Roseneath Castle, from Jones. Demolished 1961.
This website will eventually include details of all known Scottish country houses that have been lost or significantly reduced in size. Defining a house as lost isn't always easy, as portions or ruins may remain, but in general a simple rule of thumb has been applied: a house is considered lost if its roof has been removed or if the majority of its structure (or the defining part of its structure) has been demolished. Similarly defining a building as a country house isn't always straightforward, but in general the houses described on this website were either built as the principal residence of an estate, or to a scale and design that emulated these houses, such as a small minority of the largest suburban villas. This website does not include true castles or tower houses, except where they have been significantly altered to form a country house. Many houses retain the name castle when they bear little or no resemblance to a defensible building.
Using this site
At present there is one way to browse the site, namely the Alphabetical list. Houses are included by the first letter of their name. Each listing includes, where known: alternative names, a rough location, details of the architect(s) and dates of their work, date of demolition, links to other websites with further information, and sources for this information (see Links, resources and references for a key to abbreviations).
There is also a search function, although as this uses an external search engine, it may take a few days to catch up with site updates.
The problem of the Scottish country house
Over five hundred country houses were lost during the 20th century. To understand this remarkable rate of decline, and why many other houses may yet be lost, it is necessary to go back to the eighteenth century. Scotland's economy expanded greatly after 1745, with a huge growth in large country houses built during the late 18th and 19th centuries. Some of these were built with the profits from the estate, others with money from new industries or international trade. The larger houses were not built for families so much as for their guests, to entertain and impress large house parties. Often the family occupied a smaller and separate wing, able to minimise their contact with both guests and servants thanks to clever design and muiltiple staircases. Even humble shooting lodges, never designed for permanent occupation, were rebuilt with some rivalling leading country houses in their size and complexity.
During the 20th century, a number of changes in society had a detrimental effect on the country house. The large incomes necessary to maintain a large house dwindled, a process exacerbated by increases in general and inheritance taxation. While the effect of the agricultural depression was less marked than in England, many house owners no longer had either the income or a good reason to maintain them. The main catalyst for change in Scotland was the Second World War, when many houses were commandeered to serve as barracks, hospitals, headquarters, prisoner of war camps and homes for institutions and schools relocated from towns and cities.
While those war years probably made the most full use of the houses for many years, when owners returned to their properties they often found them in need of repair, having lacked even basic maintenance. A blocked gutter or downpipe can in five years become a serious case of dry rot. Compensation payments were usually too little, too late, and although some houses struggled on for some time, the war years sounded the death knell for many hundreds of houses. There often seemed little point in maintaining a large house that was both socially and architecturally out of kilter with post-war society. These houses also often lacked amenities such as electricity and adequate plumbing - Panmure, for example, counted only two bathrooms among its 130 rooms.
Panmure House, from an old postcard. Demolished 1955.
And so many houses lost their roofs to save on taxes, or were completely demolished, often after significant effort on the part of their owners to find alternative uses. Some, in fact, were worth more as raw materials, particularly during and after WWII. Kimmerghame is an interesting example. In 1938 it was being updated to add electricity when a workman's error resulted in the main part of the house burning down. Nearby Stichill House was being stripped of its fittings, and timber from there was used to help repair part of Kimmerghame, chiefly the servants' quarters and main entrance tower. With the advent of WWII, the remaining unrepaired shell was demolished and the stone used to help build Charterhall Airfield, as was some of the rubble from Stichill. Hence Kimmerghame has the rare honour of both providing and benefiting from ex-country house raw materials. This economical re-use of materials continued after WWII, with for example Murthly Castle (never actually lived in) being demolished in 1949 to provide a vast quantity of stone for Pitlochry's hydroelectric dam.
In some cases, the re-use of historic buildings post-WWII as hospitals, colleges and such like was only a postponement of redundancy. Whether through the failing of their enterprise or new health and safety regulations, many of these buildings have again fallen out of use. Another factor in their demise has been the encroachment of development, from wholesale replacement of a country house and its grounds with a housing estate to the more recent fashion of enabling development, in which a house is restored as a multi-occupancy dwelling at the price of being surrounded by often unsympathetic modern housing.
The factors which have lead to the demise of so many country houses are unfortunately no connoisseurs of architectural quality, and the listing system often offers little more than a drawn-out stay of execution while options are considered. This does however mean that the loss of country houses has been reduced to a trickle of a few each year rather than the flood that occured in the 20th century, and those that are demolished have usually had their plight visible for some time. It is unfortunately almost certain that some of the country houses featured on the Buildings at Risk register will eventually join this directory.
About the author
Alastair Disley's fascination with lost country houses began as a child, when his bedroom window looked out over the ruin and gardens of Craigends House. While his day job as a university researcher has concentrated on music technology and perception, he has maintained an interest in architectural history, including undertaking a detailed study of the work of Edinburgh architect David Bryce. For more information on Alastair, visit his personal website.
While various previous publications have sought to cover similar territory to that of this website, the advantage of a website is that it can be continuously updated to reflect new research. Contributions, queries and corrections are welcomed and will be credited.
Contact
You are welcome to contact the author by email at aldisley@yahoo.com.