McCulloch One Name Study

When Walter McCulloch succeeded to Ardwall the estate rental was in the region of £1760: the estate was, however, burdened to the very limit permitted by the Entail laws, for estate improvements and younger children’s provisions, the total debt amounting to about £10,0001107. But Walter was fortunate: at this time the agricultural landlord was at his zenith, rents were as high as they are today, burdens were trifling, and taxation almost non-existent. The purchasing power of money, too, was several times what it is now. Moreover, Walter was now past 50 and had lost the taste for the somewhat expensive amusements of his early days. He was a bachelor and lived quietly at Ardwall, his chief hobbies being the improvement of his estate, the support of liberal politics in the Stewartry, and the breeding of a fine herd of Galloway cattle. He was, indeed, something of a judge of cattle and in 1856, when the Highland and Agricultural Society held their Show in Glasgow, he judged the Polled Angus or Aberdeen cattle along with the great McCombie of Tillyfour, still famous as one of the great improvers of that breed. As a result, he was able within ten years, to pay off every penny of debt on the estate and, eventually, at his death, not only to leave a very competent fortune, but also to pass on the estate to his successor completely unburdened, in which state it fortunately remains to the present time.