrade of those who besieged the city of Winchester, secreted him, so that those who were in eager search of the King did not discover him."*

This act of courage and loyalty was but the first of many in support of Scottish monarchs performed by Oliphant family descendants over the centuries that followed. David Olifard, for his part, was to serve three generations of Scottish kings. William the Lion finally nominated him "Justiciarius Laudoniae" (lit. Justiciar of the Lothians), giving David effective control "with powers of life and death and almost supreme authority"* over half the Scottish kingdom, from the Scotswater (the Firth of Forth as it is known today), to the Tweed - an office of immense power, meaning David Olifard ranked second only to the king and his brother.

"A later, equally celebrated son of the Oliphant family", notes Laurence, "was William, 'a doughty knight'* who, in 1299, became Governor of Stirling Castle, one of Scotland's most famous fortresses. In 1304 King Edward I of England (who bore responsibility for destroying one hundred years of good relations between Scotland and England) laid siege to the castle, employing not only the usual bows and arrows but 'thirteen engines, large and cumbrous weapons'* to destroy the castle walls. Edward's forces also used the 'ram' and the 'war wolf', evocative names for some fearsomely powerful contraptions capable of hurling huge stones, and immensely heavy weights made from lead which had been stripped from the roofs of churches and monasteries.

"For three long months William Oliphant and some 200 soldiers under William Wallace defended the castle and its inmates, including thirteen women, courageously resisting the attackers, heaving massive stones back at them from the fortifications. But eventually starvation and disease took their toll and they were forced to surrender. Governor William, who was my nineteen times great-grandfather, spent the next four years as a prisoner in the Tower of London."

Such episodes notwithstanding, the family's power and influence continued to increase. The title of Lord was conferred on the Oliphants in the mid-fifteenth century, when one Sir Laurence Oliphant was created the 1st Lord Oliphant by James II, a title which fell dormant at the death in the eighteenth century of the 10th Lord Oliphant.

As century followed century, numerous Oliphant men took up the cudgels against English invaders. In 1513, flying the Scottish flag, Colin, Master of Oliphant was killed at the battle of Flodden together with his king, James IV. Ten thousand Scotsmen fell on that day and, as Oliphant family records relate, "over all Scotland clung the dire shadow of bereavement. The best, the noblest, the strongest had answered to the King's call, and marched away under his standard, never to return."*

Two centuries later, Colin's four times great-grandson Laurence, the 6th Laird of Gask, or Gasknes at it was sometimes called - an estate conferred on his ancestors by Robert the Bruce - bore the standard of the Stuarts in the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745. In September 1745 Prince Charles Edward breakfasted with the Oliphants at Gask on his way to Edinburgh from Dunblane.

Fired with enthusiasm and passion, the old Laird's 20-year-old son, Laurence, an aide-de-camp to Bonnie Prince Charlie, joined his father to accompany his Prince in the '45. Father and son then wintered in Inverness with the Prince, awaiting the spring, in joyous anticipation of eventual victory for Bonnie Prince Charlie and his men. In 1746, at Culloden, as colours flew and pipes played, father and son fought side by side with their Prince, selflessly "risking lands, liberty, life - everything in this world..."* But that "great and disastrous day" brought only "stark disaster and ruin"* on the Jacobite cause, heralding "abject poverty, homelessness and outlawry"* for its supporters. Both the old and the young Laird were "attainted" of high treason. The house at Gask was ransacked and plundered by Hanoverian soldiers, and the estate declared forfeit. The Oliphants were effectively ruined.

Father and son spent the next six months in hiding in the hills and sheltered by Jacobite sympathisers. Narrowly avoiding their pursuers, they then made their way to Arbroath where they boarded a ship for Gothenburg. From Sweden they journeyed to France where they remained in exile for seventeen years. During this time, in 1753, Amélie, wife of the 6th Laird, fortunately managed, with help from devoted family friends, to repurchase the estate of Gask from the Barons of the Exchequer.

The gradual rapprochement of France and England soon dashed any hope of a Jacobite revival, yet fierce devotion to the Stuart cause persisted in the spirit of many loyal Scots. As passionately faithful to her king as was her father, Carolina, one of the four daughters of the 7th Laird of Gask, lauded the Jacobites through the gentler means of ballad, to "teach in song what he had learned in suffering".*

Carolina's mother was Margaret, daughter of Duncan Robertson, the 14th Chief of Struan, another prominent Jacobite family. Carolina, fondly known as "The Flower of Strathearn" and "The White Rose of Gask", had been nurtured on tales of chivalry, courage and loyalty to the Jacobite tradition, her patriotism aroused by tales of the exploits of the great house of Oliphant.

An incurable romantic, Carolina channelled her passions through poetry and song. Although she endeavoured to conceal her identity under the rather unattractive nom de plume of "Mrs Bogan of Bogan", she soon became well known under her married title of Baroness or Lady Nairne as writer of a number of now-celebrated Scottish ballads including "Charlie Is My Darling", "The Rowan Tree", "Wha'll Be King But Charlie?", "Will Ye No' Come Back Again?" and "The Hundred Pipers". Carolina's influence was spiritual but widespread, and family legend has it that her wistful ballad "The Attainted Scottish Nobles" so moved the English King George IV that he restored to the Nairnes the hereditary title that had been stripped from them for their support of the Stuarts.

Carolina wrote numerous other haunting songs, not all related to the Jacobite cause. One, the ballad "Auld Hoose", regretted the destruction, not as might be thought of Gask, but of the house of her dreams...

