Dunning Parish Historical Society in Perthshire Scotland has local Dunning history data including dunning village census and grave yard geneaology records Dunning history society logo text

Crossroads and Characters

Crossroads pic52

52. THE BREAKING-UP.

When the eleventh Lord Rollo, William Charles Wordsworth, the eldest son of John Rogerson Rollo inherited the title on his father's death in 1916, the Rollo land holdings in Dunning parish were near their largest. During his tenure, several pieces of land were sold from the estate.

In the House of Lords, the title he went by was Lord Dunning (of Dunning and Pitcairns). An earlier title had been Lord of Duncrub.

In the village, he was a well-known figure. He and his family were patrons of various community organizations and as a result villagers often attended events held on some part of the grounds of the estate.

Within a year and a half of William's death in 1946, the bulk of the great Duncrub estate had been broken up and disposed of. The nephew who inherited, John Eric Henry, the Twelfth, lived for just eighteen months after taking the title, but within that time he oversaw the disposition of several parcels of land, including the gift of a recreation ground to the village, as well as the sale of several properties attached to Duncrub which were at the centre of the estate.

The most visible sign of the break-up was the tearing down of Duncrub House.

One reaction recorded locally was that of a local minister and county councillor:

The disappearance of the 'Big House' takes away something from the life of the parish and from the country village ... With the departed owners, the graciousness of outlook which flowed from the 'Big House', the kindly enquiry of its inmates for the inhabitants of the village, and the atmosphere of interest and friendliness... is being gradually lost and the community is the poorer.

With Pitcairns and certain other lands in the family possession, the Rollos remain one of the largest landowners in the parish.

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