Description

Circa 1820. 2-storey, 3-bay, rectangular-plan, symmetrical tacksman's house. Whitewashed, squared rubble.

SW (PRINCIPAL) ELEVATION: square-plan advanced entrance porch to centre, piended roof, small window to centre, door to right return. Regular fenestration except bipartite window to ground floor left, smaller windows to upper storey.

NE (REAR) ELEVATION: not seen 2001.

NW (SIDE) ELEVATION: blank gable end.

SE (SIDE) ELEVATION: single storey lean-to addition, windows to centre and returns.

Modern window frames. Grey slates, lead flashing, skews, coped gable end stacks.

INTERIOR: not seen 2001.

Statement of Interest

Former tacksman's house built following the clearance of settlement and conversion of the land to large scale farming in 1820s. Part of a group of similar houses in the Highlands of this period, a Georgian box first developed as the standard form for manses and quickly adopted for other purposes such as inns, customs houses and homes for the newly emerging Highland middle class of tacksmen turned estate managers, farmers, lawyers and military officers. Tacksmen had been the regional chiefs of the Highland chieftains acting as tenant and subletting and as military lieutenants. After 1745 and the onset of the first clearances the traditional role of the tacksmen was lost with many leading emigrating groups to America and Canada. Those who remained were often those closest to the chief or landowner as they had then become and found themselves with considerably more wealth and status as tenants of large and profitable farms. Listed as one of few tacksmens houses to survive with minimal alteration to its historic character, a representative of a significant component of the history of the Highlands.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77776228

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

• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014