Description

HOUSE: Bishop James Kyle with William Robertson, 1830. S
facing symmetrical 2-storey, 3-bay house. Rubble, tooled
ashlar dressings and margins. Centre door with simple later
wooden portico type porch. Regular 3-bay rear fenestration; 2
centre stair windows lighting upper flights in E gable;
mainly 4-pane glazing. Coped end stacks; slate roof.
Later single storey lean-to at E gable.
INTERIOR: centre entrance passage with parlour at left and
former dining room (now sitting room) at right.
PARLOUR: plain white marble chimneypiece; simple ceiling
cornice; centre painted ceiling rose with armorial within
foliated wreath enclosed by simple hexagonal painted border.
FORMER DINING ROOM (sitting room): plain grey marble
chimneypiece (as parlour); simple ceiling cornice.
1ST FLOOR: library and former archive with original shelving,
'pigeon holes' and cupboards.
GARDEN STORE: later 18th century, W facing 2-storey, regular
2-bay garden store, probably former pavilion wing to earlier
house. Rubble, tooled rubble dressings. Entrance to 1st floor
by forestair at N gable; off centre gable entrance to ground
floor in S gable. 9-pane glazing; centre ridge stack; piended
Banffshire slate roof.
GARDEN WALL: house and adjoining church enclosed by coped
rubble wall.

Statement of Interest

There appears to have been a former dwelling on site. Chapel

House designed and built by Bishop Kyle with William

Robertson who amended and drew the plans.

The Rt. Rev. James Kyle became Vicar Apostolic of the

Northern District of Scotland in 1828; he chose to reside at

Preshome where he remained until his death in 1869. He was a

remarkable administrator, a linguist, an architect and

scholar, a key figure in the Roman Catholic Church in

Scotland in the 19th century. 75,000 documents amassed at

Preshome during his lifetime and filed in his personal

archive room, are now in the Scottich Catholic Archive,

Edinburgh. The Bishop was also a hospitable man, providing 6

attic rooms for his guests.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17569355

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)