Almerieclose House - passing of a landmark

Almerieclose House

In 1931, the seventeenth century mansion of Almerieclose was demolished. To mark the occasion the local newspaper, the Arbroath Herald, featured the history of the house and the estate on which it had stood. The following details are taken from a number of articles published in the 1930’s. They are available to read in full in the Angus Archives files.

Almerieclose was originally an estate on the edge of the burgh of Arbroath. By the time of its passing, the town had enveloped it and its grounds sold off and utilised as commercial properties. The estate had begun life as the Almonry for Arbroath Abbey. From here, alms was distributed to the poor and the sick who were then supposed to go the Almonry’s chapel to give thanks to God and St Thomas for their relief. The Almonry and its charity ceased when the Abbey lost its religious role after the Reformation. The buildings decayed for many years until they were acquired by the Reverend Henry Philip, minister of Arbroath’s Episcopalian Church. His grandson, James Philip, built the mansion in Arrot Street around 1653, using stonework from the nearby St Michael’s Chapel and the Almonry. James Philip married Margaret Grahame, a near relation of Graham of Claverhouse, Bonnie Dundee.

The Philip’s had acquired other land surrounding the old Almonry and these lands, including Cobb’s Croft, Guest Meadow and the lands of Keptie, gradually all became known as Almerieclose. The Philip’s owned the estate until about 1753 when Susanna Philip disposed of the last remaining part of the property to Robert Barclay, a brewer. Thereafter the history of the estate is complicated, with frequent changes of owners and further subdivision. The mansion house was sold to the Lyell family. However, Robert Lindsay, an Arbroath merchant, later purchased the majority of the estate. He built himself a new mansion at the foot of Bridge Street. This was the site of the old farm of Segton. Inverbrothock Church, erected as a Chapel of Ease for St Vigeans Church in 1828, was built in the garden ground of Almerieclose. The Alma Works of Francis Webster, amongst others, was also built on Almerieclose land.

The original mansion house passed through a number of owners too including the Arrott family from the late 18^th century. The last Arrott incumbent, Dr Arrott, was a kindly man, greatly loved for his kindness to the poor. He and his sister moved out of the decaying mansion in 1866 and the house was turned into a multiple tenement residence, with the garden transformed into a brickfield.

The whole site of Almerieclose and its estate is now covered by commercial and industrial developments in the centre of Arbroath.

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