Oh, the auld hoose, the auld hoose,
   What tho' the rooms were wee!
Oh, kind heart were dwelling there,
   And biarnies fu' o' glee;
The wild rose and the jessamine
   Still hang upon the wa'.
How mony cherished memories
   Do they, sweet flowers, reca'.

First verse of "Auld Hoose" by Lady Nairne

But the old house at Gask was also destined for demolition, having being overrun by rodents. Writing just over a century later, Ethel Maxtone Graham* née Blair Oliphant - Laurence Philip Blair Oliphant's great aunt - describes how, at the time of Laurie, the 8th Laird, the housekeeper of Gask was driven in desperation to address a letter to the Captain of the Rats, begging him to decamp with his troops... This she "posted" in a rat-hole - but to no avail. When the rats finally had the audacity to attack the Laird's first son, Laurence, in his cradle, the old house was finally doomed. Construction of a new house started as the nineteenth century dawned.

It was during this same period that the Ardblair estate, located some 30 miles from Gask, became part of the family holdings. This came about with the marriage of Carolina's brother Laurence, 8th Laird of Gask, to Christian, daughter and heir of Dr Joseph Robertson, of Ardblair. When, some half a century later, their grandson Philip Kington inherited the estate, he assumed the additional surnames of Blair Oliphant.

"Meanwhile," relates Laurence, "the estate of Gask with its new house should, logically, have been passed down through Laurence and Christian's son James - who died childless - to James' first nephew by his sister Margaret, namely Thomas Laurence Kington (known as Laurence), Philip's older brother. However, while Laurence was undoubtedly in line to inherit Gask, and indeed considered the estate his rightful inheritance, a provision in his uncle James' will that the estate of Gask should be left to his heir male descended through heirs male from whomsoever descended, effectively and quite deliberately disallowed his claim.

"The result was a damaging rift within the family and a twenty-year search by lawyers, including advertisements in the Scottish, English, colonial and American newspapers, for the 'true' heir. The legal quest finally identified a Dutch wigmaker from Leyden, one Carl Naret Oliphant, who was able to prove direct descent along the male line from William Oliphant, brother of the 1st Laird of Gask.

"The unfortunate Laurence only came into what, surely, was his rightful inheritance some two years later, following the respective deaths of the 80-year-old Carl and his son Charles Agathon Guillaume.

"But bitterness at this whole episode led Laurence, a man with a strong sense of history, and himself author of a history of the Jacobite Lairds of Gask, to make a decision that was to have a dramatic effect on the family. Unbeknown to anyone, he resolved that he would be the last Laird of Gask.

"When Laurence died, without issue, it was discovered that his nephew (my grandfather), with whom he might have been expected to have some sympathy given his own distressing experience, was disinherited totally. Laurence's will stipulated that the Gask estate should be sold and the proceeds distributed in bequests. To underline his resolve, Laurence even had his portrait painted signing his will and effectively bringing the family dynasty to an end... The estate was sold in 1902. After some 600 years of history, Gask was lost to the family - a bitter blow. Our only souvenir of our intimate links with Gask is the name, retained as part of our title. Perhaps understandably, for decades Laurence was known as 'Wicked Uncle Laurie' and his portrait hung, ignominiously, upside down in a cloakroom..."

But at least Ardblair Castle remains in the family, its own historic importance reinforced by the recent discovery on the estate of three sites of archaeological interest - including burial mounds, an old place of execution and a ring ditch and pit alignment - that are currently being studied by Scottish Heritage. The estate is also home to a site of special scientific interest (SSSI), categorised as such because of the presence of rare flora and fauna including some unusual butterflies.

The Oliphant family has a long tradition of farming and Laurence Blair Oliphant continues this activity, cultivating the estate's 780 acres and a further 530 acres of a holding near Glamis. Today, however, he concentrates on arable crops rather than cattle. In addition to this, and in line with what are perhaps more contemporary concepts of estate management, the Blair Oliphant family has converted stables and a coach-house into comfortable holiday cottages for summer visitors seeking a peaceful retreat in a historic setting.

The castle still stands out against the surrounding plains. A small herd of Highland Cattle roams free around the grounds. Raspberries grow wild, and in profusion. The tranquil scenery almost belies the area's turbulent history.

But history can never be far from the surface - which is as it should be. As an active member of the Ardblair Highlanders, garbed in the traditional one-piece feileadh-more, Laurence Blair Oliphant takes part in regular re-enactments of historic Jacobite battles both at home and in France. He also acts in occasional films - most recently Rob Roy - and documentaries on Scottish history, and gives talks on Jacobite history to schools and other interested groups, his authentic dress and weaponry vividly bringing the past alive.

"The Oliphants gained, risked, and lost much over centuries of allegiance to the Scottish crown," Laurence points out, with pride. But the family's "noble past", as Ethel Blair Oliphant noted in her stirring book The Oliphants of Gask, is "an inheritance that cannot be taken away by any stroke of fate."*

*The asterisked references in this interview are taken from The Oliphants of Gask, by E. Maxtone Graham (née Blair Oliphant), a family history published by Nesbit in 1910.

For information on Ardblair Castle holiday cottages, contact: Ardblair Castle, Blairgowrie, Perthshire PH10 6SA, UK. Tel/Fax: 01250 873155.

View Blair Oliphant Family Record.

Sarah powell is a regular contributor to Burke's e-magazine Atavus