5 Castle Road, Grantown-On-Spey, Badenoch and Strathspey, Highland

Description

A late 18th century, two-storey, three-bay, symmetrical terraced house. The principal (southeast) elevation has a central doorway with a two-leaf timber entrance door and small single windows to each bay. The house is built in semi-coursed stone rubble blocks with large boulder stone foundations. The rear elevation is rendered with widened window openings and a small single-storey, later 20^th century glazed addition.

The roof is slated with two small cast iron rooflights, a zinc ridge, stone chimney stacks and a stone skew.

Photographs of the interior from 2020 show the decorative scheme largely dates to the later 20^th century.

Historical Background

Grantown on Spey is a planned village founded by Sir James Grant of Grant (1738-1811) in 1765 (Buildings of Scotland). The village was developed with the intention of establishing small scale manufacturing industry, in this case linen production, as well as being the centre for all local fairs and markets. The village had a brewery and was a prosperous centre for craftsmen and shopkeepers in the late 18th century. A detailed plan of the village from 1768 by Alexander Taylor shows the village was centred around the large market square with the High Street extending to the southwest and Castle Road to the northeast (Conservation Area Appraisal. p10.) The town had a significant later expansion (1865-1914) which included the Victorian expansion as a result of tourism following Queen Victoria's stay in the town in 1868.

Castle Road was amongst the first streets laid out for feuing in the mid-to late 18^th century and the appearance of number 5, with it's simple low, 2-storey façade reflects the design regulations of the early planned village houses. The construction details including large field boulder foundation stones and window margins also evidence that the building dates from around the late 18th century.

The building first appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1868, published 1872) with a range extending from the northwest corner of the house at a right-angle, a detached range to the west forming a courtyard and a gap to its south allowing access to all buildings to the rear. The Ordnance Survey map of 1903 shows further additions to the rear of the house and an additional dwelling (number 7 Castle Road) added to the south gable of the house which filled the gap on the street line.

The 19th century additions and the rear courtyard have been demolished although part of the northern range appears to survive at the rear to form a north garden wall.

Statement of Interest

It is a good surviving example of early planned village architecture in the central Highlands of Scotland which largely retains its external character.
The principal elevation is largely unaltered and retains its historic fabric and details, which are typical of planned village architecture.
The building's design reflects the original layout of the planned village and makes an important contribution to the wider setting of Grantown-on-Spey, which is itself an early and well preserved example of a planned village in Scotland.
The house makes a significant contribution to the streetscape and forms a group with other neighbouring properties of similar date and type.

Architectural interest

The plot for 5 Castle Road was laid out as part of the development of the Georgian planned village design shown on the 1768 plan. Its design as a two storey, three-bay symmetrical house, set flat-fronted to the street with no architectural adornment is typical for a late 18^th century house in planned small towns across Scotland. The main elevation retains a good amount of the simple historic design character in both the larger stone foundation blocks and the original form of the door and window openings. It has interest as one of the earlier surviving buildings in the town many of which were redeveloped in the later 19^th century Victorian improvements. The alterations to the rear windows and the loss of former outbuildings have not adversely affected the authentic vernacular design of the building as a whole.

The former large courtyard of outbuildings to the rear of the house suggest 5 Castle Road may have had an industrial or commercial use during the 19^th century.

The geometric street layout of Grantown on Spey shown in the 1768 plan remains largely unaltered and the village is noted to be among the best preserved of all planned villages in Scotland (Smout, p. 84). 5 Castle Road, built on one of the earliest streets to be laid out in the village, retains the characteristic design and materials typical of planned village architecture from the period.

5 Castle Street makes a good contribution to the linear streetscape setting on one of the two roads that extend outwards from the main square at the centre of the planned village. Its historic setting is substantially unaltered and the authentic character of its front elevation is an important element of the Conservation Area in which it sits.

Historic interest

The planned villages that were developed in Scotland in the 18^th and 19^th century are an important part of Scotland's social and economic history. Around 490 planned villages were founded in Scotland between 1720 and 1850 most of which were founded by individual landowners who planned regular streets, building plots and adjacent lotted lands or fields on their estates.

Founded in 1765, Grantown on Spey is an early example of a planned village in Scotland and one of a small number to be laid out in the central Highlands. The well-preserved street layout in Grantown on Spey is a good example of late 18^th century rural village planning and 5 Castle Road is an early example of building within the village.

Houses built as part of planned villages in Scotland are not a rare building type however early examples and examples which retain their historic character may be of interest for listing. 5 Castle Street retains its late 18^th century character and is of historical interest for having been built to an early planned village design which gradually developed during the late 18^th to 19^th centuries.

Listed building record revised in 2024.

External Links

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