#7 Castle Square
Stonehaven, Scotland

     For years we have wondered who the artist of this painting was. Thanks to Joan McCausland, we now know it was William Main.  The search now is not for who the artist was, but for information about him. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who might have such information.

     A great deal of artistic license was most likely taken by the painter, as it appears to be very green and lush.   In spite of the added flora, the buildings are accurately placed. See what was behind the windows and who lived at Castle Square by scrolling on down the page.

     Thanks to the vivid recollections so generously shared with me by two of the grandchildren of James and Helen Leiper, we know a great deal about #7 Castle Square in spite of the fact that it has long since been demolished.  With their help and the schematic drawn from the water color painting by WM the following is known.

#1 in the above schematic was a Dwelling House.  While I am hoping to find additional information about the folks living here, we do know that on the first floor lived Adam Stephen and his wife, the former Mary Main, and their 7 children, John, Adam, Mary, Walter, James, Elsie and Robert.   Nothing is known at this time about the folks living on the upper levels of the dwelling house, nor do I know the house number of the dwelling house. Hopefully that will be a future discovery.

#2 in the schematic is the bedroom portion of #7 Castle square.   On the ground level was a bedroom that was occupied by some of the children of James and Helen Leiper.  It is unclear as to whether it was the boys or the girls of the family who slept in this bedroom. It was however, lighted only by a paraffin lamp.

#3 on the schematic is the main portion of #7 Castle Square which is distinctive because of   the lovely window. Many Leiper family photographs were taken in front of this window throughout the years. On the outside of the house, to the left of the doorway was a hake which is visible in this painting of #7 and many family photos as well.
       Inside the front doorway of #7 was a stairway leading to the upper levels.  To the left, as you entered the front door, was the living room of the family home. Cooking, eating, and sleeping took place within this one large rectangular room. Within the main portion of the room, in addition to the fire, were a table, a dresser, a long seat, a horse hair chair, and another chair that was claimed to have come from Dunnottar Castle.   A creel was also kept here as this is where they often shelled mussels for bait for the fishing.  In a recessed area of the room was a bed used by the parents. In later years there was also a chair with a brass plate which said, “From Alexander and Margaret”. This was a present from their son and daughter-in-law (Margaret Main) in honor of the Diamond Wedding Anniversary of Helen and James Leiper.
       There was also a bedroom on the top floor that was occupied by the children of the Leipers. We are not sure if this top floor bedroom was used by the boys or the girls.
       Isabella Leiper, daughter of James and Helen, and her family once occupied the second floor of #7 before moving to #50 High Street.

#4 was a wooden shed used to store the fishing nets. The adjacent building was used to smoke fish.   The chimney of the kiln can be seen in the painting.

#5 was the building that housed the four toilets.   As seen in the painting, this is also where the folks had to go to get their water. In the painting, a woman can be seen filling a bucket of water at the side of the building.

#6 This house faced the adjacent Castle Street instead of Castle Square. There was a narrow lane leading to Castle Street that went between buildings #4 and #6.  A family named Stephen lived in the house and young Lindsay Stephen can be seen in the middle row of the St. James’ School photograph.