Description

Late 18th century. 2-storey and attic, symmetrical 5-bay house with single storey gabled wing to the rear. Painted ashlar sandstone with contrasting painted ashlar margins and dressings, stone cills and squared tooled rubble flanks. Central double leaf timber door with moulded architrave, flanked by 2 window openings (those to left replacing door and window to former shop around 1986). Banded cill course at first floor; a pair of small square piended attic dormers in outer bays above.

12-pane glazing pattern in timber sash and case windows. Scrolled skewputts with cable moulding, flat stone skews, and panelled end stacks. Slate roof with zinc ridge.

Interior not seen 2014.

Statement of Interest

Situated in the centre of Ardersier, 57 High Street is an important example of a substantial late 18th century village house. Comprising five bays and two storeys with an attic it is a building of some pretension. Constructed in the then fashionable classical style, it is built from ashlar and has evenly spaced bays with raised margins and a cill and eaves course. As is typical of properties of this period, the first floor windows are set close to the eaves. It appears with largely the same footprint as it has now on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map of 1881, which was surveyed in 1878.

The street elevation appears largely as it would have when constructed. The previous listed building record of 1986 noted that there was a later shop front on the ground floor. This has now been removed.

It is likely that 57 High Street was built as a direct consequence of the construction of the nearby Fort George and it echoes the simple classical proportions of the buildings at the fort.

The Buildings of Scotland Highlands and Islands volume notes that Ardersier was laid out by the Campbells of Cawdor in the 18th century. Ardersier has its origins in the communities of Stuarton and Campbelltown. Its strategic position close to the narrowest sea crossing across the Moray Firth played a large part in its development from the mid-18th century. While it functioned primarily as a fishing village, the Jacobite Rising had an impact on its history.

The Jacobite Rising of 1745–6 proved to be the last attempt by the Stewart dynasty to regain the British throne from the Hanoverians. Following the Battle of Culloden, the government introduced ruthless measures to suppress Jacobite ambitions. Fort George was one of them, and it was built between 1748-69, just a short distance from Ardersier. It was designed as the main garrison fortress in the Scottish Highlands and named after King George II (1727–60). Intended as an impregnable army base, it was designed on a monumental scale, using sophisticated defence standards, with heavy guns covering every angle. Within the boundary walls was accommodation for a governor, officers, and artillery detachment and a 1,600-strong infantry garrison. It also housed more than 80 guns, a magazine for 2,500 gunpowder barrels, ordnance and provision stores, a brewhouse and a chapel.

The Statistical Account for the parish of Petty notes that, 'In the village of Campbelltown, which owes its birth to the garrison of Fort-George, there are 293 souls.' The ordnance survey map of 1881 (surveyed 1878) shows Ardersier under its previous names of Stuarton at the left side of the village, and Campbelltown, at the right side of the village. The village became known officially as Ardersier in the 1970s.

The impact of the building of Fort George for the community was significant. It provided a ready market for goods and a number of soldiers also decided to stay in Ardersier following their commission.

Statutory address and listed building record updated in 2015. Previously listed as 'Ardersier Village, 57 High Street'.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing

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

• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)