Pittyvaich House West

Pittyvaich House West derives it's name from the original Pittyvaich House located near the Celtic Monastery of Mortlach not far from the town of Dufftown Scotland.

The name Pittyvaich is of a Pictish origin.

Pronounced 'pity vay ick'.

The prefix Pit refers to a farmstead, place or landholding and vaich most likely means Birchwood or birch-filled.

Pittyvaich thus means "the place of (or at) the Birchwood".

Pittyvaich was an established farmstead before the 9th century when Gaelic became the dominant local language.

Click on a picture for a larger view

This is a picture of Pittyvaich House circa 1935.

Unfortunately, the main house was demolished in the early 1970's. For those who enjoy a good malt whisky, a distillery now occupies the location.

Notice, in the background of the above picture, to the right is the farm house, it is still standing today.

The Pittyvaich Farm house as it is today. I took this picture in October 1997.

Above is a view of a rear portion of the farm house. Notice the thickness of the walls.

Visiting the graveyard of the Mortlach Kirk (church), mentioned above, I found the final resting places of a few of my Stewart ancestors.

Below is a view of the cemetery.

Not too far from Pittyvaich is the Drumin ( pronounced draa min) castle.

The castle has been undergoing a restoration of sorts. The effort is to, hopefully, arrest the decaying of the remaining structure.

I could not pass up the opportunity to snap this picture. Hmmmm, I get thirsty looking at it.

Anyone care for a dram?