History

The Crimonmogate estate, one of the finest in Scotland, once formed part of the vast northern lands of the Earls of Errol, the hereditary High Constables of Scotland. The origins of the estate have been traced back to the 14th century. Crimonmogate, a conflation of Gaelic and Old Norse terms meaning "The road through the cow-pasture by the peat-moss", derives its name from the ancient and now disused tree-lined road which once passed a quarter of a mile south of the principal front of Crimonmogate House and which now forms the southern march of the Estate. The modern trunk road joining the fishing ports of Fraserburgh and Peterhead runs half a mile further to the south, so that Crimonmogate is little disturbed by the sounds of passing traffic.

Patrick Milne commissioned Archibald Simpson, the noted neo-Classical architect of Aberdeen, to design the House shortly before his death at the age of 65 in 1820, having prospered in numerous overseas enterprises in India, China and the West Indies. The House was completed five years later, in 1825, and a splendidly-proportioned Obelisk designed by Archibald Simpson was erected to the east of the House in memory of Patrick Milne.